p. 98 | Review and Herald, Vol. 18, No. 12. (8/20/1861)

ONWARD TO VICTORY!

By R. F. Cottrell

WE are living in a most solemn and momentous time. The perils of the last days are upon us. But God has graciously pointed out the way of escape. While Spiritualism is doing its work of deception, the third angel's message is pointing out the only way of preparation to meet the coming events. God is as able and willing to save us of this generation as those of any other generation that ever lived.

All things are favorable to the spread of the truth, and the perfecting of the saints. But are there not national troubles and commotions? and will not these be unfavorable to the spread of the truth? These things will cause the thinking and pious to inquire concerning what is coming, and what preparation is needed to be able to stand in the trying times before us. But it is hard times to sustain the cause and send out the truth. This is all right and for the good of the church. It will give us a chance to sacrifice in the cause. If money was easily raised, it would supersede the necessity of the spirit of sacrifice, and the people of God would lose a benefit. All these things are working for our good.

Who will falter here? I hope not I; my brethren, I hope not you. May God give you grace, may he give me grace, to sacrifice and suffer with Christ. We have tried to lay all upon the altar, we have said, to offer our body a living sacrifice. Let us renew our consecration, and keep the offering upon the altar. In the hour of triumphant feeling and spiritual ecstasy we feel that we can suffer for Jesus' sake, that we can run through a troop or leap over a wall. In the hour of trial let us be steadfast and true to our profession, acting upon principle. Though it would be highly desirable that the cup should pass, let us willingly drink it, because it is our Father's will. Do we expect to get safely through without partaking of the sufferings of Christ? Do we expect to be purified as gold without getting into the crucible, and to be refined as silver, without feeling the fire? Let the fire burn up the dross. The precious metal, if there is any about us, will all remain.

May God revive his work in the hearts of his people, and prepare us for the great work that lies just before us. Let us move onward, trusting in the Captain of our salvation, who was made perfect through suffering. The prize lies just before us. Eternal life and joy is for us, if we will accept it on the terms of the gospel. Is the sacrifice too great? Look at our pattern. What did he sacrifice? or, rather, what did he not sacrifice for us? Did we but know the worth of eternal salvation as he knew it, we would gladly follow in his footsteps. Did we value our lives as angels value them, we would not so often grieve away the messengers of heavenly love. Since all heaven is moved for us, shall we not be interested for ourselves? I hear the response, Salvation is cheap enough at the expense of all things. Onward, then, to victory! By the help of God I will meet you in the general assembly. R. F. COTTRELL.

DISCUSSION IN THE N. Y. TENT--TRUTH VICTORIOUS!

By J. M. Aldrich

DEAR BRO. WHITE : Believing that the readers of the Review are always interested in hearing of the triumphs of truth, and especially of "present truth," over the popular errors of these last days, I will try to impart a few words for their gratification in this respect by giving a brief notice of a very interesting discussion that was held at Eagle Harbor, N. Y., in the tent, on Sunday the 4th inst., between Bro. M. Hall and Eld. P. A. Smith, of Rochester, N. Y.

QUESTION.--Resolved that the Sabbath of the 4th commandment is binding upon Christians.

Bro. Hall affirmed; Eld. Smith denied. The discussion commenced at 10 o'clock A. M., and each disputant delivered seven half-hour speeches. The audience was very large--hundreds having to stand outside the tent, yet the strictest attention was given, showing that the interest was not confined to the few, but pervaded the whole assembly.

And here I am pleased to say that notwithstanding the great ability displayed by Eld. S. upon his side of the question, yet, the audience bearing me witness, a glorious triumph was achieved through the effort of Bro. Hall in favor of the Lord's Sabbath. The truth lost nothing in the conflict, but at the end came forth unscarred, bearing the victor's wreath.

Bro. H. in his opening address made the following points, viz.: 1. "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark ii, 27. He showed in the first place man's need of a Sabbath, and then in the most conclusive manner proved that the comprehensive term "man," in the Saviour's declaration must have embraced the whole human family; therefore the Sabbath was made for Christians, and hence binding upon them.

