Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 18, 1881
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
JUDGMENT AND MERCY.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
Exposed to the power of their enemies, the children of Israel at last realized the perils of their situation, and the futility of all their efforts against the oppressor. Then they began to seek help from Him whom they had so forsaken and insulted. They saw in some measure, how far they had separated themselves from the only One who could help them. "And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim."
But infinite wisdom saw that they sorrowed because of the consequences of their sin—the suffering which it had brought upon themselves, rather than because they had offended God. The Lord answered them, through one of his faithful prophets:—
"Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods; wherefore I will deliver you no more."
Thus the Lord presented before them his goodness, his long suffering, his pity for their distress, and the wonderful deliverances which he had wrought for them again and again. Notwithstanding all his love and care, they had once more forsaken him, and had sinned more grievously than ever before, choosing the service of idols, instead of the worship of the living God. Now, in their distress, he bade them, "Go and cry unto the Gods which ye have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."
But there was hope for Israel as soon as they began sincerely to repent and humbly cry unto God. They had been led to see what would be their condition, should the Lord leave them to be delivered by the gods in whom they trusted. They would be subdued by the very nations that in God's strength they had once conquered. Had Israel preserved their connection with God, they would have derived honor, dignity, and power from this relationship.
Allied to the King of kings, the Lord of life and glory, the vilest sinner may become a partaker of the divine nature, and an heir of eternal riches. "To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Oh, what condescension, what amazing love, to make fallen man a member of the royal family, a child of the Heavenly King! How can the world's Redeemer look upon those who stubbornly refuse to receive the gifts of a Saviour's love, or who, having professedly accepted him, cast aside as worthless trifles the honor and dignity offered them as his followers!
Multitudes turn with contempt from the pleadings of divine grace and infinite love, to satisfy their desire for forbidden pleasures which prove as the apples of Sodom, beautiful without, and ashes within. Israel had no love for the holy character of God, and they rejected and despised his friendship. Scorning the Creator, they adored the creature; and when, in their distress, they sought unto the long-insulted Jehovah, he pointed them to the gods of their choice, and bade them cry to these deities for help.
The Israelites well knew that their idols were powerless to save or to destroy. They knew that the heathen worship was contrary to reason and sound judgment. But they had gradually departed from God, and had indulged in sin until their moral perceptions were dulled, and they were led astray by Satan.
As we ponder the solemn words of warning addressed to Israel, we are in imagination brought before the great white throne, where in the presence of the assembled universe, every man will be judged according to the deeds done in the body. Then will be seen the true value of a Christian life and character. There must they render an account who have devoted their God-given talents of time, of means, or of intellect, to serving the gods of this world. The searching eye of Jehovah will rest upon all; and that voice which amid the thunders of Sinai spake to man, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"—that voice will answer the sinner's imploring cry for pardon, "Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation."
None then to pity the folly of those who have despised and forsaken God. None to relieve their distress. They have forsaken their true and loving Friend, to follow the path of convenience and worldly pleasure. They intended at some time to return to God. But the world, with its follies and deceptions, absorbs the attention. Frivolous amusements, pride of dress, indulgence of appetite, harden the heart and benumb the conscience, so that the voice of truth is not heard. Duty is a despised word. Things of infinite value are lightly esteemed, until the heart loses all desire to sacrifice for Him who has given so much for man. But in the reaping time they must gather the crop sown.
"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you: then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."
God speaks to us to day, in the warnings, and counsels, and reproofs given to ancient Israel. If we depart from him, our condemnation will be greater than theirs; for we have their experience as a warning, and all the instruction which God has given since their time. Many and varied are the idols which we cherish; idols that engross the mind and harden the heart, so that sacred things are not rightly valued. Oh that the lessons given to ancient Israel might so impress our hearts and affect our lives that we would fully turn from idols, to serve the living God.
