The historic and old-time cradle is dead, and buried in the rubbish of the garret. A baby of five months, filled with modern notions, would spurn to be rocked in the awkward and rustic thing. The baby spits the “Alexandra feeding bottle” out of its mouth, and protests against the old-fashioned cradle, giving emphasis to its utterances by throwing down a rattle that cost seven dollars, and kicking off a shoe imported at fabulous expense, and upsetting the “baby-basket” with all its treasures of ivory hair-brushes and “Mean Fun.” Not with voice, but by violence of gesture and kicks and squirms it says: “What! you going to put me in that old cradle? Where is the nurse? My patience! What does mother mean? Get me a ‘patented self-rocker!’” The parents yield. In comes the new-fangled crib. The machine is wound up, the baby put in, the crib set in motion, and mother goes off to make a first-rate speech at the “Woman’s Rights Convention!” Conundrum: Why is a maternal elocutionist of this sort like a mother of old time, who trained four sons for the holy ministry, and through them was the means of reforming and saving a thousand souls, and through that thousand of saving ten thousand more? You answer: “No resemblance at all!” You are right. Guessed the conundrum the first time. Go up to the head of the class!
Now, the “patented self-rockers,” no doubt, have their proper use; but go up with me into the garret of your old homestead, and exhume the cradle that you, a good while ago, slept in. The rockers are somewhat rough, as though a farmer’s plane had fashioned them, and the sides just high enough for a child to learn to walk by. What a homely thing, take it all in all! You say: Stop your depreciation! We were all rocked in that. For about fifteen years that cradle was going much of the time. When the older child was taken out, a smaller child was put in. The crackle of the rockers is pleasant yet in my ears. There I took my first lessons in music as mother sang to me. Have heard what you would call far better singing since then, but none that so thoroughly touched me. She never got five hundred dollars per night for singing three songs at the Academy, with two or three encores gracefully thrown in; but without pay she sometimes sang all night, and came out whenever encored, though she had only two little ears for an audience. It was a low, subdued tone that sings to me yet across thirty-five years.
You see the edge of that rocker, worn quite deep? That is where her foot was placed while she sat with her knitting or sewing, on summer afternoons, while the bees hummed at the door, and the shout of the boy at the oxen was heard afield. From the way the rocker is worn, I think that sometimes the foot must have been very tired, and the ankle very sore; but I do not think she stopped for that. When such a cradle as that got agoing, it kept on for years.
Scarlet-fever came in the door, and we all had it; and oh! how the cradle did go! We contended as to who should lie in it, for sickness, you know, makes babies of us all. But after awhile we surrendered it to Charlie. He was too old to lie in it, but he seemed so very, very sick; and with him in the cradle it was “Rock!” “Rock!” “Rock!” But one day, just as long ago as you can remember, the cradle stopped. When a child is asleep there is no need of rocking. Charlie was asleep. He was sound asleep. Nothing would wake him. He needed taking up. Mother was too weak to do it. The neighbors came in to do that, and put a flower, fresh out of the garden-dew, between the two still hands. The fever had gone out of the cheek, and left it white, very white: the rose exchanged for the lily. There was one less to contend for the cradle. It soon started again, and with a voice not quite so firm as before, but more tender, the old song came back: “Bye! bye! bye!” which meant more to you than “Il Trovatore,” rendered by opera troupe in the presence of an American audience, all leaning forward and nodding, to show how well they understood Italian.
There was a wooden canopy at the head of the old cradle, that somehow got loose and was taken off. But your infantile mind was most impressed with the face which much of the time hovered over you. Other women sometimes looked in at the child, and said: “That child’s hair will be red!” or, “What a peculiar chin!” or, “Do you think that child will live to grow up?” and, although you were not old enough to understand their talk, by instinct you knew it was something disagreeable, and began to cry till the dear, sweet, familiar face again hovered and the rainbow arched the sky. Oh! we never get away from the benediction of such a face! It looks at us through storm and night. It smiles all to pieces the world’s frown. After thirty-five years of rough tumbling on the world’s couch, it puts us in the cradle again, and hushes us as with the very lullaby of Heaven.
