Review and Herald, Vol. 27, No. 20. (4/17/1866)

Review and Herald

Apr 17, 1866

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1866

Articles Declined.

By E. Goodrich

THAT it is both the right and duty of an editor to refuse to publish articles not in keeping with the cause he represents, no reasonable person will deny. To teach otherwise, would be the same as to argue that a parent has no right to watch over and guard the interests of his own children. But the object of the following thoughts, is to call attention to the reason assigned by the editor of the Review for not publishing a certain article containing objections against a position taken by Seventh-day Adventists. The province of this article is not to discuss the merits of the position assumed, viz., that the two-horned beast of Revelation is a symbol of our government, or to form any opinion concerning the writer or the objection offered; but to speak of the action itself, disconnected so far as it may be, from all personalities. The reason given for not publishing the article referred to (if the reason be understood) is because the writer did not, in connection with his objection, give his own positive view concerning the same matter. It seems hardly necessary to offer any argument or remark to show that the above reason is a good one, founded on principle and forming a worthy rule to govern us in our private as well as our public intercourse. All true religious toleration grants to every man the right to represent his own views, and "to make articles of faith for himself and faithful;" but it never acknowledges the right of one man to dictate for another, especially if the former has no theory of his own. The man that has some cherished, although ever so deformed a view of his own, has at least the excuse of real or supposed interest for wishing the destruction of all opposing opinions. But it is neither generous nor excusable for one who has nothing of his own, and can in no way be benefited by another's loss, to seek to overthrow the faith or hopes of another.

Again, all true criticism, while it is faithful in pointing out and reproving the wrong, as clearly defines, and as zealously urges the true and the right way. Hence a person who labors to show an error, without at the same time presenting the truth, is more properly called fault-finder than reformer. And again, all honorable warfare, controversy, or gaming, places the parties engaged on an equal footing, equally responsible, and in equal danger. But the man who has no expressed convictions of his own, is neither in danger of being attacked by others, nor is he amenable to any law or code of honor for the manner in which he assaults others. And not only are the foregoing remarks and arguments true, but it is also true that as judgment is the comparison which the mind is enabled to make between certain objects, no one can form a correct judgment concerning the errors which attach themselves to any system of doctrine, without understanding the truth also. How can any one talk about dross without knowing the relation that it sustains to the pure metal?

From the above considerations, which might have been expressed at much greater length, it is manifest that it is neither the right nor the duty of any man, not possessed of well defined views of his own, to attempt to right the wrongs of other people. It is hardly necessary to state that these thoughts most forcibly apply to infidelity, which, while it wages an unrelenting war against the light, the hope, and all the genial influences of Christianity, offers nothing in return but the very blackness of death and darkness forever.

And although perhaps quite enough has been said already, yet as we have many forcible and practical illustrations of the truth contained in the foregoing, it may be pardonable to refer briefly to a single instance which we find in the history of the settlement of our earlier frontiers.

"In an early day, among the few families that were scattered along the eastern bank of the Mississippi, there was one by the name of Lewis, composed of father, mother, three bright promising boys, and one lovely little sister—the pet of the family. One day as the father was away from home at work, the two elder boys (aged respectively thirteen and eleven) as they were a short distance from the house, engaged in sporting in the woods, they were immediately surprised by a couple of rudely painted Indians, and at once carried across the river. No sooner was this done, than they were compelled by threats and forcible measures, to march directly into those western wilds, inhabited only by Indian tribes. At first the despondency and stubbornness of the younger boy, had nearly cost him his life; but being encouraged by the older boy to appear cheerful, that they might the better hide their design, and if possible make their escape, he permitted himself to be led at a very rapid pace far away from home and all its dear ones. At noon they were permitted to stop and rest a little while beside a clear cool stream of water, and partake of some pounded meal, which they drank in a kind of raw porridge. Quite as soon as this was done, they were compelled at the same cruel rate as before, to march until the last rays of day-light had departed, leaving the earth shrouded in darkness, broken only, yet happily, by pale moon-light, when they were stopped. And having partaken of the same rude meal as at noon, with the addition of a few small pieces of 'jerked' venison, they all lay down around the fire they had made, the boys lying unbound close beside, and directly between their captors. And lying there in the stillness of the evening hour, with sore and stiffened limbs, and wakeful eyes, thinking of all the loved ones, and the many miles they were from home, thinking of the possibility of escape, yet dreading to stir lest they should be discovered and their fate sealed forever—in a word, all the interests of a lifetime crowding themselves into a single hour, who can paint the mingled interest and agony that pressed their heroic hearts! And waiting only for the heavy breathing and snoring of their captors, they stole slyly and noiselessly from their unwelcome bed, and with sorrowful hearts, palpitating between hope and fear, hand in hand they started for home.

