Let us fear God; for this is the beginning of wisdom.
1. Did God, after he had finished the work of creation, bless and sanctify the seventh day of the week; or simply the seventh part of time, without reference to any particular day of the seven?
2. Did he not sanctify the very day in which he rested from his work? Was not that the last day of the seven? Did he sanctify any other?
3. Why did he bless and sanctify the seventh day? Was it not because he rested on that day? Will this reason apply to any other day of the seven; for did he not work on every other day? See Gen. ii, 2, 3.
4. Is not God's example of resting on the seventh-day enjoined upon us for imitation? Ex. xx, 8-11. Do we imitate him when we rest upon some other day than the one in which he rested?
5. Is it the special appointment of God which renders a day holy, or is it our own act? Is the day holy because we count it so, or because God has made it so?
6. When God enjoins us to count the Sabbath the holy of the Lord, (Isa. lviii, 13,) is it not equivalent to telling us that he himself has previously constituted it a holy day by blessing and sanctifying it? Is it anything more than requiring us to reckon the day to possess that dignity which he has already conferred upon it?
7. If God's blessing does not rest upon one particular specified day to the exclusion of all others, and we are nevertheless required to keep a day holy, are we not required to do what is impossible? for how can we count a day to be holy which God has not previously made so? Compare Ques. 5.
8. If God's blessing did not rest upon any particular specified day, could he challenge to himself any propriety in one day more than in another? yet, in the Sabbath day he claims a special propriety: "My Holy Day." Isa. lviii, 13.
9. Are you not commanded to refrain from labor during that very day which God once blessed and sanctified and thereby made holy time: "In it thou shalt not do any work" &c.; and do we obey this command when we work all of that day, and make it the busiest day of all the seven?
10. If it be downright disobedience to set about our work on the seventh day, when God says: "In it thou shalt not do any work," can we think to make amends for such an act of disobedience by ceasing from work on another day? Even the performance of a required duty will not make amends for another one neglected; how much less then the performance of something which is not required; and who hath required this at your hand?
11. Has God ever taken away the blessing which he once put upon the seventh day, and thus made that day a common or secular day?
12. Does not the reason of the blessing possess all the cogency now that it ever did? Has it lost force by the lapse of time? and while the reason for an institution remains, does not the institution itself remain?
13. Was the reason of the blessing which God originally put upon the seventh day, founded upon any need that man then had of a Redeemer? Was it therefore to receive its accomplishment and fulfillment by the actual coming of the Redeemer at the first advent? In what possible sense can it be said that Jesus Christ fulfilled and made an end of this reason?
14. Has God ever said of the first day of the week, In it thou shalt not do any work? Has Christ ever said so, or have the apostles?
15. Is there any scriptural proof that Christ or his apostles, or the Christian churches in the days of the apostles refrained from labor on the first day of the week?
16. As there is no transgression where there is no law, (Rom. iv, 15; John iii, 4,) what sin is committed by working on the first day?
17. Does not the Sabbath institution result from the blessing and sanctification of a particular day? Is not this the very thing in which it consists? How then is the institution separable from the day thus blessed and sanctified? How can it be separated from that of which its very existence depends?
18. If the very life and soul of the institution consists in the blessing which was once put upon a particular day, is it not idle to talk of the transfer of the institution to another day? If another day has been sanctified and blessed, then it is an entirely new institution and not a transfer of the old.
19. Does not the law of the Sabbath require the weekly commemoration of that rest which God entered into after he had finished the work of creation? By what principle of law or logic, then, can that law be made to require the commemoration of the work of redemption?
20. If it be necessary that the work of redemption be commemorated weekly by a positive institution, must not the obligation so to commemorate it arise from some law which directly and specifically requires it? But when instead of this, the attempt is made to derive the obligation from the Sabbath law, is it not a tacit acknowledgment that there is no law requiring the weekly commemoration of the work of redemption?
21. Does the Scripture ever apply the name, Sabbath to the first day of the week, even in the New Testament? Where the term is used is not the reference always to the seventh day?
22. If Luke, who wrote the Acts of the apostles full thirty years after the death of Christ, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit still calls the seventh day of the week the Sabbath, can it be wrong in us to do so? See Acts xiii, 14, 42, 44; xvi. 13; xvii, 2; xviii, 4. If this be the inspired application of the term so many years after the ceremonial institutions were nailed to the cross, is it not our duty to make the same use of the term now?
