Earlier text: COMING SOONThey Say, and Do Not.
By J. Lamont
These words of our Saviour were spoken of a numerous class of very influential religious teachers, who said that the law of God was (is) obligatory on all men; yet they continually violated it, and taught others to do so, in order to keep their own traditions. It seems that the present day has produced their exact counterpart. As proof of this, we will notice, 1. What some of our modern doctors of the law say. 2. What they do. Buck’s Theological Dictionary says: “Sabbath, in the Hebrew language, signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week; a day appointed for religious duties, and a total cessation from work, in commemoration of God’s resting on the seventh day. . . . Numerous have been the days appointed by men for religious services; but these are not binding because of human institution. Not so the Sabbath. Hence the fourth commandment is ushered in with peculiar emphasis. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. . . . It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day.” The American Tract Society’s Bible Dictionary says: “SABBATH, rest. God, having created the world in six days, rested on the seventh, Gen. 2:2, 3; and because he had rested on it he blessed or sanctified it, and appointed it in a peculiar manner for his worship. We here have an account of the original institution of the day of rest. Like the institution of marriage, it was given to man for the whole race. Those who worshiped God seem to have kept the Sabbath from the first, and there are tokens of this in the brief sketch the Bible contains of the ages before the giving of the law at Sinai. The re-enactment of the Sabbath, at Mount Sinai, among the commandments of the moral law, was also designed, not for the Jews alone, but for all who should receive the word of God, and ultimately for all mankind. Christ and his apostles never speak of the decalogue, but as of permanent and universal obligation. The Sabbath was made for man. The fourth commandment is as binding as the third, and the fifth.” Covel’s Bible Dictionary says: “Sabbath, rest, a lying by from labor; the seventh day of the week. . . . The Sabbath was appointed at the creation of the world, and sanctified, or set apart for holy purposes, for man, for all men, and therefore for Christians; since there was never any repeal of the original institution. There is not on record any divine command issued to the apostles to change the Sabbath.” And again (Art. Baptism), he classes Sunday-keeping with infant baptism, and says, “neither is expressly commanded.” John Wesley (Notes on Matt. 5,) says: “It was not the design of Christ to revoke any part of the law. It cannot be broken. Every part of it remains in force upon all men in all ages. Neither time, nor place, nor circumstances, make it liable to change.” Mr. Spurgeon (Sermons, p. 280) says: “The law of God is a divine law, holy, heavenly, perfect. There is not a command too many; there is not one too few. No human law-giver could have given forth such a law as we find in the decalogue.” Dr. Barnes (note on Matt. 5:19) says: “We learn hence, 1. That all the law of God is binding on Christians; 2. That all the commands of God should be preached in their proper places, by Christian ministers; 3. That they who pretend that there are any laws of God so small that they need not obey them, are unworthy of his kingdom. And, 4. That true piety has respect to all the commands of God and keeps them.” Thomas Dick, on the fourth commandment (Philosophy of Religion, p. 95, Ed. 1849, Hartford) says: “This is a command that never was abrogated, and which never can be abrogated in relation to any intelligent beings, so long as the Creator exists, and so long as the universe remains as a memorial of his power and intelligence.” The American Sunday-school Union Bible Dictionary, says: “The commandment which stands fourth in the decalogue is founded on the fact, that the seventh day was blessed and hallowed by God himself, and that he requires his creatures to keep it holy to him. The command is of universal and perpetual obligation.” These are leading authorities with the Protestant world. They say very true,