2. The Sabbath was given to the children of Israel as a sign to run throughout their generations. Ex. xxxi, 13. The generations of the children of Israel, the Jews, are not yet become extinct, but are found in every land as a living memorial of God's declarations concerning them; therefore the observance of the Sabbath is still binding on them; but the middle wall of partition being now broken down, that the

Gentiles may become fellow-heirs, etc., therefore Christians cannot be exempt from such observance.

3. The observance of the Sabbath was for a perpetual covenant, based on the immutable fact that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day. Ex. xxxi, 16, 17. The fact or basis still remaining unchanged and unchangeable, the Sabbath obligation must still continue, and be of binding force upon Christians as well as Jews.

4. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it--set it apart for religious use--because in it he had rested from all his work which he had made. Gen. ii, 3. God has never taken his blessing from it; therefore the seventh day is still God's hallowed rest-day, or Sabbath; and hence Christians are without authority for neglecting to observe it.

5. The covenant containing the Sabbath is a covenant of ten commandments--no more, no less; and this covenant being perpetual, and commanded to a thousand generations, the Sabbath must also be perpetual, and Christians under obligation to observe it.

Bro. H. drove his pins on the foregoing points so tight, that Eld. S. very wisely concluded to let them remain, although he had previously boasted that he could easily draw all the pins Bro. H. could drive on the Sabbath question. Instead therefore of attempting to reply to the solid arguments of Bro. H., he led off in the discussion with nine propositions as the foundation and superstructure of his position on the question under debate. And lest his nine propositions when classified and stated, should, by some rude touch, or unwelcome breath, "vanish into thin air," he sought to stay their sudden flight by cementing them together into one solid piece of masonry, and then giving them a "local habitation and a name." He therefore ventured to draw upon the imagination of his hearers, by assuring them that he was about to erect before them, with said propositions, a huge pyramid, with broad base, of towering hight, and comely proportions. He proceeded with his masonry as follows:

Strata No. 1. Why was the law given? "It was added because of transgression." Gal. iii, 19.

S. No. 2. How long was the law to continue? "Till the seed should come." Gal. iii, 19.

S. No. 3. Christ, the seed (Gal. iii, 16) did come; therefore,

S. No. 4. Christ became the end of the law. Rom. x, 4.

(So away goes the law! a poor foundation, surely, for such a stately structure!)

S. No. 5. "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also in the law." Heb. vii, 12.

S. No. 6. The change in the law consists in magnifying it. Isa. xlii, 21. It then becomes the law of Christ.

(In No. 4 we came to the end of the law, but now we are having it magnified! Query. If a house divided against itself cannot stand, how can this pyramid?)

S. No. 7. The law of Christ is the law of liberty. James ii, 12. And we are to fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. vi, 2.

S. No. 8. The Sabbath was included in the law that was changed, or magnified, but the spirit of the commandment is retained in the law of Christ, and has its fulfillment in Heb. iv, 3. "For we which have believed do enter into rest."

(The magnifying lens used by Eld. S. must be very peculiar indeed, for when he gets the Sabbath magnified, it becomes entirely extinct! But still he acknowledges allegiance to the spirit of the commandment! Doubtless the pathetic words of the poet have made a deep impression on his mind,

"Though lost to sight, to memory dear.")

S. No. 9. The apostles did not teach the observance of the Sabbath, but gave liberty to regard it the same as any other day. Rom. xiv, 5; Col. ii, 16.

Reader, behold the pyramid(!) that was erected as an impregnable barrier against the observance of the Lord's Sabbath! I scarcely need to say that it fell to the ground of its own uncomely proportions; but lest any one should conclude that its tottering form might have braved the storm, let him be assured the well-directed artillery of Bro. H. scattered it to the four winds, that not a vestige remained.

Time and space forbid that I should enter more fully into the details of the discussion. Upon the whole, it was very interesting, and I think profitable. The Lord grant that it may be the means of causing some at least to see and embrace the truth.