23. Is it not a manifest perversion of the scriptural use of terms to take away the sacred name from the seventh day of the week, and give it to the first?
24. When the first day of the week is so generally called the Sabbath, are not the common people thereby led to suppose that the Bible calls it so? Are they not thus grossly deceived?
25. If the name, Sabbath, was no longer applied to this day, and it should simply be called, first-day of the week, as in the Bible, is it not probable that it would soon lose its sacredness in the eyes of the people?
26. Is it possible then that God has not given the day a name sufficiently sacred to secure for it a religious regard, nor even guarded it with a law sufficient to prevent its desecration?
27. What then, has God left his work for man to mend? Is it not safe to leave the day as God has left it? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
28. Are you very sure that by the Lord's day (Rev. i, 10) is meant the first day of the week? Have you any scripture proof for it? Have you any other proof of it than the testimony of those who are called the early Fathers?
29. If the testimony of the early Fathers is to be relied on, that the Lord's day means the first day of the week, ought not their testimony to be just as much relied on as to the manner in which the primitive Christians observed the day?
30. If it were certain that by the Lord's day the writer of the book of Revelation meant to designate the first day of the week, would it thence follow that it is a day sacred by divine appointment any more than that the Sabbath day's journey (Acts i, 12) was a distance limited and prescribed by divine authority? If Luke could select the latter expression from the vocabulary of human tradition without intending to sanction it as being of divine origin, could not John do the same with regard to the former expression?
31. Do the Fathers or any one of them inform us that the Lord's day was observed by abstinence from labor, that it was observed as the Sabbath? Mark! the question, Was the day observed, simply, is not the question; but, Was it observed as the Sabbath?
32. Is there not an important distinction between the Sabbath and a religious festival? Does not the word Sabbath, mean rest? Can any day therefore, be called a Sabbath-day which is not a day of rest from ordinary labor?
33. Does a religious festival require anything more than the commemoration of some important event, allowing the time not occupied in the public celebration of it to be spent in labor or amusement? Is not this precisely the manner in which the first day of the week was observed according to the testimony of the ancient Fathers?
34. Though the observance of the first day of the week as a religious festival be in itself innocent (Rom. xiv, 5) so long as it is not made a protest for dispensing with an express law, (Matt. xv, 6,) yet do you find it anywhere in the Word of God commanded as a duty?
35. Do you believe that a Sabbath in the true and proper sense of the term, namely, a day of rest from all ordinary labor, is necessary and indispensable to the well-being of mankind? If so do you honestly suppose that God would set it aside and have its place supplied by nothing more than a religious festival?!
36. Is it not wicked to uphold a course which makes the commandments of God of none effect? Matt. xv, 1-9; Mark vii, 1-13. Let each one answer these questions in his own heart, fully realizing the declaration, Thou God seest me.
E. HARRIS.
The days of Noah and the Son of Man.
By E. R. Seaman
"As it was in the days of Noah, . . . likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, . . . even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." This prophecy as recorded by both Matthew and Luke, is evidently a plain and literal description of the state of society in the last stage of probationary time. It is found in the instructions of our Saviour, and given as a sign of his near coming. A large field is opened for our contemplation. The particulars specified in regard to eating and drinking, marrying &c., with which the antediluvians were engrossed, is not the only instruction involved in the prediction.157There was one characteristic which was so prominent as to deserve to be recorded, that it might claim more than a passing notice. It is found in Gen. vi, 13. God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come up before me; for the earth is filled with violence. Many passages might be quoted of a like character showing that violence will be in the land, and insurrection frequent just prior to the coming of the Lord.
Time and space would fail to mention the numerous acts of violence with which our daily journals are continually crowded, increasing in different parts of the land, showing the exact fulfillment of this prophecy. It is a fact known to almost all, that the papers of the day are furnishing testimony on this point continually under the different heads of Riot, Outrage, Murder, Burglary, &c., yet these things are so common as to produce little or no alarm in regard to the growing evils that threaten the safety even of the most prudent. "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter." Isa. lix, 14. The wicked are to wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Riots of the most alarming character are occurring in some of our most popular cities, formerly noted for their piety and sobriety.
