Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1879
GOD KNOWS.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
I will read for my text this evening, Acts 10:5, 6. “And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.”
An idea is conveyed in this text which to my mind is very beautiful; it is that the Lord notices little things,—that he remembers our names, and knows our dwelling-places. Before I come to my text, I will read some passages of Scripture that will illustrate this. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13. We are informed here that there is not any creature, not anything that is not open to his sight; and that nothing transpires that he cannot see plainly.
In Jeremiah 32:19 the same thought is expressed. “Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men; to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
This idea is brought out very clearly by David in Psalm 139. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” When we retire to rest, when we rise in the morning and prepare for the day’s work, the Lord observes all. How impressive the thought! We have not spoken a word to-day that the Lord has not heard and given attention to; he has weighed each one. We sometimes hear people talk, and do not give attention to what they say; but not so with the Lord.
It overwhelmed the psalmist to think how wonderful was God’s knowledge. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
Men sometimes hide themselves in the dark, and commit deeds that they would not do in open daylight; but the Lord can see just as well in the darkest chamber as in the light. We may say, “Yes, we believe that;” but do we realize it?
The thought that specially impresses my mind this evening is this: that the Lord not only takes cognizance of things in a general sense, but that he knows individually every person, and what each one does. He does not know simply that they belong to a certain class, as Americans or Jews, but knows them as individuals; knows their given name and surname. Take, for example, the case of Moses. “Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead.” Josh. 1:1, 2. The Lord knew Moses by name. He says, “Moses my servant.”
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Rev. 3:5. Then our names are in the book of life. A man who has become converted has his name written there, and not only as a converted man, but as a particular individual. The name is mentioned before God and the angels. If there is a man on earth who loves God, he is not only known in Heaven as a man, but Christ mentions his name, and the angels know it. They talk about him just as we do about our brethren. Christ said: “Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven.” Luke 10:20.
I now come to my text, and you will notice how beautifully it presents this thought. I will first read from the beginning of the chapter. “There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.” A very good man, you see. I hope there are such persons in this house to-night. “He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.”
The angel of God who came from Heaven understood who it was before he came. He was going to see a man by the name of Cornelius. He called him by name. Cornelius was a benevolent, praying man. He prayed continually to God, and he heard him. The Lord said, Gabriel, look at that man. See him give to that widow. I will send a special messenger to him. The angels knew his name, and Christ knew his name. “And now send men to Joppa. And call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” The Lord knows just where we stay; where we sleep at night. He knows the business at which we work. Why, the child of God is just as familiar to him as our own children are to us. I do not know simply that I have a little girl or little boy, but I know where they sleep, what they do, and all about them.
Now another thought, and that is this: The Lord’s knowledge is infinite, and is very broad; but he is interested in us, that is, he sympathizes with us, whether we are rich or poor, sick or well. I will read something on this point. “For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Lam. 3:33. The Lord does afflict sometimes, he does it frequently. I had to punish my little girl the other day, but it hurt me as much as it did her. We complain, perhaps, because we are sick. Some have had to come away from home, leave their family and their children, and be at great expense. We cannot see why it should be so. It is not God’s pleasure that we are sick. He has a good end in view all the time. In another place it says, “In our affliction he is afflicted.” That is the point. I will give an illustration of this. “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.” Deut. 32:11.
The eagle, as you will remember, does not build its nest on the ground or in the bushes, but seeks the top of a high tree, or the projecting point of a high rock, which no one can reach. There the mother eagle lays her eggs, and hatches her little eaglets. She feeds them until they are strong enough to fly, and then, in order to teach them to use their wings, she forces them from the nest, and throws them right over the precipice. They are in a terrible predicament. It looks to them like certain death. They begin to flutter their little wings; but when it seems that they must fall and be crushed to death on the rocks below, the mother eagle flies underneath them, and catches them on her back. After the little things have rested and recovered from their fright, she lets them fall again. In this way they learn to use their wings. Although the mother seems so cruel to them at first, she does not forget them. Her eye is continually upon them, and she would rather die than have the little ones hurt.
