Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 29, 1860
LIFELESS CHRISTIANITY.
By N. W. R.
MR. EDITOR: The Review of 24th Nov last, has dropped upon my table; and in looking it over I discover sentiments so nearly corresponding with my own that I should feel hardly satisfied with myself if I neglected at this time to give them my full and hearty approval.
Permit me then as an humble member of our common Father's family to add a word of testimony to the record that is now being made against this popular christianity of the day. Ever since the Christian church was established it has been a source of sorrow to many a heart to know that2their “beautiful Zion” had ceased to be “the light of the world.” But not till now has there been so great cause for “mourning over the desolation of Zion.” To-day, the voice of weeping and lamentation comes up from a thousand hearts. It is not Rachel weeping by the lowly graves of her children; nor is it the wild wail over the tombs of the mighty dead! But it is the weeping Jesus in agony of soul, bending over the gates of Jerusalem; it is the weeping prophet: “Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” It is the stricken, bleeding cause of my Saviour, draped in mourning, and weeping over a desolate and world-besotted church. Who has done it?
“What hast thou done?” comes in thunder tones from the skies. What hast thou done, or rather left undone, gospel minister, who dare not “speak the truth and shame the devil?” “What hast thou done,” professed follower of Christ, who hast smuggled thy body into the church to corrupt and foster, while thy soul fattens on the world? “What hast thou done” professor, who having a place in God’s house convertest it into a house of merchandise, appropriating God’s means to your selfish ends, “passing by on the other side,” “arrayed in scarlet and fine linen,” and rolling in luxury, while at your door thousands are famishing for want of bread? “What hast thou done” professor, who dare not speak the truth for fear of shame, nor condemn the wrong for fear of harm? And thou professor in authority, thou who art the guardian and administrator of the law, and who hast made the church a cloak for thy sins, and a covert for thine iniquities, God demands of thee, “What hast thou done?” thou who regardest man’s law more than God’s, who consentest to wrong as did Pilate, who fain would have washed his dripping hands of innocent blood?
“What hast thou done!” “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” Repent, for the ax is laid at the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Repent ye churches, for “God is just and his justice will not sleep forever.” Elevate the standard of piety; make man’s acts, his every day life, the test of Christian character, and not success in accumulating wealth and worldly honors, the standard of virtue and morality. Bring this poor pitiable self up to its manhood, to its God.
Men with manhood in them, religion with a God in it, a church with Christians in it might make head against “principalities and powers,” against infidelity, against earth and hell combined, and roll back the monster evils that darken our land into the pit from whence they come.
N. W. R.
Holly, N. Y.
Use Your One Talent
By Myrta E. Steward
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: Your communications through the Review do me good. Don't let us neglect this interesting part of our paper. I have been grieved many times by the excuses I have heard from dear brethren and sisters for not writing more. They say, "Why should I write when others who are more talented and capable of doing more good do not?" Shall we then neglect duty because others do? or refuse to use our one talent because another who has five or ten does not use his? Has God no need of the one talent? Has he so arranged his plan as to use only the wise, the talented of this world in his service, and consequently give them all the reward? Oh no. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty." Then take courage ye "foolish and weak ones," if such you think yourselves. Do you not know that one talent if placed at God's disposal will effect far more good than ten self directed.
"A word spoken in due season, how good is it." And the Lord can speak such a word through the "foolish" which will be more beneficial than a whole elegant sermon without the Lord's direction. Then let us leave all our powers in his hands and go straight forward, doing whatever our hands find to do with our might whether in public or private, speaking audibly or through the paper. The space in the Review is like a little meeting house, designed for the church at large, and those who fill it are representatives of the assembled disciples. Now "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is."
"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord," &c. Come now, you who have not the privilege of meeting with others of like precious faith, here is a chance for you to receive the blessing God spake by Malachi; and will you who are thus privileged refuse to meet here with the lonely ones, and with those not in your immediate vicinity? Come up to the help of God. Come and put your one talents together and make a broad phalanx against the attacks of the enemies of God and his truth. Place them all in the hands of the Lord. He knows how to arrange the order of defense just right. Let us get the pure love of God burning in our hearts, and then when we speak or write, some rays will gleam through our words into other souls, and God will be glorified. What a blessed employment to glorify a being of such tender compassion and love.
