Those who suppose that Infidelity is a negative system, and ready to fold its hands and live at peace if it can only persuade Christians to cease their efforts to bring the world under the influence of God's law, possibly may have their eyes opened by the following from the Index, a paper conducted with no mean ability in the interests of Infidelity, and published in Toledo, Ohio:
“We assume no defensive attitude. We are for carrying the war into Africa. We should spurn the proposal to leave things as they are, on condition that this Christian Amendment agitation should cease. No! We have demands to make.
“The agitation they depend on as a means of preserving the “Christian observances” which still deface the practical administration of this non-Christian government, will ultimately lead to their total abolition. Let them agitate. The struggle between Christianity and secular freedom for the control of this country is inevitable, and will only be hastened by agitation. While these revolutionists are urging their demands, the liberals will more vigorously urge their own. What are they?
“1. We demand that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall no longer be exempted from just taxation.
“2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in Congress, in State Legislatures, in the army, navy, and militia, and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued.
“3. We demand that all public appropriations for sectarian, educational, and charitable institutions shall cease.
“4. We demand that all religious services now sustained by the government shall be abolished; and especially that the use of the Bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly as a text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, shall be prohibited.
“5. We demand that the appointment, by the President of the United States, or by the governors of the various States, of all religious festivals and fasts shall wholly cease.
“6. We demand that the judicial oath in the courts and in all other departments of the government shall be abolished, and that simple affirmation, under the pains and penalties of perjury, shall be established in its stead.
“7. We demand that all the laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath shall be repealed.
“8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforcement of “Christian morality” shall be abrogated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, equal rights, and impartial liberty.
“9. In short, we demand that not only in the Constitutions of the United States and of the several States, but also in the practical administration of the same, no privilege or advantage shall be conceded to Christianity, or any other special religion; that our entire political system shall be founded and administered on a purely secular basis; and that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end, shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly, made.”
Will they succeed in their efforts? We hope not; and yet such is the apathy of the great body of Christian people on this subject, that we are not without our fears. Not only is there apathy among those who ought to be foremost in standing up for the authority of God's law, but there is opposition to doing so on the ground that it provokes opposition. Such persons do not believe in the Saviour's principle: “I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword;” i. e., My principles are positive, and will excite opposition, but they must be proclaimed. The result of all this is that Infidelity is making wonderful progress in molding the character of our people and changing our customs.
As an example, we have in many cities, our own city of Cincinnati included, public libraries, and reading rooms, open on the Sabbath, and the next annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design in New York City is to be open to visitors on Sabbath, at the reduced rate of fifty cents. And if fine pictures are to be exhibited on Sabbath for the gratification of the lovers of art, on the same principle we will have the theaters open to gratify the lovers of the drama. And as another example of progress in that line, we may add that there is now a bill before the Legislature of Ohio, remodeling the system of our common schools, in which the question of reading the Bible is purposely excluded. During its consideration an amendment to the effect that teachers might read the Bible if they chose at the opening of the schools was voted down. The effect of this is to leave the matter entirely in the hands of the local Boards of Education, and our experience is, that the friends of the Bible not being on the alert, as are its enemies, the Bible will, with the adoption of this bill, cease to be read as a book of devotion in all our schools.—Christian Press.
Ohio.
By Wm. Cottrell
MAY 7, I left for Van Wert Co., Ohio, to give a course of lectures in Bro. Vanenam’s neighborhood. Commenced meetings on the 9th. Gave twelve discourses, when I was obliged to stop on account of sickness. The most bitter prejudice that I have ever met with, I believe I found there. But very few there manifest a disposition to hear and investigate. I gave away some tracts, and shall commence again when able. WM. COTTRELL.
Bordoville, Vt., May 31, 1872
By D. T. Bourdeau
From Eld. D. T. Bourdeau.
We reached home from Kentucky in safety yesterday, having had a prosperous journey of three days. Our primary object in going to Kentucky was to follow up an interest started there by Bro. J. B. Brown, of California, and to enjoy a milder climate during the winter season. Upon the whole I think that my stay in Kentucky was a benefit to me healthwise, as I avoided a long cold winter. Yet the world affords no better climate than our Vermont climate in summer; and this morning we enjoy the bracing air of old Vermont with unusual pleasure, as we find ourselves pleasantly situated among our old friends again, who do all they can to make us comfortable. As we look over the past we can say, Truly goodness and mercy have followed us all our days. Praise the Lord for all his benefits.
