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Review and Herald, Vol. 27, No. 18.

NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN

Review and Herald

Apr 3, 1866

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 3, 1866

NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN

By N. V. Hull

From the Sabbath Recorder.

NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN.

DISCUSSION BETWEEN ELD. N. V. HULL, SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST, AND ELD. R. F. COTTRELL, SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST.

(Continued from Review No. 23, Vol. xxvi.)

Elder Hull's Ninth Article.

ELD. R. F. COTTRELL:
Dear Brother,—Contrary to my expectations, I have, either by ill health or rigorous demands upon my time and strength, been overruled in my purpose, so that a long period of time has elapsed since my last letter to you on the "Nature and Destiny of Man." And even now, I can only snatch a moment in which to notice your argument on Acts xxiii, 8, etc.
You say that my view, which makes the resurrection of the dead one thing believed by the Pharisees, and the existence of angels and spirits another, is an absurdity, because the form of expression shows three things believed, upon my hypothesis, while the word "both," in the text, shows only two things believed, namely, the resurrection of the dead, and the existence of angels or spirits, thus making angels and spirits one. If you could make angels and spirits in this verse mean simply angels, I grant the argument I have made from it would fail. But there are several fatal errors in your theory:
1. The text reads, "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both." Here the resurrection is made one thing believed, and the existence of angels and spirits another. According to this, the word "both" is surely used in a strictly grammatical sense.
2. Your attempt to make angels and spirits mean one and the same thing, is contradicted by the words of the text, which are, nor angels, nor spirits—not angels or spirits, as you write it.
3. Neither Jesus nor Paul affirm the doctrine of the Pharisees as to the condition of these spirits, but only as to their existence. But as to their existence, this they affirm positively.
4. That the Sadducees denied the existence of human spirits after the death of the body, is as much a matter of historic notoriety, as the existence of the sect itself; and as a necessary thought, they denied also the resurrection.
One might as well deny the existence of the sect of the Pharisees, as to deny their belief in the existence of human spirits after the death of the body. Just so certainly as they believed in the resurrection, did they believe in this. I maintain, therefore, that any interpretation of Scripture that ignores this fact, is fatally defective. Paul then affirms himself, in so far as the existence of human spirits after the death of the body is concerned, a Pharisee. I claim that a fair interpretation of this passage, taken in connection with Luke xxiv, 37–39, should settle beyond cavil this question.
Your attempt to make spirit and life synonymous terms, may be a necessity of your doctrine; but, as it seems to me, should teach you its inconsistency. That in certain instances spirit means life, I grant; but that it is even its general meaning, I deny. I give a few instances to show the reader the absurdity of the position, that spirit and life are convertible terms. Matt. xxvi, 41. "The spirit indeed is willing." Mark viii, 12. "And he sighed deeply in his spirit." Luke x, 21. "In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit." John xi, 33. "He groaned in spirit." Acts xvii, 16. "His spirit was stirred within him." Rom. ii, 29. "Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit." 1 Cor. ii, 11. "For who among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him?" This is sufficient to show how impossible it is to make spirit and life to mean one and the same thing.
My next letter will be on the destiny of man. Faithfully yours,
N. V. HULL.

Eld. Cottrell's Ninth Reply.