"I love the Lord, I know I do, / I feel it in my soul."
I rejoice that I have such a friend who is not only willing but able to do all for me that I in any way need. My whole heart is his and O such sweet seasons of trust and communion as I enjoy with him. Why he is more to me than thousands of gold and silver, more than all else besides. He is a dear, precious, loving protector and friend, and I wish I had larger capacities, that I might love him more. Blessed Saviour! kind, compassionate Father! I can trust my all in his hands and feel that all will be well.
Beloved friends let us rejoice that "neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." God help us universally to put on the garments of salvation having "clean hands and pure hearts."
We found the most of the church at Portage standing in the liberty of the gospel, and the church here at Mackford seeking earnestly for freedom, for "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord" (which I believe some enjoy here). May God help them and all the rest of us to become free from the law of sin, and fit to dwell in his kingdom.
"Wake up brother, wake up sister; / Seek, O seek this holy state; / None but holy ones can enter / Through the pure celestial gate."
Mackford, Wis., March 14th. MYRTA E. STEWARD.
DUTY IMPERATIVE.
By M. E. S.
It seems as though we sometimes too lightly regard the imperative obligations of duty. We profess to be in the service of the King of kings. (God's commands are equally binding upon all whether they profess or not to obey them). By duty here, we mean the service we are required to render our King whether directly to him or to our fellow men and thus indirectly to him. Now how is it that we come to consider his commandments so lightly as to think it a matter of anything less than the greatest importance whether we do them? Does any subject of an absolute earthly monarch esteem the slightest requirement of his sovereign of little importance? Does he not earnestly note, and with the greatest promptness perform the least expression of his will? Why is it that we are less attentive to him in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways? Would it be a light thing for those exalted beings who stand in the presence of God day and night, and cry "holy, holy, holy," to transgress the least of his requirements? And are we higher than the angels that their master and ours can complacently bear more from us than from them? How dare the least of his subjects as far as our knowledge extends, raise the puny arm of rebellion?
Why is it our obedience is so imperfect? I will tell you. It is because we serve him by faith, and it is much easier or more natural rather, to live by sight than by faith; but are the Lord's requirements the less binding because the Lawgiver is invisible? By no means. The time is at hand when the unseen will manifest himself in great power and glory. Could we see the lips and hear the voice of his awful majesty which once shook the earth as he gave his ten commandments; could we see and hear for ourselves as he indicates to us each of our duties, think you we should be slothful or negligent about performing them? His existence is just as real, his power just as terrible as though we could actually behold him. His goodness ever preserves and is all about us. Oh the ingratitude of our half-hearted duties! God is perfection itself; and the service rendered him should be equally perfect. Our slightest deviations from entire obedience to the divine will, cost the sufferings of Jesus. How is it then that we are led to look upon the smallest of our duties as insignificant?
May God help us to be perfect men and women in Christ Jesus. This can never be until we follow our Saviour undeviatingly; and he kept all his Father's commandments; not only the written letter of the law, but the spirit also, which embraced all the particular duties classed under the ten great heads. Never can we be accepted of God while we knowingly, under any pretense whatever, violate the least of his requirements. Let us cultivate a conscience void of the least offense toward God and man, and not think it beneath our dignity to notice and to the best of our ability perform all God's will. Beneath us! to render the slightest service to him who made and sustains all things according to the ordering of his own will? Unspeakable privilege to obtain his favor by any and every means. God help us to so abide in him and watchfully perform his will as to become through him worthy of his acceptance and favor.
M. E. S.
SECRET PRAYER.
THERE is a power above all earthly power,
The power of secret prayer;
The soul's relief in sorrow's darkest hour,
Its refuge from despair.
O, what a boon, to steal away alone,
When earth no help can bring,
And offer our petitions at the throne
Of the eternal King,
Who listens graciously to our appeals,
Who all our anguish knows,
And more than any temporal father feels
Compassion for our woes;
To whom our prayer no studied language needs,
No form, so chill and dead;
Who listens to the contrite heart that pleads,
When not a word is said.
