At the request of Bro. W. Phelps we give the following from his pen, though it is painful to give in the Review a communication which we know will sadden many hearts.
"BRO. WHITE : I feel it to be my duty to speak a few words through the Review to the brethren scattered abroad, that they may know how I stand in relation to organization under a name, that brethren may know where to bestow their sympathy. I would not have any deceived in this matter. The Advent people are very dear to me. I have felt that their trials have been my trials, and their prosperity has been my prosperity. But I have not that unison of feeling at present. I feel that the union is broken, for I do not sympathize with the body of Adventists in relation to organizing under the name, Seventh-day Adventists, and enrolling names under that head. As I feel, I never could consent to have my name enrolled on any class-book, or church-book, under any sectarian name. I might give my reasons, but that would be useless. I mean to keep my conscience void of offense toward God and toward man, and I must get the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.
"And I would here say that I hold myself no longer amenable to that body of people calling themselves Seventh-day Adventists, nor any connection with them any farther than the Spirit of the Lord connects one christian with another.
"I would here say to the Norwegian brethren that they have my sincere thanks for what they have done for me since I have been a preacher among them, and I would say in their behalf, that for benevolence and meekness, and honesty of purpose, they are ahead of any people I ever lived among. May God bless them.
"I hope none of the brethren will feel to find fault with me for taking the stand which I have taken in this. There has been a spirit of fault-finding in some brethren in this vicinity with the position I have previously occupied. Now I hope there will be no more of it. They can organize if they choose, and I shall not be in the way.
"In hope of life when the Life-giver comes,
"W. PHELPS."
There is frankness and candor in Bro. P.'s remarks seldom manifested by those who draw off from the body of Sabbath-keepers. But this does not prove his position a right one, nor make it less our duty to point out his mistakes. With a firm hope that he can be helped, we address to him the following:
Dear Brother : We would entreat you as a father to well consider the steps you have taken in leaving your brethren, and hear us patiently while we try to point out your errors, and set before you your dangers.
1. Should not such a declaration of separation from the body be accompanied with your reasons? You state that you have had great love for the Advent people. Those who know you believe this. Then why leave them in great error, as you suppose, without first laboring to help them? You are a man of years and experience. You are a minister, a watchman. Do you see the sword coming? Then why do you not give the trumpet a certain sound, by giving your reasons for the supposed danger? Do you see the wolf coming? Then why leave the sheep? Hirelings do this. You are worthy of better company.
When we first introduced the subject of organization, in No. 14, Vol. xv, we made the following request:
"If any object to our suggestions, will they please write out a plan on which we as a people can act?"
This request was reasonable. It fully opened the way for you, and others who felt as you do, to bring the Scriptures of truth to bear upon the subject, show us our error, and state a plan upon which we as a people can act. But no one up to this day has attempted to do so. And it has been a matter of grief to us that brethren who apparently possess reason and piety should not only utterly neglect our request, but object to organization without giving one text bearing directly upon the subject. If the simple form of organization proposed to exist among us is unscriptural, then why have you, with the Bible in your hands, suffered the Advent brethren, whom you have formerly loved so devotedly, to go on in organizing without faithfully warning them.
You are not clear in this matter. And you cannot clear yourself by tearing away from your brethren at this critical crisis of the cause. This rash movement will be regarded as the natural fruit of that spirit which would break down organization and order, and keep it down if possible.
You have labored hard in Wisconsin; but the reckless course of those opposed to order has torn down what you and others ardently labored to build up. We are surprised that the sad history of the past has not taught you the necessity of order and organization. If your position now be according to truth, Stephenson and Hall were valiant for the truth. They hated discipline and restraint, and took a most determined position against order, and the most heart-sickening and desolating confusion followed them. Let such men, with such sentiments, have a little influence, and we would as soon trust to the mercy of a tornado as to them.
Dear brother, we first suggested organization as a matter of pure necessity. We had labored to induce wealthy brethren to put their means into the publishing department, and conduct it as their individual property; but could not find any one who would risk himself in such a place, to stand the insulting cry of "speculation." We have never recommended such a course as the best, but looked to it with hope of being freed from responsibilities which no other person would take.