But what do they do? Transgress the law of God, every one of them, and teach others to do the same by not remembering “the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” They keep the first day of the week, after showing conclusively that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord,” and that whatever Sabbatic character Sunday has, is found outside of the law of God, and the entire Bible, and rests on the so-called Father’s (tradition of the elders). Will this stand against the commandment of God? Matt. 15:9. “But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” “Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect, by your tradition.” Matt. 15:6. “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition.” Mark 7:9. “This people honoreth me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Reader, have you been ignorant in regard to this matter; supposing that the law of God had been changed, or there was a commandment for the observance of the first day, in the New Testament? If so, the statements and admissions from the above authorities must fully convince you that Sunday-keeping is “of human institution,” and not binding. “The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” If you still continue to follow these leaders because they are great men, read Matt. 15:14; Luke 10:21; and 1 Cor. 1:26. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col. 2:8. “Do ye not after their works; for they say, and do not.” Matt. 23:3. Too many care too little for their religion. They believe feebly, love faintly, act irresolutely, feel the calls of duty lightly, pray coldly, pay stingily, are discouraged easily, indulge self greedily, sacrifice reluctantly, and love the praise of men more than the smiles of God. They read stories more than the Bible, spend more on base appetites than on religious culture, decline to take a religious paper, and pay as little as possible for preaching. They need a more thorough conversion, that will renew their hearts, correct their lives, open their pockets, create a thirst for knowledge, and a disposition to do and bear for Jesus’ sake.—Sel. Chinese Record of an Eclipse at Christ's Crucifixion
It is reported in the history of China, written by Hadrianus Greslonius, that the Chinese remark—“That at the same time we Christians compute Christ suffered in the month of April, an extraordinary eclipse, beyond the laws and observations of the motions of the planets, then happened; at which event, Quamvutius the emperor was very much moved.” Which Is the Sabbath?
By Merritt E. Cornell
DR. BUSHNELL, editor of the Pacific Observer, in an editorial with the above caption, seems somewhat mixed up on the Sabbath question. He wants to believe there is authority for the change of the Sabbath, but thinks it not conclusive. Considering that the Doctor is an able scholar in theological lore, and a popular and representative man of his denomination on the Pacific coast, the following statements and admissions have great weight on the side of the true Bible Sabbath. “Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” “The primary idea of the Sabbath is found in the short and simple history, given of its institution in the second of Genesis: ‘And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.’ The true idea of the Sabbath, therefore, is that of rest, and the word in the Hebrew signifying rest was applied to it. Hence it is called the Sabbath. It is generally believed that the Sabbath was observed from the time of the creation, until its formal announcement from Heaven through Moses, as it was afterward, to the end of the Jewish dispensation. Through this long period, the seventh day of the week was observed as a Sabbath. From the resurrection of Christ to the present time, the first, instead of the last, day of the week has been kept by those who hold to the Christian Scriptures. Here, then, is a discrepancy. A conflict really, for there are thousands of people who stoutly insist that the seventh, and not the first, day of the week is the Sabbath. There is some importance in the question, at least so far as it affects uniformity of observance among those who keep the Sabbath. In determining this question, one point must always be considered settled, namely, the antiquity of Sabbatarianism. Prior to the resurrection of Christ, the seventh day of the week was the only Bible Sabbath. And it is not conclusively settled that it did not continue to occupy this distinction through the whole period of revelation.” Is Friday an Unlucky Day?
