The Sabbath has been nailed to the cross.Col. 2:14–17.
Answer. We will quote the entire passage: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
I believe it can be clearly shown that there is not one reference in all this to the decalogue, or the seventh-day Sabbath. On this, Dr. Adam Clarke says, “By the handwriting of ordinances, the apostle most evidently means the ceremonial law.” Com. on verse 14. Look at the figures used. “Blotting out.” That which was written on parchment in books, as was the ceremonial law, could be blotted out with a wet sponge. See Num. 5:23. But it would be improper and absurd to talk of blotting out what was engraved in stones, as was the decalogue. “Handwriting.” The ceremonial law was the handwriting of Moses, but the decalogue was written by the finger of God. Ex. 31:18. “Of ordinances.” Here is further proof that it is the law of ceremonial ordinances which is meant. Compare Heb. 9:10: “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” Then there was a law which stood only in these carnal ordinances of meats, drinks, &c., the very things of which the apostle speaks in Colossians. Mark that these were imposed on them as a burden. So in Eph. 2:15: “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.”
Here, too, we have the law of ordinances, the enmity, abolished. “That was against us, which was contrary to us.” The ceremonial law, with all its innumerable rites and ordinances, which must be carefully regarded in the smallest affairs of every-day life, was indeed a burden, a yoke, and against them, imposed upon them to keep them a separate people till Christ came. But which of the ten commandments is against us? Look them over. Is it against us, 1. To have no other gods? 2. Not to make or worship an image? 3. Not to swear? 5. To honor our parents? 6. Not to kill? 7. Nor commit adultery? 8. Nor steal? 9. Nor lie? 10. Nor covet? Are not these commandments good, and for our best interest? But perhaps the fourth precept, the Sabbath, is against us? No, indeed; for Christ himself said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. That which is for man cannot be against him.
“Nailing it to his cross.” It would be proper to speak of nailing to the cross a parchment, or laws written on paper, but entirely improper if the reference is to the tables of stone. They could not be nailed up. Notice now the items which the apostle mentions, not one of which is in the decalogue, but all of which are in the ceremonial law. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat.” Any thing in the ten commandments about meat? Not a word. “Or in drink.” Any thing there about drink? Nothing. “Or in respect of an holy day.” The original word here rendered holy day, is heortes, which means a feast day. Thus Greenfield defines it: “A solemn feast, public festival, holy day.” It occurs twenty-seven times in the New Testament, and is, except in this place, every time rendered “feast,” or “feast day.” The Diaglott renders it thus: “Let no one, therefore, rule you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a festival.” There were many festival (heortes) days in the ceremonial law, but not one in the decalogue. See the yearly festivals enumerated in Lev. 23:2, 4, 6, 34, 37, 39, 41, &c., where the original word rendered festival is heortes every time. And this is the word which Paul uses in Col. 2:16, thus carefully pointing out those old yearly festivals of the ceremonial law. No such festival is mentioned in the ten commandments; hence he has no reference to them.
“Or of the new moon.” Any thing about new moons in the ten commandments? Not a thing. Hence this can be no reference to that law. Was there a law touching the celebration of new moons? Yes; the ceremonial law. See Num. 10:10; 28:11; Ps. 81:3, 4. Thus far we have not found the slightest reference to the ten commandments, but every item mentioned is found in the ceremonial law outside of the decalogue.
“Or of the sabbath days.” Here our opponents are in high glee thinking that the seventh-day Sabbath is surely meant by this; but we are as confident that it is not, and will give our reasons for it. Many of the ablest commentators agree with us in this. Dr. Clarke on this says, “The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the handwriting of ordinances, which had been taken away, viz., the distinction of meats and drinks, what was clean, and what unclean, according to the law: and the necessity of observing certain holidays or festivals, such as the new moons, and particular sabbaths. . . . There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded by the introduction of Christianity. I have shown elsewhere, that remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, is a command of perpetual obligation.”
The American Tract Society comments thus on this passage: “A holy day—sabbath days; in the original, a festival—sabbaths. The days referred to are those required to be observed in the ceremonial law; days associated by God with meats, drinks, and new moons. The passage does not refer to the Sabbath of the moral law associated with the commands forbidding murder, theft, and adultery.”