We find ourselves, perhaps, sick and away from home. It does not seem as though it ought to be so. Why does not the Lord order it otherwise? The Lord looks beyond our short vision; he has a good object in it all. Take the case of Job. When his sons were all dead, his oxen killed, and his wife was telling him to curse God, it seemed to him that God had forsaken him; he felt as though the hand of God was against him. If Job could have read the book that was to be written of his experience, and heard the sermons preached from it, he would have suffered his trials a good deal better than he did. If he could have seen how many millions were to be comforted by reading the record of his trials, his bed of ashes would have become one of roses; but he did not see that. Just so, because for the time being we feel as though the rod of God was heavy and our path dark, and we begin to think that he does not hear us and does not care for us, it is simply because we do not see the end as God sees it.
The case of John Bunyan is very much to the point. Probably you have all read “Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.” If there is a book outside of the Bible which is inspired, it is this. It has been read by hundreds of thousands; it has been known to convert thousands of souls to God. When John Bunyan undertook to preach, his enemies immediately tried to stop him. They said, “Bunyan, you can’t preach in that way. If you do, we will shut you up in prison.” He had a wife and several children, and depended upon his earnings to buy their daily bread. He would not stop preaching, however, and so they put him in Bedford jail. He had to stay there for twelve long years, during which time he never earned a dollar, while his poor wife was almost a beggar. John Bunyan must have said to himself, “If God loves me and cares for me, why does he leave me here in jail?” The blessed Lord saw better than he did. If Bunyan had been at liberty, he probably would never have been heard of out of his own country. While he was in jail he began to write, and as a result we have “Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.” Everybody read it. He did more good while in jail than he could have done in a hundred years outside. We cannot always tell whether it is for the glory of God that we should have health and friends, or be deprived of them; that is God’s business.
God is able to do for us all that can be done. All the trials of life have not simply come by chance, but the providence of God is in these things. It was not accidental that slavery was abolished; in the providence of God it was brought about. I do not think it simply happened that men thought to build this Sanitarium; I think the Lord had something to do with it. You cannot see how it is best that you should be kept away from your families and friends, but the Lord has a reason for all these things. We cannot see before us, but the Lord can. The Bible teaches, and it is reasonable, that in everything, business, pleasure, or anything else, we ought first to commit our ways to God. We should ask the Lord to direct us. He understands all about us.
I will read a passage from Matthew: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” In two hours from now, probably all of us will be in our bed-chambers,—the lights put out, and the rooms dark; no one there but ourselves, perhaps. Remember, then, that the Lord God knows where that room is; knows who sleeps there, and all about it. Just get down on your knees, and pray to God for all you need.
Dear brethren, and sisters, and friends, how many of you, as you go through life with its cares and toils, have a practical faith in the love of a present God? The person who does not, loses half the sweetness of life; he loses that strength which comes from God, and he will lose the rewards which are in store for those who love the Lord and serve him. The happiest man, the one who has the most unbounded satisfaction and the deepest joy, is he who faithfully trusts in God every day. To say our prayers mechanically does not amount to much, but to take the Bible as it says, to commit our ways to God, will bring the rich blessing of the Lord. Shall we not think of this to-night? Shall we not all of us go to God with new faith, and have confidence in his power to watch over and guard us? It is our privilege to go to God with everything, for he understands all our hopes, and fears, and doubts. May the Lord help us to have faith in him as a real God, in Christ as our Saviour, and in the plan of salvation as that which will save to the uttermost.
THE RESURRECTION.
By C. W. Stone
BY C. W. STONE.
(Continued.)
We will next examine the teachings of the apostle Paul. It will not take long to determine what he believed, for he tells us very plainly that he had hope toward God, “that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24: 15. You have been ready to exclaim for some time that you believe in the resurrection. Yes; but do you not by this time see that the doctrine is made very prominent in the Scriptures? that it is set forth as the hope of the Christian? and that without the resurrection his hope is lost? Paul styles it the “hope of Israel.” In Acts 28: 20 he says, “For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” That this hope was the resurrection, or something to be received through it, is shown from the first part of chapter 26. In verses 6–8, he says, as he stands bound before Agrippa, “And now34I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?”
This closing question of Paul’s shows just what it was that he was persecuted for. It was for preaching the resurrection of the dead, especially the resurrection of Christ. And he proved the resurrection of all the dead by, or, rather, rested it upon, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and represented it as that through which all Israel hoped to receive the promise made of God unto the fathers. That promise was made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See Gen. 13: 14–17; 26: 1–4; 28: 13–15. It included the whole world. Rom. 4: 14. God promised it to Abraham and his seed. That seed is Christ. Gal. 3: 16. If we are Christ’s children, then we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Verse 29. But Abraham and all his heirs to the present time have “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.” Heb. 11: 13. Abraham never received a square foot of the land God promised him. Acts 7: 5. God has foreseen something better for us, that we should have our reward at the same time Abraham receives his. Heb. 11: 40.
