Review and Herald, Vol. 15, No. 12. (2/9/1860)

Review and Herald

Feb 9, 1860

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 9, 1860

THE FAMILY RODS.

By H. Bonar

WE hear of the "rod of the wicked," and we are told that it "shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous."—Psa. cxxv, 3. This may mean that wicked men are God's rod for chastening his people, and that, though permitted to light upon them, it shall not rest or abide upon them, but shall be destroyed as was the Assyrian, who was used by God as the "rod of his anger" for afflicting Israel. In this sense it gives us the blessed assurance that the triumph of the wicked over the saints is short; that their devices and oppressions shall last but for a moment, and that the church's sufferings at their hands shall soon be over. Wicked men may be "the sword of God" (Psa. xvii, 13), as was Pilate when he lifted the sword against the man that was Jehovah's fellow; or as Herod was when he beheaded John in prison; but that sword shall soon be broken. A wound now and then may inflict but that is all. It neither moves nor smites save when God allows. Nor does it come save with a blessing on its edge. "They mean it not so," yet God means it, and that is enough for us. He makes the wrath of man to praise him. "There shall no evil happen to the just; when he shall hear of evil things he shall not be afraid."

But the "rod of the wicked" may mean that rod with which he smites the wicked in his fierce anger. In this sense there is no rod for the righteous. Such a rod never either lights upon nor rests upon them. Their rod is not the rod of the wicked. It is the family rod. They have done with wrath.—Over them no curse can rest. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." The rod may seem to speak of frowns and anger, but it is only seeming; there is not a glance of vengeance in the chastener's eye. It is a correcting rod, but not a destroying one; its object is not to punish but to chasten; not to injure but to bless. "God distributeth sorrows in his anger" (Job xxi, 17), but these are not for his saints.

God has however, not one rod for his children, but many. For each child he has a peculiar rod, and at different times he uses different rods. It will be profitable for us to consider what those are, and how they are applied.

1. Bodily sickness. The body operates very powerfully upon the soul, both for good and evil. In what way or to what extent, we cannot tell. Nor do I wish to discuss this question at all. But knowing how the soul is acted on by the body, I cannot help thinking that one of God's designs in sickness is to operate upon the soul through the body. We are not conscious of this; we cannot analyze the process; the efforts are hidden from view. Yet it does seem as if sickness of body were made to contribute directly to the health of the soul in some way or other known only to God. Hence the apostle speaks of "delivering such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 1 Cor. v, 5. On this point however, I do not dwell; only it would be well for us to consider whether God is not by this, intimating to us the exceeding danger of pampering the flesh; for the weakening of the flesh does help forward the strengthening of the spirit; and the mortifying of our members which are upon the earth,—the crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts—does tend to quicken and invigorate the soul. Apart, however, from this there are other things to be kept in view.

Sickness prostrates us. It cuts into the very center of our carnal natures; it exposes in all their deformity "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." What vanity is seen in these upon a sick bed. These are three idols; and these, sickness dashes down into the dust.

Sickness takes us aside and sets us alone with God. We are taken into his private chamber, and there he converses with us face to face. The world is far off, our relish for it is gone, and we are alone with God. Many are the words of grace and truth which he then speaks to us. All our former props are struck away, and we must now lean on God alone. The things of earth are felt to be vanity; man's help useless. Man's praise and man's sympathy desert us; we are cast wholly upon God that we may learn that his praise and his sympathy are enough. "If it was not for pain," says one, "I should spend less time with God. If I had not been kept awake with pain, I should have lost one of the sweetest experiences I ever had in my life. The disorder of my body is the very help I want from God; and if it does its work before it lays me in the dust, it will raise me up to heaven." It was thus that Job was "chastened upon his bed with pain, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain," that after being tried he might "come forth as gold."

Sickness teaches that activity of service is not the only way in which God is glorified. "They also serve who only stand and wait." Active duty is that which man judges most acceptable; but God shows us that in hearing and suffering he is also glorified. Perhaps we were pursuing a path of our own and required to be arrested. Perhaps we were too much harassed by a bustling world and needed retirement, yet could find no way of obtaining it till God laid us down, and drew us aside unto a desert place, because of the multitude pressing upon us.