It may be proper to refer to one which lately occurred in the city of Boston, the cause of which was the arrest of a fugitive slave. A man made in God's own image is torn from friends and society and all that is dear in life, and dragged back into slavery by the power of that atrocious bargain, the fugitive slave law, the foulest stain that ever blotted the history of any nation, especially one whose professions are entirely of an opposite character. And while the unfeeling slave-catchers are acting upon the authority of this law, the military are called out to support them with loaded guns and cannon. Efforts were made to purchase this slave's freedom; but it is not to be bought. The mouth-piece of the two-horned beast, (the president) must show his power and dragon authority. Hear him speak to the U. S. Marshall: "Your course is approved. Enforce the law at any expense."
But what has God said to these slave-catchers? "Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him." Deut. xxiii, 15, 16. This is God's fugitive-slave law to-day; although not repeated in the New Testament. Thus we see the character of the beast developed which has affirmed that all men are created free and equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If this nation would not be the most hypocritical nation on the face of the earth, it should amend this declaration thus: All white men are created free and equal &c. Has not this two-horned, lamb-like beast corrupted the commandment as well as the Roman dragon? Verily it has; and we may expect that it will make an image to the beast, or something resembling the prominent institution of Roman Catholicism.
We learn from these violent manifestations of the people, that the cup of iniquity of the wicked is fast filling up, and the restraining Spirit of God is being withdrawn from them. God's word is at stake for the fulfillment of violence, toward the last end of the true church that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. xii, 17. Watch ye therefore, and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. And what I say unto you, says Jesus, I say unto all: Watch!
E. R. SEAMAN.
Rochester, N. Y.
THE CHURCH
In Rochester has been much refreshed of late by the labors of Bro. Cornell. During his short stay with us from the 24th ult., to the 30th, he gave six lectures. By having the Word rightly divided and receiving a portion of meat in due season, we have been much strengthened and encouraged. May the Lord be with him, while he shall labor in the vineyard, till the work is accomplished, and the laborers are called home to their eternal reward.
Postscript to E. Miller, Jr.
By R. F. Cottrell
The ten commandments are not a part of a law, but an entire code. This is proved by Deut. v, 22. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more; and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
"He added no more," and who shall presume to add to these words? "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Prov. xxx, 6. Is it not presuming too much, to speak of "the ten commandments and [add] the balance of the Levitical law."
The ten commandments are the only entire code, or perfect rule, teaching us how to love God with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves, ever given to men. Any who think they can present another entire rule of moral duties, are requested to bring it forward, and if it cannot be proved to be wanting in any particular, it shall be acknowledged.
R. F. COTTRELL.
How Much Owest Thou My Lord?
By Gen. Evangelist
Have you kept a debt and credit? You can tell the income of your farm and its expenses. You know to a mill the worth of your merchandise, or bank stock. Pray how much owest thou my Lord? Perhaps you have not had time; let me assist you. Does it run thus?
A sound mind in a healthy body—
So much early religious instruction—
So many Sabbaths—
So many Gospel sermons—
So many public warnings—
So many private warnings; by sickness or by death of friends—
So many admonitions by Christians, and the remonstrance of an outraged conscience—
So much wealth—
So many excellent books—
Come, give an account of your stewardship! What have you done?
Have you used your intellect and health in his service?
Have you kept his Sabbaths?
Have you profited by these sermons—by those warnings and admonitions?
Have you used your wealth as being but God's steward, for the extension of his kingdom, and in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked?
How stands your account: for your Lord will shortly summons you.—Gen. Evangelist.
Mount Sinai.
By J. T. Headley
Standing in the midst of some of the most desolate scenery in the world, Mount Sinai lifts its huge form into the heavens, like some monster slumbering in conscious strength. Its bold and naked summit—its barren and rocky sides, and all its sombre features, correspond perfectly to the surrounding scene. It is a wild and desolate spot, and were there no associations connected with it, the loneliness and gloom that surround it, would arrest the traveler, and cause him to shudder as he pitched his tent under its shadow.
The moral, the divine instructions given to man from its summit, are of course the things of chief importance; but as these are always wholly dwelt upon, I speak only of the outward scenes, amid which they were imparted.