Friday, long regarded as a day of ill omen, has been an eventful one in American history. Friday, George Washington was born. Friday, Bunker Hill was seized and fortified. Friday, the surrender of Saratoga was made. Friday, Christopher Columbus sailed on his voyage of discovery. Friday, ten weeks after, he discovered America. Friday, Henry VII. of England gave John Cabot his commission which led to the discovery of North America. Friday, St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States, was founded. Friday, the Mayflower, with the Pilgrims, arrived at Princetown; and on Friday, they signed that august compact, the forerunner of the present Constitution. Friday, the surrender of Cornwallis, at Yorktown, occurred; and on Friday, the motion was made in Congress that the United Colonies were, and of a right ought to be, free and independent. Grace Better Than Beauty, Strength, Wealth, and Honor
What worldly good thing is there, but some reprobates have had it? For beauty, Absalom was very fair; for strength, Goliath was very potent; for wealth, Nabal was very rich; for honor, Saul was a king. But one drachm of grace, one drop of mercy from God, had been better than all these. DISCIPLINE has been called the right arm of the church. It may be so, but if that arm is raised only to smite, it had better be cut off and cast into the sea. Discipline should be rather the hand of the mother protecting the tempted, supporting the weak, leading home the erring, wiping away the tears of the penitent, lest he be swallowed up with over-much sorrow, or lifted much in prayer in behalf of all these classes. Discipline in the army does not simply shoot deserters; it seeks to train to good soldiership, so pervading and controlling the details of camp and field, as to reduce to a minimum all motive to desertion. It is possible for church discipline to be so managed as to transform its membership into very Ishmaelites. As every private Christian is forbidden to attempt to restore a weak brother unless he himself has the spirit of Christ, and remembers his own liability to fall under temptation, so the church is equally forbidden to attempt any labor except on the same conditions. But how often is what claims to be discipline the most carnal thing that gets into a church, zeal for one's own notion being mistaken for signal zeal for the Lord of Hosts; or personal passion using Christ's church as an instrument of vengeance against its victim.—Sel. An Earnest Appeal
By James White
To the General Conference Committee, the “Picked Men” at Battle Creek, the Committees of the Several State Conferences, and the Officers of the Several Branches of our Tract and Missionary Society. DEAR BRETHREN: We take up our pen to address you with assurance that the Lord has been leading out our mind to consider the present condition of our people, and the wants of the cause, such as we never felt before. In our Rocky Mountain retreat, we have taken time to review the whole ground of our position. We have surveyed the entire field of labor, and have considered our own condition before God, and that of our people. And with repentance and confession of want of faith and patience, when in deep afflictions in times past, to wait for God to vindicate the right, we have been drawing near the Lord. At our early season of prayer this morning, August 20, as we retired from the family by ourselves, to especially seek the Lord, as has been our custom since we have been in the mountains, Mrs. W.’s feelings were with ours in the strongest assurance that the hand of the Lord had separated us from his people for awhile, to improve our health, and to gather spiritual strength, and clear light as to the condition and wants of the cause. Here, by the grace of God, we expect to remain until the Lord shall send us out to labor among his people. And while we enjoy great freedom in the Lord, and the assurance that he is leading us, and forgiving our want of faith, and hope, and courage, and patience to wait, and is restoring to us the joys of his salvation, we feel the deepest interest for those of our fellow-laborers who have brought darkness and bondage to their own minds and spirits in not standing independently for the Lord and for the right; and our earnest prayers go up to God many times a day for them, and also for those who have double labor, and care, and responsibility in the cause, on account of the failure of some to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The Spirit’s cry is in our hearts for them, and we expect to see in them the work of the Spirit in answer. If ever God’s servants should stand together in the toils, and sorrows, and joys, and responsibilities of the work, they should in the crisis of the present hour. Dear brethren, as to the correctness of our positions, relative to the soon close of human probation, the coming of the Son of man, and their clear and easy defense from the Scriptures of truth, we need not address you. You see complete harmony in them, all agreeing with the sure word of prophecy in wonderful perfection. And you come to the natural and inevitable conclusion that the close of our work must soon come. Otherwise, the entire movement must be an inexplicable delusion. But no! the Bible is the rock on which we firmly stand. Our system of interpretation is the only safe and true one. ● And in harmony with God’s warnings to, and his dealings with, men and nations in the past, the world’s last warning has come, and her final grand crisis is just upon us. But, dear brethren, our people are in a fearful condition before God. It is generally admitted that the testimony of the True Witness to the church of the Laodiceans, Rev. 3:14–21, applies to our time, and to our people. And this position seems to be ably defended, and sustained by overwhelming evidences, in Bro. Smith’s “Thoughts on the Revelation.” Our present confidence as a people that we have the truth, and that God is with us, while we are so far separated from him by the love of this world, self-confidence, and, with many, a decided hatred to reproof, gives point and force to the rebuke of the Son of God to the last church: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent.” Dear brethren, it is not enough for us to simply admit the correct application of this startling rebuke to ourselves at the present time. We should ponder its fearful import with care, and let its terrific threatening move us to immediate action. You very well know that at no period of our existence, as a