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Review and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 1.

OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

Review and Herald

Dec 28, 1869

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 28, 1869

OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

By James White

Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We Do.

NUMBER SIX—NOAH'S TIME AND OURS.

BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matt. 24: 36, 37.
The prophetic discourse of the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew was given by our Lord in answer to the inquiry of his disciples, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Chap. 24: 3. Here are two questions; one relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; the other to the second coming of Christ. The text relates to the latter.
We solemnly believe that the day and hour, and even the year, of the second advent are purposely hidden. Some of the prophetic periods reach to the time of the end, while others extend still further down very near the end itself, yet none of them reach to the coming of the Son of Man. The prophecies clearly point to the period of the second advent, but do not give the definite time of that event.
But many suppose that the text proves that nothing may be known of the period of the second advent. In this they greatly err, as may be seen in the following reasons:
1. Because our Lord, after stating that the sun should be darkened, and that the moon should not give her light, and that the stars should fall from heaven, gives the following forcible parable, and makes the most distinct application of it to this subject. He says:
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Verses 32, 33.
No language can be more direct. No proof can be more complete. The most daring unbelief will hardly venture to deny these words of the Son of God, and assert that nothing can be known of the period of his second coming.
2. Because our Lord declares that as the days of Noah were, so should also the coming of the Son of Man be. Said God to Noah, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Gen. 6: 3. The time of the flood was given to the patriarch. And under the direct providence of God he prepared the ark and warned the people. So the fulfilling prophecies and the signs distinctly declare that the second coming of Christ is at the doors, and the solemn message has gone forth.
3. Those who claim that the text proves that nothing may be known of the period of the second advent, make it prove too much for their own unbelief. As recorded by Mark, the declaration reads: “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” If the text proves that men will know nothing of the period of the second advent, it also proves that angels will know nothing of it, and also that the Son is to be kept in the same ignorance till the event takes place, and our Lord finds himself in this world! This position proves too much, therefore proves nothing to the point. Christ will know of the period of his second advent to this world. The holy angels who wait around the throne of Heaven to receive messages relative to the part they act in the salvation of men, will know of the time of this closing event of salvation. And so will the waiting, watching people of God understand.
An old English version of the passage reads, “But that day and hour no man maketh known, neither the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” This is the correct reading according to several of the ablest critics of the age. The word know, is used in the same sense here that it is by Paul in 1 Cor. 2: 2. “For I determined not to know [make known] anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Men will not make known the day and hour, angels will not make it known, neither will the Son; but the Father will make it known.
Says Campbell, “Macknight argues that the term know is here used as a causative, in the Hebrew sense of the conjugation hiphil, that is, to make known. . . . His [Christ's] answer is just equivalent to saying, The Father will make it known when it pleases him; but he has not authorized man, angel, or the Son, to make it known. Just in this sense Paul uses the term know. 1 Cor. 2: 2. I came to you making known the testimony of God; for I determined to make known nothing among you but a crucified Christ.”
Albert Barnes, in his notes on the gospels, says, “Others have said that the verb rendered knoweth means sometimes to make known, or to reveal, and that the passage means, ‘that day and hour none maketh known, neither the angels, nor the Son, but the Father.’ It is true the word has sometimes that meaning, as 1 Cor. 2: 2.”
The Father will make known the time. He gave the time of the flood to Noah, which well represents the proclamation of the second advent, given in connection with the evidence of the termination of the periods of Daniel, during the great Advent movement of 1840-44.
And when the patriarch's work of warning and building was finished, God said to him, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” So when the patient, waiting, watching, warning, weeping, toiling time shall be finished, and the saints shall all be sealed, and shut in with God, then will the voice of the Father from Heaven make known the definite time.
As we look back to the great Advent movement, to the bitter disappointment in 1844, and to the numerous efforts to adjust the prophetic periods by Adventists since that time, and the numerous disappointments which have followed, we can but feel the force of the words of the prophet: “Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged; for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it saith the Lord God.” Eze. 12: 22-25.
“I will speak,” saith God, “and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass.” The voice of God will be heard from on high in the midst of the awful scenes just preceding the second advent. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” Rev. 16: 17. See also Joel 3: 16; Jer. 25: 30.