The following are some of the reasons why this does not apply to the weekly Sabbath:—
1. If it does, then it leaves us no weekly Sabbath day at all; for no exception is made. It sets aside the first-day Sabbath, as well as the seventh day—“Let no man judge you in respect to the sabbath days.” If one man is not to be judged for disregarding one day, then another is not to be judged for disregarding another day, and so we need keep no day.
2. This interpretation contradicts the many plain and direct texts which assert that the law, which includes the Sabbath, is still in force and must be kept, even to the smallest point. Rom. 3:31; Matt. 5:17–19; Jas. 2:8–12, &c.
3. If this proves the Sabbath nailed to the cross, then the other commandments went with it, and so the law against murder, adultery, theft, &c., has been abolished.
4. Not a single expression in the whole passage, unless it be this one touching the Sabbath days,157is applicable to the law of God engraven in stones, as we have seen.
5. Every item in the context, enumerated by the apostle, viz., meats, drinks, festivals, and new moons, is found, not in the decalogue, but in the ceremonial law. This is a strong indication that he is simply talking of the institutions of that ceremonial law, and has no reference to the moral law.
6. But were there any sabbath days in the ceremonial law? Yes; several yearly sabbaths besides the Lord’s Sabbath, and the two had no connection. They are described at length in Lev. 23. We will notice a few of them:—
Verse 24: “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein.” This sabbath was on the first day of the seventh month, which could only come once a year, as all can see.
Verses 27–32: “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. . . . It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” The Greek word here rendered sabbath is sabbaton, the same that is used by Paul in Col. 2:16. This sabbath was on the tenth day of the seventh month and so could come only once a year. The first and tenth days of the month were sabbaths, which shows that they are not weekly Sabbaths; for they are ten days apart—rather a long week!
Verse 39: “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day [of the feast, hence the fifteenth of the month] shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.” Here we have two more yearly sabbaths. That these are not weekly Sabbaths is further proved by the fact that the tenth and the fifteenth days of the month were sabbaths—a week only five days long! Further, the Lord says these are to be kept beside his Sabbath.
Verses 37, 38: “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day; beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” &c.
Thus we have the fact plainly before us that there were several yearly sabbaths connected with meats, drinks, new moons, feasts, &c., besides God’s Sabbath. And this is the very list which Paul names in Col. 2 as nailed to the cross and blotted out. 7. The sabbath days mentioned by Paul he says were a shadow of Christ. Verse 17. This was true of the ceremonial sabbaths, but not of the seventh-day Sabbath. It pointed back to creation, not forward to the cross; hence it is not what the apostle meant.
But, says one, days is a supplied word in Col. 2:16. So the original would read, “Or of the Sabbath,” singular number, hence the Sabbath, the seventh day, and not the sabbath days, the yearly sabbaths, plural. I answer, It is true that “days” is not in the original; but sabbaton is in the plural; hence if we do not render it sabbath days, we must render it sabbaths, plural, which is the same in substance. So our opponents have not even a single hook upon which to hang their theory in this passage.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
“They Never Speak Roughly.”
I was walking lately with a young, unconverted friend, in whom I felt a great interest, and in the course of conversation, I said:— “How many of your companions do you think are Christians?” In reply she gave me the names of four: J. F——, A. L——, M. M——, and S. L——. I said: “Why do you think they are Christians?” “Because,” she replied, “they never speak roughly.” Is not this a lesson to the children of God, of the deep importance of words?”—Exchange.
Stumbling Stones.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
A BROTHER writes: “With shame and sorrow I have to report no progress in divine life. Still stumbling over ‘visions’ and ‘health reform.’”