But hardly had they passed a score of rods ere their hearts were made to sink within them, the whooping of their captors and the crackling of brushwood, telling as plainly as words could, that they were pursued. At first they were on the point of crying out in affright, but acting as much through weakness and instinct as fear, they crouched down in the dark shadow of a low clump of bushes, and hope soon revived on seeing their eager pursuers pass them, one on the right and the other on the left, without discovering them. And waiting only for the dying out of the sound of retreating footsteps, making a short circuit out of the course of their once and now would be

captors, they again started on their homeward journey. And making their way as best they could through the woods, over fallen trees, across streams of water, down into deep and dark ravines, and up steep and rugged hills, guided only by the light of the pale moon, and the general make of the country, which they had, so far as they could, particularly observed through the day, did these manly little fellows, through all the long weary hours of the night, travel, never once stopping to sleep or rest; but often stopping to listen, believing that they heard footsteps close behind them, or that they saw in the shadow of some tree the forms of those they so much dreaded, until morning, bright morning, dawned, when they stopped a few minutes to rest their aching bodies, and as far as possible learn their true course. Soon they started again, and notwithstanding they were tired, hungry, and sleepy, they dared not stop to rest, or sleep, for fear of being captured again; but kept bravely on through the livelong day, until when just as the sun was sinking behind the western hills, and shedding a flood of golden light on all the eastern bluffs, their hearts were made glad by beholding the broad beautiful river upon which they had so often looked with pleasure, knowing that they were nearly opposite their own home. And although they were quite as much dead as alive, hardly able to move a hand or a foot, fearing their disappointed captors had judged their design and lay in ambush to take and carry them back again, they dared not rest; but hastily gathered together pieces of poles, logs, and brushwood, and having constructed a kind of raft, and having provided themselves with poles by which to push and paddle, as well as they could they floated down and across the river, and were soon embraced by their fond yet almost distracted parents.

But in order that this picture should serve our purpose, it is necessary to go back in our minds and suppose that just as the boys had completed their rude raft, and were in the act of launching the same, some would-be, yet misguided reformer, had come along, and not approving the action of the boys, addressed them thus: "Oh worthless thing, if you cannot find some better way of crossing, you shall have none at all;" and suiting the action to the word, with one rude thrust, he had scattered the raft to pieces, and with it their last ray of hope. It is thus that infidelity seeks to deal with Christianity. And measurably so with every man who has no view of his own, yet endeavors to modify or destroy the views of others. Not that Christianity is fairly represented by a frail raft, but even if it was, it is certainly better than no hope.

Chastened.

By Julia A. Griggs

"For the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul."

O My Saviour! Lamb of God, While I feel thy chastening rod, Under which I sigh and moan, As I restless toss and groan, Let these fires the dross consume, And thy love my heart illumine; Jesus! Master! hear my plea, Make me, Saviour, just like thee.

On me sore thy hand is laid, Lend me now thy Spirit's aid, Sanctifying every ill, Crucifying all my will, Till thy graces are revealed— By thy Holy Spirit sealed. Saviour, how I long to be Purified and made like Thee.

Weary grown, and tired of sin, Manifest thy power within— Try me e'en as gold is tried, Clinging to the Crucified: I will patiently endure, Till this conflict here is o'er; Hoping by thy grace to be Purified and made like Thee.

JULIA A. GRIGGS.

Clinton, Ill.

The Lord's Coming.

