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Review and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 16.

CONFERENCE ADDRESS

Review and Herald

Oct 18, 1877

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 18, 1877

CONFERENCE ADDRESS.

By John Norton Loughborough

DELIVERED ON THE YOUNTVILLE CAMP-GROUND, SEPT. 17, 1877, BY ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, PRESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE.
Dear Brethren and Sisters: Through the providence of our kind Heavenly Father we are spared to assemble once more in Camp and Conference meeting.
By the return of this convocation we are reminded that another year has passed. How rapidly years fly! How brief their stay! Yet in these days of steam and lightning communication, how much is crowded into one short year!
How much has transpired during the past year in fulfillment of prophecy, reminding us of the near approach of our Saviour! In the progress of the cause of present truth, one of the most ominous signs of the times, more has been done the past year than in any one year since the work began.
Of the signs of these times, our Saviour said, “There shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.” As a partial fulfillment of this prediction, we refer to the great famine which has visited India for several months past, and now threatens to destroy 3,000,000 of her people before its ravages can be stayed. Pestilence, in the form of cholera, is now starting on its way, and as stated in the public prints, will probably make the circuit of the world. Of earthquakes, no year has a record of so many as the past, and many of these are about as severe as any upon record. An estimate recently made in the London Times, shows that somewhere upon the earth’s surface there is now an earthquake as often as once in three days. When we compare this statement with the fact that there were only about forty-five earthquakes in the habitable world before the first advent of Christ, we see how rapidly they are increasing.
Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes are styled by some “the shaking fits of nature.” They certainly do admonish us that we are in the times mentioned by David, when “the heavens [the atmospheric heavens] shall wax old as a garment,” preparatory to their being “folded up” and changed for new heavens and new earth. The uncertainty of climate, extreme drought in one part, excessive wet in another, and even sudden climatic changes where all was once stable, are proofs that the atmospheric heavens are growing old.
Not only do we see evidences that the heavens are waxing old, but the earth also is waxing old. The wheat-midge, the chinch-bug, the army-worm, and the grasshopper “destroy more grain and produce annually than is saved.” So says the eighth census report of the United States. The onward march of these destructive insects we regard as an incipient fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel concerning the times when “the great day of the Lord is near and hasteth greatly.”
Our Saviour said the last days should be “as the days of Noah,” when “the earth was filled with violence.” And Paul testified that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” The demonstrations recently made under the influence of the mob spirit, through so large a portion of the United States, should be a solemn admonition to us of what men will do when the restraining influence of God’s Spirit is taken from them. If men will act as they did in the great labor strikes while God’s Spirit still strives, what confusion may we not expect when his Spirit shall cease to strive?
The Russo-Turkish war, now raging in the Eastern world, is also an evident sign of the times. The sure and steady march of the Russians toward Constantinople is itself a demonstration that we are near the time when the Turk must be driven from his present capital in Europe and move to Jerusalem, thus “planting the tabernacle of his palaces between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain,” where he is to “come to his end with none to help him,” as predicted in Dan. 11:45. Then it is said “Michael shall stand up,” “the time of trouble such as never was” shall come, and God’s people shall be delivered, “every one that is found written in the book.” Though the winds of war may be held for a time, and the Russians be kept from an immediate accomplishment of their purpose, they will undoubtedly triumph in the end. In this holding of the winds of war we see a fulfillment of Rev. 7:1–5, where it is predicted that the winds are to be held until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The third angel’s message, now being proclaimed, bearing on its forefront the seal (sign) of God, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment (see Ex. 30:13, 17 and Eze. 20:12, 20), we regard as that very sealing message which is doing its work, advancing with still greater rapidity every month, and preparing a people to stand when the time of trouble shall have fully come.
