IN our examination of the writings of the earliest observers of Sunday we will next quote the epistle to the Magnesians in its longer form, which though not written by Ignatius was actually written about the time that the Apostolical Constitutions were committed to writing. Here are the words of this epistle:—
"And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all the days."
The writer of the Syriac Documents concerning Edessa comes last, and he defines the services of Sunday as follows: "On the first [day] of the week, let there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation." These are all the passages in the writings of the first three centuries which describe early first-day observance. Let the reader judge whether we have correctly stated the nature of that observance. Next we invite attention to the several reasons offered by these fathers for celebrating the festival of Sunday.
The reputed epistle of Barnabas supports the Sunday festival by saying that it was the day "on which Jesus rose again from the dead," and it intimates that it prefigures the eighth thousand years, when God shall create the world anew.
Justin Martyr has four reasons:—
1. "It is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world,"
2. "Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead."
3. "It is possible for us to show how the eighth day possessed a certain mysterious import, which the seventh day did not possess, and which was promulgated by God through these rites," i. e., through circumcision.
4. "The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath."
Clement, of Alexandria, appears to treat solely of a mystical eighth day or Lord's day. It is perhaps possible that he has some reference to Sunday. We therefore quote what he says in behalf of this day, calling attention to the fact that he produces his testimony, not from the Bible, but from a heathen philosopher. Thus he says:—
"And the Lord's day Plato prophetically speaks of in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: 'And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow on the eighth day they are to set out and arrive in four days.'"
Clement's reasons for Sunday are found outside the Scriptures. The next father will give us a good reason for Clement's action in this case.
Tertullian is the next writer who gives reasons for the Sunday festival. He is speaking of "offerings for the dead," the manner of Sunday observance, and the use of the sign of the cross upon the forehead. Here is the ground on which these observances rest:—
"If, for these and other such rules, you insist upon having positive Scripture injunction, you will find none. Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom, as their strengthener, and faith, as their observer. That reason will support tradition, and custom, and faith, you will either yourself perceive, or learn from one who has."
Tertullian's frankness is to be commended. He had no Scripture to offer, and he acknowledges the fact. He depended on tradition, and he was not ashamed to confess it. The next of the fathers who give Scripture evidence in support of the Sunday festival, is Origen. Here are his words:—
"The manna fell on the Lord's day, and not on the Sabbath to show the Jews that even then the Lord's day was preferred before it."
Origen seems to have been of Tertullian's judgment as to the inconclusiveness of the arguments adduced by his predecessors. He therefore coined an original argument which seems to have been very conclusive in his estimation as he offers this alone. But he must have forgotten that the manna fell on all the six working days, or he would have seen that while his argument does not elevate Sunday above the other five working days, it does make the Sabbath the least reputable day of the seven! And yet the miracle of the manna was expressly designed to set forth the sacredness of the Sabbath and to establish its authority before the people.463Cyprian is the next father who gives an argument for the Sunday festival. He contents himself with one of Justin's old arguments, viz., that one drawn from circumcision. Thus he says:—
"For in respect of the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the Spirit, the eighth day, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came, and spiritual circumcision was given to us."
Such is the only argument adduced by Cyprian in behalf of the first-day festival. The circumcision of infants when eight days old was, in his judgment, a type of infant baptism. But circumcision on the eighth day of the child's life, in his estimation, did not signify that baptism need to be deferred till the infant is eight days old, but, as here stated, did signify that the eighth day was to be the Lord's day! But the eighth day, on which circumcision took place, was not the first day of the week, but the eighth day of each child's life, whatever day of the week that might be.
The next father who gives a reason for celebrating Sunday as a day of joy, and refraining from kneeling on it, is Peter of Alexandria, who simply says, "Because on it he rose again."
Next in order came the Apostolical Constitutions, which assert that the Sunday festival is a memorial of the resurrection:—
"But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord's day festival; because the former is a memorial of the creation, and the latter of the resurrection."
The writer, however, offers no proof that Sunday was set apart by divine authority in memory of the resurrection. But the next person who gives his reasons for keeping Sunday "as a festival" is the writer of the longer form of the reputed epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians. He finds the eighth day prophetically set forth in the title to the sixth and twelfth psalms! In the margin, the word Sheminith is translated "the eighth." Here is this writer's argument for Sunday:—
"Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, 'To the end for the eighth day,' on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ."
There is yet another of the fathers of the first three centuries who gives the reasons then used in support of the Sunday festival. This is the writer of the Syriac Documents concerning Edessa. He comes next in order and closes the list. Here are four reasons:—
1. "Because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead."
