The following is the substance of many conversations that I have had with different persons, with regard to the visions, health reform, &c. I give it hoping that it may help those in whose minds objections against these things still exist.
Minister. Well, brethren, I hear that you have been in somewhat of a trial about some parts of the third angel's message. Perhaps if we talk these things over freely we may get some light on them, and have our minds helped. Now speak out plainly whatever you have on your minds that troubles you.
Bro. A. Well, I confess that I have had doubts about some things which you call a part of the message. I want to believe all that is from God, all that I can find taught in the Bible, but nothing more.
Min. Very well, name the point that troubles you, and we will examine it.
Bro. A. Well, there are the visions of sister White; I can not seem to believe them as you do.
Min. What is the trouble with them? Why do you not believe them?
Bro. A. Well, I can't believe that she may not make mistakes as well as any one else. It looks to me like leaving the Bible, and being led by something else. I am willing to follow the Bible.
Min. Your trouble then is that you cannot believe that God has shown these things to sister W., as she says he has?
Bro. A. Yes, that is about the way it looks to me.
Min. Has not God revealed things to his people in the past, through different persons?
Bro. A. Oh, yes! of course.
Min. Is he not able to do the same now?
Bro. A. Certainly; I don't deny that.
Min. Well, do we not need a revelation from God now as much as we ever did? See the numerous sects, and divisions, and confusions that exists to-day. See the corruption and wickedness that is in the land. When did we ever need direction from the Lord if not now?
Bro. A. Yes, we need something very much, I know, probably more than ever before. It seems as though we did not know what to believe any more.
Min. Well, then, do you not think that God cares for his people as much now as he has in the past? Is he not as willing to send them warning and counsel now as ever?
Bro. A. Yes.
Min. If, then, God has sent his prophets in the past to lead his people, if he is still able to do so again, if we need it now as much or more than ever, and if he cares for his people now, why object to having a prophet among God's people to-day?
Bro. B. The trouble is, we should not know whether he was from the Lord or not. So we should not know whether to believe and obey what he taught or not.
Sister C. Oh! I know that I would believe him if I should see a prophet.
Min. Do you believe sister White?
Sr. C. Why, well, no, not exactly; I am not satisfied that her visions are of God.
Min. I fear Sr. C. that you would be just as unbelieving if God had chosen any one else.
Bro. A. But it seems to me that there is enough in the Bible for us if we will obey it. Paul says that the Scriptures were able to thoroughly furnish us unto all good works.
Min. But, Bro. A., he said this of the Old Testament Scriptures, did he not? as it was those Scriptures only which Timothy knew from a child; for the85New Testament was not written then. 2 Tim. iii, 14–17.
Bro. A. I had not thought of that.
Min. If this be so, then, according to your argument, we do not need the New Testament. We will throw that away! Of course you see that this will not do. But how and when were the different books of the Bible given? Of course you know that they were not all given at the same time nor by the same person. First, we have the first five books of the Bible given by Moses, and written nearly 1500 years before Christ. God there gave his people much general instruction with regard to how to serve him. Besides this, he warns them of the particular sins and dangers to which they were liable then. All succeeding generations had this to read, and to be instructed by. Yet it was not long before God sent them other prophets, such as Samuel, Nathan, Isaiah, Daniel, &c. Did any of these contradict what had been written before? Not at all. Then why was it necessary for them to come? Why did not God on the start write out and give to his people all the instruction which was finally contained in the whole Bible? Why would not this have been just as well as to give it a piece at a time, and by different persons, or even better? The reason is very manifest. As the people of God were from time to time placed in different circumstances, different things came up upon which they were compelled to act; or they were inclined to run into wicked things which had not come up before, and against which there was no direct warning, because the thing had not existed before. This made it necessary for an additional revelation from God, touching this particular thing. Thus you will notice that each prophet generally had some particular sin or wrong against which he directed the burden of his testimony. Now did those prophets who came last throw away what had been written before? Certainly not. They only confirmed and explained them, and showed how they applied them at their time. Now, that another time has come when we need additional instruction from God, I think is very clear. You believe with me that the seventh day is the Sabbath, that man is mortal, that Jesus is soon coming, that slavery is wrong, that the use of tobacco, tea, coffee, &c., is wrong, and contrary to the Bible.
