Review and Herald, Vol. 23, No. 6. (1/5/1864)

Review and Herald

Jan 5, 1864

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 5, 1864

The Renovation of the Earth.

Very fearful, indeed, is the scene which St. Peter (2 Pet. iii, 10) brings before us. But, then, I beg you to examine, and see it is not a universal destruction of which he speaks. Its purpose is the perdition of the ungodly, the sweeping away of the banded enemies of God, the uprooting of all His foes, the breaking in pieces of all combinations against Him. And after this is accomplished, the earth is to put on a new phase of beauty, in which no one discordant element shall again appear. This destruction was accomplished once by a flood. It will be again by fire. In the flood the apostle says, "The earth perished." Moses says it was "destroyed." How did it perish? How was it destroyed? Simply in reference to its state for a time as an habitable globe. No other destruction was wrought by the flood. None other will be by the fire.

The earth is to be purified from the presence of the banded enemies of our Lord and his Christ. Its imprisoned fires are to be let loose. Earthquakes shall rend it. Volcanic eruptions shall change it. The heavens, i. e., the atmosphere, shall pass away with a great noise, is very descriptive in this phrase. It is passed by with a rushing sound, as of a tornado. It is a fearful commotion, but it does not at all convey the idea of universal destruction. The description of the apostle very strikingly reminds one of the terrors attending the eruptions of the great volcanoes. "One cannot," says Bishop Berkley, "form a juster idea of the noise emitted by the mountain, (Vesuvius), than by imagining a mixed sound made up of the raging of a tempest, the murmur of a troubled sea, and the roaring of thunder and artillery, confused altogether. Though we heard this at the distance of twelve miles, yet it was very terrible." In 1744 the flames of Cotopaxi rose three thousand feet above the brink of the crater, and its roarings were heard at the distance of six hundred miles. (Dick.)

Of an eruption from Kilauea Hawaii, here is the following account: "The lavas rolled on, sometimes sluggishly and sometimes violently. It swept away forests in its course, at times parting and inclosing islets of earth and shrubbery, and at other times undermining and bearing away masses of rock and vegetation on its surface. Finally, it plunged into the sea with loud intonations. The burning lava, on meeting the waters, was shivered like melting glass into millions of particles, which were thrown up in clouds that darkened the sky, and fell like a storm of hail over the surrounding country. Vast columns of steam and vapors rolled off before the wind, whirling in ceaseless agitation, and the reflected glare of the lavas formed a fiery firmament overhead. For three weeks this terrific river disgorged itself into the sea, without abatement."—Dana's Geology, U. S. Exploring Expedition*, p. 190.

The intense heat of the fountain and stream of lava, caused an influx of cool air from every quarter. This created terrific whirlwinds, which, constantly stalking about, like so many sentinels, bade defiance to the daring visitor.—American Journal of Science, Sept. 1852, p. 258.

Now, you have but to enlarge this scene. You have but to suppose the imprisoned fires, that glow beneath the surface of the earth, to be let loose, in order to realize the terrific grandeur of the event sketched by St. Peter. And so perfect is the preparation for this, that Mr. Lyell says: "When we consider the combustible nature of the elements of the earth, so far as they are known to us; the facility with which their compounds may be discomposed, and enter into new combinations, the quantity of heat which they evolve during these processes; when we recollect that water itself is composed of two gases, which by their union produce intense heat; we may be allowed to share the astonishment of Pliny that a single day should pass without a general conflagration.—Principles of Geology, vol. ii, p. 451.

As yet the hand that formed these elements restrains them. He will do so until his designs are accomplished. They are powerless against Him. When the appointed time has come, those restraints will be lifted off. He who kindled these fires will summon them to their work. He will let loose the imprisoned elements; the instrumentalities that have slumbered so long will come forth to their mission.

When this is done, the new heavens and the new earth appear, and a new order of things is set up. And so St. Paul teaches when he says: "And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hand. They shall perish, but thou remainest." But how perish? The next verse answers, "And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." Heb. i, 10, 12. Aye, that is it. "Changed!" The curse shall be lifted off. The blight of sin shall rest upon the works of God no more.

