Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 30, 1874
A TRUE PICTURE.
(Concluded.)
But, my dear hearers, I must take my leave for the present of the rich churches, the churches that are possessed of goods, the churches that can reign without Christ, the churches that love not his appearing, the churches that scoffingly cry out, Where is the promise of his coming? the anti-Christian, apostate, Gentile churches, who are fitting themselves for the fire with which God will shortly plead with them. And I shall now direct your attention for a few moments, to the awful state of the world, which the divines of the day would have you believe is improving in manners, and in spirit, through its intercourse with the churches which I have just been characterizing as apostate.
But where, oh! where, shall I begin? The heart sickens the moment the eye falls upon the mass of iniquitous abomination that lies before it. Take the Christian country in which we live, or it may be better for our purpose, the Christian city in which we dwell (London), I ask, Is it an improvement upon heathenism, to see a court at the opera on Saturday night, and at the sacramental altar on Sunday morning? Are balls, concerts, theaters, and race-courses, places of preparation for the judgment-seat, and places of training for the mansions of the blest, and for the eternal companionship of a holy God? Were there not a Bible in our land, could the iniquities of the heathen be more gloried than they are? And yet this is the capital of the world which is so wonderfully improved by the influence of Christian example. Take your Bible in your hand, and place your finger on that portion of it which says: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” and go through the streets and markets of this city; and if your heart does not sink within you, and if your spirit does not fail you, you have neither the heart nor the spirit of a Christian.
On any Sabbath throughout the year, take your stand in Hyde Park, and see how daring and impiously the bulk of our nobility can insult the God of Heaven. In front of every equipage, I can see, in my mind’s eye, an angel of the Lord crying aloud, for God’s sake and for your own sake, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” and I can hear the infatuated worms reply, “Onward, onward; who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?” Shall I speak to you of whoredoms? There are eighty thousand public prostitutes within the precincts of this wicked city, and who can count the number of the secret ones?
Drunkenness, dishonesty, swearing, and lying, and every kind and manner of abomination have uncontrolled license; and there is not a street, lane, or neighborhood, that has not a polluted moral atmosphere. This, my hearers, is but a slight etching of our Christian city, of our improving world, of the wicked harlot with which the Gentile churches have been shaking hands, nay, committing open whoredom, for fifteen hundred years.
Tell me not, by way of palliation, that the persecuting spirit of the world is gone. There is no Christ in the churches to persecute. And as to the individual Christian, there is too little of the image of Christ and of the power of Christ there to excite either the jealousy of Satan or the malice of the world. Be assured, my dear hearers, whatever Christians of Satan’s making may say to the contrary, a God-despising, Christ-rejecting, Spirit-resisting world, doth not lack malice toward Christ and his followers. Let any minister of Christ fully take his Master’s ground; let him begin at the palace, coming down through the members of the administration, the Houses of Parliament, the bishops’ stalls, and the chairs of justice; let him tell every man plainly and honestly what he is, what he is doing, and where he is going, and you will soon see the arm of the law stretched out against him. And let the efforts of this faithful minister be zealously backed by a few equally bold and resolute denouncers of iniquity, let one fair stand be made for Christ and for God, and you will quickly behold the fires of Smithfield rekindled, or some other more civilized invention in active operation, to rid the land from troublesome, soul-alarming, and Satan-disturbing disciples of Christ.
But why should I keep my eye and yours so long fixed upon the world? Did not the first glance satisfy you all that it was ripe for destruction? It is true, God is a longsuffering and merciful God; but what can he do that he has not already done? And after having done everything that was consistent with his own nature, and with man’s position as a probationer for eternity, for the church’s reformation, and the world’s salvation, it were directly libeling God to say he has not done so. And after having done all this in vain, as far as either the reformation of the one or the salvation of the other is concerned, a lengthening out of the day of mercy would, in my estimation, be most unmerciful. I see it to be just a crowding of hell with daily increasing victims, and a seven-fold heating of its flames, by hourly despised privileges. Because I love mercy and pity the sinner, my continual cry is, Lord, come speedily to judgment! Because I feel for God’s insulted honor, I cry, Lord, come to judgment! And because I know the penalty of continuing to resist the Spirit, and to trample upon the blood of the Lamb, I must cry, Lord, come quickly to judgment. And I am as sure as that there is a merciful God in the Heavens that he is hastening on the day of the wicked’s destruction; and as soon as this, his purpose, can be accomplished, it will be accomplished.