Let the old cradle rest in the garret! It has earned its quiet. The hands that shook up its pillow have quit work. The foot that kept the rocker in motion is through with its journey. The face that hovered has been veiled from mortal sight. Cradle of blessed memories! Cradle that soothed so many little griefs! Cradle that kindled so many hopes! Cradle that rested so many fatigues! Sleep now thyself, after so many years of putting others to sleep!
One of the great wants of the age is the right kind of a cradle and the right kind of a foot to rock it. We are opposed to the usurpation of “patented self-rockers.” When I hear a boy calling his grandfather old daddy, and see the youngster whacking his mother across the face because she will not let him have ice cream and lemonade in the same stomach, and at some refusal holding his breath till he gets black in the face, so that to save the child from fits the mother is compelled to give him another dumpling, and he afterward goes out into the world stubborn, willful, selfish, and intractable; I say that boy was brought up in a “patented self-rocker.” The old-time mother would have put him down in the old-fashioned cradle, and sung to him,
“Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed!”
and if that did not take the spunk out of him, would have laid him in an inverted position across her lap, with his face downward, and with a rousing spank made him more susceptible to the music.
When a mother, who ought to be most interested in training her children for usefulness and Heaven, gives her chief time to fixing up her back hair, and is worried to death because the curls she bought are not of the same shade as the sparsely-settled locks of her own raising; and culturing the dromedarian heap of dry-goods on her back, till, as she comes into church, a good old elder bursts into laughter behind his pocket-handkerchief, making the merriment sound as much like a sneeze as possible; her waking moments employed with discussions about polonaise, and vert-de-gris velvets, and écru percale, and fringed guipure, and poufs, and sashes, and rose-de-chêne silks, and scalloped flounces; her happiness in being admired at balls, and parties, and receptions—you may know that she has thrown off the care of her children, that they are looking after themselves, that they are being brought up by machinery instead of loving hands—in a word, that there is in her home a “patented self-rocker!”
So far as possible, let all women dress beautifully: so God dresses the meadows and the mountains. . . . . . God has hung round the neck of his world strings of diamonds, and braided the black locks of the storm with bright ribbons of rainbow. Especially before and right after breakfast, ere they expect to be seen of the world, let them look neat and attractive for the family’s sake. One of the most hideous sights is a slovenly woman at the breakfast-table. Let woman adorn herself. Let her speak on platforms so far as she may have time and ability to do so. But let not mothers imagine that there is any new way of successfully training children, or of escaping the old-time self-denial and continuous painstaking.
Let this be the commencement of the lawsuit:
OLD CRADLE
versus
PATENTED SELF-ROCKER.
Attorneys for plaintiff, all the cherished Memories of the past.
Attorneys for the defendant, all the Humbugs of the present.
For jury, the good sense of all Christendom.
Crier! open the court and let the jury be empanelled.—T. DE WITT TALMAGE, in Methodist.
The Second Coming of Christ.
By Albert Weeks
THAT our Lord’s sojourn here, as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, is not the only time he is to manifest himself to the people of earth is evident from many passages of Scripture, prominent among which is Heb. 9:28. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
His first advent to the earth was with the burden of the sins of all that would accept him as the Messiah. His second is without that burden. It brings salvation to his people. He comes in glory, rejoicing that he is about to reward those for whom he has suffered so much. His breast is filled with that love that prompted him to make the sacrifice he did for a fallen race. That love is reciprocated by his people, who exclaim out of the fullness of their hearts, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Isa. 25:9.
Those “that look for him” are those that receive salvation at his hands. This implies that by some means the people of God will be expecting their Lord’s return. He said, “If I go away, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” It was also said, “This same Jesus, which was taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.”
But the special directions which place the earnest Christian in the watching, waiting position, are given by our Saviour in answer to the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matt. 24:3. After giving the required signs, he says, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door.” Verse. 33.
The trusting ones see that the signs are fulfilled, and they are watching, anxiously longing, for their Lord’s return. The wicked are among the scoffers, constituting one of the signs of the last days. “Where is the promise of his coming?” is sounded from the pulpits of those that have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof,” to turn them from their sins. “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5:3.
