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Review and Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 24

PURIFYING THE HEART.

Review and Herald

Third-day, November 26, 1867

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, November 26, 1867

PURIFYING THE HEART.

By L. D. Santee

BY L. D. SANTEE.
TEXT. “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” Jer. iv, 14.
This is one of the many solemn expostulations of the Lord to Israel by his holy prophets. The Jewish nation seems to have been under his especial care from the time of Abraham to the first advent of Christ. With the children of Israel alone was the key and repository of religious knowledge. The prophets, priests, and teachers, were all of the seed of Abraham, and their thrilling prophecies, their solemn warnings, their faithful admonitions, were confined alone to the Jewish people. One would naturally suppose that they, being under the guidance of the Almighty, and possessing a knowledge of his will, would be a holy people, and abounding in good works. Such was not the case. They, as a people, were stiffnecked, and noted for their hardness of heart, afflicting and persecuting the prophets that God in his mercy had sent unto them, besides disregarding their warnings. Even the iron hand of Egyptian servitude failed to draw them permanently to God. When the hand of the oppressor was felt, they cried to God for deliverance, but when the Lord by the hand of Moses had brought them out of Egypt with signs and wonders, their hearts were again filled with murmurings and unbelief. They had constantly the admonitions of holy men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
We think that of all the prophets living at that time, there was none whose heart was more burdened with the welfare of Zion than was the prophet Jeremiah. The idolater and the pleasure-seeker trembled at his thrilling words. The sufferings he endured and the perils to which he was exposed from his kindred according to the flesh, could not awe him into silence; and naught but death could hush his voice in its stern denunciation of sin.
It would be impossible to utter a more earnest admonition than the words of the prophet as found in the first part of our text. “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved;” and as he sees how utterly his words have been disregarded, he cries almost in despair, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” No doubt he felt as did the prophet Isaiah when he exclaimed, “All the day long have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Because his warning was unheeded, the Jews soon entered the Babylonish captivity, and were finally destroyed because of unbelief.
The words of our text, though spoken to the children of Israel, are no less applicable when addressed to us, for says Paul, 1 Cor. x, 11: “They are written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come;” and he commences the following verse with the word wherefore, indicating that he has drawn this conclusion from the preceding part of the chapter from tracing the early history of the Jews. “Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” And oh, how important it is that we heed and profit by this caution in these last days of peril, when Satan would deceive if it were possible the very elect; when the world, the flesh, and the Devil, are arrayed against the soul of the Christian.
We are admonished by the history of the Jewish people to shun the sins that caused their rejection by God. We are warned by their punishment to yield obedience to him who is able to save or to destroy. Says the great apostle to the Gentiles, Rom. xi, 20, 21: “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”
We have before stated that the language of our text was applicable to us. We find similar warnings recorded in various places in the New Testament. It is given directly to those living at the close of time. 2 Tim. ii, 16: “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Also James iv, 8: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” It is our duty to give the trumpet a certain sound, that all may prepare themselves for the battle, though we have the inspired declaration that few will heed the warning and deliver their souls. Very many profess to be Christians, but alas, they do not follow Christ. They are loaded with the burden of their sins, but how few come to the only place where such burdens can be unloosed,—at the foot of the cross of Christ. How few yield obedience to all the commandments of God, and exercise faith in the Redeemer!