By R. F. Cottrell

ELD. N. V. HULL:
Dear Brother,—If Baptists would apply the same rules of evidence in the investigation of the Sabbath question that they use in defense of immersion, they would certainly become Seventh-day Baptists; and if Seventh-day Baptists would follow the same principles in deciding the questions of man's nature and destiny, they insist on when baptism or the Sabbath is in dispute, they would as surely come to the conclusions, that man is mortal, that "the dead know not anything," and that "the wages of sin is death."
"Give us the Bible," say the Baptists, when baptism is the subject in dispute, while their opponents are searching church history, or rather the history of the apostasy, for some historical meaning of the term. But present them the subject of the Sabbath—ask them to examine that in the light of the Bible—and you will find them appealing to the sciences of geography and astronomy for objections, and to human testimony and the history of the apostasy for proofs of the abolition of the only weekly Sabbath of the Bible, and of the institution of another, of which the Bible says nothing.
You, my dear brother, are a Bible man on both these subjects; but on the subject of man's nature, the Bible will not answer your purpose, unless you can find some historical and fabulous definition of its words, and bring to your aid human wisdom concerning the nature of matter and spirit—a point on which the inspired record has given us no information. We say, Give us the Bible on this, as well as on every other point of theology, and we will be satisfied with the result. This book, though given to teach us man's nature and destiny, giving us a particular account of his creation and redemption, says not one word of an immortal soul or spirit in man, nor of any soul or spirit of man, mortal or immortal, that can exist in conscious being out of the body. On the contrary, it teaches that men die and are buried—that they go into the grave at death, and come forth from the grave at the resurrection.
Your strongest proof of the duality or double entity of man, is drawn from Matt. x, 28. Soul and body are there contrasted. Man can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. You give "animal life" as the "exact" definition of this term. This is separated from the body at death. It is not destroyed, but is it a living being? No; it is, as you define it, the "vital essence," or principle of life. Man can not destroy it; for God can and will give it to him again. But God can destroy both life and body, so that there will be no remedy—no resurrection. This is a threatening of the "second death." So Luther understood it. He says, "What matters it to me if the Pope should condemn me and put me to death. He cannot call me from the grave and kill me a second time."—D'Aubigne's Reformation, vol. 3, p. 41.
The soul (psuche) of Matt. x, can be lost for Christ's sake, and yet saved in the end—in the resurrection. Verse 39. "He that findeth his soul shall lose it; and he that loseth his soul for my sake shall find it." But I call your attention to another scripture, where the Saviour speaks of the soul and body as distinctly as in Matt. x, 28. "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your soul, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the soul more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Matt. vi, 25. I have put soul for psuche, as it is in Matt. x, 28. Let your argument for duality be applied to this text, and we should infer that the soul, in distinction from the body, eats and drinks, while the body cares not for food, but only wants comfortable clothing. If soul and body are two distinct entities anywhere in the Bible, they surely are here. But I imagine I hear you reply,"The soul is merely the animal life in this text. Eating and drinking sustain life, not an immortal soul, while raiment, though it cannot of itself sustain life, covers and protects the body. Hence food is for the life, and clothing for the body." Very well. In popular phrase, food and raiment "keep soul and body together;" but separate them, and does this soul become a conscious and immortal being?
In reply to your last communication, I remark, that the Scriptures reveal two classes of spirits which have not flesh and bones like human beings—the angels of God and the angels of the Devil. Therefore there is no necessity to infer, when the term spirit occurs, as in Acts xxiii, 8; and Luke xxiv, 37–39, that human spirits are meant. Hence what is wanting to sustain your theory is the qualifying terms human and disembodied—a sad deficiency, which the Scriptures utterly fail to supply. You say very truly, that "neither Jesus nor Paul affirm the doctrine of the Pharisees as to the condition of these spirits, but only as to their existence." They do not so much as tell us that they are human spirits.
You say, "That the Sadducees denied the existence of human spirits after the death of the body, is as much a matter of historic notoriety, as the existence of the sect itself; and as a necessary thought, they denied also the resurrection."
If the Pharisees got their idea of the existence of human spirits in a conscious state from their inspired scriptures, we have those scriptures, and can find the doctrine there. But if they received it from the heathen with whom they were brought in contact by their captivity, as is abundantly evident, I care no more for the "historic notoriety" of their departure from the Bible faith, than you do for the historic notoriety of the change of the Sabbath since the New Testament was completed. The historic notoriety that Josephus affirms the doctrine of the Pharisees to be that "the souls of good men are removed into other bodies," and the fact that he himself was led by his "Greek culture and philosophical tincture" to reject the doctrine of a bodily resurrection, and made "no allusion to that doctrine in his account of the Pharisees," (as I have before shown,) does not prove that transmigration and no bodily resurrection was the true doctrine of the Pharisees, in contradiction of the writers of the New Testament. And it is not "a necessary thought," that the denial of these mythological fables involves also the denial of the resurrection of the dead. On the contrary, it is this natural immortality fable that makes the resurrection of the body unnecessary.
I have made no attempt to prove that spirit always means life. I have no objection to the passages you quote. My spirit is sometimes willing, sometimes rejoices, and sometimes is stirred within me, as was Paul's, at the superstitions of the heathens; but in saying so I do not desire to vex your soul or spirit. Would to God you could view these things as I do. It is, to my mind, so much better. Do try to forget all educational bias, and weigh the evidences again.
Sincerely yours,
R. F. COTTRELL.

