Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 3, 1858
SELF-FLATTERY.
By Flavel
Section I. ALL flattery, and especially self-flattery, is criminal and injurious; but self-flattery, in regard to the concerns of salvation, is to the last degree dangerous and destructive. To persuade ourselves, or endeavor to persuade others, that we possess goodness of which we are in reality destitute, is shameful and ruinous dissimulation. But of this, Laodiceans, and self-deceivers in every age, are guilty.
My present design is not to shake the well-founded hopes of any man, or to excite unreasonable apprehensions, but to discover the radical and fatal defects in the basis of many men's expectations of future happiness. Men must judge of their religion by examining its foundation; if that fail, the superstructure is perishable and worthless.
There is a laudable spirit of caution cherished by saints, which makes them sensible to the danger of self-deception, and renders them watchful and circumspect; there is also a culpable anxiety and fear, tending only to gloom and despondency, to which they sometimes give way; by the former they are guarded against evil; by the latter they deprive themselves of inward peace.
Sometimes good men, indulging groundless fears of hypocrisy, are blind to the clearest evidences of their gracious state; but more frequently, the merely formal, regardless of consequences, close their eyes upon the proofs of their guilt and jeopardy. This is an evil in regard to both, but less hazardous in one case than in the other. For he that sees not his own graces, and realizes not his privileges, does but deprive himself of quiet and enjoyment for a short time; whereas he that shuts his eyes against the evidences of his sin and condemnation, procures the endless destruction of his soul.
I shall endeavor in this chapter to make it evident, that among professors of religion, many are deceived; to assign the causes of their deception; and to make such inferences and reflections as the subject suggests.
Section. II. That many professors of religion are deceived is evident,
1. From the fact that there are more professors than converts. There are many professors of religion who are christians only by education; who have grown as it were up into the church, but who have never been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ. Others have been induced by the influence of custom, by slavish fear, by ambition, or by more unworthy motives, to profess christianity. Now all such deceive themselves, and while they accelerate their eternal ruin, they greatly increase its aggravations. Let them reflect, that to appear, in the view of men, like christians, is one thing; to be christians indeed, in the sight of God is quite another.
2. Many professors practice only an outward compliance with the commands of God. They know nothing of that inward, vital religion, which is seated in the affections of the heart, which subdues its sinful propensities and purifies its desires. But what will their external conformity avail or what is it but a miserable imitation of that which lives in good men and prepares them for heaven? Surely it can have no better effect than to fit them at last to accuse and condemn themselves. Certain it is, that there are many professors of this class who, like Jehu, take no heed to walk in the way of the Lord God of Israel with their heart; who deceive themselves, or endeavor to deceive others; and who will sooner or later receive the fearful reward of their doings.
3. That many professors are self-deluded, appears from the circumstance that, in severe trials, numbers fall away. They are removed from their steadfastness, as dry leaves are carried away by a tempest. "They go out from us, that it may be made manifest that they were not of us." "When tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, they are quickly offended." Had they been told at first that their professions and zeal would terminate thus, probably their reply would have been like that of Hazael to the man of God: "What, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" Alas, how unlike in their brilliant and hopeful morning to their dark and gloomy evening! These professors have more of the moon than of the sun; they have little light, little heat, but many changes.18
4. Another proof that there are numerous false professors is, that many secretly indulge some beloved lust, which, like a worm at the root, cripples and kills them. Such persons may have excellent gifts, and perform various and difficult duties; but pampering one lust, or allowing one secret sin, will destroy them. To cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right eye; to deny themselves and forsake all for Christ, requires such heart-religion as they do not possess. They study to exhibit a becoming exterior deportment; they refrain from open impieties, and visibly conform to their profession; and hence they acquire great confidence, and display themselves with much assurance; but they secretly love and practice iniquity, they cherish some known sin, and thus flatter, and deceive, and ruin their souls.