I must not omit to say that the debate was conducted by both parties in a gentlemanly and christian-like manner. Nothing occurred to mar the peace or good will existing between them. Eld. S. is a man of fine talents, and worthy of a better cause than fighting against the Sabbath of the Lord.

J. M. ALDRICH.

Somerset, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1861.

AGITATE! AGITATE!

By George W. Amadon

We live in a period of the agitation of Bible truth. Bible questions now have to pass through the ordeal of scriptural investigation. A class of investigators have arisen who will not be satisfied with assertions, though they do come from learned men. One "thus saith the Lord" with them is of more weight than ten thousand ipse dixits from the lips of the learned, the popular, the great. The shackles of superstition are being torn off from the minds of the public, and they begin to understand it is no sin to investigate.

How important, how grand the hour in which we live! Creeds are being shaken, systems overturned, thrones totter, governments are distracted,—in short, everything shakes, or soon will be shaken that is not established on God's immutable truth. Every moment now is fraught with eternal interests. We are soon to place our feet on the blissful shores of immortality. The Devil is enraged, the dragon is angry, the truth is going, angels visit the people while the test-message is sounding through the land. It is a time of political as well as religious excitement. The deep, pent-up thunders in the distance show the nations are angry. The war cannons begin to rattle, the clash of arms is heard, and bodies of men harnessed for the conflict are marching to the scenes of battle. And amid all this military commotion, this tumult of civilians, and the angry attitude of the nations, the servants of the living God, faithful to their trust, are crying, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus"—Who will be on the Lord's side—WHO?

G. W. AMADON.

BREVITIES.

By Jos. Clarke

SELF-DENIAL is a lesson we should be constantly learning. It is painful to witness the desire even among the people of God, to minister to the carnal appetites. God does not require of us to abstain from nourishing, strengthening food; but to expend money upon a costly and unnecessary article of consumption, seems plainly at variance with the command of cross-bearing.

CHURCH TRIALS, have a depressing and saddening effect upon the mind; they can only be avoided by avoiding the cause; by constant watchfulness, and if offenses and difficulties arise, dispose of them before they roll up like an Alpine avalanche. Brethren, let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, and if hate springs up for a moment in the heart, expel it, as you would a mad dog from your dwelling-house.

WITHDRAWING FROM THE CHURCH, because of offenses, is contrary to the genius of christianity. The tie which binds together the church of God, is stronger than any earthly relationship; and it would be a sad spectacle to see the husband withdrawing from the wife, or the wife from the husband, on every occasion of trial.

The church is the place where the christian is to develop and ripen the heavenly graces; and the mariner who leaves the ship, and attempts to breast the storm and waves by swimming, is not more distracted than the person who leaves the church, and the fellowship and watchcare of brethren, to walk alone the perilous journey.

THE WOUNDS OF FRIENDS.—There is no wound so severe as the contentions of those who go on pilgrimage to the celestial city; none so deep, none so fatal. Those who foment these contentions cannot long hold on their way; but while they do so, their presence is like some cancerous tumor, eating away the heart-strings of the loving, devoted christian.

CONVERSATION.—Appropriateness in conversation is essential. To speak whatever comes uppermost, shows a shallow brain, or a perverted understanding. Cull, select your best thoughts, don't lug in something entirely foreign to the subject in hand, to make a jingle of words, unless you want to make yourself abhorred by every wise man, and pitied by the good. The fool speaks just as it happens, the wise man selects, the good man weighs his words. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

FORGIVENESS.—It is true that evidence of true penitence should be full and clear, but when a brother has given this, and we have accepted his acknowledgments, and ratified by our own act his reconciliation, after this, to still brood over his failings, and refer back to his offenses, is ungenerous in the extreme. A brother who has humbled himself thus, who has thus asked for reconciliation and pardon, commends himself to our kindest efforts in his behalf, and now we should set about the work of assisting him in reform. He has erred, and his errors show where his weakness lies; and this is the office of brethren, to try to fortify the erring one on this very weak point.

SYMPATHY.—Sympathy is an excellent quality of the mind when it is rightly applied. If we sympathise with good, if our sympathies are on the side of Jesus, it is well; but when Satan gets control of our sympathies, and we begin to lean over the abyss, there is peril.

