Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 11, 1878
BACKSLIDING
By H. D. Hollenbeck
BY ELD. H. D. HOLLENBECK.
Text: “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” Jer. 3:14.
These are touching words. They are full of more than a father’s love. I have selected them because this morning I wish to consider a grave subject,—a subject that has caused a great deal of earnest thought and inquiry from many people. Many persons say to me, “If it is true, as you say, that people can have the love of God in their hearts, how is it that they ever lose it? If religion is such a good thing, why do not people always continue in it?” This is a serious question; and I purpose to answer it, partially at least; and in doing so will point out the causes of backsliding. This will answer two purposes: 1. It will enable those who have backslidden to understand the way back to God; 2. It will enable those who have not backslidden, and those who have just started in the Christian life, to keep from backsliding. May God help us to earnestly consider the truths we shall offer in his fear.
What are the causes of backsliding? The text is very expressive. Two figures are used in connection. God calls us his children; and then he says, “I am married unto you.” He takes two of the tenderest, noblest human ties, and says, virtually, These ties, interwoven, bind my heart to yours. It is this consciousness which gives us strength to stand in the midst of adversity and trial.
The subject naturally divides itself into two parts. 1. We will consider our relation to God as his children; and in so doing will answer the question, In what respect is the church responsible for backsliding? 2. We will speak of our relation to God as married to him, and in so doing will answer the question, In what respect are we, as individuals, responsible for backsliding?
I. In what degree is the church responsible for the backsliding of its members?
The first question, as you will readily see, naturally leads to the consideration of another. It is this: Why do children ever quarrel among themselves in the family? And why are they not always cheerful, peaceable, and happy? Hence there is a double task devolving upon your servant, and only by the grace of God will he be able to perform it.
There are three reasons for disturbances in families, which I will give; and they will apply to the children of God in the church as well as the children in our families.
1. In many homes children become unhappy because their health is neglected. They need exercise,—need to be kept busy. Every young child realizes this, and wants to be at work. Children will even tease for employment. But as they grow older, they lose that desire somewhat, not naturally, but because it has not been wisely fostered by the parents. If children were employed, they would not become morbid. If their hands were habitually occupied in some kind of exercise, their physical systems would be developed, and their minds would expand and become vigorous. The mind is governed by the condition of the body; for instance, if children do not have plenty to do, or even do not have the right kind of employment, they become lazy and love to be idle.
It is just so with the children of God. One reason why they are not more earnest and active is because they are not kept in constant religious employment. Ceasing to work in the Master’s vineyard is one of the first steps toward backsliding. And let me say to you, If Satan misleads you on this point, he is satisfied; because he knows that it will not be long before you will have backslidden. The Christian must keep at work. I refer you to 1 Cor. 15:58, where Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” If this injunction were obeyed, it would save many from backsliding. All can do something. You can tell your neighbors about present truth. Then, too, you can write letters sending God’s message to those who sit in darkness, and encouraging fellow-pilgrims to the promised inheritance. You may not have the ability to preach, but you can all write letters. You may have the time to write but little, still you can write something. Write a note to some one, asking him to give his heart to God. Write to another pleading with him to turn from his evil ways and come to Jesus, who is always merciful and willing to bless those who seek him. This will wonderfully increase your spiritual growth.
Then, again, children need proper diet. If their parents are not very careful about this matter, they suffer great injury. If their food is rich or of a poor quality, they will become weak and dyspeptic.
What is the diet of the Christian? For an answer, see 1 Pet. 2:2. After telling them what they should lay aside, he says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” It is “the sincere milk of the word,” then, that is the food of the Christian. It is that which strengthens, and causes growth. Job recognizes this fact when he says, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Yes, my friends, if you will give the Christian plenty of Bible, he will grow.
Children need abundance of sunlight. This will promote their health. Many are housed up, and suffer from lack of the free, joyous sunlight.