You will agree with us that the publishing department should not be trusted to one man. In no State has there been so much said against the one-man power as in Wisconsin. You will also agree with me that it should be the property of the church, and that the benefits arising therefrom should go to build up the church. But how can this be brought about and managed? Do you say with R. F. C. "we can trust one another?" We will suppose that the brethren, instead of organizing a Publishing Association legally, had at some General Conference decided to trust the management of the publishing department with Bro. Phelps. Suppose they had placed in his hands $5000 with which he had purchased Presses, Type, and other Printing Material to the amount of $3500, and put the remainder into books. The business being done in his name, it is legally his property. Now suppose something comes up in the church which Bro. P. cannot approbate, and he declares, "I hold myself no longer amenable," &c.
To have the property of the church held so loosely seems to us like tempting the Devil to tempt the jealous to feel suspicious and complain of the one who thus holds it, and to tempt him also to be untrue to his trust. We say then there is no way by which the church can own and manage the publishing department, only under a legal organization. And we venture to affirm that if there had been any other proper way, Bro. R. F. C. or yourself would have lost no time in pointing it out.
2. You say, "As I feel, I never could consent to have my name enrolled on any class-book, or church-book, under any sectarian name." Your feelings may not be right. If your views are in accordance with God's word, they are right. When we urge the fact that God requires all men to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the Methodists and some others will sometimes make feeling a standard. This we regard as dangerous. It amounts to this, that they will do as God commands if they feel to. We have not been opposed with God's word on the question of organization; but with—"Why! it is so different from my former feelings and testimony on this subject," and the like. Reason has had but little to do in the opposition. It has given way to prejudice.
But what do you mean by a sectarian name? The Christian denomination in its infancy discarded all sectarian names, and took the innocent name of Christian. But this is no less a sectarian name. The United Brethren and the Christians at first had the appearance of leaving all sectarian names, but they are sects, and these innocent names are really sectarian names. You talk of the Adventists. Take care, Bro. Phelps! Should we all consent to be known by that name, it would become a sectarian name.
As to the people of God having their names enrolled in a book, the idea does not terrify us, it looks rather beautiful. The saints of all ages have their names enrolled in a book in heaven. In this we gather an idea of heavenly order. Why not those who associate themselves together to serve God, have their names written in a book here? Who is injured by it? What righteous principle, or plain text of Scripture is violated by it? The names of soldiers, voters, members of literary and benevolent societies, &c., are enrolled. This is necessary to secure the desired end. And is it necessary that the children of light should be less wise in their generation than the children of this world?
But if you object to a church-book, we conclude you would object to a church clerk, therefore you would have no record kept of the doings of the church. Would you, as some do, have the church take action on important matters, even relating to the fellowshipment of individuals, and have no record made? This is supposing that the advent people have such wonderful memories that a record is not needed. Or, would you have no action taken? no church discipline? but, like the followers of Stephenson and Hall, every man constitute an independent church, each carrying out his idea of church government? You may depend upon it, that this is just what troubles so many of you in Wisconsin. Instead of consolidating in sweet harmony into one body, almost every man is an independent body, not amenable to the others. And this spirit has so far ripened in you, dear brother, as to lead you to tear away from your brethren. We do not say that the Scriptures require in direct terms a church-book and clerk; but we do say that no direct text can be produced in favor of discarding them. This being the case, it shows dishonor to the cause of Christianity for professed Christians to manifest less wisdom in church capacity than is seen in the different associations of the men of this world.
3. You say, "I must get the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name."
That great and glorious victory will be sung upon the sea of glass. Rev. xv, 2. It is doubtless the new song of the 144,000 of Chap. xiv, 3. But that, dear brother, will be a united company. They will have one name, be sealed with the same seal, and sing the same song. They will be disciplined here. They will not escape in confusion to Mt. Zion, like Paul's shipwrecked company, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. No, they will be marshaled here, and go up on Mt. Zion a perfectly united host. Come, brother, into the ranks again, and with your brethren fight the battle for union, against the distracting power of Satan.