But now comes the point,—How is Abraham to receive that inheritance? He is dead. Now if he has an immortal soul that has gone to its reward, certainly the earth is not included in that reward; and if men are continually leaving this earth at death, to dwell eternally in Heaven, that promise made of God unto the fathers can never be fulfilled. But if Abraham is raised from the dead, brought up out of the grave in which he now sleeps, and invited with all his righteous seed to inherit the kingdom prepared for the blessed from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25: 34), then will the promise of God be fulfilled, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5: 5. The literal resurrection of the dead is proved by this line of argument, and its absolute necessity is seen from the fact that God’s word could not be fulfilled without it. Hence, if there be no resurrection, our hope is lost. And that is precisely what Paul says in 1 Cor. 15: 13–18. Thus: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Thus the whole gospel is of no use if the dead rise not. The pious, godly men of old, and all our dear ones who sleep in Jesus, are perished if there be no resurrection.
Pause here, dear reader. Do you believe all those good people are now in Heaven? Then the resurrection is a matter of little concern to them. They are all right without it. But no; they are not in Heaven, and they can never go there till they are raised from the dead; and if the dead are not to be raised, then they are all perished. Do you not see the infinite importance of the resurrection? Do you wonder that God has said so much in his Bible to enlighten us upon this matter, when our eternal interests hinge upon it? And remember that the Bible doctrine of the resurrection annihilates that other doctrine of man’s natural immortality, and his entrance into Heaven at death.
In many places in the Bible we find it stated that there shall be a resurrection of both righteous and wicked. We learn from Rev. 20: 5, 6, that the righteous have part in the first resurrection, and that the wicked dead do not live again until a thousand years later. In Rev. 19: 11–21 is given a grand description of the coming of Christ, and of a portion of the events which will attend his coming. He is represented as riding at the head of the armies of Heaven. On his head are many crowns, and his vesture is dipped in blood. He comes as a terror to his enemies. On his thigh is a name written,—“King of kings, and Lord of lords.” He will smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron; “and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” An angel stands in the sun, and invites all the fowls of the air to gather themselves together “to the supper of the great God,” to eat the flesh of kings, of mighty men, of horses and their riders, and of wicked men of all classes and ranks.
This is the time when that dreadful prayer is heard from these same persons, who address the reeling mountains, and say, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” Rev. 6: 14–17. But it is too late for them to pray. To-day, “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2: 1. He is ready to plead your cause to-day, dear reader, and he invites you to come to him. But by and by he will plead no more. Mercy’s voice will be hushed, the door of the ark will be closed. Oh! the anguish of that hour, when the sinner shall realize that “he that is unjust” must forever so remain! Rev. 22: 11, 12. Repentance can avail nothing then. The sinner cannot bear the sight of the awful glory of the coming King, and he desires to be hidden from the face of Him whose pleadings he rejected, and who now comes to execute the just vengeance of an offended God. The wicked cannot endure the sight. The vials of wrath unmixed have fallen on their unsheltered heads; “and the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, . . . and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” Rev. 19: 21. Dread carnival of man’s last enemy, death! A dismal silence, unbroken save by the shrieks of vultures and the wail of demons, reigns on the depopulated earth.
Jeremiah had a view of the earth thus torn and disinhabited. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried: they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jer. 25: 33. They will not be buried, for there will not be a living man on earth to do it. In another place he gives further particulars, thus: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” Jer. 4: 23. The earth will be reduced to that state of disorder and chaos in which it was when God created it, and again shall darkness rest upon the face of the deep. Gen. 1: 2. “I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. . . . For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.” Jer. 4: 24–28. The word of the Lord is pledged for it, and it will certainly come to pass.
It is now proper to ask, Where are the children of God during and after these terrible scenes? All that part of Rev. 19 which we have examined speaks only of the fate of the wicked living at the advent of Christ. But the Lord does not leave his people hopeless. Even before he made the panorama of this terrible slaughter to pass before the mind of the beloved John, he caused him to hear the glad songs of triumph as they will be sung by the redeemed hosts on the banks of eternal deliverance. The chapter opens thus: “I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God.”
