p. 115 | Review and Herald, Vol. 38, No. 15. (9/26/1871)

Review and Herald

Sep 26, 1871

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 26, 1871

Crossing the Bridge before you Come to It.

By T. De Witt Talmage

A SERMON BY T. DE WITT TALMAGE, PUBLISHED IN THE METHODIST.

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”—Matt. 6:34.

The life of every man, woman, and child, is as closely under the divine care as though such person were the only man, woman, or child. There are no accidents. As there is a law of storms in the natural world, so there is a law of trouble, a law of disaster, a law of misfortune; but the majority of the troubles of life are imaginary, and the most of those anticipated never come. At any rate, there is no cause of complaint against God. See how much he hath done to make thee happy: his sunshine filling the earth with glory, making rainbow for the storm, and halo for the mountain, greenness for the moss, saffron for the cloud, and crystal for the billow, and procession of bannered flame through the opening gates of the morning, chaffinches to sing, rivers to glitter, seas to chant, and springs to blossom, and overpowering all other sounds with its song, and overarching all other splendor with its triumph, covering up all other beauty with its garlands, and outflashing all other thrones with its dominion—deliverance for a lost world through the Great Redeemer.

I discourse, this morning, of the sin of borrowing trouble.

First: Such a habit of mind and heart is wrong because it puts one into a despondency that ill fits him for duty.

I planted two rose-bushes in my garden: the one thrived beautifully, the other perished. I found the dead one on the shady side of the house. Our dispositions, like our plants, need sunshine. Expectancy of repulse is the cause of many secular and religious failures. Fear of bankruptcy has uptorn many a fine business, and sent the man dodging among the note-shavers. Fear of slander and abuse has often invited all the long-beaked vultures of scorn and back-biting. Many of the misfortunes of life, like hyenas, flee if you courageously meet them.

How poorly prepared for religious duty is a man who sits down under the gloom of expected misfortune! If he prays, he says: “I do not think I shall be answered.” If he gives, he says: “I expect they will steal the money.” Helen Chalmers told me that her father, Thomas Chalmers, in the darkest hour of the history of the Free Church of Scotland, and when the woes of the land seemed to weigh upon his heart, said to his children, “Come, let us go out and play ball or fly kite,” and the only difficulty in the play was that the children could not keep up with their father. The McCheynes and the Summerfields of the Church who did the most good cultivated sunlight. Away with the horrors! They distill poison; they dig graves; and if they could climb so high, they would drown the rejoicings of Heaven with sobs and wailing.

You cannot expect anything but misfortune in the future if you sedulously watch for it. How shall a man catch the right kind of fish if he arranges his line and hook and bait to catch lizards and water-serpents? Hunt for bats and hawks, and bats and hawks you will find. Hunt for robin-redbreasts, and you will find robin-redbreasts. One night an eagle and an owl got into fierce battle. The eagle, unused to the night, was no match for an owl, which is most at home in the darkness, and the king of the air fell helpless; but the morning rose, and with it rose the eagle, and the owls and the night-hawks and the bats came a second time to the combat. Now the eagle, in the sunlight, with a stroke of his talons and a great cry, cleared the air, and his enemies, with torn feathers and splashed with blood, tumbled into the thickets. Ye are the children of light. In the night of despondency, you will have no chance against your enemies that flock up from beneath; but, trusting in God and standing in the sunshine of the promises, you shall “renew your youth like the eagle.”

Again: The habit of borrowing trouble is wrong, because it has a tendency to make us overlook present blessing.

To slake man's thirst, the rock is cleft, and cool waters leap into his brimming cup. To feed his hunger, the fields bow down with bending wheat; and the cattle come down with full udders from the clover pastures to give him milk; and the orchards yellow and ripen, casting their juicy fruits into his lap. Alas! that amid such exuberance of blessing, man should growl as though he were a soldier on half rations, or a sailor on short allowance; that a man should stand neck-deep in harvests, looking forward to famine; that one should feel the strong pulses of health marching with regular tread through all the avenues of life, and yet tremble at the expected assault of sickness; that a man should sit in his pleasant home, fearful that ruthless want will some day rattle the broken window-sash with tempest, and sweep the coals from the hearth, and pour hunger into the bread-tray; that a man fed by Him who owns all the harvests should expect to starve; that one whom God loves and surrounds with benediction, and attends with angelic escort, and hovers over with more than motherly fondness, should be looking for a heritage of tears! Has God been hard with thee that thou shouldst be foreboding? Has he stinted thy board? Has he covered thee with rags? Has he spread traps for thy feet, and galled thy cup, and rasped thy soul, and wrecked thee with storm, and thundered upon thee with a life full of calamity? If your father or brother come into your bank where gold and silver are lying about, you do not watch them, for you know they are honest; but if an entire stranger come by the safe, you keep your eye on him, for you do not know his designs.