5. These professors of religion who are unaccustomed to the daily practice of secret devotion, constitute not a small part of the multitude who are deceived. There are many who attend the public ordinances of religion, and who either statedly or occasionally, engage in social worship with the family, but whose religion does not lead them to the closet, nor incline them to any unobserved intercourse with heaven. These people call themselves children of God, but their piety comprises nothing so personal, or particular, nothing which so much distinguishes them from the heedless world, which renders the hope of salvation so interesting, or the possibility of damnation so horrible, as to give them a relish for prayer, devout meditation, and secret communion with God. They shrink from the idea of retiring by themselves and having their hearts open to that invisible Being, that holy God, whom they profess to love and to worship, they contrive therefore to forget their secret, if not all their sins to be unconscious of their wants, and to impose on themselves by substituting casual outward formality for that godliness which has the promise of the life to come. Reader, if thy heart were right with God, and thou didst not cheat thyself with a vain profession, thou wouldst have frequent occasions for the peculiar duties of the closet, which thou wouldst conceal from thy familiar friend. "Charity vaunteth not itself." True piety can by no means entirely lay itself open to the eyes of men; public actions and appearance may support its credit, but secret exercises must maintain its life, and supply its purest enjoyment.
6. There are many professors who never made religion their chief concern, and who, therefore, though they have a name to live, are dead in sin. While there are those who "give themselves to the Lord;" "whose conversation and treasure is in heaven;" "the end of whose life is Christ;" who give religion the precedence both in their affections and their time; and who are constant and unreserved in the service of God: there are also professors whose religion engrosses not their attention, and occupies little of their time; so far from being the chief object of their solicitude, it is treated as if anything else was more important; and when they pretend to engage in it, their thoughts and hearts are somewhere else. It is not their design, in attending to the duties of religion, to honor or to have fellowship with God, to become conformed to his law, to have their unholy propensities subdued, or the genuineness of their piety tried; they pray as if they prayed not, and hear as if they heard not; and if they derive no benefit from ordinances, if they acquire no animation from their discharge of duties, they are not disappointed, for they anticipated no such effects.
From these considerations it is sufficiently manifest that many professors of religion deceive themselves in regard to their real character.
Section III. There are four principal causes of the delusion and dissimulation of false professors.
1. The deceitfulness of the heart. The hearts of such men, and of all the impenitent, "are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." They are so full of sophistry and guile, so changeful and illusive in their operations, and so incurably and perversely inclined to evil, that they will be found at last to have been a sufficient cause of men's ruin. The wicked, when finally cast away, will be sensible that the shame and the blame of their perdition is ascribable wholly to themselves. They will see that the self-adulation, the hypocrisy, the unbelief, the contempt of vital piety, and the bold indifference to the invitations and threatenings of God's word, which they have practiced, were suited to prepare them for eternal death. Verily, "he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool."
2. False professors are eminently exposed to the diabolical arts and influence of the great adversary; they lay themselves open to his foul suggestions, and by their love of error and sensuality they both invite and ensure success to his artifices. Hence it is not to be wondered that he takes them captive at his will. He is the god of this world, that blinds the minds of them that believe not, and decoys the thoughtless into hell; they of all men are most ready to close with his devices and yield to his impostures. With reference to them, Basil represents this apostate spirit as thus insolently addressing Christ: "I have them! I have them! In spite of all thy blood and miracles, thy wooing and beseechings, thy knockings and stirrings, I have cozened thee of them at the very gates of heaven."
3. The effects wrought in many unregenerate professors, the excitements of feeling, the raptures of fancy, the bliss of ideal safety, the pleasure of living as they list, without obscuring their prospects or disturbing their consciences, greatly increase and confirm their delusions: They do not distinguish between the operations and fruits of the Spirit of God in the sanctification of men, and the effects of error, of ignorance, of stupidity, of enthusiasm, or of diabolical influence. Their own experience is the standard by which they judge of themselves; and that not unfrequently is such as to dazzle and infatuate them. They are ready to say, "I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." Among those who are deceived in this way, some assume the office of religious teachers. Let them consider the words of Him by whom teachers must be judged: "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works?" To whom the Judge will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
4. The practice of comparing themselves with others, is a cause of deception among many. Thus the Pharisees, by trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and despising others, kept up a high opinion of their own merit. They elevated themselves by depressing those over whom they affected a superiority. Some false professors mentioned by St. Paul, "measuring themselves by themselves," and comparing themselves among themselves, proved, that they were as deluded as they were foolish. Instead of making one man, or one set of men, a test for the trial of another, God has established his word as the only standard of character, and by this those who are saints indeed form an opinion of themselves. But many false professors want a more lax and indefinite rule; they choose to compare themselves with characters that are in some respect subject to reproach. They are sharp-sighted to observe other men's faults, as they are their own supposed excellencies; they contemplate the failings of others with pity or derision, and their own doings with admiration. They bless themselves when they behold the impieties of the wicked: "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are." A christian may and ought to praise God that he has been made by grace to differ from some other men, but he cannot rake together the enormities of the worst characters, or the infirmities of the best, in order to justify and applaud himself, as these phariseal deceivers do.