Work.

By C. M. Willis

Work while the day shall last, The harvest fields are white, The day will soon be passed, Then comes the night. Work while the day shall last, With sighs, and tears, and pain, Bread on the waters cast, Shall come again.
Work while the day shall last, Though Satan's hosts oppose, His power will soon be past, This worst of foes. Work while the day shall last, Though clouds obscure thy path; God's day is hasting fast, His day of wrath.
Work while 'tis called to-day, Then bear thy harvest home, And hear thy Saviour say, Well done, well done. Then lay thy laurels down, And shout thy sufferings o'er, And wear a starry crown Forevermore.
C. M. Willis.
Charlotte, Mich.

Our Position.

By V. O. Edson

THE doctrine of the soon coming of Christ, and the solemn events in close connection therewith, which is being promulgated at the present time, is no cunningly devised fable, or wild imagination of a fanatic's mind. No, no; it is a solemn reality soon to be witnessed by the inhabitants of earth. But says one, "How are we to know when these events are to transpire? It may be very soon, and may not be in hundreds of years; it is all supposition; and I for one do not feel inclined to concern myself about these things."
Gentle reader, this is a subject that should concern us all; for if it is truth, how necessary that we understand it. Think you our kind heavenly Father would leave us on the dark and stormy ocean of time, to drift about in uncertainty, with no chart or compass whereby to determine our whereabouts? Oh no: a chart has been given us on which the voyage is plainly marked out.
The word of God has plainly pointed out the signs which were to precede the great event of the second advent. Have they been fulfilled? Let us see. First, we will look at Dan. ii, 28–45. Has not this Image had its fulfillment? The head of gold, Babylon, has long since passed away. The breast and arms of silver, Media and Persia, have had their day. The brass, Grecia, has borne away, and is numbered in the past.
The legs of iron, Rome, has swayed the sceptre of iron rule. Its power has dwindled away till we now find it in a divided state, symbolized by the ten toes of the image. Where does this mark our position? Emphatically near the very time when the stone is to smite the image upon the feet, symbolizing the destruction of all earthly governments, and the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom.
Dan. vii and viii also have nearly all had a striking fulfillment. The prophet Joel, too, has vividly portrayed the events that were to transpire in the last days, which have been and are now fulfilling.
Our Saviour (Matt. xxiv) in answer to the request of his disciples, "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world," enumerates the signs which were to precede this great event, which have nearly all had their fulfillment. The sun was darkened May 19, 1780. The moon the following night refused to give her light. The falling stars were witnessed Nov. 13, 1833. The next great event is the sign of the Son of man in heaven.
We may be here met with the objection, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man." Very true; but is it necessary that we should? Is it not enough for us to know that he is nigh even at the door, and be ready and waiting, that when he comes we can hail him with joy and not with grief? Events transpiring at the present proclaim emphatically, even to the most skeptical mind, that some great event is pending; and the Scriptures plainly declare what that event is. "Distress of nations with perplexity" is witnessed on every side; also "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth." Paul in his epistle to Timothy delineates the characteristics of the last days, and how plainly visible are they at the present day. Pride, fashion, pleasure-parties, and pleasure-seeking is the order of the day.
The cry of the angel of Rev. vii, 2, 3, has been made, and in consequence the dreadful scenes of war and bloodshed have been staid, and we are now having "a little time of peace" for the sealing work of the third angel's message of Rev. xiv, to be accomplished. Where are we then in this world's history? Examining the word of God carefully, and the signs as plainly delineated therein, and then turning our attention to the events that have been and are still transpiring, and witnessing the exact fulfillment of prophecy respecting the second coming of Christ, and the answer comes home in warning tones, In the very last days, when Christ is about to come the second time without sin unto salvation, to reward every man as his work shall be!
A little time is now given to seek a preparation for these events. Oh, let it not pass unimproved. Careless sinner awake! Christ is now pleading for you; he stands waiting to receive you. Oh, hear his sweet voice, accept his gracious invitation, come to him without delay, and find acceptance and pardon through his atoning blood. Mercy's sweet voice is now sounding; but it will soon die away. Christ's messengers are now beseeching men to be reconciled to God; their work will soon be done; probation's last hour will soon have passed; Christ will soon have finished his mediatorial work in the Heavenly Sanctuary and come forth clothed in the garments of vengeance. Then a great ransom can never redeem one soul. The mandate will have gone forth, He that is unjust let him be so still; and he that is holy let him so remain. Oh, come while yet there is room, lest the sad lamentation be thine, "The harvest is passed, the summer is ended and we are not saved."
Come wanderer from the fold of Christ, return. Thy Father calls thee back; why longer roam? Lukewarm professor, arise. Oh, may we sense our poverty, blindness, and nakedness, ere it shall be too late, and purchase the gold tried, white raiment and eyesalve, confess our wrongs and forsake them, and thus make straight paths for our feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. Ye weary, tried, disconsolate ones, look up! your God yet lives; cast your burden upon him, he careth for you.
"Let not life's sorrows press you down, Look up, prepare to take the crown."
Weary wayworn traveler to Mt. Zion, lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh. A few more toils, trials, and conflicts here, and thy earthly pilgrimage will cease. Soon shalt thou reach the goal, and anchor safely in the harbor of eternal rest.
Youthful disciple, press on. Though trials and temptations surround you, remember Jesus has trod the rough pathway before thee. He knows thy weakness and thy temptations, for he has endured the same. He has conquered, and so can we. If we will only trust him, and seek him for strength, he will impart it unto us.
"And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." Rom. xiii, 11, 12.
Palermo, N. Y.