It is this third angel’s message, which in its onward march, has called us out as a people and made us acquainted with one another. Those professing the truths of this message have a distinct and specific work to accomplish, in warning the world to get ready for the time of trouble, the day of wrath, and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are responsibilities resting upon us that we cannot throw off, and should not lightly regard. It is those who have the light of truth that the Lord holds accountable for the dissemination of that truth, and letting their light shine in every way possible. I behold before me some who have been long years in the work, and others who have more recently embraced the truth. We are here, in the providence of God, permitted to meet, many of us for the first time. We are here to recount God’s mercies and benefits to us, to become more fully acquainted with one another, to become more firmly established in the truth, to learn our duty in connection with this glorious cause, and to dedicate ourselves, mind, body, and strength, to the cause of God. May the Lord guide us in all our endeavors.
As I look over this audience, and think of the past year, my heart is moved with sympathy for those who have been called to part with loved ones, and lay them in the cold, silent grave, to await the voice of God, which is soon to awaken them to life. First, Bro. Chapman’s family were called to part with their daughter Alice. She was on the camp-ground last year as sprightly and well as any of the little misses before me. Before her death, Alice said to her mother, “I am not afraid to die; I shall only sleep a little while.” Should it be the fate of any of the youth and children before me to meet death ere another camp-meeting rolls round, will they be as well prepared as Alice? Bro. and sister Eggleston were next called to part with their active little grand-daughter, Nettie. Their house has seemed lonely since Nettie is gone. Next we were informed by letter from sister Brown, of Sierra Co., of the death of her husband. Bro. Brown was among the first to embrace the truth in the vicinity of Santa Rosa. Having lived an exemplary life, with a smile, and a wave of the hand upward, he died, exhorting his friends to meet him on the other shore. Sister Brown said, “His death was so peaceful, I could only think of the scripture, ‘Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.’” Sister Woodward, of the Napa church, ever zealous and faithful in the cause of present truth, has passed away. Next in order, sad to relate, Bro. and sister Bean, of Freestone, were called, within one month, to part with four of their children. They died of that dreadful scourge, diphtheria. Their eldest, Bro. George, was a worthy member of the Bloomfield church. Mother Martin, of the Healdsburg church, at the age of threescore and ten, “like a shock of corn fully ripe,” has fallen in death and passed away. She was among the first in Healdsburg to invite Bro. Bourdeau and myself to her house. Bro. Judson has lost his youngest daughter, and Bro. and sister Morrison, of Santa Rosa, have been bereaved of their son Lewis, while he was away from home, at Battle Creek, Mich., preparing for future usefulness. Lewis has fallen asleep, but he will soon awake to join the family circle. Sister Clarinda Bowers, who embraced the truth twenty years ago in Hillsdale, Mich., died at San Jose last spring. Sister Bowers was one of those marked examples of promptness in duty, and faithfulness in Christ’s cause, rarely found. Bro. Borsen, sister Wilson, of San Francisco, and their sister, are deeply afflicted in the loss of another sister, lately arrived from Denmark. After many years of separation they were rejoiced to meet, but oh, how soon was that rejoicing turned to sadness! They are parted by death, until the Lifegiver shall come. Bro. and sister Dye, of the Woodland church, who are here on the ground, have been visited by death, in the loss of their boy, during the last ten days. Only the last week the Woodland church lost another worthy member, our devoted blind brother, Wm. Smith.