We must not trifle with our present privileges and opportunities, and expect that when lost they will be restored whenever we desire. It is impossible to abuse the powers with which our Creator has endowed us, and yet find them clear and vigorous, to call to our aid whenever we wish to devote them to a nobler, better purpose. The chains of habit, like ropes of steel, are not easily broken. Then how careful should we be to cherish only those traits which we would have to form the texture of character.
The children of Israel had forfeited all right to expect help from God, and they had begun to feel this. They knew not where to turn for human help, and God had apparently forsaken them. His words thrilled their guilty souls with the anguish of remorse. They knew that they deserved to suffer the divine judgment, and to this they were willing to submit, if they might hope once more to be forgiven and restored to the favor of God.
"And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned; do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel."
Oh, the long-suffering mercy and condescension of our God! The Lord had been trying his people. When they humbled themselves before him, and repented with sincerity of soul, he heard their prayers, and at once began to deliver Israel.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT.
By Mary M. Buckland
BY MARY M. BUCKLAND.
CHOOSE the right; why stop to parley
With the foe?
He will lead you down to ruin,
If you do.
Ever stand with noble firmness,
In the light;
Ever with true moral courage,
Choose the right.
There are many snares, and pitfalls
In our way,
And we'll meet with fierce temptations
Day by day.
But there is a way to meet them—
Shun the blight.
If we ever standing firmly,
Choose the right.
If we see our brother falter,
Going wrong,
We should ever strive to help him
To be strong.
We should ever keep our colors
High, and bright;
Ever having this our watch-word—
Choose the right.
Then we can lift up the fallen,
Help the weak,
In the path of truth, and virtue,
Which they seek.
Then, when the rewards are given,
Crowns so bright,
We'll rejoice that here we ever
Chose the right.
Albion, N. Y.
BEING ALONE.
By Theodore Thornton Munger
SECURE for yourself some regular privacy of life. As George Herbert says: "By all means use some time to be alone." God has put each into a separate body. We should follow the divine hint, and see to it that we do not lapse again into the general flood of being. Many people cannot endure being alone; they are lost if there is not a clatter of tongues in their ears. It is not only weak, but it fosters weakness. The gregarious instinct is animal, the sheep and deer living on in us; to be alone is spiritual. We can have no clear, personal judgment of things till we are separate from them. Mr. Webster used to say of a difficult question, "Let me sleep on it." It was not merely for morning vigor, but to get the matter at a distance where he could measure the proportions and see its relations. So it is well at times to get away from our world—companions, actions, work—in order to measure it, and ascertain our relations to it. The moral use of the night is in the isolation it brings, shutting out the world from the senses, that it may be realized in thought. It is very simple advice, but worth heeding. Get some moments each day to yourself; take now and then a solitary walk; get into the silence of thick woods, or some other isolation as deep, and suffer the mysterious sense of selfhood to steal upon you, as it surely will. Pythagoras insisted upon an hour of solitude every day to meet his own mind and learn what oracle it had to impart.—Theo. T. Munger.
The Lord Is Good
"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."
IS SIN ETERNAL?—NO. 13. BY ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, OF SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND.
By John Norton Loughborough
Of the condition of the dead, and of the nature of sheol, we have plain and forcible testimony in the words of the psalmist (Ps. 6: 5), "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave [sheol] who shall give thee thanks?"
Hezekiah was brought near to death, and when, in answer to prayer, he was recovered he said, "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave [sheol]; I am deprived of the residue of my years. . . . Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave [sheol] cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth." Isa. 38:10-18.
David says of those in sheol, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (into sheol). Ps. 115:17. The reason of this is obvious when we read his testimony in another psalm, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:1-4.
Sheol is not only represented as a place where there is no praise to God, no work, no knowledge, no device, nor wisdom, but it is also a place of darkness, corruption, and worms. "Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? [sheol]. A good evidence that the preaching of 1 Pet. 3:18, 19 was not done in sheol] or thy faithfulness in destruction? shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Ps. 88:10-12.
In the words of Job we read, "If I wait, the grave [sheol] is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit [sheol] when our rest together is in the dust." Job 17:13-16.