Woe, woe, woe to the Bible-despising, gospel-hardened inhabitants of this land; for assuredly the fearful day of retribution, the terrible day of God’s reckoning, with this worse than heathenish people, is nigh at hand. Sinners of Great Britain, depend upon it, the last offer of mercy and salvation is being made to you—your last day of grace is hastening to its close. I look upon it, that you are placed as a nation in precisely the same situation as the Jews were when Jesus Christ, weeping over Jerusalem, cried aloud, in the anguish of his soul, Oh! that thou, at least, that thou, hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace; but now—and the sentence is irrevocable—now they are forever hid from thine eyes. Notwithstanding the awful sentence, Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to begin the preaching of the gospel at Jerusalem—and why? Simply because, though the national doom was fixed, individuals might, even at the last hour, be induced to accept a Saviour.
Apostate churches of Christendom, the measure of your iniquity is full. Godless, Christless world, your destiny is fixed; your destruction is inevitable, but shall I not begin at Jerusalem? Oh! that in these last days God would give me energy of body and of mind, and the mighty power of his Spirit, to warn the individual sinner with effect; that some might yet escape for their lives, and take refuge from the coming calamity in the hitherto despised, but still outstretched, arms of their Saviour.
ADDRESS TO THE MINISTERS OF CHRIST.
Ministers of Christ, and ye men of God who are scattered throughout the churches, suffer the word of exhortation. What have you to do with doctrinal squabbles, the secularizing policy, and the party interests of existing churches? If you be indeed men of God, spiritual men, you must long ago have been tired of their mud, and their filth, and their shallows. I entreat you in God’s name, and for Christ’s sake, put away your apathy, and awake from your slumbers. Come out from among them, lest ye become partakers of their plagues. The cry is raised, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh! As you value your souls, disobey not the command; but go ye forth to meet him. It is vain to imagine that by remaining where you are you may still be a leaven for good. The Churchman will remain a Churchman, the Independent an Independent, and the Methodist a mere Methodist, in spite of you; mother’s children are they all. They do not bear the image of the heavenly, and I am satisfied, as regards the great bulk of them, the Father never begat them.
The little zeal that they have hath self for its spring, and party aggrandizement for its object; and either self-interest or self-exaltation; constitutes the bond of this union. If ever they knew anything of God individually, I am afraid the most of them died in the weaning, when the sensible comfort, the milk that God hath provided for the babes in Christ, was withdrawn, because they had been long enough babes; they would not learn to feed upon the word; they would not take to the flesh and to the blood of Christ; and, consequently, that which was given them hath been taken away from them. The preaching gift and the praying gift—yea, and part of the decently living gift, may remain; and because they must have peace and joy, Satan will take care that they are furnished with both. But as to the life of God, and the image of Christ, they are scarcely anywhere to be found.
Men of God, can you make the members of your several churches sensible of their state? Can you convince them of their delusion by remaining among them? Never. Will such men unite with you in hastening on the coming of the Lord? Will they mourn with you over the apostasy of the churches? Will they weep with you, will they cry with you for all the abominations that are existing in the world? Oh, no. You will uniformly find them on the side of the scoffer, and they will tell you, We are doing well—we are increasing in goods, we are triumphing, we are reigning, and what care we for the promise of his coming? Men and brethren, from this moment come out from among them, and be ye like unto them who are waiting for the return of their Lord. Bear your testimony boldly and openly against them, and thus you may succeed in alarming some of them. You are injuring them, you are hindering the work of Christ, you are weakening one another’s hands by continuing in your present position. Oh! may the spirit of Elijah, who must come, and of John the Baptist, be given unto you. Let your loins, like theirs, be girded about. Let your lights burn where they may be seen, and let your united cry awaken both the slumberer and the sleeper. “Prepare to meet thy God.”