Some have made a grand mistake in defining "the number of his name." They suppose this refers to the two-horned beast, and that his number is "six hundred three-score and six," the number of existing organizations, and in order to get the victory over the number of his name, it is supposed to be necessary to reject all sectarian names. This may not be your position. But whether it is, or is not, we wish here to show that the "number of his name" is the number of the name of the Papal beast. The "beast" and "his image" are mentioned five times or more in the Revelation, without the explanation in connection showing what beast, or what image, as if elsewhere fully explained. The definite specifications are given in Chap. xiii. The "beast" represents the Papacy, the "image" is the image of Papacy, the "mark" is the mark of the Papal beast, and the "number of the beast" is the number of the Papal beast.
"And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and then that had gotten the victory over the (Papal) beast, and over his (Papal beast's) image, and over his (Papal beast's) mark, and over the number of his (Papal beast's) name." Rev. xv, 2. Again, "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark (of the Papal beast), or the name of the (Papal) beast, or the number of his (Papal beast's) name." Chap. xiii, 17.
The next verse we regard as a reproof on those who so easily find an application of the number 666. Especially may those feel the reproof who have made the mistake in applying it to the two-horned beast. A little "wisdom" in the use of language will help them.
NOTE FROM BRO. LAWRENCE.
By Editor
BRO. WHITE: We have had some interesting meetings in Northern New York of late, attended by Bro. A. S. Hutchins. Some of our number give evidence of taking hold of the work of the Lord anew.
The subject of order, connected with organization, is gradually gaining the confidence of many. On this point my prepossessions have been strongly against anything more than a portion of our brethren organizing as business societies. The name adopted has always harmonized with my feelings. I have no wish to remain behind, if the body move on by bringing to their aid organization in all the States, yet it would gratify me to see the subject further discussed in the Review. It seems to me that our former position on that point should be confessed and reviewed, so that all may enjoy the benefit of both the argument and our past experience.
I still look for progress relative to christian association among us. And if it is brought about in one respect different from what I expected, I will try not to doubt the hand of the Lord in the matter.
I will add, I have no special fears of matters being made worse; yet just how, and what is to be done under the circumstances is a question of moment with me at this time.
I hope to share with the overcomers.
H. W. LAWRENCE.
NOTE. We are glad to see that Bro. L. designs to stay on board, though he be obliged to throw overboard some things which in time past have appeared to be of much value, of less value now.
We highly prize past advent experience, and would be the last to stir a pin in the beautiful arrangement and harmony of the three messages of Rev. xiv. Neither would we be tinctured with a sort of Romish bigotry in concluding that the Advent people could not, and did not err, and come to some wrong conclusions. For instance: When expecting the coming of the Lord in the autumn of 1844, they some how called both the second and third messages the second. There seemed a necessity of crowding both into one, and the fact that they were two distinct messages was overlooked. Hence the conclusion of some that the beast against whose worship there is a dreadful warning in the third message, was a symbol of earthly governments, that the image was organized religious societies, and the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the hand was holding government offices, voting, taking the judicial oath, &c. But the opening of the present truth has shown these wrong conclusions, and we give it as our opinion that we act more like sane men to let the blazing light of present truth correct past wrong conclusions, than to cling to them, and, like Bro. Phelps, jump overboard.
THE NEW OFFICE.
By Editor
Below is a first-floor plan of the new Office building. It is situated on the south side of Main street, on the corner of Main and Washington streets, opposite the public square.
That portion of the building on Main street, is twenty-six in front by twenty, on the outside. The main body of the building in the rear is forty-four feet by twenty-six. The engine room is twenty by eighteen. The figures in the illustration show the size of each room inside.
The editor's room will be in front, above the counting room. The compositors' room will occupy the whole floor over both book and press rooms. There will be a cellar under the main body of the building, seven feet in the clear.
Main Street.