Who makes his face to shine—who fills the mind
With hope and calm delight,
And in whose all who put their trust, shall find
Life's hardest fortune light.
Boston Journal.
The Sin and Danger of Tobacco
BRO SMITH: I send you the following extract from a farewell address to the convicts in the Wisconsin State prison, it being that part that treats on tobacco. Although we have seen much written on this subject in the Review; yet as long as it is used, perhaps it would not be out of place to give this an insertion. A. H. D.]
WHEREFORE I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth. 2 Pet. i, 12.
You do not see that the habit of using tobacco is sinful and wrong, and for this opinion you are not so blamable as a debauched public whose practice has led you into this error. Nevertheless the use of this drug is sinful and ungentlemanly as well as dangerous in leading us into society of the vicious and into the commission of acts more manifestly wrong. It is sinful because if the effect of its use is not pernicious, it is at least, useless, and the time employed earning and using the plant should be employed in doing something for the benefit of humanity at large and for ourselves individually. We have no right to waste an hour of our time; and if we devote it to growing, earning or using tobacco, it is lost, as I think I proved to you before, eternally!
Here is an eternal loss to begin with. But there is another view of it, and that is that it is not only useless but hurtful, inasmuch as it destroys the nervous system, and is the cause of many diseases and prevents the cure of many more. In this opinion I am sustained by physicians of much eminence. Again, by the use of tobacco we infringe upon the rights of others by poisoning the air they are forced to breathe with the smoke of this poisonous plant, rendered still more deleterious by the filthy exhalations from our lungs and mouth. We also sin against the laws of God as well as those of advanced society by rendering ourselves disgusting, dirty, and loathsome to people of refinement in feeling or purity of thought. You have all heard that cleanliness is a virtue next to godliness, but I tell you that cleanliness is a part of godliness. No person can be called godly who is filthy and disgusting both to the eye and the smell; and where is the man or woman who uses this article constantly who does not become so?
“Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect,” was a precept given us by the purest and holiest of men. So stainless, so spotless, so loving and perfect was this person in all his acts, words and thoughts that he commands the reverence and adoration of the civilized world! Do you think a pure spirit could dwell in a body saturated outside and inside with tobacco juice? And if a spirit is not pure can it be said to approach perfection? I would not wound the reverence of one of you and I do not intend to be irreverent when I remind you that in Jesus of Nazareth is embodied your highest conception of all that is worthy of adoration. Now just imagine that the portrait of this ideal of purity and loveliness was placed before you at this instant in the act of smoking or chewing tobacco. His head enveloped in its offensive fumes, or his beard besmeared with saliva! Does not your sense of propriety revolt at the idea of such a presentation? Would you not turn from such a picture with disgust, and charge it upon some blasphemous infidel that he had painted it to libel the author of your religion, and to bring odium upon his memory and character? There is not one of you who is looking for Jesus to come in the clouds of heaven, and is keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, but would spurn it from your presence, and would hold the artist who conceived and executed it in deserved contempt and abhorrence. Need I ask you now if you still consider it consistent with Christian purity and morality to use tobacco?
ASK FOR WISDOM.
By Dr. Arnold
EVEN among many who do pray regularly, the prayer for wisdom does not, I suspect, form a part of their petitions. Many of us seem to have a confused notion that sense, reason, good judgment, or by whatever name we call our intellectual faculties, are quite distinct from spiritual blessings, and are things too worldly to be named in our prayers. Yet what was Solomon’s choice, but an “understanding heart to judge the people?” That is, a sound and powerful mind capable of discerning the truth and the right in the line of his daily duty. Solomon’s choice should be our prayer; in St. James’ words, we should ask of God to give us wisdom. And as in other points of our conduct, so is it also in this—that by asking God to give us a wise and understanding heart, we confess to ourselves that our opinions and judgment are serious things, for we do not bring mere trifles before God in our prayers; and that, being serious things, they demand our own serious care; that duty and sin belong to them; that as our salvation depends upon our lives, so our lives depend upon our thoughts and judgments; for if we ask ill because we have judged ill, and have judged ill because we took no pains to judge well, then the sin is not taken away from our act, but remains in it; and the act was an act of what the scripture calls folly, the folly which sees and regards not God.