DEVOTION.—Devotion is the heart of godliness, when led of the Spirit of God, but not all devotion is thus directed. Let us beware of false experience. The Brahmin, the Mahometan, the Mormon, all have an experience, and Satan lends power to false experience very often. It is his stronghold, and he triumphs in fanaticism. O Lord, guard us in this hour of peril.

Jos. CLARKE.

VARIOUS MEANINGS OF THE WORD SOUL.

By Uriah Smith

IN the Advent Herald of Aug. 10, 1861, occurs this paragraph:

“We find the following in ‘The Sabbath Herald’ of July 30, which teaches the view that the soul is expressive of the entire man: ‘A prayer that has no faith in it, is like a human body without a soul in it.’—Ed.”

Does the Editor of the Herald think there is anything in this inconsistent with our position? Does he think there is any contradiction of what we believe? Surely he is better posted in this controversy than to suppose that any of us regard the word soul as exclusively

confined to one meaning. If not, we can correct that misapprehension, on authority which we doubt not will be current even with him.

The word from which soul is principally translated in the Old Testament is neh-phesh, occurring 745 times, and being translated soul 473 times. This word occurs in Gen. xxxv, 18, and 1 Kings xvii, 21, 22, in which instances, Parkhurst, a celebrated linguist and lexicographer, thinks it should most properly be rendered breath. In addition to instances where it embraces the whole man, the Hebrew Concordance shows it to have been translated in the following different ways: Life, person, mind, heart, body, will, appetite, lust, thing.

In the New Testament soul comes wholly from ψυχή, a word which occurs 105 times and is translated soul, life, mind, heart, us, and you. On the words in Matt. xvi, 25, “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul,” Dr. Clarke says: “On what authority may have translated the word ψυχή in the 25th verse, life, and in this verse soul, I know not, but am certain it means LIFE in both places.”

Parkhurst, Clarke, and the translators of the Bible, are certainly authority over which it would not become any one to be captious; and on their authority the expression above referred to is vindicated from the use which the Herald would make of it; for it would be eminently proper to speak of a dead body as a human body without a soul [breath or life] in it; and such a body would be a fit emblem of prayers not animated by a living faith. U. SMITH.

REPORT FROM BRO. LOUGHBOROUGH.

By John Norton Loughborough

DEAR BRO. WHITE : Our meeting is still in progress in this place. The interest was somewhat abated by the great hurry of harvest, but we have had three meetings during the week-time and on Sunday. And last week, as the hurry of harvest was nearly over, two opposition sermons were preached in the tent on the Sabbath and life and death questions, which we reviewed. This has brought the interest up to a higher pitch than ever. We had good liberty in reviewing, and the result is a complete triumph of the truth. Last evening, although it was very rainy and dark, over two hundred came out to hear. After the discourse those who had made up their minds to keep the Sabbath were requested to rise, when about forty arose. Several who are already keeping the Sabbath were detained from the meeting on account of the rain. There are over forty that have expressed their determination to keep the Sabbath. Still we labor on here. Although we have been here five weeks, we shall remain another week at least. Books go off very well considering the hard times for money. We have sold here some $15 worth. We have just introduced the Review, and shall probably get a number of subscriptions. We send you two with this letter.

J. N. Loughborough.

Rockton, Ills.

MEETINGS IN KNOXVILLE, IOWA.

By H. C. WHITNEY

LAST Sabbath was a day long to be remembered by the church in Knoxville. The day was spent in fasting and prayer. We appeared to realize our condition. At times it appeared as if God had withdrawn his Spirit from us; but before the close of our meeting we realized that it was no vain thing to wait before the Lord; and that in turning to the Lord with all our hearts, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, we have found great reward. The Lord has returned unto us again, praise his holy name! Many a desponding heart was set free, and made to rejoice under the influence of the melting Spirit of Jesus.

