Review and Herald, Vol. 48, No. 20. (11/16/1876)

Review and Herald

Nov 16, 1876

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 16, 1876

WHO ARE THE FALSE TEACHERS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12.

When the truth of God relating to the coming of the Lord is presented to the people, much is always said with regard to false teachers and false prophets as applying to us. But what does the Bible say about this class of prophets and teachers, and those found doing the work of the Lord by proclaiming the messages of warning to the people of their time?

First, we will notice the language of our text in connection with others of like import: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” This is unqualified. All who will live godly shall suffer persecution. The language of our Saviour is to the same effect: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19. He says his people are not of the world, and therefore the world hates them. The term world does not simply mean those who are commonly called worldlings. It is any man, whether in the church or out, who follows the spirit of the world. The men that hated Christ were particularly those who professed to obey God.

The Saviour continues: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you, if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” Verse 20. Thus it is that the spirit of the world, and the spirit of Christ are opposed one to the other. It was so in the days of Christ and his apostles, and thus it continues to be.

The language of Stephen, in Acts 7:51, 52, is to the point: “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” Notice this text a moment. From this we get the key-note of the Scriptures. Where is there a prophet who has spoken the truth, but that has suffered persecution from the hands of those professing godliness? So long as any man will come out and live a Christian, and reprove the ungodly for wickedness, so long that man will be persecuted. That is the reason why the world hates him. Those who go to the places where the worldlings go, and do the things they do, and love the things they love, they do not persecute. This world is at enmity with God. The man that will come out and obey God and the truth is destined to bring upon himself the hatred of those that are opposed to God.

Why is it that the wicked persecute the righteous—not professors merely, but those that are really righteous? John gives the reason with regard to Cain and Abel: “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12. Cain was the first persecutor. The righteousness of his brother Abel condemned him. It is, then, because a righteous man, by his conduct and faith in God and obedience to the truth, condemns those who do not do right; and hence the righteous are always causing them trouble.

Mark, wherever God’s servants have given the truth, and uttered warnings, the wicked and persecutors turn round and say, “These men are dividing families, breaking up churches, and doing mischief generally. Of Elijah we read,—“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” 1 Kings 18:17. Remember that Elijah lived in the time of Ahab’s reign, and was a prophet of the Lord. Elijah had reproved sin, and had told Ahab that his sins would find him out. This incensed the king. He accused Elijah of troubling Israel. They said it was on Elijah’s account that Israel was troubled. Hear the answer Elijah made: “I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” Verse 18.

He points out the trouble in language unmistakable. They had forsaken the commandments of the Lord. They had broken the first commandment by following after another god. The trouble was not with Elijah, only that he insisted that they should reform, that they should leave off worshiping Baal, and keep the commandments. “Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” Verse 22. Yes, they had a big majority,—four hundred against one. If some of our modern brethren had been back there, they would have gone with the majority. They had the great men, the aristocracy, the king, and the queen, on their side. Quite a respectable majority, was it not?

Again, I come down to the New Testament. Take John the Baptist. You know how he lost his life. He was a fearless man. He came right out and called sin by its right name. There was the king, a man in great authority, who had married his brother’s wife. What did John do? He stepped up to him and said, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” Matt. 14:4. There was the trouble; he came right out and protested against the wrong. He said, “Thou art the man;” and they put him in prison, and afterward beheaded him.

They accuse us of talking pretty strong sometimes. Perhaps we do; but do we talk any stronger than did John the Baptist? He says, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.” Matt. 3:7. Who were they? The gentlemen of Jerusalem, leading men of the place. But said he to them, Ye generation of vipers, what have you come for? That is the way the servants of God have talked all the time. When a man walks with God, that man has more sense of what wrong is, and he will talk it right out; and when somebody gets hit, then he begins to persecute those who point out his sins. That is the reason why God’s servants have always been persecuted. They condemn sin and rebuke wrong.

On the other hand, how do false prophets do? Let us read a description of false prophets, and the people to whom they prophesy. Thus the Lord by Isaiah says, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, . . . that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” Isa. 30:8–10.