As we cannot realize the great sacrifice made for us in our Saviour’s leaving the glory of Heaven, taking upon himself our nature, and suffering, the just for the unjust, so we cannot realize the awful grandeur of his coming in glory. With joy and yet with trembling, does the child of God look for the King of kings and Lord of lords; joy, at the thought of beholding him in whom all our hopes center, trembling, lest we have not clean hands and a pure heart, and therefore cannot stand before his spotless purity.
Solemnity rests upon the people of God. How long shall we watch and wait? “Cast not away therefore your confidence; . . . for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”
ALBERT WEEKS.
What He Has Done
It is a mortifying reflection for any man to consider what he has done, compared with what he might have done.
THE VALUE OF “TRIALS.”
The dark days of perplexity and trial, when we are environed by care and adversity, are the days when the true character is brought out and the real strength of the soul fully developed. No man knows what he may accomplish until his endurance has been proved by the ordeal of adversity. Were there nothing to try his stamina, he would never become aware of his ability. People may deplore the vexations of life as much as they please, yet when serious reflection is employed upon the subject they will be forced to admit that trial is as necessary to the acquirement of full mental strength as severe training is to the development of the physical frame. As a general rule, people are apt to underrate their powers of endurance; and were it not that hardships were sent upon them, and the path of life made rough occasionally, they would degenerate into imbeciles.
Shall we Draw Back?
By Angelia J. Edmunds
After having walked in the narrow path many years, shall we cease the journey? Shall we halt by the way because of the trials and perplexities of this life? Shall the cares of this life weigh us down, and gloom and sadness continually shade our brow? No! there is hope for us. Lonely pilgrim, look. Although the path is straight and narrow, it will not be long. We are nearing the end. Do you not see the beautiful gates of the heavenly city, with their many pearls? An angel is in waiting to welcome you there. Back it swings on its glittering hinges, and you hear the welcome, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.”
Does not the glory of that place already shine upon you, and your countenance light up with holy joy? In contemplation, can you not already see the golden streets and hear the song of praise, “Worthy is the Lamb?”
Lingering feet, make haste! Joyfully, quickly, march on your way. Although rough and thorny it may be, how can you loiter? Does not your heart feel lighter while you take step after step? Cannot your tongue also chant in concert, “Worthy is the Lamb; for he died to redeem us from this world of care?”
Have you so long borne burdens that in your march you are growing weary and faint by the way? Oh! put forth every energy in your power to keep up. Eat of the bread of life, drink of the water of life, and you shall be revived. Work heroically, struggle manfully. There is no promise to those that faint by the way. Such can never gain an entrance, and share in the reward of the faithful.
Lift up your heads. Look up and rejoice. Soon, yes, very soon, we, if faithful, shall shout, Glory, glory, on those long-sought banks of deliverance.
ANGELIA J. EDMUNDS.
Johnstown, Mich.
The Capacity for Being Agreeable
Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified for both, who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an hour, are not so much as tolerable.
THE BORDER LAND.
By L. N. R.
These lines were sent by a lady to a friend who wrote frequently to know where she had been for several months, that she had not written to her. She had been to the gates of the grave, in a long and severe illness.
I have been to a land, a Border Land,
Where there was but a strange, dim light;
Where shadows and dreams, in a spectral band,
Seemed real to the aching sight.
I scarce bethought me how there I came,
Or if thence I should pass again;
Its morning and night were marked by the flight
Or coming, of woe and pain.
But I saw from this land, this Border Land,
With its mountain ridges hoar,
That they looked across to a wondrous strand,—
A bright and unearthly shore.
Then I turned me to Him, “the Crucified,”
In most humble faith and prayer,
Who had ransomed with blood my sinful soul,
For I thought He would call me there.
Yet nay, for awhile in the Border Land,
He bade me in patience stay,
And gather rich fruits, with a trembling hand,
Whilst He chased its glooms away;
He had led me amid those shadows dim,
And showed that bright world so near,
To teach me that earnest trust in Him
Is “the one thing needful” here.
And so from the land, the Border Land,
I have turned me to earth once more;
But earth and its works were such trifles, scanned
By the light of that radiant shore.
And oh! should they ever possess me again
Too deeply, in heart and hand,
I must think how empty they seem’d and vain,
From the heights of the Border Land.