2. "On the first day of the week he arose upon the world," i. e., he was born upon Sunday.
3. "On the first day of the week he ascended up to Heaven."
5. "On the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of Heaven."
The first of these reasons is as good a one as man can devise out of his own heart for doing what God never commanded; the second and fourth are mere assertions of which mankind know nothing; while the third is a positive untruth, for the ascension was upon Thursday.
We have now presented every reason for the Sunday festival which can be found in all the writings of the first three centuries. Though generally very trivial, and sometimes worse than trivial, they are nevertheless worthy of careful study. They constitute a decisive testimony that the change of the Sabbath by Christ or by his apostles from the seventh to the first day of the week was absolutely unknown during that entire period. But were it true that such change had been made they must have known it. Had they believed that Christ changed the Sabbath to commemorate his resurrection, how emphatically would they have stated that fact instead of offering reasons for the festival of Sunday which are so worthless as to be, with one or two exceptions, entirely discarded by modern first-day writers. Or had they believed that the apostles honored Sunday as the Sabbath or Lord's day, how would they have produced these facts in triumph! But Tertullian said that they had no positive Scripture injunction for the Sunday festival, and the others, by offering reasons that were only devised in their own hearts, corroborated his testimony, and all of them together establish the fact that even in their own estimation the day was only sustained by the authority of the church. They were totally unacquainted with the modern doctrine that the seventh day in the commandment means simply one day in seven, and that the Saviour, to commemorate his resurrection, appointed that the first day of the week should be that one of the seven to which the commandment should apply!
BY BEHOLDING WE BECOME CHANGED.
By Eld. J. O. Corliss
BY ELD. J. O. CORLISS.
The above sentiment expressed by the great apostle is not only true in the sense of beholding Christ, but we may also look upon other objects in a manner to effect a change of feeling, and turn our minds in a direction opposite from that in which they had formerly moved. We may thus form attachments for objects or desires, which, by cherishing, we may become abject slaves to, and finally end our lives in ignominy and shame.
The case of the noted pirate Kidd, though an extreme one, will serve as an illustration upon this point. His inordinate desire for gain, by being nurtured, created a burning thirst which could not be quenched with the ordinary modes of acquiring wealth. This induced him to take one step after another in the road to wickedness, until he imbrued his hands in the blood of his fellow-men. The thought of such a crime, at first, no doubt caused a shudder to pass over him, yet by harboring it in his heart he became emboldened to commit deeds which could only be stepping-stones to more atrocious crimes. The last of these acts he stated were perpetrated without the least compunctions of conscience, showing that he, by dwelling upon fiendish works, became changed into the same image.
When we once give ourselves up to be controlled by our thoughts, we cannot determine where we shall stop in our career. We might refer to the various directions in which the minds of men are led when not controlled, but will let the instances already cited suffice, as we think the rule will hold good in all cases. Therefore, if we would develop a healthful Christian experience, it seems requisite that we should keep our minds upon those very things which we would wish most to resemble.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him." Isa. 55:7. Is it necessary for the wicked to forsake his former ways, which are contrary to God's ways, in order to have favor with him? So the carnal mind is enmity against God, and should be brought into subjection to him. That there is a battle to be fought upon this point is clearly taught by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Chap. 10:4, 5.
The company seen by John on Mount Zion had no guile and were without fault. The work with them had gone thorough enough to cleanse the heart from every evil thought, and make it a well-spring of noble and elevating impulses. If our minds dwell upon such themes they will lead us to imitate the life of Christ, to admire his unselfish life, to sympathize with him in his sufferings, and to lament his cruel death, until we are lost in wonder and amazement at the unspeakable love of God in permitting his Son to die for a rebel race. Thus, by beholding we become changed into his image.
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." The work is aggressive, and it will require indomitable courage on our part to stand against the tide of opposing evil. But victory will ever perch on the banner of our Lord, and if we are found in his service, imitating his example, we shall at last share in the triumph, and have the victor's crown as an eternal trophy of our successful warfare.
CAN BOTH BE TRUE?
By E. R. Jones
BY ELD. E. R. JONES.
LONG we have heard, and in our childhood days we were carefully taught, that the soul was immortal, and if everlasting happiness and bliss were not obtained by a life of obedience here, an eternity of misery and unspeakable woe in that terrible lake of fire would surely follow. We were told that the Bible said this. And, further, it was told us that the wicked, in their unutterable torment, would go on sinning against God to such an extent that after a thousand years of this punishment they would be further from their just deserts than when they first entered upon it. We were astonished at such thoughts, and to say that in our childish folly serious doubts arose, would be stating the case mildly.
