Review and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 21. (5/22/1879)

Review and Herald

May 22, 1879

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 22, 1879

WHAT OF THE NIGHT?

By Editor

Much that is published in this number of the Review, as well as what has appeared from week to week in previous numbers, might be appropriately gathered together into one chapter under the heading, “The Signs of the Times.”

The political, religious, and physical condition of the world, is preaching every day a threefold sermon of startling power. Yet only a few have eyes to see and ears to hear its significant sights and sounds.

The article given in another column on “Commercial Lying,” speaks volumes. What must be the moral condition of the community where such courses are deliberately followed by professedly Christian men?

The Christian Weekly also gives in its issue of May 17, a similar chapter on the lack of principle in the journalistic profession. Reporters invade the sanctity of private life, and, seeking information which is justly refused, they perhaps give in the next paper a circumstantial account as if gathered from that interview, which is an entire fabrication from beginning to end. Another case is mentioned where a reporter sought of a lady of high standing, particulars concerning an approaching marriage. As she very properly declined to give them, he threatened, if she did not, to publish in the next paper that she herself was found in a disgraceful condition of dress, and under the influence of liquor!

Thus there seems to be a deplorable lack of principle, truthfulness, and honesty, in all departments of the commercial and literary world.

“Catholicism in America,” as given in this paper, is another subject to give concern to those who are not assured by the prophecies of a deliverance soon to come, over the ruin of all anti-christian powers.

Abroad, in the eastern world, a whole continent stands in consternation, listening for the tread of the secret conspirator. Civil revolution threatens the overthrow of one great nation. Labor troubles and commercial disasters weigh down another. Famine in other quarters gathers into the grave its millions. Pestilence past and prospective excites to fears of unknown terrors. In an unwonted degree, floods desolate and flames consume. These are only some of the high peaks of troubles, that lift their heads above the common flood of murders, suicides, debauchery, theft, robbery, embezzlement, drunkenness, cruelty and injustice, which pours itself in sickening abundance through the columns of all the dailies.

See also from the article by Eld. Littlejohn, in this number, how the forces of infidelity and a nominal Christianity are marshalling for the final conflict; while the message which is to warn the world, and prepare a people for the coming crisis, is going through the land.

Of physical phenomena which are peculiar to these last days, we mention only one class, that coming under the head of the sea and waves roaring. The most remarkable event of this kind was caused a few years ago, by what is known as the earthquake of Arica. This produced undoubtedly the greatest commotion of the waters of the globe that has occurred since the days of Noah. The account is given in Morris' great work, “The Present Conflict of Science with Religion,” p. 530. All these things are tokens that the last and darkest shadows of the night are rolling over us, and that the day is at hand.

THE EARTHQUAKE AT ARICA.

On the 13th of August, 1868, there occurred a fearful and most destructive earthquake on the Pacific coast of South America; those who perished by it were counted by tens of thousands, whilst the property destroyed could only be estimated by millions of dollars. The crust of the earth was swayed and upheaved a distance measured along the shore of some 250 miles, while the disturbance extended far away under the sea. This agitated the ocean into waves of the most extraordinary character. At Arica, the center of the violence, the sea was seen to retire, as if about to leave the shores wholly dry; but presently its waters returned with tremendous force. A mighty wave half a hundred feet high, whose length seemed immeasurable, was seen advancing like a dark wall upon the unfortunate city, a large part of which was overwhelmed by it; while two ships of war were carried far beyond the town, and there left stranded high and dry. At Chala, three such waves swept in, and overflowed nearly the whole town, the sea passing more than half a mile beyond its usual limits. At Islay and Iquique similar phenomena were witnessed. At the former place the sea flowed in no less than five times, and each time with greater force. Afterward the motion gradually diminished, but even an hour and a half after the commencement of this strange disturbance, the waves still ran forty feet above the ordinary level. At Iquique, the people beheld the inrushing wave while it was still a great way off. A dark blue mass of water, some fifty feet in height, was sweeping in upon the town with inconceivable rapidity. An island lying before the harbor was completely submerged by the great wave, which still came rushing on, black with the mud and slime it had swept from the sea-bottom. Many buildings were washed away, and in the low-lying parts of the town there was a terrible loss of life.