The Christian needs the light of the gospel and the warmth of the Spirit of God to strengthen him. Light is the type of the Holy Spirit. The Christian, then, needs the Holy Spirit. This brings me back to my favorite text that I have repeated so often in answer to the question, How are we to receive the Holy Ghost? Acts 5:32: “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” That states the matter clearly. If we obey God, he will give us the Holy Ghost. Then we have food, light, and heat. Obeying God will bring the warmth of his love into our hearts.
How many times young Christians, because they are not given the right kind of food, become weak and despondent; and one reason is because older Christians are not able to help them—to give them the light contained in the word of God. This reminds me of a passage in Lamentations, a passage which I often read with deep emotion. It is a true picture of the church at the present day. In Lam. 4:3, 4, Jeremiah, speaking of the women in Israel, says: “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.” You know that the ostrich, instead of sitting on her eggs, hatching them, and caring for her young, as other birds do, deposits her eggs in the sand and leaves them to be hatched by the sun; and the young ostriches are obliged to take care of themselves as best they can. Now God says his people are like the ostriches. How many become converted and the church leaves them to look out for themselves.
In large cities a great many little children are obliged to go out into the streets to beg. If one of them should approach you, holding out her little hands, and looking so lean and frail, and if you should say to her, “What is the matter, my little girl?” the probable answer would be, “My father and mother are poor. We have a cold house, and they cannot give me anything to eat, so I am begging. Won’t you please give me a penny?”
My friends, this sad picture is seen in the church. Young Christians come into the church, and they do not get anything to eat; that is, any such food as they need. They have no Bible talked to them; yet hear what God says: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Col. 3:16. Multitudes of starving souls stretch out their hands to the world and say, “Please give us something to eat, if it is only husks. I will take anything, I am so hungry.” Many young Christians are backsliding from God, because his people do not have enough love and warmth in them to feed and cheer the hungry hearts.
2. Now I wish to notice another reason why children are not peaceable and harmonious. In many homes, indeed, in a great majority, older children spoil the dispositions of the younger ones. I think this is a plain, unvarnished truth, and you can understand it. Let me, however, illustrate more clearly. Many times the older ones in the family do not obey father and mother. Oh, this is deplorable! It is just as Paul, in enumerating the signs of the last days, said it would be. They are “disobedient to parents.” Many little boys and girls think that when they are eighteen or twenty years of age they will be old enough to think and act independent of their parents. Well, it is not at all surprising that they should think so, for them to think otherwise would be the most surprising thing in the world. They see older ones scorning parental restraint, and talking coldly and indifferently about the advice of those who have loved and cared for them when they were helpless, and they say, “I may do so too.”
Now let me apply this to the Christian family. Many young Christians come into the church, and they say, “I am going to see how my older brethren and sisters do.” True, that is not wise; but they do it, and it is very natural that they should. They see older Christians disobeying their Heavenly Father. They see, for instance, that God says people should not dress in a certain way. They should not put on costly apparel, jewelry, etc., and they should not be conformed to the world.
Perhaps some young brother or sister may take up the Bible, open it at Deut. 6:6, 7, and read: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; 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.” What! are parents to do that? Father and mother do not teach me in that way. I will read it again; perhaps I have made a mistake. “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.” Yes, that is so. The Bible says it. Why don’t father and mother do that? But when they grow up they say, “Father and mother got along without talking about these things in their family, and I guess I will do the same.” Thus it is the disobedience of the parents that causes the disobedience of the children. Many, many, have backslidden because older Christians have disobeyed God. They read in Rom. 12:2: “Be not conformed to this world.” “Why,” say they, “here is Bro. Brown, Bro. Clark, and Sr. Green;—they seem to be conformed to the world, and they have been long in the way and ought to know how to do. I can go at least as far as they.” Then they read verse 11: “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” They heard the preacher say that fervent meant earnest. “Why, father has that turned right about. He is fervent in business and slothful in spirit.” Just so some who profess Christianity do. They disobey God by turning his word around. And, of course, when younger Christians see older ones doing thus, it is no wonder that they should do the same.