It is to be a brick building. The job is let to Brn. Jones and Day of Monterey, Mich., who are to furnish first quality material, and do a plain, first-class job, for the sum of $3,500. "Let all things be done decently and in order." Paul.
The job must be hastened through so as to be completed by the first of October. The trustees have agreed to pay as the money may be wanted to purchase material and pay hands. The treasury of the society being exhausted, they succeeded in hiring $500 by giving the society's notes on interest. About one half this sum is paid out, and, unless means come in faster than for a few weeks past, the treasury will again be empty in a few days.
Much that is acknowledged as received on shares, pays borrowed money, therefore brings nothing into the treasury. It will be seen that about $3000 must be raised by the first of October to meet the calls for cash on the building alone.
Besides this, the regular expenses of the REVIEW AND INSTRUCTOR must be met, and we are putting a large edition of Bro. Andrews' History of the Sabbath through the press at the cost of about $1000. Now in order to have all this work go forward, the cash must come right along. We propose
1. That our subscribers fail not to be punctual in paying for the REVIEW AND INSTRUCTOR.
2. That those who owe for books, forward a part or all without delay.
4. That those who take shares in the Association, or who make donations without taking shares, send along the cash as soon as they can.
5. That those who will loan money and take the society's notes, with, or without, interest, will write immediately.
The society has paid nothing on the old building and lots, which it has purchased, and has given notes, for the sum of $1015. It also owes about $2500 besides; but these sums need not be paid till the close of 1861. About $7000 have been pledged, all to be paid during 1861, nearly a sufficient sum to cover all these demands, and leave the society on good ground; but about half that sum, in addition to what has been raised, should be received immediately in order for the work to move on unembarrassed.
We give these plain statements that the friends may know the true state of things. We do it with full faith that it will be the pleasure of the friends of the cause to be prompt. Let all drafts be made payable to Uriah Smith. One object of our eastern tour is to collect means. Friends be ready.
TENT MEETINGS IN MARYSVILLE, IOWA.
By B. F. Snook; M. E. Cornell
THE tent was pitched in Marysville, June 4, and meetings were continued to the 25th inst. When we began, we soon saw that we must labor against much prejudice. False reports of various kinds were being circulated by the Devil's chosen emissaries. As our lectures progressed, interest arose in the minds of many, and so continued to the close of the meetings.
About a week after the commencement of our lectures, when the interest was getting quite good, as it was about time for the dragon to begin his operations, lo! our attention was attracted by the appearance of one of his, no doubt, most faithful servants. A Campbellite minister was on the ground ready to erect an opposite battery. He heard us, and then announced that he would begin meetings in their meeting-house the next evening. We told him that if he thought we were preaching errors, and that he could overthrow them, he was welcome to the tent, which he might occupy as long as was necessary. No, said he. He would hear no such propositions. His meeting began. His crowd was composed of those of his brethren who were so prejudiced that they would not hear us. The more generous and noble of them attended our meetings and were much disgusted with his course. He boasted much, and made a great display of that carnality of mind which is enmity to the law of God, and showed that he was not subject to the law.
He stated, as we were informed, that we did not dare to come into their house and preach alternately with him. We thereupon called for the privilege, but were refused. This they construed into a challenge, which they pretended to accept, but soon backed out of it. We had a good attendance all the time. Near one hundred decided that we have the truth on the Sabbath. Quite a number have also decided to keep it; many who did not unite with us, but who we think will. We found a small company of generally noble and warm-hearted souls who we hope will go through. They appear to be coming out fully into the practice and theory of the truth. They are going to leave their tea, coffee and tobacco in the very commencement. We hope that those of our people wishing to visit them will not do so until they leave off these superfluous indulgences, as we do not wish such a bad and unchristian example set before them by those who should now be teaching holiness by their every-day walk. Those who still persist in the use of tea, coffee and tobacco, after having the benefit of a year's experience in this truth, should blush at hearing of these persons stepping out in advance of them in the very commencement. We pray that the blessing of God may rest upon this little flock, that they may be faithful in all things, and finally join in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
B. F. SNOOK.
M. E. CORNELL.
THE SOUTHERN REBELLION.