In after years we read the Bible for ourself, and were led to ask: "Will the lost in their anguish too great for tongue or pen to express, or the power of reason to comprehend, ever lift up their voices in praise to God and the Lamb, and thus mingle, in confusing accents, blessings and cursings?" Will this be so? No, never. But the prophet of Christ in his vision of the future said: "And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.
As every creature in Heaven above, and in the earth beneath is here said to ascribe praise and glory to God and the Lamb, it surely follows that the time will come when not one single creature in all the universe of God will be in pain or woe. "How glad I am for the thought," says one; "for now I see clearly that, as the real man is immortal, the time will come when all God's creatures will be restored to his favor; and thus beautifully appears the convincing evidence that all mankind will finally be saved." And now we have before us this astonishing medley—the doctrine of the everlasting conscious misery of the impenitent and that of universal salvation, one directly opposed to the other, both securely anchored to the dogma of the natural immortality of man. Can both be true? It is impossible. The premise is wrong, the conclusions are errors. "But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel." "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures."
From the word of God we learn that he will give eternal life, through Christ, to them who seek for immortality by well doing; while the wages of those who will not shall be death. Rom. 2:7; 6:23. Of the wicked God says, "For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." Isa. 10:25. Not burned to all eternity, not all saved. The righteous shall be blessed with life eternal, and the wicked, driven from existence by the implements of the wrath of God, shall be as though they had not been. Obad. 16.
God will again have a clean universe, good and holy as in the beginning, and then will be fulfilled that beautiful scripture, "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:4. Not one single trace of the sinner or the sad effects of sin shall ever more appear; but every creature in Heaven and in earth with one heart and voice shall give blessing and honor, glory and power, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, to the Lamb forever and ever.
THE IMMUTABLE GOSPEL.
By Hugh Miller Thompson
God's church is a trustee, and its duty is to keep the gospel safely—to preserve it just as it came from God—to transmit its truth pure and unchanged to the world. We have to transmit this old, unchanging story of truth in an age which, above all other ages, is full of the desire to hear new things. There never was an age in which human opinion was so much adrift. We establish supposed facts, and cling to apparently unchanging principle to-day, which, to-morrow, we find all adrift again. Undoubtedly we make advances every day. We improve and push on, but there is constant changing, and our faith is shattered. Our truth and principles of to-day must accommodate themselves to new truths and different principles to-morrow.
Upon such a time we have drifted, and I do not complain of the times. God has permitted them, with all their tendencies. The philosophies of the past generation must pass away before the facts of this; and the facts of this generation will yield to the newer theories of the next, and they will drift down the current, ever giving place to others. Men may go on making their theories and putting them into books, but they will die, as theories and books have died before them. Until the last testimony is before the court, there can be no fixed theory. Human investigation is corrected by human investigation. Until you have the last fact in your science, your theory will fail. A single unknown fact may overturn it. We must hold ourselves ready to cast away at sight all our theories and conclusions, and adopt new ones. But is this so in all departments of human knowledge? Whatever is established by human investigation is liable to be corrected by better investigation to-morrow. Your expression of a truth thus established can never be more than part of the truth—it may be only the shadow of it.
But shall what depends on God's revelation also submit to change, and become all adrift? Is that also unfixed and veering? In one respect, perhaps, it is. In itself it is fixed and unchangeable. But when man accepts the truth he does so according to his capacity. He may take less to-day, and more to-morrow. He may see only part of it at one time. So the truth inside him may change, but the truth outside him never does. One man sees the truth more strongly than another, but it is the same unchanging truth. Here the mistake arises of supposing that God's truth does or can change. The difference is in man himself. The enormous mountain range of God's truth is traversed by men who see only part at a time, and as they go on they see more and get other views. They think that it is the mountains that change, but all the change is in themselves.
God's revealed gospel is always the same story. Man receives it according to his powers of reception. It is great and universal. All men take it, for it fits all. It can have no change to suit the advances of the times. That sort of thing is sometimes preached from the pulpit. It is said that this old gospel must improve as men advance, that it must accommodate itself to the progress of the age. We admit that to one age one side of the gospel may be brightest and dearest, and in another age another side of the gospel may be most cherished. But this is not a change in the gospel—it is a change in the age—not a change in God's truth, but a change in man. The unchanging truth comes with a voice to every man, but it seems to vary in accordance with his capacity of hearing.—Hugh Miller Thompson.