In all these cases, we are consoled by the hope that the Lifegiver is soon coming to restore to us these loved ones from the grave. May we all be faithful in the warfare, and so be prepared to meet them. Amid all our sorrows, we can rejoice in God that so many of us are spared, and are permitted to appear before him this day. While we rejoice, it is with trembling, not knowing who may be called away before another year shall roll its rounds.
During the last year there have been a very few cases of apostasy from the truth in this State. These, for the most part, have been those who have done but little themselves, financially or otherwise, for the spread of the truth, and have found a great deal of fault with those whose lives were devoted to the work, and who were determined to push on in the cause. Instead of the truth being a loser in the departure of such persons, there is a decided gain; for Christ himself has said, “He that gathereth not with me scattereth.”
In these cases you have a good opportunity of seeing an exemplification of what our ministers have said to you all the way along, that these fault-finders would eventually give up the Sabbath and the truth. The murmurers said, “Never!” but with scarcely an exception they have made a complete departure from the truths we hold sacred, while accessions to our cause the past year have been greater than in any year since the commencement of the work upon the coast.
One year ago there were fifteen companies of Sabbath-keepers in this State; now there are twenty-two. Then the number of Sabbath-keepers was 559; now it is over 700. Last year we had one tent in the field, and that was used only a part of the season, in consequence of the affliction of Bro. Healey. Bro. Wood spent about one month last year in the field, and I labored from point to point as best I could. During this year, there have been great accessions to our corps of laborers. In addition to the valuable labors and counsel of Bro. and sister White, who were with us about six months, and did most effective labor, not only among our churches, but in giving tone and shape to matters in Oakland and San Francisco, especially at the SIGNS Office, Bro. Waggoner was with us about six months, laboring among churches, and in various ways, as he had opportunity; and for about two months we were favored with the labors of Bro. U. Smith, of Battle Creek, Mich.
The Biblical Institute, conducted by Brn. James White and U. Smith, in Oakland, April last, was the dawning of brighter days in California. Since that time, we have had a number of helpers in the gospel ministry in this State, and our three tents, two in Northern and one in Southern California, have done an effective work, while much has been accomplished otherwise.
It is truly a matter of thanksgiving toGod, that, notwithstanding this large camp-meeting, our work has so spread in the last eighteen months that it has become necessary to hold another camp-meeting in Tulare Co., to accommodate those who have embraced the truth in Fresno and Tulare Counties within the last eighteen months. Instead of our work now being limited to three ministers, as it was one year ago, there are eight giving the most of their time to the work, and besides these about as many more are licensed as speakers and colporteurs, who are doing more or less to advance the cause of present truth.
In our missionary work there has been a corresponding advancement. In complying with the new arrangement proposed by the General Conference, our quarterly meetings for the fourth quarter will all be held in October, so that our report of the workings of the society for the year will embrace only the workings of the society up to July first. We will place this report of three quarters of the year by the side of the same items for last year, and it will at once show the difference. The figures are as follows:—
1876 1877
Families visited 818 1260
Ships visited 62 234
Letters written 555 625
Received by Donations $129.95 $493.12
Book Sales 65.78 672.32
New Members 71.00 47.00
Total money received $266.73 $1212.44
New Subscribers—
Battle Creek Periodicals 254 348
SIGNS OF THE TIMES 386 600
Periodicals distributed 793 1825
Almanacs 1000 6240
Signs distributed 6173 21590
Number of pages of Tracts and Pamphlets distributed 301,914 422,704
Since 1871 our State Society has purchased periodicals and tracts to the amount of about $4,000. Out of this sum there have been distributed, of tracts and pamphlets, 1,589,825 pages.
