Review and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 23. (12/9/1875)

Review and Herald

Dec 9, 1875

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 9, 1875

PERPETUITY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE GIFTS AND OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.—NO. 12.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

(Concluded.)

PERPETUITY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

Other important evidence of the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy may be given. At present we call attention to what the Scriptures reveal on this subject concerning the times immediately preceding the second advent of our Lord. Neander makes a very interesting statement of the faith of the Montanists of the second century. He says:—

“It appears also to have been the doctrine of the Montanists, that the season of the last and richest outpouring of the Holy Spirit would form the last age of the church, and precede the second coming of Christ, and be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.”—Rose’s Neander, p. 332.

A book written to reproach this faith, and designed to bring the Montanists into disrepute, was read by John Wesley; but it had the effect of convincing him that they were a godly people, and that their faith in regard to the perpetuity of the gifts of the Spirit was correct. This, no doubt, prepared his mind to look for and seek those evidences of divine favor which he so largely received in his after experience. So God overrules the work of his enemies to his own praise. Mr. Wesley’s notice of this book and of the result to his mind of reading it, is as follows:—

“By reflecting on an odd book which I had read in this journey, ‘The General Delusion of Christians with regard to Prophecy,’ I was fully convinced of what I had long suspected: 1. That the Montanists, in the second and third centuries, were real scriptural Christians; and, 2. That the grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn was not only that faith and holiness were well nigh lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began, even then, to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves, and to decry them all as either madness or imposition.”—Wesley’s Journal, vol. iii, p. 496.

The faith of the Mennonites referred to by Neander, is quite reasonable, as we may conclude from a consideration of the use or objects of the gifts, and of the condition of the religious world in the last days.

The object of the gifts, according to Eph. 4, is to carry out the work of the ministry, to edify, or build up, the church, and to perfect the saints in a complete union of faith and spirit. Now it must be borne in mind that the last generation of the church will be subject to special trials and dangers. The Saviour, speaking of the last days, said, “Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” Evil servants will say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” They will eat and drink with the drunken, and smite their fellow-servants who give “meat in due season.” Formality in religion and destitution of the power of godliness will be almost all-prevailing. Satan will also work with great malignity and power. In such a time, if ever, will the church stand in need of the aid of the Holy Spirit.

Again, the last generation of the church of Christ must pass through the time of trouble; they must stand complete in righteousness when Jesus ceases his priestly work in Heaven, as he prepares to come to this earth to take vengeance on the ungodly; and they must have a special work wrought in them and for them, to fit them to be translated without tasting death; for their translation must, of course, take place after Jesus ceases his work of mediation. A single sin committed after the priestly work of Christ closes would sink any one to hopeless perdition. And it is not after, but before, he comes that he says, Let him that is unjust be unjust still. See Rev. 22:11, 12. This awful truth is not appreciated, because men refuse to examine the doctrine of the second advent, and therefore they do not understand the nature of the perils which are impending.

In 1 Thess. 4, the apostle gives the true ground of consolation to those who sorrow for their friends who are asleep. He says that the Lord himself shall descend; the dead in Christ shall arise; and the living saints shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Having thus introduced the subject of the coming of the Lord, he proceeds, in chapter 5, to state circumstances which precede and attend his coming. Many will cry, “Peace and safety,” when sudden destruction is impending, and “they shall not escape.” Their hope is delusive—they know not the hour of their visitation. As it was to the people in the days of Noah and of Lot, so it will be to them. As a thief in the night shall their destruction come upon them. “But,” says Paul to the brethren, “ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.” They are watching for the return of their Lord. They have received the words of warning spoken by the prophets, and by those whom God in his providence has raised up to “sound an alarm” when “the day of the Lord is near.” See Joel 2:1. To the brethren of the time herein set forth, the apostle says:—

“Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. 5:19–21.

And to further show its application, as to time, he adds:—

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Verse 23.