Then, again, they read in Eph. 5:4 that we are not to engage in jesting or foolish talking. “Is that so? Yes; no ‘foolish talking.’ But here are older brethren and sisters who hardly say anything that is really sensible.” They go out into company with those who have professed to be Christians for a long time, and they see and hear a great many nonsensical things, and they say, “If they can, we can.”
Again they read in Eph. 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” “Why!” they exclaim, in astonishment, “here are two brethren who have not spoken to each other for years just because they had some little difficulty. What does that mean?” You see, brethren and sisters, what effect these things have. It is just the same as it is in the family.
3. Let us now notice the third reason why there are such frequent family disturbances. Members of families are not sociable with one another. Oh how many families there are in which the children are not as well acquainted with one another as they are with strangers. Dear friends, do not think that I am hard. Do not think I am exaggerating, for I am not. I know what I am talking about. I have been ten years preparing this sermon; that is, I have been that length of time observing in regard to it, and I am drawing this discourse from my own experience. I have visited many families and made many friends among them; and many, with trembling lips, have made confessions of what I tell you to-day. This is the truth. You know it to be true, that few homes are social homes.
When a little boy or girl is born into the family, what joy there is, and how glad all are to do something for its comfort. As it grows a little older, how they like to give up anything to promote its happiness. But why doesn’t this desire for its happiness continue? Brethren and sisters, young friends, after your children, your brothers18or sisters, have grown up, they need more of your kind words, more of your sympathy, than they did when they were little. They need more of your counsel, more of your acts of self-denial; and why should they receive less? It is too often the case that children, after a little, give to strangers the confidence they ought to give to their parents. There are many fathers and mothers who are not sociable with their children—fathers and mothers who do not talk to children fifteen years old as kindly as they do to strangers, and the children soon learn to follow their parents’ example. They learn to put on a smile when strangers come in, and to say smooth, nice words, and to laugh, and to put on pleasant airs; but as soon as the stranger is gone they throw off this pleasant manner and are indifferent and cold. Why is this? I can answer it in one word,—Satan. That expresses it all. The devil has come into their homes. He has caused this; for he knows that the home lies at the foundation of society, and that if he can corrupt the foundation, the superstructure is easily affected. And he has succeeded marvelously.
One more example. I have intimated that children do not always do exactly as they should. Little courtesies are neglected at home. One thing that happened when I was a little boy I never can forget. I did something wrong one night, and father said, “Henry, go to bed.” I know now that the punishment was just; but I know this too, that at that time father and mother—though they loved us dearly, though they would have given their lives for us—had not learned the importance of little courtesies and kindnesses. I would just say that they have since, and I thank God for it. I obeyed; but my heart was full of rebellion, full of anger, full of that hatred that should never be in the heart of a little child. My sister Sarah, who was always ready to lead me, took her little brother up to bed, and as she closed the door she said just two words,—“Good night.” Eternity can never efface from my mind the impression those words produced. It was the first time I ever heard them. Rebellion was crushed, my proud heart was broken. Years have passed, and my sister has forgotten all about it. Great distance separates us, and many cares have rolled over us both; but even now when the dark clouds of adversity gather around me, I often hear those words,—Good night; and the clouds are scattered, and the sun bursts forth, and all is bright again. O my friends, you do not know what a word may do for a child’s heart. You do not know what a little courtesy may do towards refining the nature, towards ennobling it, towards giving it higher aspirations and greater love. Do not, then, neglect little courtesies at home.
