A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE GERMAN SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS.
THE Reformation in Germany and Holland was productive of great and glorious effects, although it was not complete. Errors in doctrine, nearly or quite as incongruous with Scripture as those abandoned, were retained; ceremonies, nearly equal in absurdity to those prohibited, were still celebrated; and persecutions, exhibiting more similarity to the practices of Papacy than to the meekness and quietude of pure Christianity, were still prosecuted. The Reformation required to be reformed, and of this many pious and holy men were aware. At length, in 1694, a violent controversy arose in nearly all the Protestant churches of those two countries, in consequence of the attempts which were being made to promote a practical and vital religion. At this time the pious Spencer was ecclesiastical superintendent of the court of Saxony. He was likewise at the head of the party distinguished for its advocacy of reformatory measures. However, neither his dignified and important station, nor the fact that the tenets of his followers were predicated upon scripture according to its literal interpretation, could preserve them from falling under the odium of heresy, and incurring the effects of a virulent opposition. Their doctrines were examined by the ecclesiastical dignitaries, who, instead of instituting a comparison between them and Holy Writ, sought to discover whether or not they were conformable to the tenets deemed orthodox by the Consistory of Wittenberg. The decision was in the negative; hence they were suppressed in their public lectures and ministrations. This prohibition, while it shut up churches, and hushed the eloquence of public lecturers, savored of persecution, and consequently excited a spirit of in-quiry in the minds of the multitude. In such cases as this, reverend divines would consult their own interest by bestowing greater attention upon the study of human nature. Persecution agitates the public mind, excites the sympathy of some, the curiosity of all, and promulgates the very sentiments it is endeavoring to restrain. Besides, persecutors are not omniscient, conventicles will be held, and to their other charms that of secrecy is then added. In the year 1708, Alexander Mack, of Schriesheim, and seven others in Schwartzenau, Germany, met together regularly, to examine, in a careful and impartial manner, the doctrines of the New Testament, in order to ascertain what obligations it imposes upon professing Christians. These inquiries terminated in the formation of the society now called the Dunkers, or First-day German Baptists. Persecution, while it scattered them, likewise led to the dissemination of their doctrines; some were driven to Crefelt, in the Duchy of Cleves, and the mother church voluntarily removed to Sevastervin, in Friesland, whence its members emigrated to America in 1719, and dispersed to different parts of Pennsylvania. In 1723 they formed a church at Germantown, under the pastoral care of Peter Becker. The rapid growth of this church has rarely been excelled, and it received continual accessions of new members from the banks of the Wissahickon, and from Lancaster County. In this County, another community was soon after established by Conrad Beissel, a native of Germany. He was a man of eminent piety and ability, much given to metaphysical speculations, and distinguished for his love of solitude. Being determined to seek out the true obligations of the word of God, independent of all pre-conceived opinions and traditional observances, he was soon led to perceive that the sentiments of the Dunkers were erroneous so far as they related to the day designed to be hallowed as the Sabbath. It appeared evident to him "that the seventh day was the command of the Lord God, and that day being established and sanctified by the Great Jehovah, for ever, and no change, nor authority for change, ever having been announced to man, by any power sufficient to set aside the solemn decree of the Almighty, he felt it to be his duty to contend for the observance of that day." These opinions he maintained, not only in many eloquent discourses, but, about the year 1725, he published a short treatise which entered into a full and very able discussion of this point. The publication of this tract formed, in more ways than one, an epoch in the community, and created so much stir and excitement among the Society at Mill Creek, that Beissel quietly retired from the settlement, and took up his abode in a small cell on the banks of the Cocalico, which had been occupied previously by one Elimelech, an anchorite. Here, retired from all the world, he sought, by prayer, fasting and meditation, to converse with superior intelligences, and to perfect himself in holy knowledge. But the community that had opposed his fervent and spiritual teachings when present, found his absence a great deprivation, and although many inquiries were made, it was a long time before the place of his retirement became known. By this time many members of the society at Mill Creek had become convinced of the truth of his proposition relative to the Sabbath, who now removed and settled