The Border Land had depths and vales,
Where sorrow for sin was known;
Where small seemed great, as weighed in scales,
Held by God’s hand alone.
’Twas a land where earthly pride was naught,
Where the poor were brought to mind,
With their scanty bed, their friendless cot,
And their bread, so hard to find.
But little I heard in the Border Land,
Of all that passed below;
The once loud voices of human life
To the deafened ear were low.
I was deaf to the clang of its trumpet call,
And alike to its gibe or its sneer;
Its riches were dust, and the loss of all
Would then scarce have cost a tear.
I met with a Friend in this Border Land.
Whose teachings can come with power
To the blinded eye and the deafened ear,
In affliction’s loneliest hour.
“Times of refreshing” to the soul,
In languor, oft He brings,
Prepares it then to meditate
On high and glorious things.
Oh! Holy Ghost! too often grieved
In health and earthly haste,
I bless those slow and silent hours
Which seemed to run to waste.
I would not but have passed those “depths,”
And such communion known,
As can be held in the Border Land
With Thee, and Thee alone.
I have been to a land, a Border Land!
May oblivion never roll
O’er the mighty lessons which there and then
Have been graven on my soul!
I have trodden a path I did not know,
Safe in my Saviour’s hand:
I can trust Him for all the future, now
I have been to the Border Land.
—L. N. R.
Hints to Writers, No. 4.
AMBIGUITY. Be careful to avoid all ambiguous words; that is, words which have two or more significations, when any doubt can possibly arise as to which signification is intended. Thus, persons discussing the Sabbath question frequently say, “Had the Sabbath ever been observed, mankind would never have fallen into idolatry.”
The word, ever, in this sentence is ambiguous; for this word means (1) “at any time, at any period of time,” and (2) “at all times, always, continually, forever.” If we give it the first signification, it implies that the Sabbath never has been observed; but if the second is the meaning we wish to convey, it would be better to use another word; thus, “Had the Sabbath always been observed, mankind would never have fallen into idolatry.” This signifies that the Sabbath was once observed, but that the practice was not continued. So written, there is no possibility of mistaking its meaning.
This is sufficient to illustrate the principle—a principle which applies to many other words, and to different kinds of construction, which it is not necessary here to enumerate. It shows that we should carefully weigh every word we are about to pen, and consider whether it is just the word we want to use, and whether we are using it in just the right place; and we should choose such words, if appropriate ones of the kind can be found, which have no other meaning but that which we wish to convey.
INFINITIVES. Remember that to is the sign of the infinitive. After the verb, try, the word, and, is very often, and very improperly, substituted for to. Thus, a brother writing respecting a tent-meeting now in progress, says, “We shall try and urge the people to obey.” Others say, “I will try and be faithful.” And how often we hear prayers conclude, “And we will try and give thee all the praise.”
The use of the word, and, in such sentences destroys the infinitive which the writer or speaker intends to use, and makes the second verb a principal verb like the first. Take the sentence, “I will try and be faithful.” Here “be” is joined by the connective, and, to the verb try, and is carried back to the same subject. Expressed in full the sentence would read, “I will try and I will be faithful.” The person thus asserts two things, first, that he will try, and secondly, that he will be faithful; but in this case what he is going to try, he does not inform us.
The sign of the infinitive, to, should be used in all such sentences; thus, “We shall try to urge the people to obey,” “I will try to be faithful.” “And we will try to give thee all the praise.” The infinitive then becomes the object of the principal verb, and expresses the action we intend to do.
Our New Annexation.