It is exactly so with God’s children. When a child is born into the church, there is great joy. Every one comes and says, “God bless you, I will pray for you.” But why does it not continue so? Eight, ten, or twelve years after a person has been converted, he needs your help, your kind words, more than he did at first; and he needs your sympathy more than he did then; for then his heart was full of love, now he is battling with severer temptations and sorer trials. Read Rom. 12:10: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.” How are we to do that unless we express our affection for one another in words as well as actions? In verse 15 we read, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” How can we do this without verbal expressions of sympathy?
There are three reasons why Christians should be social.
1. Because they can benefit one another by words of encouragement, and by finding out one another’s faults to correct them. It is much better to have a friend whom you love correct your faults than any other person. A real friend will reprove in a manner not to hurt your feelings. So Paul exhorts us to do, in Gal. 6:1.
2. To properly edify one another we must become well acquainted. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.” How can you restore them, if you do not know anything about them? It is time we were becoming better acquainted with one another. How many times discordant feelings arise from not understanding one another.
3. Mutual sympathy and sociability give us much strength. We often speak of social meetings; but, generally speaking, they are not social meetings at all. Every one has his piece ready to speak, and all he does is to get up and say it. They are very much like our class recitations. Listen, catch the precious secret. Be sociable and get acquainted out of meeting, and then your social meetings will be in the grandest, noblest, and broadest sense of the word, social meetings.
II. I will now call your attention to the last part of our subject. God says, “I am married unto you.” We have spoken of the responsibility of the church, and now we will consider in what sense the backslider himself is responsible. Backslider! “Well,” says one, “that does not hit me.” Do not be too sure. There are three classes of backsliders, and as I mention them, whoever of you are in any of these classes, just say in your heart, Present.
The first class includes those who have once known God, but have departed from him, and now make no profession of religion at all.
The second class includes those who are sometimes very zealous. Their names are on the church book, they are really happy and full of the Spirit of God when revivals are in progress; but when the revivals cease and severe temptations come, they lose their trust in God, and forsake their religion.
The third class includes those who always pray and speak in meeting, who are apparently happy all the time, and pass for good Christians, but who, at the same time, are, in their own hearts, backsliding almost every day. They realize this, but they are always trying to keep up a sunshiny appearance.
Thus the word backslider perhaps includes more than you at first imagined. It may be you find yourself in one of these classes; but if so, do not let it discourage you. God has a precious promise for you, as you see from the text.
God says, “I am married unto you.” That suggests another question,—Why is the marriage relation ever disturbed by a want of harmony? Did not God mean that this relation should always be a source of happiness? Yes; but is it so? It is an interesting fact that there are three classes of married people corresponding exactly to those of backsliders who have been married to God: 1. Those who have become separated by divorce; 2. Those who sometimes get along nicely, but at other times all is clouds and darkness, so much so that these disturbances are not even concealed from their neighbors; 3. Those who keep up a good outside appearance, and of whom everybody says, “How pleasantly and peacefully these people get along together.” They always seem happy when we see them in company; and yet if we could only be in that home we would find that there was just as much bickering, and quarreling, and sourness as in the homes of the second class.
Now I am going to give you five reasons why there are disturbances in the marriage relation. You can count them on your fingers if you like.
1. Very often when people enter into this solemn relation, they are rash: they do not count the cost; they do not know what they are about, and they do not ask God to direct them. When this is the case, it is no wonder that they have disturbances. Such people often say to me, “Bro. Hollenbeck, I believe that marriage is all a lottery.” Shame, thrice shame, on the professed Christian that would make such a statement as that! No; it is not a lottery, unless we choose to make it one. God knows that it is the most important step we can take with regard to our social life. Solomon says, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths.” Do you believe that? I do. If you will do that, do you not think he will guide you in the most important step you can take? Do you believe that passage which says, “He careth for you”? Do you think he would leave to chance a matter which shapes your future destiny? No. The trouble is, most people make up their minds what they are going to do in this matter, and then ask God to grant them the privilege of doing their own will. This is not asking direction of God. These persons virtually say, I intend to do this, and would like to have the Lord’s sanction. So without any regard to results they enter upon the marriage relation.
