Review and Herald, Vol. 26, No. 18. (10/3/1865)

Review and Herald

Oct 3, 1865

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 3, 1865

Do We Understand Correctly?

By A. P. VH.

How often are the works of the Creator, and the laws which govern the beauty and harmony of all which surrounds us in Nature, admired, yet the fact passed with indifference or allowed to remain hidden in ignorance that Nature's Author has also established laws just as concise, for human existence, which if complied with, render life happy, as our Creator designed it should be.

The following in regard to this question is from Graham's Science of Human Life.

There is probably no subject which the mind of man has ever contemplated, concerning which more extensive and enormous error prevails, than in regard to human life and health and disease; and yet nearly every person seems to think there is a kind of intuitive knowledge possessed by all, which enables each one to understand his own constitution, and what is good for him, better than another can teach him.

In relation to almost every thing else in nature, mankind are willing to acknowledge that there are fixed principles and permanent laws, and established order and system.

If we speak of the science of astronomy, and assert that God has constructed the planetary system upon fixed principles, and arranged the several bodies according to precise laws,—that the relative size, weight, distance, velocity, and every thing else in regard to the whole planetary system, are regulated and governed by the most exact and permanent laws,—every enlightened Christian and theist will readily admit the truth of the assertion.

Or if we affirm that, in the creation of our globe, God ordained all things according to fixed principles, and that he has established unchanging laws which govern it in every respect, our affirmation will be promptly acceded to. Or if we speak of the science of chemistry, and declare that all the molecular combinations and arrangements of matter are according to fixed laws, and that these laws always govern every chemical action and result with the utmost precision, here again the truth of our declaration will be acknowledged. If also we assert that God has constructed every mineral according to fixed principles—that the formation of every crystal is governed by established laws, this, too, will be admitted. If we proceed yet further, and affirm that, in the vegetable kingdom, from the smallest thing that has an individual existence, to the largest tree, all are constituted according to fixed laws;—that the life, growth, health, and everything belonging to the nature and properties and powers of the vegetable, are governed by the permanent laws which the Creator has established and continually sustains,—the truth of what we affirm will still be unhesitatingly allowed. And finally, if ascending in the scale of creation, we advance to the animal kingdom, and assert that God has created every animal, and established all its properties and powers upon fixed principles; that even in the formation of the bones and muscles, and nerves, and all the organs of the human body, with their mysterious and wonderful endowments—law, and order, and adaption to special purposes and ends prevail and govern every thing,—even here the truth of what we predicate will be admitted.

Thus, from the nice adjustments and balancing of revolving worlds, to the structure and operation of the organs of the smallest insect, and the simplest vegetable, and even to the arrangement of the particles of matter in the formation of minerals; and all the combinations of the elements of nature, by which the various forms and properties of matter are produced. Throughout the whole immensity of created things, mankind will readily admit that an intelligent, and wise, and benevolent Creator has established laws; and that by virtue of the laws which he has established, and continues to sustain, the forms, and properties, and powers of all material things are what they are. All, except the atheist, will frankly acknowledge that it is befitting a God of infinite intelligence, and wisdom, and goodness; that all the works of his hands should be established in order and harmonious system, and governed by precise and unchanging laws. And even he who denies the existence of a God, is forward to confess that eternal and unvarying laws reign in and over every thing; and that, by the energy of those laws of nature, all the forms and conditions of nature are produced, and are preserved.