The burden of the prophecy of Ezekiel, quoted above, evidently is time. “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth.” God will make this proverb to cease, by speaking himself. In this way the Father will make known the time, a work not given into the hands of men, angels, nor even the Son.
The present is emphatically the waiting, watching time. It is the especial period of the patience of the saints. In definite time we should find relief from the state of suspense to which our present position subjects us. The Lord appeals to us thus:
“Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13: 35-37.
One of the fatal consequences of not watching is distinctly stated in Rev. 3: 3: “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” The consequence of not watching will be ignorance of the time. What will be the consequence of watching? The inference is unavoidable, that it will be a knowledge of the time.
In answer to the agonizing prayer of the Son of God, “Father, glorify thy name,” there came a voice from Heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The disciples understood these words from Heaven, while the people that stood by said it thundered. John 12: 27-29. So will the waiting, watching disciples of Christ understand the voice of God when he shall speak from on high. But the unbelieving world will not understand the voice. “The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”
In comparing Noah's days and ours, the Lord continues: “For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came, and tookthem all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”
A picture of the present condition of the mass of mankind is here drawn. How dark the features! The people of the last generation will be like that before the flood, while the ark was preparing. Noah preached and warned them of the coming flood, and they mocked. He built the ark, and they scoffed and jeered. He was a preacher of righteousness. His works were calculated to give edge to, and set home to the heart, what he preached. Every righteous sermon, and every blow struck in building the ark, condemned a careless, scoffing world. As the time drew nearer, they grew more careless, more hardened, more bold and impudent, and their condemnation surer. Noah and his family were alone. And could one family know more than all the world? The ark is a matter of ridicule, and Noah is regarded as a willful bigot.
But the Lord calls Noah into the ark. And by the hand of Providence the beasts are led into the ark; and the Lord shuts Noah in. This is regarded at first by the scoffing multitude as something wonderful; but it is soon explained away by the wiser ones, so as to calm their fears, and they breathe easier. But the day arrives. The sun rises as usual, and the heavens are clear. “Now where is old Noah's flood?” is heard from a thousand impious lips. It is a day of unusual feasting and sports. The farmer is planting and sowing, and the mechanic is heard pursuing his work of building. On this very day some are being joined in marriage. And while all are looking over long years of future prosperity and happiness, suddenly the heavens gather blackness. Fear fills every heart. They think of Noah, and as they turn to look toward the ark, the windows of heaven open, and the rain in torrents descends. “The fountains of the great deep are broken up,” and here and there come gushing up rivers of waters. The valleys are fast filling up, and thousands are swept away in death. Some flee to the highest points of land; but the water fast follows them up. Men bear their wives and children to the mountains, but are obliged to part with them there to drown, while they climb the highest trees. But soon they too are covered with water, so that there is not a resting place for Noah's dove. All are still in death. Horrid death! made still more horrible by being in consequence of slighted mercy! But where is Noah? Ah! safe in the ark, borne upon the billow. Safe from the flood, safe; for God “shut him in.”
By most people the evidences of the soon coming of Christ are considered insufficient to base faith upon. But mark: the testimony and acts of one man condemned the people destroyed by the flood. The evidences then were sufficient, otherwise the world would not have been condemned. But behold the evidences which come pouring in upon us that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. We follow down the numerous prophetic chains of Daniel, and of the Revelation, and we find ourselves in every instance standing just before the day of wrath. We see the signs spoken of by prophets, by Christ, and in the epistles, fulfilling, or fulfilled. And at the right time, and in the right manner, to fulfill certain prophecies, a solemn message arises in different parts of the world. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2: 1. Wherever we look, we see prophecy fulfilling. While the knowledge of God and the spirit of holiness are departing, spiritual wickedness like a flood covers the land.
But these evidences are considered insufficient to rest faith upon. Well, what kind of evidence would they have? “When the signs of the end,” says the skeptic, “are fulfilled, they will be so plain that no one can doubt.” But if the signs are of such a nature, and are fulfilled in such a manner, as to compel all to believe in the coming of Christ, how can it be as it was in the days of Noah? Men were not then compelled to believe. But eight believing souls were saved, while all the world besides sank in their unbelief beneath the waters of the flood. God has never revealed his truth to man in a manner to compel him to believe. Those who have wished to doubt his word, have found a wide field in which to doubt, and a broad road to perdition. While those who have wished to believe, have ever found everlasting rock on which to rest their faith. “When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18: 8. He will find but little. It will be as in the days of Noah. A few will believe, and stand complete in God amid all the perils of the last days. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12: 32.