So some men treat God; not as a father, but a stranger, and act suspiciously toward him, as though they were afraid he would steal something. It is high time you began to thank God for present blessing. Thank him for your children, happy, buoyant, and bounding. Praise him for your home, with its fountain of song and laughter. Adore him for morning light and evening shadow. Praise him for fresh, cool water, bubbling from the rock, leaping in the cascade, soaring in the mist, falling in the shower, dashing against the rock, and thank him for the grass that cushions the earth, and the clouds that curtain the sky, and the foliage that waves in the forest. Thank him for a Bible to read, and a cross to gaze upon, and a Saviour to deliver.

Many Christians think it a bad sign to be jubilant, and their work of self-examination is a hewing down of their brighter experiences. Like a boy with a new jack-knife, hacking everything he comes across, so their self-examination is a religious cutting to pieces of the greenest things they can lay their hands on. They imagine they are doing God's service, when they are going about borrowing trouble, and borrowing it at thirty per cent, which is always a sure precursor of bankruptcy.

Again: The habit of borrowing trouble is wrong, because the present is sufficiently taxed with trial. God sees that we all need a certain amount of trouble, and so he apportions it for all the days and years of our life. Alas for the policy of gathering it all up for one day or year! Cruel thing to put upon the back of one camel all the cargo intended for the entire caravan. I never look at my memorandum book to see what engagements and duties are far ahead. Let every week bear its own burdens.

The shadows of to-day are thick enough; why implore the presence of other shadows? The cup is already distasteful; why halloo to disasters far distant to come, and wring out more gall into the bitterness? Are we such champions that, having won the belt in former encounters, we can go forth to challenge all the future?

Here are business men just able to manage affairs as they now are. They can pay their rent and meet their notes, and manage affairs, as gold now is at 112; but how if it should shoot up to 120, or fall to 105? Go to-morrow and write on your day-book, on your ledger, on your money-safe: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Do not worry about notes that are far from due. Do not pile up on your counting desk the financial anxieties of the next twenty years. The God who has taken care of your worldly occupation, guarding your store from the torch of the incendiary and the key of the burglar, will be as faithful in 1871 as in 1861. God's hand is mightier than the machinations of stock-gamblers, or the plots of political demagogues, or the red right arm of revolution, and the darkness will fly and the storm fall dead at his feet.

So there are persons here in feeble health, and they are worried about the future. They make out very well now; but they are bothering themselves about future pleurisies, and rheumatisms, and neuralgias, and fevers. Their eyesight is feeble, and they are worried lest they entirely lose it. Their hearing is indistinct, and they are alarmed lest they become entirely deaf. They felt chilly to-day, and are expecting an attack of typhoid. They have been troubled for weeks with some perplexing malady, and dread becoming life-long invalids. Take care of your health now, and trust God for the future. Be not guilty of the blasphemy of asking him to take care of you while you sleep with your windows tight down, or eat chicken-salad at eleven o'clock at night, or sit down on a cake of ice to cool off. Be prudent, and then be confident. Some of the sickest people have been the most useful. It was so with Payson, who died deaths daily, and Robert Hall, who used to stop in the midst of his sermon, and lie down on the pulpit sofa to rest, and then go on again. Theodore Frelinghuysen had a great horror of dying till the time came, and then went peacefully. Take care of the present, and let the future look out for itself. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Again: The habit of borrowing misfortune is wrong, because it unfits us for it when it actually does come. We cannot always have smooth sailing. Life's path will sometimes tumble among declivities, and mount a steep, and be thorn-pierced. Judas will kiss our cheek, and then sell us for thirty pieces of silver. Human scorn will try to crucify us between two thieves. We will hear the iron gate of the sepulcher creak and grind as it shuts in our kindred. But we cannot get ready for these things by forebodings. They who fight imaginary woes will come out of breath into conflict with the armed disasters of the future. Their ammunition will have been wasted long before they come under the guns of real misfortune. Boys, in attempting to jump a wall, sometimes go so far back in order to get impetus that when they come up they are exhausted; and these long races, in order to get spring enough to vault trouble, bring us up at last to the dreadful reality with our strength gone.