Bro. A. Yes, I firmly believe all that.
Min. Well, you know, Bro. A., that you may bring as plain Scripture proof on these points as you can, and yet men will evade them. For instance, they say that the Bible does not condemn tobacco using, because it is not directly mentioned by name.
Bro. A. That is no argument at all; because tobacco was not used when the Bible was written, and, hence, of course it would not be mentioned. Other things of the same nature are named and condemned.
Min. In this I think that you can see that there is a necessity for the Lord to speak directly upon these points so that we shall be without excuse. This would not be adding to the Bible or taking from it any more than one prophet added to or took from the others, would it?
Bro. A. No; I can not see that it would.
Min. Then this objection is removed from your mind is it?
Bro. A. Oh, yes! I did not place much stress on that any way; but I can't see why one should not have these revelations or visions as well as another.
Min. Very good, we will look at that point. Then why may not Sr. White be that one? You cannot see why one can not have them as well as another. Do you think that every person is fit to receive and communicate revelations from God? Are all righteous? Have all the proper qualifications? Can not God choose best in this matter? If God had chosen you, or some one in whom you have confidence, would not thousands of others have brought the same objections against you or your friend that you now bring against the one he has chosen.
Bro. A. I had not thought of that particularly. But it seems to me that there ought to be more than one who has these visions, if they are of God.
Min. Why more than one? Can not God give through one all the instructions that are necessary for us to have? Has not this generally been the case in the Bible time, that there was only one prophet at a time? I see no need of more than one at a time.
Bro. A. If there were two or more who had these visions, and they both agreed, it would show that they were correct.
Min. Well, then, suppose that for the second one God had chosen Bro. White; would that have satisfied you any better? I see you laugh at that idea. Now, my good brother, do you not see that unless you could choose this second person, you would not believe two nor a dozen, any sooner than you would one?
Bro. A. I guess that is about so, come to look at it carefully.
Min. It is now meeting time. We will talk more on this to-morrow.
The Commentary.
Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne.
PARAPHRASE OF PSALM XII.
By James White
1. HELP, Lord, the godly cease, the faithful fail:
No truth is found among rebellious men,
2. Let not the men of flattering lips prevail
Who speak with double heart; their thoughts are vain.
3. O Lord, cut off the lips of flattery.
And bring down low the stubborn tongues of pride,
4. Who claim a right to utter vanity,
And have the Lord with boastful words denied.
5. Now will I rise to save the poor oppressed,
And set him up in safety, saith the Lord.
6. The sighing sufferer shall in me find rest.
And they shall know the power of my word.
For all the words of God are pure and tried
As silver in a furnace purified.
7. Thou shalt, O Lord, preserve the needy poor
From this vain generation evermore.
8. The wicked we on every side descry,
When vilest men are here exalted high.
J. H. W.
Are the Dead Conscious? No. 5.
By Editor
Acts vii, 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
ON this passage it is claimed that Stephen called upon God to receive his conscious, intelligent soul, when he should fall in death. Christ used a similar expression in Luke xxiii, 46: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” The expression seems to be borrowed from Ps. xxxi, 5; which Psalm declares how David puts his trust in the Lord against those who “devised to take away his life.” But, we inquire, if the soul lives right along in one uninterrupted course of existence, where would be the propriety of committing it at the hour of death into the hands of our Maker, any more than at any other time? There would be none. The expression bears upon the very face of it evidence that those making use of it desired to commit something into the care of their Maker which was about to pass out of their possession; to commit something into his hands for safe keeping while they should fall back from the plane of life into unconsciousness. What was this? Answer, their pneuma. Now let us look at Robinson’s second definition of this word, as follows: “The spirit of man, i. e., the vital spirit, life, soul [animal soul—Greenfield]; Latin, anima, the principle of life residing in the breath, breathed into man from God, and again returning to God.” This, then, is what Stephen commended to his God, to be bestowed upon him again at that time when they who for Christ’s sake lose their life, shall find it. Matt. x, 39.—Ed.