The very thing which should prove a help is a stumbling stone. Christ came as the prophets had foretold. Everything connected with his advent should have caused them to believe. These things were the evidences of the truth of the predictions of the prophets, and of the claims of Jesus as being the promised Christ. Prophets had spoken, their words were fulfilled; and the only logical conclusion was faith in Jesus. But they stumbled and fell, because of unbelief. God laid this stumbling stone in Zion; but not for the purpose of causing men to stumble, but for the very purpose of producing faith. Hence it was said, “He that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”
It is just so at the present time. God has promised the spirit of prophecy as a characteristic of the remnant of the true church, the people that, under the proclamation of the last message, keep the commandments of God. Rev. 12:17, and 19:10. The exercise of the gift of prophecy, in connection with the proclamation of the warning of the third angel (Rev. 14:9-12), is one of the strongest evidences of the divinity of the work, or, in other words, that the hand of God is truly set to fulfill this all-important warning to mankind. But that which was designed to produce faith, and is the best calculated to have this effect, to unbelief becomes a cause of stumbling. By the preaching of the Heaven-sent message, men are convinced of the perpetuity and immutability of the law of God. Then they fancy that they would engage in keeping the commandments entire, were not the message encumbered with the faith that God is verily in the work. In other words, if the message was wanting in some things that were promised, they could believe and embrace it heartily. This is the logic of unbelief. Faith believes what has been promised when it comes.
And is there not need enough of health reform? and is it too small a matter for God to care for? Those who believe that the body is an essential, as well as material, part of man, should not be slow to believe that a proper care for it has a great moral and spiritual value. We believe, as a Methodist minister of my acquaintance expressed it, that if we save our souls, we shall save our bodies also. And the Scriptures also are full of this doctrine. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” “Therefore glorify God in your body.” If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.”
God gave the Israelites in the desert lessons in health reform, and has set them forth as our examples, or as warnings to us, 1 Cor. 10, and is it not evident that in these degenerate days he should teach us to care for our bodies, enfeebled by disobedience of physical laws, and to do what we can for them, before he gives them the finishing touch of immortality by a translation without death? It is true, he might do everything for us, which he saw fit; but did he not intend that we should do what we can for ourselves? He might give us the products of the earth without our labor, but he has seen best that we should labor for them; and this is for our health.
Those who believe present truth in full are the ones that we should expect would make progress in the divine life. And such we see to be the fact. Those who receive the truth and act upon it without reserve, are those who are ever found at the post of duty.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Practical Thoughts.
By D. T. Bourdeau
INVESTING MONEY WHERE IT WILL PAY.
This is what shrewd managers in temporal things do; and true believers in the last message of mercy will not be behind the men of this world in putting out their means where it will bring them rich returns. They have found a way to have their money bring more than one thousand fold at the end of a very few years, and that is by investing all they can in the different branches of the glorious cause of present truth. It would seem as though they received more than their pay here, in the approving blessings of God's Spirit, in seeing souls embrace the truth, and in seeing the cause prosper; but their full returns and rich reward will be realized in the settling-day, when those whom they have been the means of saving, by a right use of their talents, shall shine in the crowns of their rejoicing. Oh! what a satisfaction to meet such in the kingdom of glory! Who can express the blessedness that will result from such a meeting? What a thrill of humble joy and gratitude will then fill the souls of those who shall have improved every opportunity of helping push forward the work of God, with their means, as they behold on every hand immortal and glorified saints saved, forever saved, as the results of their sacrifices in connection with the grace of God. Such will not then feel tempted to think that God's servants, who invited them to lay up for themselves treasures in Heaven, were dunning them for selfish purposes. Oh! no; it will then seem that the sight of one of the saved, who will be worth more than ten thousand worlds, will more than pay them for all they have done. But this will be but a small part of their reward.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE TIMES, AND INVESTING LARGELY IN THOSE ARTICLES THAT ARE LOW IN THE MARKET.
This is what sharp speculators do. They keep posted on market prices, and keep their eye on those articles that people must have, and when such articles get very low, they invest largely in them. By-and-by, the property they have purchased comes up, and they make a fortune. Much of this principle should be followed in religion. In the spiritual market, there are also articles which are valued very low, even by the mass of professors. One of these is the suffering, self-denying part of religion for the sake of unpopular truth. This article is looked upon by the masses as being almost, or quite, valueless. But it is sure to come up in the spiritual market, when troubles come upon earth, and when the reward is bestowed. It will work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This part of religion is so despised, that but few dare to purchase it. This is true of those who are governed by worldly principles, and walk by sight, and not by faith. But thank God that some are taking, as it were, advantage of the times, and they are willing to invest all in the sacrificing part of religion.