The Missionary.
By Rev. H. Clay Trumbull
THE DUTY OF TITHE-GIVING.
BY REV. H. CLAY TRUMBULL.
THERE are some duties which the Bible seems to recognize as understood from the beginning. There is no mention of their origin and first announcement. Their violation, or their performance, is mentioned incidentally in the sacred story long before they are recorded as specifically enjoined. It appears to be taken for granted that they were known to be duties at man's very start in the world.
There is no record, for instance, of any law against murder until after the deluge; but Cain was not exculpated from guilt on the ground that he had never been told not to kill a brother. There is no command to prayer—either public or private prayer—in any of the earlier books of the Bible; but most of the patriarchs whose story is elaborated are represented as in the habit of prayer. And although the duty of praying is not specifically enjoined in the ten commandments, it was and is recognized as of universal obligation. The duty of tithe-giving—of giving one-tenth of one's entire income to the Lord—is one of those duties which seems to have needed the record of no original announcement or injunction. Like prayer, tithe-giving was practised by the patriarchs long before the proclamation of the Mosaic law. While, as in the case of prayer, it finds no specific mention in the decalogue, tithe-giving has had, and it has, a wide-spread recognition in the world—a recognition that would be as nearly universal as that given to prayer, if it were not that it costs so much more. The duty of tithe-giving certainly seems to stand out in the Bible as a duty of equal obligation with prayer; and its wilful violation appears to be there counted just as surely deserving of condemnation as the breach of any or all of the ten commandments.
The first Bible mention of tithes is in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, where Abram, returning from the slaughter of the kings, was met by Melchisedec, a "priest of the most high God," and he gave him tithes of all the spoils. It does not appear by the record that that act on Abram's part was something unlike anything ever done before. On the contrary, it appears to have been the spontaneous performance of a most seemly and fitting act—the performance indeed of a plain duty; for Abram did not count those particular spoils of battle his own; he looked at them as properly belonging to the king of Sodom; but whosoever they were, one-tenth of them belonged of right to the Lord, and must be handed over to the Lord's representative. This, be it remembered, was long before the Mosaic law had made tithe-giving obligatory on Jehovah's peculiar people. And, to go outside of the sacred record, it is found that "the usage of consecrated tithes existed among the Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, and Arabians," as may be seen by a reference to Herodotus, Diodorus Seculus, Xenophon, and other ancient historians. The duty of tithe-giving would, therefore, seem to rest on the common law of God's kingdom, rather than on any specific statutory requirement.
Yet there is no lack in the Bible of specific commands for tithe-giving, or of explicit commendation for the performance of this duty, and denunciations of those who neglect it. We have found this duty recognized in the first book of the Old Testament. Later we find specific and repeated commands for its continued exercise. In the last book of the Old Testament, we find its neglect denounced of God as nothing short of robbery. "Will a man rob God?" he asks. Is there a man bad enough to deliberately steal from God? That is God's question; and his answer to it is: "Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." In using the one-tenth of your income, which is the Lord's portion, you have robbed God of his property. That is God's way of stating this case. In other words, if any of you who profess to be the Lord's children have failed to pay over to the Lord his tenth of your income, you are thieves;—that is the plain English of the Bible teaching on this subject.
It is, as we have shown, of no use to say that tithe-giving was a mere duty of the Mosaic ceremonial law, and that therefore it was done away with in Christ. Tithe-giving we find to have been a recognized duty long before the days of Moses, and outside of the realm of Israel; and in its essence it was repeatedly enjoined by Christ and the apostles upon all who would be followers of Christ. One-seventh of all our time and one-tenth of all our income belong to the Lord to begin with. The common law of God settles this. This was true before the Mosaic dispensation, during it, and since then. It is all very well for a disciple of Christ to affirm that he is no longer bound by the letter of the law on either of these points, if he unmistakably lives up to the spirit of that law. *
The Jews, again, never counted their alms-giving as a part of their tithe-paying, yet alms-giving was always a sacred duty with the Jews. Their alms-giving could not begin until their tithes were already provided for. Their charities must be out of their nine-tenths of their income—not out of the Lord's one-tenth. Who then supposes that the New Testament commands to give systematically and freely were intended or were understood as covering in all less than the very lowest limits of Jewish and of heathen religious giving? It is an absurdity to suggest such a thought. "Freely ye have received, freely give." "Sell that ye have, and give alms." "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" Let a man read over these and many like injunctions from the New Testament, in the light of the Old Testament record, and then say, if he can, that a Christian can have common honesty before God while not giving at least one-tenth of his income to the Lord's cause.