What kind of prophecies did the people want? Said they, “Speak unto us smooth things.” False prophets have always done that. They look and see what the mass want, and then speak that which will make them popular, and gain them favor. They study to please the mass. This is always the danger. We are apt to fear the people more than God, to love the praise of men more than the unpopular truth. Frequently at the present day, if any man happens to get hit for his sins, the minister will take back all that he has said, apologizing very humbly for his misdirected words; and it is all smoothed over, and the minister and people are in harmony again.

Christ tells us how it is with false prophets in the following language: “Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26. Yes, everybody spoke well of the false prophet,—the wicked did, and sinners did. He is a splendid fellow, said they. But if those prophets had talked things right out, they would not have got along so well. Let a man go out in the fear of God and call things by their right names, and point out the fables and false doctrines of the age, and he will fare just as the righteous have in other ages. Take the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, against whom there could be no fault found. Who persecuted him? The men who claimed to be the chosen of God. They hated him the most of any body, and why? In Luke 11:42, we are let into the secret. “But wo unto you Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

Christ might have said after speaking this language as our modern brethren would have said, Oh! excuse me, you Pharisees, I was talking in a general way. I hope you will not take it to yourselves. But he made no such acknowledgment. It was this spirit of boldness that stirred up the lawyers, scribes, and Pharisees, to persecute him. He did not come praising this one or excusing that one; but he came as a reprover, and as a teacher of righteousness. Again he says to them, “Wo unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” Verse 52. Who were these lawyers? They were not of our modern class of lawyers, but expounders of the law and of the Scriptures. Of them Christ said, “Ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” That is to say, They had so mystified and covered up the true meaning of the Scriptures, that the people did not understand the Bible any more. The same thing is as true to-day as it was then. Look abroad and see the errors in our land, and see how Scripture is perverted to suit the opinions of man and church creeds.

What did Christ point out in the Pharisees and the church of his day, which gave them such great offense? Here is one thing: They broke the law of God. The scribes and Pharisees came to him and said, “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Matt. 15:2. What is the matter? They transgress the tradition of the elders. Whatever the fathers say, they must do. What did Christ say? “Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your traditions?” Verse 3. He takes up the fifth commandment. Now, he says, you have got up a tradition which makes void the commandment of God—God says one way, and you say another. Are not the mass now with their teachers making void the fourth commandment of God, as did the Pharisees the fifth commandment in Christ’s time? Of such, Christ says, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Verses 8, 9. There it is. Go back to our Saviour’s time, and gathered together was an audience, as I have here before me. Jesus was their teacher. The sins of the people were before him, and he openly rebuked them. It was for this, because he talked the truth so plainly, that they hated and persecuted him.

For another saying of Christ did the Pharisees persecute him. Said he, “Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matt. 15:14. This was a plain declaration, was it not? referring directly to the spiritual guides of his time. “Oh!” says one, “my minister believes so. I guess he is an honest man, and I will follow him. I am not going to follow this new doctrine.” Christ says they are blind leaders of the blind, and both will fall into the ditch. If people shut their eyes, and are led down to perdition, well and good; but God will bring both the leaders and the followers to account, each one for himself.

Another thing Christ did which gave offense;—he taught the multitude,—the poor people. “And the common people heard him gladly.” Mark 12:37. It has ever been so. When God sends a man, it is generally in a humble manner. The apostle Paul was a humble man. He worked with his hands making tents. God chooses from among the common people. Paul says, “I am afraid of you lest you be removed from the simplicity of the gospel.” When men become lifted up, rich, and proud, they will not love the cross of Christ; and they are rejected by God, their places being filled by those with less pretensions, men from among the poor and common people.

John sent to ask Christ for the proof of his ministry. “Then Jesus answering, said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” Luke 7:22. This was one proof that he came from God. Christ was ever reaching out after the poor and unfortunate, and bringing them in. Thus it should ever be with the church of Christ; but when the minister gets above that, you will find the church filled up with the rich and the proud, while

the poor are crowded back till they are crowded out with the gospel.

Of Christ it is said: “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.’” Luke 15:1, 2. They did not like to have their teacher a friend to the publicans and sinners. The Pharisees found fault and complained of him for this; and they asked, “Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him?”