Many people just think how nice it will be to be in each other’s society, without thinking of the troubles and trials that it is going to cost them; and that each one will have to give up his own way. When they come to realize these things, they often become disheartened, and instead of making the best of the circumstances, they sow seeds of discord that yield a harvest of bitterness.
Just so many profess Christ without considering how much it will cost. It means something to be a Christian. Jesus says, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Many people in becoming Christians think only of going to Heaven some day, and of having eternal life. They do not remember that the Bible says that we must enter through great tribulation. As they gradually realize this, they often become despondent, shrink from duty, and say, “I guess I will not try to be a Christian.”
Thus discord and trouble chill and ruin countless lives, both of those who are married to God by Christian ties and those who are married to each other by social ties, because they fail to count the cost. My judgment teaches me, and the experience of thousands will corroborate it, that if people anticipate living a successful married life, they must expect to give up their own way, and not yield to selfishness. The more they both say, “I am willing to give up my will in this matter,” the more real comfort they will find.
So it is with the Christian. My young Christian friend, you must yield your heart and ways to God, and the more you do that, the more comfort you will have; and the more your will is surrendered to his, the more will his grace be displayed in your heart and life.
2. The second reason why there is not harmony in the marriage relation is that people are prompted by bad motives. Many think, “I will get a nice home.” The wife thinks, “My husband will be an able speaker;” or the husband, “My wife will be a fine singer.” No motive but selfishness. They never think of consulting the glory of God. When selfishness is at the root, sin is the fruit, and sad is the terrible harvest that they must reap.
Many become Christians with bad and selfish motives. They say, “We will wield a powerful influence, and will have for associates noble religious people, and that will be of great use to us.” The result is, that just as soon as the excitement is over they say, “I do not know about practicing self-denial, and foregoing my older associates.” Some of you may find that you had a wrong motive when you started to serve the Lord; but, if so, do not be discouraged, but give your heart to him with a right motive now, and he will accept you.
3. The third reason is (some of you may think I am old-fashioned, but I will say it), people do not love each other. I am a very old-fashioned man in many respects; and I do believe in the old, time-honored idea that husband and wife ought to love each other; but I am afraid this idea is going out of date. I am very sorry that this is the case, because love helps people to be unselfish, and to have better, nobler, and purer motives.
Many people become Christians, when they do not really love God. They are afraid of going to hell, or of the judgments of God. That is a good motive to arouse, but it is not enough. John says, “We love him because he first loved us.” That is the true motive. Those who start in the service of the Lord should realize that if love prompts obedience the service of God is easier. It will enable them to deny themselves. It will enable them to take up the cross. It will enable them to count the cost and pay it.
4. The fourth reason for disturbances in the marriage relation is, that married people forget the vows they made to each other. How many people who have been married twenty or thirty years remember the vows they once made? When they take them they hardly listen to them. They hardly understand what the minister is saying. They are thinking of their future happiness. My brother, had you remembered them do you think you would have spoken those cruel words to your wife the other day? My sister, had you remembered the vows you made, would you have been guilty of that act of selfishness toward your husband? I think not. But you forgot that vow—you forgot its sacredness, its solemnity. I wish that every husband and wife, in the morning before they begin their labor, would repeat their vows to each other. I believe that if they would do that it would save about two-thirds of the misunderstandings, quarrels, and discords people now have in their homes.
It is just the same in reference to our vows to God. One reason why Christians backslide is because they forget the vows they once made to him. Do you remember that you said, “I will renounce the devil and all his works. I will renounce the affections, pomp, and glory of the world”? “I will follow thee, my Saviour, wheresoe’er thou leadest me.”
Had you had this vow fresh in your mind, do you think you would have wronged your neighbor? Do you think that you would be indifferent in the work of trying to win others to God? Let us repeat our vows, then, every day before God. It will help us wonderfully. Let me say to every one of you, Repeat these vows and keep repeating them, and mean it every time you repeat them.