Yet, strange to tell! when all these acknowledgements are made concerning the laws which govern the material universe, and all material forms, if we turn to the higher order of God's works, in which he has associated with organized matter, in human nature, organic vitality, and animal consciousness, and sensibility and voluntary motion, and intellectual and moral powers, and affirm that human life, and health, and thought, and feeling, are governed by laws as precise and fixed, and immutable, as those which hold the planets in their orbits, and cause all portions of each globe to press towards its center, and point the trembling needle to the pole, and govern all the molecular aggregations, and combinations, and arrangements of matter in the inorganic and organic world, mankind will, almost universally, without a pause for thought, deny the truth of the affirmation, and contend that human life, and health, and disease, are matters of entire uncertainty, governed by no laws, and subject only to the arbitrary control of God, or the blind necessity of fate, or the utter contingency of accident. They do not believe that there are any fixed laws of life, by the proper observance of which, man can, with any certainty, avoid disease and preserve health, and prolong his bodily existence; and they are confident that the experience of the human family in all ages has fully and conclusively demonstrated the correctness of their views.

He further says:—

Hence, so long as mankind is favored with even a moderate degree of health, they rush into the eagerly desired excitements of their various pursuits and indulgences; and nothing seems to them more visionary and ridiculous, than precepts and regulations, and admonitions concerning the preservation of health. While they possess health, they will not believe that they are in any danger of losing it; or if they are, nothing in their habits or practices can have any effect, either in destroying or preserving it; nor can they be convinced of the universal delusion that, if they enjoy health, they have within themselves the constant demonstration that their habits and practices are conformable to the laws of health, at least in their own constitutions. They will not, therefore, consent to be benefited, contrarily to what they regard as necessary to their present enjoyment, either by the experience or by the learning of others.

In closing remarks on this point he says:—

The subject is immense! yet it is, in all its details, replete with interest to every human being. Man finds himself upon the theater of life, full of susceptibilities, surrounded by innumerable influences, and acted on at every point; and he is continually conscious, not only of his existence and the action of surrounding influences, but of an unceasing desire for happiness. Has God implanted this desire as a fundamental principle of action in our nature, merely to neutralize us in the vain pursuit of what has no reality? or is the desire itself a living proof that our benevolent Creator has fitted us for happiness, not only in a future state, but here—in soul and body? and adapted every thing within us and around us, to answer this desire, in the fulfillment of those laws of life and health and happiness which he, in wisdom and in goodness, has established in the constitutional nature of things?

Surely our heavenly Father cannot but prefer our happiness at every instant of our lives; and if we are not happy, it cannot be because he has not endowed us with the capability of being so, and adapted earth and all terrestrial things to all that he has made us capable of being.

Our disquietudes, and diseases, must therefore spring, not from the fulfillment, but from the infraction of the laws of God; and it becomes us humbly, yet diligently, to endeavor to ascertain those laws, and to obey them and be happy; and thus fulfill the benevolent purposes of God, and glorify him in our spirits and our bodies, which are his.

It is impossible to attain to a full understanding of these things, without a determined and persevering application of the mind; and for the sake of knowledge so important, we must be willing to submit even to the drudgery of that application, which at first is made only with the hope of being rewarded when the task is mastered, and hidden things are brought to light by penetrating diligence.

My Watch I'm Keeping.

By S. S. Brewer

TUNE—"Hazel Dell."

On this dreary earth I long have wandered, Weary and oppressed, Where the dearest ties are often sundered, In the fondest breast. Here, 'mid scenes so often sad and trying, Sorrow's cup runs o'er, We, with lone and weary hearts, are sighing For bright Canaan's shore.

All the while my watch I'm keeping, In this vale of tears, For the Saviour soon will wake those sleeping, When he doth appear.

Cold and silent now our friends are sleeping Where the bright flowers wave— And in bitter grief their love-watch keeping, Mourners tend the grave. While the gentle gales are 'round me sighing, Like the lute's low tone, Oft they toll the knell for mortals dying, Bringing grief's sad moan.

O my brethren, lonely, sad, and weary, Soon your King will come And change this gloomy scene, so dark and dreary, To an Eden home. Mourning pilgrim, Christ is sweetly calling— List! his accents hear! And the evening shades around are falling— Soon he will appear!

[S. S. Brewer.

The Reward.