Now, all creation is subject to unholy uses. The sun shines on the evil, as well as on the good. The moon and the stars look down on wrong and oppression and crime. The sighing of the prisoner, the down-trodden and the oppressed, goes forth on every breeze. The earth nourishes those who defy its maker and theirs. The rains fall on the lands of those who are rebels against God, and tyrants over man. All the courses of nature minister to those who harden themselves in opposition to His will, and the very air that bears life and blessings upon its wings, is returned in curses to Him who bade it blow!

The earth was made teeming with wondrous beauty. Now, thorns, thistles, and noxious weeds infest it. Tempests sweep across it, earthquakes rend its bosom, pestilence and disease go forth through every land, and decay and death reign everywhere with resistless sway, but in all these respects it shall be cleansed. It shall be restored to beauty, equal to that which first adorned it.

Again, it shall lie in the light of its Creator's smile, but that Creator shall then assume the dearer name, and wear the brighter crown of its Redeemer. No cloud of sin shall darken it again. A beauty, a glory, and a blessedness worthy of its Redeemer's work, shall be its everlasting portion, and God's will shall then "Be done on earth, as it is in Heaven." Then the scene which the poet has sketched from the volume of the Book shall be realized, and

"One song employ all nations, and all cry, Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us. Worthy the Lamb, the hills and plains reply. The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks, Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From different mountains catch the flying joy, Till nation after nation taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round!"

I know not, brethren, how this theme may affect you, but for myself, I confess I cannot dwell upon it without a quickening pulse at the thought of the final and glorious triumph which it sets before us. I bless God for the bright glimpses of the splendors which shall mark the Redeemer's reign. It is a wondrous privilege to be permitted to look forward and contemplate the period of his glorious return to earth. It is a blessed thing to turn the eye of faith upon the brightness of his many crowns. And, as we dwell thereon, that which places a hope firmer than an adamantine rock, beneath our feet, is that the pathway to those crowns leads up from the foot of the cross—the cross of Christ. Oh, it shall yet be the central figure of all creation's history! From it shall go forth the mighty attraction, that shall hold the universe together. And as worlds revolve around their central sun, so shall the universe move in its mighty orbit, round the central fact of Christ and Him crucified.

On that cross the Saviour won his crown. His agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, invest it with all its glories. The brightness of the one would have had no existence but for the shame and humiliation of the other.

And his example here points out a great truth to us. If we would attain to the glory of His kingdom, we must seek and find an interest in his cross. Faith in Jesus Christ must unite us with his death, or we shall have no share in all the blessings which that death secured. The cross must lead us to the crown. Only in its shadow are we safe; only in the death which it sets forth can we attain to life; only through the shame which it records can we receive a title to the glory and blessedness of the everlasting kingdom.—Lectures on Daniel.

The New Year.

SUNLIGHT of the heavenly day, Mighty to revive and cheer, Bless our yet untrodden way, Lead us through the entered year : Where the shades of death we see, Let thy living brightness be; Let it speed our lingering feet, Let it shine on all we meet.

Lord of all, we cannot know What our paths may yet unfold; But the part that love would show, Wise to save us, thou hast told. By our souls' unmeasured price, By thy life-long sacrifice, By thy death to set us free, Lead us on to joy in thee— On to greet the perfect day, Blessed end of toil and strife— On through all the narrow way, Brightness of our human life.

Humility and Cheerful Perseverance

You know not what is in your way, therefore walk humbly; glory is at the end, therefore press on cheerfully.

Our Times and Hopes.

NEARLY two thousand years have elapsed since the ascension of our Lord, and we have positively reached the time spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, thus:—

“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Who can doubt? “He that runneth may read” this. Still another fact is not less obvious. It is that so clearly predicted by our Saviour thus: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The bands that bound society together, civil, social, and religious, all seem to be giving way; the time of trouble spoken of by both Daniel and our Saviour is upon us. “Like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt,” so it is now with the troubled masses. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” This is now the moral phase of society, and precisely our prophetic whereabouts of the Church, our nation, and the world at large. The Church is in exile, weeping and praying, “even so come, Lord Jesus.” While the latter-day “scoffers” in derision are saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Thousands are deceiving and being deceived by the delusive dream that the millennial day is softly stealing upon our world, and there shall be the much-talked-of golden age. Alas! for such! Between our time and that future glory of Messiah’s reign there lies a region as dark as midnight, strewed with such ruined hopes and blasting terrors as this world has never known—such a time of plagues and tribulation as never was, when all hopes based on finite good shall utterly perish, with all those who have deceived themselves thereby.