Whatever be our business in life, if we make it a part of our daily prayers to God that he will give us understanding in it; that he will assist our judgments so that seeing what is right and true, we may maintain and follow it in both word and deed, I do not doubt that such prayers will be answered, and that where we now act blindly and carelessly, according to any prevailing feeling or fancy, then we shall act upon the persuasion of our minds, and that persuasion will be, in general, according to the will of God.—Dr. Arnold.
ELOQUENT APPEAL OF A CLERGYMAN IN FAVOR OF THE BIBLE.
AMONG a number of speakers present at the semicentennial anniversary of the Pennsylvania Bible society, celebrated at Philadelphia, on Wednesday was the Rev. Dr. Fuller of Baltimore.
He commenced his address with a feeling allusion to the absence of one who had been wont to preside on occasions like this—Rev. Philip F. Mayer, D. D., lately deceased. He then spoke of their duty to the Bible, and said that here in Philadelphia, where the first Sunday-school was formed, and the first Union Bible society established, they should all be found ready to build an altar on which the different sects could bury their enmity and bitterness, an altar over which their children could find an everlasting opposition alike to infidelity and Jesuitism which would prevent the dissemination of the word of God; an altar around which they could all pledge “their lives, their sacred honor, and their fortunes” to sustain the Bible cause. He esteemed it a peculiar honor to be allowed to speak in behalf of the Pennsylvania Bible society on this occasion. He had heard it said that the world was growing worse; yet he had lived in it and saw it growing better. The world was, he thought, a great deal better than it was a hundred years ago, and though he held his opinion of by-gone time he respected this society, notwithstanding it had numbered its fifty years.
It was the wish of his heart, he said, that the patriots and statesmen of this country could be brought to regard the Bible in its true relation to man; in the social and physical liberty it furnishes to him. One of the articles of impeachment brought by infidels against the Bible was, that it no where inculcates true patriotism. Why, what is patriotism? Had Greece and Rome a true idea of patriotism when they built up a nation on the ruins of another? Certainly not. When man is a true patriot he seeks to elevate the standard of public morals; and who performs this work more effectually than the one who distributes the Holy Bible? Infidels may be found teaching their children from this book, and if asked them their reason for so doing, they will answer that they must give them lessons in virtue and morals, and nowhere else can they be found than here!
The speaker then referred to the sublime discoveries made by science, and said, though it had performed many wonders, it had done nothing to reach the disease of the soul and cure it. Philosophy, what can it do? In Greece, where philosophy was most understood, it produced a refinement of manners with a dissolution of morals; it only shows that the Bible alone can elevate the morals of mankind. It had this power once, and it possesses it now. Again, the Bible will do a great deal to strengthen and enlarge the intellect. What book can the human mind be brought into contact with, from which it could obtain such inestimable blessings as this one? If a man would be a historian, let him study the Bible. If it strengthens the intellectual and physical being of man, it follows that it must ever remain the bulwark of our liberty.
He then made a passing allusion to the attempt147to exclude the Bible from the public schools of Baltimore, and referred to the part he took in preventing the design from being carried into execution, and said that just in proportion as the word of God was circulated and preached among the people of any city, that city would flourish. He then spoke of the inspiration of the Bible, and referred to the influence of familiarity in blunting our sensibilities. Such was its effect, said he, that the fireworks of the school-boy attract more attention than the noon day sun. He applied this to the Bible, which, though a direct communication from God, was seldom thought of in this connection. Some persons found it difficult to look at it in this light, but, for himself it had often been a matter of surprise that he had not sent more communications.
We sometimes hear it said that the Bible is the poor man's book, and what joy and consolation does it not bring to his heart? He had often found a poor man living in an humble abode with more spiritual knowledge than he himself possessed. He thought the rich were too busy with their business letters to think of reading the letters of St. Paul, and they were too much engrossed in considering their bad debts to think of their bad deeds. The speaker closed with an earnest appeal in behalf of the society.
THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN.