By O. Nichols
We feel somewhat anxious to know what will be the effect of the southern rebellion upon the future government of the United States. Has it anything to do with the fulfilling of the prophecy of the two-horned beast—"He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him?"
It is now admitted that the minions of southern aristocracy and slave interests have dictated the national government for more than forty years; and for at least thirty years, they have had a fixed purpose to overthrow "American Republicanism," as "built upon by the fathers." J. C. Calhoun said in Washington forty-nine years ago, that the aristocracy of the slave States would rule the Federal government; and if the time came that they could not rule the nation, then they would secede.
The first victory over the nation was the enactment of the Missouri compromise in 1820, which admitted slavery into territories south of Mason and Dixon's line.
Ex-president Jefferson said in a letter to Lafayette and others, that the "Missouri question was a trick of hypocrisy, got up under a false front of lessening the measure of slavery, but with the real view of producing a geographical division of parties, which might insure them their future presidents. The people of the north went blindfold into the snare." He called it "the eclipse of Federalism." In another letter he said, "I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. A geographical line co-inciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper, until it would kindle such mutual and mortal hatred as to render separation preferable to eternal discord."
The above views of Mr. Jefferson and Calhoun are now facts. The dragonic spirit of this nation has been in the ascendancy for many years.
The two horns—the civil and ecclesiastical rulers—like a lamb represented the true characteristic of the fathers of American Republicanism. The government under Washington's administration was characterized by acts of justice and judgment, symbolical features of the christian character. See Jer. xxiii, 5. It has been said that the foundation of American Republicanism was a hypocrisy, because many of the fathers were slaveholders, and the minions of the slave interests have maintained their cause. But it should not be forgotten that the American revolution, in the south as in the north, was conducted upon the principle of the equal rights of man, to prevent the extension of slavery and to mitigate its evils.
Ex-president Monroe declared in the debates of the convention for altering the constitution of Virginia, in A. D. 1829—"Virginia has always declared herself in favor of the equal rights of man. The revolution was conducted upon this principle. At that time there was a slavish population in Virginia. It was the doctrine of equal rights that brought us together in the revolutionary war. Virginia did all that was in her power to do, to prevent the extension of slavery, and to mitigate its evils."—Southern Platform.
Concerning the character of the legislature under Washington's administration, judge Marshal of Virginia, the former chief justice of the United States, declared, towards the close of his life, "That for several years after the revolution, he had not entertained the suspicion that a legislature could act otherwise than from the purest regard to the public welfare. The same visions were abundant when the constitution of the United States was adopted, and Washington inaugurated president.
O. NICHOLS.
Dorchester, Mass.
SANCTIFICATION OF THE SEVENTH DAY.
By D. T. Bourdeau
WHEN we show the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath, we are sometimes told that God merely blessed the Sabbath day, without attaching any importance to the particular seventh day. We readily admit that God blessed the Sabbath day. But which day is the Sabbath day? Says the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work." Ex. xx, 8-10. But we still have direct testimony on this point. The record says, "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made." Gen. ii, 2, 3. Here we have the plain declaration that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day. God first rested on the seventh day, and the seventh day became God's rest-day. He then blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Thus we see that the seventh day became the blessed and sanctified rest day or Sabbath as soon as God had created the heavens and the earth.