people, was its application as forcible as at the present time. The Lord has been appealing to our people through the manifestation of the Spirit of prophecy in our day, in reproofs, warnings, and entreaties. They have been warned of the sins of covetousness, love of the world, selfishness, pride, self-confidence, and love of ease; and of a want of consecration, self-sacrifice, the love of God, and love for the salvation of souls. Many have read these reproofs until they are tired of them, and now neglect them. And some cherish a hatred to such testimony. These see no need of reproof. They feel assured that we have the truth, and that the Lord is with us; and they conclude that these continued reproofs and warnings hinder the progress of the cause. This view of things, and this spirit, is increasing among our people. Love for the pure testimony is waning; and those who dare speak plainly and decidedly against prevailing wrongs and sins among us make themselves a prey to a bitter spirit of rebellion in those who have been often reproved, and have stiffened their necks against correction. The deception upon the minds of our people is a fearful one. The prophecy to the last stage of the church of Jesus Christ, given A. D. 96, looks forward nearly eighteen hundred years, to 1873, and describes, with minute exactness, the condition of things among us, utters a terrific warning of utter rejection without zealous repentance, counsels the only way of escape, and then, in strains of fullest benevolence and tenderest affection, promises the nearest and dearest communion with Christ to all who hear the voice of warning and open the door of their hearts by zeal in repenting of the sins which have barred the dear Saviour from them. And let it be remembered that this testimony to the church of the Laodiceans is from the True Witness. It is from the Son of God. It appeals to our people at the present critical hour. It describes their true condition of blindness as to their standing before God; and nothing has done so much to bring our people into this condition as the influence of those who have cherished a feeling of dislike, and with some it has amounted to determined hatred, against the reproofs which the Lord has given his people through his faithful servants. A fearful crisis is just upon us. A testimony is ripening among us that will find a hearty response from those whose highest ambition and greatest desire is to be right before God. It will touch the tenderest feelings of all those who bear the burdens of the cause, and who sigh and cry for the growing evils among us. This testimony, in harmony with that of the True Witness to the last stage of the church, representing the condition of our people to be very bad, when93those who are blinded with their sins of omission and commission think their state to be very good, will not be received by all. Some have so far blinded their eyes to repeated warnings, and are held so fast in the spirit of rebellion, that they never will see things clearly, and feel their lost condition, until it shall be too late for complete reform. Dear brethren, we invite your especial attention to the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth chapters of Isaiah. We suggest that there is strong evidence that the fifty-eighth chapter has a clear and forcible application to our time, and to our condition and duty. This chapter opens with the injunction, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.” The prophet then describes the people of the Lord as formal in their religious devotions. They seek the Lord with prayer and fasting, but not with acceptance. And they murmur because the Lord does not seem to accept their devotions. The Lord then shows that they are defective in their works, as the reason why their lip-service, and their fasting, are not acceptable to him. He rebukes their covetousness and oppression, and teaches them a lesson of benevolence and love, that is manifested in noble, Christ-like deeds. And in the opening verses of the fifty-ninth chapter he addresses those with burning, hope-inspiring words to the formal, self-righteous, deceived sinners in Zion. The Lord would call them even from their knees and from their devout fasting, to consider facts in the case, of vast importance, as follows:— “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” If the sins mentioned in these verses are pointed out in the previous chapter, then we safely, and from necessity, conclude that the great sin of the people of God at this time is in selfishly hoarding the good things of this life, in neglect of that liberality which God requires. In this neglect of duty, their fasting and their prayers are not acceptable in his sight. The Lord’s ear is not heavy, neither is his hand short; but he will not answer their prayers, and reach down his hand to their deliverance, until they put away their sins. When they will do this, he will manifest himself to them gloriously. Who has a clean record in Heaven? All our sins are on record in the books above. And it is the work of the Holy Spirit to impress upon the minds of sinners in Zion the very sins that are written against them, and which separate them from God. Dear brethren, shall we marvel, and complain, and murmur, because God does not answer our prayers graciously, when, if he did answer them at all, it would have to be done over a record of unconfessed sins in the books above? Rather, let us closely examine our hearts and lives; and if God in mercy speaks from Heaven and points out our sins, we should be the most grateful people that live, and should humble ourselves greatly, repent zealously, and pray fervently that the Holy Spirit may bring before our minds the very sins that are written against us in the heavenly records, that we may put them away and draw very near to the Lord. We address you, dear brethren, because, in the providence of God, it has fallen to your lot to bear the responsibilities of the cause of such magnitude and vast importance. It is right that our people should look to you to lead out in the cause of present truth. If your faith shall be weak, and your views and plans as to the extent of the work and the means to be immediately employed for its advancement limited, theirs will be. If you rise up, leaning upon a consistent faith, and lead off in plans, and ways, and means, in harmony with the professed position of Seventh-day Adventists, the true and the good at heart will follow. THE NEW TESTAMENT ON THE PERPETUITY OF THE DIVINE LAW.