It is beyond question that they whose bodies are preserved unto the coming of the Lord are they who do not sleep, or die, but are changed and caught up, or translated, to meet the Lord in the air. Thus every part of this scripture shows that it is specially for, and pertaining to, those who are “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.”

Prophesyings here denote the exercise of the gift of prophecy. The admonition not to despise the exercise or manifestation of this gift is sufficient proof that the gift will be manifested at the time of which he is speaking; viz., when the day of the Lord is near; when the careless and worldly cry, “Peace and safety,” or, as translated into the language of these days, they sing the song of delusion, “There’s a good time coming.”

Each age has its own peculiar form of unbelief. In the early ages of Christianity, all Christians looked with anxiety to the second coming of Christ as the time of their deliverance and their reward. To deny that event was to deny their hope. Jesus had told his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled about his going away; for he would come again and take them unto himself. He said they should be rewarded at the resurrection of the just, which will take place when he comes; and he said he would bring his reward with him when he comes. With them the prayer was a united, fervent one, “Come, Lord Jesus.” To them the prophecy pointed out a fearful declension when it said that scoffers should arise, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” But now we see this prophecy fulfilled. So greatly has the professed church of Christ departed from the primitive faith that they who say, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” are almost universally commended for their prudence and good judgment; while the faithful servants who give meat in due season, who sound the alarm as the prophets said should be done, are regarded as fanatics and alarmists, if not despised as impostors. A “second advent belief” is, in the estimation of a popular and worldly church, as contemptible as was “a Nazarene” in the days of our Saviour.

And a change fully as great as this has taken place in the church in respect to the gifts of the Spirit. In the early church, while all the gifts were accepted as objects of faith, and received according to that faith, there was a tendency to respect only the larger or more prominent gifts such as apostleship, healing, and prophecy. Those less prominent were lightly esteemed, and by some considered almost worthless. This led to the apostle’s argument in 1 Cor. 12, wherein he asserts that God often bestows more abundant honor upon that which is lightly esteemed of men. The dependence of the gifts upon one another is shown in this expression: “Ye are members one of another;” that is, united to Christ in one body by being united to one another. The hand or the eye, apparently the most useful of all members, cannot say to another or less prominent member, “I have no need of thee.” The hand is useful to the head only as it is connected to the head by other members. Every organ must be in its proper place, or the body is imperfect, and the action of all is obstructed.

We are now prepared to realize the change which has taken place in the church concerning faith in the gifts. While in the early church the more obscure gifts were lightly esteemed, and only the more prominent ones were valued, in the last days the reverse is exactly the truth. Now the less prominent gifts are accepted, at least professedly, while the gift of prophecy is regarded with suspicion and even with aversion. And what seems most strange of all, many who teach that we are in the last days; who profess to believe that the coming of the Lord is near; who have had all the Scripture evidences of the truth relative to the second advent plainly set forth to them; and who even profess to believe that a special work of sanctification is necessary to meet the Saviour at his appearing, show the most determined opposition and even hatred to the gift of prophecy. This is sad proof of the strength of self-deception, and shows how deeply man may be blinded when he quenches the Spirit of God, and leans to his own understanding. Surely the injunction is timely for these last days: “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings.”

In tracing the connection between the law and the gifts of the Spirit, we quoted several texts from the New Testament which we must notice again, because they refer to the time of which we are now speaking; viz., of the last days, or the time immediately preceding the second coming of Christ.

In Rev. 14:9–12, just before the Son of God is seen coming upon the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, a message of warning is given ending with these words:—

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.

The apostle says, in Rom. 5:3, “Tribulation worketh patience.” Tribulation brings patience into exercise, and exercise perfects all graces. By this text, therefore, we are given to understand that tribulation will be the lot of those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, at the time to which it refers; viz., just before the earth is reaped in the great harvest.

In Rev. 12, the church is brought to view under the symbol of a woman. In prophetic symbol the church is always represented by a woman. This chapter very briefly traces the history of the church from the birth of Christ and the effort of the dragon, or the pagan Roman power, to slay him as soon as he was born, and his being caught up to God and his throne, through the long persecution of “a time, times and a half,” or “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” down to the last persecution of “the remnant of her seed.”