By M. J. Sober

SHALL I receive my reward when I die? or, must I wait till some other time for the precious boon so often promised by my Father in Heaven? What saith God? "To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Knowing that my opinion or belief can never change the mind of God, for what he hath spoken, that will he do, and what he hath decreed, that will he perform whether I believe or no, I have determined to search the Scriptures, that I may know what the mind of God is with reference to the time when the reward shall be given. In Paul's charge to Timothy, (2 Tim. iv, 1,) we hear him declaring, "The Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom," and in verses 7, 8 he says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day [the day referred to in verse 1]: and not to me only, but unto all them, also, that love his appearing." So, Paul and all that love Christ's appearing have the promise of the crown in the day of his coming. We find a similar promise recorded in 1 Peter v, 4—"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you [when?] at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Ah! we shall be a favored people then; for God hath promised, saying, "They shall be mine, * and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

Our Saviour, when about to leave his dear disciples as sheep among wolves, would comfort them: what does he say? That they shall soon die, and follow him to Heaven? No; but, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again [what for, Lord?] and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." Then, in order for us to be where Christ is, it is necessary for him to come again. But, Lord, shall we go to our reward, or wilt thou fetch it to us? "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." (Rev. xxii, 12.) "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his work." "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations." He divides them as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: to those on his right hand he saith, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." Of those on the left we read, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." (Matt. xxv, 31–46.)

When shall we be recompensed, Lord? "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." (Luke xiv, 13, 14.) "For the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." (Jno. v, 28, 29.) "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world: Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." (Isa. lxii, 11.) "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." (Isa. xl, 10.) "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense: he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." (Isa. xxxv, 4–6.) "For our vile body shall be changed and fashioned like Christ's glorious body." (Phil. iii, 20, 21.) Free from every ill that flesh is heir to: neither can we die any more, being equal unto the angels. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [when?] at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Cor. xv, 51–55.)

To this time did all the prophets, patriarchs, and apostles look for their reward, without a single exception. * "As for me," saith David, "I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness." The same hope inspired Job when by inspiration he is led to exclaim, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and after I shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not a stranger." (Job xix, 23–27.—margin.)

With such plain and unequivocal declarations as these, I cannot, I dare not, hope for the reward at any other time than that specified, namely: at the coming of the Judge of all the earth. Again, when I know God's word is "not yea and nay: but yea and amen to the glory of God the Father," I know he will not promise to bestow the reward at one time, and then give it at another: and when I read that all the ancient worthies "received not the promise," God having provided some better thing for us, "that they without us should not be made perfect," but that we together shall "be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so be forever with the Lord," I rejoice to see tokens of speedy deliverance; and cry out, O Lord, how long? Come quickly with the glorious reward, and take thy ransomed people home.—M. J. SOBER, in Voice of the West.

Examples of Longevity.

FROM that very excellent work on health, "Trall's Hydropathic Encyclopedia," pp. 384—386, we take the following article which will doubtless prove interesting to those who desire great "length of days."

"Haller collected most of the cases of longevity known in Europe in his time. Among them were over a thousand who attained to ages between 100 and 110 years; sixty, from 110 to 120; twenty-nine from 120 to 130; fifteen from 130 to 140; six from 140 to 150; one reached 169 years. The Russian statistics of 1830 give examples of two hundred and fifty-five individuals between the ages of 100 and 160. In England and Wales, during a period of eighteen years preceding 1830, over seven hundred persons were buried, each of whose ages exceeded 100 years. Baker's 'Curse of Britain' gives a list of about one hundred individuals whose ages ranged from 95 to 370! Twenty-one of them reached the age of 150 and upward, and about thirty exceeded 120 years. Pliny copied from the records of the census in the time of Vespasian, the cases of one hundred and twenty-four men living between the Po and the Apennines, who had attained ages from 100 to 140 years. At the same time there were living in Parma five men of ages from 120 to 130; in Placentia one of 130: at Facentia a woman of 132; and in Vellagacian ten persons, six of whom were 110 and four 120 years of age. Herodotus informs us that the average life of the Macrobians was 120 years. The Circassians, according to the traveler, Mr. Spenser, attained a very advanced age. Modern statistics exhibit numerous examples of persons, in various parts of the United States, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Greece, and among the vegetarian Bramins of India, attaining more than one hundred years of age. France, Spain, and Germany afford a few examples. Many places on Long Island in the State of New York, will compare advantageously with almost any equal number of places on the globe, as regards the longevity of their inhabitants, and the number who have attained 100 years of age. The American Indians, previous to the introduction of the white man's 'fire-water,' frequently lived to the age of 100 years. The following catalogue of names and ages of persons distinguished for length of years has been collected by Baker, Horsell, and others. There is a discrepancy of a few years in relation to four or five of the individuals between the ages here stated and those given by other authors. The differences, however, is not material, and can in no way affect our argument or inferences.