By Dr. Cumming
THERE is one prediction that has occasioned not great dispute, but certainly great variety of opinion. It is this: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; some sign that is to usher in the advent of the Son of man. What is it? All I can do is to let you hear the opinions I have gathered, from the earliest writer, Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, down to the most recent interpreter of prophecy."
Some say that the sign of the Son of man means simply the advent of the Son of man. But the sign is distinct from the thing signified; and if it be a sign, it surely cannot be what the sign signifies—the advent of the Son of man.
Another class of interpreters believe that this sign is to be the appearance of the glorious and radiant resurrection body of our blessed Lord; and the ground on which they say so is, that "To this faithless generation shall be given no other sign than the sign of Jonah the prophet." What was that sign? Christ's resurrection. And as the sign of Jonah was appealed to by him, so the sign set forth and spoken of by the Son of man will be, these interpreters think, the appearance of the glorious and glorified body of the Son of God. But then this, again seems to me to confound the sign and the substance, or the thing signified, and therefore not a true and natural exposition of it.
The third class of opinions was the most common during the earliest ages of the Christian Church. Almost all the Greek Fathers of the fourth century, and one or two of the Latin Fathers,—and their agreement here is singular, whether it be true or superstitious—Chrysostom and his contemporaries, almost to a man, think that the sign of the Son of man is to be a gigantic luminous cross that will appear in the firmament covering a space wide as the widest horizon; so brilliant, so overwhelming in its splendor, that no scientific solution, no optical delusion, no resource of astronomy, will be able to explain it or exhaust its meaning.
I do not believe that this is the correct explanation. I state it as an almost universal belief in the fourth century of the Christian era. I think it arose in some degree from that incipient superstitious veneration of the cross which has culminated into the rankest idolatry in the Roman Catholic Church. For, after all, the cross, as a material thing, is nothing; it was a Roman instrument of punishment, and that instrument was used because it was the legal and the prescribed one at the time. It is the moral glory of the atonement that is the cross of Christ. That in which Paul gloried was not the wood on which Jesus hung, but the sacrifice which Jesus made and perfected there.
Others think that the sign will be the approach of an illuminated cloud something like the chariot of fire on which the prophet of old ascended into heaven, careering through the sky, and borne on the willing winds, interpenetrated with beams of intense splendor, the sign of the approach of the chariot-wheels of Him who comes to reign, and whose right it is.
Other interpreters think it will be the very star that stood over the manger, which, with greater splendor and brilliancy, and subject to a more universal notice, shall stand over that spot on which the feet of the Son of man shall stand, and where Jew and Gentile shall gather together to praise, to adore, and to worship him. A star of almost supernatural brilliancy hung over the Mount of Olives during the summer of 1857.—Jew and Gentile were powerfully impressed by its appearance; the former thinking it the sign of the Messiah, and the latter the "sign of the Son of man."
Others think that the sign of the Son of man will be the shechinah; that which burned between the cherubim in the holy place; that moved like a pillar of bright flame in the desert before the hosts of Israel; and when this glory shall burst upon the world, the light of the sun, and shining of the moon and the stars will all grow pale in the intensity of that splendor of unearthly brilliancy and glory. It seems to me very doubtful how far these have any foundation in truth.
The most probable (for I can only speak of probabilities) interpretation is, that "the sign of the Son of man" will be the accomplishment of all that has preceded. After the Gospel has been preached as a witness to all nations; after there shall come false prophets, deceptive and delusive in their doctrines, captivating, because teaching a lax morality, putting up pretensions to miraculous powers so plausible that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect: after the lightnings begin to burst from the east in increasing splendor to its lair in the distant west; after all these have come to pass, we shall have the sign, or the assurance, that the coming or approach of the Son of man draweth nigh.—From the Great Tribulation, by Dr. Cumming.
DONT SLANDER YOUR NEIGHBORS.
No, don't! It's wicked. He may be innocent of the charge alleged against him; you may have condemned him upon circumstantial evidence, and it is never safe to render a decision upon such evidence. Be sure you are right, before you undertake to go ahead. Your neighbor may be poor, and have no friends; if so, by kind words and charitable deeds, make yourself his friend; instead of, by harsh words and arbitrary display of the power with which wealth invests you, crushing an already humble heart, and bringing misery upon one, on whom it would have been just as easy, and far more natural to have bestowed comfort and happiness.