Such are some of the causes of that general delusion and imposture under which so many bow down and perish.
Section IV. 1. Let me caution you to beware of inferring from what has been said, that all professors of religion are deceivers, and that there is no truth or integrity in any man; this would be, with intolerable arrogance, to affect the prerogative of God; and with desperate severity to judge the hearts of men.
Some men are as apt to conclude that those are hypocrites whose hearts they measure by their own, as others are to decide that themselves are saints, by comparing their fancied virtues with the vices and crimes of the most abandoned. But, blessed be God, there is some grain amidst the heaps of chaff and rubbish; the Devil hath not the entire piece; a remnant is really and peculiarly the Lord's
2. Let none imagine because so many are deceived, that assurance is unattainable. It is indeed a difficult acquisition, but is far from impracticable; hence all are commanded to "give diligence to make their calling and election sure."
3. I warn you not to conceal the truths of God or the graces of his Spirit, nor to be deterred from openly professing them, because many deceive themselves and others by a vain profession. Ought you to hide what you have, because another pretends to what he has not? The possession of holiness in your own soul is indeed what secures you from perdition; but the profession of it is what honors God, edifies the saints, and sometimes awakens sinners. Ostentation is sinful, but a serious and humble profession is an unquestionable duty.
Section V. Having guarded what has been said from abuse, I hasten to a more direct and special improvement of the subject. And surely I cannot better accomplish this, than by warning you to see to it, that you be not of the number who deceive themselves. Suffer me then to press that great apostolical caution, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." O look carefully to your foundation! "Be not high-minded, but fear." You may have done and suffered many things for religion's sake; you may have excellent gifts and great comforts, much zeal for God and high confidence of your integrity, and all this may be right; but possibly it may be counterfeit and vain. Perhaps you have sometimes, upon examination, pronounced yourself upright; but remember that the Searcher of hearts has not yet delivered his final sentence; if he weigh you in the balance of truth and find you wanting, how will you be confounded and dismayed? Saints may look upon you with approbation, but they are not as God seeth; you may have a name to live while dead.19
You know the fate of apostate professors mentioned in the gospel. Do they not all, as it were, cry to you with one voice, "If you would not come where we are, flatter not yourselves as we did; if you expect a better portion, be sure that you get better hearts; had we been more self-suspicious, we had been more safe."
I would not frighten you with groundless alarms, but would gladly prevent fatal mistakes. Do you not find your heart deceitful in many things? Do you not shuffle over secret duties? Do you not condemn, in others, evils which you scarce reprove in yourself? Are there not many selfish ends in your performances? Do you not find that you are far less affected with a great deal of service done for God by others, than with a little done by yourself? Is it not hard for you to look without envy upon the excellencies of other men, or without pride upon your own? Are you not troubled by a busy Devil, as well as by a bad heart? Has not he that circuits the whole world observed you? Has he not studied your constitutional failings, and discovered the sin that most easily besets you? Has he less malice toward your soul than toward those around you? Surely you are in the very thicket of temptations; thousands of snares are on every side. Alas! how few of the professing and expecting world win heaven at last! With what difficulty are even the righteous saved! Therefore search your heart; and may this caution penetrate your inmost soul: "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." Away with such uncharitable censuring of others, and be more just and severe in rebuking yourself. Away with unprofitable controversies; spend your thoughts rather upon this momentous question, "Am I sound, or am I rotten at heart?" "Am I a new creature, or the old disguised in borrowed clothing?" Let it be your prayer that you may not be deceived. Pray and labor that you may not be given up to a heedless and vain spirit, and then have religious duties for a show to beguile and hush your conscience.
Surely that ground-work upon which your hope for eternal life is built cannot be too safely laid. I dare promise you, that when you come to die, you will not regret having devoted much time and attention to this matter. Whilst others then are panting after the dust of the earth, and crying who will show us any good? do you endeavor after the full assurance of the love of God.
Deceive not yourself with names and notions; they cannot change your heart. If you are still impenitent, if you have not been renewed and sanctified by the Spirit of God, it matters little by what name you are called, or how warmly you advocate the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel; you are in the sight of God a guilty, perishing sinner.