Finally: The habit of borrowing trouble is wrong, because it is unbelief. God has promised to take care of us. The Bible blooms with assurances. Your hunger will be fed; your sicknesses will be alleviated; your sorrows will be healed. God will sandal your feet, and shield your heart, and smooth your path, and along by frowning crag and opening grave, sound the voices of victory and good cheer. The summer clouds that seem thunder-charged really carry in their bosom harvests of wheat, and shocks of corn, and vineyards purpling for the wine-press. The wrathful wave will kiss the feet of the great Storm-walker. Our Great Joshua will command, and above your soul the sun of prosperity will stand still. Bleak and wave-struck Patmos shall have apocalyptic vision, and you shall hear the cry of elders, and the sweep of wings, and trumpets of salvation, and the voice of hallelujah unto God forever.

Your way may wind along dangerous bridle-paths, and amid wolf's howl and the scream of the vulture, but the way still winds upward till angels guard it, and trees of life overarch it, and thrones line it, and crystalline fountains leap on it, and the pathway ends at gates that are pearl, and streets that are gold, and temples that are always open, and hills that quake with perpetual song, and a city mingling forever Sabbath and jubilee and triumph and coronation.

“Let Pleasure chant her syren song, 'Tis not the song for me; To weeping it will turn ere long, For this is Heaven's decree. But there's a song the ransomed sing, To Jesus their exalted King, With joyful heart and tongue; Oh! that's the song for me!”

Courage, my brother! The father does not give to his son at school enough money to last him several years, but, as the bills for tuition and board and clothing and books come in, pays them. So God will not give you grace all at once for the future, but will meet all your exigencies as they come. Through earnest prayer, trust him. People ascribe the success of the Cunard line of steamers to business skill, and know not the fact that when that line of steamers first started, Mrs. Cunard, the wife of the proprietor, passed the whole of each day when a steamer sailed in prayer to God for its safety and the success of the line. Put everything in God's hand, and leave it there. Large interest money to pay will soon eat up a farm, a store, an estate, and the interest on borrowed troubles will swamp anybody. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

MY IDOLS.

By E. B.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21.

A golden image, Self, long wrought, Stands central in the group. Before all love and worship, this Commands my heart to stoop; Self to be honored and adored, Her dearest hopes made sure. Her artifice would lead me far From paths that are secure.

Then Appetite, with sapid eye, Displays his sturdy hold. If little space is given him, He grows defiant, bold. Passion and anger, gloom and doubt, Subsist upon his smile. These, and their kindred in my heart, My weary feet beguile.

Defiant, obdurate Will, though oft To meekness forced to yield, Still broadcast strews his subtle seed, And covers all the field. What shall I do? How shall I seek The way that others find? How gain the One that fills the heart, And all these idols bind?

The way I’ve tried to seek so long; And this result appears; “Depart thou!” tremblingly I fear Will fall upon my ears. O, help me, Lord, my strength sustain, Thou art the mighty One. I would through all these evil days, Thy will, not mine, be done.

With bitterness of soul I view A frown upon thy face; But in humility I’d gain A smile of crowning grace. Then help my pleading heart to find From all its foes release, And place that idol at its shrine, That yields eternal peace.

E. B.

As Thy Day, Thy Strength Shall Be

As thy day thy strength shall be,

What Time Is It?

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”—Rom. 13:12.

These words ought to come home to our consciences like the blast of a trumpet. They ought to rouse our sleeping minds to a sense of the eternal realities which are before us. They call upon us to lay aside all trifling, lingering, and carelessness, about our Christianity. They summon us to a close walk with God.

1. You have here the present condition of the world—it is night. 2. You have the condition of the world which is yet to come—it will be day. 3. You have the particular time in which our lot is cast—the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. 4. You have the duty of all believers who know the time—they ought to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light.