The one upon whom you would vent your malice may be a widow or an orphan—one deprived of her benefactor, or guardian; then be thou a benefactor, and suffer not the breath of calumny to taint the fair fame of an unblemished character. If there remains one feeling of humanity in the bosom of the slanderer, how doubly keen must be his remorse, when the amount of misery he has occasioned forces itself upon him.
When slanderous reports reach you, whether you believe them or not, don't give them any greater publicity. It is bad enough to talk nonsense, but infinitely worse to talk slander. Don't do it. —Fort Madison Argus.
A Virginia Camp-Meeting.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York Tribune says, that a camp-meeting was held recently in Fairfax Co., Va., and that immediately after the camp broke up, twenty-seven negroes were sold on the ground to some Southern traders! A mother and seven children were among the number. One of the men was on his knees engaged in prayer, when the trader who had purchased him stopped his mouth with his hand and handcuffed him. What a scene on a Methodist camp ground! To what depths are we sinking. Shade of Wesley, pity us! God of mercy, forgive us our great wickedness and deliver us speedily from all complicity with this abomination which maketh so desolate!—Sel.
The Decline of Methodism
SPEAKING, we suppose, of Methodism in Missouri, the Central Christian Advocate says:
"Seriously, Methodism, in many quarters, is becoming a dead letter. The Discipline is unread, and almost unkown; or, if known, is practically ignored. The stated means of grace are neglected, almost abandoned; the class-meetings a figment, and the leader a myth."
If this be so, we should like to know what kind of Methodism they have in the south-west. No wonder slave-holders there find a cordial welcome to the bosom of the Church. And to all this may be added the undeniable fact (of which many of our readers may not have been aware) that tens of thousands now in full membership in our western societies, do not profess ever to have been converted! They joined as "seeking," were admitted in full membership as such, and are such still. And this practice is fully justified by many western preachers.
DELIGHT THYSELF IN GOD.
By Hewitson
O laboring and heavy laden souls, the restlessness which you take so many different ways to alleviate, is occasioned by nothing so much as by the want of God. While you are living without him, all that you do is vanity and vexation of spirit. There is a rest for your souls; but it is not those things which you have been so earnestly pursuing. You seek it from the earth; but the earth says, "It is not me."—You seek it from pleasure, from fashion, from riches, from friendship, from praise, but praise, friendship, riches, fashion, pleasure, each of them say, "It is not me." Ask it from every thing in creation, and everything in creation will say, "It is not me." You must seek it above and beyond creation; for there is no rest for your soul till you come and seek where it is to be found, in the bosom of God's everlasting love.—Hewitson.
The Future Of Europe.
THE indications in Europe are again warlike. The dispute between the emperor and the pope has assumed so grave a character, and the Italian people bear themselves so steadily in their opposition to priestly arrogance, that it is thought an appeal to arms furnishes the only method of settling present difficulties. In discussing the question, "Will the Italian war be renewed?" the New York Evening Post says:
To answer positively in the affirmative might be going too far, and yet the prospect of a continuance of peace in the peninsula is not only uncertain, but improbable. The treaty of Villafranca, confirmed at Zurich, has proved only an armistice—a mere suspension of hostilities; both parties have since slept upon their arms in view of soon returning to the conflict. The same causes of dispute are still at work, and apparently beyond a settlement except by the sword; even the armies on each side are mustering for a fresh encounter.
Heaven
By Robt. Hall
HEAVEN.—"There objects are exactly suited to the highest tendencies of the mind. There our social feelings will find uninterrupted enjoyment. Our intellectual faculties will be ever employed on subjects of the utmost sublimity and grandeur. Our moral sentiments will be gratified with an unceasing supply of spiritual beauty. Every desire of the soul, when in heaven, will receive an instantaneous supply. This combination of activity and enjoyment, without weariness or imperfection, constitutes the unequalled superiority of this heavenly felicity."