I have a conviction on my mind that it is God’s purpose that yet once more the note of alarm shall be sounded throughout these realms, and that this last trumpet will, under God, either have the effect of hardening or saving the sinner. I clearly see that both processes have already commenced under my own ministry; and if you, my fellow-laborers, will only be faithful, and in your several spheres and stations stand out boldly for God, the harvest of this land will soon be ripe. I feel as if death or life was in every word; and every time I make the inquiry, Watchman, what of the night? the answer cometh, with increasing thrill to my soul, The morning cometh, and also the night. And, oh, may every soul now before me tremble at the voice of the Spirit, and take the prophetical warning in time, make haste—return—come!
Ministers of Christ! Men of God! to your knees for oil, to your Bible for light. Away with every trapping of worldly policy. Strip your party-colored robes of Satan’s weaving. Take to your locusts and wild honey. Have done with the poisonous dishes of man’s providing. Strengthen your loins as with a girdle, with the promise of his coming, with the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of the great God and your Saviour, and let your voice be a united voice—the voice of one crying in the midst of this wilderness of apostasy, blasphemy, ignorance, pollution, and sin—“Prepare the way of the Lord.” Thus will you be “like unto men that wait for their Lord;” and take the promise for your comfort, “When he cometh and shall find you thus watching; Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make you sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve you.” Amen.
THE DAY OF THE LORD.
By Sel.
The day of the Lord! it cometh,
It comes like a thief in the night,
It comes when the world is dreaming
Of safety and peace and light.
It comes with no bow of mercy
With darkness and storm and fire,
The day of the great avenging—
The day of the burning ire.
Not slowly, slowly, like twilight,
Nor like the cold, creeping tide,
Nor barque from the distant offing,
Moving on o’er the waters wide.
But instant, like sudden lightning,
In the depths of the tranquil sky,
From the west to the east in a moment
The havoc descends from on high.
The day of the Lord! it cometh
When the faithless are all asleep
And the drunken world is lying
In a slumber yet more deep;
Like the sudden lurch of the vessel
By night on a sunken rock
All earth in a moment reeleth,
And goeth down with the shock.
The voice of the awful trumpet,
Arresteth the march of time;
With terror, and woe, and judgment,
It soundeth through every clime.
It speaketh aloud to the living,
It speaks to the slumbering dead;
Earth heareth the final summons,
And boweth the trembling head.
The flash of the sword of havoc
Foretelleth the day of blood,
Revealing the Judge’s progress—
The downward march of God.
The fire which no mortal kindles
Quick seizes the quaking earth,
And labors the groaning creation
In the pangs of its second birth.
Then the day of the evil endeth
And the righteous reign comes in;
Like a cloud of sorrow evanish
The ages of human sin.
The light of the morning gleameth—
A dawn without cloud or gloom;
In chains lies the ruler of darkness,
And the Prince of light has come.
—Sel.
A Turning Point.—
“The turning-point in my life,” said a gentleman, “was in refusing, when I was a boy, to go to a low circus. Some kind of low show and circus came into town, and of course all the boys were dying to go. My mother did not want me to go. I might have stolen off; I had money enough in my pocket. The boys did all they could to persuade me, and, more than all, people were going in squads to see it. It is so easy to go with the multitude; it is so hard to make a stand, break away, and go the other way. That is exactly what I did. I ‘mastered the situation’ I mastered myself, and did not go. It was the resolution then called out, and called out perhaps for the first time, which has served me many a good turn since, and made me what I am. Look sharp for the turning-points, and make a right decision.
The Kingdom of God.—No. 13.
By J. H. Waggoner
Dan. 2:44 says, “In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom.” In commenting on this, we traced the history of the kingdoms represented by the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and identified “these kings,” in whose days the kingdom of God will be set up, as the kingdoms which arose out of the Roman Empire, when it was broken or divided up. It is the united testimony of historians that Rome was not divided into that number of kingdoms previous to A. D. 483. Thus far we are brought definitely in the second chapter of Daniel—almost five hundred years this side of the birth of the Saviour.