The dragon was, not directly, but indirectly, the persecutor during this great tribulation of the Christians in the “time, times, and the dividing of time.” Pagan Rome had long persecuted the Christians unto death. When the empire professed to become the patron of Christianity, it soon beheld a most unchristian strife progressing between the bishops of different churches. It was another clamor for power, a revival of the question, “Who shall be greatest?” The parties entirely ignored the instructions of the Saviour given to quell just such spirits. The bishop of Rome, the most arrogant and overbearing, and of course the least a Christian, was favored by the empire. Favored, not because the most worthy, not because such self-exaltation was according to the spirit, the example, or the teachings of Christ, but because it was deemed most fitting that Rome should have the ascendency!

Such were the means and such the motives by which an unchristian, persecuting hierarchy was brought into existence. By the power of the dragon this vast machinery of error and of death was set in motion. The dragon power made itself responsible for the consequences which it could easily foresee, when it elevated an ambitious and arrogant church ruler to a position which Christ forbade his followers to occupy.

The last persecution will be under “an image to the beast.” This image will cause men to worship the beast, the papal power, which received its authority from the dragon, the pagan power. See Rev. 13. And thus it is shown that the spirit of the dragon has descended down to our own times, and that it will be active in the last persecution. Of this last phase of dragonic power it is said:—

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.

Having noticed the manner of the rise of the papal hierarchy, it may not be amiss to speak of the formation of the “image of the beast;” for it is through this image that the spirit of the dragon will be manifested in the last persecution.

In the United States great efforts are now being made to secure a “Religious Amendment” to the Constitution, by which, its advocates say, “all Christian laws, usages, and institutions may be placed on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.” “All Christian laws, usages, and institutions” are supposed to embrace all Christianity, and when all these are legalized in the Constitution, then Christianity will be established as the religion of the land by the United States government. And, of course, when controversy arises it will be for the courts to decide what are Christian laws and institutions. And this will be an exact “image to the beast” when Christianity will be enforced by law, and matters of faith must be decided by the civil courts. This will

doubtless be the manner of the fulfillment of this prophecy; and under such a state of things, with the history of past persecutions in the name of Christianity before us, it is not difficult to foresee how war may be made with those “who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

This prophecy of Rev. 12:17 is easily located. “The remnant of the seed of the woman,” can mean no other than the last part or last state of the church. They keep the commandments of God, as do the saints of Rev. 14:12, and these behold the Son of God in his second advent. War also is made with them, which calls for patience, which is marked as a characteristic of those who live in the last days. And they “have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” An explanation of this is given in Rev. 19:10, thus: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” This is an inspired and decisive definition of the phrase. If further proof were needed it is furnished in the following scripture:—

“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift.” 1 Cor. 1:6, 7.

By this we learn that the confirmation of “the testimony of Jesus” in a church is the establishing or manifestation of “the gifts of the Spirit” in their midst. And thus are we brought to the unavoidable conclusion that the remnant, the last part or last generation of the church of Christ, who heed the last warning given to man, who keep the commandments of God, who live to see the Son of man appear on the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth, have the testimony of Jesus Christ—the spirit of prophecy—among them; that is, the gifts of the Spirit will be restored before the Lord comes. These heed the injunction given to those who “are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,” that they should “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

THE PENITENT BELIEVER.

By Sel.

“The Lord turned and looked upon Peter.” Luke 22:61.

WHAT language in that look! Swifter than thought The apostle’s eye it caught, And sank an arrow in his soul! Through every vein a thrilling tremor crept; Away he stole, And wept; Bitterly he wept.

And thus it seemed to say: “Was that thy voice— Friend of my early choice? And is thy vaunted courage fled? Was it for this I stretched my hand to save? And bade thee tread The wave, The treach’rous wave?”

“O thou, my warmest friend, hast thou forgot Thy Master’s present lot— His former love—thy hope—thy fear? Thy thrice-told tale dost thou remember yet? Dost thou still hear Thy vow— Thy broken vow?”