around him in solitary cottages. They rested from secular labors and celebrated the public services of religion upon the original Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, which has ever since been observed by their descendants. In 1728 they resolved themselves into an ecclesiastical body, and a monastic society was instituted in 1732, for the accommodation of which suitable buildings were erected. Other buildings were likewise erected by the community, and all together constituted the irregular, yet lovely village of Ephrata. Both men and women were admitted into the convent, and both appear to have been singularly attached to the monastic state. They wore the habit of the Capuchins, or White Friars, which consisted of a shirt, trousers and vest, with a long white gown and cowl, of wollen web in Winter, and linen in the Summer. That of the sisters differed only in the substitution of skirts for trousers, and some slight peculiarities in the form of the cap. All who entered the cloister received monastic names. Their first Prior was Onesimus, (Israel Eckerlin,) who was succeeded by Peter Miller, surnamed Jabez. Beissel, whose monastic name was Friedsam, received the title of Father—spiritual father—and subsequently that of Gottrecht, implying together, Peaceable Godright, from the brethren of the community. "In the year 1740 there were thirty-six single brethren in the cloister, and thirty-five sisters; and at one time the society, including the members living in the neighborhood, amounted to near three hundred." The government and arrangement of this little community were perfectly republican, and all the members stood upon the most fraternal equality and freedom. They were bound by no vows, neither had they any written covenant. The New Testament was their confession of faith, their code of laws, and their rule of discipline. Such property as accumulated with the society, by donation and from the labor of the single brethren and sisters, was held as common stock, but none were obliged to devote their personal property to this purpose or to resign any of their temporal possessions. A considerable income was derived from the farm, which, with the proceeds of the grist-mill, paper-mill, oil-mill, fulling-mill, and the industry of the brethren and sisters, sufficed to support the society in a comfortable manner. The principles of this society appear to have been superficially understood and partially represented by most writers upon the subject, although there is nothing about them mysterious or intricate.114"They receive the Bible as the only rule of faith, covenant, and code of laws for church government. They do not admit the least license with the letter and spirit of the Scripture, especially with the New Testament, do not allow one tittle to be added or rejected in the administration of the ordinances, but practice them precisely as they are instituted and made an example by Jesus Christ in his word.
"They believe in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the trinity of the Godhead; having unfurled this distinctive banner on the first page of a hymn book which they had printed for the society as early as 1739; viz., 'There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one.'
"They believe that salvation is of grace, and not of works; and they rely solely on the merits and atonement of Christ. They believe, also, that that atonement is sufficient for every creature; that Christ died for all who will call upon his name, and offer fruits meet for repentance; and that all who come to Christ are drawn of the Father. "They contend for the observance of the original Sabbath, believing that it requires an authority equal to that of the great Institutor to change any of his decrees. They maintain, that as he blessed and sanctified that day for ever, which has never been abrogated in his word, nor any scripture to be found to warrant that construction; it is still as binding as it was when it was reiterated amid the thunders of mount Sinai. To alter so positive and hallowed a commandment of the Almighty, they consider would require an explicit edict from the great Jehovah. It was not foretold by any of the prophets, that with the new dispensation there would be any change in the Sabbath or any of the commandments. Christ, who declared himself the Lord of the Sabbath, observed the seventh day, and made it the day for his special ministrations; nor did he authorize any change. The apostles have not assumed to do away the original Sabbath, or give any command to substitute the first for the seventh day.
"They hold to apostolic baptism—and administer trine immersion, with the laying on of hands and prayer while the recipient yet remains kneeling in the water.
"They celebrate the Lord's supper at night, washing, at the same time, each other's feet, agreeably to his command and example. This is attended to in the evening after the close of the Sabbath—the Sabbath terminating at sunset of the seventh day; thus making the supper an imitation of that instituted by Christ, and resembling also the meeting of the apostles on the first day to break bread, which has produced much confusion in some minds in regard to the proper day to be observed."