Dan. 7 contains the same outlines of history that are given in Dan. 2. The horns of the fourth beast are the same as the feet and toes of the image, and these are declared to be ten kings or kingdoms. The little horn which arose among them, before which three of the first fell, whose look was more stout than his fellows, which spoke great words against the Most High, and wore out the saints of the Most High, represents the papal power. And this power practiced and prevailed until the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. This shows, beyond all dispute, that the saints do not possess the kingdom until the papal power has had its day. Peter tells the faithful how to secure an entrance into the kingdom; James says they are heirs of it; Paul says flesh and blood cannot enter into it; the Saviour says the saints shall inherit the kingdom at the time of his coming in his glory; and Rev. 11 says it is given to Christ under the sounding of the seventh trumpet. Matt. 24 says that when certain signs are fulfilled we may know that the Son of man is near, even at the doors; and Luke 21, speaking of the same things, says when they begin to come to pass we may know the kingdom of God is near. Also Dan. 7 says the Son of man received the kingdom “when the judgment was set;” and Ps. 110:1 says the dominion or power over his enemies is given to him when his priesthood closes at the right hand of his Father. All the testimony of the Scriptures unites in pointing to the closing up of this dispensation as the time when the kingdom of God shall be set up, and the time when the saints shall enter into it.
But the above Scriptures also prove that we may know when it is near. As the divisions of the Roman Empire in Dan. 2 bring us down nearly to the beginning of the sixth century, so the taking away of the power of the papacy, by which it wore out the saints of the Most High, brings us down nearly to the beginning of the nineteenth century. For it was in 1798, when Pius VI was carried from Rome a captive, that the “deadly wound was inflicted.”
All the historical facts of Dan. 7 are presented in brief in the first ten verses of Rev. 13. Daniel saw four great beasts rise out of the sea, a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a dreadful and terrible beast with ten horns; and among these rose another little horn, which became more powerful than all the others. And these represent Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the divisions of Rome, and the papacy. In Rev. 13, John saw a beast rise out of the sea possessing all the characteristics of all those of Dan. 7. It had seven horns with crowns, the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, the mouth of a lion, and the power and seat of the dragon, which was Pagan Rome. The power of the dragon was the civil power, and its seat was the city of Rome. These the dragon gave to the beast, which was literally fulfilled by the decree of Justinian, by virtue of which the bishop of Rome became its ruler. This beast also blasphemed the name of God, and had power to make war forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days. He also saw it go into captivity, which was fulfilled in 1798, just twelve hundred and sixty years after the decree of Justinian took effect, which was in 538.
As he saw this beast go into captivity, another was coming up out of the earth; and it had two horns like a lamb. Its appearance is in pleasing contrast with the former beast. The expression, “coming up,” and its horns being like those of a lamb, both indicate a youthful power. It comes up out of “the earth,” a locality not represented by any part of the first beast, that is, a locality outside of the dominions of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, the Roman emperors, and the popes, as all these rose out of the sea. Waters, in Rev. 17, are explained to mean, peoples and nations. Among these, the beasts of Daniel and the beast of Rev. 13:1–10, arose, each establishing itself by its conquests. The two-horned beast came up out of the earth—it grew up like a plant; it did not overthrow other kingdoms to establish itself. In all this we are pointed unmistakably to the United States as this beast with the two horns like a lamb.
But we have still further evidence to the same point. This beast does great wonders, and deceives the world “by those miracles which it had power to do.” It did not merely profess to do great wonders; it did not deceive by professing to have power to work miracles. But it did the wonders, and it deceived by the miracles which it had power to do. We think this points to the wonders of spiritualism, by the phenomena of which many of the most learned and scientific men of the age have been led to acknowledge its claims, and to accept its pernicious doctrines. This arose in the United States, and from this country it is spreading over the whole world. Crowned heads of Europe have had seances of American mediums in their palaces. Scientific men have confessed that their skill and learning were not sufficient to explain these wonders. Thousands and tens of thousands have rejected God’s word and the salvation of his Son, under the influence of its teachings. Here is a marked fulfillment of this prophecy in the United States.
Again, they that dwell upon the earth, where the two-horned beast came up, make “an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live.” Now as the wound by a sword was given to that first beast in 1798, and the image is made after that wound is healed, it follows that this image is made after the beginning of the nineteenth century.
An image to the papal beast can be made in this land only by a union of church and State, or by making the civil power subserve the ecclesiastical. We cannot see how any one can come to any other conclusion. In tracing down this line of prophecy, this view was taken years ago. The Seventh-day Adventist ministers have preached, and the correspondents of the ADVENT REVIEW AND HERALD OF THE SABBATH have written, for more than twenty years past, that the nature and policy of this government would soon be changed, and church and State in some manner be united in this country. They did not so believe and teach because they saw any special indication of this action, but because the evidence was so strong that the two-horned beast represented the United States in this prophecy; and it was impossible even to conjecture how the image could be made except by a union of church and State. But in avowing this as their belief they subjected themselves to much ridicule, for the large majority could not be made to believe that so great a change in feeling and in action could ever be brought about in this land which has so loudly boasted of its civil and religious liberty.