Upon each of these four points I have something to say.

I. First of all let us consider the present condition of the world.

The apostle Paul calls it “night.” “The night,” he says, “is far spent.”

I have no doubt that word seems strange to some persons. They think it wonderful that the year 1871 should be called “night.” They are living in days of learning, science, civilization, commerce, freedom, and knowledge. They see around them things which their fore-fathers never dreamed of—railways, manufactories, gas, electricity, steam-engines, education for all, and cheap books. I know it all, and am thankful for it. Nevertheless I say that in the things of God the world is still in a state of “night.” I believe that God looks down on this globe of ours as it rolls round the sun, and as he looks upon it, he pronounces it “very dark.” I believe that the angels go to and fro, and make report of all they see on our earth, and their constant report is, “Very dark.” And I am sure that believers in the Lord Jesus in every land are of one mind on this subject. They cry and sigh for the abominations they see around them. To them the world appears “very dark.”

Is it not dark in heathen lands? There are two-thirds of the whole world in open rebellion against God and his Christ. Two out of every three inhabitants of the globe have no Bible, no gospel, no knowledge, no faith, no hope. They are cruel, deceitful, immoral, unclean, earthly, sensual, devilish, idolatrous, superstitious. Surely that is night.

Is it not dark in many professedly Christian countries? There are two-thirds of all the professing Christians on earth who are unsound in the faith. Their religion is not simply scriptural. They have added to it many things which are not to be found in the Bible. They have left out of it many things which the Bible has plainly commanded. There are millions who give honor to the Virgin Mary and dead saints instead of Christ. There are millions of baptized people who know nothing of the Bible, and have not the slightest idea of the salvation contained in the gospel. Surely that is night.

Is it not dark in our own country at this present day? How much of sin there is in Protestant Britain and America, and how little of God! How much of open infidelity, heathenish ignorance, drunkenness, irreligion, swearing, cheating, lying, covetousness, is weekly crying against us before the Lord of hosts! How many people go to no place of worship at all! How many go to church merely as a matter of form! How few are really in earnest about the salvation of their souls! How few have any evidence to show of a saving faith in Christ, and a real work of the Spirit in their hearts! Surely even among ourselves it is night.

Reader, it is useless to deny these things. Humbling as it may be to the pride of human nature, the word of the apostle is strictly true—the time present is night. An unconverted man may not perceive it. A graceless man may not comprehend it. The blind eye sees no difference between noon and midnight. The deaf ear makes no distinction between discord and sweet music. The mortified limb has no feeling either of heat or cold. But I do believe that God’s children can enter into the meaning of the expression. The people of the Lord Jesus Christ find by experience that it is night.

II. Let us consider in the second place, the condition of the world which is yet to come. The apostle Paul calls it “day.” The world we live in is not to go on always as it does now. The darkness of sin, ignorance, and superstition is not always to cover the earth. The Sun of Righteousness shall one day rise with healing in his wings. The Lord Jesus shall come again with power and great glory. He shall return as a morning without clouds, and then it shall be “day.”

There is a time coming when believers shall have joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee far away. Every tear shall be wiped, every cross laid down, every anxiety removed, every bitter cup taken away. Persecution, temptation, sickness, mourning, parting, separation, and death, shall be at an end. Surely that will be sunshine. It will be “day.”

There is a time coming when the whole family of Christ shall be gathered together. They shall rise from their narrow beds, and each put on a glorious body. They shall awake from their long sleep refreshed, strengthened, and far more beautiful than when they lay down. They shall leave behind them in their graves every imperfection, and meet without spot or wrinkle, to part no more. Surely that will be a joyful morning. It will be “day.”

There is a time coming when believers shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face. They shall see as they have been seen, and know as they have been known. They shall cease to wrangle and dispute about outward matters, and shall think of nothing but eternal realities. They shall behold their crucified Lord and Saviour with the eye of sense, and no longer follow him by faith. They shall see one another free from corruption, and misunderstand one another’s motives and conduct no more. Surely that will be “day.”

I see here great reason why many professing Christians should tremble and be afraid. There are many, to whom the time to come will be anything but day. There are many whose happiness is evidently all below, whose treasure is all on earth, whose brightest time is now, and whose gloomiest prospects are hereafter. The further they look on, the darker everything appears. Old age looks dark; sickness looks darker still; death and judgment look darkest of all!