"William Dupe 95, William Dupe's father 102, his grandfather 108, Michell Vivian 100, John Crossley 100, Lewis Cornaro 100, Admiral H. Rolvenden 100, Jane Milner 102, Eleanor Aymer 103, Eleanor Pritchard 103, her sisters 104 and 108, William Pepman 103, William Marmon 103, wife of Cicero 103, Stender 103, Susan Edmonds 104, St. John the Silent 104, James the Hermit 104, Hippocrates 104, Bar Decapellias 104, Mrs. Hudson 105, Helen Gray 105, Mrs. Alexander 105, St. Theodosius 105, Mazarella 105, John Pinkham 105, St. Anthony 105, Mary Nally 106, Thomas Davies 106, his wife 105, Ann Parker 108, Gorgias 108, Simon Stylites 109, Coobah Lord 109, Democrates 109, De Longueville 110, Ant. Semish 111, Ann Wall 111, Luceja 112, Mittelstedt 112, J. Walker 112, W. Kauper 112, W. Cowman 112, E. M. Gross 112, Paul the Hermit 113, F. Lupatsoli 113, M. Mahon 114, John Weeks 114, R. Glen 114, St. Epiphanus 115, George Wharton 115, Louis Wholeham 115, Bamberg 120, Arsenius 120, Romualdus 120, John Bailes 122, Margaret Darley 130, Francis Peat 130, William Ellis 130, Bamberger 130, Peter Gordon 132, John Garden 132, Richard Loyd 132, John Taylor 133, Catherine Lopez 134, Margaret Forster 136, John Mount 136, Margaret Patten 137, Juan Marroygota 138, Rebecca Perry 140, Galen 140, Dumitor Radaloy 140, Laurence 140, Countess of Desmond 140, Mr. Eccleston 140, Solomel Nibel 143, William Evans 145, Joseph Bam 145, Colonel Thomas Winslow 146, Llywark Ken 150, Judith Crawford 150, Catharine Hyatt 150, Thomas Garrick 151, Francis Consist 152, James Bowels 152, Thomas Parr 152, Thomas Damma 154, Epimenides 157, Robert Lynch 160, Letitia Cox 160, Joice Heth 162, Sarah Rovin 164, William Edwards 168, Henry Jenkins 169, John Rovin 172, Peter Porton 185, Mongate 185, Petratsch Czarten 185, Thomas Cam 207, Numes de Cugna 370."

"Zeno, the founder of the stoical sect, lived 100 years; Titian the painter, nearly 100; Francis Secardia Hongo, died A. D. 1702, aged 114; in 1757, J. Effingham died at Cornwall, aged 144; Alexander Macintosh, of Marseilles, lived 112; James Le Measurer of Navarre, 118 years; Valentine Cateby, of Preston, England, 118 years; Henry Grosvenor, of Wexford, Ireland, 115 years, John de la Somet, of Virginia, 130 years; Elizabeth Macpherson, of Caithness, Scotland, 117 years; Owen Carollan, of Ireland, 127 years; Ann Day, an English gipsy, 108 years; Cardinal de Salis, of Seville, 110 years."