The Son of God must die amid the throbs of an earthquake, the rending of the graves, and the darkening of the sun. The giving of the Law, too, was done amid scenes that were designed never to be forgotten. Behold the white tents of Israel scattered like snow flakes at the base of that treeless, barren mountain. The hum of a mighty population is there, and those flowing tents, on which the parting sun is leaving his farewell glories, are the only pleasing objects that meet the eye, in this dreary region. A solemn hush is on every thing as the moon sails up the heavens, flooding with her gentle light the tented host. Moses has declared that on the third morning the eternal God is to place his feet on that distant mountain top in presence of all the people. Awe-struck and expectant, the sons of Jacob go from tent to tent to speak of this strange event, and then come out and look on the mysterious mountain on which it is to transpire. Unconscious of its high destiny, the distant summit leans against the solemn sky, and nothing there betokens preparations for the stupendous scene.—But at length the morning comes, and that vast encampment is filled with the murmur of the moving multitude, all turned anxiously to distant Sinai. And lo! a solitary cloud comes drifting along the morning sky, and catches against the top of the mountain. Thus did the cloud rest on mount Sinai as the people looked, and suddenly the thunders began to speak from its depths, and the fierce lightnings traverse its bosom, gleaming and flashing in every part of it. That cloud was God's pavilion; the thunder was his sentinels, and the lightnings the lances' points as they move round the sacred trust. The commotion which from the first arrested every eye, and chains every tongue, grew wilder every moment, till the successive claps of thunder were like the explosion of ten thousand cannon, shaking the earth to its very centre. Amid the incessant firing of heaven's artillery suddenly from out the bosom of that cloud, comes a single trumpet blast. Not like the thrilling music of a thousand trumpets that herald the shock of cavalry; but one solitary clarion note, with no sinking 'cadence or rising swell,' but an infinite sound, rising in its ascension power till the universe was filled with the strain. The incessant thunders that rock the height cannot drown it, for clearer, fuller, louder it peals on over the astonished spectators, till their hearts sink away in fear, and nature herself stands awe-struck and trembling before it. And lo! columns of smoke begin to rise fast and furious from that mysterious cloud, as if a volcano had opened in its bosom, and the pent up elements were discharging themselves in the open air: and the steady mountain rocks to and fro on its base as if in the grasp of an earthquake. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. Amid this rapid roll of thunder, and flashing of lightning, and fiercely ascending volumes of smoke, and convulsive throbs of Sinai, and while that trumpet strain still waxed louder and louder, Moses led the trembling Israelites forth to the foot of the mountain.
Suddenly the uproar ceased, and the thunders hushed their voice, and the last echo of the trumpet died away, and all was still. And from that silent cloud come a voice more fearful than they all—the voice of Jehovah calling Moses up into the mount. The great Lawgiver of Israel, parted from his people, and with solemn step was seen scaling the rocks, and climbing the heights till at last the cloud receives him in its bosom.
The moral law was given, and also the civil code, which men have so learnedly traced to the social compact.
The first act in the mighty drama was ended, and Moses was ordered to bring up Aaron and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders to worship in the mountain: and God showed himself in his glory to them. When this strange worship was ended, the voice of Jehovah was again heard, issuing from the cloud: but what a change in the mean time had passed over its dark form. A serene and pure radiance began to play around it, quivering like a bright light with its own intensity. Brighter and brighter it grew, till the eye turned away dazzled by the sight. Brighter still it gleams till it seemed a glowing furnace, shooting forth living fire on every side. Its wrathful streaks streamed down the mountain, filling the cavities with deeper gloom, touching every rock and crag with flame, and clothing the white tents in a lurid light. And when the night came on, and darkness wrapped the world, that mountain was one blaze of glory, shedding a strange lustre on the barren scene, and revealing every face and form of that immense host, as if they stood beneath a burning palace—painting with terrible distinctness, and in lines of fire, the surrounding landscape. The stars went out before its brilliancy, and the moon looked dark in its splendor.