Beloved reader, if this be your case, I warn you plainly there must be a change. Your views, your tastes, your inclinations, must be renewed and transformed. You must learn to view the world that now is, and that which is to come, in a very different light. Go and sit at the feet of Jesus, and ask him to teach you this lesson. Ask for the enlightening Spirit to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Ask for the veil to be taken away, that you may behold everything in its true colors.

Tell me can that man really hate sin, who does not desire to see it swept away from the earth? Can that man love holiness who does not long for the time when all shall know the Lord? Can that man be truly united to Christ by faith who does not wish to see Christ, and to be with him? Can that man be a saint who does not thirst after the unmixed company of just men made perfect? Can that man be in earnest who daily prays, “Thy kingdom come,” and yet is content that the world should go on as it is without any change? Oh! no! no! These things are impossible. God’s true children will want to be at home. They will wish for the day.

Reader, if you mean to be saved, you must learn to view time present as “night,” and time to come as “day.” You must learn to regard the other side of Jordan as home, and this side as a desert land. Time present must be your wilderness, your battle-field, your place of trial—time to come must be your Canaan, your rest, your Father’s house.

III. In the third place, let us consider the particular times in which our lot is cast.

The apostle Paul tells us, when he says, “The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.” I believe these words mean that the last order of things has arrived—the last stage in the history of the church has come. . . .

I am no prophet and may easily be mistaken. I may die, and you may die, before Christ comes, and the day dawns. But I appeal to every thinking man whether there are not “signs of the times” which deserve serious attention. I ask him to notice the things going on in the world, and to consider well what they are intended to teach.

Does any reader ask what I mean by “signs of the times”? Let us weigh well the six following points, and he will see what I mean:

1. What shall we say to the missions to the heathen which have been set on foot in these latter days? Seventy years ago the Protestant churches seemed thoroughly asleep on the subject of missions. There was hardly a single missionary sent forth to the heathen from the whole of Great Britain. The idea of preaching the gospel to savages and idolaters was ridiculed. The first promoters of missions were treated coldly by many who ought to have known better. But now the feeling is completely changed. We are employing hundreds of missionaries in every quarter of the globe. And what saith the Scripture? “The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14.)

2. What shall we say to the wonderful spread of knowledge and communication between nations in these days? Seventy years ago to find a poor man who could read was rather an uncommon thing. In a few years a man who cannot read will be a rare sight. Seventy years ago there were few who ever traveled beyond the bounds of their own country. Now every one can move in every direction, and our population is like a swarm of bees disturbed. Steam navigation and railways have altered the character of society. Time and space are made nothing of. Seas, mountains, and rivers, are no longer obstacles. God separated the nations in the day of Babel. Man is working hard to make them all one again. And what saith the Scripture? “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4.)

3. What shall we say to the wars and shaking of nations which we have seen in these last seventy years? The mightiest empires on earth have been shaken to their very foundations. Kings, and princes, and great men, have been driven from their high position by scores, and been made wanderers on the face of the earth. There has been no accounting for it by any human reasoning. These movements have taken place in the face of increased knowledge, civilization, and desire of peace. The shock came from beneath. And what saith the Scripture? “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:7, 8.)

4. What shall we say to the increased attention to unfulfilled prophecy which has appeared in these latter days? Seventy years ago there were few who paid any attention to the subject. The passages in Scripture which speak of things to come were comparatively neglected, or perverted with curious ingenuity from their simple meaning. Now, on the contrary, the current of public feeling runs strongly in favor of prophetical study. Books on the subject are eagerly bought up. Lectures on the subject are listened to with increased attention. And what saith the Scripture? “The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Dan. 12:9.) The words seem unfolding. The seal seems breaking. Can the end be far off?

IV. And now, in the last place, let me speak of the particular duty of all believers connected with the truths we have just considered. That practical duty is put before us in plain words: “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Reader, I love to observe how closely the doctrine of Christ’s second coming and kingdom is bound up with personal holiness. I marvel that any can regard the second advent and reign of the Lord Jesus as merely speculative matters, or denounce them as unprofitable subjects. To my own mind they seem eminently practical, or else I have read my Bible to very little purpose.