To the lukewarm professors, to sinners in the church as well as out of the church, the words of our text are a solemn admonition: “Wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved.” It is possible for us to have sinful, covetous, and unregenerate hearts, and be unconscious of it. For instance, Bro. A. has embraced the truth, and keeps the Sabbath. He thinks that he is doing his duty. He rises very early Sunday morning and labors till darkness compels him to forbear, and this is a sample of every day in the week. When the Sabbath comes, Bro. A. is nearly worn out and in need of rest. He lies in bed very late Sabbath morning, and is finally compelled to arise by the drawing near of the hour for service. When there, Bro. A. feels very drowsy. He really wants to hear the sermon, but wearied nature demands rest, and will not be denied; so, very soon after the text is read, Bro. A. is fast asleep. This is the way in which Bro. A.’s Sabbaths are spent. As the result of this course, Bro. A.’s earthly treasure is increasing rapidly, while his heavenly treasure exists only in the imagination. And yet Bro. A. is a representative of a class of professed Sabbath-keepers. Is this glorifying God in our bodies and spirits which are his? Is this striving for the mastery? 1 Cor. ix, 25: “Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” Covetousness is the mainspring of such a course.
Dear brethren, in the fear of the Lord I warn you to forsake your evil ways. In the language of the prophet, I cry unto you, “Wash thine heart from iniquity that thou mayest be saved.” Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. Joel ii, 13. Then will the Lord pity you even as a father pitieth his children. Then shall you enjoy the blessing of God, as the former and the latter rain upon the earth.
Bro. B. would not hesitate in condemning Bro. A.’s course. Bro. B. labors temperately, yet if Bro. B. was measured by the inspired word, it would be said of him, Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. Bro. B. is a man given to appetite. His table must contain all for which the pampered appetite would lust. He has his tea and coffee. He indulges in the use of tobacco, an abomination filthier than the flesh-pots of Egypt. The cleansing, purifying power of the truth has not been able to cleanse his habits. He spends large sums for unnecessary and unwholesome articles calculated to injure and degrade him physically, morally, and intellectually. But Bro. B. pays Systematic Benevolence, and as he pays promptly, he thinks he is a faithful steward over his Lord’s money. Oh! how loth I am to say it, how my heart aches to know that there are those among us professing to be looking for the Saviour, who are represented by Bro. B. May God in his mercy arouse such professors before they, like Ephraim, are so joined to their idols that it shall be said of them, Let them alone. Gluttony, in the Jewish dispensation, was punished with death; Deut. xxi, 20; and think you that the Judge of all the earth will approve in this enlightened age what he condemned in his people anciently? Be not deceived; God is not mocked. As a man soweth, so shall he reap. If you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption. May the Lord help you. May his Holy Spirit apply the truth to your hearts, and let him that sinneth sin no more.
Bro. C. is a man differing from Bro. A. and B.Bro. C. was constrained to embrace the truth by the incontrovertible evidence brought in its favor; but he does not like opposition. He says nothing about his faith or his hope only in the social meetings. In your intercourse with him, you listen in vain to hear him speak of religion; and if you apply the rule that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, you must conclude that the love of God is not in his heart. Bro. C. is trying to live out the truth privately. His light is hidden under a bushel. One would suppose that he was ashamed of his religion. There are some timid ones among us, of whom Bro. C. is a representative.
Now my brother, or sister, have you that perfect love that casteth out all fear? Let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. The servant that hides his Lord’s talent in the earth will suffer loss at the last day. Truth is valueless unless it be practically applied. Science is of no avail unless it becomes an art. The mind may be stored with rich truths, but unless they are disseminated among those around us, their utility is gone. One may have the wisdom of a Solon, and hoard it up in the mind and it is of no value. We all have a work to do for the Master in the upbuilding of his cause. We can not all be ministers, but we can be living examples of the sanctifying power of the truth; and daily, as we are pursuing our various avocations, we can scatter gems of truth among those with whom we have to do. God giveth the increase, and perhaps some word or deed of ours may lead a soul to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. The dying are all around us. Oh! let us place before them, as far as we can, the bread of life. That soul will have need of mercy, who, with a knowledge of the truths of God, neglects to promulgate them.
We have made a wide digression from our text; but we have done so in order to point out sins that are among us, and that are retarding some of us in our progress toward sanctification. We must overcome these and all other sins, if we would stand in the day of the Lord. I might mention many other sins that are found in the church, but time forbids. I would that I could portray to your minds in all their enormity the sins which hinder your progress Zionward, that I could say to the guilty one, Thou art the man. It is better to have our sins uncovered, repented of, and forsaken now, while we have an Advocate with the Father, than to carry them with us to the great tribunal, and finally to seek in vain for an entrance through the gates into the city.
“Wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved.” We are plainly taught that a pure heart is necessary in order to secure salvation; but the process of purifying the heart is not so well understood. Some tell us that conscience is a criterion by which to go; that we have an inward monitor, and that our hearts will be right if we follow its teachings. We would not underrate the office of conscience. That it is an auxiliary placed within us by the Creator, and, when properly trained, urges us to do right, we believe; but conscience is a creature of education, and is formed in a great degree by the influences brought to bear upon us in our childhood. But we beg to differ from the opinion that conscience is a guide to go by, or that it will cleanse and purify the heart. We do not think this belief sustained either by the Bible or our own observation. Go with me to heathen lands where conscience is the only guide. Behold the mother cast her babe into the river Ganges. See the Hindoo widow burn herself upon her husband’s funeral pile. Look at that devotee casting himself beneath the car of Juggernaut to be crushed to death beneath its ponderous wheels. Surely you will not question their sincerity when it is attested by their blood. And think you, they would immolate themselves before their sanguinary deities, if they had doubt in regard to its being duty? or if their conscience disapproved the act? Thus we see that conscience unassisted by divine revelation will never lead to God.
We will now turn to the Inspired Volume and there endeavor to gain some information respecting the manner of purifying our hearts. To those who desire clean hearts, who are children of the New Covenant, God has promised, I will write my law in their hearts. Jer. xxxi, 33. Paul says to the church at Rome, “But God be thanked * ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you.” Rom. vi, 17. What was the form of doctrine that Paul taught? He taught the perpetuity of the law and enjoined its observance. Rom. iii, 31, and vii, 12. In beautiful harmony with the above we find the command in Eph. vi, 6: To do the will of God from the heart. The will of God is contained in his law. Rom. ii, 18. David prayed, “Create within me a clean heart, O God.” Ps. li, 10. How does he want his heart cleansed? Ps. cxix, 80: “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes.” Jehoshaphat sought the Lord with his whole heart. 2 Chron. xxii, 9. How? By keeping his commandments. 2 Chron. xvii, 4. Speaking of the pure in heart, David says, The law of his God is in his heart. Ps. xxxvii, 31.
From the testimony that we have examined, we must conclude that it is necessary to keep the commandments of God if we would purify our hearts. Oh! that we could all say when God shall come with a recompense, Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
But can we purify our hearts by obedience to the law alone? No, we cannot. Peter speaks of God purifying their hearts by faith. Acts xv, 9. We cannot purify our hearts by works alone; for if we should yield a perfect obedience to the law from henceforth, our former sins would still rise against us; and perfect obedience could not atone for past offenses; hence the necessity of a Saviour. Jesus has done for us what we were unable to do for ourselves. He has provided a sacrifice through which our past sins can be atoned for; and if we come to Him in faith, we can claim as ours the precious promise found in Isa. i, 18: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Here we can see the necessity of faith in Jesus as well as obedience to the commandments of God in the work of cleansing our hearts. We are living near the close of probation. I have not time to speak on the signs of the times. It is obvious to every student of prophecy that we are approaching a crisis in the world’s history. I shall therefore assume, without stopping to prove, that we are living near the end of time, and that Jesus is soon coming in the glory of his Father. The question now arises, What preparation is necessary in order that we may be translated, clothed with immortality. We learn in Rev. xiv, 5, that those who are redeemed from among men were pure and without fault. Then if we would not taste death, we must purify ourselves, and every one that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure.
Oh! how good the Lord is to his people. Now, when there is a special work to be done to fit us for his glorious advent, he has given us instructions how to sanctify ourselves. The only agencies are at work in the land which could purify his people. The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus are being preached. They are the last message that will ever be proclaimed to fallen man. Let us heed the cry of the third angel, ere his voice is hushed and the reapers come to gather the harvest of the earth. May the Lord help us to wash our hearts from wickedness, to be sanctified through the truth, and receive life everlasting, for the sake of his dear Son. Amen.