The United States is gaining a new foothold of influence in the Pacific, as will appear from the following statements. The inhabitants of one of the Samoan group of islands, have made over the island to the United States. The name of the island is Upolu, covering an area of sixty square miles, and containing a population of 25,000 souls. The people have been Christianized for many years, and many Americans and Englishmen are resident among them. The United States sloop of war, Narragansett, took possession of the island; and an officer of the Narragansett thus relates how the annexation was brought about:—
“For the past ten years a war has been raging between the son and heir of the former king of the group and his uncle, who, during his father's life, was chief of one of the lesser islands. The struggle was one for supremacy, and the young king was driven, step by step, to the eastern portion of the island, where he maintained his position for a long time. A truce was at last agreed to, and during its continuance, some time in April last, the President of the Polynesian Land Company arrived from San Francisco. Taking advantage of the condition of things, he called a meeting of the chiefs of both parties, and represented to them that if the strife went on, in a short time the entire race would be destroyed. The chiefs unanimously agreed that the conclusion was a highly probable one, and were willing to listen to any suggestions which would bring about an honorable peace. It was finally agreed to hand over the island to the United States, and in accordance with this resolution a treaty was drawn up, one clause of which reads as follows:—
“We do acknowledge the absolute authority of the United States of America with regard to all matters whatsoever, and bind ourselves to adopt the common laws of America.”
“This agreement was signed by the two kings and one hundred and twenty chiefs, and the British and American consuls attached their signatures and seals.
At the same time the Narragansett, Commander Meade, was in the harbor of Pango-Pango, island of Tutuila, the five chiefs of which had just formed a league for mutual protection and benefit. With these chiefs Commander Meade consummated a treaty which will prove of the utmost importance to the American government. As a matter of curiosity, we give an outline of this treaty, which, we may premise, was the entire work of the native chiefs, who are generally supposed to be little higher in the social scale than cannibals.
“After arranging for the safety and protection of all foreigners, wrecked or settling upon the island, it provides for the appointment of pilots, the charges of the port, salvage, &c. In regard to the observance of the Sabbath, it expressly declares that no work shall be done on shore, nor shall any natives be employed on board vessels on Sunday, under a penalty of ten dollars, except under circumstances of absolute necessity, such as aid in the case of a wreck of a vessel, or the coaling of the steamship to proceed on time on her voyage. On the temperance question, the chiefs of the island are sound. The treaty provides that there shall be no trading in spirituous or intoxicating liquors under penalty of one hundred dollars, and all such liquors found on shore, and kept for sale or barter in any way, shall be seized and destroyed. If any native be found intoxicated, the individual who has furnished the drink which has caused the intoxication, is to pay a fine of ten dollars, and if any foreigner be intoxicated and riotous, he shall pay a fine of ten dollars. Prostitution is prohibited under heavy penalties; all fines for whatever offenses having to be paid in specie or worked out upon the roads.”
The Detroit Post speaks as follows concerning the entire group:—
“The entire Samoan group contains an area of nearly three thousand square miles, thickly populated. The United States will annex them all, probably. The climate is tropical, delightfully cooled by the trade winds. The correspondent says the soil is wonderfully fertile. The very rocks seem to bring forth vegetation; the eye cannot discover anything not covered with the beautiful tropical verdure. The valleys abound with nutmegs, ginger, curry; the sands, with pineapples; the hills, with spices; the table-lands, with bread-fruit and guava. These islands are directly in the track of the American, New Zealand, and Australian steamers, and our new possession will soon become the center of a great commerce, where all the productions of the South Pacific islands will center, and flow into American commerce. The coaling depot of the steamers is to be immediately located at Samoa city, in the harbor of Pango-Pango, and our Government has already taken possession of the splendid land-locked bay for a naval station.”
Strangers in Church
Many years ago, a youth went into one of our fashionable churches. He sat down in a pew; but was soon rudely ejected by the right owner. He has never entered a church since that day. His pride was sorely wounded; and he dated his hatred of religion and of the Sabbath to that act of unthinking and unchristian rudeness.
The Gospel Preached in all the World.
WITHIN the last century, and more emphatically within the last fifty years, a wonderful work has been done in the direction of circulating the word of God among all the nations of the earth. The following statements show what has been accomplished by the British and American Bible Societies.
This is naturally held by many as an evidence that all the world is soon to be brought under the power of the gospel. But if it were so, the increase of converts to Christ should keep pace with the dissemination of the word of God.
On the contrary it is a lamentable fact that even in nominally Christian lands, the population is increasing in a far greater ratio than the professors of religion; while with those who do make a profession, the standard of holiness has been greatly lowered, and evidences of true, vital piety, are sadly wanting.
Nevertheless this activity in spreading before the nations the word of God, the infallible record of his truth, is a prominent and note-worthy sign of the times; for it can be nothing less than the chief agency by which the gospel is to be disseminated, which our Lord said should be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations just before the end should come.
