MEN generally suppose that if they can guard against improper words and wicked deeds, they cannot be very guilty for trains of thought which they may revolve in their minds, however corrupt they may be. They look upon their thoughts as things which spring up in the heart by some laws of association which they cannot understand, or which, if understood, they cannot control. As they have not summoned, so neither (in their view) can they dismiss them; but must surrender themselves to their influence for a period, longer or shorter, until some circumstance occurs which gives a new direction to the current of thinking. When they confess their sins, there are oftentimes words and deeds which they admit to be grievously in conflict with the demands of the divine word. But it rarely happens that any unhallowed imaginations in which they have indulged awaken emotions of genuine sorrow. Now the thoughts are the guests we entertain—the company we receive into the innermost privacy of our bosoms. And just as a man is censurable who voluntarily and habitually consorts with corrupting company, so is he to be condemned who deliberately entertains depraved thoughts.
Let every man, and especially every young man, remember that God holds us responsible for our thoughts. Man can only take cognizance of the outward appearance. His observation must be limited to those words and actions which can be perceived by the senses. But the scrutiny of Omniscience extends further, penetrating the evil which hides our inner selves from the view of others; it explores the most private recesses of the spirit, and perfectly understands that portion of our character which others cannot scan. Man can only call us good or evil, as our words and actions authorize. But He whose glance enters the heart and surveys the emotions which are there cherished condemns, as wicked, every unhallowed thought; and will as surely take these into the account in determining our final retribution as he will consider in that reckoning our outward acts. “Guard well your thoughts.” “Your thoughts are heard in Heaven,” says a distinguished poet. Never was there a more scriptural sentiment. They are known to the Searcher of hearts, and are, at every thought, securing his approbation, or exciting his displeasure.
But perhaps there may be those to whom this may look like a harsh procedure. If it were true, as some suppose, that we could not control our thoughts—that they rushed uninvited upon our attention—that they detained that attention for a time, longer or shorter, just as they pleased, and that they departed as unceremoniously as they entered our mind; then I grant that it would be hard to make us responsible for such visitors. If we had no power over our own mental operations, it would seem as unjust to punish us for delinquencies in these particulars as to censure us for the depravity of a resident of Asia or of Africa. But can you defend such a position as this? Have you no power to determine what themes shall and what shall not employ your meditations? Are you the mere slave of your thoughts, compelled to follow as they, by some caprice, may direct? No intelligent mind in which the will is ruler is prepared to admit that it has been subjected to such vassalage.
The truth is, and I appeal to your own consciousness in support of the declaration, that you are endowed with the power of thinking upon just such subjects as you may prefer. You can, at pleasure, direct your attention to any topic, agreeable or disagreeable; lawful or unlawful, connected with the past, present or future; you can resolve it in your mind for a longer or shorter period, and then you can dismiss it entirely from your consideration. If this were not true; if your thoughts were not under the control of the will, you would be incompetent to the management of your business; you would be disqualified for every pursuit of life involving the exercise of reason. You would in truth be insane.
Now it is because God has given us the power over our own thinking that it assumes a moral complexion in his sight. The man who resigns himself to unholy reveries, or who entertains in his own heart purposes which, if acted out, would render him obnoxious to the censure of his fellow-men, and to condemnation from God, is as certainly guilty, though it may not be to the same extent, as though he had been openly corrupt and abandoned. “Out of the heart,” says the Saviour, “proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasphemies.”
One of the most important counsels in the entire volume of Revelation, is the direction of the wise man: “Keep thy heart with all diligence.” This is the fountain whence issue the streams which are to fertilize and gladden, or to pollute and destroy. No man was ever wicked in speech or action who was not first wicked in heart. The deeds of atrocity which shock us in execution were first performed in heart—in thought. Had this been “kept,” had the early idea been restrained, the result so fearful in development might have been averted. Young men, look to the springs of action; as you would avoid acts which involve you in ruin and disgrace. Keep the heart as you would secure a conduit, which, with God’s blessing, will make you honorable, lawful and happy now, and all that you desire hereafter. Look to your thoughts.—W. T. Brantley, D. D., in “Good News.”
I'LL GIVE THEE ALL.