No one of the family rods is more in use than this, sometimes falling lightly on us; at other times more heavily. Let us kiss the rod. Let us open our mouth wide to the blessing, seeking so to profit by each bodily ailment, slight or severe, that it may bring forth in us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. "I know," says one, "of no greater blessing than health, except pain and sickness."

2. Bereavement. This is the bitterest of all earthly sorrows. It is the sharpest arrow in the quiver of God. To love tenderly and deeply, and then to part; to meet together for the last time on earth; to bid farewell for time; to have all past remembrances of home and kindred broken up; this is the reality of sorrow. To look upon that face that shall smile on us no more; to press those lips that shall speak to us no more; to stand by the cold side of father, mother, brother, sister, friend, yet hear no sound and receive no greeting; to carry to the tomb the beloved of our hearts, and then return to a desolate home with a blank in one region of our souls, which will never again be filled till Jesus comes with all his saints; this is the bitterness of grief; this is the wormwood and the gall.

It is this rod which ever and anon God is laying upon us. Nor is there any that we need more than this. By it he is making room for himself in hearts that had been filled with other objects and engrossed with other loves. He is jealous of our affection, for he claims it all as his own; and every idol he will utterly abolish. For our sakes as well as for his own he can suffer no rival in the heart. Perhaps the joys of an earthly home are stealing away our hearts from the many mansions above. God breaks in upon us in mercy, and turns that home into a wilderness. Our sin finds us out; we mourn over and seek anew to realize our heavenly citizenship, and set out anew upon our pilgrim way; alone and yet not alone, for the Father is with us. Perhaps we are sitting "at ease in Zion," comfortable and contented, amid the afflictions of a suffering church, and the miseries of a world that owns no Saviour and fears no God. Jehovah speaks and we awake. He takes away some happy saint, or smites to the dust some wretched sinner. We are troubled at the stroke. We mourn our lethargy. The death of the one stirs us up, the death of the other solemnizes and overawes us.

Thus as saint after saint departs, it reminds us that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and makes us look out more wistfully from our eastern casement for the first streaks of the rising dawn. It kindles in us strong desires for the

day of happy meeting in our Father's house, when we shall clasp inseparable hands, and climb in company the everlasting hills. Meanwhile it bids us give our hearts to Jesus only. It does for us what the departure of the two strangers from heaven did to the disciples on the mount of transfiguration;—it leaves us alone with Jesus. It turns into deep experience that longing for home contained in the apostle's words, "having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better."

The more that bereavement transforms earth into a desert, the more are our desires drawn up to heaven. Our treasures have been transferred to heaven our hearts must follow them. Earth's hopes are smitten, and we are taught to look for "that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." The night is falling; and the flowers are folding up; but as they do so they bid us look upward and see star after star coming out upon the darkening sky.

3. Adversity. This may be the loss of substance, or it may be the loss of our good name, or it may be the falling away of friends, or it may be the wrath of friends, or it may be the wrath of enemies, or it may be the disappointment of our hopes; these are what is meant by adversity. But let Job tell us what it means. "Behold he breaketh down and it cannot be built again, he shutteth up a man and there can be no opening." Job xii, 14. "He hath made me weary; thou hast made desolate all my company. I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder, he hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces and set me up for his mark; his archers compass me about, he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare; he breaketh me with breach upon breach; he runneth upon me like a giant; my face is foul with weeping and on my eyelids is the shadow of death." Job xvi, 7, 12-14, 16. "My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart." Job xvii, 11. "He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths; he hath stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head; he hath destroyed me on every side and I am gone, and mine hope hath he removed like a tree; he hath put my brethren far from me and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me." Job xix, 8, 13. These are some of the drops in the bitter cup of adversity that was given to that patient saint to drink. And they are recorded for our use, on whom the ends of the world have come, and to whom these last days may perhaps fill a cup as bitter and protracted as his.