The Contraband's Gratitude.

A SOLDIER writes us: "After the little city of F. fell into our hands, steps were immediately taken to provide shelter and rations for the crowds of negroes, (many of whom were from the swamps of Florida) hastening in to seek an asylum from oppression. Among their first requirements was a place for Divine worship. Having received my ideas of their peculiar style of proceeding from comic sermons of the "Snow-ball" order, I entered the little hall, expecting only amusement.

"The leader of the meeting was a short, thick-set negro, having a free-and-easy, backwoods-preacher air, who commenced the services by reading a hymn.

After the singing he made a short address, the burden of which was gratitude to God for their deliverance from bondage, and, as is usual among them, comparing their situation with that of the children of Israel in Egypt. His remarks were distinct, brief, and impressive.

The next speaker was a tall, athletic man, black as jet, but in cast of features differing greatly from the common negro. An indomitable fearlessness and great power of endurance marked him as one whose spirit could never be crushed.

“Full of earnestness, his voice tremulous with emotion, he announced that that day he had escaped from a terrible bondage. ‘Dis, my friends, is de blessed day my ole gran’fader prayed for. My fader prayed for it, an’ de great God knows I’se prayed for’t; I’se knew it was a comin’; suthin in my heart tole me de blessed Jesus would deliver us out ob de hands of our cruel taskmasters even as he did de chillen of Israel out ob Egypt. An’ blessed be God, it is done, an’ to-day we can sing de songs of freedom!

“My gran’fader was torn to pieces by de blood-houn’s in de swamps ob Florida, my fader was kept in irons, an’ lashed wid whips, an’ my friends, I’se been tryin’ to ’scape from bondage all my life, as de marks ob irons an’ whips will show!

“Tank de Lord, my brederen, de blessed, long-looked-for freedom-day has come! Let us pray for de dear white people who has come all de long way an’ is fightin’ to make us free!

“When I look at dat ole flag’ (pointing to the stars and stripes, floating in the harbor), ‘dat brought my gran’fader from Africa, an’ has kept my brederen in chains an’ darkness so long, an’ tink dat now it has come to set us free I’se could now bow down to it as did de chilien of Israel to de serpent in de wilderness!”

“Then kneeling, he poured out his soul in humble, grateful prayer. Words fail to do justice to the earnestness and simplicity of his petition. It was a song of praise and gratitude from an over-burdened, long-imprisoned spirit, brief, and full of pathos; and never since have I heard eloquence like that.

“The allusion to the flag sent the blood tingling through my veins, and gave new lustre to the dearly loved stars and stripes.

“I entered the assembly an anti-abolitionist. I left it firmly resolved to fight for the liberty of the downtrodden and oppressed.”—Watchman and Reflector.

I Must Praise More.

Dr. Nevins, of Baltimore, once wrote an article with this heading, which had a wide circulation, and stirred many Christian hearts to praise. Some parts of it are well worth republishing, as setting forth a Christian duty too often neglected. He says:

It strikes me that we ought to praise more as well as pray more. I do not know how it is with others, but I know that I have a great deal for which to be thankful and to praise God. I feel that it will not do for me to spend all my breath in praying. I should thus, it is true, acknowledge my dependence on God; but where would be the acknowledgement of his benefits conferred on me? I must spend a part of my breath in praise. God has been very good to me. Yes, he has exercised goodness toward me in all of its various forms of pity, forbearance, care, bounty, grace, and mercy; or, to express all in one word, ‘God is love,’ and he has been love to me.

I do not know why he should have treated me so kindly. I have sought, but can find no reason out of himself. I conclude it is because He ‘delighteth in mercy.’ I think I shall be able, without weariness, to spend eternity on the topic of Divine love and goodness.