(To be Continued) "Heart, be still!
In the darkness of thy wo
Bow thee silently and low;
Comes to thee whate'er God will;—
Be thou still!" "Be thou still!
Vainly all thy words are spoken,
Till the word of God hath broken
Life's dark mysteries, good or ill,
Be thou still!" "Lord, my God;
By thy grace, O may I be
All-submissive, silently,
To the chastening of thy rod,
Lord, my God." "Shepherd, King,
From thy fullness, grant to me
Still, yet fearless faith in thee
Till, from night the day shall spring,
Shepherd, King!" (From Hist. Sab. Churches, by T. Davis.) A Story of Every Day Life. [The story of "Old Moses" will be read with much interest. We rather object to the mirthful style of some portions of it; but on account of the many excellent things in the story we set it before our readers. It is a good illustration of the power of true religion in its pure simplicity.—ED.] MR. B. was a merchant in Baltimore, and did a very heavy business, especially in grain. One morning, as he was passing over the vessels that lay at the wharf, with their various commodities for sale, he stepped over the deck of one, at the stern of which he saw a negro man sitting, whose dejected countenance gave sure indications of distress; and he accosted him with— "Hey, man, what is the matter with you this morning?" "Ah, massa, I'se in great trouble." "Kase I'se fotched to be sold." "What for? What have you been doing? Have you been stealing, or did you run away, or what?" "No, no, massa, none o'dat; it's because I didn't mind the oaders." "Well, massa stranger, I tell you. Massa Willum wery strict man, and wery nice man, too, and ebry body on the place got to mine him, and I break trew de rules; but I didn't tend to break trew de rule; but I forgot myself, and I got too high." "It's for getting drunk, then, is it?" "O, no, sah, not dat nother." "You are the strangest negro I have seen for a week. I can get no satisfaction from you. If you would not like to be pitched overboard, you had better tell me what you did." "Please, massa, don't trow de poor flicted nigger in de wata." "Then tell me what you are to be sold for." "For praying! that is a strange tale indeed. Will your master not permit you to pray?" "O yes, sah, he let me pray easy, but I hollers too loud." "And why do you halloo so loud in your prayer?" "Kase de Spirit comes on me, and I gets happy fore I knows it; den I gone; can't trol mersef den; I knows nuthin bout massa's rules; den I holler if ole Sattin hissef come with all the rules of the quistion." "And do you suppose your master will really sell you for that?" "O yes, no help for me now; kase when massa Willum say one thing, he no do anoder." "What is your master's name?" "Massa name, Col. Willum C——." "Is he a good master? Does he treat you well?" "O yes, massa Willum good, no better massa in de world." "Stand up and let me look at you." And Moses stood up and presented a robust frame; and as Mr. B. stripped up his sleeve, his arm gave evidence of unusual muscular strength. "Yonder he is, just coming to the wharf." As Mr. B. started for the shore, he heard Moses give a heavy sigh, followed by a deep groan. Moses was not at all pleased with the present phase of affairs. He was strongly impressed with the idea that B. was a trader and intended to buy him, and it was this that made him so unwilling to communicate to B. the desired information. Mr. B. reached the wharf just as Col. C. did. He introduced himself and said, "I understand you wish to sell that negro man yonder on board the schooner." Col. C. replied that he did. "What do you ask for him?" "I expect to get seven hundred dollars." "Very; he never had any sickness in his life except one or two spells of ague." "Yes, sir, he will eat as much as any man ought, and it will do him as much good." "Yes, sir, he is the best hand on my place. He is steady, honest and industrious. He has been my foreman for the last ten years, and a more trusty negro I never knew." "Why do you wish to sell him?" "Because he disobeys my orders. As I said, he is my foreman; and that he might be available at any time I might want him, I built his quarter within a hundred yards of my house, and I have never rung the bell at any time, in the night or morning, that his horn did not answer in five minutes after. But two years ago he got religion, and commenced what he terms family prayer—that is, prayer in his quarter every night and morning; and when he begun his prayer, it was impossible to tell when it would stop, especially if (as he termed it) he got happy. Then he would sing, pray, and halloo for an hour or two together, so loud that you might hear him a mile off. And he would pray for me, and my wife and children, and all my brothers and sisters and their children; and sometimes when we would have visitors, Moses' prayers would interrupt the conversation and destroy the enjoyment of the whole company. The women would cry, and the children would cry, and it would send me almost frantic; and even after