Read what the Bible Societies have been doing:—
“According to their latest Annual Reports, the British and Foreign Bible Society have printed and are circulating the word of God in 200 different languages and dialects, viz.: in Europe, 66; in Asia, 79; in Africa, 24; in the Pacific Islands, 19; in America, 12. During the past year it issued from its warehouse in London 2,144,601 copies, and from its depositories abroad 1,758,466, making a total of 3,903,067.”
“The American Bible Society issues the Scriptures in 27 additional languages and dialects. During the past year it sent out from its house in New York 921,289, and from its foreign depositories 179,482, or a total of 1,100,871.”
“The whole number of copies of the Scriptures issued by both these Societies during the year was 5,003,938, and the total since their organization is 90,979,836. Other societies in Europe have issued 12,064,956, making thus from all 103,044,792 volumes of the word of God that have been put in circulation by Bible Societies.”
“It has been estimated that at the period of the Revolutionary War there were only about four million printed copies of the Bible in existence. The wonderful change in less than a century is a striking indication that the whole world is soon to be brought under the power of divine truth.”
If it was anywhere declared in the word of God, that the gospel was designed to convert all the world, we too might look upon this as an indication that that time was approaching. But when it is declared that the object of the gospel among the Gentiles is only “to take out of them a people for his name,” Acts 15:14, and that it is to be preached simply as a witness to all nations, Matt. 24:14, and then the end will come, we can only look upon this movement as evidence that that end is now at the very doors.
The School.
THERE is a gradual increase in the number of scholars in the school. It opened with twelve regular scholars; it now has twenty-five; and the Grammar Class numbers between forty and fifty. We look for quite an increase by the commencement of the fall term in September.
Bro. Vuilleumier gives promise of very satisfactory progress in learning our language. The only words intelligible to an Englishman, which he could speak on his arrival, were, “Brother White;” but in our last Wednesday evening prayer-meeting, he bore his testimony, short, but to the point, in English. Who will not say that this is a good record for only two weeks of schooling?
The School.
By J. H. W.
THOUGH I have suffered my “multitude of business” to prevent my speaking of the school in Battle Creek, I feel a very deep interest in its progress and success. And I hope that strenuous and persistent efforts will be put forth to make it a success. Difficulties and discouragements will no doubt arise; but do they not meet us in every undertaking? What good work would ever be accomplished if we stopped at the appearance of difficulties? When we consider the rise, progress, and present position of the cause of present truth we should be far from shrinking from duty because discouragements surround us. Whatever is duty may be done, because the word of the Lord is pledged to sustain it.
A rare chance is now offered, especially to the young, to secure just that kind of mental and moral training that will fit them for usefulness. Every person needs that discipline of mind which is only obtained in a good school, or at least very rarely anywhere else. And while many regret their lack of school privileges and want of education, who ever heard any one lament that he went to school, or that his time was spent in acquiring knowledge? It is true that education may become a snare to some, but there is not a benefit that Heaven confers on man but may be perverted, and turned into a curse if abused.
There are many who lead useful and comparatively successful lives, who have had very little, if any, schooling. But all such regret, all their lives, that they have not an education. They realize, if others do not, that their usefulness might be far greater; that they might more easily accomplish much more, were they educated.
“Examine yourselves.” Do not be influenced by worldly ambition; but earnestly seek a fitness for usefulness in the service of God, and he will bless your efforts. God bless our school, is my prayer. J. H. W.
S. N. HASKELL
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
Conversion. No. 2.
THERE is no greater evidence that the heart is not renewed by the grace of God than the affinity that is manifested between it and the world—a continual leaning to the follies and fashions of this life. Lot's wife is referred to by the Saviour as representing some that will make a fatal mistake in the service of God, and is set forth as a warning to all. The trouble in her case was that her heart remained in Sodom when she went out. Her affections entwined around her family and interests in the doomed city, and involuntarily she turned round, contrary to the instruction of the angel, and immediately became a monument of God's displeasure. Had she taken her heart with her, and had her eye been singly fixed upon the city of refuge before her, she might have been saved.