WEARY IN WELL-DOING.

I would have gone; God bade me stay: I would have worked; God bade me rest. He broke my will from day to day, He read my yearnings unexpressed, And said them nay.
Now I would stay; God bids me go: Now I would rest; God bids me work. He breaks my heart tossed to and fro. My soul is wrung with doubts that lurk And vex it so.
I go, Lord, where thou sendest me; Day after day I plod and moil: But, Christ my God, when will it be That I may let alone my toil And rest with thee?

The Sermon.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
PREACH THE WORD. 2 Tim. iv, 2.

MARK OF THE BEAST.

By Dexter Daniels

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
Some tell us that we cannot tell what the mark of the beast is. But it does not look consistent to me that God should threaten his creatures with such awful punishment if they worship the beast, and receive his mark, if no one can tell what that mark is. It would seem unjust in God to punish a man without mercy for what he could not understand. But if God has not given us some rule whereby we can tell what that mark is, we must remain in ignorance as to what constitutes this mark. But we think that God has given us a rule in his word, whereby we may understand it.
God has a sign to distinguish between his true people and the world. And it seems to me, that if we can find what constitutes the sign between God and his true people, we may find by the same rule, what constitutes the sign of the beast. But we find the sign that God has given to his true people, in Deut. v and vi. In the 5th chapter we find the ten commandments repeated unto the children of Israel by Moses, and in the 6th chapter he says, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.”
Here it is, in the forehead and upon the hand. It is the holy law of God lived out in the life. “And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and on thy gates.” As the blood of the lamb was a sign to shield the children of Israel from the destroying angel, Ex. xii, 1-13, so the holy law of God lived out in our lives will be our shield and buckler in the seven last plagues. “His truth will be thy shield and buckler.” Ps. xci, 4. “The law of God is the truth.” Ps. cxix, 142. “Bind up the testimonies. Seal the law among my disciples.” Isa. viii, 16. This is the mark of God in the forehead and in the hand.
Now what is the mark of the beast? It must be counterfeit commandments, that pass for the commandments of God. Most of the churches believe that the ten commandments of God are in full force now, but they hold the counterfeit for the genuine. Satan is a counterfeiter. He has always since his fall been at his work, counterfeiting the most important work of God, and passing it off, among cold-hearted professors, for the genuine. They live so far from God that they do not understand the difference. Satan has counterfeited baptism, he has counterfeited the power of God. The seventh day is the genuine Sabbath; but the counterfeit is in circulation. Immersion is the true baptism, but the counterfeit is in circulation. The power of God is manifested in his church; but the counterfeit is in the world to be passed to those who do not know the difference. But God’s true, loyal people understand the genuine commandments, and they understand the counterfeit. They do not study the detector, so they do not know the difference. If they keep the counterfeit Sabbath, they know that they have the sign of the beast in the forehead and in the hand. They know that to whom they yield themselves servants to obey, his servants they are to whom they obey.
But the mark of God is his true holy Sabbath. God says, “I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign, (or mark) between me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord, that sanctify them.” Eze. xx, 12-20; Eze. xxxi, 13-17. God has commanded his people tokeep his holy law all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they teach their children. Deut. iv, 9-13.
God is a merciful God. He is too good to punish his creatures without mercy before he has revealed to them his will. The mark of God is in his holy law. Deut. vi, 1-9; and the mark of the beast is the counterfeit; for he has thought to change God’s law. He has counterfeited it. Dan. vii, 25. And blessed will that man be that will repair the breach in the holy law of God, that the man of sin has made, and keep the genuine Sabbath. Isa. lviii, 12-14. Blessed will that man be that will keep the true Sabbath, and take hold of the holy covenant of God. Even them, God says he will bring to his holy mountain. Isa. lvi, 1-7. Blessed will they be who keep the holy commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They will have right to the tree of life; they will enter in through the gates into the city. Rev. xxii, 14. The Holy One will say, Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation that keepeth the truth may enter in. Isa. xxvi, 2; Ps. cxviii, 19, 20.
I want to be one that shall enter in. I am trying to overcome all my besetments that I may go in with all the loyal people of God into the holy city. I have many trials to pass through, but I am not discouraged. I am sometimes cast down, but not destroyed. I know that it is through much tribulation that we must enter into that holy city. I love the truth for this time. The Health Reform has been a great blessing to me, and I am trying to live it out. I believe it is a part of the third angel’s message. I believe that God is in it, and is purifying unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
DEXTER DANIELS.
BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT.—“Whatever we can do of good in this world, with our affections or our faculties, rises to the eternal world above us, as a song of praise from Humanity to God. Amid the thousand, thousand tones ever joining to swell the holy music of that song, are those which sound loudest and grandest here, the tones which travel sweetest and purest up to the Imperishable Throne, which mingle in the perfectest harmony with the anthem of the angel choir? A solemn and awful question!—Let your own heart answer it: and then say, may not the obscurest life be dignified by a lasting aspiration, and dedicated to a noble aim?”
A man had better bare all the afflictions of all the afflicted, than be given up to a repining, grumbling heart.

SANCTIFICATION, OR THE OBSERVATIONS OF FORTY YEARS ON CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.