In four of our missionary districts, during the past year, quite a work has been done in taking the SIGNS in clubs, loaning them, and thus interesting the people in the truth, and obtaining many subscribers. Five of our districts have not taken the SIGNS in this manner. Those districts that have entered upon this branch of the work consider it indispensable to their success to have fresh numbers of the SIGNS each week to use in this way, and I doubt not their voices will be heard in this yearly meeting, urging others to do as they have done.
There was one item of missionary work mentioned above, to which I wish to call special attention; it is the almanac distribution. In 1876 we distributed about 1,000, while the last year we distributed through our State T. and M. Society, 6,240, besides those sold at the SIGNS Office. These almanacs have done quite a business in calling attention to our people, to our publishing house, and to our work, and have been another channel through which to bring this truth before the minds of the people.
This almanac sale and distribution should be taken hold of in season, and in greater earnestness this year. Our Missionary Society in this State should lay plans to sell and distribute at least fifteen thousand of the Pacific Coast edition by Jan. 1, thus calling the attention of at least 30,000 people to our cause and work. The almanacs will be ready a month or more earlier than last year, and if taken hold of energetically can be rushed into market in advance of the flood of patent-medicine almanacs.
In the Conference Address last year, I spoke of some matters of trial that grew out of a feeling fostered by some at the first Fairfax camp-meeting. I believe the Lord accepted the humiliation and public confession of his people at the last Fairfax meeting, and we have reason for gratitude to God for the state of unity that now exists on this coast among our people, and which is bringing forth its blessed fruit on this camp-ground.
It has taken time for some to understand how the Lord is leading in this cause, but I think the lesson is now pretty well learned, and those who have been the sacrifice and devotion of the pioneers in this work are ready to stand by them and give them sympathy and support in their efforts to extend the cause of truth.
Truly God is blessing us in mighty power on this camp-ground, and as his Spirit leads our minds to the growth, importance, and magnitude of this work it seems to me that the question is raised in all our minds, What does the Lord wish me to do? and how can I so relate myself to the work of God as to apply my quota of might, mind, and strength in advancing the cause of present truth?
These are times that call for an untying of hearts, hands, and purse strings, in order that we may ever be faithful at our post of duty, doing all in our power to forward the light of the third angel’s message.
The work here in California is only a small part of the great cause which is advancing through the earth, yet it is important to us that we do all in our power to make our work a success. As we look at the work committed to us here in this State, there are three important branches that claim our special attention. These are, 1. Our publishing house; 2. The work of the ministry; 3. The missionary work. Each and all of these continually demand aid in point of means, that the work may go forward unembarrassed.
When, over three years ago, Bro. White suggested that the SIGNS OF THE TIMES be published on this coast, and a publishing house erected, some thought he was too fast. “A paper might be needed here some time, but not yet.” Facts since developed have proved that Bro. White was right, and that the move was made none too soon. Times were much easier when this move was made than now. All can easily see that our advancing work now demands such a paper.
In the fall of 1874 about $20,000 were pledged for the publishing work; all of these pledges are not yet paid. Then again, last fall, at the Fairfax camp-meeting, pledges were made of new stock and donations to the SIGNS to relieve it from indebtedness on its past publication. One year was given to redeem these pledges, so they will be due about the middle of September. An effort should be made to meet all unpaid pledges by camp-meeting time.
The publishing work, as the cause advances, will ever be in need of funds. Those newly embracing the truth will of course esteem it a pleasure to take stock to the extent of their ability, that they also may be fellow-helpers in the truth. The Lord is coming, and we want to be found investing our substance here in that manner that we shall be laying up a treasure in Heaven. The way to do this is to do all in our power to forward the cause of truth on earth.