Such was that piercing look! Swifter than thought The apostle’s eye it caught, And sank an arrow in his soul! Through ev’ry vein a thrilling tremor crept; Away he stole, And wept; Bitterly he wept. —Sel.

A Strange Argument.

By J. O. Corliss

It becomes almost painful, at times, to listen to the numerous conflicting assertions of those who oppose the Sabbath of the Lord, by which they try to justify themselves in the practice of observing a day not commanded nor even sanctioned in the word of God. It is astonishing, too, to see what ingenuity is manifested in framing objections to one of the plainest commands of the decalogue. If one-half the time that is used in framing excuses for not obeying God, was spent in reading the Bible to ascertain his will, many more would be found enjoying his favor than are at the present time.

The latest arguments (?) we have listened to were from a Methodist minister who was sent for from a distance to oppose us. They may be briefly summed up as follows: “Any day of rest after six of labor may be made a Sabbath. In order to prove the definite seventh day binding, Sabbatarians must first show a succession of weeks from creation, which they cannot do. Secondly, they must prove that this succession has been regularly kept; and even then they do not prove the point, as the fourth commandment does not say that God rested on the succession!”

The above is a concise statement of the conclusions arrived at, and is a fair sample of the dust-throwing commonly resorted to, when arguments fail, to cover up the truth and keep the minds of the people at rest. But how in the name of reason and common sense any one can establish a weekly succession of Sabbaths on the first-day, when the seventh presents such insuperable difficulties, I confess myself unable to understand; yet it is said that this “day of rest after six days of labor” must invariably fall on the first day of the week in regular succession!

But let us examine the statements made above, and we shall see that no confidence whatever is placed in the first two; for, after making them, the fourth commandment is appealed to as not saying anything about “succession,” and it is thus acknowledged to be the standard of decision. This is just where we would like to settle the controversy. And while we are ready to acknowledge that the fourth commandment does not state that God rested on the “succession,” we stoutly maintain that it does affirm he rested on the seventh day, and for that reason he commands us to observe it, as a day of sacred rest, as it comes to us in the weekly cycle.

But what about proving a succession of weeks from creation? Does any one suppose that day and night have failed to succeed each other since the birth of light? No. Then why talk about a non-succession of weeks? For, surely, if day and night have not ceased (Jer. 33:20), but a regular succession of days has taken place since creation, it follows that a succession of weeks is a certainty; for as God marked off the first cycle into a period of seven days, terminating it with a day of rest which he calls his own, so every recurring seventh day would bring what God was pleased to call, more than three thousand years after creation, “my holy day.” See Isa. 58:13. This shows that God does regard each successive seventh day.

Whether the Israelites did or did not keep every recurring Sabbath through the old dispensation, has nothing to do with the validity of the commandment, so long as we find the Lord of the Sabbath keeping a day in common with the Jews, and which inspiration tells us was the Sabbath. Luke 4:16. Again we are told by the inspired historian, Luke 23:56, that this was the Sabbath-day of the commandment. The following verse also informs us that the next day was the first day of the week. This shows that at the time of Christ the succession of weeks had not been broken.

Nearly all are agreed that Sunday is the identical day in the week that our Saviour arose, and which inspiration calls simply “first day of the week;” yet, strange as it may appear, many seem not to be able to tell when the seventh day comes. Such often remind me of a lady, who, after admitting that Sunday was the first day of the week, and that the Bible taught that the seventh day is sacred time, asked her friend, “Do you think I will be condemned for not keeping the seventh day if I cannot tell when it comes?” “No,” said her friend, with perfect coolness, “if you have not mind enough to count seven, I do not think you will be held responsible.” She became satisfied that she was not able to locate the day, and so settled down with the determination to follow the tradition of the elders.

A great many are thinking to shield themselves in the last day under the plea of want of knowledge. But God holds men and women responsible for what they might know, and will not take the pains to find out. The prophet says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.” Let none of us reject the knowledge God’s word brings to us, but walk in the light of its reflected rays, that we may make a safe journey, and at its end rest in the haven above.