But, says the critic, was not the act of sanctifying the seventh day, confined to the seventh day of the first week of time? We answer, It was not. God's act of resting was in the past when he sanctified the seventh day, and to sanctify means "to set apart to a holy, sacred or religious use." Webster. Now, past time cannot be set apart to a religious use. It is gone forever, and cannot be recalled, and consecrated to the Lord. We therefore conclude that when God had rested from his work, he sanctified, or set apart to a religious use, the seventh day in the future. But how far in the future did the act of sanctifying the seventh day reach? We find that it reached the seventh day that the Israelites kept about three weeks before the promulgation of the law. For Moses, while speaking of the seventh day in the wilderness of Sin, said, "To-morrow is the rest, the holy Sabbath unto the Lord" (French Trans., Ex. xvi, 23); and we have no account of God's hallowing or sanctifying the seventh day more than once. The fact that the next day was the holy Sabbath unto the Lord was sufficient to justify the Israelites for gathering a double portion of manna on the sixth-day, and authorized Moses to say, "Bake that ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe, and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept till morning." If the fact that the seventh day was the holy Sabbath unto the Lord involved an obligation for the Israelites to rest from their work on the seventh day, was it not the duty of our first parents to turn away their feet from the seventh day, from doing their pleasure on God's holy day? Was not the seventh day the holy Sabbath or rest unto the Lord in the days of Adam and Eve, and in the days of the patriarchs? It is evident that the obligation to consecrate the seventh day to the Lord, did not originate at the giving of the law. The fourth commandment did not sanctify the seventh day. It refers us back to creation for the time when the Sabbath was made, and was given to guard an existing institution.
We next come to the days of the prophet Isaiah, and find the Lord speaking as follows: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honorable, . . . I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth." Isa. lviii, 13, 14. By reading the connection we learn that the Lord is speaking for the benefit of the repairers of the breach, those who would build the old waste places, and raise up the foundations of many generations; and it is evident that a breach has been made in the law of God, that the grand sabbatic building or institution has lain waste for many generations. It is also evident that the specifications of this prophecy are being fulfilled by the commandment-keepers of this generation. Now God here speaks of the Sabbath as being his "holy day;" and the Sabbath day became holy by God's act of sanctifying or hallowing the seventh day at creation. Therefore the act of sanctifying the seventh day at creation reached the seventh day in this generation.
Again, the seventh day is still the Sabbath day or rest day—the day on which God rested; and the fourth commandment says that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day. God has never removed his blessing and sanctity from the Sabbath day, and the seventh day is still the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.
We call the Sabbath holy because it is dedicated to the worship of God. The Sabbath is called holy in the same sense that places of public worship are called holy, or the pulpit sacred. The Bible puts a difference between holy and unholy, between a thing that is sanctified and a thing that is not sanctified. When mount Sinai was sanctified that Jehovah might descend upon it in majesty to proclaim his holy law, the children of Israel could not occupy it as they would their own ground [see Ex. xix]; and when the sanctuary was sanctified [Ex. xl] the priests were not permitted to use it as they would their own houses. Two of the sons of Aaron put no difference between the holy and the unholy, and there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them. Lev. x. At the present time men tell us that it makes no difference what day we keep, provided we keep one day in seven. They put no difference between God's holy day and a day that he has never sanctified. They hide their eyes from God's Sabbath, and God is profaned among them. Eze. xxii, 26. Their teachings make God the author of confusion. But God changeth not. My prayer is that my soul may not be gathered with transgressors in the day of God's fierce anger.
D. T. BOURDEAU.
JUDGMENT.
By J. CLARKE.
If there is anything a man takes pride in, it is his judgment; and if there is anything a man hates to acknowledge perverted, it is his judgment. Some fanatic, who has thrown away reason for a moment at Apollyon's behest, and finds his judgment perverted, and owns it, runs the gauntlet on all sides, and most say within themselves, What a pity! and straightway they, Pharisee like, say tacitly, God, I thank thee my judgment is not perverted like this fanatic's.
But let us consider whose judgment has not been perverted. If so, why is it necessary for a messenger to lecture week after week to (very intelligent) people to convince them that the seventh day is the Sabbath? and that death is not the gate of heaven, forsooth? Unperverted judgments! where are they? Why, at this rate it might be but a few centuries (if time continued) before it might require a course of lectures to (very intelligent) people, to convince them that twice two are four, or that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the base and perpendicular.