5. After people have been married a great many years, they often neglect little courtesies, little acts of affection. Somehow the devil has got the idea abroad that after they have been married some fifteen or twenty years, they should not talk and act just as they did at first, but it is a shame that people should think so. People are never justified in talking foolishly. But if loving words are ever strengthening, it is when persons are in the midst of household cares and home trials. And if caresses are ever worth anything, it is when the heart is trying to gather strength in the midst of the battle of life.
Do you remember how, long ago, you said to your wife, “I will try never to say a hard word to grieve you”? If you did not say so, you thought it, didn’t you? My sister, do you remember when you thought, “I would rather lose all the friends in the world than lose the friendship of my husband”? Do you remember, when you said to him, “Just tell me of anything that you cannot do, and I will try to do it for you”? Do you remember, when morning and evening, you cheered him with pleasant words? Is it so now? God knows. If it is not, why? Let me repeat, why? My brother, your wife is worn with cares and perplexities, with home duties; do you not think that the words that used to greet her ears in the sweet, sacred past would lighten these burdens? My sister, that husband of yours, who comes home fatigued with his work and burdened with cares, would appreciate your words of kindness more than when he had fewer cares.
Now let us apply this to the Christian. You used to say, “I would not do anything to grieve the Spirit of God. If I could just find out what God wants me to do, I would do it. Just show me Scripture and I will obey it, if it cost everything I have, even my life.” Would you do this now? You used to commune with God in secret prayer. Do you now? These things test your love for God; they show whether you have his love and Spirit in your heart. Your prayers and supplications are worth more to you now than they were years ago.
Let me make one more appeal to you. Let us try these methods, and see how they will work. Begin to be sociable with one another. Be kind and affectionate, and try to make every one about you happy; but do not begin all at once, because it would not have the desired effect. It would only cause embarrassment. Begin gradually. Speak a word you have not spoken for some time, and then try to do some little act of kindness to oblige some one in the family, and continue to do this; and if I should meet you a year from now you might say, “Bro. Hollenbeck, bless the Lord; I know what you said a year ago is true, for under its practice our home has become a brighter place. Our hearts are nearer each other, and we think more of each other than we do of strangers.”
O husband and wife, begin to be sociable with each other. Begin to repeat your vows, and you will find that your burdens, and trials, and cares will be lighter, and life will seem brighter and sweeter to both of you than it has seemed for many a year. And, brethren and sisters, if you have lost any of your former love for God, or in any degree backslidden from him, turn to him. Pray and sing and work for God, as you used to do, and then see if the power of God does not rest upon you just the same as it then did. See if the church does not become a brighter and grander and purer place.
The last thought in our text is a refreshing promise. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.” If you have backslidden, only turn to God, and he says he will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and bring you to Zion.
May the Lord grant us grace to renew our vows with him, and to find in him our sweetest and noblest comfort until we shall meet in his kingdom.
SMALL THINGS.
Despise not thou small things:
The soul that longs for wings
To soar to some great height of sacrifice, too oft
Forgets the daily round
Where little cares abound,
And shakes off little duties while she looks aloft.
God has set some below
Who must their all forego,
And at his bidding give their loved, their best.
The lot of some, like thine,
Is small things to resign,
Yet if thou giv’st that little, then thou too art blest.
Thou tread’st a lowly way;
Be willing day by day
To give up little comforts at God’s call,
That thou may’st ready be
To yield up cheerfully,
When he shall crave thy dearest and thine all.
—Selected.
On Willful Blindness to Truth
THERE are none so blind as those that will not see.
MISSIONARY WORK IN ENGLAND.