Questions.
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT writes: In Heb. x, 28, 29, Paul speaks of sorer punishment than death. Some say that this sorer punishment is eternal misery.
Queries. Is there any punishment sorer than death? If so, what is it, or in what does it consist? and when will it be inflicted?
ANSWER. The verses referred to, read as follows: “He that despiseth Moses’ law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.” It will be noticed that reference is made to the temporal punishment inflicted under the Mosaic dispensation, upon those who despised his law, and the punishment to be inflicted in the future upon those who will not avail themselves of the provisions of the gospel. In other words, the two punishments that are contrasted are temporal death and eternal death. It is the latter which is called the sorer punishment. Hence there is no necessity nor any ground for supposing eternal misery to be meant.—Ed.
It is not work that kills men, it is worry. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction.
LABORS IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN.
By R. F. ANDREWS; H. C. BLANCHARD
According to appointment, we met with the church at Princeville, Ill., Nov. 15, and continued laboring with them till Dec. 3. Held twenty-four meetings. The church was encouraged and strengthened. Two made a start to go with them to Mount Zion. Dec. 1, we broke open the ice, and one willing soul was buried with her Lord by baptism. Oh! that she may be faithful till her Lord comes.
The church here are trying to let their light shine. They have a commodious church building, 28x40, which they have paid for.
Dec. 3, we left Princeville for Gridley, Ill. Staid over night at Eureka, with some young brethren and sisters from Princeville, that are staying there going to school. Had the privilege of speaking to the people in the Christian meeting-house. Hope that some good has been done by our stopping in the place.
Dec. 4, arrived at Gridley. Held eight meetings with the brethren here. One young man made a start to serve the Lord. God grant that he may endure to the end, that he may be saved.
Dec. 12, commenced meetings with the church at Clyde, Ill., and continued our labor with them till the 25th. Held eighteen meetings, which we think were some benefit to the brethren and sisters. There was some interest manifested by the young to go with God's people to Mount Zion. Two made a start.
Dec. 26, commenced meetings with the church at Elkhorn Grove, Ill., and continued our labor till Jan. 1, 1868, during which time we held ten meetings. Dec. 31, we broke open the ice and buried five willing souls with their Lord by baptism. God grant that they may walk in newness of life. There are others that will come out on the Lord's side if they yield to their convictions.
Jan. 1, went to Beckton, Ill. Held one meeting with the brethren there, while on our way to Little Prairie, Wis. Found the brethren glad to see us, and all holding on to the truth; yet there was not that life and zeal among them that we would like to see.
While holding the above meetings, and visiting around among our brethren, we have become more convinced than ever, that, as a people, we must arise, and make a greater effort to draw nigh to God. Our efforts in the past, dear brethren, have been too weak. While the servants of God are in our midst, and a special effort is being made for us, we seem to arouse a little from our slumber, but only to settle back in formality and indifference, when again we are left to ourselves. This carelessness and indifference will prove our ruin. Oh! that we could realize that we are in the midst of the perils of the last days, and that our greatest danger consists in being in a cold, formal, inactive, and indifferent condition. Says the faithful and true Witness, “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Rev. iii, 16. While in such a state, the enemy can and does take great advantage of us. A little fault in a brother is magnified an hundred fold, until our feelings are alienated from him, and instead of our possessing the kind and forgiving spirit of our Saviour, we have bitter envyings in our hearts, and can readily surmise evil. Our love is extinguished, the graces of the Spirit leak out of our hearts, and in their stead we have a fretful, fault-finding, impatient, and exacting spirit. The enemy now rules and controls us; and no matter what we do, or how much we injure the precious cause of truth while in this state, we can readily roll the blame over upon others, and say that our course is in consequence of the action of others. Oh! that God may help us to see ourselves as we are, and as he sees us.