There is a most manifest blind, persistent rejection of the glorious truth, that the next great event which will mark the history of our world, make an end of Satan’s usurpation, and bring in everlasting righteousness, is the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom, in answer to that prayer he himself indited: “Thy kingdom come,” the very kingdom ascribed to him, “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”

No person who may be favored with grace enough to divest himself of prejudice, and sit down as an humble learner at the feet of Christ and his Apostles, and receive their exposition of the Prophets, can resist the fact that the hope of the primitive Church was, and the true hope of the Church now is, “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus ii, 13.) Not until then will the Church be disentangled and saved from all her enemies, coming out of the wilderness, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” Not until then will God’s incorrigible enemies bow and confess, under the heavy pressure of his righteous judgments, and be removed as tares and cumberers of the ground. Verily, there is no other legitimate Bible hope for the people of God in this trying hour. If other hopes are entertained, they are of human origin, and never to be realized. They are but “the light of the fire, and the sparks of their own kindling.” With all deference to the opinions of others, such is the modern theory of this world’s conversion, and the building of Christ’s everlasting kingdom in his personal absence by human instrumentality. In the light of God’s immutable truth, it may safely be affirmed that God has nowhere commissioned men either to convert the world or build his kingdom proper in this world. If any doubt, let such disprove by plain, obvious scriptural testimony. Christ has commissioned and sent forth men to preach the Gospel of the kingdom, and deigned to tell us what the sure result would be, namely, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.” The labors of more than eighteen hundred years, the world over, have invariably confirmed this certain result. We are forced to the conclusion that, during the present dispensation, fallen humanity will remain the same, and that the Gospel, like its author, will continue the same; nor will God change. Hence the results of gospel preaching, and all other means of grace, will not be more efficient in their results than they have been in the primitive Church, and through the ages past. To what other conclusion does revelation, reason, and common sense lead? The apostle Paul certainly understood the nature of his calling, and may safely be regarded as a model minister and missionary of the gospel. In all his writings, there is nothing to indicate that he thought his commission was to convert the world, or build the kingdom of Christ Jesus. His words may be forced into such a construction, as they frequently have been. We will hear him speak for himself, thus: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” He meddled not with things beyond his calling and measure. Would to God it were so with all who claim to be sent of Christ to teach and preach in our day.

The lameness of the various efforts to prove the world’s conversion from the Sacred Oracles, proves the fallacy of that theory. Mere assumption and inference can, in no case, be admitted as evidence. Take the following specimens, which are, in substance, what lately appeared in print, to prove the world’s future conversion in the present dispensation. First, to prove the world’s conversion the following language is quoted: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom. v, 20.) The most that this Scripture proves is, that divine grace so abounds, that whosoever will may be saved, and nothing more. Grace provides and reveals the means of salvation, but is not salvation itself, nor does its freeness prove that one sinner will accept of it, much less the whole world. Again, “All things are put under his feet.” Very true; and, therefore, we must submit to be saved by His grace, or fall and perish by His righteous judgments. How does this prove the conversion of this world? Once more: “Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” (Ps. ii, 8.) Why omit the ninth verse, which explains the meaning of the eighth, and is a part of the same paragraph, and which tells what Christ will do with the unbelieving part of the world given unto him? Certainly not save them, for they will not believe, more than would the antediluvians or Sodomites. The ninth verse, so carefully avoided, clearly states what shall be the final doom of such heathens, thus: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Does this prove, or look like, the world’s conversion, when the two verses are read together, as common honesty would dictate? This garbling and perverting the Sacred Scriptures to sustain a favorite but false theory, is one of the most alarming signs of our times, for which there can be no excuse or apology.

This is not the age or dispensation of the kingdom and reign of Christ, but a preparatory dispensation of the Holy Ghost to illuminate, purify, strengthen, and comfort those who receive him by faith in Christ. Thus is the Lord preparing a people for himself “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col. i, 12.) The fact that God is now raising up witnesses in all parts of the world to this precious truth, is certainly worthy the consideration of all.—Advocate.

The Power and Reality of Prayer

What Profit Should we Have if we Pray Unto Him? Job xxi, 15.

THE great majority of us have little faith in prayer. This is one of those causes which may produce a habit of mind in devotion, resembling that of impenitent prayer, and yet distinguishable from it, and co-existent, often, with some degree of genuine piety. Christians often have little faith in prayer as a power in real life. They do not embrace cordially, in feeling as well as in theory, the truth which underlies the entire scriptural conception and illustration of prayer, that it is literally, actually, positively, effectually, a means of power.