Yet let us count it all joy when we fall into divers tribulations, knowing this, that the trying of our faith worketh patience; but "let patience have her perfect work that we may be perfect and entire wanting nothing." James i, 2. We are cast into poverty, but how can we be poor so long as Christ is rich; and is not this poverty sent to make us prize his unsearchable riches and to buy of him gold tried in the fire that we may be rich? Our good name is lost through slander and false accusation. The finger of public scorn is perhaps pointed against us, and wicked men are exalted over us triumphing in our reproach. Yet have we not the approving eye of God, and is it not enough if he still honors us and knows our innocence? Let our good name go if God sees fit thus to humble us. We have "the white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." Rev. ii, 17. Friends fall off and enemies arise; false brethren turn against us and we are doomed to bear the revilings and persecutions of those we have never wronged but ever loved. But the friendship of Jesus is still ours. No earthly disaster or persecutor can ever rob us of that. Nay, the coldness of those we counted on as tried and true, only draws us the closer to him, the warmth of whose love knows no abatement nor end. Joseph passed thoroughly this trial and the Lord set him upon Pharaoh's throne. Moses passed through it and became "king in Jeshurun." Job passed through it and was blessed a thousand fold. Daniel passed through it and was exalted with double honor. Let us "take then the prophets who have spoken to us in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." James v, 10.

Oftentimes nothing but adversity will do for us. "I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear; this hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice." Jer. xxii, 21. We need to be stripped of every earthly portion that we may seek entirely our portion in Jehovah himself. We need to be turned out of a home on earth that we may seek a home in heaven. Earth's music is too seducing, and takes away our relish for the new song. God must either hush it or take us apart into a desert place that we may no longer be led captive by it, but may have our ear open only to the heavenly melody. We cannot be trusted with too full a cup, or too pleasant a resting-place. We abuse every thing that God has given us, and prove ourselves not trustworthy as to any one of them. Some God cannot trust with health; they need sickness to keep them low and make them walk softly all their days. They need spare diet lest the flesh should get the mastery. Others he cannot trust with prosperity; they need adversity to humble them lest like Jeshurun they should wax "fat and kick." Others he cannot trust with riches; they must be kept poor lest covetousness should spring up and pierce them through with many sorrows. Others he cannot trust with friends; they make idols of them, they give their hearts to them; and this interferes with the claims of Jehovah to have us altogether his own.

But still, in all this God dealeth with us as with the members of his own family. Never for a moment does he lose sight of this. Neither should we. So that when these things overtake us, when we are thus "judged" we should feel that we are "chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world;" we should learn not merely to submit to the rod but to kiss and welcome it; not merely to acquiesce in chastisement, but to "glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed." We should learn not merely to praise God in affliction, but to praise him for it. We should see that the lot of the afflicted is far more enviable than that of him who is "let alone;" and instead of trembling when we see the dark cloud of sorrow coming over us, we should tremble far more when we see it passing off, lest, perchance that which came charged with blessing to us, should through our stout-heartedness and unteachableness, leave us callous and unblest.—H. Bonar.

THE SONG OF TRIUMPH.

By R. F. C.

Isaiah xxvi, 1--4.

THE time is near when Zion's sons, With rapturous joy, shall sing the song Foretold by seers—anointed ones: "We have a city great and strong.

Salvation's walls enclose her round, Peace dwells, and praise, within her gates; Naught that defiles in her is found, That loves a lie, or virtue hates.

Open, ye gates! The glorious King Approaches with a holy throng. Open, ye gates! Saints, angels, sing On golden harps, the victor's song!

O, righteous nation! enter in, That kept the 'law of truth' below, Enter the place, all free from sin, Where life's pure waters gently flow.

Within these walls shall they remain, Who trusted, mighty Lord! in thee: Death, their last enemy, is slain— They have a right to life's fair tree."

Thus the redeemed to Zion come, With songs and everlasting joy; Angelic legions waft them home, While shouts of praise their harps employ. R. F. C.

CONSISTENCY.

INCONSISTENCY in conduct always brings a man's own christianity into suspicion. Some are inconsistent in their secret practices; they profess great respect for the Bible, and yet read it in such a negligent, hurried way, as can yield no profit; they profess that prayer is the Christian's life, and yet see them in their closet, and there is no life or power or fervor in their prayer; they profess to be led by the Spirit, and yet their conduct and temper must grieve the Spirit; they pray not to be led into temptation, and yet trace them for twenty-four hours, and you see them leading themselves into temptation. Now these are real inconsistencies, which bring a man's religion into discredit; and the same inconsistency will mark his outward conduct. If his intercourse with others is marked by a frivolous spirit which serious godliness forbids; if his chosen associates are giddy and worldly minded; if the books he reads are trifling and frothy; if his manner be flippant and his dress vain; then every one will put him down as a very inconsistent man. He may not be immoral, but he does not edify; he may not do things positively wrong, but he does things which do not recommend his religion; he allows himself in practices, which, though the world approves, the Bible condemns; he will not drink or swear, but he will mix willingly with those who do and never reprove them. When you see one of this stamp, you see a man whose inconsistency damages the christianity he professes; he is a stumbling block to weak believers, and brings reproach upon the name of Christ.