Dear brethren, we must cultivate more love in our hearts for one another. Jesus says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Do we exemplify in our lives this characteristic of the disciples of the Lord Jesus. Let us remember that the dragon is wroth with the remnant, and that in order to stand up against his attacks, we must be united in the bonds of brotherly love. Solomon says, “Where there is union there is strength;” and a lack of this love and union makes us weak, and we easily become the captives of the adversary. Dear brethren, come, let us arise in the name of the Lord, and go forward. Instead of laboring to get the mote out of our brother's eye, let us try to get the beam out of our own eye. Let us examine ourselves, and prove our own selves, and see whether we be in the faith or not. We cannot be in the faith while we are watching each other for evil, and neglect to cultivate the spirit of love and affection for each other in our hearts, and while we suffer ourselves to become stupid and careless in the cause of the Lord. Oh! let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and confess our faults, and cry mightily to God to revive his work in our hearts, and to stir us up to a doubling of our diligence in his service. If there is anything calculated to give the servants of God joy and consolation in this life, more than another, it is to see the cause of the Lord prosper, and to see the brethren and sisters whole-hearted in the work. But oh! how painful, and discouraging, after they have been labored with, and see their condition, and are revived in a measure, to see them settle back in coldness and indifference again. The lukewarm are to be spued out of the mouth of Jesus. O God, help us, as ministers and people, to realize it.
R. F. ANDREWS,
H. C. BLANCHARD.
THE SONG OF STEAM.
By Anon.
HARNESS me down with your iron bands,
Be sure of your curb and rein,
For I scorn the power of your puny hands,
As the tempest scorns a chain.
How I laughed, as I lay concealed from sight,
For many a countless hour,
At the childish boast of human might,
And the pride of human power.
When I saw an army upon the land,
A navy upon the seas,
Creeping along, a snail-like band,
Or waiting the wayward breeze;
When I marked the peasant faintly reel
With the toil which he daily bore,
As he feebly turned the tardy wheel,
Or tugged at the weary oar;
When I measured the panting courser's speed,
The flight of the carrier dove,
As they bore the law a king decreed,
Or the lines of impatient love;—
I could not but think how the world would feel,
As these were outstripped afar,
When I should be bound to the rushing keel,
Or chained to the flying car.
Ha! ha! ha! they found me at last,
They invited me forth at length,
And I rushed to my throne with a thunder blast,
And laughed in my iron strength.
Oh! then ye saw a wondrous change,
On the earth and the ocean wide,
Where now my fiery armies range,
Nor wait for wind nor tide.
—Anon.
Do not be troubled because you have no great virtues. God made a million spears of grass where he made one tree. The earth is fringed and carpeted, not with forests but with grasses. Only have enough of little virtues and common fidelities, and you need not mourn because you are neither a hero nor a king.
INDEPENDENCE.—“A desire of disposing of ourselves—of being independent of God—is the root of all sin.”—Wesley.
A MISER'S DEATH.
By Geo. Lippard
THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR.
They brought him a dollar.
He took it, clutched it in his long, skinny fingers, tried its sound against the bed-post, and then gazed on it long and patiently with his dull, leaden eyes.
That day, in the hurry of business, Death had struck him, even in the street. He was hurrying to collect the last month's rent, and was on the verge of the miserable court, where his tenants herded like beasts in their kennels—he was there, with his hand-book in his hand, when Death laid his iron hand upon him.
He was carried home to his splendid mansion. He was laid on a bed with a satin coverlet. The lawyer, the relations and the preacher were sent for. All day long he lay without speech, moving his right hand, as though in the act of counting money.
At midnight he spoke.
He asked for a dollar, and they brought one to him, and lean and gaunt he sat up in his death-bed, and clutched it with the grip of death.