By James White
In entering upon an examination of some of the most important passages of the New Testament relative to the perpetuity of the law of God, it is proper that we should first call attention to some of the plainest declarations of the Son of God. But, before quoting his words relative to his Father's law, let us attentively consider the bearing which his public teachings have in respect to truth and duty in the Christian age. The great commission to the eleven, designed to be perpetuated to the true Christian ministry to the end of the age, is to the point. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matt. 28:19, 20. The Christian ministry, even down to the end of the Christian age, were to teach to the nations all things whatsoever the Master had in person commanded his first ministers. We briefly comment as follows on this commission. 1. It was given after the Jewish age had ended, just before the Lord was taken up to Heaven. The Jewish age closed at Christ’s crucifixion, when the hand-writing of Jewish ordinances was “nailed to the cross.” Col. 2:14. The Jewish “sacrifice and oblation” virtually ceased “in the midst of the week,” when Messiah was “cut off.” Dan. 9:26, 27. The death of Christ was the dividing line between the two ages; or, at least, it terminated the typical dispensation. 2. It was forty-two days at least after the Jewish age had ended when our Lord gave this commission. The Christian age was before him, hence the commission spoken in the hearing of the eleven was designed for the true Christian ministry down to the end of the world. 3. By the authority of this commission, the custom of Christian ministers ever has been, still is, and ever should be until the end of the world, to baptize believers in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 4. In this great commission, we read the solemn injunction of the Son of God to the Christian ministry to teach to all nations, hence, to perpetuate in the Christian church, the doctrines he proclaimed during his public ministry. Therefore, his words, relative to the law or commandments of his Father, have all their force of application to the men of the nineteenth century, that they did to those who first heard them. In coming to the New Testament, we find the first four chapters of Matthew devoted to a sketch of the genealogy of Christ, Joseph, and Mary, the birth of Jesus, Herod’s slaying the children of Bethlehem, the ministry of John the Baptist, the temptation of Christ, and his entering upon his public ministry. The fifth chapter opens with the first record of his public instructions. In that memorable sermon upon the mount, Christ warns his disciples against a terrible heresy that would soon press its way into the church. The Jews boasted of God, of Abraham, and of the law, but despised and rejected Jesus. The great facts connected with his resurrection were soon to be so convincing that many would believe. And as the Jews were to reject and crucify the Son, while boasting in the law, Christians would run to the opposite and equally fatal heresy of trampling upon the authority of the Father, and despising his law, while receiving Christ and glorying in the gospel. It has ever been Satan’s object to separate, in the faith of the church, the Father and the Son. With the Jews was the cry, The Father, Abraham, the law; but away with Jesus and his gospel. With Christians, the cry was to arise, Christ, the cross, the gospel; but away with the law of the Father. To meet this heresy, ere long to arise in the Christian church, the great Teacher, in his first recorded sermon, appeals to his disciples in the presence of the assembled multitudes, in these forcible words:— “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” This wonderful declaration of the Son of God needs no comment. The history of the church, showing how loosely great and apparently good men have held the law of God, and the present closing controversy respecting it, give it especial force. In no case did Christ intimate during his ministry that his Father’s law was to be set aside, and that he was to give the church a new moral code to take its place. He disclaims having anything to do with legislating. “Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John 7:16. “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” Chap. 8:28. “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” Chap. 14:24. And speaking of the Son, the Father says, “He shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. 