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Review and Herald, Vol. 19, No. 5.

History of the Sabbath

Review and Herald

Dec 31, 1861

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 31, 1861

History of the Sabbath.

(Continued.)

THE SABBATH WRITTEN BY THE FINGER OF GOD.

WHEN the voice of the Most High had ceased, "the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." A brief interview follows [Ex. xx-xxiv], in which God gives to Moses a series of precepts, which, as a sample of the statutes given through him, may be classified thus: ceremonial precepts, pointing to the good things to come; judicial precepts intended for the civil government of the nation; and moral precepts, stating anew in other forms the ten commandments. In this brief interview the Sabbath is not forgotten:
"Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid, and the stranger may be refreshed." Ex. xxiii, 12.
This scripture furnishes incidental proof that the Sabbath was made for mankind, and for those creatures that share the labors of man. The stranger and the foreigner must keep it, and it was for their refreshment. See also Ex. xx, 10; Deut. v, 14; Isa. lvi. But the same persons could not partake of the passover until they were made members of the Hebrew church by circumcision. Ex. xii, 43-48.
When Moses had returned unto the people he repeated all the words of the Lord. With one voice all the people exclaim, "All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." Then Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. "And he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." Then Moses "sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." Ex. xxiv, 3-8; Heb. ix, 18-20.
The way was thus prepared for God to bestow a second signal honor upon his law.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud." And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and got him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights." Ex. xxiv, 12-18.
During this forty days God gave to Moses a pattern of the ark in which to place the law that he had written upon stone, and of the mercy-seat to place over that law, and of the sanctuary in which to deposit the ark. He also ordained the priesthood, which was to minister in the sanctuary before the ark. Ex. xxv-xxxi. These things being ordained, and the Law-giver about to commit his law as written by himself into the hands of Moses, he again enjoins the Sabbath.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath-day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Ex. xxxi, 12-18.
This should be compared with the testimony of Ezekiel speaking in the name of God:
"I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. . . . . . I am the Lord your God: walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. xx, 11, 12, 19, 20.
It will be observed that neither of these scriptures teach that the Sabbath was made for Israel, nor yet do they teach that it was made after the Hebrews came out of Egypt. In neither of these particulars do they even seem to contradict those texts that place the institution of the Sabbath at creation. But we do learn, 1. That it was God's act of giving to the Hebrews his Sabbath that made it a sign between them and himself. "I gave them my Sabbaths TO BE a sign between me and them." This act of committing to them the Sabbath has been noticed already. 2. That it was to be a sign between God and the Hebrews, "that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Wherever the word LORD in the Old Testament is in small capitals, as in the texts under consideration, it is in the Hebrew, Jehovah. The Sabbath then as a sign signified that it was Jehovah, i. e., the infinite, self-existent God, who had sanctified them. To sanctify is to separate, set apart, or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use. [†] That the Hebrew nation had thus been set apart in the most remarkable manner from all mankind, was sufficiently evident. But who was it that had thus separated them from all other people? As a gracious answer to this important question, God gave to the Hebrews his own hallowed rest-day. But how could the great memorial of the Creator determine such a question? Listen to the words of the Most High:"Verily my Sabbaths," i. e., my rest-days, "ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you. . . . . It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." The Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, was a perpetual testimony that he who had separated them from all mankind as his peculiar treasure in the earth, was that Being who had created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. It was therefore the strongest possible assurance that he who sanctified them was indeed Jehovah.
From the days of Abraham God had set apart the Hebrews. He who had previously borne no local, national, or family name, did from that time until the end of his covenant relation with the Hebrew race, take to himself such titles as seemed to show him to be their God alone. From his choice of Abraham and his family forward, he designated himself as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; the God of the Hebrews, and the God of Israel. Gen. xvii, 7, 8; xxvi, 24; xxviii, 13; Ex. iii, 6, 13-16, 18; v, 3; Isa. xlv, 3. He brought Israel out of Egypt to be their God [Lev. xi, 45] and at Sinai did join himself to them in solemn espousal. He did thus set apart or sanctify unto himself the Hebrews, because that all other nations had given themselves to idolatry. Thus the God of heaven and earth condescended to give himself to a single race, and to set them apart from all mankind. It should be observed that it was not the Sabbath which had set Israel apart from all other nations, but it was the idolatry of all other nations that caused God to set the Hebrews apart for himself; and that God gave to Israel the Sabbath which he had hallowed for mankind at creation as the most expressive sign that he who thus sanctified them was indeed the living God.