I had retired, it would sometimes be nearly daylight before I could go to sleep; for it appeared to me that I could hear Moses pray for three hours after he had finished. I bore it as long as I could, and then forbid him praying so loud any more. Moses promised obedience, but he soon transgressed; and my rule is never to whip, but whenever a negro proves incorrigible, I sell him. This keeps them in better subjection, and is less trouble than whipping. I pardoned Moses twice for praying so loud, but the third time I knew I must sell him, or every negro on the farm would soon be perfectly regardless of all my orders." "You spoke of Moses' quarters; I suppose from that he has a family." "Yes; he has a woman and three children—or wife, I suppose he calls her now, for soon after he got religion he asked me if they might get married, and I presume they were." "What will you take for her and the three children?" "If you want them for your own use, I will take seven hundred dollars. But I shall not sell Moses or them to go out of the State." "I wish them all for my own use, and I will give you the fourteen hundred dollars." Mr. B. and Col. C. then went to B.'s store, drew up the writing, and closed the sale, after which they returned to the vessel; and Mr. B., approaching the negro, who sat with his eyes fixed upon the deck, seemingly wrapped in meditation of the most awful forebodings, said, "Well, Moses, I have bought you." Moses made a very low bow, and every muscle of his face worked with emotion as he replied— "Is you, massa? Where is I gwine, massa? Is I gwine to Georgy?" "No," said Mr. B., "I am a merchant in the city here, and yonder is my store, and I have purchased your wife and children too, that you may not be separated." "Bress God for dat! And kin I go to meeting sometimes?" "Yes, Moses, you can go to church three times on the Sabbath, and every night in the week; and you can pray as often as you choose; and every time you pray, I want you to pray for me, my wife, and all my children; for if you are a good man, your prayers will do us no harm, and we need them very much." While Mr. B. was dealing out these privileges to Moses, the negro's eyes danced in their sockets, and his full heart laughed right out with gladness, exposing two rows of as even, clean ivories as any African can boast, and his response was, "Bress God, bress God all time, and bress you too, massa. Moses neber tink bout he gwine to have all dese commodations, it makes me tink bout Joseph in de Egypt." And after Moses had poured a few blessings on Col. C., bidding him a warm adieu, and requesting him to give his love and farewell to his mistress, the children and all the servants, he followed B. to the store, to enter on the functions of his office. The return of the schooner brought to Moses his wife and children. Early next Spring, as Mr. B. was standing at the store door, he saw a man leap upon the wharf from the deck of a vessel and walk hurriedly towards the door. He soon recognized him as Col. C. They exchanged salutations, and to the Col.'s inquiry after Moses, Mr. B. replied that he was up stairs measuring grain, and invited him to walk up and see him. Soon Mr. B.'s attention was arrested by a very confused noise above. He listened, and he heard an unusual shuffling of feet, some one sobbing violently, and some one talking very hurriedly; and when he reflected on Col. C.'s singular movements and the peculiar expression of his countenance, he became alarmed, and determined to go up and see what was transpiring. When he reached the head of the stairs he was startled by seeing Moses in the middle of the floor down upon his knees, with his arms around the Colonel's waist, and weeping audibly. As soon as the Col. could sufficiently control his feelings he told Mr. B. that he had never been able to free himself from the influence of Moses' prayers, and that during the past year he and his wife, and all the children, had been converted to God. Moses responded, "Bress God, massa C., do I wa up hea, I neber forgit you in my prayers—I allers put de ole massa side de new one. Bress God, dis make Moses tink bout Joseph in de Egypt agin." The Col. then stated to Mr. B. that his object in coming to Baltimore was to buy Moses and his family back again. But Mr. B. assured him that it was out of the question, for he could not part with him; and he intended to manumit Moses and his wife at forty, and his children at thirty-five years of age. Moses was not far from right in his reference to Joseph. For when Joseph was sold in Egypt, God overruled it to his good, and he obtained blessings far beyond his expectations; as with Moses. Joseph eventually proved the instrument of saving the man's soul who sold him. Old Moses is still living and doing well. He long since obtained his freedom, and at present occupies a comfortable house of his own; and I suppose he sings and prays, and prays and labours, to his heart's content.—Selected. Communication from Bro. Frisbie.