(To be Continued.)

WHERE ARE WE DRIFTING?

By Grace H. Horr

The sea of life is deep and wide And countless the treasures that ’neath it hide; The currents of life are full and strong, With counter currents of right and wrong; Let us ask ourselves as we float along, Where, oh! where, are we drifting?

Ah! who the billows can safely ride? What craft has the power to breast the tide? The maelstroms of life are strong and deep, And some on the edge of the vortex sleep. Let us ask ourselves, as our watch we keep, Where, oh! where, are we drifting?

O sea, though we’ve shipped in the barque Good Intent, False colors oft hail us, false signals are sent; And rocks once unknown we encounter ahead, While treacherous sands are beneath us spread, And sadly we sigh o’er the wreck of our dead. Where, oh! where are we, drifting?

Ah! hark; how fiercely the tempest blows! Before the wild wind each vessel goes. Old Boreas shrieks in wild delight,— Ah, mercy! this furious, fearful night! Redouble the watch for the beacon light. Where, oh! where, are we drifting?

O sea of life, on thee who can steer? When lulled the winds, and the sky is clear, The Syrens then sing their false, sweet notes. Look out, oh! look out, aboard the boats; And let each one ask, as he onward floats, Where, oh! where, am I drifting?

—Grace H. Horr.

THE SOCIETY OF HEAVEN.

[That profound thinker and deep reasoner, Dr. Thomas Dick, frequently known as “the Christian Philosopher,” very beautifully discourses on the blessedness of the society of Heaven. The idea is a very interesting one, and might be greatly expanded. G. W. A.]

Even in this world, amidst the physical evils which now exist, what a scene of felicity would be produced, were all the illustrious philanthropic characters now living, or who have adorned our race in the ages that are past, to be collected into one society, and to associate exclusively, without annoyance from “the world that lieth in wickedness!”

Let us suppose a vast society composed of such characters as Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, James, and John, the Evangelists, men who accounted it their highest honor to glorify God and to promote the salvation of mankind,—such philanthropists as Howard, Clarkson, Venning, Wilberforce, and Sharp, who displayed the most benignant affections, and spent their mortal existence in unwearied efforts to meliorate the condition of the prisoner, and relieve the distresses of the wretched in every land—to deliver the captive from his oppressors—to unloose the shackles of slavery—to pour light and vital air into the noisome dungeon, and to diffuse blessings among mankind wherever they were found;—such profound philosophers as Locke, Newton, and Boyle, whose capacious intellects seemed to embrace the worlds both of matter and of mind, and who joined to their mental accomplishments, modesty, humility, equanimity of temper, and general benevolence;—such amiable divines as Watts, Doddridge, Wesley, Whitefield, Fletcher, Edwards, Lardner, and Dwight, whose hearts burned with zeal to promote the glory of their divine Master, and to advance the present and everlasting interest of their fellow-men. To associate perpetually with such characters, even with the imperfections and infirmities which cleaved to them in this sublunary region, would form something approaching to a paradise on earth.

But, let us suppose such characters divested of every moral and mental imperfection, endowed with every holy principle and virtue that can adorn a created intelligence, and with capacious intellectual powers in vigorous and incessant exercise, dwelling in a world where every natural evil is removed, where scenes of glory meet the eye at every step, and where boundless prospects stretch before the view of the enraptured mind. Let us further suppose, intelligences invested with faculties far more energetic and sublime—who have ranged through the immensity of creation, who have mingled with the inhabitants of ten thousand worlds, who have learned the history of the divine dispensations in relation to them all, and who are inspired with every amiable and benignant feeling, and with humility, love and condescension;—let us suppose ambassadors of this description, from numerous worlds, occasionally joining this celestial society, and “rehearsing the mighty acts of Jehovah,” as displayed in the regions from whence they came,—let us suppose, “the man Christ Jesus” president among them, in the effulgence of his glory, and unfolding his peerless excellences to every eye,—let us suppose these glorious beings engaged in conversations, contemplations, investigations, thanksgivings, adorations, and beneficent services, corresponding to the magnificence of the region in which they reside, and to the dignity of their natures—and we have a faint picture of the social enjoyments of the celestial world. This is the society of Heaven, the general assembly of the church triumphant, for which we must now be inspired with a divine relish and for which we must now be prepared in the temper and disposition of our minds, if we expect to be hereafter admitted into that “house not made with hands, which is eternal in the heavens.”