But a change has already come over the scene. Within a few years past a National Association has been formed with the purpose of securing a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Judge Strong of the Supreme Court of the United States was President of this Association. Its present officers are, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, United States Indian Commissioner, President, with ninety-nine Vice-Presidents, among whom are four State Governors, five State Superintendents of Public Instruction, nine bishops, fifteen Judges of higher Courts, and forty-one College Presidents and Professors. A few weeks of effort secured fifty-six thousand signatures to petitions for a Constitutional Amendment. These are a few of the facts which show the growth, and strength, and influence, of this movement. Nothing has ever arisen which has taken so strong hold of the minds of the body of professors of religion where it has been presented; nothing has so fast grown into favor with so many influential men in the churches. And what is their object? As stated in their declaration made early in the movement, and reiterated by the President in their recent Convention in Pittsburgh, it is to “place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.” Prof. Blanchard, a speaker in the same Convention, and whose speech was received with the highest favor, said, “Constitutional laws punish for false money, weights and measures, and of course Congress establishes a standard of money, weights and measures. So Congress must establish a standard of religion, or admit anything called religion.”
These are but a few of the utterances of that Convention which show that their design is to establish Christianity, by the Constitution, and by Congressional laws, as the religion of the nation. The Christian Statesman, the organ of the movement, in noticing the arrival of members of Congress in Washington on Sunday trains, said that not one of the men who traveled on that day was fit to hold office under the government, and that they would not be permitted to hold office if the Religious Amendment to the Constitution were adopted! Thus their intention is openly avowed to make religious tests of qualifications for office. This is exactly what we have expected from the reading of the prophecy. This shows us clearly where the religious world is drifting, and where we are in the great line of prophecy which reaches down to the coming of the Lord.
When this image is made, it will pass decrees subversive of the rights of conscience, and oppressive to those who choose to follow their own reading of the word of God, in preference to the perversions of Christianity, which are sure to be set forth by fallen churches, and enforced by the ruling of courts. Religion will then be regulated by a Protestant Inquisition.
In Rev. 14:9–12, we learn how God regards these things. In the most stirring manner, and with the severest denunciations, we are warned against the worship of the beast and his image, and the receiving of his mark. We are also instructed to “keep the commandments of God.” To do this, we must not follow the traditions of men, by which God’s commandments are made void.
It is not the purpose of this article to set forth these points at length. They are fully presented in our publications. Our aim is but to identify the facts in order to show where we are, and what is before us in the line of prophecy. Following this message of warning, which is based upon events already transpiring, the Son of man comes upon the white cloud, with a sickle in his hand, to reap the harvest of the earth. But we have seen that the setting up of God’s everlasting kingdom is in close connection with the coming of Christ, and the saints will “inherit the kingdom” at that time. Therefore we are left to conclude that “the kingdom of God is nigh.”
Again, in Matt. 24, the Saviour speaks of the “great tribulation” which was to come upon the church, which was under the papal rule, and said immediately after that tribulation the sun should be darkened, which took place in 1780, and the moon should not give her light, which was fulfilled at the same time, and the stars should fall from heaven, which was fulfilled in 1833. These are given as the signs of his coming, and by which we may know that he is near, even at the doors. The other events spoken of in this connection are not given as signs of his coming, but they take place at his coming. For we have shown that the shaking of the heavens is by the voice of God, which is heard under the last plague, which also shakes the earth so terribly that the islands are moved out of their places and the mountains are not found. This, then, is not a sign that those awful events are near, but is at the very ushering in of that great and terrible day of the Lord. Therefore as those things given as signs have all been fulfilled, we are now in that time when we may “know it is near, even at the doors.”
These things cannot be successfully controverted. And the faith of the “little flock,” who are looking for their Lord to return from the wedding, Luke 12:32–37, should now grow strong, and their hope and courage should revive, as they “see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. Soon the Lord will come to change them from “flesh and blood,” or from mortality to immortality, so that they may be capable of inheriting that kingdom which shall not pass away, nor “be left to other people.” Dan. 2:44.