By J. B. Frisbie
DEAR BRETHREN: We truly live in perilous times. There is deception enough in the world to deceive if possible the very elect. But we feel thankful that the Lord has a great care and love for his people. If the Lord had forsaken us, ere this time we should have fallen out by the way. The Lord has been sifting his people, by testing them on every hand. Many have already fallen, and more are in danger. I feel this danger. What shall I say? It has been the plainness of the truths we have believed that has kept us so long. Our love and care for each other have not been any too great. The cause we did not know, until God in great mercy led us to see the cause. Behold, we are the Laodiceans, and should have been a just people in the judgment. But instead of this we were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, neither dead nor alive to God, and boasting of our rich knowledge of divine things, and thought we had need of nothing; not knowing that we were miserable, and wretched, and poor, and blind, and naked, and were in danger of being spued out of the mouth of God, which is the remnant church. Jer. xv, 19. "If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." Still there is mercy if we return unto the Lord; and those who do, will be under the necessity of making a separation between the precious and the vile, in order to be the mouth of God. Lord is it I? 1st. "I (Jesus) counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." We have been earnestly inquiring to know what this gold is. One brother says it is love, another faith, &c. May it not be also the grace of God, [2 Cor. xii, 9] and a growth in grace. 2 Pet. iii, 18. Thus, Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind. 2 Pet. i, 5-9. For the lack of these things we were blind. He that has these things must see. But it is impossible to abound in these graces without the help of God's Spirit. "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. v, 2-5. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James i, 2-4. Rich in faith. James ii, 5. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. i, 7. "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. vi, 17-19. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not." Luke xii, 32, 33. "True riches." Luke xvi, 11. "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." Luke xii, 21. "Author and finisher of our faith." Heb. xii, 2. This gold tried in the fire, is fiery trial of faith by sacrifice, by patience in tribulation through grace. "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. ii, 7, 8. "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Mal. iii, 2, 3. 2. "White raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Rev. xix, 8. We are to have the righteousness of Christ by following him as a pattern. "It was imputed to him (Abram) for righteousness." Rom. iv, 22. 3. "Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see." "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie." 1 John ii, 27. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost." Acts x, 38. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Eph. i, 18. 4. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Heb. xii, 5-8, 11. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. iii, 12. We feel rebuked of the Lord when we do wrong and feel condemned. If on self-examination of our past life we can see our wrongs, then can be humble enough to confess them, we may be forgiven. Let the law when one sinned, and it came to be knowledge, he was to confess it. Lev. v, 5; Num. v, 11. The wise man says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. xxviii, 13. "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another." James v, 16. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i, 9. It is well to set in strict judgment upon ourselves. "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." 