We will now give chapter and verse of each instance where the word sheol occurs in the Scriptures. All who have a desire so to do can now look for themselves and see whether it is a Paradise of conscious happiness and bliss, or even the Canon called it, "A half-way house to heaven."
Some have urged St. Paul's desire to "depart and be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23) as proof of consciousness in death, and that the righteous, at death, go immediately to be with Christ.
While considering this text we must give due weight to what we have learned from the Scriptures concerning the state of the dead. If it is a state of sleep, and unconsciousness, from death to the resurrection, how could the dead be said to be with Christ before his second coming and the resurrection?
There are a few scriptures bearing directly upon the question of the saints going to be with Christ which we must now notice. "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come [St. John 7:33, 34]; so now say I to you. . . . Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for thy sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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." St. John 13:33, to 14:3. We see in the above, it is plainly stated that Christ's people get to be with him at his second coming.
St. Paul, when administering consolation to the afflicted mourners of the church at Thessalonica, said: "But I would not have you ignorant, brethren concerning them which are asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [That is, we will bring them up from the sleep of death by the power of Christ by the resurrected one.] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:13-18. In this instance we learn that the Lord's people, both the living and the dead, get to be with him at the time of Christ's second coming and the resurrection.
If we call the "departing" of St. Paul's "desire," death, he could not expect to be with Christ until the resurrection. The state of death being a period of unconscious sleep is naught to the dead. They die, and if they are dead for one year or four thousand years it is but an instant in either case to an unconscious sleeper.
We will introduce here a few thoughts from John Locke, England's great and celebrated philosopher of the seventeenth century. His words though written two hundred years ago are just in point now. He says: "We know certainly by experience that we sometimes think and thence draw an infallible consequence, that there is something in us which has a power to think. But whether that substance perpetually thinks or no, we can be no further assured, than experience informs us. For to say that actual thinking is essential to the soul, and is inseparable from it, is to beg what is necessary to be done, if it is not a self-evident proposition. The idea of duration arises from a succession of ideas, and by that succession, duration is measured in our minds."—Essay, Book II, Chap. I, Sec. 10.
Again he says: "When that succession of ideas ceases, our preception of duration ceases with it, which every one clearly experiments in himself, whilst he sleeps soundly, whether an hour or the day, or a month, or a year; of which duration of the things, whilst he sleeps, or thinks not, he has no perception at all, but it is quite lost to him, and the moment wherein he leaves off to think, until the moment he begins to think again, seems to him to have no distance."—Locke's Essay, Book II, Chap. IV, Sec. 4.
With the ideas of the psalmist that in the day a man dies "his thoughts perish," and that death is a sleep until the resurrection, we see there is no perception of time from death to the resurrection, so the next perceptible thought after death will be the rising from the dead to be with Christ.
Archdeacon Blackburn, of the last century said: "I shall be of opinion, that not to think and not to be conscious that we think, is one and the same thing."—History of the Controversy. Chap. XXIX. In the same chapter he cites a case illustrating the point. It was published, he says, in the London Gazetteer of Saturday, Sept. 28, 1771. It reads thus: "Yesterday fortnight the wife of a tradesman in May's buildings, St. Martin's lane, going to bed as usual, in good health, fell asleep, in which she continued till Tuesday morning, although several methods were taken to awake her, but without effect, till she awoke of herself, got up, and went about her household business, and it was with difficulty she could be persuaded it was any other day but Saturday."
This was a case of profound sleep, or total unconsciousness for four days. The lady had no knowledge of the lapse of time. Had she slept until the resurrection, though it might have been over one hundred years, she doubtless would have considered still that it was only the day after she retired to bed in May's building.