A shaded lamp stood on a table near the silken bed. Its light fell faintly around the splendid room, where chairs, and carpets, and mirrors, silken bed and lofty ceiling—all said, Gold! as plainly as human lips can say it.
His hair and eyebrows were white. His cheek sunken, and his lips thin and surrounded by wrinkles that indicated the passion of Avarice. As he sat up in his bed, with his neck bared and the silken coverlet wrapped about his lean frame, his white hair and eyebrows contrasted with his wasted and wrinkled face, he looked like a ghost. And there was life in his leaden eye—all that life centered on the dollar, which he gripped in his clenched fist.
His wife, a pleasant-faced, matronly woman, was seated at the foot of his bed. His son, a young man of twenty-one, dressed in the latest fashion, sat by the lawyer. The lawyer sat before the table, pen in hand, and gold spectacles on his nose. There was a huge parchment spread before him.
“Do you think he will make a will?” asked the son.
“Hardly compos mentis yet,” was the whispered reply. “Wait. He'll be lucid after a while.”
“My dear,” said the wife, “had not I better send for a preacher?”
She arose and took her dying husband by the hand, but he did not mind. His eyes were upon the dollar.
He was a rich man. He owned palaces on Walnut and Chestnut streets, and hovels and courts in the outskirts. He had iron mines in this State; copper mines on the lakes somewhere; he had golden interests in California. His name was bright upon the records of twenty banks; he owned stocks of all kinds; he had half a dozen papers in his pay.
He knew but one crime—to be in debt without the power to pay.
He knew but one virtue—to get money.
That crime he had never forgiven—this virtue he had never forgotten, in the long way of thirty-five years.
To hunt down a debtor, to distress a tenant, to turn a few additional thousands by a sharp speculation—these were the main achievements of his life.
He was a good man—his name was upon a silver plate upon the pew door of a velvet-cushioned church.
He was a benevolent man—for every thousand dollars he wrung from the tenants, from his courts, or from the debtors who writhed beneath his heel, he gave ten dollars to some benevolent institution.
He was a just man—the gallows and the jail always found in him a faithful and unswerving advocate.
And now he is a dying man—see! as he sits upon the bed of death, with the dollar in his clenched hand.
O holy dollars, object of his life-long pursuit, what comfort hast thou for him now in his pain of death?
At length the dying man revived and dictated his will. It was strange to see the mother, and son, and lawyer, muttering—and sometimes wrangling—beside the bed of death. All the while the testator clutched the dollar in his right hand.
While the will was being made, the preacher came—even he who held the pastoral charge of the church, whose pew doors bore saintly names on silver plates, and whose seats on Sabbath day groaned beneath the weight of respectability, broadcloth and satin.
He came and said his prayer—decorously and in measured words—but never once did the dying man release his hold on the dollar.
“Can't you read me something, say—quick, don't you see I'm going?” at length said the rich man, turning a frightened look toward the preacher.
The preacher, whose cravat was of the whitest, took a book with golden clasps from a marble table. And he read:
“And I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
“Who said those words—who—who—who?” fairly shrieked the dying man, shaking the hand that clenched the dollar, at the preacher's head.
The preacher hastily turned over the leaf and did not reply.
“Why did you never tell me of this before? Why did you never preach from it as I sat in your church? Why—why?”
The preacher did not reply, but turned over another leaf. But the dying man would not be quieted.
“And it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, is it? Then what's to become of me? Am I not rich? What tenant did I ever spare, what debtor did I ever spare, what debtor did I ever release? And you stood up Sunday after Sunday and preached to us, and never said one word about the camel. Not a word about the camel.”
The preacher, in search of a consoling passage, turned rapidly over the leaves, and, in his confusion, came to this passage, which he read:
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. . . . Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
“And you never preached that to me!” shrieked the dying man.
The preacher, who had blundered through the passage from James, which we have quoted, knew not what to say. He was perchance terrified by the very look of the dying parishioner.