This great ocean wave swept in all directions around the earth—traveling at the rate of from 250 to 400 nautical miles an hour. In less than three hours after the occurrence of the earthquake, it reached and inundated the port of Coquimbo, in Chili, some 800 miles from Arica; and an hour later arrived at Constitution, 450 miles still farther south, where for some three hours the sea rose and fell with strange violence. On the other hand, it traveled with equal swiftness northward, and swept the shores of southern California, rising upward of sixty feet above the ordinary sea-level, and presenting the most imposing of all the effects of the great shock. Even in San Pedro Bay, full 5,000 miles from the center of disturbance, a wave twice the height of an ordinary house rolled in with unspeakable violence only a few hours after the earthquake.

Not only did this fearful billow rush in upon the shores, the tremendous energy of the upheaving force sent it also outward into the open ocean. The Sandwich Islands, which lie 6,300 miles from Arica, it might be imagined, would have been safe from its effects. But on that very night the sea around this group rose in a surprising manner, insomuch that the inhabitants thought the islands were sinking, and would shortly lie beneath the waves. Some of the smaller islands, indeed, were for a time completely submerged. Before long, however, the sea fell again, and as it did so the people were under the impression that the islands were rising bodily out of the water. For no less than three days this strange oscillation of the sea continued to be experienced, the most remarkable ebbs and flows being noticed at Honolulu. Onward, and still onward, over the broad bosom of the Pacific the great sea-wave swept, and on the 14th reached Japan, where, 10,500 miles from Arica, enormous billows poured in succession upon the shores,—having traveled over considerably more than two-fifths of the earth's circumference, a distance which the swiftest ships could not traverse in less than six or seven weeks.

As over the northern hemisphere, so over the southern did this tremendous wave sweep. At about half past two on the morning of the 14th it rolled in upon the Samoa Isles, the watchmen startled the inhabitants from their sleep with the cry, that the sea was about to overwhelm them; and already, when the terrified people rushed upon their houses, the sea was found to have risen far above the highest water-mark. But it presently began to sink again, and then commenced a series of oscillations, which lasted for several days, and were of a remarkable nature. It occupied but a little space more before the huge billow arrived at the New Zealand Islands; four times did the sea retire, and four times did it return upon these shores with great power, at intervals of about two hours. It finally reached the coast of Australia, in five well-marked waves, and then gradually subsided.

Such were the effects of the earthquake of Arica. It has been calculated that the width of this immense wave varied from 200 to 1,000 miles, and that its length in mid Pacific could not have been less than 8,000 miles. Who can contemplate this enormous volume of water moving at such a fearful speed, and not be filled with awe in view of the power that sent it abroad!

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

DURING THE REFORMATION.

This brings us to the time of the Reformation, when, once more, we find the doctrine of the soul's immortality, purgatory, eternal torment, conscious state of the dead, etc., called in question and rejected.

From a canon enacted in the Lateran Council, under Leo X, 1513, it appears that some persons were denying the immortality of man. Thus says the Council: “Whereas, in these our days, some have dared to assert, concerning the nature of the reasonable soul, that it is mortal, or one and the same in all men; and some, rather philosophizing, declare this to be true, at least according to philosophy, we, with the approbation of the sacred council, do condemn and reprobate all those who assert that the intellectual soul is mortal.” This shows that the question was being discussed. We also see how ready Rome was to defend its pet child.

LUTHER.

In 1520, Luther published forty-one propositions in favor of his position. In the twenty-seventh, he says thus: “I permit the pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful; such as, the bread and wine are transubstantiated in the sacrament; the essence of God neither generates nor is generated; the soul is the substantial form of the body; the pope is the emperor of the world, and the king of Heaven, and God upon earth; the soul is immortal; with all those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill of decretals, that such as his faith is, such may be his gospel, such his disciples, and such his church, that the mouth may have meat suitable for it, and the dish, a cover worthy of it.”

This indicates very plainly that the great reformer believed the immortality of the soul to be only a child of the pope. I think it can be shown that Luther did embrace the doctrine of the sleep of the dead, and died in that faith. I will present some of the evidence for the reader's consideration:—

1. We see that Luther calls the doctrine of the soul's immortality a “monstrous opinion.” 2. Cardinal Du Perron says: “Luther held that the soul died with the body, and that God would hereafter raise both the one and the other.” 3. A Lutheran minister denied this charge, and in refuting it, said: “The origin of this calumny is a letter he [Luther] wrote to Amsdorf in the year 1522: in which he appears much inclined to believe that the souls of the just sleep to the day of Judgment, without knowing where they are. He does not pretend to say that they are dead in this interval, but only lie in a profound rest and sleep, in which opinion he followed many fathers of the ancient church.”