Under the Father's Eye
In every place your Father's eye is upon you.
THE LAST OF THE POPES.
By James White
THE following striking passage is from Harper's Weekly of the 18th ult. It is but a fair expression, perhaps, of the opinion which the wisest entertain in relation to the fate of the Papacy. With the writer we agree that this generation will witness "the overthrow of an institution which claims to date from St. Peter," but we should probably go farther than he in the nature and extent of that overthrow; for we believe it will be no less than to be consumed with the Spirit of Christ's mouth and destroyed by the brightness of his coming. It is, however, but in accordance with prophecy, that human powers should prey upon the "man of sin," the "little horn," and take away his dominion and consume and destroy it unto the end; and this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
"Matters stand thus at present. On New Year's eve Napoleon wrote the Pope a wise, calm, and temperate letter, advising him to submit to fate, and to recognize the independence of the Romagna. On New Year's day, Pius, in his speech to the French general, called Napoleon a hypocrite, and all the other hard words he could remember. The world, judging between the two, does not decide in favor of the Pope.
"As we said a few weeks since, the Papacy is a respectable institution, which many wise persons, out of regard for the past, would like to preserve from entire destruction. In his proper sphere the Pope can be of great use to civilization and Christianity. But if he can only be maintained by bombarding cities and slaughtering people who seek their mere rights; if the existence of his spiritual authority be inseparable from the perpetuation of the most loathsome and degrading despotism in Europe; it is not likely that the generous sentiments which induce men of all religions to feel sympathy for the Pope will stand the test, and our generation will probably see the overthrow of an institution which claims to date from St. Peter."
The following extract from a letter from Italy, reveals a singular tradition concerning the pontiff:
"Apropos of the Pope, there is, and has been for years, a curious tradition in Italy—that Pius the Ninth would be the last Pope, and in illustration of this, I will repeat an anecdote related to me by a friend of mine. Several years ago, in the Pontificate of Gregory XVI, this gentleman was in the Cathedral at Siena looking at the busts of the Popes, which are placed after their deaths in a niche devoted to that purpose. Two empty niches then alone remained. 'Why,' said my friend, 'there is only room for two more busts, you will have to make some niches for those of the future Popes.' 'Oh no, signor,' replied the cicerone, 'they say that after those two we shall never have any more Popes.' Gregory's bust now stands in one of those niches, the other is, I believe, empty."
MEETINGS AT TIPTON, IOWA.
SABBATH and first-day, March 10th and 11th, we spent with the friends at Tipton, Iowa. We spoke to the people five times, the last on the immortality question to a large and attentive congregation in Bagley's hall. We enjoyed good freedom, and have reason to hope that there will be several additions to the company of Sabbath-keepers in Tipton as the result of the meetings. It is desired that Bro. Cornell should visit them before tent season, also the church at Lisbon, and attend to the ordinance of baptism in both places.
At this place we learned facts relative to the Episcopalian church which has led to serious reflections. The church is composed of six members—the minister, his wife, their son, now a Sabbath-keeper, and beside the minister's family, one man and two women. They have a house of worship, built with eastern missionary funds, which cost about $800. And for the two years the minister has labored in his little parish, he has received at least $500 of missionary funds, making in all $1100. And there they are, six members all told, and one has become a Sabbath-keeper. The patience and perseverance and liberality of the Episcopalians is astonishing under such circumstances.
Thank God that a far brighter prospect is before us. Not more than $1000 has ever been expended in Iowa in the cause of present truth. And now there is an army of Sabbath-keepers scattered through certain portions of the State, ready to move out in the cause to far greater victories. Can it be a fact that sectarian bodies do make greater efforts to build up sectarianism, than commandment-keepers do to give the last message to sinners who must soon sink without the truth? It is a fact worthy of serious reflection, that in many cases they do. It should not be so. Ours is a living faith, which calls for tenfold the sacrifice and zeal and persevering efforts of those who labor to make men better with the doctrines of their musty creeds.
We are now at Iowa City, and have found rest at the houses of Bro. Curtis, Carver and Graham. Our meetings for the 17th and 18th are to be in the Universalist church. J. W.