On the theme of unconsciousness in death, and the certainty of the resurrection, the Archdeacon bears testimony as follows: "If the promises of God may be depended upon, and he is able to perform them, men may, and certainly will be raised from the dead at the appointed time, whether the soul has or has not enjoyed its consciousness from the period of death to that of the resurrection. But on the other hand, if it may be demonstrated by philosophical principles, that there is one part of man, which never dies, and which may be delighted or afflicted, rewarded or punished, by the means of its own peculiar feelings or sensations, in a state of separation from the other part, it is hardly credible that God should restore the other part to life, to accomplish a purpose which may be brought about without it." Chap. XIV.
It seems from the reading of the Scriptures that its writers knew of no rewards prior to Christ's coming and the resurrection. Our Saviour himself said, "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." St. Luke 14:13, 14. He also plainly intimated that if the dead are not raised they will be lost. "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." St. John 6:39. If his people are not raised at the last day he will lose them. How can this be, if the real man exists in consciousness without a resurrection?
The resurrection of God's people being the time of reward, how natural that the New Testament writers should look to that time, and to the spiritual, resurrected body, in which they shall be with the Lord, as their greatest object of desire.
The departing and being with Christ is more fully set forth by St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man [our hope in Christ—the new man. Eph. 3:16, 17; Col. 3:9, 10] is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen [carnal things of this world], are temporal, but the things which are not seen [the immortal body, and the future immortal kingdom of God] are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle [our temporal residence on earth, in this mortal state] were dissolved [if the day of dissolution should come, 2 Pet. 3:10-12], we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. [He here refers to the spiritual, immortal bodies of the saints which they shall possess in the resurrection state.] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven [while this mortal creation continues we suffer and groan with creation. We desire our house from Heaven; or, as we have now the image of the earthly, we desire the image of the heavenly. 1 Cor. 15:49]; if so that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." 2 Cor. 4:16-18;3635:1-4.
On this last expression Dr. Justin Edwards, D. D., says: "It is not the unclothing of our bodies by death that we desire, but the clothing of it with the glorified body. If it might be the will of God, we should be glad to have mortality swallowed up of life, without death, as will be the case of those who are alive at Christ's coming."
St. Paul continues: "Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God ["For God made man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world; and they that do hold of his side do find it." Wisdom of Solomon 2:23, 24.] who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. [That is, those who believe in Christ have the Spirit now dwelling in them, by which they shall be made immortal in the resurrection, having the vile body fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. Rom. 8:11; Phil. 3:20, 21.] Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; (for we walk by faith and not by sight) [that is, while this mortal probationary period continues we are absent from the resurrection body in which we shall be with the Lord, and to which our faith looks forward]; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. [We would rather that the immortal state should come, and the mortal period close.] Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. [Whether living here in this mortal state, or dead; for these are the two classes found in that day—the living and the dead—we may be ready for his coming.] For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:5-10. It is very clear that the scene to which St. Paul here looks by faith is what is to come after the judgment, and that in this chapter he is contrasting this mortal state with the immortal resurrection state, when the faithful shall be present with the Lord.
THE CHURCH THERMOMETER.
By Rev. T. L. Cuyler
WELL, what is that? Ask any veteran pastor, who has weathered the storms and rejoiced in the sunshine of a long ministerial life, and he will tell you it is the social prayer-meeting. The true thermometer of a church, to indicate its spiritual temperature, is the weekly gathering around the mercy-seat. A cold prayer-meeting marks a cold church. It is at once the cause and the effect of spiritual declension. If the place of prayer is well-nigh deserted; if the few who are present bodily, seem absent in spirit; if the prayers offered are languid, formal, meaningless, without point and without unction, then
the pastor has abundant cause for heaviness and tears. Sermons preached to such a people are like discourses delivered in one of the ruined temples of Luxor, with the shriveled dead embalmed around him, and grim heads of stone looking down from every capital. His hands hang down, and his spirit faints. And as a church has no surer symptoms of decay than a decaying prayer-meeting, so nothing feels the approach of a revival so palpably as the place of prayer. A revival commonly begins there. The deserted seats are filled. Those who “could not leave their business” now find but little difficulty in closing the doors of their shops and counting-rooms. The absent Thomases are once more with the deserted flock of disciples, and wonder to find the risen Saviour there too, with his benedictions. Those who seldom prayed are now ready to pour out their souls in supplication. The “gift of tongues” has descended. The slow of speech have become eloquent. The sluggish are mounting up with wings as eagles. A latent power is developed in the church, which astounds both pastor and people. The prayer-meeting, too, becomes a place for communion with each other, as well as for communion with God. Old differences are forgotten. Old wounds are healed. Church members will grasp each other’s hands, and inquire about a neighbor’s spiritual health with more solicitude than they manifest in asking about a sick friend. They will linger together about the hallowed spot, talking of the mercies of God to their souls, and they will be loth to go away. They are one in heart; the church is a living unity. The experienced mariner consults the glass. Brethren! if we are wise, we too will keep a lookout upon the thermometer of the church. A prayer-meeting below the freezing-point is a fatal indication.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler.