We could ask no better confession than this to Luther's faith in the sleep of the soul. It also confesses that this was the faith of

the ancient Fathers. 4. Another learned writer, speaking of the appearance of ghosts in 1534, says: “But after Luther's doctrine came to be understood, and had gained a little strength, this kind of specters by degrees vanished away. For Luther teaches from the Scriptures, that the souls of the dead are at rest, waiting for the final day of Judgment.” Here is another witness exactly harmonizing with the others. 5. Dr. Priestly says: “The Helvetic convention condemns all those who believe the sleep of the soul, which shows that a considerable number must have maintained it. Luther himself was of this opinion, though whether he died in it has been doubted.” 6. Dr. Alger says, of Luther: “It is probable that the great reformer's opinion on this point was not always the same. For he says distinctly, ‘The first man who died, when he awakes at the last day, will think he has been asleep but an hour.’” 7. The papists accused Luther, and said that he taught thus: “We can now find out a better way to abolish purgatory, the mass, and the Roman pontiff, than by saying that the soul and body die together.” Such was the opinion of this gentleman. And then afterward, to confirm this doctrine, came out public theses, printed and disputed in Geneva, in the year 1558, wherein were these words: “All that is said concerning the immortality of the soul,” said this proponent, “is nothing else but an invention of Antichrist, to make his pot boil.” 8. Luther's comment on Eccl. 9:10 plainly shows that he believed in the sleep of the dead. These are his words: “For in the grave is no work, etc.—another condition, because the dead know nothing. Therefore Solomon thinks that the dead are wholly asleep, and utterly unconscious. There the dead will rest, not remembering the days or the years; but when raised up they will seem to themselves to have slept scarcely a moment.” Again, commenting on Gen. 25:8, he says: “So the spirit, after death, enters the abode of its rest, and, sleeping, is unconscious of its slumber; and yet God preserves the watchful spirit. God is able to raise up Elias and Moses, etc., and thus to ordain that they shall live. But in what way we do not know. The likeness of corporeal sleep suffices, and that God declares the sleep to be quiet and repose.”

We might quote other comments from him to the same effect; but these plainly show that he believed in the sleep of the dead. Put these facts and testimonies together, and it clearly appears that the great reformer believed in the mortality of the soul, and the unconscious state of the dead. He used this truth, too, against the Romish doctrines of purgatory and saint worship. Archdeacon Blackburne, of the Episcopal church, in the appendix to his “Historical View,” has given many quotations from Luther upon this subject, to which the reader is referred, if he desires further proof.

Moreover, Blackburne, Priestly, and others, are of opinion that Luther's doctrine would have been generally received by Protestants, had it not been for the opposition and authority of Calvin.

THOUSANDS EMBRACE THE FAITH.

Very many of the early reformers embraced the doctrine of the sleep of the dead, and defended it in books and arguments. This appears from what Calvin was stirred up to write against them, which he did at first in a very harsh, violent style, in a tract called “Psychopannychia.” In the preface, he says: “Long ago, when certain pious persons invited, and even urged me, to publish something for the purpose of suppressing the extravagance of those who alike ignorantly and tumultuously maintain that the soul dies or sleeps, I could not be induced by all their urging, so averse did I feel to engage in that kind of dispute. At that time, indeed, I was not without excuse, partly because I hoped that that absurd dogma would soon vanish of its own accord, or at least be confined to a few triflers. . . . The result, however, has been different from what I hoped. These babblers have so actively exerted themselves, that they have already drawn thousands into their insanity.” “They are said to circulate their follies in a kind of tracts, which I have not happened to see.” This is dated, Orleans, 1534.

From the above, we see that, 1. This doctrine had been advocated “long” before he wrote. 2. It was not confined to “a few triflers.” 3. Its advocates “actively exerted themselves” in spreading the doctrine, by publishing books, etc. 4. It was gaining ground so fast that “thousands” had already received it. But it seems that Calvin himself did not yet realize how extensively it had spread, and that “some good men” had received it. Hence his book gave much offense. So, in another edition of his book, dated Basil, 1536, he says: “On again reading this discussion, I observe that, in the heat of argument, some rather severe and harsh expressions have escaped me, which may perhaps give offense to delicate ears; and as I know that there are some good men into whose mind some parts of this dogma have been instilled, either from excessive credulity, or ignorance of Scriptures with which, at the time, they were not armed so as to be able to resist, I am unwilling to give them offense so far as they will allow me, since they are neither perverse nor malicious in their error.” Says Dr. Priestly: “It was, however, the firm belief of so many of the reformers of that age, that, had it not been for the authority of Calvin, who wrote expressly against it, the doctrine of an intermediate state would, in all probability, have been as effectually exploded as the doctrine of purgatory itself.”