VENTURING IN BUSINESS.
While it is sometimes true that he who ventures nothing loses nothing, it is also true that men often come to turns in their worldly affairs, that, unless they venture, they shall gain nothing, and perhaps lose much. Hence men will run great risks, at times, to better themselves pecuniarily; and they will sometimes lose much; but their hope revives, and they will try again.
Why not also run risks for the Lord, and not be so fearful that his cause will prove a failure? Every great undertaking set on foot, thus far, for the furtherance of God's cause, has proved a success. Some enterprises may have received slight jogs; but even these have been like wind blowing on a tree firmly rooted in rich soil, which only serves to increase its growth, strength, and firmness. We should not be discouraged till we have lost as much in the Lord's cause as we have in our temporal matters. Lost, do I say? There can be no entire loss in venturing for God, for God will reward us according to our good motives in giving. Can we be justified before God unless we venture as much for him, in point of means, as we do for ourselves? But how easy it is for us to excuse ourselves for not giving, and to think that when a call is made for means, it is made to others, and not to us.
TIMID AND DESPONDING CHRISTIANS
Are in danger of thinking that their cases are hopeless, while there is often a greater prospect of their being saved, than there would be if they had no deep sense of the sinfulness of sin, and of the narrowness of the way that leads to the kingdom of God. When men and women have principle and moral courage to take hold of unpopular truth, and sacrifice for it; when they open their hearts and their doors to receive God's children, and delight to see them enjoy the service of God, and to see the cause prosper, we think that their case is very hopeful. Yet they are not without their dangers. They must make an effort to look on the bright side, to believe that God does forgive them their sins, and to shut out the temptations of Satan by taking up their cross, and doing every known duty. The best way for timid souls to get confidence and strength, is to exercise. Thousands have learned this from experience, and others can do the same. True, the cross of such may be heavy, at first, and we should bear with them; but they, too, may triumph in God, and help others by a rich experience.
D. T. Bourdeau.
The Amendment.
By Chas. A. Russell
‘I CLIP the following from The Independent of Feb. 27, 1873, in reference to the Constitutional Amendment. It speaks for itself:—
AN UNCHRISTIAN AMENDMENT.
Those persons who believe that it is lawful to use force in propagating Christianity are holding a public meeting in the Cooper Institute in this city as this paper is passing through the press. The call for the meeting is signed by a Justice of the Supreme Court, by several governors, ex-governors, bishops, doctors of divinity, and other notabilities, civil and ecclesiastical; many of whom are men of undoubted worth and respectability, and whose connection with this enterprise is the only impeachment of their good sense.
We say that these people propose to use force in propagating the Christian religion. That is a point which must not be lost sight of. Law is force. It rests upon force; it is maintained by force; whenever it is violated, force must be appealed to for its vindication. We always speak of enforcing law; and it is not a figure of speech, by any means. An amendment to the Constitution recognizing and proclaiming Christianity as the supreme law of the land would be maintained only by the suggestion or the use of carnal weapons. This is directly contrary to the letter and the spirit of Christianity. “My kingdom is not of this world” said the Master; and those who undertake by political methods to advance his kingdom are disobeying his express command.