THE MINISTRY.

As we contemplate the work of the ministry on this coast, we have reason for gratitude to God that a few men have been raised up here who are devoting themselves to the cause. Besides our ministers we have two missionaries in San Francisco, who are giving their entire time to the work, and others in other places who are doing something in the cause. These men who are giving their time must all receive some help from the Conference. To effect amicable settlements our Auditing Committee will not wish to simply say, “Thank you.” “Depart, be ye warmed and filled.” They must have means at hand with which to settle with these men.

THE MISSIONARY WORK.

Much has been done in this State in the missionary work. More has been done the last year than in any two preceding years. There are some difficulties, however, under which we labor that should be remedied. Our State T. and M. Society is in debt at the SIGNS Office about $800, and a large part of this sum is due to the State Society from the different districts. These districts should immediately take measures to cancel their indebtedness to the State Society. Some of our churches have not met their one-third which they pledged as T. and M. fund, and considerable is due for periodicals ordered.
It does not seem right to embarrass the SIGNS Office with our debts, when it would be so small a matter to make up this indebtedness if each individual would take hold proportionately. There should be a State T. and M. fund of $1,000, to enable the State Society to pay for documents at the time of purchase. It is the purpose of our directors to make a strike this fall for $1,000 T. and M. Fund, for California. I propose as an individual to pay $50 toward this fund, and I want to find thirteen others of our brethren and sisters who will pay the same amount. This will make $700. Then there are several who can give $25 each, perhaps enough to make $150 more. Then we can find volunteers who will give $10 and $5 each, enough to make up the $1,000 without embarrassing any one, or diverting means from other channels.
If we really believe the Lord is coming, shall we not take hold in earnest of the work he has committed to us, instead of devoting all our thoughts to ourselves, and the groveling things of earth? If we once get our missionary fund free from embarrassment, and then keep up the one-third, with judicious management it will keep free.
Shall we not come up to our yearly gathering paying our vows as in the past, consecrating ourselves with new offerings to God? If we bring all our tithes into the store-house, the Lord has promised to open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So may it be.
As our General Conference is being aroused to the necessity of more earnest efforts in the Sabbath-school work, I would impress upon your minds the importance of seconding their efforts and suggestions. We must not let the youth and children within the reach of our influence drift down the tide of worldliness, but to do all in our power to interest and lead them to the Lord.
With devout gratitude to God for the gracious influences of his Spirit, which is leading us out to broader plans, more exalted views of the truths for the time, may we as never before devote ourselves to duty and labor in the harvest, wherever there is an opportunity to gather the golden sheaves, and in glory we shall share the sweet consolation of having done what we could.

A LESSON FOR CREED-MAKERS.

By James Russell Lowell

Never, surely, was a holier man Than Ambrose, since the world began: With diet spare and raiment thin, He shielded himself from the Father of sin; With bed of iron and scourging oft, His heart to God's hand as wax made soft.
Through earnest prayer, and watching long, He sought to know 'twixt right and wrong; Much wrestling with the blessed word To make it yield the sense of the Lord, That he might build a storm-proof creed To fold the flock in at their need.
At last he builded a perfect faith Fenced round about with, “The Lord thus saith.” To himself he fitted the doorway's size, Melted the light to the need of his eyes, And knew by a sure and inward sign, That the work of his fingers was divine.
Then Ambrose said, “All those shall die The eternal death, who believe not as I;” And some were boiled, some burned in fire, Some sawn in twain, that his heart's desire For the good of men's souls might be satisfied, By the drawing of all to the righteous side.
One day as Ambrose was seeking the truth, In his lonely walk he saw a youth Resting himself in the shade of a tree: It had never been his lot to see So shining a face; and the good man thought, 'Twere a pity he couldn't believe as he ought.
So he sat himself by the young man's side, And the state of his soul with questions plied; But the heart of the stranger was hardened indeed, Nor received the stamp of the one true creed; And the spirit of Ambrose waxed sore to find Such face in front of so narrow a mind.
“As each beholds in cloud and fire The shape that answers his own desire, So each,” said the youth, “in the law shall find, The figure and feature of his own mind; And to each in his mercy has God allowed His several pillar of fire and cloud.”
The soul of Ambrose burned with zeal And holy wrath, for the young man's weal. “Believest thou this, most wretched youth,” Cried he, “a dividual essence of truth? I fear me thy heart is too cramped with sin To take the Lord and his glory in.”
Now there bubbled beside them, where they stood, A fountain of waters, sweet and good; The youth to the streamlet's bank drew near, Saying, “Ambrose, thou maker of creeds, look here!” Six vases of crystal then he took And set them along by the edge of the brook.
“As into these vessels the water I pour, There shall one hold less, the other more, And the water, unchanged, in every case Shall put on the figure of the vase. O thou who wouldst unity make through strife, Canst thou fit this sign to the Water of Life?”
When Ambrose looked up he stood alone; The youth, and the stream, and the vases were gone; But he knew by a sense of humble grace He had talked with an angel face to face, And felt his heart changed inwardly, As he fell on his knees beneath the tree.
—James Russell Lowell.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DR. RIBTON.