J. O. CORLISS.

The Need of a Revival.

We have reached that period of the year in which a revival of religion is expected in nearly all churches. That there is an urgent demand for a reformation, not only in the church, but in society generally, none will deny. The condition of the world in regard to religion and morality is truly lamentable.

The church revivals of the past few years, in most instances, have seemed to accomplish but little good. But few genuine conversions have taken place, while large numbers have been added to the church, many of whom belong to that class who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. This is owing largely to the fact that the revivalists aim to raise an excitement by appealing to the sympathies of the people, and that many, resolving to live a devoted Christian life, on the spur of the moment, in a state of excitement, backslide and give up entirely; and when in that condition they are more difficult to reach a second time.

Many are seeing the necessity of a revival in church and State affairs. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear as they discover that “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” What is greatly needed is a reformation in the morals of the people—honesty, truthfulness, and a restoration of that confidence which men have lost in one another, which is so essential to the transaction of the business of life.

A late writer in the Chicago Tribune, speaking of the then expected efforts of the evangelists, Moody and Sankey, in this country, sets forth the necessity of a revival in such a pointed manner that we quote the article quite largely for the benefit of the readers of the REVIEW:—

“The moral system of the community has reached a very low tone. It is enervated and enfeebled. It is not capable of resisting temptation. Dishonesty, fraud, theft, gambling in values, defalcation, and the mania to make money without rendering an equivalent, have blunted the moral senses, especially in the political and commercial life, until almost the whole moral system in cities and towns has become torpid and inactive, and conscience has well nigh ceased to work. The moral system now needs a tonic—something to brace it up and set its inactive powers at work again. It seems as if an overruling Providence had brought about the disasters which have overtaken such men as Fisk, Jay Cooke, B. F. Allen, Henry Clews, Duncan, Sherman, & Co., and Ralston, as a significant warning that this headlong and dishonest scramble for riches must be stopped, or universal ruin will ensue.

“There is little doubt that a religious revival conducted and applied in a proper manner would prove just the tonic which the moral system of the country at present needs. . . . A revival can be made productive of much good or of no good, just as it is applied and directed. We do not believe that the most important need of the country is a revival in the ordinary religious sense—that is, a revival involving theological conditions, and turning upon theological problems of mysteries. . . . A revival of this kind will not reach the weak spot in the body politic nor brace up the moral system. What is wanted is a revival of honesty and integrity. . . . We do not need a revival of the terrors of Hades, for sectarian unbelief or dogmatic indifference, nearly as much as we need a revival to stop men from swindling, gambling, defrauding, appropriating other people’s money, overreaching their neighbors, and making gain by dishonest means and avoidance of labor, which is the present curse of this country, and which is responsible for almost every other sin and evil, and is the source of much of the crime in the community at present. If the revivalists can make the people honest, they will strike at the root of the evil.

“Let the evangelists preach the necessity of honesty, and have the churches practice it. Let them unite their efforts to reform the world in the things of the world, and, having done this, the affairs of the next world will be much easier to take care of. This is the tonic which the people need, and any other remedy will only be scattering in its effects, and productive of comparatively little good in curing the specific disease. Many observing, thinking men have little faith in ordinary revivals, believing that their effects are not permanent, but are mostly spasms of religious excitement, and apt to be of little value in their after effects.

“It may be that a revival of honesty might not be permanent, but that is neither here nor there. Dishonesty is the crying evil of the community, and against this evil the whole force of the evangelists, with all the aid and comfort the churches can give them, should be directed. This will be in accordance with Christ’s teachings. His Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, is the very essence of honesty. If that were practiced universally, it would promote general honesty and virtue, which would be conducive to the growth of religious feeling. Are Messrs. Moody and Sankey ready to grapple with this great evil of dishonesty, which is undermining the whole community? Are the churches ready to support them and aid them with practical work? If they are, then great good may grow out of the revival. If not, then we fear that the revival may prove only a sensation of excitement, ephemeral in its character, and not productive of the reform which is most needed.” S. H. LANE.