Jacob and Theodore Schoonerhoven were brothers, and strikingly alike in some things; among which, was quick and strong perception, which gave them a talent for making property; for honest labor makes property, and shrewd perception takes it.
Jacob and Theodore were strikingly unlike, in what philosophers call conscientiousness. The face of each projected over the eyes, like the cornice of a house; but whether they were alike in the higher organs of the brain, where conscience is supposed to dwell, I cannot tell.
Theodore, who was two years the elder, often said to his brother, “Come on Jakey, what if mother did forbid it, she will never know it. It is a little thing, and mother is notional.” Thus Jacob, by the greater energy of his brother, was often drawn into mischief, for which he lay sleepless and weeping at night, until his pillow was drenched with tears; and he often slipped from his bed in the earliest morning light, to confess faults to his mother of which she had never heard.
They were educated in the sternest Calvinism. Theodore who, from his peculiar constitution, expected every good thing, and every advantage belonged to him, was rather pleased with the doctrine of election, having a vague, but comforting assurance that he was elected if anybody was. Jacob, however, who was constitutionally generous and unselfish, felt that if anybody was reprobated, it was most likely to be himself.
When the brothers were sixteen and eighteen, a fatal epidemic prevailed and many were dying. A general awakening occurred, and religious meetings were held night and day. Theodore was frantic with fear, when his confidence in election was shaken by a doctrinal sermon. He screamed aloud in the congregation and rent the air with cries for mercy, distressed not so much by reflection on particular sins, and on the bearing of such sins on the law and honor of God, and the welfare of men, as by a general idea that he was a sinner, and exposed to hell. The struggle was not long. He was soon rejoicing in an assurance of pardon. Whether he was influenced by constitutional peculiarity, or not, it seemed comparatively easy for Theodore to be satisfied that he was pardoned and accepted. Jacob wore a serious countenance, sometimes wept, yet said but little, and attracted little notice. He was, however, pained beyond description by a view of his sins, seen in the light of the divine character and law, as seen in their bearing on human welfare, and most of all, as seen in the light of the divine goodness. When he received the “oil of joy for mourning,” he put on “the garment of praise” with great meekness, and quietly adored God, the beauty of whose attributes, character, will, laws and government, he beheld with new eyes; he heard the voice of God with new ears, and his melting heart received every divine impression. Every one said, “What a remarkable display of divine power in the conversion of Theodore Schoonerhoven. Jacob is rather thoughtful, and may become pious, but Theodore is a perfect Gideon: what a gift in prayer and exhortation, and how he shouts!”
Theodore was foremost everywhere, urged on, flattered and praised. Everybody knew him. Jacob labored by precept and example, to save men, making no display. Few knew him.
  • *
Jacob Schoonerhoven was asked to give his views of “Sanctification.”
The interrogator walked him into the altar, and each seated himself in a chair. It was the interval between services and they were alone.
“It is forty years,” said Mr. S., “since my brother Theodore and myself experienced religion. Soon after our conversion, he professed sanctification, and urged me to seek for it. I considered the subject. Theodore, after being sanctified, was more forward, more confident, but no more disinterested. He was greedy of gain, shrewd in speculation, taking advantage of his keen perception to amass wealth; having his constitutional selfishness still strong, still blinding his judgment, and causing him to think he ought to be favored with all good fortune; men ought to work for him cheap; he ought to receive high wages for public service or mechanical labor; what he sells ought to bring a high price; what he buys ought to be got for little. My brother has never scrupled to buy property at a low price, which he knew was about to rise in value, and to sell at a high price that which was about to fall; he has not scrupled to buy cheap as possible young animals of great promise, from men who knew not their value, and to shift off young animals of no promise, to men who knew not their worthlessness. All this he said was according to law, upheld by public sentiment, and agreeable to his conscience. I considered the subject of Sanctification, in the light of loving God with all my heart, and loving my neighbor as myself,—not so much a work of the emotions as of the judgment,—a work not of one moment but of a life time; agreement, union, and harmony with God; self-lost in humanity; self-lost in God; living for the honor of God and for human welfare, at all times, seven days in the week, 365 in the year; in all places, at home or abroad; in the sanctuary, at the mill, or at the market; in all business; laboring, buying or selling.