O blessed and glorious society! where no contentions ever arise, where no malignant spirit interrupts the universal harmony, where no malevolent affection is ever displayed, where no provocation disturbs the serenity of the mind, where not one revengeful thought arises against the most depraved inhabitant of the universe, where a single falsehood is never uttered, where folly, impertinence and error never intrude, where no frown sits lowering on the countenance, and no cloud ever intercepts the sunshine of benevolence!—where “Holiness to the Lord” is inscribed on every heart, where every member is knit to another by the indissoluble bonds of affection and esteem, where a friendship is commenced which shall never be dissolved, where love glows in every bosom, and benignity beams from every countenance, where moral excellence is displayed in its most sublime and diversified and transporting forms, where “a multitude which no man can number, from all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,” join in unison with angels and archangels, principalities and powers, in swelling the song of salvation to Him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb that was slain, forever and ever!

May the Father of all mercies, who hath begotten us to the lively hope of an incorruptible inheritance, grant that we may persevere in the Christian course, be kept from falling, be “guarded by his Almighty power, through faith unto salvation,” and that in due time, an entrance may be abundantly administered to us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

THE COMMANDMENTS.—PART 1.

By A. C. Spicer

Further Conclusions from the Foregoing.

III. The claim that the Sabbath was only a Jewish institution, as it was never commanded or known until it was given to the Jews from Mt. Sinai, however it may confuse and mislead, is based in error, is illogical, and has no weight whatever in reason.

1. The terms and manner in which the Sabbath was spoken of on the occasion of the fall of manna in the wilderness, the gathering of the same, the regulations in respect to the Sabbath (the narration of which occasioned the next record in respect to it after that of its creation), and God’s reproof of the people for not better observing it, and his making the keeping of it the test or proof of loyalty and obedience to him,—all not only imply the existence of the Sabbath then and there as a known institution with which the Israelites were entirely familiar at that time, but they authorize the conclusion as certain knowledge, that the Sabbath did then and there exist as an established and well-known institution which those people were not only obligated to honor but accustomed to keep. And more, it is a fact recorded in Ex. 16:30, as implied elsewhere, that it was then and there kept: “So the people rested on the seventh day.”

2. The septenary period—the division of days into periods of seven days each, called weeks (which is determined alone by the Sabbath as there is nothing in nature or reason to originate it or mark it, and no other event or institution but the Sabbath), which has appeared more or less definitely set forth all along during the 2513 years from creation to Mt. Sinai, necessitates the inference that the Sabbath had existed and been recognized during all that time, and also necessitates a reference back to Gen. 2:2, 3 to find its origin, which was in Eden.

3. There in Gen. 2:2, 3 is an account of its origin, with the reasons therefor just as definitely expressed as when it was formally re-enjoined by a commandment from Mt. Sinai. And its sanctification at that time means that it was ordained, given to man, a law established to govern in respect to it, and that that law was given to man then and there; that man was instructed in it, and commanded to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” The pretense that the Sabbath was, in Eden, only elected, “blessed and sanctified,” prospectively or prophetically, in view of its being commanded from Mt. Sinai 2513 years afterwards and kept thereafter, and that it was not commanded to be kept nor any law given therefor till then, is neither logical, reasonable, nor founded in knowledge. The simple and true idea of sanctification is that above indicated.