By A. M. Lindsley
Yes, all, dear Lord, for thee, not one small thing
Will I withhold. Thou gav'st thyself for me,
In sweat, and blood, and agony, that brought
Thee down to death; and through death's portal thou
Hast passed, and, from it, God hath brought
Life and immortality to light by thee.
Shall I, for graver worldly good, stand back
And let the burden rest on shoulders now
Already burdened to the full? Shall I,
For fear of face of clay, or scorn, or hate,
Deny my Lord, that hath so fully bought
Me with the purchase of his blood, that I
May with him sit on thrones above t'enjoy
The bliss of Heaven's love at his right hand
While endless ages roll their circles round?
Ah! no; why founder in the depths of sin
And drink the poisoned draughts of Satan in,
To lull and deaden all my sense of right?
The love of peace and purity forego,
And barter all that's worth the name of good,
For one poor little space of time, filled up
With broken hopes, and sorrow's hours, made sad
By stealthy steps of death whose scythe, at last,
Lays low our fondest loves? May God forbid,
And breathe into our hearts that love that gave
His Son to die for us that we might live
O God of mercy, help! Just now reach down
And touch our hearts with finger of thy love;
Leave not a single stain to mar thy work,
But make us dead to sin, alive to thee,
And finish well the work thou hast begun.
A. M. LINDSLEY.
Vermillion, N. Y.
A Sensible Farmer.
Some time ago, a pious agriculturist was speaking of a minister of his acquaintance, who, he thought, preached too smoothly—that is, with too little application to the conscience; as though he were fearful of hurting the feelings of men, unconscious of their danger of eternal destruction. Our friend said of him, “Why, he seems to be a good man, but he will rake with the teeth upwards.” To the agriculturist this figure will appear impressive and full of meaning. Raking with the teeth upwards is as bad as sowing in fallow ground without breaking it up. Raking with the teeth upwards will never gather the hay. Raking with the teeth upwards, or harrowing in the same manner, will smooth over the field, but will neither rake in the seed, nor rake out the weeds. A preacher will never succeed in his work, who rakes with the teeth upwards. The teeth of the gospel implements are not set in this way, but point down into the heart and conscience.
Men who pursue only riches of earth do not rake with the teeth upwards, but downwards. They vigorously labor to obtain their object at any risk. Wily politicians often rake with the teeth upwards, but then they only aim at a temporary object. Flatterers always work in this way; but honest people despise them, and know, notwithstanding pretensions to the contrary, that their real design is not to rake, but, to smooth and cover over. For the minister of God to rake with the teeth upwards is to “handle the word of God deceitfully.” It is to teach as Satan taught our first parents,—“ye shall not surely die.” Paul raked the Corinthians with the teeth downward, and made them both sore and sorry. 2 Cor. 7. They sorrowed to repentance; and in this the apostle rejoiced, for in his hand the gospel had effectually done its work. Ministers of Christ!—subserve the glory of your Master, and the salvation of your hearers, by raking with the teeth downwards.—Sel.
Early Teaching of Methodism.
By C. H. Bliss
(Extracts from the Preachers’ Manual; Concluded.)
CONCERNING forming friendships, he says:—
“1. Beware of forming hasty friendships. They are seldom solid. Confide little in the person who suddenly professes uncommon friendship for you. He may be sincere, but depend upon it, he will not be steady. Remember the proverb, Hot love is soon cold.
“2. Never trust to appearances; behold, the drum, with all its noise, is empty within.
“3. If you have a friend who takes offense at trifles, break entirely with him, for he is not to be trusted.”
Concerning the minister’s behavior while visiting families, he says:—
“1. Give the family as little trouble as possible.
“2. Never desire anything of them that you can do for yourself.
Dr. Adam Clarke was decidedly an advocate of health reform. Of the use of tea, he says, “Shun tea-drinking visits. Thirty-seven years ago I met with Mr. Wesley’s ‘Letter on Tea.’ I read it and resolved from that hour to drink no more of the juice of that herb, till I could answer his arguments and objections. I have seen that tract but once since; yet from that day to this, I have not drank a cup of tea or coffee.”
Further on concerning tea-drinking visits he says, “I have often had occasion to observe that tea-drinking visits open the flood gates of various temptations.”