1 Cor. xi, 31, 32. How good it is to set in judgment in our own cases and feel rebuked of the Lord in our own consciences, and feel chastened for our sins that we may not be condemned with the wicked world. But if we have beams in our own eyes, and then try to pull motes out of our brother's eye, it makes sad distraction. What a state, to feel that I am about right and you are all wrong. This has made sad wounds often among brethren. A fault-finding spirit, speaking evil one of another, will cause wars and fightings among brethren. These things ought not so to be. Wherever brethren will get into habits of self-examination and of confessing their own faults, they will stand a good chance to get the eye-salve to see their own faults, and become zealous and repent, and get every hindering cause out of the way that the door of the heart can be set open and Jesus come in and dwell there. May we hunger and thirst for righteousness that we may be filled. May Christ dwell in the hearts of the remnant by faith, and be formed within the hope of glory. I thank the Lord for what my eyes have seen, and ears heard, and heart has felt for about two weeks past, while visiting in the towns of Locke, Meridian, Delhi and Windsor. I found that the brethren had generally received the message to the Laodiceans written out in the Review. The Spirit of the Lord manifested itself in every place to the uniting of the hearts of the brethren to love as Christians. And while endeavoring to feed I was fed, as also was Bro. Lowree, who accompanied me. The "Age to Come" had distracted some who had partially fallen under its influence; and in seeing its deleterious influence, I came to the conclusion that the Age to Come doctrine has and will prove as fatal if held on to any great length of time as arsenic is to rats—it is sure death. By the fruit we may know that the doctrine is not of God or of the Bible. Most every leader has his own Age to Come. We find Eld. Storrs, Dr. Thomas, Joseph Marsh, D. P. Hall, J. M. Stephenson, &c., &c., have each one a different view, hardly any two agreeing. It is much like learned men on the Sabbath: scarcely any two agree as to the cause of change. The "Age to Come" is much like an old brass kettle worn out and patched; and while one is trying to tinker one leak, he creates another worse still. Whoever loses sight of the glorious Sanctuary in heaven, for the "Age to Come," he leaves a certainty for an uncertainty; for surely we have never seen any light in the so-called Age to Come since our faith caught a sight of the heavenly Sanctuary, and the work of our High Priest there, after the ending of the 2300 days in 1844, the seventh month and tenth day. When Christ shall finish his work of atonement, and the judgment of the righteous ends, there will be no more mercy for sinners, as we learn from Prov. i, 24-31; Isa. lix, 16-20. "No Intercessor." 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. And behold, I come quickly. Rev. xxii, 11, 12. A little time before Jesus comes probation ends. Let us beware of hewing out to ourselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Jer. ii, 13. My heart rejoices to know that the church is rising in spirituality. The time to the day of trouble looks shorter than ever before. No sacrifice looks too great to be made for salvation. Now appears to be the time for all wrongs to be made right. We must worship God in spirit and in truth. It is right to be zealously affected in a good cause. Let our hopes be strong in Israel's God who made the world. May the Lord help his people to be all engaged for salvation. We hope the time will soon come that every lover of truth will feel like a missionary in the place in which they live, so as to be looking around them for honest souls who may be induced to read or hear. How much good can be done in this way if it is done in the right spirit. We find that many feel when they first see the truth as if they wanted to preach. This is all right, if every one will preach in his or her own gift, either by the fireside, by being examples of piety, by scattering our publications, or by getting their friends to take our papers, &c. There are many other ways to preach besides public lecturing to the people. Has not every lover of truth some influence over a friend, at home or abroad, that they may do good in different ways, as the Lord in wisdom may direct? There is a great work to be done, and a great High Priest at the head of his church, and may the Lord send by whom he may send; but let instruction be given in the kindest spirit, in meekness and love at all times. A harsh, denunciatory spirit will do no good, but will irritate and disgust. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." 1 Pet. iii, 15. Your brother in the hope of the soon coming of our Lord. J. B. FRISBIE. How can I tell whether I am a real christian? He who can truly say that he seeks the favor of God above every earthly good; that he delights in his service more than in anything else; that to obey him here, and so enjoy his presence hereafter, is the prevailing desire of his heart; that his chief116sorrow is, that he loves him no more, and serves him no better. Such a person needs no other evidence that his heart is changed and his sins forgiven.