Listen to Paul: “Let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand.” (Phil. 4:5.) “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” (Col. 3:2–5.) “Exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25.) Peter says, We “look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:13, 14.) These texts appear to me to speak with no uncertain voice. I know not how their force can be evaded. They make the coming of Christ, and the day of glory, an argument for increased holiness. And it is just in the same way that St. Paul says, “Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”

Reader, how are you to “cast off the works of darkness”? Listen to me and I will tell you. You ought to lay aside everything in your life and habits which will not bear the light of Christ’s appearing. You ought to make it a principle of conscience to do nothing you would not like to be found doing when Jesus comes again to gather his people together. This is a searching test indeed. The application of it must be left to every man’s own heart. Each must judge for himself. Each must prove his own works. Each must set up an assize within him, and honestly bring his ways to a trial. Oh! for a will to deal fairly and justly with ourselves!

Try all your employment of time by the test of Christ’s second coming. Place in this balance your amusements, your books, your companions, your manner of conversation, your daily behavior in all the relations of life. Measure all by this measure—“The night is far spent and the day is at hand.” Am I living as a child of the night, or as one who looks for the day? Do this, and you will cast off the works of darkness.

But how are you to put on the armor of light? Listen to me once more, and I will tell you. You ought to aim at every grace and habit which becomes a believer in Christ, and a child of God, and a citizen of a heavenly kingdom. You ought not to leave eminent holiness and spirituality to a few, as if none but a few favored ones could be eminent saints. You ought to labor to wear the armor of light yourself, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of hope, and the sword of the Spirit. (Eph. 6:14–17.) Wherever you may live, and whatever may be your trials—however great your difficulties, and however small your helps—nothing should prevent your aiming at the highest standard, to behave like one who believes that Christ is coming again.

Let there be light in your heart continually; Christ dwelling there by faith—felt, known, and experienced. Let there be light in your life continually; Christ reflected there, followed, imitated, and copied. Seek to be a light in the world, and nothing less—a bright light, a clear light, a light that men can see afar off. Do this, and you will put on the armor of light.

Live as if you thought Christ might come at any time. Do everything as if you did it for the last time. Read every chapter in the Bible as if you did not know whether you would be allowed to read it again. Pray every prayer as if you felt it might be your last opportunity. Hear every sermon as if you were hearing once and forever. This is the way to be found ready. This is the way to turn Christ’s second appearing to good account. This is the way to put on the armor of light.—Prophetic Times.

Dr. Dollinger's Protest.

THE Eastern Budget says that demonstrations of sympathy and approval elicited in all parts of the Catholic world by Dr. Dollinger's protest against the doctrine of Infallibility have so alarmed the Holy See that it has made overtures to him with a view to counteracting the opposition which is everywhere manifesting itself against the Papal pretensions. “An Austrian Bishop, Monsignor Fessler, Secretary of the Council, was first intrusted with this difficult task. He represented to Dr. Dollinger that the Council is not yet closed, and that it would therefore be possible to agree in promulgating a new definition of Papal Infallibility. This definition might be made, either by the pope or by the Council, a matter of theological doctrine instead of a dogma, and would thus lose its dogmatic importance. Bishop Fessler added that such a settlement of the question would be accepted by the great majority of the German and Hungarian opposition in the Council, and also by Cardinal Rauscher. The Bishop, therefore, proposed that Dr. Dollinger should, so long at least as the matter remains undecided, refrain from raising up a public opposition against the Church, the Council, and the pope, and preserve the Church from a fatal schism. Dr. Dollinger positively refused to accept this proposal. A week after, he received a visit from another papal emissary, Canon Lammer, of Breslau. The Canon who had just returned

from the jubilee festival, said that the pope still spoke of Dr. Dollinger with the greatest sympathy, that he prayed for his return to the path of truth, and by no means despaired of his renouncing his errors. To this Dr. Dollinger replied that he was grateful for the pope's good will, which, however, could extend to his body only, as his soul had been excommunicated. Upon this, Dr. Lammer observed that the Holy Father still hopes to find a means of arriving at an arrangement, and that perhaps the best mode of achieving this object would be for Dr. Dollinger to put himself in communication with the Papal Nuncio. This suggestion, however, was as fruitless as the previous one. Dr. Dollinger said he had no communication to make to the Nuncio, and that if the latter wished to see him, he would hear what he had to say as in the case of any other visitor.”