No worse dishonor has ever been put upon the religion of Christ by its professed adherents than this proclamation, signed by a chief justice of our Supreme Court and a vast number of other dignitaries, that “every Christian feature” will surely be obliterated from existing institutions unless we “make the Constitution explicitly Christian.” The power of the pulpit and the Christian press; the influence of Sunday-schools and home missions; the moral and spiritual forces at our command: the promised aid of Him who said, “Lo! I am with you alway”—all these will be of no avail to preserve our land from heathenism, if we cannot get a few words of religious dogma into the text of our Constitution! We desire the public to understand that these men do not represent the Christian sentiment of this land. They are but an insignificant faction in the churches, and their numbers will not increase. Many of them are wholly sincere in their advocacy of this measure; but there is not a ghost of a chance that it will be adopted, and the agitation of it can result only in harm. It is not only an unchristian but an Antichristian project, and ought to be repudiated with indignation by every man who believes that “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”
The Editor of the Christian Union, in a late issue, also speaks as follows:—
1. The method here proposed is antagonistic to the Christian method, which, in its purest forms and pre-eminently in the hands of Christ himself, has ever been to deal first with the inside, and work thence outward; to attach great value to the spirit, and very little to mechanical devices, to secure the good profession by securing first the good heart. But the process advocated by the National Association is exactly the reverse of this. Its plan is to secure an operation which is begun on the outside and not within: to get the mechanical device of a formal acknowledgment, in our national charter, of God, of Jesus Christ, and of the Bible, without any account being taken of the attitude of the national spirit; to obtain a profession by the lips, whatever may be the testimony of the heart and the life. Let it not be said that this question of method is unimportant. Nay, it goes to the very essence of the strife between Christianity and all corruptions of it. The first note of a fatal lapse from the spirit of Christ is to be discovered in the shifting of the field of religious operation from the interior to the surface. The worst opponents whom Christ encountered on earth were those Hebrew religionists whose external service was perfect; and who continually wore upon their foreheads slips of parchment on which was inscribed the devout “recognition of Almighty God.” The plan we are discussing is a proposal to wear a phylactery upon the forehead of the Constitution.
2. The method of the National Association is antagonistic to the spirit of American civil liberty. Every argument which has been or can be used in favor of the theological amendment of the Constitution, has been used a thousand times; just as logically, for the union of Church and State. Moreover, every one of these arguments would justify prosecution in the courts of the land for opinion’s sake. Suppose that you have carried your amendment. Instantly you have revolutionized the civil spirit of this Republic. From the moment of your victory, you make the holding of certain theological opinions, different from your own, an offense indictable in our courts and punishable in our prisons. When you have gained so much, what have you left of American liberty?
Both as Christians and as patriots, therefore, we solemnly protest against the measure now in agitation. It is a measure in every way evil. Its success would be fatal at once to religion and to freedom in America.
Thus speak two of the leading papers in America, and although they cherish the belief, the project will not succeed, as in the language of one of them they think the scheme as “impossible as it is objectionable,” what would be their consternation were their eyes open to the future of this government as delineated in the sure word of prophecy.
How thankful ought we to be as a people for the light which has shone upon us in advance. Who shall be ready for the contest?
FAITH is the foundation of Christianity. A sincere, rational, and unshaken confidence in the Creator of all things, as the author of all that is good, must underlie the whole system of practical godliness: for doubt on this subject causes just such a catastrophe here as happens to a building when the foundation is defective or decayed, or is wholly removed.
A man who doubts the Bible, or its author, has already, not only renounced Christianity, but, ranked himself with Paine and Voltaire, and the infidelity of the age.
The persons to whom the text is addressed, are supposed not only to have a faith in theory, but they are supposed to have a practical faith, that can trust God in emergencies, when difficulties arise, when want or misfortune lay a heavy hand upon the trusting saint.
When all the artillery of Satan is let loose upon the child of God, he may be in want, or sorrow, persecuted by enemies, and forsaken of friends; he may be friendless and alone, or he may be the victim of a Herod or a Nero, or a victim of the more refined cruelty of councils and edicts, yet faith and confidence in God never fail him; but, like the strong arm of Omnipotence, it lifts him above the earth. He seems to breathe the atmosphere of Paradise; and the greater his suffering, the stronger his faith, and love, and joy.
J. CLARKE.
Take Heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy.
“I BEHELD then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” Dan. 7:11. “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:8.
The following statements from Connellan in the Pilot—a strictly Catholic organ, printed in Boston, we think are wonderful concessions to the verification of the above prophecies. Indeed, it seems not a little singular that such statements should come from such a source. We give the italics:—
The year that has just been gathered to the past, while it has not been distinguished by those greater events which strike men with wonder and horror, has yet been filled with many grievous incidents, and has been marked by the development of principles which have produced, and will continue to produce, sad results to Europe. From west to east, from north to south, from France (where, indeed, the opposition to Catholicity is less, perhaps, than anywhere else) to Turkey, from Italy to Russia, the rulers of Europe are in arms against the Catholic church. In some fashion or other the Catholics of every country are suffering. Here, education is the channel through which persecution is inflicted; there, sequestration of church property is the grievance, and, in other parts, banishment of the clergy inflicts the gravest wrong on Catholics. A rapid glance at the various countries of Europe, and a review of the salient points in their history during the past year, will show what spirit is at work, and will enable us to connect the events of the twelve months that are gone with the events that may occur during the year that is beginning.