Singular as it may appear, the fact is indisputable, that Christian practice is often at a discount by the side of heathen habits of devotion. Heathen prayer, whatever else it is or is not, is a reality in the heathen idea. A pagan suppliant has faith in prayer, as he understands it. Groveling as his notion of it is, such as it is he means it. He trusts it as an instrument of power. He expects to accomplish something by praying.

When Ethelred, the Saxon king of Northumberland, invaded Wales, and was about to give battle to the Britons, he observed near the enemy a host of unarmed men. He inquired who they were, and what they were doing. He was told they were monks of Bangor, praying for the success of their countrymen. “Then,” said the heathen prince, “they have begun the fight against us; attack them first.”

So any unperverted mind will conceive of the scriptural idea of prayer, as that of one of the most downright, sturdy realities in the universe. Right in the heart of God’s plan of government is it lodged as a power. Amidst the conflicts which are going on in the evolution of that plan, it stands as a power. Into all the intricacies of divine working and the mysteries of divine decree, it reaches out silently as a power. In the mind of God, we may be assured, the conception of prayer is no fiction, whatever men may think of it.

It has, and God has determined that it should have, a positive and an appreciable influence in directing the course of human life. It is, and God has purposed that it should be, a link of connection between human mind and divine mind, by which, through His infinite condescension, we may actually move His will. It is, and God has decreed that it should be, a power in the universe, as distinct, as real, as natural, and as uniform, as the power of gravitation, or of light, or of electricity. A man may use it, as trustingly and as soberly as he would use either of these. It is as truly the dictate of good sense, that a man should expect to achieve something by praying, as it is that he should expect to achieve something by a telescope, or the mariner’s compass, or the electric telegraph.

This intense practicalness characterizes the scriptural ideal of prayer. The Scriptures make it a reality, and not a reverie. They never bury it in the notion of a poetic or philosophic contemplation of God. They do not merge it in the mental fiction of prayer by action in any other or all other duties of life. They have not concealed the fact of prayer beneath the mystery of prayer. The scriptural utterances on the subject of prayer admit of no such reduction of tone, and confusion of sense, as men often put forth in imitating them. Up, on the level of inspired thought, prayer is PRAYER; a distinct, unique, elemental power in the spiritual universe, as pervasive and as constant as the great occult powers of nature.

The want of trust in this scriptural ideal of prayer, often neutralizes it, even in the experiences of a Christian. The result cannot be otherwise. It lies in the nature of mind.

Observe, for a moment, the philosophy of this. Mind is so made, that it needs the hope of gaining an object, as an inducement to effort. Even so simple an effort as that involved in the utterance of desire, no man will make persistently, with no hope of gaining an object. Despair of an object is speechless. So, if you wish to enjoy prayer, you must first form to yourself such a theory of prayer—or, if you do not consciously form it, you must have it—and then you must cherish such trust in it, as a reality, that you shall feel the force of an object in prayer. No mind can feel that it has an object in praying, except in such degree as it appreciates the scriptural view of prayer as a genuine thing.

Our conviction on this point must be so definite and as fixed as our trust in the evidence of our senses. It must become as natural to us to obey one as the other. If we suffer our faith to drop down from the lofty conception of prayer as having a lodgment in the very councils of God, by which the universe is swayed, the plain practicalness of prayer as the Scriptures teach it, and as prophets and apostles and our Lord himself performed it, drops proportionately; and in that proportion, our motive to prayer dwindles. Of necessity, then, our devotions become spiritless. We cannot obey such faith in prayer, with any more heart than a man who is afflicted with double vision can feel in obeying the evidence of his eyes. Our supplications cannot, under the impulse of such a faith, go, as one has expressed it, “in a right line to God.” They become circuitous, timid, heartless. They may so degenerate as to be offensive, “like the reekings of the Dead Sea.”—Still Hour.

Contentment and Self-Choice

Contentment makes a believer rich, while plenty leaves the sinner poor.

When a man chooses for himself, he generally has a very bad portion.

Bear Ye One Another's Burdens.

By M. D. A.

The following which I found in the "Tract Journal," is a short, sweet treatise upon the text it bears. Those who think and wish to pass through life easily, without any burdens, never placing their necks beneath any yoke, may peruse it with profit; in fact, we may all read it and grow better.