“Soon shall close our earthly mission,
Soon shall pass our pilgrim days;
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight and prayer to praise.”
J. H. WAGGONER.
Trust in God Through the Furnace of Trial
By JOS. CLARKE
Trust.
“SHALL we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job 2:10. It is in the furnace of trial that we learn to trust in God. It is comparatively a small thing to trust in God, while in prosperity; but when our hopes are crushed, when our plans are thwarted, when we are traduced by enemies and forsaken by friends, when all our love and hope and treasures seem to be about to elude our grasp, and we are almost in despair; then to look upward to Heaven, and pray to God for his pardon and his favor, and to cast all our care and burden upon him, is an act of faith, and then it is that we learn the value of an advocate on high.
Every child of God must at some time learn the lesson which Job so painfully experienced—not always so severe and painful—but the furnace will be heated sufficiently to prove our sincerity; our idols will all be overthrown and broken, and we19left with only our God to appeal to for deliverance; and never before was the smile of Heaven so full of consolation as when in humble penitence, with bitter tears, and almost hopeless prayers, with a sense of our utter helplessness and unworthiness, we submit ourselves to the righteous government of God.
A constant trust in God, and a lively, enduring faith in him, is what every child of God must surely possess. Says Christ, in Luke 12:29, “Neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Says Paul, in Heb. 10:35, “Cast not away your confidence.” Again, in Rom. 8:35–39, Paul asserts his faith, and asks, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” and he specifies some of his trials—as tribulation, distress, famine, sword, peril—and he avers most confidently that nothing shall separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Says Habakkuk, chapter 3:17, 18, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
That is keen experience in the Christian warfare when such utterances find vent; and could we read the records on high of the bitter tears and prayers of the holy people who have been tortured on the rack and in the flames, and long imprisoned in filthy prisons, doubtless our trials would seem light. But a living faith in God and his dear Son infinitely outweighs the price they paid; and if our trials are the means of purifying our hearts, we may be happy and joyous in them all.
The beginning of the Christian life is like the enrollment of the soldier in the army; the drill, the work, the warfare, the danger, the peril, the victory, the defeat, the sorrow, the joy, come in their due order.
A great error is prevalent with those entering upon the Christian life. It is this: The young convert is too apt to imagine that the work is done when the Spirit of God renews the heart and fills it with joy unspeakable; but it is a very great mistake. Strong faith and trust in God are the result of long experience and labor in the Christian life and warfare.
The well-arranged, well-conducted estate is only the product of the industrious, careful hand and mind of its manager. A farm, a factory, or a school, will not run by chance, or of their own accord; neither will a heart neglected or mismanaged become thrifty; but, like a neglected garden, it will run up to weeds.
Neglect to cultivate the heart, and you will soon find it full of evil thoughts and dark and gloomy fears; the world with all its train of care and perplexity, will fill up every part, and there will be no room for Jesus; faith will fail, and holy love will die out, and in their place, Satan will bring his army of appetites and passions, and he will be happy to see it so, if it can be possible for him to be happy.
We may live a happy, holy life; we may lean always on the Lord; we may always trust unwaveringly in our Saviour. Let us do this; nothing else will so tranquilize the mind, and give such solid, such enduring happiness, as this confidence and trust.
JOS. CLARKE.
Rascality Go Unpunished in the Country
The country is evidently full of rascality, but it seems to be utterly impossible to bring any one to judgment. Money, fine cloth, and a good reputation for virtue and piety seem to cover all the sins of avarice.
The St. Louis of To-day.
By Edward King
LOOKING down upon the St. Louis of to-day, from the high roof of the superb temple which the Missourians have built to the mercurial god of insurance, one can hardly believe that the vast metropolis spread out before him represents the growth of only three-quarters of a century. The town seems as old as London. The smoke from the Illinois coal has tinged the walls a venerable brown, and the grouping of buildings is as picturesque and varied as that of a continental city. From the water side, on ridge after ridge, rise acres of solidly built houses, vast manufactories, magazines of commerce, long avenues bordered with splendid residences; a labyrinth of railways bewilders the eye; and the clang of machinery and the whirl of a myriad wagon-wheels rise to the ear. The levee is thronged with busy and uncouth laborers; dozens of white steamers are shrieking their notes of arrival and departure; the ferries are choked with traffic; a gigantic and grotesque scramble for the almost limitless West beyond is spread out before the vision. The town has leaped into a new life since the war; has doubled its population, its manufactures and its ambition, until it stands so fully abreast of its wonderful neighbor, Chicago, that the traditional acerbity of the reciprocal criticism for which both cities have so long been famous is latterly much enhanced.