THE POWERS OF A HYMN.
IN one of the hospitals of Edinburgh lay a wounded Scottish soldier. The surgeons had done all they could for him. He had been told that he must die. He had a contempt for death, and prided himself on his fearlessness in facing it.
A rough and wicked life, with none but evil associates, had blunted his sensibilities, and made profanity and scorn his second nature. To hear him speak, one would have thought he had no piously-nurtured childhood to remember, and that he had never looked upon religion but to despise it. But it was not so.
A noble and gentle-hearted man came to see the dying soldier. He addressed him with kind inquiries, talked to him tenderly of the life beyond death, and offered spiritual counsel. But the sick man paid him no attention or respect. He bluntly told him that he did not want any religious conversation.
"You will let me pray with you, will you not?" said the man at length.
"No; I know how to die without the help of religion." And he turned his face to the wall.
Further conversation could do no good, and the man did not attempt it. But he was not discouraged. After a moment's silence, he began to sing the old hymn, so familiar and so dear to every congregation in Scotland:—
"O, mother dear, Jerusalem,
When shall I come to thee?"
He had a pleasant voice, and the words and melody were sweet and touching as he sung them. Pretty soon the soldier turned his face again. But its hardened expression was all gone.
"Who taught you that?" he asked, when the hymn was done.
"My mother."
"So did mine. I learned it of her when I was a child, and I used to sing it with her." And there were tears in the man's eyes.
The ice was thawed away. It was easy to talk with him now. The words of Jesus entered in where the hymn had opened the door. Weeping, and with a hungry heart, he listened to the Christian's thoughts of death, and in his last moments, to his mother's God and the sinner's Friend.—Witness.
The Supreme Excellence Is Simplicity
In character, in manners, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.—Longfellow.
SATAN.
If the personality of Satan be not a vital principal of your religion, I do not know what it is. There is only one dogma higher. You think it is safe, and I dare say it is fashionable, to fall into this lax and really thoughtless discrimination between what is and what is not to be believed. It is not good taste to believe in the devil. Give me a single argument against his personality which is not applicable to the personality of the Deity. Will you give that up; and if so, where are you? Now mark me: you and I are young men—you are a very young man. This is the year of grace 1839. If these loose thoughts, which you have heedlessly taken up, prevail in this country for a generation or so—five and twenty or thirty years—we may meet together again, and I shall have to convince you that there is a God.—Endymion, by Earl of Beaconsfield.
SHORT-SIGHTED.
There were two short-sighted men, Ching and Chang, who were always quarreling as to which of them could see best. As they had heard there was to be a tablet erected at the gate of a neighboring temple, they determined that they would visit it together on a given day, and put their powers of eyesight to the test. But each desiring to take advantage of the other, Ching went by stealth to the temple; and looking quite close to the tablet, he saw an inscription, with the words, "To the great man of the past and the future." Chang also went, prying yet closer, and in addition to the inscription, "To the great man of the past and the future," he read in smaller characters, "This tablet is erected by the family of Ling in honor of the great man."