Of the manner of eating he says, “Never eat your food too warm, nor drink any kind of hot slops in the morning. These exceedingly relax and weaken the fibers of the stomach, and prevent it from performing its proper functions.”
Concerning using medicine for recovery when sick, he says, “Avoid all quack medicine as you would the pestilence because I believe nature, if she get fair play, will require very little medical assistance.”
Certainly this is sound “health reform” doctrine, and is all the more valuable in that it comes from one qualified to speak with regard to the nature and effect of medicine. C. H. Bliss.
Open Communion.
By Jos. Clarke
THE above-mentioned subject has been very fully discussed of late in the REVIEW. Although the ground taken is higher than we had anticipated, yet it is clearly scriptural and reasonable; and all those who pray and strive for purity will cordially indorse this doctrine, and will praise God, that the standard is elevated.
No greater unkindness can be done to any one than to flatter him with false hopes. Open communion has a tendency to bring the church upon the level with its enemy, the world, and to deceive the unregenerate, and lull them to a fatal sleep.
Who would wish to be deceived? Who would wish to demolish the wall which surrounds the fold of the Good Shepherd? Who would wish to see wolves in that fold? No, this may not be. Such a policy as breaks down the lines of demarkation between good and evil brings no good to any one.
The greatest kindness God can confer upon us poor sinners is to faithfully convict us of sin, and to show us that the door is the only entrance to his dear fold.
JOS. CLARKE.
Rowland Hill’s Four-Part Sermon
WHEN Rowland Hill was paying his first visit to Scotland, he was carefully warned that his loose and random style of talking would not do among the hard-headed natives of that country, and that he must try to be a little more connected.
Accordingly, when he first stood in a Scotch pulpit he said he was to obey the warning, and that he would be very logical and very connected indeed. Having announced his text, he said:—
“First, I shall come up to the text; secondly, I shall go round about the text; thirdly, I shall go right through the text; and fourthly, I shall go quite away from the text.”
And if the story-teller be veracious, Rowland was most at home under the last head.
The Thwarted Sinner
A SINNER desirous of reforming, and thwarted in his efforts to reform by the over-righteous, the unfeeling, and the unforgiving, presents one of the saddest and most discreditable of spectacles.
Dives and Lazarus.
By John Nevins Andrews
It is probable that no one portion of Scripture has stood more in the way of people in general when the doctrine of the sleep of the dead is first brought to their notice than the account of Dives and Lazarus. Luke 16:19–31. This is deemed a clear, minutely circumstantial, and decisive proof of man's conscious existence in death: The righteous during the state of death being happy in the bliss of Heaven; the wicked tormented in the flames of hell. Yet even to the common theory of conscious existence in death, this text presents very serious difficulties.
If Lazarus was in Heaven, and Dives in hades, how could they converse together? Is hades in the third Heaven somewhere in the sight of the New Jerusalem? Oh! no; hades or sheol, the place of the dead, is IN THE EARTH BENEATH. Though it is rendered grave thirty-one times, it is not the word usually so rendered in the Old Testament; for it embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave. Eze. 32:18–32. All the passages which speak of the location of sheol, or hades, represent it as beneath. It is always in the interior of the earth; sometimes it is in the nether parts of the earth. Num. 16:30, 33; Ps. 141:7; Isa. 5:14; 14:9–20; Eze. 31:15–18; 32:18–32. Referring to the fire now burning, in the heart of the earth which shall at the last day swallow up the earth in its fiery gulf, Moses represents the Almighty as saying, “For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest sheol, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” Deut. 32:22. Jonah went down into sheol when, in the belly of the whale, he descended into the depths of the mighty waters, where none but dead men had ever been. Jonah 1:2. Korah and his company went into sheol alive; that is, the earth swallowed them up while yet alive. Num. 16.
The righteous do not praise God in sheol. Thus David testifies: “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in sheol who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. And Hezekiah, when delivered from death in answer to prayer, expresses the same great truth: “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of sheol; I am deprived of the residue of my years. . . . Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.” Isa. 38:10–19; Ps. 115:17; 146:1–4.
The wicked in sheol are silent in death. Thus David prays: “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in sheol.” Ps. 31:17. See also 1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 115:17, last clause.