Duke George, of Saxony, wrote to his brother Frederick, complaining that, in consequence of Luther's teachings, this doctrine was spreading among his people. Says Milner, in his “Church History”: “In a letter written with his own hand, he [George] complains heavily to this prince, of the heretical transactions at Wittemberg and Zwickau, and of the remissness of his brother, the elector. The faithful clergy were insulted, and even pelted with stones, while those of the Lutheran sect married wives, and wrote books in defense of the marriages of the monks. There were even some who were destitute of all religion, and denied the immortality of the soul. All these evils, said he, proceed from the moral doctrines of arch-heretic [Luther]; and gave him the more pain, since he had found the contagion spreading among his own subjects.” Here again we see the denial of the immortality of the soul spreading among the reformers, and it is, by all, ascribed to Luther. The same doctrine, also, was advocated by certain Protestants in Italy.

WILLIAM TYNDALE.

William Tyndale, the great English reformer and translator of the Bible, was a believer in the sleep of the dead. In 1530 he answered Sir Thomas More's Dialogue. More objected to Luther that he held “that all souls lie and sleep till doomsday.” We would expect that, if this were not Luther's doctrine, Tyndale would have denied it. Instead of that, however, he proceeds to defend it, both as the doctrine of Luther and of the Bible, thus: “And ye, in putting them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. What God doth with them, that shall we know when we come to them. The true faith putteth the resurrection, which we be warned to look for every hour. The heathen philosophers, denying that, did put, that the souls did ever live. And the pope joineth the spiritual doctrine of Christ, and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers together, things so contrary that they cannot agree, any more than the spirit and the flesh do in a Christian man. And because the fleshly-minded pope consenteth unto heathen doctrines, therefore he corrupteth the Scripture to establish it.” “If the souls be in Heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be. And then, what cause is there of the resurrection?”

This shows that Tyndale did not believe that souls go to Heaven at death, but that they sleep till the resurrection. He argues correctly that the opposite doctrine destroys the resurrection. He also agrees with Luther that the immortality of the soul was a popish doctrine borrowed from the heathen. Again, More says: “What shall he care how long he live in sin, that believeth Luther, that he shall after this life feel neither good nor evil in body nor soul, until the day of doom?” Tyndale answers: “Christ and his apostles taught no other, but warned to look for Christ's coming again every hour, which coming again, because ye believe will never be, therefore have ye feigned that other merchandise.” This plainly shows what was the doctrine of the first reformers upon this subject.

But all the ability and authority of Calvin were brought to bear against the doctrine of the mortality of the soul and sleep of the dead. He established a school of theology at Geneva, which became very famous, and attracted students from all parts of Europe; and the doctrine of immortality, as there taught, gradually came to be considered the orthodox doctrine of the various Protestant churches. Many things conspired to bring this around. The reformers were accused of overturning and denying all religion. Hence, many doctrines and practices of Rome, which they were at first inclined to reject, were finally retained to avoid offense. In all but what they considered vital points, they took this compromising course. Melanchthon, especially, was noted for this.

OPPOSITION IN ENGLAND.

“The honor of first condemning this tenet [the sleep of the soul] was reserved for our English reformers, who, in the fortieth of King Edward's articles, composed in the year 1552, and published the year following, expressed themselves thus:—

“They who say that the souls of such as depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling, and perceiving, until the day of Judgment, or affirm that the souls die with the bodies, and, at the last day, shall be raised up with the same, do utterly dissent from the right belief declared unto us in the holy Scriptures.”

This shows that the doctrine had become sufficiently extended to claim the attention of that honorable body. In the year 1566, was published the second Helvetic confession, fabricated entirely upon the Calvinistic plan. A part of Article XV runs thus: “We hold that man consists of two, and those different, substances in one person: of an immortal soul, seeing that, being separated from the body, it neither sleeps nor dies; and of a mortal body which yet, at the last Judgment, shall be raised from the dead, that the whole man, from thenceforward, may remain to eternity, either in life or death. We condemn all who scoff at the immortality of the soul, or bring it into doubt by subtle disputations, or who say that the soul sleeps.”