"But," says one, "I have debts to pay, and my income must be devoted to that, before it can fairly be available for charities. I ought to be just, before I am generous." Of course your creditors have a prior claim to strangers on your income. And of course you ought to be just. But are all your other creditors to be preferred above the Lord? Is there any justice in your ignoring his fair claim upon you? One of the meanest things that any business man can be capable of, is the dividing up his assets without a share to his endorser. If you refuse to pay over the first-tenth of your income to the Lord as a preferred creditor, you do a meaner thing than the man who deliberately swindles his endorser. The tithe of one's income to the Lord is not a charity; it is one's first and most pressing debt—a debt of honor; a sacred and supreme obligation; an obligation resting on each and every Christian believer. The tithe is not the outermost limit of a believer's duty in religious giving; but it is the innermost limit. Many a Christian ought to give far more than this; never one ought to give less—less than one-tenth of his actual income, whether that income be little or much.
In recognizing the duty of tithe-giving when one's income is limited and one's personal and family needs are great, it is essential to recognize the supernatural element in God's providential care of his children. If a Christian man has an income large enough to supply all his needs without difficulty, there is neither shadow of excuse nor show of decency in his failure to pay over465one-tenth of it to the Lord. But when one feels the pinch of poverty every day of his life, then it is important that he should bear in mind that nine cents will go farther than ten cents would go, and that nine dollars will go farther than ten dollars would go in providing for himself and his loved ones, when that other cent or that other dollar has been paid to the Lord, who claims it as his own. There is no mistake about this to him who has faith. Every child of God who has rested on this truth has found it to be a source of unfailing dependence. Only those disbelieve it who have never trusted God enough to try it even as an experiment. It is with individuals as it is with churches in this matter. Neither their troubles nor their doubts ever come from their paying their debts, or from their giving too freely of their substance to the Lord. The old colored preacher had the right idea about this when he said: "I hab nebber known a church killed by too much gibbing to de Lord. If dere should be such a church, and I should know about it, I tell you what I'd do. I'd go down to dat church dis bery night; and I'd clamber up its moss-cobered roof, and I'd sit a straddle of its ridge pole, and I'd cry aloud, 'Blessed are de dead which die in de Lord.'" Dying for duty-doing—starving to death for tithe-giving to the Lord—is a good way of dying;but there is less danger of death in that line than in any other that we know of.
It was twenty-three centuries ago that God said to some of his children who had had doubts on this point: "Bring all the tithes into the store-house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, . . . if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." And it was twenty-six centuries ago that an experiment of this sort was fairly made among God's people. As a result of it, the tithes lay in great heaps, beyond the ability of the Lord's priests to make use of them. "Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah, the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty, for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store."
To-day if all the Lord's people should bring in their tithes to the Lord's treasury, the money would lie in heaps waiting for new machinery to put it in motion. What do you think is the prospect of such a financial freshet in the religious channels of beneficence? Are you doing your share to bring it about?—S. S. Times.
SOLID GOLD.
By Theodore Cuyler
BY REV. THEODORE CUYLER.
THERE never was a time when character went for more or was in greater demand than now. The question "Is he smart?" is beginning to give place to the more pertinent question, "Is he honest?" Even the ministry do not escape this crucible, for it is felt to be of increasing moment that the man who presents Christ on the Sabbath should also represent Christ during the week by a pure walk and godly conversation. The crying need of the hour is not more brains, but more conscience; the richest revival would be that which should give society more genuinely good men and good women. A great security was given to trade by the resumption of specie payments. The meaning of resumption is, that paper promises have become equally valuable with solid gold. The highest and healthiest state of the church is that in which all the solemn promises made by professors of religion are redeemed in the solid gold of godly conduct. Christ never intended anything less than this when he said, "By their fruits ye shall know them; do men gather figs from thistles?" He knew that his religion must stand or fall by this test. If a Christian faith does not make its possessor a better husband, father or citizen; if it does not make womanhood more pure, unselfish and loving; if it does not sweeten home and purify trade, and cheer life's dark hours with a light from Heaven, and bring a higher and holier style of living into this wicked world,—then it is a confessed imposture. And if a heart-faith in Jesus Christ does not produce these rare and precious fruits, then all the skeptics of the day, from Renan clear down to the ribald Ingersoll, cannot even jar its divine origin and authority.