Sheol is a place of silence, secrecy, sleep, rest, darkness, corruption, and worms. “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Oh! that thou wouldst hide me in sheol, that thou wouldst keep me secret until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” Job 14:12–15. “If I wait, sheol is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of sheol, when our rest together is in the dust.” Job 17:13–16; 4:11–19; Ps. 88:10–12.
There is no knowledge in sheol. Thus writes the wise man, the Spirit of inspiration bearing testimony through him: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in sheol, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:4–6, 10.
Such are the great facts concerning sheol, or hades, as revealed to us in the books of “Moses and the prophets.” Yet we have several cases in these same writings in which the dead in sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, converse together, and are comforted or taunted by each other, or in which they weep bitterly, refusing comfort.
The case of the king of Babylon is a noted instance of this. When he is overthrown, and goes down to sheol, the DEAD (for sheol has no others in its dark abode) are stirred up to meet him. The kings that have been conquered and destroyed by the king of Babylon in the days of his prosperity, now rise up from their thrones in that dark abode, and mock him with feigned obeisance as in life they had rendered real homage. Now they taunt him saying, “Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?” Those that see him shall narrowly look upon him, saying, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?” Isa. 14:9–20.
Pharaoh and his army, slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon, are set forth in this same manner. The slain upon the field of battle being buried indiscriminately, and friend and foe cast down together into pits, into the “nether parts of the earth,” into sheol, “the strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol.” And this sheol, in the nether parts of the earth, full of the dead, is contrasted with “the land of the living.” These slaughtered soldiers went down to sheol with their weapons of war, and their swords they “laid under their heads.” Pharaoh, lying among them, and seeing the multitude of his enemies that were slain, is “comforted” at the sight. See this remarkable prophecy, Eze. 32:17–32; 31:15–18.
Perhaps the case of Rachel is even more remarkable than these. Long ages after her decease and entrance into sheol, a dreadful slaughter of her posterity takes place. Upon this, Rachel breaks forth into lamentation and bitter weeping, and refuses to be comforted, because her children are not. Then the Lord says to her, “Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord.” Jer. 31:15–17; Matt. 2:17, 18; Gen. 35:18–20.
That Rachel did literally weep and shed bitter tears at the murder of her children nearly two thousand years after her entrance into sheol, no one will assert. Nor will it be maintained that the slaughtered Egyptians and Chaldeans lying in sheol with their swords under their heads were able to converse together in the nether parts of the earth; and that one was literally “comforted,” or the other literally “ashamed.” Equally difficult is it to believe that the kings who had been overthrown by the king of Babylon were literally seated on thrones in sheol, deep in the earth, and that when he was cast down to sheol they arose from their thrones and mocked him, declaring that he was now become weak as they. Please compare the following texts on the king of Babylon: Jer. 51:39, 57; Dan. 5:1–4, 30; Isa. 14:4–30.
Taking our leave of “Moses and the prophets,” whose testimony on this subject has the direct indorsement of our Lord, let us now return to the case of Dives and Lazarus. Luke 16:19–31. Lazarus lived in the deepest poverty; too helpless to walk, or even to stand, he was laid at the rich man's gate; he had no other food than the crumbs, perhaps grudgingly bestowed, from the table of the rich man; and no other nurses than the dogs which licked his sores. In process of time, death comes to his relief; but his burial is not mentioned, though that of the rich man, who died soon after, is distinctly named. It is likely that the dead beggar, covered with sores, was disposed of with as little trouble as possible; in the sight of man, he had the burial of a dog; but this poor man, forsaken of all earthly friends, and apparently unnoticed of Heaven, had, unseen to mortal eye, such a burial as the wealth of the whole world could not command. The angels of God took part as his bearers to that quiet resting place from which, by-and-by, when hades gives up the righteous dead, at the sound of the last trumpet, they shall take him up through the air, to meet his triumphant Redeemer. Till that time, we leave him asleep in Jesus, resting in hope, with Abraham, the father of the faithful, and all the ancient worthies who have not yet received the promises. Heb. 11:8–16, 39, 40.
The rich man lived in luxury, faring sumptuously every day. To the eye of all beholders, his lot was to be envied, and that of the beggar to be despised. But he dies also, and of him it is recorded that he was buried. All that wealth could purchase, all that pride could exhibit of earthly pomp and grandeur, were, no doubt, displayed at his funeral. But there were no angels of God to participate in it. He had lived for himself, neglecting the great preparation for the future. He goes down to hades a lost man, there to wait until the resurrection to damnation. As the Douay Bible reads, “he was buried in hell,” i. e., in hades, or sheol. There he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then, as though calling to mind the littleness of the favors he had bestowed on Lazarus, he asks a favor at the hands of the despised beggar—the smallest indeed that he could ask—that Lazarus should dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue. This being denied, he asks that Lazarus may be sent to warn his brethren. And this also was refused, because they had Moses and the prophets, whose testimony was sufficient.
This scene transpires in hades, or sheol, which, as we have seen, is in the nether parts of the earth. The place is one of darkness and silence, where there is neither wisdom nor knowledge. It is the place of the dead, and those who are therein are called “the congregation of the dead.” Prov. 21:16. In the utter darkness of hades, how can men see each other? “In the land of forgetfulness,” how can they remember the events of their past lives? In a place where there is no knowledge, how could Dives know Abraham, whom he had never seen? Where there is no work, nor device, how could he devise a plan to warn his wicked brethren? And in hades, where there is no wisdom, how could Abraham give such wise answers? In hades, where the wicked are silent in death, how could Dives converse? As the righteous cannot praise God in hades, and do not even remember his name, how does it happen that they can so well understand and converse on everything else? J. N. A.
(Concluded Next Week.)
The Third Angel's Message.
By Uriah Smith
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON THE MARK.
The nature of the change which the little horn has attempted to effect in the law of God, is worthy of notice. With true Satanic instinct, he undertakes to change that commandment which, of all others, is the fundamental commandment of the law, the one which makes known who the Lawgiver is, and contains his signature of royalty. The fourth commandment does this; no other one does. Four others, it is true, contain the word God, and three of them the word Lord, also. But who is this Lord God of whom they speak? Without the fourth commandment it is impossible to tell; for idolaters of every grade apply these terms to the multitudinous objects of their adoration. With the fourth commandment to point out the author of the decalogue, the claims of every false god are annulled at one stroke; for the God who here demands our worship is not any created being, but the One who created them all. The maker of the earth and sea, the sun and moon, and all the starry host, the upholder and governor of the universe, is the One who claims, and who, from his position, has a right to claim, our supreme regard in preference to every other object. The commandment which makes known the facts is therefore the very one we might suppose that power would undertake to change, which designed to exalt itself above God. God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the sons of men, of his work in creating the heavens and the earth, a great barrier against atheism and idolatry. It is the signature and seal of the law. This the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in its stead, on its own authority, another institution designed to serve another purpose.
This change of the fourth commandment must therefore be the change to which the prophecy points; and Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the beast! Some, who have long been taught to regard this institution with reverence, will perhaps start back with little less than feelings of horror at this conclusion. We have not space, nor is this perhaps the place, to enter into an extended argument on the Sabbath question, and an exposition of the origin and nature of the observance of the first day of the week. Let us submit this one proposition: If the seventh day is still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment; if the observance of the first day of the week has no foundation whatever in the Scriptures; if this observance has been brought in as a Christian institution and designedly put in place of the Sabbath of the decalogue, by that power which is symbolized by the beast, and placed there as a badge and token of its power to legislate for the church, is it not inevitably the mark of the beast? The answer must be in the affirmative. But all these hypotheses can easily be shown to be certainties. See History of the Sabbath, and other works on the subject, published at the REVIEW Office. To these we can only refer the reader, in passing.
It will be said again, then all Sunday-keepers have the mark of the beast; then all the good of past ages, who kept this day, had the mark of the beast; then Luther, Whitfield, the Wesleys, and all who have done a good and noble work of reformation, had the mark of the beast, then all the blessings that have been poured upon the reformed churches, have been poured upon those who had the mark of the beast. We answer, No! And we are sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, though many times corrected, persist in misrepresenting us on this point. We have never so held; we have never so taught. Our premises lead to no such conclusions.
The mark and worship of the beast are enforced by the two-horned beast. The receiving of the mark of the beast is a specific act which the two-horned beast is to cause to be done. The third message of Rev. 14, is a warning mercifully sent out in advance to prepare the people for the coming danger. There can therefore be no worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as is contemplated in the prophecy, till it is enforced by the two-horned beast. We have seen that intention was essential to the change which the papacy has made in the law of God, to constitute it the mark of that power. So intention is necessary in the adoption of that change to make it on the part of any individual the reception of that mark. In other words, a person must adopt the change, knowing it to be the work of the beast, and receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the requirement of God.
But how with those referred to above who have kept Sunday in the past, and the majority of those who are keeping it to-day? Do they keep it as an institution of the papacy? No. On what ground have they kept it, and do they keep it? They suppose they are keeping a commandment of God. Have such the mark of the beast? By no means. Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly received from the church of Rome, not to an act of worship rendered to it.
But how is it to be? The church which is to be prepared for the second coming of Christ, must be entirely free from papal errors and corruptions. A reform must hence be made on the Sabbath question. The third angel proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the true in the place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, and so controls the wicked governments of the earth that all the authority of human power shall be exerted to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the issue is fairly before the people. On one hand, they are required to keep the true Sabbath, on the other, a counterfeit. For refusing to keep the true, the message denounces the unmingled wrath of God; for refusing the false, earthly governments threaten them with persecution and death. With this issue before the people, what does he do who yields to the human requirement? He virtually says to God, I know your claims, but I will not yield to them. I know that the power I am required to worship is anti-Christian; but I yield, to save my life. I renounce your allegiance, and bow to the usurper. The beast is henceforth the object of my adoration; under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I henceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life. Such is the spirit which will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers; a spirit which insults the God of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by lack of power from overthrowing his government and annihilating his throne. Is it any wonder that Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring a course, the most terrible threatening that his word contains?
U. S.
To the Friends of the Cause in Kansas and Missouri.
By George I. Butler
As the camp-meeting in your Conference is drawing near, I wish to say a word to you, feeling, as I do, the greatest interest in your spiritual prosperity. Having in past labors become acquainted with many of you, and understanding your circumstances to a considerable extent from personal observation, I trust it will not be improper for me to thus address you.
I have ever regarded our little camp-meeting at Centerville last year as a success. This was not because the number in attendance was great, nor because there were no discouragements to meet, for we had a plenty of those, but because the Lord was graciously present by his Spirit, and the hearts of many were deeply stirred by its power. If I do not greatly mistake, those who went forth from that meeting to labor, went with new hopes and courage, and with clearer views of duty than before.
God has been moving upon the hearts of the people in your Conference. Although the ministers from abroad who had labored in your midst were withdrawn, yet more have embraced the truth than before in any year since the truth was preached there, and openings have appeared in various directions, and urgent calls for help. This increase, in my judgment, was not caused, by any means, because those who were among you did not labor faithfully before; we know they did labor earnestly. Neither was it because those who went forth to labor the past season were great men of wonderful talent and experience, for we know most of them were young in experience.
But it seems clear to my mind that the Spirit of God was moving upon the hearts of the people. Never had there been one-half of the interest and sacrifice manifested before to attend the camp-meeting which was shown last June. Before, it seemed almost impossible to get the people out. They were poor. The distance between the churches was very great. They were driven with work, settling as they did in a new country. Last season the going was far worse than common, and the difficulties greater; yet there was a far larger attendance. I was most happily surprised to see so many who had come from one to two hundred miles over the most terrible going, and through the high waters, so bad that in some instances they had to leave their teams and come by the railroad.
God signally blessed such efforts, as he always will, and in my soul, I believe it was the beginning of better days for your Conference if you become not weary in well-doing.
The question I now wish you to consider is, Whether that shall be indeed the commencement of a series of determined efforts to move the cause of God forward, or whether it was merely a spasmodic movement, while you settle back into your old habit. In the former case you will see the Lord bless, and his work grow up mightily in your midst, and the cause of truth prosper, and you will have a strong Conference; while if the latter be true you will sink down more lifeless than before.
You can find a plenty of apparently good excuses for staying at home this year, no doubt. The meeting will be a long way off to many of you. You are poor, and it will take a great effort to get to the meeting. It may take some of you a fortnight to get round home again. Some of you have just embraced the truth, and have never learned to go to meeting very far. To think of going fifty, one hundred, or one hundred and fifty miles to a meeting, looks like a big thing, perhaps a foolish thing. The way this is viewed all depends upon the value we attach to religious things.
I dare say any of you if you expected to lose fifty dollars unless you went, would manage to be present. If a hundred, you certainly would. But, my friends, the day of God will disclose the fact that the value of a good camp-meeting to us, when rightly improved, is not to be estimated by thousands of gold and silver. I can point to many instances of individuals who always expect to be at every camp-meeting in their Conference. They generally are in earnest, and have the love of the truth in their hearts, and the truth to them is important. They are preparing for Heaven. I can point to others just as good by nature, who let the world hinder them from attending these meetings. As a universal rule, they are drying up, growing weaker and weaker, and bid fair to lose the eternal weight of glory. Why is this? Because they do not use the precious means of grace placed within their reach. The camp-meetings cost the cause something.
Ministers, supposed to have some experience, and knowledge of the wants of the people, give the most earnest, wearing labor to these meetings to help the people where they are. They go from State to State, under a burden and pressure that is terrible, just to help and encourage the people, and lead them on toward God and Heaven. There is a great pecuniary expense involved in these meetings. There are many openings everywhere where they might enter with a good prospect of bringing souls into the truth. But these camp-meetings are thought to be more important, and thus others lying in darkness are deprived of this very labor for your sakes. The people at these meetings have the opportunity to learn in regard to the general interests and wants of this great cause of reform, which is designed to prepare a people for Christ's coming.
Now, in view of all this and much more that might be said, if our people are not willing to make a sacrifice to obtain these privileges and blessings, thrown within their reach, it seems to me little short of a criminal negligence, sure to result in spiritual loss, and final ruin. I know there are persons so situated that they cannot attend. But I do not mean by this those who would merely suffer a little pecuniary loss.
Brethren of Missouri and Kansas, make another effort at the coming camp-meeting, greater, even, than last year. Let every church be represented.
Perhaps some of you are disappointed because there are not two camp-meetings appointed in your States instead of one, thus bringing it nearer to many of you. We considered the arguments of those in favor of this plan, and could not accept them as sufficient to justify having two. In the first place, those of us who have to attend the camp-meetings, find so much to do that it would be well-nigh impossible for us to attend them. In the next place, we do not believe it would be best for the cause there. Two years ago, three were held at great expense in different places. But two of them were little more than mere local meetings of the church living at the place.
This course destroys the very object the camp-meetings are designed to accomplish. They ought to be general meetings of the Conference, attended by brethren from all parts of the State, where the wants of all parts may be considered, and the people may become acquainted with one another, and thus learn to feel that they are a part of the whole Conference. We want a large meeting. There is an encouragement to the people and ministry from this very consideration. When there is only a little handful present, it has a depressing influence.
It is through these very sacrifices, designed to be saved by having several meetings taken round to convenient places for you to reach, that great good comes to you. In my soul I believe this was a special cause of our good meeting last year. The Lord looked down well pleased to see this spirit of sacrifice arising in your midst, and you beginning to feel a determination to bear your own burdens and lift in his cause and not leave it all for others to do.
The cause in your Conference is comparatively feeble. Especially is this so peculiarly. Some who have labored in your midst have done so with the barest pittance, in sacrifice and poverty. You should come up to the camp-meeting prepared to help these men to your very utmost.
The General Conference has helped to bear the burdens of your local labor, during the past year. Do all you can, pay up your s. B. pledges, and bring with you all available means. You are poor, but do what you can, and in this way God will bless you.
I want to meet a large attendance at Lee Summit, the last of this month. If you want to discourage the hearts of God's servants, stay away. But if you want to encourage, and build up the cause in your midst, lay your plans for a general turnout. In your broad prairie country, you are used to long journeys with comparatively small expense.
Let this be the most general rally ever seen in Kansas and Missouri, and we are certain God will add his richest blessing. GEO. I. BUTLER.
Battle Creek, Mich., May 3, 1874.