Then the wife drew near and strove to comfort him, and the son (who had been reading the will) attempted a word or two of consolation.
But with the dollar in his hand, he sank into death, talking of stock, of rent, of copper mines and camels, of tenant and debtor, until life left his lips.
Thus he died.
When he was cold, the preacher rose and asked the lawyer whether the deceased had left anything to such and such charitable society, which had been engrafted upon the preacher's church.
And the wife closed his eyes, and tried to wrench the dollar from his hand, but in vain. He clutched it as though it were the only saviour to light him through the darkness of eternity.
And the son sat down with dry eyes, and thought of the hundreds of thousands which were now his own.
Next day there was a hearse followed by a train of carriages nearly a mile in length. There was a crowd around an open grave, and an elegant sermon upon the virtues of the deceased by the preacher. There was a fluttering of crape badges, and rolling of carriages, but no tears.
They left the dead man and returned to the palace, where sorrow died, even as the crape was taken from the door knob.
And, in the grave, the dead hand still clenched the dollar!—Geo. Lippard.
THE 144,000.
By Adolphus Smith
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. vii, 1–4.
As to what period in the world’s history the above scripture meets with its fulfillment, is a question of solemn interest to the child of God. That it did not meet with its fulfillment prior to the giving of the Revelation, is evident from Rev. i, 1, where it is said that to Jesus Christ was given a revelation to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. Here the future tense is used; and as the Revelation was given about the year 96, the argument that the resurrected ones at Christ’s crucifixion were the sealed of our text, falls to the ground. It is claimed further that they were the first company raised from the dead, and therefore they must be the sealed ones, as they (the sealed) are said to be the first fruits unto God and the Lamb. But St. Paul says in 1 Cor. xv, 23, that Christ is the first-fruits.
It appears from Leviticus ii, 14, that the first-fruits were of green ears of corn dried by the fire; this prefigured Christ. The harvest, therefore, was not fully ripe. But when it became so, there was also another first-fruit offering of loaves made of the fine flour of the ripe grain. Lev. xxiii, 17. This was fulfilled at the day of Pentecost. But Christ says, “The harvest is the end of the world.” Matt. xiii, 39. “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Verse 30. Query. If the harvest be in the end of the world, how can Christ be the first-fruits, and the Pentecost the ingathering? We answer, There are evidently two harvests, one at the end of the Jewish, the other at the end of the Christian, dispensations; one at Christ’s first advent, the other at his second.
If the 144,000 are not to be found prior to the year 96, where, and at what time this side of that date may we look for them? Shall we seek them among the dead; No; for the dead “have no more a portion in anything that is done under the sun.” “In that very day their thoughts perish.” “The dead know not anything.” As death leaves us, so will the judgment find us.
The language of inspiration is explicit: “The servants of our God;” all his servants; not a part. If the 144,000 are all the servants of God, and we are to seek them among the dead, then at the time of sealing there can be but that number in their graves. What then becomes of the “innumerable company” which John saw “of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people?” The number of sleeping saints is very great, while that of the living is quite limited. Mark the words, “from among men.” Not from among the dead, but from among the living. And while this87work is going on, the four angels are to hold the winds (civil commotions, wars, strikes,) until the servants of God are sealed. If the sealed ones are taken from among the dead, what need of restraining the wrath of living men? How, for instance, could the “United States Rebellion” affect the Egyptian mummies, or even the dead of our own native land? Did the battle of Antietam disturb the repose of Washington? or the blood and carnage of the crusades the peaceful slumber of the early Christian dead? No; but the wars of earth affect the living saints; they greatly hinder the spread of the truth. God, therefore, restrains the wrath of man that he may gather his own people, that they may not be overthrown with the wicked. What the need of sealing? Let me answer by an illustration.