Shall we not praise God? Shall all our devotion consist in prayer? Shall we be always thinking of our wants and never of his benefits—always dwelling on what remains to be done and never thinking of what has already been done for us—always uttering desire, and never expressing gratitude—expending all our voice in supplication, and none of it in song. Is this the way to treat a benefactor? No! it is not just so to treat Him; neither is it wise. It is very bad policy to praise no more than Christians in general do. They would have more success in prayer if one half the time they now spend in it were spent in praise. I do not mean that they pray too much, but that they praise too little. I suspect that the reason why the Lord did such great things for the Psalmist was, that while he was not by any means deficient in prayer, he abounded in praise. The Lord heard his psalms, and while he sung of mercy, showed him more. And it would be just so with us, if we abounded more in praise and thanksgiving. It displeases God that we should be always dwelling on our wants, as if he had never supplied one of them.

How do we know that God is not waiting for us to praise Him for a benefit he has already conferred, before He will confer on us that other which we may now be so earnestly desiring of Him? For one who offers genuine praise there may be found ten who pray. Ten lepers lifted up their voices together in the prayer, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,’ but only one of the ten returned to give glory to God. The rest were satisfied with the benefit—this one only thought gratefully of the benefactor.

Praise is altogether the superior exercise of the two. Prayer may be altogether selfish in its origin, but praise is ingenuous. Praise is the employment of Heaven. Angels praise. The spirits of the just will make perfect praise. We shall not always pray, but we shall ever praise. I charge thee, my soul, to praise Him, and He will never let thee want matter for praise. ‘While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.’

The Gifts Restored.

Certainly in the last days there will be superhuman delusions and temptations, so great that “if it were possible they would deceive the very elect.” But I believe also that in the last days, in the language of Joel, “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” It is therefore highly probable that as the winding up of the great drama, in which we play a part, draws nearer, the future or the heavenly rest shall come down in clearer manifestation to this world. No part of divine truth can be neglected without loss; and it is too evident that the deep and mysterious doctrine of the Bible respecting evil spirits and good angels has been far too much disregarded. It has arisen from the wide spread of infidel principles; and on the other hand, from the unscriptural idolatry practiced by the church of Rome. p. 228.

SATAN.

Many think Satan a figure of speech; and alas! they that think so have received instructions from that very Satan whose personality and existence they thus explain away. But there is no doubt that there is an archangel fallen, possessed of all the subtlety of the serpent, all the ferocity of the lion; a being so sunk and fallen, that our ruin is his only delight, our destruction his only trade; and the incidental gleams of joy that pass athwart his countenance, or that electrify his spirit, rise from the success he attains in ruining and destroying souls. I know not a more awful proof of Satan’s power than that he can penetrate the depths of the heart, speak to the conscience, persuade without words, enchain without links, and drag a captive at his chariot-wheels the very man that boasts he is free, and never was the slave of any. Are we holy men, with new hearts, touched, and thereby transformed, by the Spirit of God? Speculations about prophecy will not serve us. Satan knows more about the Apocalypse than all the commentators from the Christian era to this day. pp. 164, 180.

FATHER'S HOUSE.

But in my Father's house, the house that hath foundations, the house not made with hands, there are many, not tents, but mansions—abiding dwelling-places. And the picture of it is still more enhanced when he adds, it is "my Father's house." Under its roof-tree will meet all the brothers and sisters of the vast redeemed family of humankind; around our Father's fireside we shall one day gather; and if ever there was a happy Christmas roof-tree upon earth, it will be as nothing in comparison with the happiness of the bright group that meet beneath the roof of our Father's house, and gather around that home that shall never be taken down. "Our Father which art in Heaven;" "Father," the fatherhood of God; "our Father," the brotherhood of all the family of Christians; "our Father in Heaven," the common home to which we shall all one day be gathered. Conceive a home emancipated from its cares; a home denuded of its worst and its bitterest anxieties; a home into which sickness shall never penetrate; from which the dead shall never be carried out to the house appointed for all living—conceive a home where no cares cluster about the roof, where no shadows dim the brightness of the fireside; where there are no quarrels, nor losses, nor griefs, nor fears, nor anxieties; and multiply and magnify it ten thousand times ten thousand, and you will have some dim conception of that house which our Father has prepared for them that are his children, and that love him. p. 57.