Just so when Jesus comes, it will be his first care to protect his people. “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24: 31. When that trumpet shall sound, the resurrection takes place. “We shall not all sleep,” says Paul, some will be alive when the Lord comes, “but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” At that time we are to put on something that we never have had before; namely, immortality. When this shall have been done, “then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The grave has long had the victory; but when it is unlocked, and the prisoners spring to life, when they hear his voice, and come forth, then will they shout in ecstatic joy, Where now, O grave, where now is thy victory? You have held us a little while; you have had a momentary victory, “but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15: 51–57.
Paul wrote further particulars in his letter of consolation to the Thessalonians, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him [bring them from the dead as he did Jesus]. 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 [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first [the rest of the dead, the wicked, do not rise till a thousand years after. This is the first resurrection. Rev. 20: 5]. 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.” 1 Thess. 4: 14–17.
The Lord comes down from Heaven; the dead in Christ come up from the graves, and with the living saints ascend to meet the Lord.
Some have tried to show that the saints remain in the air until the earth is purified, and that they are returned to the earth without having been taken to Heaven at all. That this is a baseless theory will clearly appear as we proceed. Paul says they are caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Jeremiah says the earth is left without a man on it. Jer. 4: 25. Jesus said that his followers should go to Heaven when he comes, which forever settles the point. Said he to Peter, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterward.” Jesus was speaking of going to his Father, and this is a direct promise that his disciples shall go there too. And he tells when that shall be; namely, at his coming. Thus: “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.” Then, as if to make the truth doubly plain, John is permitted to look into the future and see the redeemed on Mount Zion. “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, . . . and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”
Now we are prepared to return to Revelation 19, where it is recorded that John “heard a great voice of much people in Heaven.” We have noticed the supper to which “all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven” are invited, spoken of in verses 17, 18, and 21. A supper of quite a different character is spoken of in verse 9. It is the marriage supper of the Lamb. The saints of God will be the guests. You have read of Jesus, as he lived a life of humility and sorrow. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53. For us he wore the purple robe and the crown of thorns. For us he was spit upon, whipped, and crucified. Oh, what humility for the Son of God to endure! He will never have to suffer again. He is coming in terrible majesty as King of kings, clad in garments of vengeance. Thus his foes will see him; but his waiting saints will exclaim, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25: 9. His coming will be the source of the greatest joy to them. They receive him as their Redeemer and King. But they will never behold him in his humility again. “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” This is the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He to whom his guests owe their salvation, who died for them, who is their King,—the Host, the Bridegroom,—will gird himself and serve them. What earthly monarch ever treated his servants with such honor? Infinite condescension and love! The good of all ages will be there. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, dear ones whom death has separated, will sit side by side at that beautiful table. Oh, what bliss untold! Jesus will look with joy upon the happy company, and as he thinks of what his sufferings have bought for them, he will be satisfied. This will be his joy. Shall we see some there saved through our labors? If so, then we can truly “enter into the joy” of our Lord.
Reader, need I ask which of these two suppers you wish to attend? Nay, pause a moment; you must attend one of them. You are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Will you try to be there? Do not make excuses, as did the men in the parable (Luke 14: 15–24); for if you do, others will be invited in your place. “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Rev. 19: 9. But if you are not among these, you will have part in that dread supper of the great God, prepared for the filthy birds of prey. The former was purchased for you by the blood of Christ; the latter comes as the wages of sin. Will you comply with the terms, and accept the free gift of the first, or will you continue in carelessness to labor for the second? May God help you and me to make a wise choice.
(To be continued.)
ULTIMA VERITAS.
By Rev. W. Gladden
In the bitter waves of woe,
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt—
When the anchors that faith had cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail.
I know that right is right,
That it is not good to lie;
That love is better than spite,
And a neighbor than a spy;
I know that passion needs
The leash of a sober mind;
I know that generous deeds
Some sure reward will find;
That the rulers must obey;
That the givers shall increase;
That duty lights the way
For the beautiful feet of peace;—
In the darkest night of the year,
When the stars have all gone out,
That courage is better than fear;
That faith is truer than doubt;
And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,
I know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side;
And that somewhere beyond the stars,
Is a love that is better than fate;
When the night unlocks her bars,
I shall see Him, and I will wait.
—Rev. W. Gladden, in Sunday Afternoon.
FLOOD IN WISCONSIN.