The German Correspondent says that the movement headed by Dr. Dollinger continues to gain ground in Southern Germany. Professor Friedrich, who belongs to the court by the right of his position, has made a personal application to the King of Bavaria for permission to continue his spiritual functions. The question has been referred to the Minister of Public Worship. The students of Munich proposed to arrange a torch procession in honor of Dr. Dollinger, but he declined the honor with thanks, as he had never accepted such compliments, and wished no demonstration of the kind to be made at present. The students of Munich are signing an address approving of his views, which is to be forwarded to the other universities of Germany and Switzerland. It is said that the clergy of the court have been given to understand that, though no wish is entertained to interfere with their ecclesiastical views or position, they will do well not to join in any public declaration against Dr. Dollinger. Eighty Catholic parishes have signified their approval of Dr. Dollinger's views. —The Methodist.

The Bible in Rome.

FATHER GAVAZZI recently delivered a lecture at Dublin in which the progress of Protestantism in Rome received particular attention. The first advance of the anti-Catholic movement in the Papal States was after the downfall of the first French Empire. Protestants were then permitted to practice their own worship outside of the city gates. Two English churches, two Scottish churches, and an American church, are still outside of Rome proper, and their edifices, says Gavazzi, resemble “old rough barns.” The Bible at that time was forbidden, and the Father in his discourse spoke of the frequent trials resulting from tourists carrying the sacred volume with them for private use. The change wrought by the loss of the temporal power is thus depicted in the lecture: “Now the Bible is a free book in Rome. We have eight colporteurs selling it without difficulty everywhere. (Applause.) They sell it publicly in the market-squares everywhere, and several thousand copies are already in circulation amongst the Romans. (Loud applause.) There is another great fact—namely, that an English lady has sold two thousand copies of the New Testament in a quarter exclusively occupied by Jews. (Hear.) That is a great triumph. (Applause.) More than that, I can point out to you a standing triumph which defies all the impotent rage of the pope. Do not forget that the Bible was in Rome the forbidden book. Now, when you enter Rome, and pass that great and beautiful square called the Corso, which is the largest in the city, the first thing you meet is a beautiful shop, neatly fitted up, with a large inscription in golden letters, ‘General Depot of the London Bible Society.’ (Enthusiastic cheers.) That is something. The Bible, once forbidden in Rome, is now sold in a large and beautiful depot, in the largest street, in immense variety, in all languages. (Applause.) That is something new and extraordinary for Rome. (Hear, hear.) But there is a culminating point in the transaction. That shop faces the Vatican, which stands on the other side. (Laughter and cheers.) Even without an opera-glass the pope can see the General Depot of the London Bible Society. (Loud laughter.)” Of Protestant churches we are told that there are now in Rome five regular congregations—two of the Free Church; of which Father Gavazzi is an evangelist; one of the Waldensians, and one of the Baptists. Throughout Italy there are also one hundred congregations, with ten thousand communicants and three hundred thousand catechumens.”—The Christian Union.

Ancient and Modern Division of Time.

It is not generally known that a little more than a century ago, New Year’s was celebrated on the 25th of March, throughout the British dominions, including America.

The following enactments, adopted by Parliament, entitled, “An act regulating the Commencement of the year, and correcting the Calendar in Use,” were passed in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of George II.

“PREAMBLE.— Whereas, The legal supputation of the year of our Lord according to March—hath been found by experience to be attended with divers inconveniences,” etc.

“Enactments.—That throughout his Majesty’s dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, the said supputation, according to which the year of our Lord beginneth on the 25th day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last day of December, 1751; and that the first day of January next following the said day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted, to be the first day of our Lord, 1752, and so on from time to time. The first day of January in every year which shall happen in time to come, shall be deemed and reckoned the first day of the year,” etc.

The act further corrects the calendar thus: “And that the natural day next immediately following the 2d day of September shall be called and accounted to be the 14th day of September, omitting for that time only the eleventh intermediate, nominal days of the common calendar.”

We believe that in the State of Rhode Island to this day all farm and other leases date from the date of the ancient New Year, namely, the 25th of March.

The ancient divisions of the day differed widely from the customs of our own time.—Appleton’s Journal.

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