From a letter written by Bro. Ings to the missionary society of Battle Creek, we make the following extract for the benefit of the readers of the Review:—
I arrived at Southampton, May 23. I found people hungering for truth. The honest are seeing the low degree of spirituality in the churches, and are looking around for something better. Go where you will in England, you hear the second message preached,—“Babylon is fallen.” I have never had this message come so forcibly to my mind as since I came here. There seems to be no union whatever among the members of the churches. This to my mind is evidence that the time has come for the third message to go forth.
I was astonished to find the people so eager to read. I gave tracts to a lady who was so much interested that she slept with them under her pillow, and although very feeble and under the doctor’s care, she was up at four o’clock in the morning reading them. I was requested to visit them and explain to them. As I talked on some of the prophecies, my heart was made glad to see how eagerly they drank down the truth. So far, I have had no opposition and the people receive our reading matter gladly.
Southampton is quite a shipping point. Ships leave this port for all parts of the world. I placed some of our publications on board a ship going to Brazil, also on one going to the Indies, receiving the promise that they should be circulated among the natives. I visited the harbor one Sunday to circulate tracts among the sailors. They were so eager to read, that those I passed by, on seeing others having tracts, would follow me, and ask me to give them some. One man asked for publications to send to a friend on the Red Sea, another wished tracts sent to Bombay, East Indies. A Wesleyan wanted tracts to give to members of that church, others would carry them in their pockets to hand out to friends. It seemed to me that the Spirit of God compelled people to scatter the seeds of truth.
Health tracts are asked for. I think I can safely say, that not one in twenty has good health. The people eat five times a day, the last meal just before going to bed, and they depend on their tea as much as a drunkard does on his drinks. I can now see the wisdom of educating our young men and women to treat the sick, that, as they go into the missionary field, they may be able to administer to the physical, as well as the spiritual wants of the people.
As the result of my two weeks’ stay in Southampton, two worthy persons are rejoicing in the truth, and I hope for others. When I left I promised to return, which I expect to do soon. I have scattered reading matter in Lytchett, where I stayed two days. People say that if they are not keeping the true Sabbath, they want to do it. At a house where I called for shelter from a storm, I found an intelligent man and gave him tracts. Now he wishes to have another interview with me.
I find that in doing missionary work persons must write when they send reading matter, and call attention to our views, even if they say nothing more than, We hold that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that Christ will soon come to this earth. It needs something to arouse the people, and then they will investigate.
It seems to me that the time has come for a general move to be made in all parts of the world. England needs one of our best ministers. I hope the Conference will send some one here soon. A tent could be used, and a good hearing could be had.
I have a few names of interested readers. I take ten copies of the Signs; but I am constantly finding readers and cannot supply them all; so I will send a few names to your society, and ask your help in scattering the truth in England. I can send you more if you wish. I have just come to this place. It was my boyhood home. I shall do what I can here. Shall visit Portsmouth, and other places before my return to Switzerland.
My courage is good, and I mean, by the help of God, to be found doing something in my Master’s vineyard. I am glad to hear of the interest your society manifests in the spread of truth. We cannot occupy a more exalted position than to be doing the work we are engaged in. Let us double our diligence and show to the world that we are in earnest, and if we keep humble God will bless our labors. I believe time is very short. Angels are holding the winds until the servants of God are sealed. Let us use every available means to hasten the message, and, if faithful, we can all clasp hands in the gathering day.
My address is 68 Müllerweg, Bâle, Suisse.
Famine Spreads to Northern Brazil
FAMINE is causing suffering in more places than China and India this year. The northern part of Brazil is having a hard time. The drought continues, and it is said that unless rain comes soon no crops can be planted this season. A recent report says, that “aid to the sufferers is most difficult for want of conveyance on account of not having water and food for the animals. The famished population flock in bands to the capitals of the provinces, and it causes horror to see these unfortunates, almost naked and as thin as corpses, wan and enfeebled by weariness with the long and painful journey they have undergone, and suffering from the effects of diseases produced by the wild roots and other substances they have eaten. The situation is most melancholy. Thousands are dying from starvation.”