For six days and nights did the glory flame on, shedding such a baptism on the wondering camp, as was never before witnessed by mortal eye—for the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. Little sleep was in the tents of Jacob then, for each one held his breath in awe, wondering what next would happen in this succession of strange scenes. At length that voice, before which nature herself seemed to change, again issued from the cloud, calling Moses to a second interview. Taking Joshua with him, he again ascended the hill, and was wrapped from sight forty days and forty nights. But as week after week passed by, and there were no farther exhibitions, and Moses did not return, the people passed from idleness into pleasure, and from pleasure to infidelity, and at length, emboldened by their own numbers, assembled tumultuously together and demanded another God, saying, 'As for this man Moses, who has brought us here, we do not know what has become of him.'
The golden calf was made, and the intoxicated throng danced around it. What a scene was there! Right at the foot of Sinai, where a month before they had heard the thunders, and trumpet, and voice, and seen the lightning, and glory—danced, and shouted, and sung, in bacchanalian frenzy, the naked multitude—hailing in boisterous shouts a golden calf as their God. What a contrast to the scene passing on the top of the mountain between Jehovah and Moses! In the midst of this wild and blasphemous revel, Moses was seen descending with thoughtful step, the distant slope, bearing in his arms the tables of the law. At length, as he and Joshua, in serious converse, passed along, they came within hearing of the tumult below. Suddenly stopping, they turned their anxious eyes to the white tents, far, far down in the valley, and Joshua said,—'There is fighting in the camp—I hear the sound of battle.' But the practiced ear of Moses, knew too well the meaning of that confused murmur. 'No,' said he, 'that is not the shout of victors in the pursuit, nor the shriek of the vanquished, flying in fear, but the noise of them that sing do I hear.' As he drew near and saw the revelry and blasphemous worship, he cast the tables at his feet, and rushed into the camp. The naked throng falls before him as if he had been a messenger of death: the dancing ceases, and the song and deafening shouts were suddenly hushed. Turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, he pressed with a brow dark as wrath, to the golden idol, and hurling it into the fire, tramples it under foot. Then turning to Aaron, he asked an explanation of this strange scene. As soon as it was given, he hastened to the gate of the camp, and sending his voice like a trumpet roll through the host, cried out, 'Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me.' The sons of Levi separated themselves from the crowd, and flocked about him. 'Seize now,' said he to these, 'every man his sword, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his companion, and every man his brother.'
Amid the silence that followed were heard sobs and cries of despair: and lo! that terrible band, with drawn swords, press into the throng. There is no shout of battle, no cry of anger, though the sword drinks blood at every step,—The moan of despair, and the sudden death shrieks alone tell where those stern warriors pass. And now, enveloped in the dense mass, the eye can tell where they move only by the flash of dripping swords, as they sweep in angry circles over their guilty heads. Though their hearts bleed at every stroke, and a deeper paleness is on their brow as they sheath their death weapons in their brethren's bosoms, and the lip quivers before the beseeching look of a once loved friend, their steadfast heart must feel no relenting. The dead lie in swaths where they go, and their weary arms droop beneath the protracted slaughter—yet on, on they press, till three thousand corpses cumber the field. Terrible scene—terrible vengeance—but the sword of divine justice is ever awful. Why speak of after repentance and consecration—of a second ascent into Sinai—of the passing of Jehovah before Moses—of the still radiance that beamed from his face, as he came once more unto the people, until they turned dazzled from his presence. The mighty pageant at length closed—the cloud-column rose from before the tabernacle and moved into the desert; the tents were struck, and the host, headed by that mysterious pillar, in one long column disappeared in the wilderness, and that fearful mountain was left once more alone amid the bleak and barren scenery.158But ah! another dreadful day is approaching us, when not only Sinai and the whole earth shall be shaken, but also heaven. And this word, (yet once more) signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
[J. T. Headley.]
The Third Angel’s Message and the Sabbath
By John Norton Loughborough
From Bro. Loughhead.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—The present truth of the third angel's message is precious to my heart, and when I read in the Review and Herald the cheering epistles from my brethren and sisters, of like precious faith, I feel strengthened in the truth, and I thank our kind heavenly Father for his goodness unto the children of men; that his loving kindness was so great that he gave his only Son to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and that in these last days when darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness covers the people, he has been pleased to let light shine out of his Word on our pathway. Isa. lx, 2. And now when the enemy has come in like a flood [spirit manifestations] he has lifted up a standard against him, [Isa. lix, 19,] and has given a banner to his people that it may be displayed because of the truth. Ps. lx, 4.