By Herbert Panmure Ribton

My father was the youngest son of Sir George Ribton, a wealthy Irish Baronet, once Lord Mayor of the city of Dublin. On the death of my grandfather, his title and money passed to his eldest son, Sir John Ribton, lately deceased; and my father had to battle his way in the world as a medical man. Misfortunes beset his path: in two years he lost all his children except myself; then he lost his wife when I was only two years old, and remained ever afterward a melancholy and broken-hearted man. The medical school was anything but a religious one in my father’s young days, when duelling, hard drinking, and abductions were the order of the day in Ireland; but these misfortunes brought him to seek peace and to find it in the word of God.
Not being able to take care of me himself, he placed me in the family of a kind friend of his, where I remained until I was eleven years of age. I shall ever remember gratefully the kind and motherly care which the daughters of Henry Farange, Esq., of Dublin, took of me. I was instructed carefully in the doctrines of the Church of England, the Catechism and the Creed forming a part of my daily lessons, a reverential bow being required at the name of Jesus. I remember how, from the beginning, the name of Jesus, and the thought of all that was peaceful and pure and holy was dear to me. From the moment I was able to read, I used to put his word under my pillow at nights; yet I was unhappy, for my childish mind wanted peace and could not find it. I dreaded the hell of which I was told so much: I told my nurse many times, weeping, that I was going there. She was much horrified, and asked me why, and I replied because I felt I was a sinner. She strove to reassure me. Alas! neither Catechism nor Creed, nor my struggles to be a “good child,” gave me peace. One word was wanting, and I heard it not.
I shall never forget the load which was taken from my mind in one instant, when at eleven years of age I came to live with my father, and told him of my anxiety. He said, “My son, you are giving yourself much hopeless trouble. Do you not see that Jesus has done all for you that you find you cannot do; that by the cross he has delivered you from hell?” I saw it in that moment: a flood of light burst upon me; and, like Christian before the cross, I felt the burden fall from my shoulders. From that moment, the Bible became the dearest of books to me. I was filled with enthusiasm for Christ.
It was the desire of my youth to become a missionary for Christ. Would to God I had obeyed the call of the Spirit. But perhaps it was God’s will first to bring me through fire, and to instruct me in truths very different from the doctrines with which I would then have gone forth. I was told that a missionary’s life was a hard one, a poor one; that I could work for God just as much in a secular business. My father wished me to distinguish myself in college; and I was driven to books, mathematics, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, etc., until my health broke, and I had to go to Italy to try to recover it. When I returned, a young man, I married without means, and to support myself turned my former studies to account by becoming a University professor. Then, in my struggle to “rise in the world,” I took out my profession as a civil engineer, took pupils, and laid out a considerable portion of a railway.
It seemed to me as if all this time the hand of the Lord was against me. I was disappointed in everything. I was humbugged: my honest plans were taken hold of by others, who reaped the benefit of them and laughed at me. Sickness constantly prevailed in my house: all day long I worked hard; all night I was kept awake with my sick children. At last they both died of acute diseases, two dear little girls, within two years. My wife remained broken in health. My father said that God had taken first his children, then his grandchildren; took to his bed, and died a year afterward.
With the idea of dedicating my life to doing good more strongly impressed upon me by misfortune, I left engineering to return to college and study medicine. I was told that in the practice of that profession there would be an excellent opportunity of “getting on” and working for Christ at the same time, and I believed it. I had not then learned that most of those who seek to “get on” choose a way which must lead them far from the paths of Christ. Full of zeal, I joined the “Lying in Hospital of the Rotunda,” making a special study of Obstetrics; and when the hospital had to be closed on account of puerperal fever, I was one of the volunteers to attend the poor patients in their wretched homes.
The consequence was a total break-down of health; the doctors told me I would not live through another winter. Then my thoughts went back to Italy, a land ever dear to me. I sold my father’s furniture, and came back to this country, not knowing what I was going to do. And here, during eleven years of buffeting, the same adverse fortune has always followed me. My wife has always been sick. Two or three times I thought I had attained to a leading position, and each time an invisible hand seemed to push me down. Enemies actually seemed to arise from the ground to overthrow me. At last, a speculation which I had undertaken with the greatest success—the exportation of a medical discovery—which was bringing in quite an income, suddenly failed in the most unaccountable manner; and I found myself one day, just two years ago, after a life of twenty years of the hardest labor, left with nothing but my wife and child.