“I went into the woods and prayed for Sanctification, when the Lord said:—‘Jacob, dost thou love my will, my law, and my government with all thy heart?’ I said, I do, Lord; and the Lord said:—‘dost thou love thy neighbor as thyself? I answered, I do, Lord. The Lord said: ‘Very well, and now Jacob, prove thy word in thy life.’
“I went to my house in a happy frame, singing hymns. A week after this I took down a work on military science, and was reading, having a great ambition for martial fame. The Lord said: ‘Jacob, remember thy word.’ I saw my ambition was self; I dropped the book and never took it up again.
“I had made an arrangement to join a lodge of Masons was on my way, riding fast, when the Lord said: ‘Jacob, remember thy word.’ I saw that my desire to be a Mason was self, I turned and rode home. I had coveted two colts, which I knew would become horses of great value. They were rough and lean, and the owner, not knowing their value would sell them low. I was on my way to buy them. The Lord said: ‘Jacob, remember thy word.’ I saw I was not loving my neighbor as myself; I went on and said: ‘Peter, keep your colts, they will make the most valuable horses among all I know.’ Peter said, ‘I did not think them valuable; but I believe you, for you and your brother know more about horses than any men I ever saw; I would give a thousand dollars for your knowledge. But now Mr. Schoonerhoven, the fact is, I must sell them to save my house and land which is mortgaged.’ ‘I will lend you the money,’ I said, ‘to save your house; keep your colts.’ He did keep them, and finally sold them for five hundred dollars.
“A man came to me to buy some city lots, I was about to take the price which he offered, when the Lord said:—‘Jacob, remember thy word.’ I said:—‘Mr. Broderick, I cannot in conscience sell you those lots; that part of the city must fail in a few years.’ It did fail, and I turned those lots into a farm.
“Thus my Sanctification went on. These lessons were never forgotten; self was banished from my buying and selling; the quick discernment of the value of property, and the foresight of coming changes which the Creator had given me, I no more used for my own increase and wealth. It was evident to me that no man could gain wealth by speculation, and yet love his neighbor as himself. I have instructed hundreds of the honest, industrious poor, and kept them from the gins of speculators. My eye was single, my light increased, and my knowledge of right and wrong, of justice and humanity; my perception became keen to understand what was consistent with loving my neighbor as myself, to understand what it was to do to others as I would be done by.
“One morning I was awakened by the voice of the Lord: ‘Jacob, arise, and be sanctified. Remember thy word.’ I arose, and, coming from my lodging-room, I met a committee of three, informing me for the part which I took in an anti-slavery meeting, I must recant, or come to trial. I remembered my word, stood my trial, and was excluded. To be separated from the church of my early choice, tore my heart. The Lord said: ‘Jacob, lovest thou me more than these?’ I answered, ‘Yes, Lord, I love thee more than all.’ The cause of temperance long before cost me a similar trial.
“I had from early life set apart all of my income, above the plain support of my family, for charity, and with much prayer sought for the most needy. I had passed a day under the clear impression that a sore trial was coming. At evening I stopped in my barn and cried:—‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’ The Lord said: ‘Jacob, art thou ready to be sanctified in the loss of all?’ I said: ‘Yes, Lord, take all. Thou gavest, and, if thou takest all away, blessed be thy name.’
“I answered a rap by stepping to the door. Three fugitive slaves, a mother and two daughters were there. The mother mournfully said: ‘Will you send us back?’ And the Lord said: ‘Jacob, wilt thou obey my laws or the laws of man?’ I answered: ‘I will obey thy laws, Lord.’ ‘Come in,’ I said. I landed them in Canada. I went to jail, and lost all—house, land, herd, and flock. I have gathered a little by hard work in old age. This little cottage is mine, with a few acres of land. My God is reconciled, my peace is like a river, and my treasure is heaven.”
“I believe Bro. Schoonerhoven, that you do not profess Sanctification. I never heard you speak of it.” “I never speak of it,” said Jacob; “the word has a term of reproach. Selfish, willful, proud men make high professions of Sanctification. My brother Theodore is often referred to as a model sanctified man. He has amassed a fortune of a hundred thousand dollars by speculation, has always sought popular favor and civil office: has ever remained pro-slavery, opposed to the Maine Law, and has gone with the most profane and debauched political party. The Judge, by whose decision I was stripped of all my possessions, professed Sanctification. I deem it my duty to make no noisy profession. We should, however, be sanctified every day, in all our volitions, motives, purposes and designs; in our affections, in our temper and spirit, and in all of our business transactions. All other Sanctification is mere emotion, excitement and enthusiasm; and is consistent with selfishness, cruel oppression, and grinding the faces of the poor.”—Wes. Meth. Magazine.