Once more, then, I warn you to examine the foundation upon which you rest; deceive not yourself; behold, the Judge who knows your works standeth at the door.
Section VI. To conclude: If, as we have reason to believe, a great many professors of religion, and others whose hopes are not less sanguine, are fatally deceived, then it becomes those who have good reason to believe that they are indeed the children of God, to praise and glorify him for his mercy as long as they live. There are doubtless many real christians who do not themselves perceive such evidence of their gracious state as fully to satisfy them; but let them not be discouraged; let them resolutely persevere, and constantly live as the grace of God teacheth. And let such as have daily unequivocal evidence of their sanctification, freely enjoy the elevated happiness and the transporting anticipations peculiar to their state of mind.—Flavel.
MY FATHER'S BIBLE.
By S. Dier
FLOW on, sweet tears! I needs must weep,
For memory calls from fountains deep,
That treasured store of holy tears
The heart has garnered up for years—
Mine eyes behold
My Father's Bible—his of yore;
Than mines of gold,
He prized it more!
When grief oppressed, and crushing care;
When Death had nipped our loved and fair,
And dark misfortune's heavy hand
Was laid upon our little band,
In painful loss;
He then would read what Jesus bore:
Upon the cross,
And weep no more.
When pleasure spread her flowery maze,
To lure our feet from virtue's ways,
And sin with fell, insidious art,
Wove fatal spells to snare the heart—
This truthful page,
Our doubting footsteps onward bore
Through every stage,
Till doubt was o'er.
When called to seek the distant West,
I craved a father's last behest;
'Mid parting pangs we scarce could brook,
"Take this," said he, "this blest old book,
So long, long mine;
And tho' I give no other store,
'Tis wealth divine—
Prize nothing more.
Long hast thou known a father's care;
Shared daily in his fervent prayer;
But now we part—Farewell, my child!"
He said no more, but wept; yet smiled,
As pointing still
To this old book, when through the door,
I passed the sill,
Crossed nevermore!
Now moonbeams sleep upon his grave,
And mournful willows o'er him wave;
No more from death's repose he'll wake,
To plead with man for Jesus' sake,
His sins forbear.
O, as I turn these pages o'er,
Than jewels rare,
I prize them more.
When death would fright the timid soul
With coffin, shroud, the grave's dark goal,
The parting hour, the dying groan,
The world unseen, a fate unknown,
A light from thee,
Thou Book of books, dost round me pour;
Death's shadows flee—
Life evermore!
Thou'rt dingy now, and sadly worn,
With crumpled leaves and binding torn;
Thy value others may not see,
But thou art priceless wealth to me!
Shrined in my heart
Shall be thy memory and thy lore;
My soul's best chart
For evermore!
[S. Dier.
Recognizing the Grace Within
It may be, thou seest another abound with that joy which thou wantest; and art therefore ready to think, his grace is more and thine less than it really is; while perhaps, thou mayest have as much real grace as he, only thou wantest a light to show thee where it lies.
Comfort in Sorrow.
BE mine the ministry of love
To lift the fallen—cheer the fainting heart,
And point to Him, whose weary feet oft trod
The path of sorrow—with these the piercing thorns
That men despised, and coldly looked on One
Whose heart was full of love and tenderness.
COMFORT—what a cheering word to the heart-stricken one, who is almost ready to despair, in view of a cup filled to overflowing with ills which it is vain to attempt to avert.
Yes! loved one, comfort for thee.
There may be still one bright spot in the dark sky which overshadows all thine earthly prospects—a tiny spot of light, which needs some guiding hand to point it out with thy bedimmed vision, but swelling in magnitude as thou gazest until the dark shadows almost vanish in the distance.
Who would not lend that guiding hand, speak words of kindly encouragement in the hour of trial!
Friend after friend perhaps has been followed to the silent tomb, until alone in the midst of life, there seems left to the bereaved one, nothing for which to live. Some gentle one whispers to that desolate heart, "A cup of cold water only, given from love to Christ, shall not lose its reward." New hope fills the breast—there is something for which to live; humble labor in His vineyard is accepted, and will bring peace and joy to the mourned heart.
The breath of slander may mar the fairest christian character. The most conscientious and upright are not quite safe from the poisoned arrows from deceitful lips.
Is it not worth even the reproach of earth for "misjudged kindness," to breathe in such an one's ear, "to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause the Lord approveth not?" Yes! injured and smitten one, it is for thy comfort. God only allows wicked and unjust men to triumph for a while. He cannot approve.