It would be instructive were I to recount the hardships which God has since brought me through, the strength which he has given me and my wife, and the miracles he has wrought for me from the day I learned to throw myself entirely upon him. I had unfortunately been brought up in Antinomian doctrines, and had been led to believe that in worldly matters a man must help himself, according to the pernicious French proverb, “Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera.”
Then it was that in looking back upon my unhappy and tempestuous life, ever struggling, never having, the story of Balaamsuddenly came up before me. He sought to drive his ass in the way in which God did not choose him to go, and the angel of the Lord sought to kill him. Then the desire I had entertained twenty years previously, of giving myself to God’s work, arose before me, and a voice seemed to say, Thou hast refused the call of the Spirit; thou hast striven hard to walk in paths in which the Lord did not choose thee to go, wherefore he has sought to destroy thee.
From that day I vowed to the Lord to relinquish all thoughts of anything except laboring for his kingdom, and with his help hope to keep my vow. Many have been the trials through which he has brought me, to train me for his work; but I have seen that he was no longer against me, but with me. Alas for the twenty years of my life, and the sums of money, wasted in struggling among worldly people! My eyes have been opened to the vanity and deceit of everything where God is not. I have learned that diseases, of which I fondly hoped to become a healer, are to be cured not with medicines but by putting away vices; and that the medicines in which I trusted do but aggravate diseases. I have found the knowledge acquired by years of labor to be worth nothing. I have found error, both in medicine and in religion, solemnly taught by learned bodies who ought to be depositaries of truth. But God has given me a peace of mind I never knew before, since I learned to throw myself on him. He has given my wife health, and has bestowed upon us many spiritual blessings.
My first labors in the vineyard of the Lord were in connection with the Methodist Church. I had long loved the Methodists for their practical Christianity, and I offered myself to them. I worked with them for six months as an evangelist and preacher; and had I gone on I should have entered their ministry. But difficulties arose. I could not accept the doctrine of infant sprinkling. God did not intend me to become a Methodist. I then entered into relations with the Baptist Church, and it was nearly decided that I should have the direction of a Baptist mission at Naples. But all at once the project was given up. God did not intend me to become a first-day Baptist.
One day I received by post from a medical friend, Dr. Zimpel, some copies of the Sabbath Memorial, a paper devoted to the cause of the Lord’s Sabbath, published by Bro. Jones, of London. It lay on the table for several days unopened, until in an idle moment I took it up. That day was the beginning of a new epoch in my life. That paper was the beginning of a new flood of light which it pleased God to give me. From the Sabbath Memorial I learned two things which had several times presented themselves to my mind as doubtful points. One was that the seventh day was still the Sabbath of our Lord. The other was the fact that though grace has always been the saving power, yet the moral law of God was not given to the Jews, but to all.
I immediately entered into correspondence with Bro. Jones, who sent me a copy of Eld. Andrew’s book upon the Sabbath. Soon after, I received from the same friend some copies of LES SIGNES DES TEMPS and the ADVENT HERALD, and then I had the pleasure of entering into correspondence with Bro. Andrews also, who sent me and caused to be sent many books.
The Lord has promised a blessing to those who read and keep the things written in the last book of his prophecies. I studied it and found the blessing. The veil was lifted off the wonderful things that God has prepared for those that love him. Hundreds of passages that were formerly without apparent meaning, or were inexplicable, became clear in their signification. Like others who have participated in the same blessing, I found the Bible a new book, which had to be studied over again.
But the new light vouchsafed to me placed me in a difficult position. I found myself cut off from all those with whom I had formerly walked in Christ’s work. There was no more hope of joining them in his ministry. I found it my duty to become a missionary, not only to the ignorant and unbelieving, but still more so to those whom I had formerly called brethren. There remained but one path open to me: that of those who keep God’s commandments and rest on his day according to the commandment of Him who displayed his divine power by making the heavens and the earth.
I saw statements in the papers of the brethren who walk in the same path, saying they were much in want of truly faithful ministers. I wrote to them, and said: Here I am, take me.
And now I remain, a knight devoted heart and soul to the cause of my banished King, Luke 19:14, united in the league of those faithful ones who desire his speedy restoration, and ready to use with a will my sword and lance (my voice and pen), in any regiment in which I can obtain a commission.
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.” Selah!
HERBERT PANMURE RIBTON.