Consistency is essential to Christian usefulness. No man can ever correct faults in another which he is obviously not free from himself. You may tell persons forever to do as you say, unless with all conscious sincerity you can add, Do as I do. Look at all characters eminent for Christian usefulness, and this trait you will find invariably—they are consistent. In other matters a man may acquire a great name, and yet have no moral consistency. He may be a great hero as lord Clive, who laid the foundations of Indian empires, yet was false, intriguing, dishonest, and died in misery. A man may be a brilliant orator, and electrify listening senators with his eloquence, and yet live and die a ruined gambler—as Sheridan. A man may be the most dazzling of poets, and fix the world in admiration of his genius, and yet be a cold infidel, a hater of mankind as Byron, or a licentious syren, alluring souls to vice, as Thomas Moore, or the pitable victim of intoxication, as Burns and even Coleridge. Yes you may acquire a place among the trophies of genius, or the works of art, and inconsistencies without number may blur your name. But if you would do good to one another; if you would teach a wanderer the way to his everlasting home—would guide the outcast—reprove and counsel a fellow-sinner, and lead him back to God; you may rely upon it, there is no way by which you can accomplish this, but by setting him an example that he may tread in your steps.

We little know the power of a consistent life. There is a reality about it which finds its way to people's hearts which nothing else can reach. Many a worldly husband has been won "without the word," by the holy conversation of the wife; many a careless scholar has been secretly drawn to his Bible and his Lord, by marking the consistency of his teacher; and many a worldly hearer who hated the scripture doctrine, has been forced to admire the consistent character of the man that preached it.

And I am sure few are duly aware of the great evils of an inconsistent life. No matter how bright or talented or zealous, if a man's life be inconsistent, he will just accomplish nothing. He pulls down faster than he builds up. Oh! ye Sabbath-school teachers! for the sake of the gospel you profess, the souls of others you wish to benefit, for the sake of your own comfort and strength and growth, see that you adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. Would you then give clear evidences of your own salvation; would you be established and happy in your spiritual experience; would you do good in your position, attract others to Christ, and serve God in your generation; then I charge you to adorn the doctrine by a consistent life. Would you have your name mentioned with honor by those whom you have blessed—would you abound in comfort, walk in assurance of the safety of Christ, meet death in triumph, and receive an abundant entrance to the kingdom of your Father, then I charge you "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things."

Would you then carry out this principle? Begin with Christ—do not begin with christianity. Begin with Christ! Without Christ ye can do nothing. Go to Christ. Wait for no one. Think

not to make yourself consistent. Abide with Christ. He is the physician who alone can heal; he is the manna which you must eat; he is the root from which you must grow; he is the perfect pattern which you must resemble; and he is the gracious master who will welcome you at last.—“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”—Sel.

THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE.

By Dr. Haven

If a morning traveler finds himself before the Cathedral of Milan, before the shrouding mists are taken from the new-raised world, he cannot see its vast proportions, its hundreds of columns, its incredible number of statues. But, as he passes along, he cannot avoid admiring the perfection of its minutest parts. Almost everywhere there peers out upon him a sweet angel’s face, surrounded by most delicately traced foliage, all cut in the enduring rock. Here, he admires a statue of an apostle; there, one of a saint; and it seems as if the architect were jealous lest one stone should escape without being an evidence of skill, and suggestive of thought.

But as the sun dispels the mist, his attention is called away from the minute examination to a survey of its grander features. Through the opening rifts he sees its many buttresses, its slender minarets; his eye wanders up the dizzy heights of its lofty towers; and if he step within, as the choir and organ fill every part with the morning song of praise, he is often awed to his knees, and his soul overwhelmed with a sense of the presence of God.

So when, in the morning darkness of nature, one approaches the mighty structure of Christianity, as displayed in the Bible, built, through four thousand years, upon the foundations of prophets and apostles, with Jesus Christ as the chief corner stone, God its great architect, he can have no just idea of its greatness; his eye is not single; and that spiritual light which pervades every part, does not affect his vision.