18:18. Another remarkable declaration of the Son of God is his statement of one of the conditions of obtaining eternal life. “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. 19:17. And when the young man inquired, “Which?” Jesus quoted from the second table of his Father’s moral code, leaving no doubt as to what he meant by the word “commandments.” In this address to the young man, Christ most assuredly gives a practical lesson to his church to be observed during the Christian age. His parting words to the eleven, as he gave to them the great Christian commission—“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”—make this point fast, and show it to be the duty of the Christian ministry to repeat in the ears of the people, upon the authority of their high commission, “even unto the end of the world,” “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Many of the teachings of the Son of God, which were to be repeated by his ministers until the end, pertain to the great principles of moral government which cannot be confined to any one age. As an instance, we cite his words to the tempting lawyer who inquired, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:35–40. In this statement, Christ does not introduce new principles. He quotes the first of the two great commandments from Deut. 6:5; and the second from Lev. 19:18. These two commandments are neither Jewish nor Christian, in particular. They belong to all ages. They were given to guard the two grand principles which reach back in the past, and forward into the eternal future, parallel with God’s moral government of created intelligences. On these two commandments, the ten precepts of the moral code, as well as the prophets, had hung since the fall, and ever would hang, until the close of human probation. Let the ministers of Jesus Christ, then, teach all nations, even unto the end of the Christian age, that all ten precepts of the divine law hang upon love to God, and love to man. Not even one of them has fallen off. When it can be shown that the first grand principle of supreme love to the Creator, and the second, requiring equal love to the creature, man, that is bestowed upon one’s self, may be abolished, changed, and amended; then may it be also shown that the ten precepts of the divine law which hang upon, or grow out of, these eternal principles may be abolished, changed, and amended. But these principles are as changeless as the throne of Heaven, and will endure and run parallel with the eternity of the divine existence. The Christian ministry cannot too highly exalt supreme love to God and love to man. And let it be proclaimed on the authority of the great commission, even unto the end of the world, that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In harmony with, and in the strongest confirmation of, the foregoing, the Son of God speaks to the church in Rev. 22:14, in these triumphant words: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Please notice:— 1. It is Christ who thus speaks these words of blessing on the obedient. They are a part of the “Revelation of Jesus Christ,” therefore, are his words. Rev. 1:1. “And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me,” says the Son of God. Chap. 22:12. And it is the same person that pronounces this blessed benediction on the heads of those who do his Father’s commandments. 2. The Son of God does not here speak of his own commandments; neither does he here mention the commandments of the apostles; but he does say, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” That Christ here refers to his Father’s moral code is beyond all conjecture. 3. The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was written A. D. 96, thirty-five years after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the day of Pentecost. The Christian church was, therefore, fully established, and every point was more than thirty years in the past to which men look and argue the abolition or change of the divine law. Therefore, let the Christian ministry proclaim in the ears of the Christian church this blessed benediction. J. W. The New England Camp-Meeting.