It was the act of God in giving his Sabbath to the Israelites that rendered it a sign between them and himself. But the Sabbath did not derive its existence from being thus given to the Hebrews; for it was the ancient Sabbath of the Lord when given to them, and we have seen that it was not given by a new commandment. On the contrary, it rested at that time upon existing obligation. But it was the providence of God in behalf of the Hebrews, first, in rescuing them from abject servitude, and second, in sending them bread from heaven for six days, and preserving food for the Sabbath, that constituted the Sabbath a gift to that people. And mark the significance of the manner in which this gift was bestowed, as showing who it was that sanctified them. It became a gift to the Hebrews by the wonderful providence of the manna: a miracle that ceased not openly to declare the Sabbath every week for the space of forty years; thus showing incontrovertibly that He who led them was the author of the Sabbath, and therefore the Creator of heaven and earth. That the Sabbath which was made for man should thus be given to the Hebrews is certainly not more remarkable than that the God of the whole earth should give his oracles and himself to that people. The Most High and his law and Sabbath did not become Jewish; but the Hebrews were made the honored depositaries of divine truth; and the knowledge of God and his commandments was preserved in the earth.
The reason on which this sign is based points unmistakably to the true origin of the Sabbath. It did not originate from the fall of the manna for six days, and its cessation on the seventh—for the manna was given thus because the Sabbath was in existence—but because that "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Thus the Sabbath is shown to have originated with the rest and refreshment of the Creator, and not at the fall of the manna. As an institution, the Sabbath declared its Author to be the Creator of heaven and earth; as a sign between God and Israel, it declared that he who had set them apart was indeed Jehovah.
The last act of the Law-giver in this memorable interview was to place in the hands of Moses the "two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Then he revealed to Moses the sad apostasy of the people of Israel, and hastened him down to them.
"And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. . . . . And it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."
Then Moses inflicted retribution upon the idolaters, "and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." And Moses returned unto God and interceded in behalf of the people. Then God promised that his angel should go with them, but that he himself would not go up in their midst lest he should consume them. Then Moses presented an earnest supplication to the Most High that he might see his glory. This petition was granted, saying that the face of God should not be seen. Ex. xxxii; xxxiii.
But before Moses ascended that he might behold the majesty of the infinite Law-giver, the Lord said unto him:
"Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest. . . . And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and he went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him."
Then Moses beheld the glory of the Lord, and he "made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped." This interview lasted forty days and forty nights, as did the first, and seems to have been spent by Moses in intercession that God would not destroy the people for their sin. Ex. xxxiv; Deut. ix. The record of this period is very brief, but in this record the Sabbath is given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in mount Zion." Isa. viii, 18. In Heb. ii, 13, this language is referred to Christ. "And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against." Luke ii, 34. That the Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel throughout their generations, that is, for the time that they were his peculiar people, no more proves that it is now abolished than the fact that Jesus is now a sign that is spoken against proves that he will cease to exist when he shall no longer be such a sign. Nor does this language argue that the Sabbath was made for them, or that its obligation ceased when they ceased to be the people of God. For the prohibition against eating blood was a perpetual statute for their generations; yet it was given to Noah when God first permitted the use of animal food, and was still obligatory upon the Gentiles when the apostles turned to them. Lev. iii, 17; Gen. ix, 1-3; Acts xv.
The penalty of death at the hand of the civil magistrate is affixed to the violation of the Sabbath. The same penalty is affixed to most of the precepts of the moral law. Lev. xx, 9-10; xxiv, 15-17; Deut. xiii, 6-18; xvii, 2-7. It should be remembered that the moral law embracing the Sabbath formed a part of the civil code of the Hebrew nation. As such the Law-giver annexed penalties to be inflicted by the magistrate, thus doubtless shadowing forth the final retribution of the ungodly. Such penalties were suspended by that remarkable decision of the Saviour that those who were without sin should cast the first stone. But such a Being will arise to punish men, when the hail-stones of his wrath shall desolate the earth. Our Lord did not, however, set aside the real penalty of the law, the wages of sin, nor did he weaken that precept which had been violated. John viii, 1-9; Job xxxviii, 22, 23; Isa. xxviii, 17; Rev. xvi, 17-21; Rom. vi, 23.