Good Is Stronger Than Evil

Good is stronger than evil. A single really good man in an ill place, is like a little yeast in a gallon of dough; it can leaven the mass.

Christians Must be in Earnest.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THE following is from Nevins' Biblical Antiquities, p. 231. It sets forth in its true light how earnest we must be in order to gain the kingdom of God, and the great danger there is of being deceived, and of being lukewarm in serving God.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
“We have already seen how the Christian life is represented under the image of a laborious race, such as was common in the ancient Grecian games. The Holy Ghost has made use of the most significant things as well as the most forcible words, to teach us the greatness and difficulty of the work to which religion calls us, and to stir up to earnest concern and untiring, continual diligence in its pursuit. How strange, that men, with the Bible in their hands, should so generally feel as if religion did not need uncommon interest or uncommon exertion! Multitudes, who call themselves Christians, are passing onward through life hardly conscious of any struggle or trial of a religious sort whatever, and yet they dream that they are on the way to Heaven. If you talk to them of spiritual discouragement, anxieties, toils, and conflicts, they know not what you mean, or perhaps regard all such language as the sickly cant of fanaticism or gloomy superstition. They show far more concern about the affairs of this world, than about all the infinitely interesting realities of that which is to come, and seldom allow these last to engage their thoughts or their conversation; yet they pretend to be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. But let us beware of such delusion. The Devil would like to persuade us that the road to Heaven requires no great care or effort to be found or traveled; but Christ has assured us that it is difficult and narrow, and that few find it. The Devil will whisper to the soul that there is need to be continually watching and striving in order to secure eternal life; but the Bible warns us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The redemption of the soul is precious. The ruin out of which it is to be raised is most awful. All Heaven is moved with interest for its salvation. And shall we dream of having it lifted such a height from corruption to holiness, with no corresponding interest or exertion on its own part? No; religion claims, and certainly deserves, our highest regard and most serious labor. It sets before us a race; and we must run, laying aside every weight and casting off every hindrance, if we would win its prize. It sets before us a battle; and we must fight, arrayed in all the armor of righteousness, and resisting evil within and without, to the close of life, if we would secure its victory and be crowned with immortal glory.”