This shows that all previous efforts had failed to put down those who denied the immortality of the soul. Article XXVI of the same confession says: “We believe that the faithful migrate directly from their corporeal death to Christ. . . . We also believe that the wicked are directly precipitated into hell.” This is the first public avowal, by a Protestant church, of the belief that the saints go directly to Heaven at death. Thus, they directly contradicted Tyndale, Luther, the early Fathers, and the Bible.

THE EARLY BAPTISTS.

Mosheim mentions the “General Baptists,” who flourished in England in the sixteenth century. In enumerating the articles of their faith, he says: “VI. They believed that the soul, between death and the resurrection at the last day, has neither pleasure nor pain, but is in a state of insensibility.” Of their number, he says that they “are dispersed in great numbers over many provinces of England.” Here we have the whole of a large sect of the early Protestants believing in the sleep of the soul. And even in Scotland we find that there were believers in the sleep of the dead, who had made some stir there. In the year 1560, the Scotch drew up a confession of faith which was ratified by Parliament. Article XVII reads thus:—

“The elect departed are in peace, and rest from their labors, not that they sleep and come to a certain oblivion, as some fanatics do affirm.” This shows that “soul sleepers” were well known in Scotland, as well as in England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and throughout Christendom. Indeed, from that time forward until the present, an animated discussion upon the subject of the nature of the soul, condition of the dead, and the punishment of the wicked, has been carried forward in the church and out, among all the civilized nations. Every few years books by different authors, issued from different places and in different languages, advocating the sleep of the dead and the destruction of the wicked, both upon philosophical and scriptural grounds, have been put forth. Many of these authors were learned men in high positions in the church and in the State. They spoke out boldly against the heathen doctrine of the immortality of man. These works, in turn, have called forth answers from the other side, advocating the immortality of the soul. Quite a complete list of these works, with a brief notice of their authors, may be found in a catalogue of works upon this subject, by Ezra Abbott, in an appendix to “Alger's Doctrine of a Future Life.”

WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?

By E. P. DANIELS

ANSWER OF THE BELLS.

Who changed the Sabbath? Is a question, asked to-day By honest-hearted people, Who seek to know the way. Not I, Chimed the Episcopalian bell; It must have been—ah! well, I cannot say Just who did change the Sabbath day.

Who changed the Sabbath? The fourth command, so deep and broad, Fixed, by the firm decree Of the eternal God. Not I, Rang out the Methodistic bell; The Bible, it must be, will tell; I cannot say, But think that Jesus changed the day.

Who changed the Sabbath? An institution well designed To keep the Creator's works in mind. Not I, Came a sound from another steeple; Don't charge that sin to the Baptist people; We only say, It makes no difference about the day.

Who changed the Sabbath? That day of holy rest, Which God not only sanctified, but blest. Not I, Rang out in lusty tones a bell; I've no faith in Sabbaths, or a burning hell. Don't dare to say The Congregationalists ever changed the day.

Who changed the Sabbath? The day that Christ adored, And said 'twas made for man, And I its Lord; The day the Mary's kept, While Christ lay in the tomb; A day the disciples spent In their own upper room; The day which martyred hosts Observed midst scorn and jeers, On which they sealed their faith, With earnest cries and tears; The day that now is kept By many to their loss; By noble men who bear, The burden of the cross? I—I—I! Rang out at last, a bell. I changed the Sabbath, and that so well, That nearly all the sects agree That I have power to thus decree; I, church at Rome, did change the day, And this I do not shrink to say. Search the Bible's inspired range, You'll find no text that proves a change From seventh to first, by God's command, A fact well settled in every land. Ha! ha! ha! ha! I am he That changed the Sabbath,— The papal See.

E. P. DANIELS.

COMMERCIAL LYING.

By H. H.

“The label and description on every box of that soap is a lie from beginning to end, and Mr. —— (the manufacturer) knows it as well as I do, and yet he continues to make it, and to print and affix these labels and descriptions to every box of it he makes, and to send it all over the land; and he is growing rich by it, though he knows the soap itself is a fraud, and the label on it is a downright falsehood!”

Such were the words of a traveling salesman who was selling this very soap in town after town, in State after State, and who said he knew it was wrong, but he would be discharged in a moment if he told the truth about the soap he was selling. And yet the manufacturer, and employer of this and many other agents, would have said he was outrageously insulted had any one charged him with lying, or dishonesty, or want of integrity in his business.