mentioned. "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest." Ex. xxxiv, 21. Thus admonishing them not to forget in their busiest season the Sabbath of the Lord.
This second period of forty days ends like the first with the act of God in placing the tables of stone in the hands of Moses. "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." Thus it appears that the tables of testimony were two tables of stone with the ten commandments written upon them by the finger of God. Thus the testimony of God is shown to be the ten commandments. The writing on the second tables was an exact copy of that on the first. "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write," said God, "upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest." And of the first tables Moses says: "He declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Ex. xxxiv, 1, 28; Deut. iv, 12, 13; v. 22.
Thus did God commit to his people the ten commandments. Without human or angelic agency he proclaimed them himself; and not trusting his most honored servant Moses, or even an angel of his presence, himself wrote them with his own finger. "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy," is one of the ten words thus honored by the Most High. Nor are these two high honors the only ones conferred upon this precept. While it shares them in common with the other nine commandments, it stands in advance of them in that it is established by the example of the Law-giver himself. These precepts were given upon two tables with evident reference to the two-fold division of the law of God; supreme love to God, and the love of our neighbor as ourselves. The Sabbath commandment, placed at the close of the first table, forms the golden clasp that binds together both divisions of the moral law. It guards and enforces that day which God claims as his; it follows man through the six days which God has given him to be properly spent in the various relations of life, thus extending over the whole of human life, and embracing in its loan of six days to man all the duties of the second table, while itself belonging to the first.
That these ten commandments form a complete code of moral law is proved by the language of the Law-giver when he called Moses up to himself to receive them. "Come up to me into the mount and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone and a law and commandments which I have written." Ex. xxiv, 12. This law and commandments was the testimony of God engraven upon stone. The same great fact is presented by Moses in his blessing pronounced upon Israel: "And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up fromSeir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them." There can be no dispute that in this language the Most High is represented as personally present with ten thousands of his holy ones, or angels. And that which he wrote with his own right hand is called by Moses "a fiery law," or as the margin has it, "a fire of law." And now the man of God completes his sacred trust. And thus he rehearses what God did in committing his law to him, and what he himself did in its final disposition:
“And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be as the Lord commanded me.” Thus was the law of God deposited in the ark beneath the mercy-seat. Deut. x, 4, 5; Ex. xxv, 10–22. Nor should this chapter close without pointing out the important relations of the fourth commandment to the atonement.
The top of the ark was called the mercy-seat, because that man who had broken the law contained in the ark beneath the mercy-seat, could find pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it.
The law within the ark was that which demanded an atonement; the ceremonial law which ordained the Levitical priesthood and the sacrifices for sin, was that which taught men how the atonement could be made. The broken law was beneath the mercy-seat; the blood of sin-offering was sprinkled upon its top, and pardon was extended to the penitent sinner. There was actual sin, and hence a real law which man had broken; but there was not a real atonement, and hence the need of the great antitype to the Levitical sacrifices. The real atonement when it is made must relate to that law respecting which an atonement had been shadowed forth. In other words, the shadowy atonement related to that law which was shut up in the ark, indicating that a real atonement was demanded by that law. It is necessary that the law which demands atonement in order that its transgressor may be spared, should itself be perfect, else the fault would in part at least rest with the Law-giver, and not wholly with the sinner. Hence, the atonement when made does not take away the broken law, for that is perfect, but is expressly designed to take away the guilt of the transgressor. 1 John iii, 4, 5. Let it be remembered then that the fourth commandment is one of the ten precepts of God’s broken law; one of the immutable holy principles that made the death of God’s only Son necessary before pardon could be extended to guilty man. These facts being borne in mind, it will not be thought strange that God the Father should reserve the proclamation of such a law to himself; and that he should entrust to no created being the writing of that law which should demand as its atonement the death of his only Son.
(To be Continued.)