Yet every man can see, from the very first, the gems of beauty that everywhere sparkle on the pages of the Bible. The angel of peace looks upon him from one page; on a second, he sees a picture of heaven that pales all pictures of earthly make. In one part there is a sweet angel song; in another, a prayer the man Christ Jesus only could make. Here he sees an altar; and on it a sacrifice and oblation once offered for all; and if he say and feel, That sacrifice avails for me, a new light fills the temple—all darkness is gone. He sees its beauties thick as stars on a sparkling winter night, so suggestive that each seems to have a soul that speaks to his. But it generally happens that men get absorbed with the individual beauties and forget to dim their eyes to nearer objects and try to take in some idea of its magnificent whole. Could they do this, they would find that its foundations are broad as earth, and its top reaches the heavens. Instead of hearing only the song of his happy heart, the whole temple would be resonant with angelic harmonies, in which human voices perfectly blend: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” Instead of the beauty that pleased him at first, an unutterable grandeur would fill his soul with highest rapture and a diviner depth of feeling than ever swept over his being before. —Dr. Haven.

Little Sins.

By Rev. Newman Hall

LET us be on our guard against little sins; against what men call little sins, for there is nothing really little in the way of sin. Watch against anything that wounds the conscience, however slightly. Conscience is a sacred thing. Guard well your spiritual life. Watch against the little sin that insensibly may wound and thus in the end destroy. You can easily kill a man by stabbing him with one blow to the heart. But may you not easily kill a man also by opening a little vein in his wrist? The blood may only flow drop by drop, but if you don’t stop that wound you will bleed to death, and just as surely as if one plunged a dagger into your heart and sent you into eternity in a moment. Beware, then, of the little things that keep the wound of the soul open; guard against little sins, which, if not guarded against, will assuredly destroy the soul as one great sin.

John Newton says, Satan seldom comes to Christians with great temptations, or with temptations to commit a great sin. You will be started with the idea of committing a great sin, and so the Devil brings a little temptation and leaves you to indulge yourself. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.—Rev. Newman Hall.

PURIFYING TRIALS.

By J. CLARKE.

It is necessary for us to realize fully all the depths of sin and folly which lie concealed in our hearts before we can repent and be purified; for this we are sometimes called to pass through fiery trials, in order to present to our view the hidden iniquity of the heart. These trials convince the Christian of the existence of sin, lurking as it were in the depths of the heart, and before unknown to him, and which no human tongue could have convinced him, existed there. The fiery trials convince him of his utter weakness and ignorance, of his entire dependence upon God for help and guidance. They tend to humble the proud heart, and self once idolized now bows meekly beneath the rod sent in love and mercy.

Fiery trials are the chastening rod of a kind Father, who will inflict no more pain upon his children than he sees to be necessary for their purification and sanctification, preparatory to their entrance to that glorious realm, where nothing unholy can enter.

Therefore let us count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations, with this fully understood, that the temptations be fully overcome, and produce patience and humility and self-abasement.

J. CLARKE.

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF NATURE.

The natural world is the poetry of God, and in its page may be read the sublime revelation of what we are, and what we are to be. The fall of the summer storm, the woodland blast and falling leaf, the withering flowers under October skies, the moaning of the wintry wind, and all the varying, evanescent scenes of nature, keep continually before the thoughtful mind the hour of death, and sanctify the life. As we behold an autumn sunset, that island of gold with silver and purple shores, far away in the blue abyss, we can almost picture to ourselves the glory of the scene, when, far over this cold and wildering maze, the land of immortality will rise upon the view. The flowers of spring as they appear, unfold the rainbow dyes of our own resurrection. As the tempest of summer uplifts its voice we may hear it speaking in solemn admonition of the dreadful scenes of the judgment day.

There is no place for prayer and meditation like that of the rural retreat. Nature inspires devotion. As we behold all her works delighting in the presence of the Lord, our hearts feel the influence and our thoughts are borne away in gratitude and praise to heaven. The grandeur of architectural art possesses no power to lift the soul on high like that of the mossy columns and the leafy arches of the woodland and forest, with their long dim aisles of evergreen and flowers.—In the balmy twilight of spring, in the quiet evenings of summer, we may go forth and worship in a temple of God's own building. The rocks are its altars and the birds are its choir.—The scene itself breathes a spirit of meditation and prayer. From the solemn and delightful sermons of nature we may there receive purifying influences for our earthly communion. There we may go and soothe the heart of sorrow and the mind of care. When wearied with the sorrows and cares of the journey of life, the great author of nature himself frequently sought its retreat.