Teachers of Godless Schools.

It is a well known-fact that the head of the Catholic Church has denounced the common schools of America as godless, and forbidden Catholic parents’ sending their children to them. Strange to say, we find many Catholics among the teachers in these schools. They show a wonderful desire to get the children of Protestants under their influence. “Father Gerdemann” left the priesthood of the Catholic Church, and is now lecturing in Pennsylvania on the corruptions of Romanism. On the subject of public schools he makes the following pertinent remarks:—

“How is it that we find so many Catholics engaged as teachers in our public schools when, at the same time, they are forbidden, as immoral, dangerous, and godless, to Catholic pupils? Who can answer? It would seem as bad to act as teacher in a bad system as to be trained under it as a pupil. Secondly, how is it that so many Protestants persist in trusting their children to the academies and colleges in charge of sisters? They undoubtedly are aware that to a great extent those institutions owe their existence to Protestant patronage. They are aware that the sisters, all their professions to the contrary notwithstanding, try in every way to imbue the mind of the Protestant pupil with Romish superstition, and many parents experience to their sorrow what successful proselyters those sisters are. Although the teaching and training in colleges is more thorough and complete than in the parochial schools, still it is by no means so very excellent.”

“Why, then, do Protestants insist on furthering Roman influence and endangering the pure faith of their children? Who again will answer? We shall consider ourselves fortunate indeed if by to-night’s remarks we have contributed ever so little in confirming your resolution of ever maintaining the school system with which every true and loyal American is so well satisfied, which we know to be the source of our intelligence, the corner-stone of our liberty.”

“Our land is so fair, so rich, so broad; our people are prosperous, free, and happy; the sun never shines on a brighter land, on a freer people. Shall it always shine on a happy land, on a free people?”

“We know your answer, and therefore let us be vigilant, let us watch the crafty enemy of human liberty and progress; let us oppose his movements, let every man and party that dares to lay unholy hands on our free schools, our free press, our free conscience, perish, that our nation may live, free, happy, and advancing.” J. H. W., in SIGNS.

“The Same Thing.”

By D. A. Grant

IN the REVIEW of Oct. 28, in a report, we notice that in a certain town in Michigan a Disciple minister thought he could very easily refute the doctrine of the seventh-day Sabbath, and seemed to consider that the task was rendered easier from the fact that “S. D. Adventist ministers all speak the same thing.” This saying is worthy of our careful attention; for we have yet to learn that the people of God are made weaker by being of one mind, or speaking the same thing in regard to the great truths of the present day.

“Be of the same mind, one toward another,” says Paul, in Rom. 12:16. “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace,” says the same great apostle; and he adds, “The God of love and peace shall be with you.” 2 Cor. 13:11. “Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Phil. 2:2. See also chap. 1:27, in which we are exhorted to “stand fast in the same spirit, with one mind,” &c. These words were written by one who was inspired of God. The divine Son of God prayed to his Father that his disciples might be one, even as he and his Father were one. This certainly means one in mind, word, and doctrine.

To speak the same thing, then, is to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. Would God, that we as a people were more firmly united in this sacred cause. But God is working, and his plans cannot fail. We are much interested, each week, in reading the several reports from different localities. Praise the Lord for the truth. May we “speak the same thing” with the true people of God, both here and in the bright land beyond. And we know there will be harmony in that song which all the redeemed shall sing; for John heard no discord in all that great multitude which no man could number. They all join with one accord in “saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.”

D. A. GRANT.

Patton, Me., Nov. 14, 1875.

Sunday Excursions.