If that bogus scripture was genuine, that each generation became "weaker and wiser," we might truly trace our ancestry back to very gigantic dolts. If there is anything humbling to us, it is the fact that the judgment not only may be, but has been, perverted. If it is not credited, go back if you please a few years ago, when you settled down most sweetly into the downy pillow of error, and think what efforts have been made by God, and angels, and men, to tear away the vail you so tenaciously pressed over your eyes, while rays of light sought almost in vain to reach those blinded orbs, and yet individuals there are who, having been forced as it were to believe some few self-evident leading truths, and having been freed from some of the chains and handcuffs of tradition, again settle down into the pillow of self-complacency, and having now as they suppose the key of knowledge,55they become wiser than their teachers, and the enemy weaves another vail, thicker than the former, and this serves as effectually to blind the mind.
Of what use is the body of Christ to such individuals? To such persons, of what use is Paul's lecture on the unity of the faith, and the gifts which God has set in the church? Can one member act independently of another? Of what use is faith, if it always acts in a solitary hermit-like manner? Suppose some conceited bee should say, I will not work in these cells until I can understand the mathematical proportion of the combs, and forthwith he settles down into melancholy and grief! Poor bee! Or suppose some ray of light from the sun should separate itself from the rest of the rays, because it could not comprehend its own origin, or some abstract question of the reflection of light, and forthwith it secedes, and where is it?! If the judgment of each individual were of itself sufficient in itself, and if the judgment of individuals were never to be sacrificed to the judgment of the body, where is the necessity of such exhortations as Paul gives in 1 Cor. xii.
I agree that the judgment should, if possible, precede the act of faith; but such is the ignorance and blindness of the mind of some, that unless they will relinquish their peculiar ideas, when they conflict with those of experienced and tried leaders, whom God has set in the church, and by an act of faith believe those whom God has set over them, they must of course suffer the consequences, and like some discontented ray of light which darts into oblivion, become lost in the darkness around.
J. CLARKE.
OUR PILOT.
A PILOT walketh on the sea,
And though my bark is riven,
Yet he will my deliverer be,
He'll guide me to the haven.
I heard his voice, I knew his tones,
And he said, "Follow me,
I've seen thy tears, I've heard thy groans,
I'll guide thee o'er the sea."
By faith his promise I embraced,
And heeded his sweet voice;
And then such pleasures did I taste,
As made my heart rejoice.
Now when the storm clouds thickly lower,
And winds and waves are high,
He'll not forsake me e'en an hour,
For he is ever nigh.
I know not when will be the day,
That I shall reach the shore;
But Jesus has marked out the way,
For he passed on before.
The rocks, and shoals, and dangers all,
He teaches us to shun,
And in his strength we ne'er shall fall,
Who have this course begun.
C. M. S.
Faithfulness Amid Perilous Times
From Sister Hall.
DEAR BRO. WHITE: I desire to say to the brethren and sisters scattered abroad that we are still trying to be among the faithful few, and hope through the all-prevailing blood of Christ to be saved from this wicked and corrupt world, which is fast hastening on to destruction. It seems that time flies with double wings, and wickedness increases so rapidly that we can scarcely credit the evidence of our own senses. We can indeed praise the Lord for the precious truth, which if obeyed will keep us from all the unfruitful works of darkness. May we all heed the straight testimony.
It is just what we want in these perilous times to keep us from the grasp of the enemy who is ever ready in an unguarded moment to lead us away from duty. O, may we all have a double watch set over ourselves that we may be guarded against all approaching evil. I feel to praise the Lord for all his goodness and mercy, and hope to be found faithful. How can we be discouraged when we have such precious promises as the holy Bible contains. Blessed book! I still desire to love it more, and hope to profit by its teachings.
We are very thankful for the Review, and could hardly do without it. I am willing to obey all its teachings. I feel it my duty to make any sacrifice that may be called for that I may obtain the kingdom. If we should enjoy all the comforts of life, and have all our wishes and appetites gratified, we should know less how to prize heaven. O, let us all awake to a sense of our duty, and be willing and obedient servants to our heavenly Father.
Yours striving for eternal life.
FLORINDA HALL.
West Swanton, Ills.