“There if the Spirit touch the soul, And grace her mean abode, O, with what peace, and joy and love, Does she commune with God!”

Humility one Sign of Greatness.

By Ruskin

I BELIEVE the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his own opinion ; but a right understanding of the relations between what he can do and say, and the rest of the world's sayings and doings. All great men not only know their business, but know usually that they know it ; and are not only right in their main opinions ; but they usually know that they are right in them ; only they do not think much of themselves on that account. They have a curious under-sense of powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them ; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them. And they see something divine and God-made in every other man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. The slightest manifestation of jealousy or self-complacency is enough to mark a second-rate character in intellect.—Ruskin.

FINDING FAULT WITH MINISTERS.

There are many persons whose religion consists in finding fault with ministers. Nor are they all of the world. Some church members think this one of the privileges of their profession. And as Satan desired to sift as wheat, Simon; so they sift the character and life of their minister. Every word he speaks, and every act he performs, in private and in public, at home and abroad, must be weighed in their balance—and if he is found wanting, they must post up the church and the world in reference to his defects and infirmities. This part of religion must be attended to by some one. "All members have not the same office." And as they have a peculiar taste, if not talent, for finding fault, and no relish for anything more spiritual, they are faithful in pointing out his real and imaginary defects. And thus they save him from that woe which Christ said rested on ministers, when all men spoke well of them.

TRUE WITNESS.

Rising Above Earthly Cares

Dust, by its own nature, can rise only so far above the road ; and birds which fly higher never have it upon their wings. So the heart that knows how to fly high enough, escapes those little cares and vexations which brood upon the earth, but cannot rise above it into that purer air.

Modesty, Patience, and Dependence on God

“If opinion has cried your name up, let modesty cry your heart down, lest you deceive it, or it deceive you; there is no less danger in a great name than in a bad one; and no less honor in deserving praise, than in the enduring it. To endure present evils with patience, and wait for expected good with long-suffering, is equally the part of the Christian and the hero. Those evils would break the proud man's heart, that would not break a humble Christian's sleep. 'Tis best to depend on him that is absolute, independent, i. e., God. 1 Tim. vi, 17. If I make choice either of continual prosperity, or of continual adversity, I would choose the latter; for in adversity no good man wants comfort, whereas in prosperity most men want discretion.”

Offended

By J. Clarke

OFFENDED! Do not even appear to be so; be mild, sweet, affable, courteous to all. There is a vast range of tone for the voice, and many keys of modulation. Sometimes a child needs a firm tone, but rarely a stern command. Surely no harsh note need ever tear the tender heart of the little helpless being at your mercy. He has no appeal from you; you are as God to him; you are his judge and high court of appeals; he has not learned yet perhaps, that God might disapprove that scolding, cutting tone, that impatient jerk of hand and voice. Spare not the rod, but use the club for firewood. Be firm but loving to your wards; to equals and superiors, be courteous, respectful, and true. J. CLARKE.

EVIL SPEAKING.

"SPEAK not evil one of another, brethren. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."

The Scriptures abound in teaching upon this point; and were it heeded, a great majority of the trials that afflict the church would be avoided. What wounds are inflicted upon the absent brother or sister by giving loose reins to this unruly evil, full of deadly poison! And the consequence is, that peace, union, charity, brotherly kindness and feelings of sympathy and commiseration for each other's weaknesses and errors, are destroyed, and suspicions, distrust, grudgings, envying, coldness and hatred, take their place.

These things ought not so to be. Brother, sister, close up and seal that bitter fountain, for no sweet water can flow from it. And let a fountain be opened of sweet water, only sweet. Correct the evil in the heart; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Your peace can never flow like a river, until this fountain of bitter waters is dried up. Speak not one evil word concerning that absent one; for, in so doing, you inflict a deep wound, not only on the one against whom you speak, but on yourself.