By D. Downer
Our town was visited on the evening of July 2 by one of the most terrible floods ever known in this part of the State. It commenced to rain about 9 o’clock P. M. An hour later, such a terrific hailstorm set in that it threatened at one time to demolish buildings, and to destroy the lives of horses and cattle which were not under shelter. Our village is situated on the Creek bottom, on either side of which the banks are high and steep. There are three mills within a distance of two hundred rods. At 11 P. M. all the gates were hoisted, and the water was running two feet deep over the dams. Soon afterward the upper dam gave way, carrying everything before it. The grist-mill, dam and all, went next. It was a large mill filled with grain; but it floated off like a feather. The third dam in the village also gave way, sweeping everything clean before it.
The family of Bro. Hill, living in the center of the valley, were all very sick with measles and whooping-cough. The family which lived in the next house were also sick, but they succeeded in wading as far as Bro. Hill’s, when they could get no farther; and as it was impossible to reach the shore, they all climbed, or were carried, up stairs, where they waited, expecting every moment to be swept away by the flood. The water rose several feet around the house; but, to their astonishment, the building remained unmoved. Daylight came, and our village people beheld what all were willing to acknowledge a manifestation of the providence of God. A large timber of the mill had stopped above the house, around which trees and timbers lodged, causing mud to settle around the building; while the water rushed by on either side, carrying barns, mills, and dams. Reapers, wagons, and millstones were carried miles below; yet these two families, right in the midst of the flood, were saved. They were all Sabbath-keepers, or children of Sabbath-keepers, with one exception.
Bro. Hill had formerly owned a house and lot in town; but a short time previous he had traded it for a farm. The house was nearly ruined, and the lot mostly washed away, which loss would have been his had he not traded. It is reported that forty-six who35were killed by the flood were buried yesterday; but there was no loss of human life here. We do not know of a mill in this part of the country that is in running order. The hail has destroyed much grain along the Chippewa valley.
We believe that the God who protected Bro. Hill in the flood, will also protect others who keep his commandments.
D. DOWNER.
Arkansaw, Wis., July 8, 1879.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES.
By J. D. B.
RELIGIOUS PAPERS APOLOGIZING FOR ILLEGAL PRACTICES.
The efficiency of the various useful and ornamental articles—as books, engravings, chromos, etc.—having been exhausted as premiums for enlisting subscribers, as about the latest thing, religious newspapers have taken to offering revolvers.
Consistency would seem to require that a paper professing that the millennium is near—when all such things shall be beaten into implements of useful service, rather than destruction—instead of fostering the manufacture and use of such injurious, dangerous, and deadly weapons, should discourage them.
But we are prepared to find any amount of inconsistency even among religious people in the pursuit of money, when religious people and papers countenance and sanctify the various evil, and often criminal, means used to obtain money in fairs, etc.
And here comes a notable example. The American Tract Society, in the Illustrated Christian Weekly of July 5, 1879, devotes a whole page to an advertisement of a revolver (paid for it of course), then they supplement the advertisement with a notice in which they recommend the pistol as a “safe and reliable weapon,” and apologize for the carrying of it as being “an absolute necessity” in some cases; and that, “as with anything else, the harm is in the abuse, not in the use.” But who does not know that we had no such necessity for universal armament till the invention and cheap sale of pistols created it. Here is a case where the proverb is reversed, and “Invention is the mother of necessity.”
But this carrying of deadly weapons is illegal, and hence a crime. What shall we think of the safety of law-abiding and moral principle, when educators of the people and conservators of morals, like the Weekly, have no stronger thing to say against an illegal, criminal, and hurtful practice, but that “the habit of carrying fire arms may be a very foolish one”?
Surely some one is becoming converted, but it is in a wrong direction to bring about a millennial reign of the Christian principles of “peace on earth and good will to men.”—J. D. B., in Bible Banner.
FRANK ADMISSIONS.
THE July number of the Sabbath Memorial published by Eld. Wm. M. Jones, London, Eng., contains the following interesting “Editorial notes”:—
THAT the seventh day is the only Scriptural Sabbath is now a growing admission among Christians; but the grace of obedience is lacking, and will be probably so long as the mind seeks refuge in present convenience, and in indifference to the law of God. The following admissions from various parties are significant:—
“I HAVE an appointment to preach on the Sabbath question before my people, but I can speak only of the necessity of a Sabbath. I cannot say that Sunday is the Sabbath.”
“IF I believed the Scriptures to be my only guide in matters of faith and practice, I should keep the seventh day.”