Another traveling salesman came to his minister to ask, “What shall I do? I am sent out by my employer,” he continued, “to sell goods by the sample. If I were to tell just what I know is the truth about them, I could not sell a yard; and it is only by misrepresentation and downright lying that I am able to make good sales. And yet if I do not make sales I shall be discharged at once. I feel every day that it is wrong, and that the statements I am obliged to make are falsehoods and deceptions. And yet if I don’t make them I can’t sell goods; and if I don’t sell goods I shall lose my place, and my little family be left without bread. What shall I do?”

Another, a clerk in a large city store, whose attention had been awakened to the subject of religion, said to a friend who was urging him to a Christian life, “It’s no use, I cannot be a Christian and keep my place in the store. To sell goods, we have to put on false marks, and tell downright falsehoods; and Mr. L. (the employer) and every clerk in the store knows it; and no man can be a Bible Christian and do what we are all every day doing. Mr. L. is a member of the church, and attends all their meetings, and gives to the causes of benevolence; but he seems to have no more idea of Christian principle in selling goods than if the one had no relation whatever to the other.”

A well-known minister of the gospel went, some time ago, into the store of a leading merchant-tailor in the city of ——, and looking at some cloths, asked the cost of a suit from a piece that pleased him. When the price was stated, he replied that it seemed much too high. “It is somewhat high,” replied the tailor, “but these fine English cloths cost us high prices; but then they wear so much better and longer to make up for it, that we think them, in the end, cheaper than American goods.” “How much less,” asked the minister, “is the cost of a suit from your best American cloth?” “We do not keep American goods,” said the tailor. “Most of our customers are particular, and like the best kind of goods, and so we keep only English cloths.” And, as illustrating and impressing his remarks, he pointed the minister to the labels and wrappers, bearing the names of the English manufacturers and dealers, who were some of the first in Great Britain.

After some further talk the minister ordered a suit, which in due time was sent home. And soon after, having it on, he called in at the counting-house of Mr. B., a large manufacturer with whom he was well acquainted, and while sitting in conversation with him, Mr. B., looking at the suit he had on, remarked pleasantly, “I’m glad to see, Mr. ——, that you are patronizing our factory.” “What do you refer to?” asked the minister. “To the suit of clothes you have on,” said Mr. B., “for I see they are from the cloth we make at our mills.” “Why no!” said the minister, “I got them from Mr. C. (the tailor), and he deals only in English goods, though he charged me an extra price for his work.” “English goods!” said Mr. B., with a smile; “why, Mr. C. buys all his cloths from us. He has none other in his store. I should know them anywhere.” The minister, greatly surprised, said, “You must, I’m sure, be mistaken, for Mr. C. not only told me that he kept only English goods, but I saw the wrappers and labels, with the English marks and the manufacturers’ names on them, on every piece as I looked at them.” “Yes,” said Mr. B., “we prepare all those wrappers and labels; we have them printed by the ream; there” (pointing with his finger) “you see a pile of them; and as I said before, Mr. C. buys all his cloths of us, and he has not a yard of English goods in his store!”

Here, then, was a leading merchant-tailor, in a leading city of our land, deliberately and habitually working with a leading manufacturer to pass off American goods as English; the tailor deliberately lying to his customer,

and saying the cloths were English; the manufacturer preparing the labels to help on the lie; the tailor exhibiting these labels to make his lie pass for the truth; and both doing this as an every-day business; and yet both men would feel outraged if any one had called them to their face what they really were, cheats, and liars, and villains. And these are but a few of scores of similar cases, in which men, in the way of business, are debauching their own consciences, and teaching their clerks and dependents to be deceivers and cheats, and undermining the morals of trade, and forfeiting the confidence of truly upright men, and laying up a fearful account for themselves against the day of Judgment.

In view of such facts, we would ask one or two questions, which we commend to the thoughtful consideration of all, and especially of all business men.

1. Are there two standards of truth, of integrity, of honesty, one for the ways of business, and another for other spheres of life? And if you are not truthful and honest in the one sphere, are you likely to be in the other?

2. Is your example and teaching in the ways of business likely to do good to young men, or to corrupt their principles; to keep them out of the kingdom of Heaven, or to lead them into it; to make them high-minded, honorable, truthful men of business, or cheats, and liars, and swindlers?

3. At the bar of conscience, is not a commercial lie as bad as any other kind of lying? And at the day of Judgment, will not the business liar go down to death, under as deep a condemnation as any other? At that great day will it not be found true, that “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”—H. H., in Christian Weekly.

The Burdens of Riches

There is a burden of care in getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account at last to be given up concerning them.—Matthew Henry.

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