Our morning meeting was spent principally in examination; and not much of the good Spirit of the Lord was manifest among us; but we felt indeed that it was a solemn assembly. At 5 o'clock P. M. we again assembled at the meeting house, and the Lord deigned to meet with us, and blessed us abundantly. Such an outpouring of his Spirit has not been realized in this place for a long time—to God be all the praise. Truly God is good to his people. On first-day Bro. Waggoner preached the funeral discourse of Bro. Cronkite's child; after which we repaired to the water and seventeen willing souls were buried with Christ by baptism, some of whom have been the special subjects of prayer for months past; but, praise God! they have now witnessed a good profession before men. May the Lord give them grace to walk worthy of the vocation by which they are called.

We again assembled in the meeting house in the evening, and after a season of prayer and examination, the ordinances of the Lord's house were attended to. The Lord again met with us, and we had a joyful time. Praise God for his good Spirit! Surely the Lord is returning to his people. H. C. WHITNEY. Knoxville, Iowa, Aug, 5, 1861.

A LOOKING-GLASS FOR THE HEART,

OR SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH PRIDE AND SELFISHNESS APPEAR.

1. In setting a high value on our kindness or labors for the good of others; or by excessive impatience or mortification at ingratitude, or want of success.

2. In being over tenacious of our own property, and ready to resent encroachments upon it.

3. In strictly assuming the dignity, rights, or privileges that we think our due, and being mortified with disrespect or neglect.

4. In the risings of anger or revenge at any contempt or ill usage.

5. By impatience at contradiction, and irritation if our self-will be at all thwarted.

6. In a reluctance to give up our own will to obey the will of another;—this is so strong in some characters, that when a desire is expressed to lead them, it is sufficient to excite resistance.

7. By dislike to be dictated to, or found fault with.

8. By a high esteem of our own opinion, and unwillingness to yield it to another; and a desire to rule and have everything our own way.

9. In vexation at being blamed when we deserve it, offense at being suspected if we do not, and a spirit of self-justification and retort.

10. By a reluctance to condemn ourselves, or confess ourselves in the wrong even in trifles; and a tenacious adherence to what we have once advanced in argument.

11. In prejudice against those who dislike us, or have told us of our fault, crossed our self-will, or interfered with our interest, pleasure or comfort.

12. By a desire for the praise of men, for honors or distinctions.

13. By preferring the favor of the great only on account of their rank, fortune or influence.

14. In showing kindness to others from motives of self-interest, or self-gratification.

15. By accepting and being pleased with praise that we are not wholly worthy of; or allowing ourselves to be elated with that commendation which is our due from others, and not simply and truly desiring to give all the glory to God.

16. By jealousy of the love or preference shown to others.

17. By indulging the pride of appearance in dress, house, furniture, table, equipage, or any outward thing.

18. In a feeling of self-importance, and using the gifts of nature or Providence to feed our vanity or pride.

19. In the unrestrained indulgence in anything, however lawful, merely for our sensual gratification.

20. By feeling a cold interest in the concerns of others, listening to them merely from civility, whilst talking much of our own.

21. By relating with a secret complacency the faults or injudiciousness of others, compared with our own better judgment or conduct in the same particulars, or the good effect of our own advice.

22. By making representations to others that have a tendency to display advantages that we possess in riches, connections, reputation, &c., or good actions we have performed.

23. By imposing any little trouble or difficulty on a company, instead of willingly taking it upon ourselves.

24. In considering our own ease or pleasure in our domestic habits or arrangements rather than making any sacrifice to those we live with.

25. In making trifling annoyances or inconveniences of importance, and suffering them to irritate our temper.

26. By withholding money, or giving sparingly, or spending any in self-indulgence which might be better applied for the relief of the poor, or to the cause of religion.

27. By spending money in some instances extravagantly, to be esteemed liberal.

28. By feeling exalted with riches, or ashamed of poverty.

29. By aiming at an appearance beyond our property and income.

30. In feeling pain and impatience at being under an obligation to any one.

31. In expecting much personal attention from others.

32. By resisting whatever is humbling to us.

May every professor of Christianity seriously seek that Spirit of Christ by which he may truly mortify and subdue the carnal mind; the grace he needs is the purchase of the Saviour's sufferings, and can only be rendered effectual by a submission to the power of his cross, who emphatically declared, "Every plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." —Advocate and Guardian.