A farmer has one great field in which he keeps a numerous flock of sheep; but they have become degenerated, and but a limited number are really valuable. He determines to save these, and consign the balance to slaughter. He therefore sends a servant whom he knows to be an excellent judge of stock, to make the selection. This servant carefully examines the sheep, one by one, and with brush and paint puts a conspicuous mark upon the head of every one that is found perfect. The day of slaughter arrives. He sends forth all his servants to take the sheep consigned to destruction; it does not now require a skillful eye to determine the good from the bad. “Take,” says the master, “those that have not the mark.”
It is said that the sealing angel was seen “ascending from the east.” “Then,” says the objector, “in order to rise from the east it should appear in Europe and Asia.” How so? Is there any land on earth of which it can be said, There is none east of it? Ours is a nation of nations. God has chosen the poor of this world, and the poor of all nations flee to this country from the oppression of the rich in their own land. Would you proclaim the message to the Irish, Dutch, French, or English? Take those tracts and papers that lie idly upon your shelves and distribute them among your neighbors; and the work is done!
It is said the 144,000 have their Father’s name written in their foreheads. The Father’s name then is the seal. That name is found in the fourth commandment. The ark of the testament contained the two tables of stone. In 1 Chron. xxiii, 6, it is called, “The ark of God the Lord that dwelleth between the cherubim, whose name is called on it.” “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” “And the dragon was wroth with the woman [church], and went to make war with the remnant [last end, final portion] of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. xii, 17.
The last church, then, is a church of commandment-keepers. “Bind up the law.” The law, then, has been broken. Which? The fourth commandment. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. What publicly marks the remnant church as different from the great body of professed Christians? Ans. They keep the Sabbath. They hold the keeping of the Sabbath to be the first duty of those desiring to walk in the truth. Show me a consistent Sabbath-keeper, and I will show you a Christian.
A difficulty of seeming magnitude appears in the statement that the sealed ones are of the children of Israel. But St. Paul shows us that believing Christians are Israelites, and heirs of the promise to Abraham. See Rom. ii, 28, 29; also chapters iii and iv. If we claim the sealing for the Jews after the flesh, a difficulty still appears in determining the tribe to which each person belongs; for in the ninth year of Hoskins, king of Israel, the ten tribes were carried captive into foreign lands, and their genealogy lost.
The sealing work is entrusted to an angel of God; men may assist, but cannot affix the seal. Now, we are only preparing to be sealed. The professed people of God are being carefully examined, sifted, to ascertain if they are fit to receive the seal. When that seal is affixed, all who receive it will be perfect Sabbath-keepers, and no other true Christians will be living on the earth. Sabbath-keepers will then be known as such, and will be hated, and men will seek to kill them, but will not be able. Reader, if you and I live so as to be fit recipients of the seal, we need not be anxious about the tribe to which we shall be assigned; God will take care of that.
Would you, with a harp of gold in your hand, a crown of fadeless, immortal glory upon your head, and the name of the Highest upon your brow, whose corruscations no mortal eye could behold, stand with Jesus upon Mount Zion and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints?” Then become commandment-keepers.
May you, dear reader, with the humble writer of this article so live that we may be numbered with those of whom it shall be said, “They are worthy.”
ADOLPHUS SMITH.
Ottawa Co., Mich.
WHEN JESUS COMES.
By Eliza J. Young
When Jesus comes, said a pilgrim here,
I shall soar to meet him in yonder air;
I shall leave this world so dark and drear,
And the light of his love forever share.
When Jesus comes, his saints who sleep
In safety ’neath his watchful eye,
Shall leave their graves so dark and deep,
For thrones of joy with Christ on high.
When Jesus comes, we’ll meet again,
All free from our great tempter’s wiles,
In a land that knows no grief nor pain,
But basks in the light of a Saviour’s smiles.
When Jesus comes, said a dying one,
I’ll join in the song of the angels bright;
For he will burst my silent tomb,
And take me to that land of light.
When Jesus comes, said a trembling soul,
I shall be safe with Christ at last,
No more to fear sin’s dark control,
When all the ills of earth are past.