“WHEN I came down from the pulpit Mr. — said to me, ‘Your sermon on the Sabbath lacked one important point. You did not tell us which day is the Sabbath.’ I replied, ‘I know that as well as you.’”
IN a group of ministers not many years since, one remarked, “We hear that a Seventh-day Baptist minister has come from America to preach in London; hadn’t we better send him some books to set him right on that question, and convert him to Lord’s day observance?” Whereupon a Doctor of Divinity replied sharply, “Brethren! I, I think before you do that you had better read THE book yourselves!” The proposal was dropped, and the minister never received the books.
“I PRAY thee, have me excused,” said one of the invited guests to the royal supper.
As it is with this general invitation, so it is with the special claim of the Lord’s Sabbath (“the best of all the seven”), men are full of excuses. Here is one: “The freedom from legal yokes we enjoy in and through Christ, makes me regard the day as an immaterial matter.” But how does God regard the day? He has appointed to meet you on that day. Will you venture to postpone His appointment and risk His displeasure? Did it ever occur to you that you have all your life been a day too late in your weekly appointment with the Almighty? But what right has a man to call the Sabbath of the Lord his God a “legal yoke”? The objection seems to rest upon the fact that the Sabbath is commanded, and that the Jews kept and do still keep it. Well, the Bible was written by Jews. Our Saviour was a Jew, and the same God that made us made the Jews. Shall we renounce Him on that account?
To BELIEVE ON CHRIST, to be baptized, to celebrate the Lord’s supper, to do unto others as we would that others should do unto us, and to do anything that must be done as a law of necessity, or of love, or both; is not the doing of these as much a legal yoke as the keeping of the fourth commandment? Is loving obedience legality? Is there sin in such legality? If so, where? If I am to obey the seventh, the sixth, the fifth, and the third commandments, can any mortal man tell me why I should not obey the fourth?
But what about Sunday? We affirm that it is made a legal yoke with a vengeance, accompanied as its non-observance is with fines and imprisonment; and yet objector keeps it and calls it by sacred names, though without a shadow of authority from the Bible; and besides he doubtless does all he can by precept and example to support this legal yoke for a day that has no sacred character whatever given it by the Lord Jesus or his apostles. We beg the reader not to be entrapped with the false application of an idea used by the apostle for something entirely different from keeping the Sabbath.
MOODY AND THE CHILDREN.
By D. W. Reavis
“The first two or three years that I attempted to talk in the meetings I saw that the older people did not like it. I had sense enough to know that I was a bore to them. Well, I went out upon the street, and got eighteen little children to follow me the first Sunday, and I led them into the Sunday-school. I found that I had something to do. I was encouraged, and I kept at that work. And if I am worth anything to the Christian church to-day, it is as much due to that work as anything else. I could not explain these scriptural passages to them, for I did not then comprehend them, but could tell them stories; I could tell them that Christ loved them, and that he died for them. I did the best I could. I used the little talent I had, and God kept giving me more talents. And so, let me say, find some work. See if you can get a Sabbath-school to teach. If you cannot get that, go down into the dark lanes and by-ways of the city and talk to them, and sing some gospel hymns; or, if you cannot sing, take some one with you that can sing some of these songs of praise.”
“Sing or read the twenty-third psalm, or pray, and you can get a blessing in that way. When you have won one soul to Christ, you will want to win two, and when you get into the luxury of winning souls, it will be a new world to you, and you will not think of going back to the world at all.”
We would call especial attention to the fact that Mr. Moody attributes his great success to first teaching the children. If our young men and women who desire to do something in the closing message, will pattern after the example of Mr. Moody, and use the talents they have, God will give them more talents and make them strong in his cause. What a field is opening up before our young people in the Sabbath-schools! What an opportunity to improve our little talent! All can enter into this work. Come, young friends, let each of us be a Moody, and hunt up a Sabbath-school to teach. Love the children. Sing and pray with them. Do it, not for praise, but for our Saviour.
We have met some young persons who are studying real hard, preparatory to entering the field. They want to work for the Master, but to our surprise they positively refuse to attend Sabbath-school. They “have no time.” They “must study.” Explain to them how much the school is needing them as teachers, and they say that they have no gift for teaching the children—never could teach. Mr. Moody had to learn to teach the children before he could interest their parents. So we believe it will be with you, young friends.
It is a fine thing to be in the top of the tree, but you cannot get there by one mighty jump. Let us climb up.