Just before the end, the world will be hardened in sin, and indifferent to the claims of God. Men will be careless about hearing warnings of danger, and blinded by cares, pleasures, and riches. An unbelieving and infidel race will be eating, drinking, marrying, building, planting, and sowing. It is right to eat and drink to sustain nature; but the sin is in excess and gluttony. The marriage covenant is holy, but God's glory is seldom thought of. Building, planting and sowing, necessary for convenient shelter, food and clothing, are right; but the world has gone wholly after these things, so that men have no time nor disposition to think of God, Heaven, Christ's coming and the judgment. This world is their god, and all their energies of body and mind bow down to serve it. And the evil day is put far away.
The faithful watchman who sounds the alarm as he sees destruction coming, is held up before the people from the pulpits of our land, and the religious press, as a “fanatic,” a “teacher of dangerous heresies;” while in contrast is set forth a long period of peace and prosperity to the church. So the churches are quieted to sleep. The scoffer continues to scoff, and the mocker mocks on. But their day is coming. Thus saith the prophet of God: “Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isa. xiii, 6-9.
Most dreadful day! And is it near, and hasting on as fast as the rapid wheels of time can bring it? Yes, it hasteth! It hasteth greatly! What a description given by the prophet. Read it, and as you read, try to feel how dreadful will be that day. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zeph. 1: 14-18.
Now we hear the “peace and safety” cry from the pulpit, and all the way along down to the grog-shop. “Where is the promise of his coming?” is murmured from the impious lips of a thousand last-day scoffers. But the scene will speedily change. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.” The scoffing of the haughty scoffer will soon be turned to wailing and howling. “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Isa. 2: 11, 12. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jer. 25: 33.
The last plagues, in which is filled up the wrath of God, now bottled up in Heaven, waiting for mercy to finish her last pleadings, will be poured out. Unmingled wrath of Jehovah! And not one drop of mercy? Not one! Jesus will lay off his priestly attire, leave the mercy-seat, and put on the garments of vengeance, nevermore to offer his blood to wash the sinner from his sins. The angels will wipe the last tear shed over sinners, while the mandate resounds through all Heaven, Let them alone. The groaning, weeping, praying church on earth, who, in the last message, uses every means within her reach, and employs every power to sound everywhere the last note of warning, lest the blood of souls be found in her garments, is now hushed in solemn silence. The Holy Spirit has written within them these prophetic words of their soon-expected Lord: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22: 11.
Now the ministers of truth have a message for the people, and gladly speak the words of life. They joyfully toil on, suffer on, and spend their energies in preaching to hearts as hard as steel, hoping that a few may be reached, gathered into the truth, and saved. But then they will have no message. Now their prayers and strong cries go up to Heaven in behalf of sinners. Then they will have no spirit of prayer for them. Now the church says to the sinner, Come; and Jesus stands ready to plead his blood in his behalf, that he may be washed from his sin and live. But then salvation's hour will be passed, and the sinner will be shut up in darkness and black despair.
It will be a day of mourning, and lamentation, and famine for hearing the words of the Lord. “I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Amos 8: 8-12.
Now, the word of the Lord may be heard; but sinners, in and out of the churches, with few exceptions, do not prize it. Then it will not be heard; for the watchmen, set to watch and sound the alarm of danger, will be called down from their high stations. Now, the word of the Lord is carried to the sinner, and offered without money or price; but he treats it carelessly, or drives the humble servant of Christ from his door. But then will they go in search for it. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, but they cannot hear it. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. From city to city, from State to State, from one country to another, will they go to find a man commissioned of high Heaven to speak the word of the Lord, but such an one is not to be found. All such will then have finished their high commission. The word of the Lord! The word of the Lord! Where can we hear it? It is heard in every land. One general wail—The word of the Lord!—goes up to Heaven, but the heavens are brass. Then will the people turn and rend the false shepherds, who deceived them with the cry of “peace and safety.” Children will reproach parents for keeping them back from walking in the truth, and parents their children.
The miser now loves his money, and holds it with an iron grasp. But it will be said in that day, “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” Jas. 5: 1-3. Now, silver and gold may be used to God's glory, for the advancement of his cause. But in that day they shall cast their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity. Eze. 7: 19. Now they may lay up treasures in Heaven, bags that wax not old. Now they may deposit in the bank of Heaven, and deliver their souls. Then, overwhelmed with terror, they will cast their wealth into the mire of the streets; but “neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.”