We think our going to Kentucky was timely to help some who were giving up the truth through discouragement and for want of thorough effort, to help the few who had started out to meet unexpected trials, and to exert a further influence in favor of the truth. We labored some at three different points, giving sixty-five lectures, selling $34.64 worth of books and tracts, and giving away $19.00 worth, and forming many pleasant acquaintances. With the few who have embraced the Sabbath at Locust Grove, there are now eleven in all keeping the Sabbath. One has gone to Indiana.
We shall remember Kentucky and pray that the Sabbath-keepers in Hardin County may remain faithful, and serve as a nucleus for a good company of believers in their part of the State. May none of them shamefully turn away from the truth for others to be light-bearers in their stead, and wear the crowns they might have worn.
On our way home, we stopped at Colesburg, at Dr. Horace Coombs', son of Dr. W. F. Coombs. While there, the following sad accident occurred. At midnight the Doctor was called up to attend to the case of a night operator, son of the sixth auditor of the Treasury Department at Washington, who got run over by a freight car. This accident proved fatal. The man lived three hours, suffering intensely, and requesting the bystanders to shoot him through the head. He died without hope, cursing and swearing. As he was taken into the depot, his blood flowed on one of our trunks, leaving stains that made strong impressions on our minds. Truly death was near, and God in mercy had spared us, and there was hope in our case. How many like this man think only of this life, and do not realize the sad fate that awaits them at last, unless they repent. May God help us to faithfully warn our fellow-men of the solemn scenes that are coming on the earth, when there will not be a ray of hope to the sinner.
We expect to commence tent operations within two weeks. D. T. BOURDEAU.
Bordoville, Vt., May 31, 1872
REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS.
Their brows should wear a holy light,
Who front the heavens serenely bright,
And gladness should their steps attend,
Who walk with Christ, their chosen friend.
For every footfall of their way
But brings them nearer to the day
That knows no night, and to the joy
No grief can mar nor sin alloy.
Fixed in the path that He hath trod,
Their lives are hid with Christ in God,
And dwell secure from every harm,
Encircled by the Father's arm.
Behind the clouds, above the storm,
His sunlight lingers soft and warm;
And e'en through midnight's gloomiest pall,
Some beams of mercy gently fall.
However dark the frown of fate,
God will his promise vindicate,
And in his own good time and way,
Bring in the full and perfect day,
In whose glad light shall disappear
All that perplexed and troubled here;
And show the weary path they trod
As the one path whose end is—God!
—Sel.
St. Charles, Mich
By H. S. Guilford
Anathema.
In the Dictionary of the Bible for general use by the American Tract Society we have the following definitions of the word Anathema:—
“A curse, a ban; it signifies properly something set apart, separated, devoted. It is understood principally to denote the absolute, irrevocable, and entire separation of a person from the communion of the faithful, or from the number of the living, or from the privileges of society; or the devoting of any man, animal, city, or thing, to be extirpated, destroyed, consumed, and, as it were, annihilated, Lev. 27. Thus Jericho, Josh. 6:17–21, and Achan were accursed, Josh. 7.
“Another kind of Anathema very peculiarly expressed occurs in 1 Cor. 16:22, ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha.’ This last word is made up of two Syriac words signifying, ‘The Lord cometh,’ that is, the Lord will surely come and execute this curse, by condemning those who love him not. At the same time the opposite is also implied, that is, the Lord cometh also to reward those who love him.”
According to the above definitions and remarks, 1 Cor. 16:22 would read something like this: “The Lord cometh, to curse, or to make an absolute, irrevocable, and entire separation from the number of the living, and to extirpate, destroy, consume, and annihilate those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, and to reward those who love him.” H. S. GUILFORD.
St. Charles, Mich
Much Talk, Little Meaning
As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so it is of small wits, to talk much and say nothing.
Convinced by Reading.