On the day appointed, standing at a distance from which neither could read, Ching exclaimed, "The inscription is, 'To the great man of the past and the future.'"
"True," said Chang; "but you have left out a part of the inscription, which I can read, but you cannot, and which is written in small letters: 'Erected by the family of Ling in honor of the great man.'"
"There is no such inscription !" said Ching.
"There is !" said Chang.
So they waxed wroth; and after abusing one another, they agreed to refer the matter to the high priest of the temple. He heard their story, and quietly said: "There is no tablet to read. It was taken into the interior of the temple yesterday."—Chatterbox.
USELESSNESS IN MORALITY.
THE object of morality is always something useful, and those are proper moral acts which compass such utility. Man has no obligation whatever to do the useless; for things that are of no advantage to him are not likely to be of any to God. Ceremonies, of whatever kind, may, therefore, in general, be dispensed with in morality, as of no practical relevancy. Man does not need them, and cannot use them; and what is foolishness to man is not likely to be wisdom to God. There are so many needful things in life that we have no time to do the needless. If they are entertaining, we may practice them as amusements; but we ought not to look upon them as obligations, our ability for which is all taken up by more weighty affairs. To cheat God with empty acts, when we owe him substantial service, ought not to be considered virtue; nor to neglect our plain duty to our fellow for a vague one to God, to be piety. Many things pass for religion that ought to pass for nonsense; and many things are neglected as secular which ought to be attended to as moral. Nothing practical can be ignored as worldly; nothing useless observed as sacred. Sanctity ought to be as sensible as worldliness, and religion as business.
Men ought not to be blind when they attend this duty, and seeing when they attend to their interest. God and men require wisdom of us, as well as self, and are as able as we to distinguish it from folly. To think to put off on others what we will not take for ourselves is not sharpness, any more than it is honesty; for the parties interested will no more be cheated in religion than in trade. One might think, from the trivial and useless service given to God, that he is in sport; and from what we give to men, that they are children. Why men should palm off a sham for what they consider the most important interest of life is a great mystery; and they should try to deceive God, rather than man, with shoddy, a great wonder. Give God his dues in solid coin, and not in depreciated currency; and man nothing less than you give yourself.
Religion has often been made of the flimsiest stuff—materials that could not be used in business. Virtue, it has seemed to some, can be made out of worse materials than anything else valuable, and by using less of it. Men think to put it off with the refuse of life—with the odds and ends of moments—instead of their substantial conduct. Actions so weak and aimless that they produce nothing in any other department of activity are believed to produce much in religion; and states of mind that are worth nothing for anything else are supposed to be good for religion. We need to work more of the substance of life into religion, and make our morality of the best materials and in full quantities.—Independent.
THE SPREAD OF MORMONISM.
Mormonism formed the topic of an address which was delivered recently by Professor J. M. Coyner, President of the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, in the Seventh Presbyterian Church at Cincinnati. Mormonism, he said, was a moral plague that was spreading in all directions with alarming rapidity.
"Utah Mormonism," said Professor Coyner, "is not the Mormonism that is expounded out of the Territory by from 600 to 800 missionaries at a yearly expense of about $1,000,000 to win proselytes. It is a kingdom of itself, thoroughly organized from the chief hierarch down to the lowest servant, whose avowed object is the overthrow of the social conditions based on Christianity and republicanism at the same time. They boast that within fifteen years, as indicated by their present expansion, and the vast territory within which their principles are either openly avowed or covertly maintained, they will virtually have accomplished that result."
Within the last six years they have organized in the Territory eight churches and twenty-three schools, which are maintained chiefly by contributions from the East. One of the speaker's most startling statements was that nearly one-third of the territory of the United States is virtually under the control of Mormons.
"Over Utah as a centre," he said, "they hold absolute sway. They are swiftly and surely moving on Montana and Washington Territories, and politically in Nevada and Colorado they hold the balance of power."—Christian Statesman.
The Wicked Shall Not Go Unpunished
"Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished."