We warned our readers that Catholic prelates are astute logicians, and exceedingly skillful in evasion. Their dexterity in stating a proposition which seems to be innocent, and yet contains all that they claim, has been illustrated in Church History for ages. When Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet appeared, English Catholic prelates denied that there was any occasion for it; the loyalty of Catholics, even with the Syllabus, they claimed to be unquestionable. But the Pall Mall Gazette pushed the argument to this point: Suppose, it said, that France should go to war with Italy for the restoration of the temporal power and that England should side with Italy, and send a fleet to Civita Vecchia, what would be the duty of English sailors? Should they obey the Queen, who commands them to fight, or the Pope directing them not to fight? The Tablet, Archbishop Manning’s organ, answers, They are bound to obey the Pope. This is an admission of Mr. Gladstone’s thesis—that Catholic loyalty to the Crown is controlled by a paramount allegiance to a foreign sovereign—the Pope.
It may be said that this is not at present a practical question; but it may become a practical question at any moment. Abstract principles of conduct in time will assume concrete forms. The principles now professed by the Church must, when applied, provoke collision with every government in the world. Suppose, for instance, Catholic taxpayers should be directed by their ecclesiastical superiors to resist the collection in the United States of the school tax; the question whom to obey would become very practical. Some resistance to the collection of this tax has already been made in the Dominion of Canada, though thus far it is confined to the priesthood.—The Methodist.
Conversion of the Earl of Rochester.
The earl of Rochester was one of the most witty and learned men of his time, but one of the most recklessly profligate. Most readers will have seen the account of his conversion and death-bed scene by Bishop Burnett. He had rejected the Bible without studying it; but when he read the history of our Lord, and compared it with the prophecies, especially the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, which has more the appearance of a history than of a prophecy, not only was his judgment convinced, but his heart was changed, and he “rejoiced in Christ Jesus.” The following incident shows how his mind was first turned to religion. It is said that, walking in the neighborhood of Oxford in the days of his folly, in company with the Duke of Buckingham, a profligate infidel like himself, they were met by a member of the university, famed for his piety, who was reading the Bible as he walked along. The earl accosted him in a style not unusual at that time:—
“Pray, master student, can you tell
Which is the nearest way to hell?”
Taking his eye off the book, he answered:—
“By Buckingham, as people say,
But Rochester’s the nearest way.”
Rochester was struck; said to his companion, “What if there should be a hell after all?” He became a convert, but Buckingham died as he had lived, a miserable infidel. Who then will dare to trifle with the word of God?
“Within this awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries.
O happy they of human race,
To whom our God hath given grace
To read, to learn, to watch, to pray,
To lift the latch and find the way;
But better he had ne’er been born,
Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn.”
Brevities: Fear of God, Murmuring, and Judgment
Brevities.
Fear of God and reverence for his name and character are very important characteristics of the Christian; indeed, these qualities are indispensable.
Murmuring is the effect of ingratitude; and ingratitude is caused by a forgetfulness of God's mercies, and neglect of praise and thanksgiving.
Christians fail to exercise love for sinners because their Christianity is so diluted with error and worldliness that little difference exists between them and sinners.
The reason people do not pray is, that they see no necessity for it, just as a man who is intoxicated, does not know his craft is floating rapidly toward the Niagara Falls.
Men tremble in fear of poverty, and imaginary evils; but they are very calm in view of the Judgment.
Few men are honest from a purely honest motive. None but those who have beheld the iniquity of their hearts in the light of God's word, will appreciate the above proposition.
You may rob a sheep of his covering of wool, and though he is thus disfigured, he still remains a sheep, and his covering will grow again, even and beautiful; so you may rob a Christian of his reputation, but it will grow again.
Jos. Clarke.
Danger of Reverie.—Do anything innocent rather than give yourself to reverie. I can speak on this point from experience. At one period of my life I was a dreamer and a castle builder. Visions of the distant future took the place of present duty and activity. I spent hours in reverie. I supposed I was seduced in part by physical debility. But the body suffered as much as the mind. I found, too, that the imagination threatened to influence the passions, and that if I meant to be virtuous I must dismiss my musings. The conflict was a hard one; I resolved, prayed, resisted, sought refuge in occupation, and at length triumphed. I beg you to avail yourself of my experience.—Channing.
Lived It Down.—An honest blacksmith was once grossly insulted and his character infamously defamed. Friends advised him to seek redress by means of law, but to one and all he replied, “No; I will go to my forge, and there in six months I will have worked out such a character, and earned such a name as all the judges, law courts, and lawyers, in the world could not give me.” He was right. It is by honest labor, manly courage, and a conscience void of offense, that we assert our true dignity and prove our honesty and respectability.
There is many and many a candle that will burn distinctly in a room where the air is still, which, if you take it into the wind, flares and flutters and burns every way but the right way; and there are Christians that are able to have the pure flames of Christian life burn steadily if you only shield them, but that, if you move them about, and bring them in conflict with one another in circumstances of temptation, show their weakness of Christian feeling.
Will you say that there are no real stars, because you sometimes see meteors fall, which for a time appeared to be stars? Will you say that blossoms never produce fruit, because many of them fall off, and some fruit which appeared sound is rotten at the core? Equally absurd is it to say that there is no such thing as religion, because many who profess it fall away, or prove to be hypocrites in heart. Or will you say that medicine does no good, because, though it moves the fever, it does not restore the patient to perfect strength in an instant? Equally groundless and absurd is it to say that religion does not make them as perfect as the angels of God.—Payson.
Influence of Sisters.—“That man has grown up among kind and affectionate sisters,” I once heard a lady of much observation and experience remark.
“And why do you think that?” I asked.
“Because of the rich development of all the tender feelings of the heart which are so much apparent in every word.”
A sister's influence is felt even in manhood's later years; and the heart of him who has grown cold with its chilling contact with the world will warm and thrill with pure enjoyment, as some incident awakes within him the tones and glad melodies of his sister's voice; and he will turn from his purposes which a warped and false philosophy has reasoned into expediency, and weep for the gentler influence which moved him in his earlier years.
Physical Need for the Sabbath Rest
By Dudley Marvin Canright
VI. Man’s nature, physically and mentally, requires just such a day of rest as the Sabbath precept provides, and hence, like all moral precepts, it provides for a natural and universal want of the race.
Moral precepts are those which grow out of the nature of things, those which are founded upon the attributes of God and the nature of man. The Sabbath precept looks both ways—to God and to man, and may be said to be doubly moral from that fact. That man’s physical nature requires just such a rest-day as the Sabbath, is susceptible of the clearest proof. This, man’s experience for six thousand years has abundantly proved. A volume might be written upon this one point without exhausting the subject. We have room for only a few brief statements.
Experiments have been tried in various ways, and careful observations have been taken, all going to show that both men and animals will accomplish more labor in a given time, do it in a better manner, and preserve better health, by resting every seventh day, than they will by working continuously. Where men or animals work day after day continuously, without a regular, weekly day of rest, they soon become worn down, jaded out, depressed in spirit, slack in their habits, and every way unfitted for earnest, careful, cheerful labor. Experiments with horses on street cars and canal boats have been tried; with men on railroads, in mills, mines, and other places; and everywhere the same results have followed.
Two mills with the same machinery, capital, hands, and everything, have run side by side for a year, one working six days and the other seven days in the week. The one running six days accomplished more work, and did it in a better manner than the one running seven days. Travelers over the Plains have observed similar results.
The other day a judge in Santa Clara, Cal., told me his experience in crossing the Plains with teams in an early day. A large caravan started together. About half the party were in favor of resting upon Sunday. The other half were in so great a hurry that they opposed it and decided to travel every day. So the train divided, one-half resting upon Sunday, and the other traveling every day. The first week or two the Sunday travelers gained a little. After that the second party came up with them and passed them, and kept ahead all the way through. The party which rested every seventh day came through in better health, and with their teams in a much better condition, than those who did not.
“In the year 1839, a committee was appointed in the legislature of Pennsylvania, who made a report with regard to the employment of laborers on their canals. In that report they say, in reference to those who had petitioned against the employment of the workmen on the Sabbath, ‘They assert, as the result of their experience, that both man and beast can do more work by resting one day in seven, than by working on the whole seven.’ They then add, ‘Your committee feel free to confess that their own experience as business men, farmers, or legislators, corresponds with the assertion.’”
“The experiment was tried in a large flouring establishment. For a number of years they worked the mills seven days in a week. The superintendent was then changed. He ordered the men to stop the works at eleven o’clock on Saturday night, and not to start them till one o’clock on Monday morning, that allowing a full Sabbath every week. And the same men, during the year, actually ground fifty thousand bushels more than had ever been ground, in a single year, in that establishment before.”
“A manufacturing company, which had been accustomed to carry their goods to market with their own teams, kept them employed seven days in a week, as that was the time in which they could go to market and return. But by permitting the teams to rest on the Sabbath, they found that they could drive the same distance in six days that they formerly did in seven, and with the same keeping preserve them in better order.”
“Two neighbors in the State of New York, each with a drove of sheep, started on the same day for a distant market. One started several hours before the other, and traveled uniformly every day. The other rested every Sabbath. Yet he arrived at the market first, with his flock in a better condition than that of the other. In giving an account of it, he said that he drove his sheep on Monday about seventeen miles, on Tuesday and Wednesday over sixteen, and so lessening each day, till on Saturday he drove them only about eleven miles. But on Monday after resting on the Sabbath, they would travel again seventeen miles, and so on each week. But his neighbor’s sheep, which were not allowed to rest on the Sabbath,23before they arrived at the market, could not travel without injury more than six or eight miles a day.”
“A number of men started from Ohio, with droves of cattle for Philadelphia. They had often been before, and had been accustomed to drive on the Sabbath as on other days. One had now changed his views as to the propriety of traveling on that day. On Saturday he inquired for pasture. His associates wondered that so shrewd a man should think of consuming so great a portion of his profits by stopping with such a drove a whole day. He stopped, however, and kept the Sabbath. They thinking that they could not afford to do so, went on. On Monday he started again. In the course of the week he passed them, arrived first in the market, and sold his cattle to great advantage. So impressed were the others with the benefits of thus keeping the Sabbath, that ever afterwards they followed his example.”—The Sabbath Manual, by Justin Edwards, D. D., pp. 50–52, 56–59.
The above statements show the necessity for a weekly rest-day. They prove nothing in favor of Sunday which these writers call the Sabbath. The same benefits, physically and mentally, would follow from resting upon any stated day of the week. Other considerations determine which day is the Sabbath. But these facts do show that a weekly rest-day is absolutely necessary for physical health and vigor.
Simply resting nights is not sufficient. An occasional holiday now and then is not sufficient. Nothing but a regular rest-day, one day out of every seven, will do. We appeal to the experience of every laboring man who has ever tried both plans, to say if our position is not correct. After a good Sabbath day’s rest, with how much more vigor, animation, and even delight, the laboring man can commence another week’s work. But alas! how forlorn and hopeless, how pitiable is the case of the man or beast that is compelled to labor on and on without any Sabbath day. It is a violation of a fundamental law which the Creator has stamped upon our nature. These are facts which are equally true in every age of the world, from Adam down, and among all nations, whether Jews or Gentiles, which shows that the Sabbath law meets a natural and universal want of mankind.
Constant thought and mental application in the same direction for seven days in the week is as ruinous to the mind as continued labor is to the body. This has been proved in the cases of students in colleges, lawyers in the prosecution of their business, and other like occupations. It is found that a continued disregard of the Sabbath produces a dispirited, listless, and careless habit; and that the same persons can accomplish more mental labor, and make greater progress in their studies by strictly observing a weekly day of rest, than they can by working seven days in the week. By unbending the mind, or entirely changing the course of one’s thoughts and studies, the brain seems to recuperate, so that we can take up our studies at the beginning of another week with renewed vigor and power of application, which those lack who have not had this mental rest. This I know from experience and from careful observation. A proper amount of nightly rest is not enough. Occasional recreation is not sufficient. God’s own provision of a weekly day of rest is the only thing that will completely answer the requirements of the case. To whatever a man’s mind is steadily applied during six days of the week, that he should entirely drop and lay aside on the seventh day, and turn his thoughts to something else. How admirable then is God’s provision for a weekly Sabbath day upon which all ordinary pursuits, whether physical or mental, must be laid aside, and that day be spent in devotion toward God. If this precept of the decalogue is not founded in the nature of man then there is not one of the ten that is.
Of Sabbath-breaking, Justin Edwards says: “It is in opposition to another law; not merely to that which was written on the tables of stone, but to a law written by the finger of God, on the nature of both man and beast. They were not made for seven days’ labor in a week, and they cannot endure it without diminishing their strength and shortening their lives.”
“The Sabbath institution is not a positive or moral institution merely. It is based upon a natural law. And if it is the duty of laboring men not to commit suicide, it is their duty to keep the Sabbath.”
“In the year 1852, the British House of Commons appointed a committee to investigate the effects of laboring seven days in a week, compared with those of laboring only six and resting one. The committee consisted of about thirty of the most prominent men of Parliament.”
“They examined a great number of witnesses of various professions and employments. Among them was John Richard Farre, M. D., of London, of whom they speak as ‘an acute and experienced physician.’ The following is his testimony:—
“I have practiced as a physician between thirty and forty years. . . . I have had occasion to observe the effect of the observance and non-observance of the seventh day of rest during this time. I have been in the habit, during a great many years, of considering the uses of the Sabbath, and of observing its abuses. The abuses are chiefly manifested in labor and dissipation. Its use, medically speaking, is that of a day of rest. As a day of rest, I view it as a day of compensation for the inadequate restorative power of the body under continued labor and excitement.”
“I consider, therefore, that, in the bountiful provision of Providence for the preservation of human life, the Sabbath appointment is not, as it has been sometimes theologically viewed, simply a precept partaking of the nature of a political institution, but that it is to be numbered among the natural duties, if the preservation of life be admitted to be a duty, and the premature destruction of it a suicidal act.” This is said simply as a physician, and without reference at all to the theological question. . . . Researches in physiology, by the analogy of the working of Providence in nature, will show that the divine commandment is not to be considered as an arbitrary enactment, but as an appointment necessary to man.”
“I have found it essential to my own well-being, as a physician, to abridge my labor on the Sabbath, to what is actually necessary. I have frequently observed the premature death of medical men from continued exertion. In warm climates and in active service this is painfully apparent. I have advised the clergymen also, in lieu of his Sabbath, to rest one day in the week. It forms a continual prescription of mine.”
“The working of the mind in one continued train of thought is destructive of life in the most distinguished class of society; and senators themselves stand in need of reform in that particular. I have observed many of them destroyed by neglecting this economy of life. Therefore, to all men, of whatever class, who must necessarily be occupied six days in the week, I would recommend to abstain on the seventh; and in the course of life, by giving to their bodies the repose, and to their minds the change of ideas suited to the day, they would assuredly gain by it. In fact by the increased vigor imparted, more mental work would be accomplished in their lives. A human being is so constituted that he needs a day of rest both from mental and bodily work.”—Sabbath Manual, pp. 34–39.
Thomas Sewell, M. D., professor of pathology and the practice of medicine in the Columbian College, Washington, D. C., says: “While I consider it the more important design of the institution of the Sabbath to assist in religious devotion and advance man’s spiritual welfare, I have long held the opinion that one of its chief benefits has reference to his physical and intellectual constitution; affording him, as it does, one day in seven for the renovation of his exhausted energies of body and mind—a proportion of time small enough, according to the results of my observation, for the accomplishment of this object. . . . I have no hesitation in declaring it as my opinion, that if the Sabbath were universally observed as a day of devotion and of rest from secular occupations, far more work of body and mind would be accomplished, and be better done; more health would be enjoyed, with more of wealth and independence, and we should have far less of crime and poverty and suffering.”
Ebenezer Aldin, M. D., of Massachusetts, remarks: “After much reflection, I am satisfied that the Sabbath was made for man, as a physical as well as an intellectual and moral being. . . . Unnecessary labor on the Sabbath is a physical sin, a transgression of a physical law, a law to which a penalty is attached—a penalty which cannot be evaded.”
Justin Edwards, D. D., bears this testimony: “It is now settled by facts, that the observance of the Sabbath is required by a natural law, and that, were man nothing more than an animal, and were his existence to be confined to this world, it would be for his interest to observe the Sabbath.”—Sabbath Manual, p. 60.
A few years since, six hundred and forty-one medical men sent a petition to Parliament upon this subject in which they say: “Your petitioners, from their acquaintance with the laboring classes, and with the laws which regulate the human economy, are convinced that a seventh day of rest, instituted by God, and coeval with the existence of man, is essential to the bodily health and mental vigor of men in every station of life.”—Associated Medical Journal, June, 1853, p. 554, quoted in The Sabbath, by Gilfillan, p. 180.
Such testimonies as these from the most celebrated business men, eminent lawyers, and skillful physicians, could be multiplied to any extent, all testifying to just what we claim, viz., that the Sabbath precept rests upon one of the plainest laws of nature. It is, therefore, moral in its broadest sense.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
San Francisco, Dec. 10, 1874.
How we Learned the Sabbath Truth.
By Mary J. Casselman
I wish to relate some of my experience, and tell the friends of truth how myself and husband became Seventh-day Adventists. I made a public profession of religion when thirteen years of age, and united with the Baptist church. I believe that I enjoyed the spirit of religion for sometime, until I saw so much inconsistency with professors, and fell into many of the same, and lost that spirit of devotion that I once had. When my husband became alarmed at our indifferent state, he also making the same profession, we began to reform, and to seek a closer walk with God. We studied the Bible much, and prayed to be led into all truth. I believe the Lord heard our prayers.
Not many weeks passed until we learned from the Bible alone that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that the coming of the Lord is near at hand. My husband talked to the church, and tried to warn them to prepare for Christ’s coming, that we must reform in order to be fit for translation into the kingdom.
Our brethren told us that we were Advents, and advised us to give up our faith. We told them we knew nothing about the Advent doctrine; it was Bible doctrine we had, and we could not give it up. Some of the church tried to injure our influence; but, notwithstanding, there were many that could not doubt it was the work of the Lord.
We had never read any publications, and if we were Adventists it was the Bible alone that made us such. There was one sister in the church that believed as we did, but never had courage to come out and take a stand, and keep the Sabbath until then. She had taken the Review about one year, and we conversed together much, and were very anxious to learn something about Sabbath-keepers; and in looking over the Review, we saw an appointment at Leslie for a two days’ meeting. My husband and myself concluded to attend, and to our surprise we heard more real gospel and Bible truth than we had heard during the whole thirteen years we were members of the Baptist church.
Truly it was food to the hungry soul. I feel to bless God to-day that I had the privilege of hearing Bro. Van Horn at that time. Three years have passed, but it is fresh in my memory still. Since then my faith has increased, and I have grown stronger in the truth, and I have a great interest in this precious cause. I believe from my very heart that it is the Lord’s own cause, and the last warning message to the world, and that I have a work to do. I have many friends and relatives in Canada that know nothing of this truth; and I feel the importance of scattering this light among them.
Great is the work, and the laborers are few. I want, with the sustaining grace of God, to do what I can to help others to see this precious truth.
MARY J. CASSELMAN.
Why Did you not Speak?
By Charles P. Whitford
THESE were the words that greeted the ears of our Sabbath-keeping friends last evening at the close of a modern revival meeting. Our friends replied that the people did not wish to hear on the subject of present truth, and therefore they remained silent.
It seems very strange to them that we cannot join heart and hand with them in urging sinners to “come to Christ;” and yet this people have recently listened to a course of lectures, showing where we are living in the history of this world, and the preparation necessary to be made in order to be prepared for the coming of our absent Lord.
While there are some things in our course that seem very strange to them, there are also others in theirs, which seem as strange to us. Baptists and Methodists are free to acknowledge the truthfulness of our position on the law and Sabbath, only one out of a large congregation voting in favor of Sunday; and yet while refusing to obey the plain commands of God, they have united their interests to labor for sinners; and they wonder why we cannot join them in their work. Well, one reason is because we want to be consistent with our profession. To unite our interests with theirs, and labor to bring those out of the church up to their standard, and leave the work there, would virtually be saying that there is no special importance attached to the truths which we teach. It would be saying to all, You may obey God if it is convenient; but if it is not quite so convenient, you may disobey him and be saved, providing you are only sincere.
To us this seems like a very doubtful kind of proceeding. We believe and teach with Paul that “sin is the transgression of the law.” Then it follows that those who transgress the law whether in the church, or out, are sinners.
Our efforts in this place for the last few weeks have been to help all who are transgressing the moral law of God. We find nearly all violating the fourth commandment. And when our Baptist and Methodist friends frankly acknowledge that we have the truth on the Sabbath question, they thus virtually acknowledge that they are sinners. And if those out of the church need to repent of their sins for violating the sixth, seventh, or eighth commandments, then surely they ought to repent of their sins for violating the fourth commandment. He that said, “Thou shalt not steal,” also said, “The seventh day is the Sabbath.”
When our friends will live out what they acknowledge to be light and truth on this question, then we can consistently join them in laboring for the conversion of those who are without Christ, and without hope in the world.
CHARLES P. WHITFORD.
Berkshire Center, Vt., Dec. 13, 1874.
WHAT PLEASES GOD.
By Gerhardt
What God decrees, child of his love,
Take patiently, though it may prove
The storm that wrecks thy treasure here,
Be comforted! thou needst not fear
What pleases God.
The wisest will is God’s own will;
Rest on this anchor, and be still;
For peace around thy path shall flow,
When only wishing here below
What pleases God.
The truest heart is God’s own heart,
Which bids thy grief and fear depart;
Protecting, guiding, day and night,
The soul that welcomes here aright
What pleases God.
Oh! could I sing as I desire,
My grateful voice should never tire,
To tell the wondrous love and power,
Thus working out, from hour to hour,
What pleases God.
The King of kings, he rules on earth,
He sends us sorrow here, or mirth,
He bears the ocean in his hand;
And thus we meet, on sea or land,
What pleases God.
His church on earth he dearly loves,
Although he oft its sin reproves;
The rod itself his love can speak,
He smites till we return to seek
What pleases God.
Then let the crowd around thee seize
The joys that for a season please,
But willingly their paths forsake,
And for thy blessed portion take
What pleases God.
Thy heritage is safe in Heaven;
There shall the crown of joy be given;
There shalt thou hear and see and know,
As thou couldst never here below,
What pleases God.
—Gerhardt.
Aroostook Co., Maine.
By J. B. Goodrich
From Nov. 14 to Dec. 2, 1874, I was laboring in Bridgewater, Linneus, Smyrna Mills, and Patten. The meetings were generally good and interesting. The most of our brethren and sisters were firm and still holding on to the truth. A few had given up in discouragement. Some new ones became interested. One (a school teacher) commenced to keep the Sabbath at Linneus. There are honest souls in every direction, who will obey the truth when they have a chance to hear. Calls are coming in for help. The people say they want to hear, and where are the laborers? How can any person that can present this truth to the people stay at home? J. B. Goodrich.
KANSAS
By C. H. Chaffee
Dec. 3, 1874, I visited the brethren in Forbes, Holt Co., Mo., and held a few meetings with them, encouraging them what I could. These dear friends feel the pressure of hard times, some of them very much. Still they come up with their S. B. to the full amount pledged to Dec. 31. May the Lord bless those that are covenanting with him by sacrifice, as some of the brethren in the west will have to do if they do anything, and may he give them of his Spirit to sustain them in these trying times.
Dec. 17, commenced meetings in a brick school-house two and a half miles from Troy, Kan. Have given twelve discourses. The house is crowded, and the interest is deepening. We are now in the midst of the law and Sabbath, praying the Lord to bless his truth. We hope for some fruit. Pray for us. C. H. Chaffee.
Gratitude for the Truth.
By Mr. John Jones; Mrs. John Jones
We feel grateful to God every day that we have heard and accepted the last message. Not one shadow of doubt ever crosses our mind regarding our peculiar and beautiful faith.
We prize the good paper, and our hearts are cheered to strive for a holier, purer standard of action by reading the solemn warnings, admonitions, and appeals it contains, together with the ministers' reports through which a light seems shining that betokens new life and power for the cause of our Lord.
There has been no preaching in this vicinity. We are longing for some one to come this way and help us. We think if there was a minister to speak a few times, many others would be brought to the light of these great truths. We desire to be remembered in the prayers of the people of God. MR. & MRS. JOHN JONES.
Herkimer Co., N. Y., Dec. 31, 1874.
Extract from a Letter.
Bro. M. G. Kellogg, M. D., writes from Woodland, Cal.: I am practicing the hygienic system of medication with uniform success to my patients, and with a measure of success pecuniarily. I am also giving a course of Sunday evening lectures on our theory of the present truth to good audiences here in Woodland. May the good hand of our God be on his servants everywhere, and prosper them.
Report of the Ohio T. & M. State Quarterly Meeting.
By O. Mears; M. E. Underwood
The ninth State quarterly meeting of the Ohio T. & M. Society was held at Clyde, O., Dec. 27, 1874. Meeting convened at 10½ o’clock A. M. After the usual opening exercises, the report of the last meeting was read and accepted. The reading of the report of the last quarter shows the following results:—
Increase of membership, 9. No. of families visited, 157. No. of letters written, 17. No. of new subscribers for the various periodicals, 130. Periodicals distributed, 332. Publications distributed, 80,511 pages.
Money on hand at commencement of the quarter, $532.74. Receipts, 251.71. Total, $784.45. Expenditures, 395.47. Bal. on hand, $388.98.
On motion, meeting was adjourned to the last Sabbath and Sunday in March, 1875, to be held in Clyde.
O. Mears, Pres. M. E. Underwood, Sec.
Profane Language.
It is related by Dr. Scudder that on his return home from his mission in India, after a long absence, he was standing on the deck of a steamer with his son, a youth, when he heard a gentleman using loud and profane language. “See friend,” said the doctor, accosting the swearer, “this boy, my son, was born and brought up in a heathen country, and a land of pagan idolatry; but in all his life he never heard a man blaspheme his Maker until now.” The man colored, blurted out an apology, and looked not a little ashamed of himself.
Orderly People
ORDERLY PEOPLE. There are persons who are never easy unless they are putting your books and papers in order—that is, according to their notions of the matter—and hiding things lest they should be lost, where neither the owner nor anybody else can find them. This is a sort of magpie faculty. If anything is left where you can find it, it is called litter. There is a pedantry in housewifery as well as in the gravest concerns. Sir Walter Scott complained that whenever his maid-servant had been in his library, he could not set comfortably to work again for several times.
To the Obedient.
By Esther Field
Our Saviour in closing his beautiful sermon on the mount makes a comparison between those who hear the word of life, and obey, and those who hear, and refuse to practice its precepts. He says, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” Matt. 7:24-27.
Thus is set forth the security of the obedient, and the terrible destruction of those who hear the word, and neglect the great salvation. What a fearful contrast. A foolish man—a fallen building, crushed and drifting in sand, surrounded by floods of water, beaten by the fierce winds, and tossed by the angry billows till finally sunk beneath the sand, and lost, lost to all eternity in the dark waters of oblivion.
This is the certain doom of those “that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Who would not wish to escape the destruction awaiting the wicked, “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” 2 Thess. 1:9. Who would not rather be an heir of God to the saints’ inheritance? Then listen to the voice of truth as it gently fell, like golden sunbeams, from the lips of Him “who spake as never man spake.” Obey and live. It is a blessed privilege to hear and obey the truth. There is joy and peace in believing. Though earthly calamities, temptations, and storms of affliction, and persecution, beat around the obedient, they are secure. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Ps. 34:7.
ESTHER FIELD.
Hamilton Co., Neb.
Patience of the Saints.
By E. G. Rust
WHILE the image to the beast, Rev. 13: 14, is in process of erection, all Christendom in this country will have their hearts set on having the Constitution so amended as to place the so-called “Christian Sabbath” and other Christian usages upon an “undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.” And those who persist in keeping and teaching the commandments of God, and exposing the foundation of the “Christian Sabbath” during this time of their earnest efforts for its establishment by law, will make themselves a prey.
They will be accused of being enemies to their country; of rejecting Christ, and trusting to their own works for salvation; of stirring up the people to sedition; and of undermining Christian institutions. They will be declared a dangerous class of persons, whom all good people, lovers of law and order, should shun and avoid. They will undoubtedly be brought before the authorities, and commanded to teach no more in this way; and will even be accounted worthy of imprisonment and death.
This is a time that will require faith and the patience of the saints, and right here, John has informed us, is the very place to look for it. “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12. Some who have placed themselves under this banner, may even go back at this time, and yield obedience to the authority of the image of the beast, feeling that the accusations are unjust, and the odium too great for them to bear. This will be a trying time for the people of God, who are placed in a false position, and classed among the law-breakers and wicked of all classes. But those who have faith and the patience of the saints will persevere unto the end; and John evidently saw this time of great trouble and perplexity when he penned those remarkable words of comfort and assurance.
E. G. RUST.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Death of Dr. Tischendorf.
THE foreign mails bring intelligence of the death, on the 1st of December, of Dr. Lobegott F. K. Tischendorf, the well-known German theologian and Bible student. Dr. Tischendorf was born at Langenfeld, Saxony, in January, 1815, and graduated in 1838 at the University of Leipsic. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity when only twenty-eight years old.
In 1840 he was commissioned by the Government of Saxony to collect materials for a revised critical edition of the Greek Testament. His researches, undertaken for this purpose, carried him into all parts of Europe and the East, and he brought back with him copies of the most ancient manuscript translations of the Scriptures to be found in the great libraries, some of which, through his edition, reached the theologians of Western Europe for the first time.
With how much faithfulness and thoroughness he labored, and how great was the value of the edition of the Greek Testament resulting from his labors, it is hardly necessary to say; since his work has long since been accepted among scholars as a standard authority, and has proved to be a most useful auxiliary in the work of Biblical criticism and investigation. In a later journey, undertaken under the auspices of the Russian Government, he discovered a manuscript, on vellum, containing several books of the Old Testament, the Epistle to Barnabas, and the Pastor of Hermas, and also the only complete copy of the New Testament Scriptures extant from the fourth to the ninth century. This manuscript is regarded as the first in importance of any now known and its study has resulted in many modifications of religious belief.
Dr. Tischendorf, at the time of his death, occupied the chair of Theology and Biblical Literature at Leipsic. The world loses in him a faithful student, who has accomplished more in his department than any man now living.—Boston Journal.