I fear there are many even in the present truth in the same condition that she was. They have started out from this world—have taken a few steps toward the kingdom of God, but their hearts are in the world, they have professed to leave. There is a continual hankering for fashions, follies, and old habits left.
We say to such, There is but one remedy; take your hearts with you and fix your eye upon the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We shall be unable to change our affections in our own strength; and it may cost agonizing cries unto God, and anguish of spirit, “but strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able.” There must be an advance made in having the affections weaned from this world.
The fruit of our life will show the condition of the heart. If it has never been broken, but simply consented to conform to right, because of a pressure of circumstances, like a bent bow it will long for a conformity to this world; but if the heart is broken it will then be weaned from this world. “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
S. N. HASKELL
“Sound Speech.”
THE following is an extract from an article published in the Christian Standard, Cincinnati, of March 2, 1872, from a correspondent, concerning the Christian Quarterly. This extract contains a concise, pointed, and truthful rebuke of the tendency to heathen philosophy of the theology of the present day. There is enough plain truth in these few sentences to expose the fallacy of the whole Platonic system, and open the eyes of misguided theologians, if they would heed them. But to some, popular error is much preferable to unpopular truth, and the Bible is made to bow before tradition even though it be of heathen origin. Yet it seems as if such an article as this must open some eyes, and lead some to the truth if they will but reflect upon it. How plain and beautiful is Bible truth compared with popular superstitions! May the Lord speed the right. J. H. W.
“The able writer on Conscience sets out with what I consider a radically false proposition, thus stated by him (p. 2): ‘Death was designed to be but the disengagement of these faculties from an earthly imprisonment, that they might seek their elysium with God, who gave the spirit; while that which is merely animal obeys its affinities, and returns to the dust from which it was taken, thus acknowledging its origin.’ This sentence is false, according to the Bible, according to sound philosophy, and, in point of fact, in general and in every particular, every proposition contained there, explicitly or implicitly, is false; and so long as the fundamental errors contained in this extract are made the basis of our theological thinking, no Biblical theology can be looked for; and I am, therefore, surprised that none of the notices of this number of the Quarterly that have appeared—at least none that I have seen—has taken exception to this position. But, to be particular, it is false: 1. “That death was intended.” Death was no part of the Creator’s plan with man—man was not to die at all—sin brought in death. Deny this position, and there is no truth in the Bible. 2. The body is no imprisonment of either soul, spirit, or of “these faculties.” The body is as much a constituent part, a necessary ingredient of man, as the spirit, one depending on the other for working out its destiny. 3. Neither man in toto, nor any part of him, is animal, the human body being no more an improvement of the gorilla body, than the human spirit is the development of the gorilla instinct.
“Our author has substituted Platonism, with a vengeance, for the Bible; and, however ably he handles his subject, what he gives us is poison—poison for religion, poison for science, poison for truth.”
To the Churches in the New England Conference.
By S. N. Haskell
THE time of our camp-meeting is drawing near. We hope it will be the most profitable meeting ever held in New England, and this can be if we consecrate ourselves to God, and seek him after his order.
1. Let arrangement be made so we can freely and unreservedly devote this entire time to seeking God.
2. If we have confessions to make to our friends and neighbors, let us make them before we start for the meeting, that no sin may follow us there.
3. Pay all your vows to the Lord, whether they be pledges on Systematic Benevolence, or free will offerings to any other enterprises connected with this work; if not before the meeting, come prepared to do it at the meeting, if it is at a sacrifice. Remember that God invites us to prove him and see if he will not pour us out a blessing until there is not room enough to receive it, by these very things. See Mal. 3:10.
4. Come with your hearts broken, that Christ may heal and you be prepared to enter with full sympathy into every enterprise connected with this work that may be set forth by God's servants, and thus practically stay up their hands.
Time is short, and what is done must be done quickly. If we let the present golden moments pass unimproved, our prospect for overcoming will not be as good as before. There is no failure in the work. If there is any failure it will be with us, and this need not be. God has called us into his vineyard to labor, and if we move forward in his work, serve him with a full purpose of heart, never lay the armor down until the victory is won, we shall reap an everlasting reward. S. N. HASKELL.