We ministers must not be seduced into the mistake of underrating good works. They do not save us; but neither can we be saved without them. And after we have preached "by faith are ye saved," let us not fail to follow it up with the other inspired declaration, "faith without works is dead." Of what value is the cherry tree in my yard, if its promissory notes in the shape of white blossoms are not redeemed by juicy cherries sixty days hence? The Bible never ignores or underrates good works. It proclaims that the tree is known by its fruits. It solemnly enjoins—"be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only." At the last day, men are to be judged according to their works. A Christian's spiritual life does not indeed spring from his noble or beautiful acts, but these acts all spring from his spiritual life. If Christ be within him, Christ will come out of him in speech seasoned with salt, and in actions that speak louder than words. The highest glory of the true Christian is character, for that is the visible reflection before men, of the indwelling Jesus.
Oh, for more men and women of incorruptible gold in our churches! Let us stop worshiping genius, and exalt goodness! God exalts it, for it is a reflection of himself. The crown of true goodness is open to the humblest. The poorest boy that reads this paper, in a cabin, may aspire after it. That also is the best preaching which produces the best practice.—Christian Intelligencer.
Sorrow
By Edwin Arnold
SORROW is shadow to life, moving where life doth move; not to be laid aside until one lays living aside, with all its changing states, birth, growth, decay, love, hatred, pleasure, pain, being and doing.—Edwin Arnold.
Halfway with the Lord
NONE will have such a dreadful parting with the Lord at the last day as those who went half-way with him and then left him.
WHAT THE SIGNS IS DOING.
For the encouragement of those using the SIGNS in their missionary work, we give a few extracts from letters recently received by those engaged in this work in Oakland; and they are but samples of those received by our missionary societies throughout the land. A gentleman writes thus: "It is quite refreshing in these days of spiritual death and falling off, to find a denomination of Christian workers who are not only keeping watch upon the walls of Zion, but who are marshalling their forces for the final triumph. That we are on the eve of momentous events, and are approaching the end, there can be no doubt, and those who are found watching when the Master comes will be truly favored, and will have their reward doubly assured. Be of good cheer, your labors are not in vain; the literature you are sending broadcast is proving to be good seed which will bring forth fruit in due season. The attention which you are directing to the subject of the true Sabbath, and the importance of restoring it to its normal place, and thus repairing a great wrong and a grievious sin against the Almighty, is destined to open the eyes of the Christian world to an error it cannot hasten too soon to correct. I thank you for your instrumentality in directing my attention and thoughts into this, to me, new channel of duty and experience; and in response to inquiry in regard to the paper you have kindly sent me, which has had the desired effect upon my mind, I will say that you may continue sending it for the present, as I circulate it, after reading, where it will do the most good."
Another writing from Ireland expressed his sincere thanks for the paper, and desired to continue the correspondence. A letter received from the Shetland Islands contains the following: "With regard to my views of your paper, and the blessed truths advocated in it, I can say they are new to us here; but when I view them by the revealed word of God, in both the Old and New Testaments, I do not see anything in them which I think wrong. For my own part I can say they have been a great blessing to my soul, and I hope will be the same to many more in these far remote islands of the sea. As I told you before, I send your papers through all these islands as soon as I have read them, and the people appear to be very fond of them."
A letter has been received from a member of a family of Sabbath-keepers in British Columbia, who states that the SIGNS and other advent publications sent to them were, through God, the means of bringing them to the knowledge of this truth. A gentleman who has been favored by some of our missionary workers writes the following to the SIGNS office: "I take this method of informing you that I have been the grateful recipient of your precious messenger for several months, and I have read it with profit to my mind; and to my soul it has ever brought ladings of good. The tracts sent by friends of this great harbinger of peace, have been received, read, and distributed.
Wherever they have gone they have done a glorious work, made lasting impressions, and effected much good. Especially has this been the case in my school, and beloved little family. They have afforded me no little help in Bible study; and I have found them valuable when trying to console the disconsolate or cheer the feeble-minded. May God bless the editors, correspondents, and kind friends who have considered the poor and sent words of cheer and counsel to them. You have my thanks, dear friends; you have my prayers and best wishes; I will always receive such favors with pleasure and distribute them where they will be likely to achieve good."
Thus we see that in this silent manner the good news is going even to the islands of the sea, and the truth is making impressions upon many hearts. The result of such work will never be fully known until the final day, and then this labor of love will receive its reward in witnessing souls saved through our humble instrumentality. We would be glad to hear from others who have received encouraging letters.