By J. O. Corliss

(GRADUALLY the minds of leading men are being aroused to the subject of “wholesome laws,” for preserving inviolate the much-cherished Sunday institution, and much is now being said about violating Sunday by running excursion trains on that day to and from camp-meetings. At the Highland church, Sept. 26, the Rev. A. E. Dunning, in referring to the late excursions to the Twin Mountain House to hear Beecher, said:—

“The godly labors and godly warfare of a hundred years ago will all have been of no avail if the tendency toward an utter neglect of the commands of God in regard to the Sabbath are not checked now and at once. The American nation cannot lose its American Sabbath without the direst consequences, and if we neglect the present opportunity we shall leave to our children a legacy of shame, and one that shall make their life a curse to the world.”

Again we find in the Boston Weekly Globe a request from Gen. Hawley to the Congregationalist, in which he says: “Would you be so kind as to use your influence to stop these Sunday excursions over the Pennsylvania railroad to the Centennial grounds at Philadelphia? New England expects her sons to do their duty.”

Thus the question of a national day of rest is being agitated throughout the land, and its adherents are being daily strengthened by accessions which increase their popularity in proportion as their numbers increase. Many who were once openly opposed to the measure now favor it, and do not fear to advocate their newly imbibed sentiments.

J. O. CORLISS.

Happiness Comes From Within

By Dr. Hall

As it is the warmth generated from within, which makes us comfortable, so it is from what is within that we are made happy, not from that without.—Dr. Hall.

The Sabbath in New Jersey.

By Editor

This State has become the field of a prolonged and earnest struggle over the Sabbath question. The law against Sabbath breaking was first enacted December 12, 1704, and, with some revision in 1798 and 1846, has continued in force till the present time. At the close of the session of 1873, however, a supplement to the “Act for the Suppression of Vice and Immorality” was introduced, which made it “lawful for any railroad company in this State to run one passenger train each way over their roads on Sunday for the accommodation of the citizens of this State.” This supplement was first lost in the Assembly, but was afterward reconsidered under strong outside pressure, now understood to have come from the railroad companies, and was passed in hot haste; giving the people no opportunity to be heard, or even to know that such an important law was pending. Since its passage, trains have been run on roads where they were before unknown, and, under its sanction, the Pennsylvania railroad has been running, for three months past, excursion trains from New York City to Philadelphia and the Centennial grounds.

These facts have had the effect of arousing the Christian people of the State to earnest action. The Baptist Associations, the Diocesan Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Methodist Conference, the Classes, Presbyteries, and Synods of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, passed emphatic resolutions. Several of these bodies appointed standing committees, which have since been consolidated into the “New Jersey Sabbath Union.”

Petitions are being circulated by this organization for the repeal of the objectionable law given above, and a stirring address has been issued to the people of the State, in which they say, “This organization stands ready to unite with the New York Sabbath Committee, on the one hand, and with the Philadelphia Sabbath Association on the other, as a co-worker in a great reformation.”

We regard this movement among the Christian people of New Jersey with the deepest interest. No State has a larger proportion of earnest and intelligent Christians in its population. Its Sabbath laws are among the earliest of such enactments on American statute books, antedating even those of Pennsylvania. In no State have more explicit or valuable judicial decisions been delivered, in interpretation and defense of these laws. Its compact and homogeneous population can be reached and aroused more easily than in some larger States.

If the civil Sabbath cannot be maintained in New Jersey, we may prepare to surrender it everywhere. The friends of the Sabbath in New Jersey are in some sense a forlorn hope. The eyes of the country are upon them. We entreat them to spare no care, sacrifice, or effort to secure the suspension of the “Sunday trains,” which have already wrought such demoralizing results. The present hour is critical, for the evils we now deplore will be multiplied and intensified, if allowed to continue through the period of the Centennial celebration. If not arrested now, there is little hope that they can be arrested in the lifetime of men now living, and probably nothing short of a great social convulsion can ever accomplish the change. But the hour is also auspicious. There are signs of an awakening in the public conscience. More has been said and done in defense of the Sabbath during the last year than in many years gone by. Let the Christian people of New Jersey be true to their history, to their own convictions, and to their divine Master, and let the friends of the Sabbath throughout the whole country remember them in prayer, and we cannot doubt the result. We shall watch the work with care and carefully report its progress.—Christian Statesman.

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