THE WORLD HARVEST.

They are sowing their seed in the daylight fair, They are sowing their seed in the noonday's glare, They are sowing their seed in the soft twilight, They are sowing their seed in the solemn night ; What shall the harvest be ?
They are sowing their seed of pleasant thought, In the Spring's green light they have blithely wrought; They have brought their fancies from wood and dell, Where the mosses creep and the flower buds swell; Rare shall the harvest be !
They are sowing the seed of word and deed, Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed Of the gentle word and the kindest deed, That have blest the heart in its sorest need; Sweet shall the harvest be !
And some are sowing the seeds of pain, Of late remorse, and in maddened brain, And the stars shall fall and the sun shall wane, Ere they root the weeds from their soil again; Dark will the harvest be !
And some are standing with idle hand, Yet they scatter seed on their native land; And some are sowing the seeds of care, Which their soil has borne and still must bear; Sad will the harvest be !
They are sowing the seed of noble deed, With a sleepless watch and an earnest heed; With a ceaseless hand o'er the earth they sow, And the fields are whitening where'er they go; Rich will the harvest be !
Sown in darkness or sown in light, Sown in weakness or sown in might, Sown in meekness or sown in wrath, In the broad work-field or the shadowy path, Sure will the harvest be !

Evidences of Christianity.

By Moses Hull

BY MOSES HULL.

CHAPTER II.

(Continued.)
PROPOSITION 2. The writings of the New Testament are quoted as possessing Supreme authority, and as conclusive in all matters of religion.
It is unnecessary to argue this proposition at length, as many of the proofs of the former, are proofs of this. If we appeal to the Laodicean and Nicene councils, we find them not making a Bible, but bowing to the authority of one in existence centuries before. As Mr. Patterson argues this case more clearly than we can, we insert the following from his pen: "There did exist, then, undeniably in the year 325, large numbers of Christian churches in the Roman Empire, sufficiently numerous to make it politic, in the opinion of infidels, for a candidate for the empire to profess Christianity; sufficiently powerful to secure his success, notwithstanding the desperate struggles of the heathen party; and sufficiently religious, or, if you like, superstitious, to make it politic for an emperor and his politicians to give up the senate, the court, the camp, the chase, and the theater, and weary themselves with long prayers and longer speeches of preachers about Bible religion. Now that is certainly a remarkable fact, and all the more remarkable if we now inquire, How came it so? For these men, preachers, prince, and people, were brought up to worship Jupiter and the thirty thousand gods of Olympus, after the heathen fashion, and leave the care of religion to heathen priests, who never troubled their heads about books or doctrines after they had offered their sacrifices. In all the records of the world, there is no instance of a general council of heathen priests to settle the religion of their people. How happens it, then, that the human race has of a sudden waked up to such a strange sense of the folly of idolatry and value of religion? The Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine and his counselors making a Bible, is a proof of a wonderful revolution in the world's religion—a phenomenon far more surprising than if the secretaries of State, and Senate, and President Pierce, should leave the Capitol and post off to Boston, to attend the meetings of a Methodist Conference assembled to make a Hymn Book. Now what is the cause of this remarkable conversion of prince, priest and people? How did they all get religion? How did they get it so suddenly? How did they get so much of it?
"The infidel gives no answer, except to tell us, that the austerity, purity and zeal of the first Christians, their good discipline, their belief in the resurrection of the body and the judgment, and the persuasion that Christ and his apostles wrought miracles, had made a great many converts. Gibbon's Dec. & Fall, chap. v. This is just as if I inquired how a great fire originated, and you should tell me that it burned fast because it was very hot. What I want to know is, how it happened that these licentious Greeks, and Romans, and Asiatics, became austere and pure—how these frivolous philosophers suddenly became so zealous about religion—what implanted the belief of the resurrection of the body and of the judgment to come in the skeptical minds of these heathen scoffers—and how did the pagans of Italy, Egypt, Spain, Germany and Britain come to believe in the miracles of one who lived hundreds of years before, and thousands of miles away, or to care a straw whether the written accounts of them were true or false? According to the infidel accounts the Council of Nice and the Emperor Constantine's Bible making, is a most extraordinary business—a phenomenon without any natural cause, and they will allow no supernatural, a greater miracle than any recorded in the Bible." Fables of Infidelity, pp. 87, 88.