4. Finally: The Sabbath is not man’s institution but God’s. It is not man’s Sabbath but God’s Sabbath. It is true “the Sabbath was made for man,” as said the Saviour. But that does not make it man’s Sabbath. And we belittle it, lower it down, and dishonor it, and dishonor the Lord who made it, when we consider it simply man’s Sabbath, to be bartered and traded at will, to be used as a matter of personal or conventional convenience, and employed according to popular taste or custom. It is God’s rest—the Sabbath of the Almighty. The sun was appointed to give us light by day. Is it therefore man’s sun? The moon was ordained to light up man’s earth-path-way by night. Is it therefore man’s moon? God’s word was given us to shed its moral light upon our pathway here and enable us to walk by faith in God and in “his Christ,” and in his commandments and statutes, and to be obedient, and hence to walk in assuring confidence in the promises of the gospel and a sustaining hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But is that word therefore man’s word? The Bible was inspired and given to man to be a concomitant and co-operating agent with the Sabbath directed by God’s ordained providence to aid, to enlighten, and sanctify, man, and to conduct him to immortality. Is it therefore man’s word? man’s Bible? Nay, verily; it is God’s word, God’s truth, God’s book. Its teachings are God’s teachings. Its prophecies are God’s prophecies. Its ordinances, institutions, and its laws, are God’s ordinances, institutions, and laws. Its commandments are God’s commandments, and its Sabbath God’s Sabbath.

It was God’s rest before it was given to man to rest upon. In Ex. 16:23, it is called the “rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord;” and again in verse 25, it is said, “For to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord”—a rest unto the Lord. And the Lord did rest from his works there in the wilderness on that day. On it he gave no manna. On it his cloud by day and pillar of fire by night rested. He never led them in journeyings nor directed them in labors on that day, but himself rested, an example to man. God called it “my holy day.” It is called the “Sabbath of the Lord.” And Christ said that he was “Lord also of the Sabbath day.”

It may not be inappropriate to close this summary of deductions with an expression of the confident expectation that though the “man of sin” long years since made a “breach” in the law of God (as held by men), “thinking to change times, and laws” and has, for lo! these many centuries, trampled God’s holy Sabbath beneath his feet from the sight of men in general, yet the day shall come when that “breach” shall be “repaired” and God’s law be “magnified and called honorable” again; when “they that shall be of the Lord” shall rebuild the “old waste places,” and shall turn the foot from off the Sabbath, call it a delight, “the holy of the Lord, honorable,” and shall honor God by keeping it holy.

Then there are glorious blessings promised to the “repairers of the breach,” even to the strangers (Gentiles) who “join themselves to the Lord,” keep his Sabbaths, and “take hold of his covenant.” These are encouraging. See Isa. 43:21; 56:1–8; 58:8–14; 61:4–6. A. C. Spicer.

A Cigar Scientifically Dissected.

A polite visitor, who, during his interview with us, had rendered our sanctum redolent with the fumes of a fragrant Havanna, has just left a cigar on our table with the laughing request that we smoke it. Despite the fact that it is an exceptionally fine cigar, we are unable to gratify our friend’s desire, seeing that we don’t smoke; but the thought occurs that we can show our appreciation of the gift by applying the light, not of a match, but of science, to it, thus giving our friend and his brother smokers something to ponder over each time “the blue up-curling smoke” leads them to reverie.

To the world in general, a cigar is merely a tightly rolled packet having brittle fragments of dry leaves within, and a smooth silky leaf for its outer wrapper. When it is burnt, and the pleasantly flavored smoke inhaled, the habitual smoker claims for it a soothing luxury that quiets the irritable nervous organism, relieves weariness, and entices repose. Science, scorning so superficial a description, examines first the smoke, secondly the leaf, thirdly the ash. In the smoke is discovered water in vaporous state, soot (free carbon), carbonic acid and carbonic oxide, and a vaporous substance condensable into oily nicotine. These are the general divisions, which Vohl and Eulenberg have still further split up; and in so doing they have found acetic, formic, butyric, valeric, and propionic acids, prussic acid, creosote, and carbolic acid, ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, pyridine, viridine, picoline, lutidine, collodine, parvoline, coridine, and rubidine. These last are a series of oily bases belonging to the homologues of aniline, first discovered in coal tar. Applying chemical tests to the leaves, other chemists have found nicotia, tobacco camphor or nicotianine (about which not much is known), a bitter, extractive matter, gum, chlorophyll, malate of lime, sundry albuminoids, malic acid, woody fiber, and various salts. The feathery white ash, which in its cohesion and whiteness is indicative of the good cigar, yields potash, soda, magnesia, lime, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, silica, and chlorine. Our friend has kindly left us a fine cigar; had it been a poor and cheap one, the ingredients we should extract would be fearful and wonderful to contemplate. Here is the list from an English parliamentary report on adulterations in tobacco: Sugar, alum, lime, flour or meal, rhubarb leaves, saltpeter, fuller’s earth, starch, malt commings, chromate of lead, peat moss, molasses, burdock leaves, common salt, endive leaves, lampblack, gum, red dye, a black dye composed of vegetable red, iron, and liquorice, scraps of newspaper, cinnamon stick, cabbage leaves, and straw brown paper.