Have those in whom trust was reposed, those with whom all our interests were felt to be safe, proved treacherous or unkind.
Ah! this is anguish—anguish with which the world at large have but little sympathy. The tale of heart-woes becomes tiresome, however true to those whose highest delight is in "sunny smiles and laughing eyes." The face saddened into a leaden hue, by sufferings and wrongs borne in silence excites but little commiseration or thought of the why or wherefore of such sadness. How soothing to such sufferers the patient ear, the tender tones of love, the heartfelt sympathy, and full often the material aid, all of which require but little or no self-denial on the part of the giver.
Yet how ready is the human heart, itself elated with prosperity, to think—and possibly to utter—with Pharisaical complacency, Are not these sinners above all others, that such a lot should be theirs? Something must be wrong on their part!
Yet stay the hasty judgment, vain mortal! Thine own soul may yet be called to the same test, in the fiery furnace of temptation and trial. Couldst thou come out unscathed as even this sad one? Could thine own heart endure all the well-meant counsel or severe condemnation which now thou dost so freely offer thy fellow in like circumstances? The heart, bleeding and almost broken with long, smothered ills, may not need a censor's probing touch, to sink it still deeper in despair, half as much as kind and cheering words—encouragement to hold fast the path of duty, if it be a strait and narrow way.
Christ has his chosen "well-beloved ones," yet on earth, not always those whose "fame is in all the churches," for high and noble deeds, but those "of whom the world is not worthy."
High above the praise of earth may we not find at last some of even these, whom we have passed by as "always in affliction, always in the deep waters of adversity?"
Wouldst thou be the one christian, to lift up the "cast down but not destroyed?" Then stay! oh, stay the harsh and reproachful word to the already crushed and bowed spirit.
Even now an angel may be commissioned to do thy work, to bind up the broken heart, to whisper, "Thou art not alone, thine elder brother, Jesus, was a man of sorrows, despised and rejected of men, acquainted with grief."
Yes! afflicted one, the promise is for thee, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."—Advocate and Guardian.
The Revival; What has it Done?
By Golden Rule
WHAT is it doing? Making the people better, wiser, honester, holier? Is it laying the ax at the root of every sin? Does it go to the bottom, cut off right hands, pluck out right eyes, purify, sanctify, crucify the "old man" entirely, that the body of sin be destroyed, "that henceforth we should no more serve sin?" Does this revival lead to the entire abandonment of intemperance in every form, tobacco-selling, chewing, smoking and snuffing, rum-selling and rum drinking? Does it clear out the rubbish of the press—the novels, the romances, the Harpers, the Godeys, the Grahams, the Petersons, the Ledgers, the Flags and the Jonathans—all the sugar-coated poisons, the serpents of serpents? Does it lead men to vote for God, good men, free men, honest men, just men, God-fearing; hating pride, covetousness and oppression, to keep the Lord's day holy? Does this blessed outpouring of God's Holy Spirit lead ministers to rebuke all sin, popular sin, in high places and in low, from the king to the peasant, and especially to open their lips for the dumb, those appointed for destruction, the crushed ones? Also to rebuke the idolatry in dress, the gay and fashionable adornings? Does the revival do this—make a clean sweep? If not, look out for the breakers!—Golden Rule.
Christ’s Authority and Intercession
CHRIST commands in heaven as he does on earth. There is nothing he can ask of the Father, but is answered. He has not a nay. If any come to be a suitor to him, to put a petition for him, he is sure to speed.
Christ Is All in All
Thou, who hast seen Christ all, and thyself absolutely nothing; to whom Christ is life, and who art dead to all righteousness besides, thou art a christian, one highly beloved, and who has found favor with God.
Circumspect Christian Conduct
Persons who make a peculiar profession of godliness, should be peculiarly circumspect in their moral walk; else they hurt their own character, but above all, the cause of religion itself; and resemble a man who carries fire in one hand and water in the other.
Preparing for Eternity
MANY men pass fifty or sixty years in the world, and when they are just about going out of it they bethink themselves, and step back, as it were, to do something which they had all the while forgot, viz.: the main business for which they came into the world, to repent of their sins, and reform their lives, and make their peace with God, and in time prepare for eternity.
The Saint and Great Things
The saint seeks not to do great things; for that reason he can accomplish great things. He who thinks many things easy is sure to encounter numerous difficulties. Hence it happens that the saint who esteems everything difficult, encounters no difficulty to the end of his life.