THE NATIONAL SIN.

By Uriah Smith

FROM the following article it appears that we are not alone in our views of the hypocritical and wicked character of this nation. The extract is from the American Missionary; and although that paper, in penning it, had probably no reference to the prophecy concerning this nation [Rev. xiii, 11–17], its testimony is nevertheless unequivocal that though in profession this government is just and peaceable and pure, in its actions it gives the lie to its profession, and shows itself unjust, corrupt and wicked. Though in appearance it is innocent and ‘lamb-like,’ it ‘speaks like a dragon.’ Well does the writer remark that the “Almighty has a controversy with this nation;” and not only with this nation, we may add, but he has a controversy with all nations [Jer. xxv, 31], upon which he is evidently now about entering [Luke xxi, 25, 26]; and of the cup of God’s fury from which all nations will be required to drink [Jer. xxv, 15] we believe the dregs will be administered to our own [Jer. xxv, 26; Ps. lxxv, 8]; for the guilt of any people is in proportion to the strength and brightness of the light which they reject; and how much light has been rejected by this government may be learned from the fact that a black and revolting iniquity which all other nations pretending to any degree of civilization have repudiated, and from which they are hastening to cleanse their hands, is still hugged by our own with a sottish tenacity, the people in one portion of the country blasphemously endeavoring to defend it by the Bible, and too many of the rest conniving at both its existence and its arrogant claims. But there is another practice almost equally deserving of rebuke, dwelt upon in the article from which we will not longer detain the reader.

U. SMITH.

It is marvelous in the eyes of the friends of the colored man, who acknowledge him as their countryman and brother, and in the eyes of the civilized world—this country excepted—that so large a portion of the people of the United States, religious and irreligious, and especially those who deify the founders of our Republican government, and more especially those who profess to be disciples of Christ, are so indifferent to the welfare, improvement and advancement of the colored Americans. We may well suppose also that the angelic hosts look with astonishment upon the aversion manifested by the citizens of this country, native and naturalized, toward those who are guilty of a skin not colored like their own. Talk of the “Question at the Door”—proposed by the Vermont Chronicle and the Colonization Journal, and all who sympathize with the sentiments we have quoted from these publications! Let them observe the signs of the times, the handwriting upon the wall, the indications of divine Providence, more visible to the spiritual eye than is the comet that has just visited us, to the natural eye; let them listen to the “Question” that the Almighty is propounding to the people of this land:

“Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread?”

The free and enslaved people of color have suffered, and are suffering grievous wrongs at the hands of the white inhabitants—at the hands of the Church and those who minister at God’s altar. Although the revolutionary patriots and statesmen asserted that all men were equal before the law, and founded the government upon that noble principle, although some of them protested against the dogma that man can hold property in man; although the Declaration of Independence asserts, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—and although the Constitution declares that it was, among other things, ordained to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves (the people of the United States, white and colored) and our posterity,” yet, from the foundation of the government to the present time the free people of color have been maltreated and scorned, at the North as well as at the South, and their enslaved brethren inhumanly peeled and goaded at the South, aided in the inhumanity by the North.

The North has joined hands with the South in oppressing the colored man throughout the whole country. Exulting in their own freedom the white inhabitants of this country have trampled upon the rights of the poor and needy, and practically given the lie to the principle of equality engraven upon the cornerstone of our political edifice. The world has been witness of this, and the enemies of a Republican government have taunted us with our hypocrisy or indifference “to the opinion of mankind.” Professing to be a Christian nation, the people—we allude to the masses—have set at naught the precepts of Christianity, in their treatment of their colored brethren, forgotten the exhortations of God, and unheeded his warnings, until the patience of the Father of all appears to have been exhausted, and he has come out against us in judgment. His voice to the American people is this: “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”