A Movement for the Union of Church and State.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

From the first it has been the faith of S. D. Adventists, that Church and State would unite in this Government, and make oppressive laws in religious matters which would finally culminate in making the image to the beast. Rev. xiii, 11-18; xiv, 9-12. All along, indications of this have been growing stronger and stronger. Many now are thinking and talking much about it; much more so than is generally supposed. A few days since a number of the friends of this movement met at Oskaloosa, Iowa, a few miles from here, and organized a State National Reform Convention. The facts developed by this Convention are very interesting to Sabbath-keepers. I have them from Prof. Carpenter, who attended it, and also from the Progressive Conservator, a paper of that city, from which I copy the following, of Nov. 10, 1869:
“The recent Iowa State National Reform Convention, held in the city of Oskaloosa, Iowa, Nov. 3 and 4, 1869, was one of the most important fanatical demonstrations ever held on the American Continent. The depth and extent of the tendency towards a union of Church and State, is not conceived by innocent millions, who are already within the clutching grasp of the demon Fanaticism. At the aforesaid Convention, many of the leading sectarian divines were in attendance, and the proceedings of their deliberations developed the fact, that many of the leading Radical Republican politicians of the country are already friendly to the move, and have unequivocally committed themselves in favor of a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
Again: “Few of our people are aware of the depth and extent of the current of fanaticism which is drifting us towards a union of Church and State.” “The Christian Statesman, published at Philadelphia, is one of the leading organs in the movement. In a pamphlet emanating from that office we find the following:
“The National Association whose object is to secure a recognition of Almighty God and the Christian religion in the Constitution of the United States ask for the substance of the following amendment: We, the people of the United States, (acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler among the nations, and his revealed will as of supreme authority, in order to constitute a Christian government,) form a more perfect union,” &c.
The above amendment to the Constitution is what this party now aim at. But it does not intend to stop here, as is plainly declared. But to obtain even this, a previous step is necessary, viz., the churches themselves must unite. This they are trying to do. Says the Conservator, “The Church Union, (another paper in favor of this movement) published at the head of its editorial column, the following:
‘BOND OF UNION.
“We, the undersigned, believers in the doctrines of the holy Scriptures as set forth in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, do hereby pledge ourselves to secure, under God, an open communion, and the recognition of one evangelical ministry, by the interchange of pulpits, thus to make visible the unity of the church. And we furthermore solemnly pledge ourselves to stand by each other in securing these ends.”
“Now the indications are, that a union of Church and State is intended to follow a union of churches.”
In 1829 petitions were sent to the Senate of New York, to have the mails stopped on Sundays. A committee was chosen to consider the matter. They reported against the petition, and their report was finally adopted by the United States Congress. This report truthfully says, “Extensive religious combinations effect a political object.” “All religious despotism commences by combination and influence; and when that influence begins to operate upon the political institutions of a country, the power soon bends under it; and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an awful warning of the consequences.” These are solemn truths, and it would seem almost prophetically uttered as to the course of this country.
On this the Conservator remarks: “Hence the proposed union of the churches must first be effected before we can have the proposed amendment. Hence, ‘Church Union’ is only another name for ‘Church and State.’” This is certainly true; hence we can see the significance of all this effort that is so generally being made to unite the different churches. None of them propose to lay aside their respective creeds; but simply to act in harmony wherever they can find a point on which all can unite. When they do this, they can influence the politics of the country as they please. The following from the Church Union shows what is aimed at: “If we are Christians let us make no hypocritical pretension of founding our government on Christian principles. If we are, and believe they should govern our whole life, let us have them incorporated in the basis of our government, and the national policy shaped to them. Let no one hold an office of trust or profit whose life has not been conformable thereto.”
Here we have it in plain English. No one but Christians to hold any office. But who shall determine who are Christians? Why the ruling churches of course. All others will be branded as heretics, and all rights denied them. This is where we are surely drifting.
Among other resolutions passed by the above Convention, was the following, which shows that “the stability of our Christian Sabbath” is one prominent object with them: “Resolved, That we as a Convention petition Congress to take the necessary steps for the amendment of the Constitution so as to contain an explicit acknowledgment of God and his law, and of Jesus Christ as governor amongst the nations, in order that thereby as a nation, we may commit ourselves to the guidance and safe-keeping of Him from whom comes all promotion, and that thereby also there may be a definite warrant for the stability of our Christian Sabbath and national Christian observance.”
When this shall be accomplished, then, woe to those who do not regard the “Christian Sabbath.” The law of the land will supply what the law of God has omitted—a law for the first-day Sabbath. On this point the Congressional Committee truthfully said: “Among all the religious persecutions with which almost every page of modern history is stained, no victim ever suffered, but for the violation of what the government denominated the law of God.”
This party already stigmatizes its opposers as infidels, atheists, &c. A prophecy of all this uniting and confederating together is found in Isa. viii. May the Lord save his people. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Monroe, Nov. 14, 1869.

HEAVEN.