It is a true remark of somebody, that "some people pass through this world like straws upon a river; they do not go, but are carried." Others, a few, fear not to soil their hands or bend their hearts to others woes. Their aim is to do good somewhere to somebody. Such know what burdens are. They do not ask to live in this world without them. The sentiments of another come forcibly to my mind: "I hope we shall not be satisfied with being half a Christian. It is a day to elevate the standard of piety. We want more Judsons, Newels, and Huntingtons. These were devoted souls. It was not half-way work with them. Religion was all and in all. For this they lived, they suffered, and, supported by its consolations, they died. They have left a bright track for us to follow. Well may we tread closely in their steps; and then, though we share in their sufferings, we shall also inherit with them a crown of glory."

"How tired you look, little girl! Isn't your pail very heavy?" "Oh, yes, ma'am, it is pretty heavy, but I shouldn't mind it so much if it didn't make my hands smart so." And the burden-bearer, a girl perhaps ten years old, showed the palms of her hand, red as blisters. "Poor thing! Give it to me a little while; I'll carry it for you, and rest you." I saw by the face of the kind young lady, as she lifted the pail, that it was heavier than she expected, but I heard no exclamation about the exceeding weight. Common politeness prompted me to step forward and relieve her of the unaccustomed burden; but I refrained, for two reasons. First, I knew I must turn at the second corner; and, next, I wanted to see if the lady would persevere in carrying so large a pail through the crowded street. She did. When I turned the corner she was in the midst of interesting inquiries about the child's brothers and sisters.

I went on my way, thinking of the commandment which she was obeying, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." She was an utter stranger to me, but I felt that I knew her. I felt sure that the heart which prompted such sweet acts of wayside kindness was the home of kindly affections.

"Help us to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Often do I hear this prayer uttered. Sometimes I see it answered. Sometimes I see Christians showing every day readier sympathy, a more helpful, loving spirit to their wayside companions in the path of life; drawing to them the afflicted, as our Lord drew to himself from far and near those "sick with divers diseases." Oftener this prayer goes up to Heaven, and brings no answer down. Why? We do not wish for an answer. We ask, to be sure, that we may bear each other's burdens, but how angrily should we start up if the burden of our nearest neighbor were laid upon our individual back. It is heavy. The very name, burden, implies a weary weight. We have now all the load that we can bear. Many of us think we have a greater one than we can carry. What shall we do? Shall we lie idly down and look up to the soft sky and say, "Gracious Father, let me die and come to Heaven, where there is no more weariness?" Not at all! Cast the burden which weighs you to the earth upon him whose strength is infinite, whose promise is that he "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;" who has bidden us cast our care upon him, because he careth for us. Then will you have a hand ready to help the struggling one at your side, strength to make somebody's burdens a little lighter. For this service you have all the promises of God. Paul's mighty prayer for the Colossians stands recorded for you and me. He implores God that they may be "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto—" Unto what? Unto "triumphings and gloryings, and the crown of life?" By no means. "Unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." This is the end for which all the imperial attributes of our God do service to us; that we in our weakness, strengthened by his might, may be able to bear and suffer like our divine Master. St. Paul prays for the Colossians that they may be "fruitful in every good work, and always increasing in the knowledge of God." This is the other half of our work as Christians. But we must be willing to do the work and bear the burdens with Martha, as well as sit with Mary at the feet of our Lord to be taught the "knowledge of him." Our Saviour is perfect, both in knowledge and love; "though we fail indeed, he fails never;" his complete fullness hides our deficiencies. Let us do what we can, though it must be so little, remembering that the grandest monument ever raised to a mortal bore this inscription, "She hath done what she could."

Sabbath Meditations.—No. 4.

By J. CLARKE.

WHAT a variety of subjects for contemplation in the word of God, all tending to the same great end, namely, the sanctification of the chosen people of God.

Of all the lessons taught in the word of God, there is perhaps none more difficult to practice than self-denial. Christ says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross. It is easy to talk, easy to write, and it costs but little to practice many of the Christian virtues; but to deny self those gratifications to which we are accustomed, to restrain the risings of self, to keep under the carnal mind, to sacrifice self for the pure principles of the truth, rooting out the noxious plants of self-complacency, self-flattery and pride,—this costs us many a hard-fought battle with the old man of the carnal heart.