The Daily and Abomination of Desolation.

By Editor

DANIEL xii, 11. And from the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
What is the daily which was to be taken away, and the abomination which maketh desolate? The term sacrifice (daily sacrifice) is not in the original in any one instance where the phrase occurs in Daniel, but is merely supplied. It first occurs in the eighth chapter of Daniel, and is introduced as one of the desolating powers which should tread under foot the sanctuary and the host for the 2300 days. Various governments have oppressed the church, but the spirit of Paganism or Popery has animated them in their works, and will continue to do so until the end or coming of Christ. The daily, or spirit of Paganism, began the war in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and it was continued under the Medes and Persians, Grecians, and imperial Romans. Then followed the Papal power which made war on the saints and wore them out. This is the abomination which maketh desolate, spoken of in Matt. xxiv, 15. There must have been another abomination as we read in Dan. ix, 27 of abominations.
Abominations—a word in the plural, “for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even to the consummation.” Paganism (or the daily) and abomination that maketh desolate (Papacy) have done it.
When did Paganism or the daily, give way to Popery? In Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire he has given the following item of history. The chronology is A. D. 508–518. “In the fever of the times the sense, or rather the sound, of a syllable was enough to disturb the peace of an empire. The Trisagion, (thrice holy), Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! is supposed by the Greeks to be the identical hymn which the angels and cherubim eternally repeat before the throne of God, and which about the middle of the fifth century was miraculously revealed to the church of Constantinople. The devotion of Antioch soon added ‘Who was crucified for us!’ and this grateful address, either to Christ alone or to the whole Trinity, may be justified by the rules of theology, and has been gradually adopted by the Catholics east and west. But it had been imagined by a Monophysite bishop the gift of an enemy: was at first rejected as a dire and dangerous blasphemy, and the rash innovation had nearly cost the emperor Anastasius his throne and his life. The people of Constantinople were devoid of any rational principles of freedom; but they held as an awful cause of rebellion the color of a livery in the races or the color of a mystery in the schools.
The Trisagion, with and without this obnoxious addition, was chanted in the cathedral by two adverse choirs, and when their lungs were exhausted they had recourse to the more solid arguments of sticks and stones; the aggressors were punished by the emperor and defended by the patriarch; and the crown and mitre were staked on the event of this momentous quarrel. The streets were instantly crowded with innumerable swarms of men, women, and children; the legions of monks, in regular array, marched and shouted and fought at their head. ‘Christians! this is the day of martyrdom; let us not desert our spiritual fathers; down with the Manichean tyrant! he is unworthy to reign.’ Such was the Catholic cry; and the galleys of Anastasius lay upon their oars before the palace till the patriarch had pardoned the penitent and hushed the waves of the troubled multitude. The triumph of Macedonius was checked by a speedy exile, but the zeal of the flock was again exasperated by the same question, ‘Whether one of the Trinity had been crucified!’ On this momentous occasion the blue and green factions of Constantinople suspended their discord, and the civil and military powers were annihilated in their presence. The keys of the city and the standards of the guards were deposited in the forum of Constantine, the principal station and camp of the faithful. Day and night they were incessantly busied in singing hymns to the honor of their God, or in pillaging and murdering the servants of their prince. The head of his favorite monk, the friend as they styled him, of the enemy of the Holy Trinity, was borne aloft on a spear; and the fire brands which had been darted against heretical structures, diffused the undistinguishing flames over the most orthodox buildings. The statues of the emperor were broken, and his person was concealed in a suburb, till, at the end of three days, he dared to implore the mercy of his subjects. Without his diadem and in the posture of a suppliant, Anastasius appeared on the throne of the circus. The Catholics before his face rehearsed the genuine Trisagion; they exulted in the offer, which he proclaimed by the voice of a herald, of abdicating the purple; they listened to the admonition that since all could not reign, they should previously agree in the choice of a sovereign; and they accepted the blood of two unpopular ministers, whom their master without hesitation condemned to the lions. These furious but transient seditions were encouraged by the success of Vitalian, who, with an army of Huns and Bulgarians, for the most part idolaters, declared himself the champion of the Catholic faith. In this pious rebellion he depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, exterminated 65,000 of his fellow Christians, till he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfaction of the Pope, and the establishment of the council of Chalcedon, an orthodox treaty, reluctantly signed by the dying Anastasius, and more faithfully performed by the uncle of Justinian. And such was the event of the first of the religious wars which have been waged in the name and by the disciples of the God of peace.”
We have then what the historian calls the first war ever waged in the name and by the disciples of the God of peace. And by whom waged? By barbarian pagans in behalf of the Catholic or papal faith. And in that war 65,000 Christians were put to death. These barbarian pagans ceased to persecute in the name and for the support of paganism, and proclaimed themselves champions of the Catholic faith.—Review of Dowling’s Reply to Miller, by J. Litch.
A correspondent requests the publication of the above with additional explanations if necessary. The view of the two abominations presented by Mr. Litch is probably correct, and the quotation from Gibbon seems conclusive as showing that Catholicism was in the ascendancy at the time given by him, 508–514. We date the “taking away” of “the daily abomination,” at the first period given by the historian, A. D. 508. See Synopsis of Present Truth, in Review Vol. XI, No. 12, Jan. 28, 1858.