Returning now to the smoke, or rather its ingredients, Dr. B. W. Richardson, in his “Diseases of Modern Life,” considers the effect of the same on the body, at considerable length, basing his conclusions on actual investigation. He tells us that water, of course, is harmless; free carbon acts mechanically as an irritant, and tends to discolor the secretions and the teeth. Ammonia bites the tongue, exercises a solvent influence on the blood, excites the salivary glands, and thus causes a desire to drink while smoking. The tendency of carbonic acid is to produce sleepiness, headache, and lassitude. When a cigar is smoked badly, that is, when the combustion of the tobacco is slow and incomplete, carbonic oxide is produced in small quantities, and is an active poisoning agent, resulting in irregular motion of the heart, vomiting, convulsions of the muscles, and drowsiness. The nicotine tends to cause tremor, palpitation of the heart, and paralysis. The volatile empyreumatic substance produces a sense of oppression, and taints the breath and surroundings of the smoker with the well known “stale tobacco smoke” smell. The bitter extract causes that sharp, nauseous taste peculiar to a re-lighted cigar or an old pipe.

By trying the effect of tobacco smoke on lower animals, we can obtain an idea of its influence on ourselves. Small insects are stupefied rapidly, but recover in fresh air. Cold-blooded animals succumb slowly to the smoke, birds rapidly. Some animals, such as the goat, can eat tobacco with impunity; but none escape the effects of the fumes. Persons suffer most from tobacco while learning to smoke. Dr. Richardson says that the spasmodic seizures are sometimes terrible, especially in boys. There is a sensation of imminent death, the heart nearly ceases to beat, and sharp pains shoot through the chest. Examination of inferior animals under such conditions shows that “the brain is pale and empty of blood; the stomach reddened in round spots, so raised and pile-like that they resemble patches of Utrecht velvet.” The blood is preternaturally fluid, the lungs are as pale as those of a dead calf, and the heart is feebly trembling: such is the primary action of one’s first cigar. After a time, however, the body becomes accustomed to the influences of the poison; and with the exception of constant functional disturbances (owing to the excretory

organs, notably the kidneys, being compelled to do work not essential to their duties), no distressing results are felt.

There are numerous instances where the evil effects are scarcely appreciable, the physical and nervous constitution of the smoker being capable of resisting the influence. In many cases copious salivation attends smoking, and in this circumstance the opponents of tobacco have found a strong argument. Still, either to expectorate or not to do so is a choice of two evils. In the latter case, the result is to swallow the saliva charged with poisonous matter; in the former, the saliva needed to prepare food for digestion is lost, and besides, as it contains salts of lime in solution, the effect is to produce large formations of tartar on the teeth. “Smoker’s sore throat” is a special irritable state of the mucous membrane induced by cigar smoking, which soon disappears when the habit is broken off. Tobacco smoke does not induce consumption or bronchitis, but it tends to aggravate both maladies. Its effect on the organs of sense is to cause, in the extreme degree, dilation of the pupils of the eye, confusion of vision, bright lines, luminous or cobweb specks, and long retention of images on the retina, with other and analogous symptoms affecting the ear, namely, inability to define sounds clearly and the occurrence of a sharp ringing sound like that of a whistle or a bell. Its effect on the brain is to impair the activity of that organ and to oppress it if it be duly nourished, but to soothe it if it be exhausted. It leads to paralysis in the volitional and in the sympathetic or organic nerves, and to over-secretion from the glandular structures. Science was not wise enough to prepare so formidable an indictment of the nicotian weed as the above in King James’ time, else that monarch might have had better ground than his personal dislike, for stigmatizing the habit of smoking as a “custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stigian smoake of the pit that is bottomlesse.”