Who is so blind as not to see that the Almighty has a controversy with this nation: that notwithstanding the war waged by the South is a most unnatural, unprovoked and diabolical war upon the government of the United States, the whole country is guilty before God for national sins, of which the chief is slave-holding—a hellish practice connived at by all the States; and that slavery is the cause of the present war. And how astonishing is it that the people, especially those in the free States, do not see and acknowledge that there can be no satisfactory or permanent peace between the Southern and Northern people until the cause of the war—slavery—is removed, and that we can have no peace with the great Ruler of nations until we repent of the sin of slaveholding, and the sin of treating our “neighbors,” the free people of color, with contumely, disdain and cruelty. How amazing that the church is so apathetic on the subject, that ministers are so dumb, that the people are so insensible to the rebukes of the civilized world, so neglectful of the lessons of history and the warnings of Scripture, and so regardless of the retributive justice of the Almighty.

PSALMS XXVII, 6.

By L. E. Millne

“And now mine head shall be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.”

THE comforts of my Saviour dear, O let me feel while tarrying here; The scorn of men I well can bear, Their hate and persecution share While in his arms I sweetly rest, Safe folded in his loving breast.

The blessed light of Jesus' smile My sighs and tears will all beguile; When Jesus speaks, how sweet to hear, Those blessed words, child, never fear! When friends forsake and love grows cold, How sweet the shelter of his fold.

My sun and shield O Lord thou art, From thee O let me never part; But lead me gently on the way, Through all my foes to endless day. Uphold me Lord, thy grace reveal, Bind up my wounds, my sorrows heal.

L. E. MILLNE.

Shabbana, Ills.

WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” Rom. viii, 31.

The Christian has many enemies. Sin within him, the world around him, death before him, and Satan, who as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour, are all opposed to him. But sin is pardoned, the world is overcome by Jesus, death is stripped of its power, and Satan is held in chains. The Christian, therefore, may ask, “If I am at peace with God, if God loves me, if God has promised never to leave me, if God has promised that as my day, so shall my strength be, who can be against me, or, being against me, can injure me?”—as Peter asks the question, “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” With God for us, what if the universe were against us? What can creatures do to injure him who is defended by the Creator? “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” If the Lord fight for us, our enemies must flee. If the Lord undertake to protect us, we must be safe. Let worlds assemble to oppose us and still we may say, “There be more with us than with them. With them is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to fight for us. Who can be against us?” If the Lord be with us— and he is with us—he will be for us. “Through our God we shall do valiantly; for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Gracious God, give me faith in thy promise—in thy presence; help me to believe always and everywhere that thou art with me, that thou art for me: then shall I honor thee by my courage, confidence, and constancy.

“No weapon that is formed against thee

shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Isa. liv, 17.

L E T T E R S.

By T. M. Steward

"Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another."

From Bro. Steward.

DEAR BRO WHITE: I have of late been north about one hundred and fifty miles, and spent three Sabbaths with the brethren in that region in the vicinity of Bro. A. H. Daniels. I found things not just as I would have them; yet I trust there are many honest souls in that region, who want to hear and understand what is truth. May the Lord send them his light and truth to lead them out.

Our meetings were appointed about fifty miles from Bro. Daniels, at Menomonie. We held six meetings, and I trust they were to the comfort and edification of the brethren. Our meetings were truly interesting, especially the last, held on second-day, at 2, P. M. I took up the subject of baptism briefly, and endeavored to show what it is to be dead to sin, and dead to the world. I then asked who were willing to forsake the world and its foolish fashions and pleasures, and deny themselves of their carnal appetites, to win Christ. Upon which some six or eight arose and expressed a willingness to leave all (tobacco not excepted) to gain an entrance into the kingdom of God. After meeting we repaired to the water where five willing souls were buried with Christ in baptism, and arose to walk in newness of life. These had all embraced the truth under the labors of Bro. Daniels.

Owing to my haste and the busy time of year among the brethren, I did not stop to organize a church, as I expect to visit them again in the fall.

We are trying to remove the stumbling blocks out of the way so that we can organize a church in this place. I trust the Lord will help us. Pray for us.

T. M. STEWARD. Mauston, Wis.

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