The great change spoken of by Mr. P., can only be accounted for by the fact that the New Testament, had come into existence, and up to this time, had been received as something more than merely good advice. It carried an authority with it, which enabled it to do its work.
Irenæus, born in the first century, calls the apostolic writings, "Divine oracles," "Scriptures of the Lord," &c. He says that the Gospel "was committed to writing by the will of God, that it might be for time to come, the foundation and pillar of our faith." Lard. 1, 372. "He fled to the gospels, which he believed no less than if Christ had been speaking to him; and to the writings of the Apostles, whom he esteemed as the presbytery of the whole Christian church."
Origen says, "Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God, in a sense not to be explained and made known to men, by any but by that Scripture alone which is inspired by the Holy Ghost; that is, the evangelic and apostolic scripture, as also that of the law and the prophets." Id. 545.
Cyprian, exhorts "all in general but especially Christian ministers, in all truthful matters to have recourse to the gospels and epistles of the apostles, as to the fountain where may be found the true original doctrines of Christ." He says, "The precepts of the gospel, are to be considered as the lessons of God to us; as the foundation of our hope, and the supports of our faith." Id. 2, 27. 592–3.
PROPOSITION 3. The scriptures were publicly read in the churches and Commentaries written upon them at a very early period.
The practice of publicly reading the scriptures prevailed among the Jews. Our Saviour also practiced it, [Luke iv, 16.] and the early Christians imitated their example. In the days of Paul it was the custom of the disciples to publicly read the apostolic epistles. Hence Paul says, "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." Indeed this was the only way of communicating the epistles to those for whose benefit they were written.
Justin Martyr says, "And upon the day called Sunday all that live either in city or country meet together at the same place, where the writings of the apostles and prophets are read, as much as time will give leave." Justin Martyr's first apology translated by Wm. Reeves, p. 127.
Tertullian is equally explicit. In giving an account of early Christians, he says, "They assemble to read the scriptures and offer prayers." In another place he specifies the "reading of the scriptures and singing of psalms" as a part of Christian worship. Tertullian de Anima.
Augustine says "The canonical books of scripture being read everywhere, the miracles there recorded are well known to all people." "The epistles of Peter and Paul are daily recited to the people. And to what people? And to how many people? Listen to the psalm, 'Their sound hath gone out into all the earth.'" Again, "The genuineness and integrity of the same scriptures may be relied on, which have been spread all over the world and which from the time of their publication were in the highest esteem and have been carefully kept in the churches." Lardner, Vol. ii, pp. 593, 594.
In proof of the assertion that commentaries were written upon the scriptures at an earlier period than infidels are willing to admit them to have had an existence, I refer the reader to Paley's Evidences, also to Lardner, Vol. 1.
Paley says "No greater proof can be given of the esteem in which these ancient books were holden by the ancient Christians, or of the sense then entertained of their value and importance, than the industry bestowed upon them. Moreover it shows that they were then considered as ancient books. Men do not write comments upon publications of their own times; therefore the testimonies cited under this head afford an evidence which carries up the evangelic writings much beyond the age of the testimonies themselves and to that of their reputed authors."
The fact that commentaries were written upon the New Testament and harmonies of its books were formed, proves that it not only had an existence but that it was prized higher than other books; for commentaries were not written upon others.
(To be continued.)