And yet, despite all that Science can say, the habit is increasing. Two centuries ago, the Turks regarded smoking as a religious offense, and paraded a smoker through the streets of Constantinople with his pipe stuck through his nose as a warning to others. Who can disconnect the Turk now from the ideas of chibouque or nargileh, or fragrant Latakia? Look at the best cigar wrappers the world can produce, raised on tobacco fields in the heart of New England, where the Puritan fathers once visited the direst of blue law vengeance on the wretch who profaned his Maker’s handiwork by “making a chimney of his nostrils.” The value of our tobacco crop last year reached nearly $30,000,000. We consume annually some 75,000 hogsheads of the leaf; we imported about 83,000 bales of cigars etc., from Cuba in 1875.

What is the end of it all? Effects on individuals likewise affect communities; these in turn influence the nation. No person that smokes can be in perfect health, and an imperfect organism cannot reproduce a perfect one. Therefore it is logical to conclude that, were smoking the practice of every individual of a nation, then that people would degenerate into a physically inferior race. It would follow, moreover, that, in those countries where smoking is most practiced, a lower physical, and consequently a lower intellectual, development must be found. Such, we think, will be conceded to be true of Spain, of Cuba, of Portugal, of Turkey, of Greece, and of the South American countries, where those who are addicted to the habit vastly outnumber those who do not smoke.—Scientific American.

PRAYER

By Robert Southey

[Imitated from the Persian.]

Lord, who art merciful as well as just, Incline thine ear to me, a child of dust! Not what I would, O Lord, I offer thee, Alas! but what I can. Father Almighty, who hast made me man, And bade me look to Heaven, for thou art there, Accept my sacrifice and humble prayer. Four things which are not in thy treasury, I lay before thee, Lord, with this petition: My nothingness, my wants, My sins, and my contrition. —Robert Southey.

IMPOSSIBLE WITH MEN, BUT POSSIBLE WITH GOD.

By N. B. England

Sometime ago, while conversing with one of my neighbors, I was surprised to hear him assert that it was impossible for a man to keep the ten commandments. We agree that it is impossible for the wicked, but for the children of God it is a delight, yea, the ten-commandment law is to them a law of liberty, a law which secures to them eternal rest. But this law which affords protection to the obedient will utterly destroy the disobedient; just as our State law affords protection to those who obey it, but punishes those who disobey. Paul says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Gal. 5:17. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” Gal. 5:19–23.

Then those who have crucified the flesh, those who are Christ’s, do not delight in the works of the flesh, or in other words, do not transgress the law of God. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” 1 John 3:9. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Verse 4. Our Saviour says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments; for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:2, 3.

Reader, do you think that it is impossible for you to keep the commandments? If so, this of itself is evidence that you have not crucified the flesh, that you have not been born of the Spirit. Let me exhort you to search your Bible daily, and see whether you are substantiated in your belief. Be found often in your closet, and there pray God to open your understanding, that you may see the way of truth plainly. Remember that you cannot pray for this except you first give yourself up entirely, humble yourself as a little child before God, and remove all prejudice from your mind. If you do this, the Lord will assist you; for he will help those who earnestly call upon him; and by and by you will realize the fact that this law which was once so grievous and oppressive is now the delight of your soul, and you will delight in rendering obedience to your Heavenly Father as a good child delights in obeying its parents.

Away with a religion which is wholly emotional! Away with the idea that faith without works will save! Away with the world-wide doctrine that men can get to Heaven though they live their lifetime in open violation to the law of God! And let us remember that God will render eternal life “to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality.” Rom. 2:7. Reader, when you have done this, when you have been born of the Spirit, then you will realize the all-important truth, that impossibilities with the wicked are possibilities with the children of God. May God speed the time.

N. B. ENGLAND.

Continue reading: PAST FEELING

WHO ARE THE FALSE TEACHERS.*