Self-denial is an indispensable characteristic of the Christian. It is a virtue without which the soul withers in drought and barrenness, and even society itself becomes intolerable where this virtue is not practiced. Even irreligious people often practice a degree of self-denial as a safeguard and a preservative of social peace and family order, as a trait which must be interwoven with the warp of life in all the social and domestic relations. This is practiced in a degree in every well-ordered household. Indeed, wholly without this, society would be a boiling sea of conflicting interests, more fatal and intolerable than the waters of Sodom.

But we are called to a more complete and thorough carrying out of this principle than the polished and accomplished worldling ever dreamed of. This denying one's self for Christ, reaches farther, and extends to the whole range of human action, both in thought, word and deed.

That uncharitable assigning of unholy motives to another, that bitter feeling, that suspicious suggestion, that impure thought or unholy desire, that covetous anxiety for more of earthly treasure, that longing for present ease, that slothful negligence, that rebellious, bitter retort, that unsanctified opposition to such reproof as suits our case, that building of castles in the air, that wandering of the mind to worldly scenes and forbidden objects, all must be denied.

We cannot catalogue the long list of emotions and words, thoughts and desires and acts, which self-denial must subject and subdue, ere all the soul is brought into subjection to the will of Christ. The moral law as expounded by Jesus Christ comprehends in its scope everything which is offensive to God. But plain as this is, still none but those who are taught of the Spirit of God arrive at just and adequate conceptions of the requirements of this law.

It is indeed a great thing to be a Christian; a great thing to be humble enough to be taught of the Spirit of God; to find the narrow way and to travel onward with steady step; to listen to such teaching as the Spirit of God presses home to the teachable, humble soul, and when taught, to deny self the wrong and receive the right.

To such, sweet are the rewards of self-denial. The conscience once an accuser and a tormentor of the soul, now approves and smiles; the passions once mutinous and tyrannical, now subdued and obedient, become subject to the law of God, and holy calmness and peace pervade the mind once tumultuous and confused. J. CLARKE.

Consolatory.

Look to him who bore our grief, To him that carried all our sorrow; He grants the contrite soul relief, And pain may end before to-morrow.

What tho' thy kindred thee deride, And tho' thy bosom friend reject thee; Through persecution's swelling tide, Thy Saviour safely will protect thee.

And if his voice we still obey, Then all the help we need is given; Strength in proportion to our day, And at the end, a blissful Heaven.

Right Conversation.

By F. F. Lamoreaux

Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God. Psa. l, 23.

Bro. White: My mind, of late, has been dwelling upon the subject brought to view in the above text. As we are living in the days when evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, does it not become us to watch our conversation, that we may receive the blessing promised to him that ordereth his conversation aright.

We read in 1 Peter i, 15, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." Now is it not time that we take heed to the many passages of Scripture bearing upon this point? Our Saviour says in Matt. xii, 36, 37, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

It seems that idle words, jesting, and filthy conversation, is one of the besetting sins of this age. Dear brethren and sisters, are we clear of this sin? If we are not, let us start from this time, and resolve that we will be guilty of it no longer. How often our ears are stung by the filthy conversation of the wicked about us. And it can truly be said by those who are trying to become pure and holy in the sight of God, as it was of just Lot; who dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. And we read in 1 Peter iii, 10: "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile." And James says in chap. iii, 13: "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." And Peter, speaking of the things that are to take place at the coming of the Lord, says, 2 Peter iii, 11: "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness."

Dear brethren and sisters, Jesus is soon coming, and are we getting ready? Are we making that preparation that we shall need, to stand before the Judge of all the earth at his appearing? Oh let us arouse ourselves and be awake to the times in which we are living. The war cloud is hanging over this earth. The nations are angry; but the four angels are holding the four winds of the earth, till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Let us work while the day lasts; for the night soon cometh when no man can work.

Jesus will have a pure church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Then let us purify our souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. I want to get ready for the coming of the Saviour, and be numbered with the 144,000 in whose mouth will be found no guile, and sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

F. F. Lamoreaux.

Grand Ledge, Mich., Dec. 27, 1863.

Affliction and Christian Virtue

By Brace

As the gay and brilliant colors with which the forests are arrayed in October are caused by the sharp sting of the frost, so some of the lovliest and brightest virtues which adorn humanity are caused by the sting of affliction.—Brace.

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