ROME
To Catholics, Rome must be the beginning and the end of every question touching religion or foreign politics. The conditions made around the Pope, his continued imprisonment, his words and his acts, possess at the present time a more powerful interest than any other series of questions occupying the nations of the world.
The latter days of 1871 beheld Pius IX. forsaken by the governments of the world, with the solitary exception of the Republic of Ecuador, and the year 1872 opened and concluded, leaving the Pope in a similar, probably in a worse, condition with governments. The nations of Europe are thus, for the most part, in open warfare with the Sovereign Pontiff. In person, surrounded by enemies, slandered in the press, insulted by caricatures, his guards slain, his mandates disregarded, his words perverted to basest uses—behold the condition of His Holiness Pope Pius IX. in the 81st year of his age, in his holy city of Rome!
Controversy: Honest Comparison of Beliefs
By A. P. V. H.
Controversy.
I present the following extract as worthy of notice in discussions, especially upon religious subjects. A. P. V. H.
“I like controversy when it is thoroughly honest. I do admire to see two large and generous minds approach a subject from opposite quarters, and then to watch the new lights that flash over it, and show it in a thousand relations that were not obvious before. It lifts us out of the ruts of our sect and party, in whose treadmill we have been grinding all our lives, and mistaking it for the universe. But controversy with small minds is the smallest business that is done in this world. It slides inevitably into word-catching, and ends in personalities. The moment I saw a man consciously trying to put my language to a different use from what I had put it myself, I would stop short with him and say: ‘I am glad to compare ideas with you, but I have no time for word-catching.’ To say, as Dr. Johnson did, ‘I can’t furnish meaning and brains too,’ is not courteous. The only controversy that ever convinces the controversists is a friendly comparison of beliefs, each turning the other’s round, and viewing it under all the angles of reflection. It is not this sort of controversy, but fighting with word mongers, that Dr. Holmes must have in mind, ‘You know that if you had a bent tube, one arm of which was the size of a pipe stem, and the other big enough to hold the ocean, water would stand in the same height in one as in the other. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men in the same way, and the fools know it.’”—Rev. E. H. Sears.
Tract and Missionary Department.
By O. F. Guilford; M. E. Reynolds
Quarterly Meeting of Ohio T. and M. Society.
The second quarterly meeting of the Ohio T. and M. Society was held at Clyde, March 23, 1873. Meeting convened at 9 o’clock. Bro. St. John being present, addressed the congregation briefly on the subject of missionary labor from Eccl. 11:6.
Business meeting at 10½ o’clock. Opened with prayer by Bro. St. John. O. F. Guilford in the Chair. Report of the previous meeting was called for, read, and accepted. Reports of the several districts of missionary labor for quarter ending March 23 showed the following results:—
Pamphlets and tracts distributed, 70,417 pages; No. of families visited, 167; No. of letters written, 117.
Received for Memberships, $10.00
“ “ Donations, 29.57
“ “ Book Sales, 11.89
Total, $51.46
Subscribers obtained for REVIEW, 81; Instructor, 49; Reformer, 49.
Distribution of reading matter, REVIEWS, 97; Instructors, 52; Reformers, 81.
Money raised for delinquents, $218.60
Paid out “ “ 195.21
Balance, $23.39
Cash on hand at the Office, $54.34
“ in “ of Treasurer, 74.73
Total, $129.07
Moved, That the Chair appoint a committee of three to draw up resolutions. Carried. Committee on Resolutions: H. A. St. John, John Mears, and Emory Hutchins.
Resolved, That each church furnish the worthy poor of its number with our periodicals.
Resolved, That the T. and M. Society furnish the worthy poor outside of the churches, who desire our periodicals, with the same, and charge to the Missionary Fund.
Resolved, That the director of each several district decide who are worthy to receive our periodicals free, or below subscription price, in their districts, and draw from the Missionary Fund to meet the want. Resolutions adopted.
Moved to adjourn to first Sabbath and Sunday in July. Carried.