BRO. J. BOND writes from Van Buren Co., Iowa: The REVIEW comes to me weekly, laden with good things, which I feast upon. It is my spiritual life; and I bless God that it was sent to me, through the kindness of a brother; otherwise I should have had no knowledge of your faith.
SISTER Emma Hand writes from the Sierra Valley, California: Eighteen months since, I embraced the truth, under the labors of Bro. Loughborough. My husband and myself are the only Sabbath-keepers in this place. We feel very lonely, but are looking forward with strong hope to the time when a minister can come here. The REVIEW finds its way to us every week. It is cheering to us lonely ones. We desire to overcome and be prepared for the coming of Jesus. Oh! what can we not readily give up, for the sake of eternal life? I feel determined to live each day nearer the Lord.
Obituary Notices.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
Died, at State Bridge N. Y., May 4, 1872, after an illness of nearly three weeks, Bro. John Parmalee, aged fifty-six years. His disease was typhoid pneumonia. Bro. P. embraced the Sabbath about thirty years ago, and was for some time a member of the Seventh-day Baptist church. He has been a believer in the Advent doctrine for twenty years, and fully accepted all the truths of the third angel’s message.
His example and influence were such that his loss will be deeply felt, especially by the church with which he was connected. P. Z. Kinne.
Died, in Spencer, Ind., May 25, 1872, John E. Wheat, son of Mary E. Wheat, aged fifteen years and eleven months. He was an observer of the Sabbath, and an interested student of the word of God. He expressed a belief before he died, that he should meet the Saviour in the first resurrection. Mary E. Wheat.
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$1.00 EACH. Lewis Ray 40-16, J G Wood 41-1, Eli Wick 41-1, Hannah Goodrich 39-1, Wm F Crous 41-1, Lewis Martin 41-1, Joseph Eaton 41-9, B H Melendy 42-1, Abraham Foster 41-1.
$2.00 EACH. Alvinssa Searls 40-21, L W VanMeter 42-13, Sarah Ross 41-26, Amos VanSyoc 41-12, Silvenus Keeler 41-1, John Hoff 40-14, H S Gidding 40-13, John Taylor 41-18, J Lamont 42-11, H C Blanchard 41-1, D C Jones 42-1, Bruce Graham 41-13, Caroline Butler 41-1, Orris Kasson 41-1, James Potter 41-26, J Luddington 40-9, F Squire 41-18, Harriett Anway 41-26, S Rumery 42-17, A C Hudson 41-17, M J Chapman 42-1, Richard Good 41-1, F Frauenfelder 37-1, N H Schooley 40-8, Joseph Yates 42-1, H C Miller 41-14, Sarah Rathburn 41-9, J P Chapman 41-14, S M Stockwell 41-1, Hiram Towle 41-20, J Mousehunt 41-9, Mrs N Denison 42-1, G P Cushman 41-17.
MISCELLANEOUS. C H T St Clair $4.00 39-5, F C Chappell 25c 40-9, P W VanHouten $3.00 38-1, E Sedgwick 75c 41-5, Mrs L Austin $3.25 43-1, S A Whalen $1.58 39-26, W W Crandall $1.62 40-14, M Williams 85c 40-9, W H Johnson 50c 40-14, Mrs Geo Veder $1.00 41-7.
Books Sent by Mail.
Nellie Chick 10c, Wm L Jaycox $5.00, A W Smith 3.25, J N Loughborough 6.05, J F Frauenfelder 25c, Thomas Alverson 20c, J Johnston 50c, Sarah Richmond 2.05, M H Bates 50c, Samuel H Haskell 1.00, D M Canright 50c, C H Pleasants 25c, A B Burton 83c, J V Himes 1.80, J B Goodrich 4.56, Mrs F E Reading 25c, R J Foster 20c, A Guinand 1.00.
Books Sent by Express.
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Donations to Health Institute.
Lewis Dysert $5.00, Sarah Dysert 5.00.
Shares in Publishing Association.
Lewis Dysert $10.00.
Michigan Conference Fund.
Church at Allegan $90.00, Genoa 21.54, Blendon 20.00.
Donations to S. D. A. P. Association.
Mrs F E Reading $1.00.
Cash Received on Account.
Tract Society of Mound city, Kan., $5.00, Tract Society of Centerville, Kan., 1.65, C H Bliss 1.12.