Longing for Communion with God
Though a gracious soul may not always enjoy sensible communion with God in the ordinances; yet it has always this good sign, that it cannot be easy and satisfied without it.
Prayer Brings Blessings
WHEN we send the dove of prayer to heaven, it brings back an olive branch in its mouth. We must send prayer before as a harbinger to bespeak a blessing. Do men think the tree of blessing will drop its fruit into their mouth, when they never shake it by prayer?
THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH. No. 27.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
It will not of course be claimed that the mark of the beast is a literal mark impressed upon the hand or forehead, any more than that the seal of the living God is a literal impression [Rev. vii,] or the Father's name a literal writing [Rev. xiv, 1; iii, 12,] or the law written in our hearts a literal writing. 2 Cor. iii, 3; Jer. xxxi, 33; Heb. viii, 10. But the forehead being the seat of the mind by which we receive or reject all theories presented to us, the seal and the mark there located, must evidently signify some prominent doctrines which distinguish the worshipers of the beast and the worshipers of God.
What then is the mark of the beast? That the beast of Rev. xiii, with seven heads and ten horns designates the Papacy, no Protestant will quarrel with us for believing. By considering the characteristics of this beast in verses 5-7, we find that the same power is prophesied of in Dan. vii; and it is there said (verse 25) that he should think to change times and laws. What times and laws are these which the Pope should think to change? Evidently not the laws of men or nations; for any power which has control of these, is able, and has a perfect right, to change them; and it is neither a mark of arrogance nor of blasphemy for it to do so; and that the Papacy has had all these in its control is a fact which need not be mentioned. But here are laws which he shall not be able to change though he shall think to do it; and for doing this, the prophets designate him as speaking great words against the Most High, and blasphemies; it must be the law of God which in his arrogance he should think to control.
Let us then take God's law, the ten commandments, and compare it with the precepts enforced by Papacy. We find that the Roman Church has omitted entirely the second commandment, and to supply the deficiency, has divided the tenth. Moreover in enforcing the fourth, which is the third in her decalogue, she commands us to keep Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of the seventh day which is enjoined by the law of God. With all this before us, we read in Rev. xiii, 4, that "they worshiped the beast." What is it to worship the beast? The following may be considered a universal rule on this point:
"Whenever any civil or ecclesiastical enactment conflicts with the requisitions of Jehovah, that power is worshiped which is obeyed in preference to the other. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey." Rom. vi, 16.
Men worship the beast, therefore, by obeying his institutions in preference to those of Jehovah; and the observance of such institutions becomes a mark or sign between him and his worshipers. And as Sunday-keeping, which directly conflicts with the plain requirements of the law of God, is an institution peculiar to Papacy, a fact which can be clearly proved, we are unavoidably held to the conclusion that it is the mark of the beast; and we are further confirmed in this view, when we learn from the very message of the Third Angel, itself, that the issue between beast-worshipers and the saints, is on the commandments of God. "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God," etc. This is one class; and on the other hand it is said, "Here are they that keep the Commandments of God, and the Faith of Jesus."
We need not be told more plainly, that if we worship the beast and receive his mark, we do not keep the Commandments of God; and if we do keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus, we do not worship the beast, nor receive his mark. Now what is the difference between the requirements of the beast and the Commandments of God? Chiefly this: the one enjoins the observance of the human institution of Sunday, the other commands us to keep holy the true Sabbath, the seventh day. Hence we necessarily come to the conclusion that a false Sabbath is the mark of the beast.
We now see the import of the solemn message of the Third Angel. Viewed in connection with the work which called it forth, we see also its fitness and adaptation to the wants of the world. The closing work of the Sanctuary commences. That work brings to view the ark and Commandments of God; but there has been an alarming and wide-spread apostasy from these commandments through the influence and work of the Man of Sin, and a fearful blindness still rests upon the world on this subject. All christendom almost, is yielding homage to an institution of an anti-christian power, in direct conflict with the law of God. Their attention must be aroused to their condition. The Third Angel comes forth upon his mission. If any man worship the beast or his image, he shall drink the unmingled mixture of God's displeasure. Here are they who keep the Commandments of God, and the Faith of Jesus. On the other hand, the dragonic voice of earthly power is raised, saying, that all who will not worship the image of the beast shall be put to death. On this point the issue comes between the powers of light and darkness. These are the principles involved in the controversy. Obedience to God or obedience to men. Reader, which will you yield? Will you bow to the throne of Jehovah, or to the scepter of Baal? Will you reverence the Commandments of God, or the institutions of men? Will you brave the threat of temporal death from the arm of the civil power, or the threat of fire and brimstone, and eternal death from the arm of Jehovah? This is the warning before the world. This is the question upon which they must decide and that for eternity. The very next event in this line of prophecy is one like the Son of man on the white cloud, having in his hand a sharp sickle. May the Lord move upon many hearts to make haste to become subjects of his mercy that they may not fall beneath the vials of his wrath.