GOOD AND EVIL.

By A. J. H. Duganne

Not lightly did the Persian sage Conceive two warring spirits— The Good and Ill that every age Of mortal life inherits. Each human soul discerns in these His curse and his evangel— Ahrimanes—Ormuzdes— The Demon and the Angel.
Not only is our life two-fold In waking and in sleeping, But two-fold is the mind we hold Within the body's keeping. Not only two-fold is our sense Of doing and of dreaming, But Good and Ill, with power intense, Divide our nature's seeming.
We love, yet hurt the hearts we love; We feel, yet mock at feeling; We ask our Father's help above, Yet spurn our brother's kneeling. We chase the brightest form, to find 'Tis but a cloud we follow; We pluck the fruit of fairest rind, To prove it sere and hollow.
Possession palls, and promise cheats, Hope fails, and trust is shattered: Our marriage blooms, our cradle sweets, In lowly graves lie scattered. What matters, then, to trust or hope? What use in human caring? Since Evil still with Good may cope, And love must die despairing?
Not so, my soul! Love never dies, And Good can never perish; The fruit will bloom beyond the skies Whose blossoms here we cherish. The evil rules but earthly things, Left at the grave's low portal: The good awaits with angel wings, To rule our life immortal.
—A. J. H. Duganne.

A LETTER FROM MOUNT SINAI.

From the “Summit of Mount Sinai, 4 o’clock Sabbath afternoon, Feb. 5, 1843,” Dr. John P. Durbin, the eminent preacher, wrote to Bishop Waugh as follows:—
I have stood upon the Alps, in the middle of July, and looked around upon the snowy empire; I have stood upon the Apennines, and looked abroad upon the plains of beautiful, eventful Italy; I have stood upon the Albanian mount, and beheld the scenes of the Æneid from the Circean promontory, over the Campagna, to the eternal city and mountains of Tivoli; I have sat down upon the pyramids of Egypt, and cast my eyes over the sacred city of Heliopolis, the land of Goshen, the fields of Jewish bondage, and the ancient Memphis, where Moses and Aaron, on the part of God and his people, contended with Pharaoh and his servants, the death of whose “first-born of man and beast in one night,” filled the land with wailing: but I have never set my feet on any spot from whence was visible so much stern, gloomy grandeur, heightened by the silence and solitude that reigned around; but infinitely more heightened by the awful and sacred associations of the first great revelation in form from God to man.
I feel oppressed with the spirit that breathes around me, and seems to inhabit this holy place. I shall never sit down upon the summit of Sinai again, and look upon the silent and empty plains at its feet; but I shall go down a better man, and aim so to live as to escape the terrible thunders at the last day, which once reverberated through these mountains. I can scarcely tear myself away from the hallowed summit, and I wish I too could linger there forty days in converse with the Lord.—The Armory.
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