My heart is made to rejoice in the Lord from time to time as I read in the Review of the prosperity of the cause of truth; that dear souls are giving their hearts to the Lord, and are gathering under the banner of the Lord, while I am grieved to see the position that some take in their blind zeal in fighting against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; especially one who was instrumental under God in bringing me to a knowledge of the truth of the near approach of the Lord Jesus the second time without sin unto salvation, also to see that Babylon is fallen, is fallen. Rev. xiv, 6-8.
In the preface of his article under the head of "The three Sabbaths," Eld. P. says: If the Jewish Sabbath belongs to the gospel dispensation, let it be shown by the New Testament, and if not let them cease endeavoring to drag us into the bondage of the law. In Ex. xx, 10, we read, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, [not of the Jews;] and in Lev. xxiii, 3, The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, . . . it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings; and in Isa. lvi, 4, For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, . . . and in chap. lviii, 13, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day &c. Now in all these texts the seventh day is called the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. It is the Sabbath of the Lord; and God calls it, My Sabbath, and My holy day. Now I would like to know by what rule of interpretation Elder P. makes all these passages of the sacred scripture read, or mean the sabbath of the Jews; and I do not see why it would be necessary for God to speak the Sabbath commandment a second time in order to have man obey it any more than any other of the ten commandments.
The Saviour said, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Matt. xix, 17. And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, [Mark ii, 27] and I ask, How can it be a burden to keep the day that God has in his mercy blessed and sanctified for us? Is it not more reasonable to believe that they who desecrate the Sabbath and keep Sunday in its place, are under bondage; for the apostle Paul says, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin [the transgression of the law, 1 John iii, 4,] unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. Rom. vi, 16. And Peter says, while they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 2 Pet. ii, 19.
Dear Brother it is my earnest prayer before God that he would for his Son's sake grant that he that preached the truth and he that received it may rejoice together in the day when God shall gather his people home, and that we may be numbered with the commandment-keepers, and have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. Rev. xxii, 14.
Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord, let us by the help of the holy Spirit strive to be moulded more and more into the image of the blessed Jesus, and to have the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling in us, that when Jesus shall appear in his glory and all the holy angels with him, our vile bodies may be changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service; and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God; [Rom. xii, 1, 2;] and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 1 Pet. v, 4.
I am affectionately your brother in the patience of the saints, striving to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
J. A. LOUGHHEAD.
Elmira, N. Y., June 5th, 1854.
OBITUARY.
By John Lindsey
DIED in Waltham Addison Co., Vt., May 24th, 1854, sister Vesta L., daughter of Bro. Edwin and Sr. Susan Lothrop, aged 15 years and 5 months. She embraced the Advent doctrine when quite young and about three years ago commenced keeping the Sabbath with her parents and sisters, and has been a faithful follower of her Saviour. She suffered much pain in her head, during her last sickness of two weeks; yet she bore it with patience and resignation. She fell asleep in Jesus without a struggle or a groan, to rest until the morning of the resurrection. Bro. E. Everts preached a very appropriate discourse from 1 Thes. iv. 13-17. Her parents mourn her loss; yet they sorrow not as those who have no hope.159
"Dearest sister thou hast left us,
Here thy loss we deeply feel;
But 'tis God, that has bereft us,
And he can all our sorrows heal."
JNO. LINDSEY.
Panton, Vt., May 31st, 1854.
COMMUNICATIONS.
By Dexter Daniels
From Bro. Daniels.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I rejoice in the weekly return of the holy Sabbath. I can say that it is a delight unto me. It is the holy of the Lord, honorable. Last Sabbath I was with the saints in Brookfield. They seem to be growing in grace and are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. Sabbath before last, I was at Berlin, at the Conference. Had a good meeting. Some from Springfield were present. Bro. Bates preached to us Sabbath and First-day. Second-day, the subject of gospel order was brought up. All seemed to be united in it. May God be with them at all times by his holy Spirit, to guide and direct them in the way of their duty; and I hope and pray that God will raise up good and holy men, to take the oversight of his flock. Yes, God will do it, then the true church will prosper and be in a healthy state, God's holy name will be honored, and the truth will triumph.