Those words, “no tears,” will look so blessed To eyes grown dim from weeping; Those words, “no death,” will come so glad To bodies, grave-ward creeping; “No sorrow,” wakes a thrill in hearts Long dead to other thrilling; “No crying,” sounds so soft to ears Earth’s moans have long been filling.
“No night there,” seems so bright to those Whose sun sank back at dawning; “No sea,” sounds calm to those who sail Long tempest-tost and mourning; “No pain,” drops bless’d on aching breasts Which face their deepest dreading; That rest falls sweet on weary feet Unchosen pathways treading.
But chiefly not for these, O Lord, I would most long for Heaven; For these bless’d gifts not mostly prize The home thy grace has given; But rather that there enters there No thing which can defile; That there my daily life shall be The sunlight of God’s smile:—
Less that my eyes are wiped from tears, Than that they rest on thee; More that my heart shall love thee right, Than free from pain shall be;— That there I shall love holiness, And sin shall be abhorred; Less for the woe it hath brought me, Than that it grieved my Lord:—
That there my will abidingly, Shall be at one with His, Not fitfully and changefully As here it always is; That there no sin shall ever spot My blood-washed soul again, I shall be pleasing in his sight, Because I have no sin:—
There ever at his feet to sit, And wonder at the grace, So large, so free, that it hath found In Heaven for me a place. Oh! not myself, but God shall be The center in that day; The blessed gifts of Heaven will be The putting self away.
—S. S. Times.

“O Chloroform?”

By R. F. Cottrell

I HEARD a funeral discourse. After touching upon several things indicative of human progress in the affairs of our world, and calculated to glorify the inventive genius of humanity, and especially of the men of our own time, the speaker referred to the wonderful discovery of chloroform, a thing that cures pain by killing sensibility, upon which he grew eloquent, and broke out in an apostrophe to it in the words of our heading, in which he extolled it as a great benefactor of our race, in language beautiful, and strains, but one step from the sublime.
What suggested it upon the occasion I could not venture a guess, unless that the wonderful medicine had been used in behalf of the deceased, to smooth the way to, and hasten the progress of, death. Otherwise I could not imagine what fitness it had for the occasion, or what there was about it that could illustrate a gospel sermon. But not choosing to expose my ignorance by asking questions, I have let it rest, only as it has come up in my own mind occasionally, and I have wondered how the kingdom of Heaven, or the gospel of that kingdom, could be likened to chloroform.
Recently reflecting upon it, it was suggested to my mind that it was the preaching of the present day that bears a striking resemblance to chloroform. That as this poison, administered to the physically ill, releases from pain by taking away sensibility and life, so the preaching, or rather reading of rhetorical compositions upon themes calculated to divert the mind from the fact that men are sinners and need pardon in order to meet a coming Judgment and obtain eternal life, has the effect to destroy moral sensibility, put the conscience to sleep, and smooth the way of the sin-diseased soul down to the gates of eternal death.
R. F. COTTRELL.

Spare Moments

SPARE MOMENTS.—“Spare moments are the gold dust of time.” When Queen Elizabeth lay upon her dying bed, she cried, in the deepest sorrow and anguish, “Millions of money would I give for an inch of time.” At that moment he who would have offered her gold, diamonds, or power, more than she ever before possessed, who would have borne to her news of a splendid victory, or paid the most delicate compliment, would have been thrust aside to make room for any one who could have prolonged, even for an hour, the life of the dying queen. Time is a priceless gift of God to weak humanity. We are placed in this world for a purpose, and time is given us to fulfill our allotted task. If we act in unison with the Almighty, we find that not one moment need be unemployed. The service of God, the improvement of our talents, and the bestowal of charity upon those less favored than ourselves, will fill up every inch of time. As the minute particles of which gold dust is composed glitter in the light of the sun, so shall the apparently insignificant actions, which occupy but a moment, brighten the page of our lives, when the powerful light of the dissolving elements shall expose it to the scrutiny of the all-seeing Judge. In view of such a time should we not gather up the fragments, the minutes—aye, the seconds? As short a time will suffice to say that which may save another from committing sin, as would be occupied in momentarily gratifying ourselves. We cannot calculate the ultimate value of hours and minutes, but we know that, as gold-dust carefully gathered becomes valuable, so we may expect to become the happy reapers of an invaluable treasure harvest, if we faithfully garner and cluster time’s golden fragments. —Kansas Farmer.

Look on the Sunny Side

Just make up your mind before you start out for home, that you will look on the sunniest side of everything, enjoy yourself as much as you possibly can, and use every endeavor to make the journey as pleasant to those around you, and it will be very singular if somebody isn’t the better for it.
Continue reading: The Order of Events in the Judgment