IMPORTANT POINTS TOUCHED UPON.

By Editor

The following article appeared in Review Vol. xxi, No. 13. One of our preaching brethren prefacing his request with the remark that the article is worthy to appear in every volume of the Review, desires its republication; with which wish we cheerfully comply. —Ed.

Running to and Fro.

“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
The word translated, run to and fro, is metaphorically used to denote investigation, close, diligent, accurate observation—just as the eyes of the Lord are said to run to and fro. The reference is not to missionary exertions in particular, but to the study of the Scriptures, especially, the sealed book of prophecy.” Duffield on prophecies, p. 373.
Dr. Clarke’s note reads as follows:
“Many shall run to and fro. Many shall endeavor to search out the sense; and knowledge shall be increased by these means. This seems to be the meaning of this verse, though another has been put upon it, viz., ‘Many shall run to and fro preaching the gospel of Christ, and therefore religious knowledge and true wisdom shall be increased.’ This is true in itself; but it is not the meaning of the prophet’s words.”
The most eminent modern Hebrew scholars all agree with Clarke in giving this sense. Scott’s opinion seems to coincide with Clarke’s, though he gives both meanings in his notes; but manifestly gives the preference to the one which expresses the idea of searching out the meaning of the prophecy.
Matthew Henry comments freely on the passage, and among other things says:
“They shall read it over and over, shall meditate upon it; they shall discourse of it, talk it over, sift out the meaning of it, and thus knowledge shall be increased.”
The French translation, published by the American Bible Society, renders the passage following, “the time of the end,” thus:
“When many shall run all over it, (or through it) and to them knowledge shall be increased.”
The old English Bible, printed by Barker in 1580, has this marginal note:
“Many shall run to and fro to search the knowledge of these mysteries.”
Dr. Gill says:
“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased; that is toward the end of the time appointed, many shall be stirred up to inquire into these things delivered in this book, and will spare no pains or cost to get a knowledge of them; will read and study the Scriptures, and meditate on them; compare one passage with another, spiritual things with spiritual, in order to obtain the mind of Christ: will carefully peruse the writings of such, who have lived before them, who have attempted any thing of this kind; and will go far and near to converse with persons that have any understanding of such things; and by such means, with the blessing of God upon them, the knowledge of this book of prophecy will be increased, and things will appear plainer and clearer, the nearer the accomplishment of them is; and especially when prophecy and facts can be compared: and not only this kind of knowledge, but knowledge of all spiritual things, of all evangelical truths, and doctrines, will be abundantly enlarged at this time.”

I CAN IF OTHERS DO.

By Mary J. Cotterall

How easy it is for us to measure ourselves by others. We do it unconsciously. “I can if others do.” I caught myself saying those very words. And I presume that they find a place in our thoughts, and an expression in our actions, many and many a time when they are not expressed in words. Yes, it is a sad truth. Instead of measuring ourselves by the Bible standard, to ascertain if we are right, we measure ourselves by some poor, erring mortal. It is some one who stands in a prominent place. Yes, who is looked up to; who is considered an example, and it may be is an example, safe to follow; still he or she is only a mortal, liable to do wrong, and it is not safe for us to take such an one for our pattern exclusive of the Bible rule.
Is not this one great reason of the sad state of cold-heartedness, of inattention to real heart searching, which exists among the young, and which has called forth a testimony from that God whom we profess to love and serve?
Let us heed the warning. Do not read it once or twice and say, “It is a solemn testimony,” and then forget all about it, and join the first, gay, giddy person you meet in a tirade of foolish, senseless words. There is a work to do, if we ever get our carnal hearts subdued, and stand among the purified, ready to look up to the fearful, rolling clouds, and with joyful hearts say, “This is our God.”
Dear reader, shall you and I in that great, decisive day call for rocks and mountains to hide us from the presence of him we now profess to love and serve? My young friend, have you read Testimony No. 12? If not, get it, read it, study it, and heed its faithful, solemn warning. If you do this you will study your Bible more, pray in secret more, love God, his cause and people more, love the world and its dying pleasures less, and soon find that there is no sympathy, no congeniality, between yourself and those who make this world the center of all their hopes, thoughts and feelings. Oh! let us strive with all our energies to be more faithful in the performance ofduty, and no longer measure our conduct by that of erring mortals.
MARY J. COTTERALL.
Rochester, N. Y.

The Commentary.

Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne.
Continue reading: Infidel Objections to the Bible Answered. No. 21.