I long for the kingdom to come, when all shall be holy and pure. What a healthy clime that will be. Thy sun shall not go down neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. O, how blessed!
But some there are at the present time who are teaching their hearers that God's holy law was nailed to the cross. They think that the judgment is coming this year, and at the same time they do not believe that God has any law to judge this world by!! A judgment without a law! But the great Apostle says, He that sins in the law, shall be judged by the law; and James says, If we keep the whole law, [i.e. profess to keep it] and yet offend in one point we are guilty of all. Then if we keep the other nine commandments, and yet fail in the fourth, what will it profit us? we are sinners, and we must perish; for sin is the transgression of the law, and the wages of sin is death.
DEXTER DANIELS.
Sandisfield, Mass., May 27th, 1854.
ASHER S. KING
By Asher S. King
From Bro. King.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I am still striving to obey God by keeping his commandments and the faith of Jesus. I have long been fearful that you would get discouraged, in sending me the Review, as you have not received any thing from me; but I assure you that I am striving to be one of the worthy, though I am poor. I know of nothing save the Bible that I value more than the Review. I feel an increase of interest in the third angel's message. I can truly say the Lord's Sabbath is a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable. My prayer is that I may understand more fully the Sanctuary. Lord, send help. I am alone except my family, who are beginning to understand these things.
ASHER S. KING
Florida, Mass., June 6th, 1854.
Finding the Old Paths
By J. Edgerton
From Bro. Edgerton.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I believe the time has come for the remnant to inquire for the old paths, and walk therein, as spoken by the prophet, Jeremiah. I can say in truth that it is not a vain thing to serve God and experience how great peace they have who love the law.
Since Bro. Bates was here last Sept., I have been trying to keep the Lord's Sabbath, though at first the cross seemed too great for me to bear, yet after searching the Scriptures I was enabled by the light of truth to behold wondrous things out of God's holy law. I believe it was the providence of God that brought Bro. Bates here, and with him the Review and Herald. These instrumentalities have been a blessing to me through the belief of the truth.
Myself and wife are the only believers in the Advent faith in this place, and are counted heretics; but thanks be to our blessed Lord and Saviour for his promise: "Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be." Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Your brother in patience. J. EDGERTON.
Parma, Cuy. Co., Ohio, May 28th, 1854.
Striving to Keep God’s Commandments
By John Alexander
From Bro. Alexander.
Dear Bro. White :—I am still striving by the grace of God to keep his commandmends and the faith of his Son and hope to enter in through the gates of the city and have right to the tree of life. I can say that I delight in the law of God but I often think of Lot who was vexed with the unlawful deeds of the Sodomites. Truly we are in perilous times. There never was a time when men loved themselves more than at the present, having a form of godliness, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, who are breaking God's commandments and teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. But the time is at hand when they shall proceed no further; for very soon shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between the commandment-keepers, and the commandment-breakers. O, brethren let us watch and be sober having our loins girded with truth and our lamps burning. Pray for me that I and my family may be found with all the dear saints without spot, and blameless.
Yours waiting for redemption.
John Alexander.
Forestdale, Vt., June 2d, 1854.
Brother Raymond Restored to Fellowship
By S. N. Bascom
From Bro. Bascom.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—In view of the action of the church at Alden, in the case of Bro. Wm. A. Raymond as appeared in the Review Dec. 15th 1853 is, by the voice of the church, recalled, and our brother restored again to the full fellowship of the church; that he has made full confession of his wrongs and humbled himself before God; asking forgiveness of all brethren, particularly those that were present at his trial.
In behalf of the church, S. N. Bascom. Done at Alden, Ill., this 29th day of April 1854.
A Brand Plucked from the Burning
By Jane A. Feeler
From Sister Feeler.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—How happy I should be to see one who loved the Sabbath of the Lord and longed for its return; some one of the scattered remnant who was striving to keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus; it would be cheering; yet I feel to praise the Lord for permitting me to hear the third angel's message. I can but look upon myself as a brand plucked from the burning, and wonder I was not cut off as a branch that is withered, when I think of the place from whence I started; how I was surrounded by darkness; how little of the word I knew, yet I feel to trust in the Lord. I believe he will lead me on even till Jesus comes to possess the kingdom for ever even for ever and ever.