(To be Continued.)
AFRAID TO LEARN.
"It is related that Galileo, who invented the telescope, with which he observed the satellites of Jupiter, invited a man who was opposed to him, to look through it, that he might observe Jupiter's moons. The man positively refused, saying, 'If I should see them, how could I maintain my opinions which I have advanced against your philosophy?' This is the case with many. They will not hear truth for fear that the arguments which they have framed will be destroyed."
How often is this illustrated by the course many pursue in regard to the truth. If they do not say it in word they do in practice at least, that they will not investigate for fear they may be convinced of the truth of these things, and that they do not wish to be. And not unfrequently is this the open and avowed reason. A lady of this place not long since remarked to a sister of our church, "Why," says she "Mrs. ———, I do not want to examine your views; I do not want to become a Millerite." If these are not the words, they contain the substance of her remark. Christ speaks of certain ones who love darkness rather than light, and who will not come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved. Jno. iii, 19-20. Shall we apply it to these? The reader may judge.
In regard to the truth we only call for honest investigation. We care not whether a man takes up his Bible to prove that the seventh day is the Sabbath, or that the first day is, an examination of the Bible on the subject can but result in good. But mind, it is the Bible we wish him to take and not the mystified productions of the Edwardeses and Humphreys. Perhaps the quickest way to convince staunch advocates of Sunday-keeping of the error of their position is to induce them in some way to undertake a defense of it from an appeal to the Bible. It usually happens in such cases that they become satisfied of the untenableness of their ground, and bid it a voluntary farewell. Brother or sister, induce your neighbors or friends to look through the telescope, and not be afraid of what they may see there, and, we have no fears for the cause of truth.
NORWEGIANS IN WISCONSIN.
By W. Phelps
BRO. SMITH: Two weeks ago last Sabbath I attended meeting at Koskonong, where quite a number of our Norwegian friends were out. After meeting closed we assembled on the lake shore where six of them put on Christ by baptism. Last Sabbath I was with them again, and after meeting five more were baptized. Three had been previously baptized, making in all fourteen, and still the interest continues. I am to return in a day or two, and hold meetings as long as may seem duty. They are a very intelligent, honest people, and light has sprung up among them. They are anxious for the whole truth, which has its designed effect upon their hearts. Many of them can understand and speak our language very well, while some of them can neither speak nor understand anything but their own language. What a pity some of our publications are not translated into the Norwegian language. Many might be reached in that way with the truth, who cannot be reached at present in any other way. I hope the church will take it into consideration, and see what can be done for the Norwegian friends.
The church seems to be rising, and a better state of feeling now exists than has in a long time in some places in this State. I believe the time has fully come for the Lord to work again here. Since the folly of J. M. Stephenson has been made manifest many who loved the truth have taken a decided stand, and are moving in harmony with it, and trying to prepare to stand on mount Zion.
I think the conference we had at Koskonong in March, when Brn. Hart, Andrews and Waggoner were there, has proved a blessing. There exists a much better state of feeling there since, than before the conference, and some have expressed their thankfulness to God for that privilege. There are many honest brethren in Wisconsin, who were under the influence of J. M. Stephenson to some extent before he gave up the Sabbath, which are now delivered21from that influence, and are trying to make sure work for the kingdom.
I believe Stephenson is less capable of hindering the truth since he gave up the Sabbath, than while he was holding to it, and denying the Third Angel's Message, and the promises connected with the gospel. Mark xvi, 17; 1 Cor. xii, 4, 12; Isa. v, 14, 16; Acts ii, 17, 18. O how precious are these promises to the remnant. O how dangerous to deny them, after having embraced them; but God has made an example of some, according to the testimony given in relation to them. I hope we have all learned a lesson from others that will do us good. I feel like girding on the whole armor, and pushing the battle to the gate.