The city, which now stretches twelve miles along the ridges, branching from the watershed between the Missouri, the Merrimac and the Mississippi rivers, flanked by rolling prairies richly studded with groves and vineyards; which has many railroad lines pointed to its central depots, and a mile and a half of steamboats at its levee, a thousand miles from the sea; whose population has increased from 8,000, in 1835, to 450,000, in 1873; which has a banking capital of nineteen millions; which receives hundreds of thousands of tons of iron ore monthly, has bridged the Father of Waters, and talks of controlling the cotton trade of Arkansas and Texas,—is but little like the St. Louis of the days when Col. Stoddard had his headquarters in a rude cottage, and the United States, in his person, had just adopted the infant city. In those days the houses were nearly all built of hewn logs, set upon end, and covered with coarsely shingled roofs.
The town extended along the line of what are now known as Main and Second streets; a little south of the square called the Place d’Armes, Fort St. Charles was held by a tiny garrison, and in the old stone tower which the Spaniards had built, debtors and criminals were confined together. French customs and French gaiety prevailed; there were two diminutive taverns, whose rafters nightly rang to the tales of hairbreadth escapes told by the boatmen of the Mississippi. The Chouteaus, the Lisas, and the Labadies were the principal merchants; French and English Schools, flourished; peltry, lead, and whisky, were used for currency, and negroes were to be purchased for them; the semi-Indian garb of the trapper was seen at every street corner; and thousands of furs, stripped from the buffalo and the beaver, were exported to New Orleans. The mineral wealth lying within a hundred miles of St. Louis had hardly been dreamed of; the colonists were too busy in killing Indians and keeping order in the town to think of iron, lead, coal, and zinc.—Edward King; Scribner’s for July.
A Skeptical Shoemaker.
We were much struck with the judicious manner in which a Scripture reader recently met the objection of a skeptical shoemaker. He said:—
“I have read a good deal about the heathen gods, and I believe the account of Christ is taken from some of the heathen writings.”
The reader replied in a very kindly manner:—
“Will you abide by your own decision in two questions I will put to you? If so, I will freely do the same. I will abide by your answers; by so doing we shall save much time, and arrive quicker at the truth.”
“Well,” said he, “out with it, and let us see if I can answer; there are but few things but what I can say something about.”
“Well, my friend,” replied the reader, “my first question is, Suppose all men were Christians, according to the account given to us in the gospel concerning Christ, what would be the state of society?”
He remained silent for some time in deep thought, and then was constrained to say:—
“Well, if all men were really Christians, in practice as well as theory, of course we should be a happy brotherhood indeed.”
“I promised you,” said the reader, “that I would abide by your answer. Will you do the same?”
“Oh, yes,” he readily replied, “no man can deny the goodness of the system in practice; but now for the other question; perhaps I shall get on better with that; you have got a chalk this time against me.”
“Well, my next question is this: Suppose all men were infidels, what then would be the state of London and the world?”
He seemed still more perplexed, and remained a long time silent, the reader doing the same. At length he said:—
“You certainly have beaten me, for I never before saw the effects upon society; I now see that where the Christian builds up, the infidel is pulling down. I thank you; I shall think of what has passed this afternoon.”
The sequel was that he was fully persuaded in his own mind to give up all his infidel companions, and was led to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But the change did not stop here. When first the reader called, he had to sit on an old, dirty chair, with a number of half-starved children sitting in their rags on the floor around him, neglected and uncared for; now they have removed to a better home in a cleaner street. Within, all is cheerful and happy. The father, no longer faithless, delights in the company of his wife and children, all of whom are neatly dressed; and his chief happiness is to read and to speak to them of the things which belong to their everlasting peace. “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”—Little Gleaner.