Suffering Was Not in God’s Creation

TEARS and ills, and aches and losses, and sicknesses and sorrows, and death, are subsequent intrusions into man’s world; they were not in the inventory of those things that God pronounced "Very good."

Truth Moves Onward

LIKE the beat of time, like the procession of the stars, truth moves onward; its very enemies unintentionally help it; repression adds to its intensity, opposition only wakens up its advocates.

ALL ON A LEVEL.

The Scriptures recognize all who love and serve God, whether rich or poor, free or bond, white or black, as brethren. In this respect they are all on a level. God is the Father of all these; they have but one Saviour, one Spirit, one faith, one hope, one baptism; they belong to the one body, and are bound for the same holy heaven.
The same exceeding great and precious promises are for all, the same blessed hope animates all to press their way onward in the same straight and narrow path to life. The same Saviour will come the second time for all the faithful, and the very same trump of God that awakes from the slumber of death the noble Abraham, Paul, Luther, Wesley, and Wm. Miller, will also call to life the Christian red man and the pious slave. All will be conducted to the same holy city, and have right to the same tree of life—all on a level.
Unfortunately in this life, however, there are different grades of society—not all on a level. This is a misfortune. Here are the rich with their temptations to be proud, haughty, selfish, vain, and oppressive to the poor. But many of them have good qualities which the poor should not despise. Perhaps the rich man has been prompt in business, economical of his time, and has wasted his strength in acquiring his honest property.
He should not be despised by the poor for these things, but, rather respected. If he be converted, the grace of God will take away his love for this world, and make him a blessing to the cause. Then his habits of promptness, activity, and love to have all things done decently and in order, will help make him a faithful and influential Christian.
But the poor brother often views such in a wrong light. Their more wealthy brethren love to be active that they may have more to help the cause; but this by the poor brother may be regarded as worldly and very wicked. Those who have sustained a position in worldly society, after laying off superfluities, as hoops, gold, and artificials, still prize their former habits of cleanliness and order in dress. Thank God that they do. But this, by some poor brethren and sisters, who are slack in their habits, is regarded as pride. This is a calamity. And you will sometimes hear them say, “The third message will bring us all down on a level.” We do not object to the level, if it be a right one. But the third message is designed to elevate, not bring God’s people down on a low level. We most solemnly believe that it was designed to bring all up on a high and holy level.
But this is one of those sensitive subjects that many preachers and brethren dread to touch. They know that if they labor with the untidy, and try to reform them, they will in most cases be regarded as proud and too particular. And how difficult to reform persons who regard you as most at fault on the point in question. No one means to be untidy, but each looks to others lower in the scale than themselves as being the ones deserving reproof, therefore all let the testimony slide over them to others, unless it be definite and pointed. Just here we are reminded of the little boy who said (as his mother to keep him from suffering with cold, took down an inside door and placed it on the scanty covering for her child), “Mother, what do poor children do who have no doors to put over them?” As this little boy could not see poverty in any only in those worse off than himself, so the sloven cannot see any fault in this respect only in those more slovenly than himself. Such will give every point in the testimonies against pride in dress and appearance an extreme meaning, even that which the writer never thought of.
Those who have correct views of cleanliness and order in apparel, good manners and Christian courtesy, are frequently stung to the heart at the lack of these things in some of their brethren, which lack they know will disgust their friends whom they are laboring to bring to the truth. But the careless and slack act upon the plan, to have all come down upon a level, hence well-bred men and women are by them driven from the truth, while perhaps a few who choose a low level will embrace it. When our preachers enter a community to labor and find our faith represented by such, unless they can correct these errors, they had better leave, than to remain and waste their strength and precious time; for one slack couple of well-known Sabbath-keepers, especially if they have with them a dirty, crying babe, if in a city or village, or first class farming community, will create more prejudice against the truth than he can create faith in it.
Let not these remarks strengthen any one who indulges in Bible-forbidden pride. We would say to those not yet stripped for the race, tear off your hoops, your gold, and your gewgaws, and no longer be a stumbling-block to those who choose a low level; but be in a position to take hold with us and try to raise all up to the high level of the word of God.
The 144,000 will all stand on a level—a high level. Reader, are you fashionably polite? the third message will take from you vanity and pride, and leave you a courteous Christian. Are you coarse, rough in manners, slack in habits, disagreeably forward? the third message should elevate you, refine your feelings, and make of you a meek, unassuming, modest Christian, unobjectionable to those of the finest feelings. Think of the order and refinement of heaven, and remember, the change at the coming of Jesus is only of these vile bodies. The change of our vile natures must be prior to the advent. May God in mercy help us to all come up on a level, prepared to enter a pure and holy heaven.

NORTHERN TOUR.

Our conference at Wright was, on the whole, a meeting of unusual interest. We found in the place a growing spirit of carelessness on the part of the young. Some manifested a bold recklessness which deserved a stern rebuke. We hope all the young who have respect for the house of God, and for their own reputation, will see their danger in suffering a careless spirit to grow upon them. Our testimony was well received, the brethren revived, and many of the young manifested their desire to seek the Lord. When we left, it was like tearing away from them. We hope to visit them soon, or send them good help.
At Orleans we met most of the brethren in the region round about. Sabbath, the large school-house was full, about one-half believers. First-day, all crowded in that could, and some drove away for want of room. We had liberty in the word, and the best attention. Existing prejudice against us seemed to melt away like dew before the sun. We gave but four discourses, and Mrs. W. spoke twice. When a request was made for those who wished to hear a course of lectures from Bro. Cornell or Bro. Hull to rise up, many arose, and when we asked all opposed to rise, none arose. There would be a full attendance, and we think a great interest, should either of these brethren come. Brn. King and Olmstead feel the deepest interest for their neighbors, and will do all they can to make a laborer’s sojourn in their vicinity comfortable and pleasant. There is also a call for help from the village of Lowell, twenty miles from here. Can Bro. Cornell fill these calls? Please address S. H. King, Orleans, Ionia Co., Mich.
We were troubled at Orleans with a grievous annoyance which we must protest against; viz., two or three babes in the congregation with strong lungs, and restless tempers. At times these threatened to take the lead of the meetings. If the mothers of these children had been unbelievers desirous to learn the truth, or those who had not been in the message several years, we could have borne almost anything from them; but those who made the most trouble were brought quite a distance, and their mothers had for some years been professedly in the truth. Again, there were but two whole families in the message in the place, and such a crowd! Really, these crying babes and their good mothers would have been better off at home. Their places could have been filled by unbelievers who drove away for want of room, and the speaker and hearers would have been saved the painful disturbance of these juvenile voices.
Continue reading: QUESTION BY BRO. DECKER