A NEW SONG.

“And they sing a new song.” What is meant by that new song? It is this—the highest music never palls, the masterpieces of painting you can look at over and over again, and never weary looking at them. God’s great masterpieces in the garden, the flower, the blossom, one could look upon all the year. Man’s creation is very different. If one looks at the most exquisite lace made in Brussels or Valenciennes, worth much, through a microscope it appears the most clumsy, coarse structure it is possible to imagine. But if you look at a bee’s wing through a microscope, the highest microscopic power you can bring to bear upon it, only reveals its greater beauty. So things that have the highest excellency never pall with years, or disappoint on inspection. The new song that will be sung in Heaven means, that the themes will be so rich, the love that inspires it will be so glowing, the triumphs it commemorates will be so grand, the Saviour, as its key note, will be so glorious, that the song sung thousands of years ago, though heard every day, will retain all the freshness with which it would be heard if it had never been sung before. Such is the new song, among the new things that will be in Heaven.

Access to God.

By Gail Hamilton

HOWEVER early in the morning you seek the gate of access, you find it already open; and however deep the midnight moment when you find yourself in the sudden arms of death, the winged prayer can bring an instant Saviour near, and this wherever you are. It needs not that you ascend a special Pisgah or Moriah, it needs not that you should enter some awful shrine, or put off your shoes on some holy ground. Could a memento be reared on every spot from which an acceptable prayer has passed away, and on which a prompt answer has come down, we should find Jehovah-shammah, “The Lord hath been here,” inscribed on many a cottage hearth and many a dungeon floor. We should find it, not only in Jerusalem’s proud temple, David’s cedar galleries, but in the fisherman’s cottage, by the brink in Gennesaret, and in the upper chamber where Pentecost began. And whether it be the field where Isaac went to meditate, or the rocky knoll where Jacob lay down to sleep, or the brook where Israel wrestled, or the den where Daniel gazed on the hungry lions and the lions gazed on him, or the hillsides where the Man of Sorrows prayed all night, we should still discern the prints of the ladder’s feet let down from Heaven, the landing place of mercies, because the starting-point of prayer.—Gail Hamilton.

Extracts.

By P. Strong

Bro. SMITH: I copy the following for Review, from Rev. J. Cumming’s Great Consummation, of the last days, and the day to come. P. STRONG. Centeville, Mich.

Philosophy and Religion

PHILOSOPHY is a fire of rotten sticks flickering in a desert, with all around cold and dark. Religion is the glorious sun, cheering and illumining universally.

U. S

By Uriah Smith

Notes by the Way. No. 2.

As the readers of the Review have now been pretty thoroughly advertised that certain Seventh-day Adventists recently left Battle Creek, for Dansville, N. Y., in quest of rest and health, they may feel anxious to hear further from the party. Our last note was written from Rochester. Detained at that place one day by a storm, and another by failing to connect with the cars, we came on to Dansville, Wednesday, the 20th inst., without further hindrance or delay. From Rochester, by rail-road to Wayland, and thence, seven miles by stage, to Dansville. Bro. White stood the journey as well as he did from Battle Creek to Rochester. The number of patients at the Cure was such that it was difficult to procure suitable rooms, and five days were spent in uncertainty, and more or less confusion before a convenient location could be obtained. This was a time of course very unfavorable to a person whose nervous system was in the condition of Bro. White's, yet he has suffered no draw-back, but on the contrary we think we see decided tokens of a more favorable circulation in his system.