Contentment.

A PASTOR tells the following story of one of his flock: She was a poor widow, and supported herself with rigid economy by knitting.
I saw her in the intense cold of last winter. The house was one upon which time had made such sad ravages that only one room could now be inhabited; and in that she dared not have a fire when the wind blew hard, because the chimney had become unsafe.
“How favored I am!” said she; “for when it has been coldest, the wind didn’t blow much snow on the house, and I could have a fire without danger; I can not be thankful enough; and then,” she continued, “Joseph has been at home nights almost all winter, and he could get my wood and water when there was so much snow I could not get out.”
“But do you not feel very lonely while Joseph is away?”
“Oh, no; I get along very well through the day (her Bible lay on the table at which she was sewing), and when I can see the neighbors’ lights in the evening, they are company for me. I have thought a good deal about sick people this winter; and then I think how favored I am that I can go to bed and sleep all night in health.”
I saw her again to-day. Rheumatism had disabled one foot, and she sat still sewing, with a swollen, painful limb, raised upon a cushion. “How favored I am!” she exclaimed; “when my poor Lydia was alive, I lost the use of both of my feet for a time, and she could take care of me; but now I can get about by moving my feet upon a chair, and I make out to do my work and get Joseph’s meals ready nicely. What if it had been my hands? How favored I am!”

“SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.”—JOHN V, 39

Respectable Witnesses to the Value of the Bible,

and to the Importance of Its Systematic Study.

“SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.”—JOHN V, 39

Dr. Rush.—“We err, not only in human affairs, but in religious likewise, only because we do not know the Scriptures, and obey their instructions.”
Sir Matthew Hale.—“There is no book like the Bible, for excellent wisdom, learning and use.”
John Locke.—“It has God for its Author, Salvation for its end, and Truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. It is all pure, all sincere; nothing too much, nothing wanting.”
Bishop Ridley.—“The wall and trees of my orchard, could they speak, would bear witness that there I learned by heart almost all of the Epistles; of which study, although in time the greater part was lost, yet the sweet savor thereof, I trust, I shall carry with me to Heaveu.”
Thomas a Kempis.—“Man, without a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, is a soldier without weapons, a horse without a bridle, a ship without a rudder, a writer without a pen, and a bird without wings.”
Rev. Dr. Hamilton.—The Bible.—“The World's Maker is the Bible's Author. Let me entreat you to study the Bible; study it with prayer, with expectation; with eyes alert and open, read it; in your most tranquil retirement, read it; and when a few of you, who are friends likeminded, come together, read it; search it; sift it; talk about it; talk with it. And as he thus grows mighty in it, I promise each earnest Bible student two rewards—it will make him both a wiser and a better man.”
Turtullian.—“I adore the fullness of Scripture. I do not admit what thou bringest in of thine own without Scripture.”
Austin.—“The Holy Scripture is a golden epistle sent to us from God. This is to be read diligently. Ignorance of Scripture is the mother of error, not of devotion.”

Religion and Health

By Henry Ward Beecher

RELIGION AND HEALTH.—Henry Ward Beecher, in his Lecture Room Talks in the Independent, thinks that health is the first step towards a healthy religious experience. He says:
“You will say, perhaps, ‘What, then, is there no religion for the infirm and sick?’ Yes; but that does not alter the fact that in their religious experiences they are more or less gloomy and desponding. It is not always the effect of disease to produce gloom and despondency; sometimes it hightens the sensibilities; but as a general thing religious experiences are sounder and more rational in a healthy mind and a healthy body. So, I say that, as the first step, you must be healthy, if you expect to have broad and deep and sweet experiences. Health is a Christian duty. I have heard persons praying, and praying, and praying for the presence of God; and I have thought that if they would eat less, and work more, and spend twice as much time in the open air, they would not need to pray so much. What they wanted was not answer to prayer, but simple obedience to the laws of God in nature.”

Duties Perverted by Satan

SATAN reeks it little whether he prevent our duties or perverts them.

The Terror of an Unprepared Death

A SOLEMN TESTIMONY.—Dr. Spring, reviewing his long ministerial career, gives the following testimony, which is instructive, solemn, and full of warning:
“I have seen Universalists and infidels die, and during a ministry of fifty-five years I have not found a single instance of peace and joy in their new views of eternity. No, nothing but an accusing conscience, and the terrors of apprehension. I have seen men die who were men of mercurial temperament, men of pleasure and fun, men of taste and literature, lovers of the opera and the theatre, rather than the house of God; and I never saw an instance in which such persons died in peace. They died as they lived. Life was a blank, and death the king of terrors; a wasted life, an undone eternity!”

Unitarianism.

By B. F. Summerbell

J. H. Waggoner in his article on "The Saviour's Titles," is led by the Chicago Tribune to wrongly represent the Unitarians to the readers of the Review and Herald. Believing it not to be the intention of either the Editor of the Review or its correspondent to misrepresent the faith of others, I pen a few lines to set the matter right. That the Unitarians held the Convention referred to; that it was an imposing body of great men; and that Mr. Burley improved the occasion by making himself ridiculous is true. That the Unitarians agreed with Mr. Burley is not true. That the N. Y. Herald should misrepresent the Convention was to be expected. The Chicago Tribune doubtless drew its inspiration from the N. Y. Herald. What I want to say is,
1. Mr. Burley was not in sympathy with the Unitarian Convention.
2. He was not allowed to proceed: the Convention could not hear him.
3. The Unitarians are regarded as heretical, not that they deny that Christ is Lord, but that they deny his being Lord in the Unitarian [Trinitarian ?] sense.
B. F. SUMMERBELL.
Carlisle, Mass., March, 1866.