By George I. Butler
This meeting was commenced when I reached the ground, Thursday noon, and I found quite a large number of Sabbath-keepers in attendance. It has been the largest of the eastern camp-meetings thus far. The scattered ones were present in more than usual numbers. This was an encouraging feature. Some thirty-two or thirty-three tents were pitched in the large circle, and two large tents were also erected to accommodate the people, when the weather was stormy; and such was the case most of the time. The weather was the most unfavorable during this meeting of any I have attended this season. There was only one really pleasant day while the meeting was going on. I have been surprised at the coldness of the weather this summer in the East when we hear such accounts of the heat and dryness of the season in the West. In our three eastern camp-meetings thus far, there have been but few nights but that a heavy overcoat seemed almost a necessity. At our meeting just closed, most of the religious services had to be held in the large tent, instead of on the seated space in front of the speakers’ stand. From the first, there seemed to be a readiness to work on the part of the brethren and sisters. They took hold well in the prayer and social meetings, and many expressed themselves as much benefited. Quite a number took a new start, who confessed their backslidings, and returned once more to the Lord, and seemed greatly encouraged. A very large proportion of the people came forward for prayers, and manifested a determination for a renewed consecration to the work. Ten were buried in baptism. The preaching was largely practical, and calculated to show what our characters must be to pass the Judgment. All that I have heard express themselves were much encouraged by the meeting, and thankful for the privilege of attending it. On the whole, I think the meeting was in advance of the one held last year. Our Monday’s meeting was, as usual, one of the most important of all. Quite a number, however, left too soon, and thus lost its benefits. How strange it is that when our people take so much pains and expense to attend the camp-meeting, they will not reap all the benefit possible. That they should leave such an important means of grace when in full progress, seems very strongly to show that they cannot prize it very highly, or that they think themselves in such good condition that they need no further help. In either case, such must be in great danger. They would not pursue such a course in worldly matters. In the raising of means for the cause, New England still takes the lead of all other Conferences. Last week, we thought Vermont had the first position, in proportion to wealth and numbers, but this meeting rather proves the contrary. Sunday morning, when we laid before the people the progress and wants of the cause, especially in reference to our school, there was a liberal response. With what has been previously signed in the Conference, some $5,000 were pledged for this purpose. This was done without any special effort being made, or pressure being brought to bear. Indeed, I think less of this was done there than at any other camp-meeting held the past season. The friends acted as though they had learned how to give. It came easy. And this makes it proper for me to again refer to the tract and missionary society. My judgment is more and more convinced of the vast utility of this society. Before it was organized, New England was one of the hardest places to raise means in largely, of any of our Conferences. It was missionary ground. That is, laborers were sent there by the General Conference, and supported there by the General Conference treasury. Now, instead of this, there is no Conference which pays so much means into the General Conference treasury in proportion to its numbers as New England. She voted, this year, $800 unsolicited, and had plenty left to pay all her own bills, with a handsome sum provided for future uses of her own. I do not believe the people are more naturally inclined to give than in other Conferences. But they have been instructed in the importance of cultivating a spirit of sacrifice, and a good example of this spirit has been set before them. It has not been a matter of driving, either, that has brought this about. But the proper motive has been appealed to, and as the people learn to sacrifice, they grow more and more willing to do it. The tract society work is of just that nature. To what other means can this be attributed than the one I have suggested? The people are not especially rich in New England. It is generally thought, in the Western and Middle States, that the Yankees of New England acquire sharpness and closeness of dealing in their characters, because it is such a hard place to get a living in that they have to watch the corners so closely, and have to look very anxiously after the pennies and sixpences in order to get a living. How, then, does it happen that they are far ahead of our richer brethren, West, in giving to the cause? I do believe that the Western people are generally better off than those living here in New England. I attribute this result to the working of the tract society. The New England Conference has not far from three hundred members. These give to the school $5,000. Iowa has upwards of seven hundred. At the same rate she would give some $12,000. Michigan has more than six times as many members, and, on the average, they are wealthier. She would, then, at that rate, give upward of $30,000. Who dare to expect she will come anywhere near that sum? and yet she ought to be far more interested in the school than New England; for it is in her midst, where many of the people can directly avail themselves of the advantages of it, while New England cannot hope to send many pupils to it, comparatively. It has been thought there would be a reaction in New England—that the pressure for means had been so high that the scale would soon turn the other way. So far from this being true, never have means been more freely given than this year. And I can see no signs of such a thing. In conclusion, I express my full belief that the tract and missionary work should receive a large amount of the credit for this changed state of things, and that our other States will stand greatly in their own light if they do not feel interested in the same good work. Strengthening the Mind and Heart for Good
NOTHING that does not make thy mind and thy heart stronger and more active, and more ardent for the good, is worth the trouble of being desired with ardor either by the heart or the mind. The Consistent Godly Conduct of a Father
“There is one argument in favor of Christianity which I could never reason away,” said a young man, who tried to be an infidel, and could not; “and that was the consistent, godly conduct of my own father.”