Bro. and sister White were cordially welcomed by Dr. Jackson, physician-in-chief of "Our Home." Thursday, the day following our arrival, the Dr. gave our party an examination, pronouncing upon our present condition and future prospects in respect to physical health and strength. His judgment in the case of Bro. White was, that it was very fortunate for him that he was arrested in his course of toil and labor when he was; for if nature had held up even but a short time longer under the same pressure, it would have eventually given way, and in such a manner as to produce a complete wreck, for which there would have been no remedy. As it is, under proper hygienic influences, he will fully recover, regaining more than his former health and strength; but the causes which have led to this attack must for all time be avoided, and to the work of recovery, quite a length of time, perhaps six or eight months, must be devoted. There is probably no place more favorable for this work than "Our Home" at Dansville; as there is probably no place where better hygienic influences, taken as a whole, both theoretically and practically, are brought to bear upon the patients. Sister White will of course remain as long as Bro. W., and to her, also, great improvement in bodily health is promised.

Bro. Loughborough, as our readers will learn with regret, has by over-labor, especially the last summer, reduced himself to very unfavorable conditions of health. An active brain, too severely taxed, has had its influence upon the body, till it has become absolutely necessary that both should have rest together. Of this his own reports will more fully speak. In his case the Dr. pronounces a stay at "Our Home" of five or six months probably necessary. But the Editor of the Review, unfortunately for its readers, is to be let off in five or six weeks.

Monday morning, the 25th inst., a telegram was received by Bro. Loughborough requesting him to attend the funeral of Carrie, infant daughter of Bro. J. N. Andrews, of Rochester. He not being able to do so, we came in his stead. We endeavored to comfort the afflicted ones with the promise that this grim enemy who now plies his gloomy task, of cutting down our beloved ones and robbing us of our dearest treasures, is soon to be despoiled of his trophies, and he himself destroyed. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And while in the case of sister Andrews, this affliction is doubly severe, on account of the absence of Bro. Andrews, who is laboring in a far distant State, she being thus deprived of the arm upon which so far as all human sources of comfort are concerned, she would most naturally lean for support, yet she feels that she can lay her little one away, safe in the keeping of Him who holds the keys of death and the grave, and who has promised to bring again all such from the land of the enemy.

U. S

Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 27, 1865.

The Ancient Record Verified.

By Editor

No one can read the Hebrew Scriptures without being impressed with this fact, that in ancient times as men lived much longer than they do now, there would of necessity be a correspondent increase in size. Moses in speaking of the inhabitants before the flood, says, "there were giants in the earth in those days." Gen. vi, 4. Goliath, the Philistine, who fell in the duel with David had a hight of "six cubits and a span." 1 Sam. xvii, 4. An ancient cubit was nearly 22 inches; a span nearly 11 inches. This would make the Philistine chieftain about twelve feet high—nearly twice the hight of a common man now. Og, the king of Bashan, slept on an iron bedstead "nine cubits long." This, reduced to English measure, by the standard given in our common Bibles, would make his couch over sixteen feet long! Many reliable ancient historians, as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, Homer, Plutarch, &c., bear testimony to the great size of human beings in the earlier age of the world. Occasionally, also, we find fossil remains and skeletons, which fully authenticate the ancient records. We are happy to call the attention of the reader to the following which we clip from the last issue of the Gospel Herald, Dayton, Ohio:

ANTHROPOLOGY—WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.

“In the Scientific Department of one of our most popular weekly exchanges, we find an interesting account of a large human skeleton, recently discovered in the department of Ain, France. The frame is complete in all its parts, and is four yards in hight. It was found in a soil of alluvium, the head buried in the earth, with the feet upward.

“This is said to be the only authentic giant skeleton ever yet discovered. It will therefore become an interesting

object as connected with the historic and scientific speculations of our learned anthropologists.”

Before dismissing the question, let the reader turn to “Spiritual Gifts,” Vol. III, p. 84, and see how beautifully modern discoveries occasionally corroborate the teachings of God’s Spirit. G.

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