Worldly Praise and Honor.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

FROM the smallest to the greatest, men of the world are seeking after these. They will put forth every effort and spare no labor to gain it. They will disregard the claims of God upon them, if to obey him, will cause them to lose the praise of men; "because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God." But what is the praise and honor of men worth when attained? I witnessed a circumstance a short time since which forcibly impressed my mind with the hollowness of the praise and flattery which persons bestow one upon another.
A number of ladies came together for a social party. The lady of the house had a melodeon and could play some. Others of the company also made some pretensions that way, but nothing to boast of. At length a lady came in who was quite noted for her skill, or at least pretended abilities, in music. Soon she was called upon by the company to give them some music. As is usual on such occasions, she plead great ignorance on the subject, and great inability to play any thing worth listening to. But no excuses would do; they all "knew that she was a splendid player and singer." At the first piece the whole company were
greatly pleased. "It was admirably played, and her voice was so sweet, so melodious!" The next piece was better still,—"splendid, charming." A third piece was "heavenly, transporting!" All were profuse in their praises of the player. At length the scene closed and the lady departed, no doubt highly pleased with herself and the praise which she had received. But hardly had the door closed after her when one said to another, "Well, what did you think of her music?" (Thus implying that no confidence could be placed in what was said in the lady's presence.) "I thought it was very poor, very ordinary." "So did I," added another. "She did not speak her words plain," said one. "Yes, and her time is very poor," replied another. One thought that she could play about as well herself; another thought that she was very proud and self-conceited, &c.
Thus they went on to criticise and condemn what they all praised so highly but a moment before! This simply illustrates the hollowness and deception of men's praises. Yet men prefer this to the praise of God! Wisdom shows a better path; but few are walking in it.
D. M. CANRIGHT.

Report from Tuscola.

By I. D. Van Horn

March 22nd, I returned to Battle Creek, from our field of labor in Tuscola county. Since the first of last June, Bro. Canright and myself have made this county our special place of labor for the spread of the truths of the last warning message. Our hearts are filled with gratitude to God, and our lips speak forth his praise, as we look back with feelings of satisfaction, and see that his guiding hand has been with us. The cause of truth has been prosperous under our labors, and many have stepped out into its light, and are now trying to make their way with the remnant to Mount Zion.
The last two weeks of my stay with them, was spent in bringing the societies in the different places we had visited, into church order. The meetings we held with them during this time were profitable, and we have every reason to believe that much good was accomplished by them. At Centerville, eleven united in Christian fellowship, resolving to assist each other as they pass through the perils of the last days, and finally gain the home of the redeemed in Heaven.
At Watrousville, we enjoyed a most excellent meeting. On first-day, March 18, the believers inpresent truth in this place, assembled for the purpose of uniting their interests to sustain the cause among them, which they have recently learned to love. Quite a number came in, perhaps more out of curiosity than anything else, and among them were some who had bitterly opposed the truth. As our meeting progressed, it became more and more interesting. The good Spirit of God came into our midst, which was good evidence to us that he sanctioned the effort then being made, for the establishment of his truth. A deep feeling of solemnity pervaded the hearts of all present. At the close of the meeting, as we all united in prayer for the ordination of the elder and deacon, God gave us his crowning blessing, and we all felt to rejoice in his love. Many, even of those who came in merely to see what would be done, were affected to tears.
A little society of thirty-four members has been formed as the result of this meeting. We seldom have seen such harmony of feeling as seemed to be manifest among this band of believers. May they, with the assistance of God's grace, ever remain in the simplicity of their first love.
At Vassar, the same good Spirit prevailed among the brethren and sisters, as they met together for organization. Twenty-one in this place, have resolved to walk together in the narrow pathway that leads to a better home than is found in this dark world. May they prove faithful to their trust in God, and he will bring them safely through to his kingdom.
These churches have all unanimously adopted the plan of Systematic Benevolence, the amount of which will probably be given in a future report.
The whole number of members who have united in fellowship in the three places, is sixty-six; but this does not include all who are keeping the Lord's Sabbath, and trying to live out the truth. There are some in each place, who for some cause, did not feel prepared to unite with the rest at present, but will probably do so soon. May the blessing of the Lord attend the work thus commenced in this county, and may his Holy Spirit seal instruction to the minds of all who love the truth, that they may all prove faithful to the end.
I. D. VAN HORN.
Battle Creek, Mich.
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