But it may be replied, I say nothing but the truth about them—that brother or sister has said so and so, has done so and so, and is guilty of this and that. But this is evil speaking. You have no right to say it. If there is a wrong that needs correction, go to work right where the wrong exists. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. If the fault is so great that you must speak of it, set about the work of restoring such a one, according to the directions given in the word. But if it be a matter so small that you are ashamed to mention it to the offender and the church, mention it not to a third person, lest you become the greater offender of the two. The rule against evil speaking forbids not only speaking evil falsely, but speaking it at all, even where the evil complained of does exist. There is another and a better way of correcting existing evils. Indeed, evil speaking has no tendency to correct the evils it complains of, but to render the evil state of things incurable.

Brethren and sisters, let us set about the work of learning to bridle our tongues. Let us cure this malady of evil speaking first of all; and then there may be hope that the smaller evils on which this monster feeds and fastens, may either lose their importance, as seen through the magnifying glasses of Satan, the old accuser of the brethren, or, if of real importance, receive that kind of treatment which will effect their cure.

The following poem on evil speaking from "Home Here & Home in Heaven," p. 85, as it is some time since it appeared in the Review, will be new to many readers, and perhaps it may benefit others by stirring them up to remembrance:

"Of things which we so careless name, How little kindles to a flame; The unruly tongue no man can tame. "They say" (and so it must be true) What would, did we but rightly view, Prove false and vanish as the dew. "Abroad from lip to lip it flies, And reaches, soon, a wondrous size, As mountains, oft, from mole-hills rise. "Or as the torrent in its flow, Or as the winter's rolling snow, Lose nothing as they onward go. "Far better rob one of his gold; For this could be restored four-fold; But never what is wrongly told. "As in the lightning's path we find Its scathing tracks are left behind; So is this influence on the mind. "Then deem it not a little thing; A whisper borne on silent wing, May reach a heart that feels its sting. "Nor think ye lightly of the deed, Broadcast to fling the poisonous seed, That springs to many a deadly weed. "Thou hypocrite! why vainly try, From motes to free thy brother's eye: First, in thine own, the beam descry. "As if a fabric thou couldst rear, Of other's faults, thyself to clear; More guilty thus dost thou appear. "If temples for God's Spirit meet— No fountain with pure streams replete, Sends forth both bitter and the sweet. "O, that we could this lesson learn; From everything away to turn, But what does only us concern. "Then should we know, and see, and hear, The more of joy, the less of fear, And half our trials disappear. "A richer harvest we should reap, A better record angels keep, And many smile, where now they weep. "By this we quench Love's holy light; We scatter when we should unite, And darken all that else were bright. "But they in charity abound, Who, faultless, will the throne surround, And in their mouth no guile be found. "How much we've spoken ill or well, Whether to wound or soothe it fell, Eternity alone can tell! "O then how wilt thou be o'erwhelmed, Though well the current thou has stemmed, If by thy words thou art condemned!" R. F. C.

VIEWS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS ON 2 THESS. II.

By John Nevins Andrews

Dowling in his "History of Romanism" makes an extended comment on 2 Thess. ii. He shows that the "man of sin" is the papacy, and that that which "hindered" was the Roman heathen or pagan government. In proof of this last point he says: "There is a remarkable passage in Tertullian's Apology [chap. xxxii] that may serve to justify the sense which Protestants put upon these verses; and since it was written long before the accomplishment of the prediction, it deserves the more attention. 'Christians,' says he, 'are under a particular necessity of praying for the emperors, and for the continued state of the empire; because we know that dreadful power which hangs over the world, and the conclusion of the age, which threatens the most horrible evils, is restrained by the continuance of the time appointed for the Roman empire. This is what we would not experience, and while we pray that it may be deferred, we hereby show our good will to the perpetuity of the Roman state.'" Hist. Romanism, pp. 28, 29.

Mr. S. Bliss in explaining 2 Thess. ii, 2-8, after stating that this scripture had been uniformly applied to the papacy by Protestant writers, remarks as follows: "That power began early to be manifested, but its full development was 'let,' i. e., hindered, by the continuance of the western empire which had to be taken out of its way. Tertullian, near the close of the second century, in expounding those words, says: 'Who can this be but the Roman state, the division of which into ten kingdoms will bring on antichrist?' And he gives as a reason why the Christians of his time prayed for the Roman empire, that the greatest calamity hanging over the world was retarded by the continuance of it. Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century applied the passage in the same manner." Commentary on the Apocalypse, p. 196. J. N. A.

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