By Jesse Dorcas

ThE prophet in contemplating this glorious subject, breaks out in the following language: "But who may abide the day of his coming?" Mal. iii, 2. Though this, like some other portions of Old Testament prophecy, may have had its fulfillment in some measure in the past, it still awaits its great and final fulfillment. This prophecy we understand to be synonymous with the declaration of Rev. vi, 17, "The great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" To the question asked in this scripture we answer, in brief, the holy in heart and life. Those who take unto them the whole armor of God, that they may be able to stand the evil day. We see from Isa. vi, 13, that there will be "a holy seed" that will be the substance in the end of the desolation when "the cities are wasted without inhabitant," and the land made utterly desolate. It will be those who are the seed of Abraham, by faith in Christ. But men will persistently refuse to understand and obey the truth, though ever so faithfully declared. Such cannot abide that day.

If this text has an application to the first and second comings of Christ, as we think it has, how striking the similarity of those two periods and events, in some points. In those days his people were looking for him, yet when he came they knew him not. John, the Elias that was to come, pointed out to them their sins, and their departure from their God. Him they hated and killed. He possessed the spirit of Elijah, had an uncompromising spirit toward those who departed from the living and true God, and he rebuked the vanities of the age in which he lived. So with the people of God in the last days. As it was in the first coming, God's professed people were observing a tradition of men in the place of the fifth command; so also in the second coming, his professed people will be observing a tradition of men in the place of the fourth commandment. Yet nevertheless, according to the word of the Lord, Isa. ii, 3, there is no end of their professions of loyalty, and willingness to hear the law. Let us ponder carefully the whole of this chapter, especially verses 6-9. It should be carefully observed by every Bible student, that the Lord calls our attention to the remembrance of the law of Moses his servant, just before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. See Mal. iv, 4. And doubtless those who remember and love the law, will think carefully of the fourth precept, and keep it holy, as well as the other nine.

Those also who abide the day of Christ's coming will have a family altar, a patriarchal religion, not confined merely to churches, or Sabbaths. They who hear the warning of the third message, and understand its meaning, will worship neither the beast nor his image, nor receive his mark; but as is seen in Rev. xiv, 12, a class will be found remembering the law, to keep both it and the requirements of the gospel. These will stand on the Mount Zion. Jesse Dorcas. Tipton, Iowa.

A Parable.

By A. S. Gillett

BRO. WHITE: Having received from the leaders of the present rebellion in this State, plain intimation that they expect I will go with them in their effort to build up a party, and wage a war against certain portions of the present truth, and having answered their letter by a parable, I now wish to speak through the Review, that others may know how I stand.

There was once a certain woman that had a large estate, and a numerous family. She adopted many children under her paternal roof, and among others there was one son in whom she put much confidence, placing under his control a large number of her children, and giving him a liberal share of her income.

She also bestowed on him a notable mansion in which to live. And he having it in his power to say how much he should receive for his services, placed the amount far above the wages of his fellow-laborers. But this ungrateful one rose up in rebellion against the wishes of his kind mother, and by wicked intrigues plotted her destruction, and endeavored to lead her obedient children, who before had so kindly honored and obeyed her, down in the path TO DEATH.

INTERPRETATION: Said foster-mother is the Seventh-day Adventist church. Said son, is one Eld. B. F. Snook.

A. S. GILLETT.

Clermont, Iowa.

Watch.

By F. M. Bragg

Our Saviour very frequently enjoins this duty upon his followers. First, to watch against evil in our own hearts; second, to watch for the signs of Christ's second coming. With what importance have the many admonitions to watch, stamped upon our minds the duty to keep our hearts with all diligence, lest the spirit of truth leak out, even while we have the theory. "Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Prov. iv, 24. This is comparatively an easy work when all is favorable and pleasant around us, but under adverse circumstances, we often find it difficult to feel and do right, just as we wish to feel and do, when we meet frowns and unkindness from those, even those, from whom we merit and expect the opposite. And when we feel the effect of those who act the liar's part, we experience the necessity of greater strength than human to keep the heart. But if we love as Jesus loved his murderers, we can love the ungrateful, and untrue, and how easily we can forgive the injury intended; often is the evil visited upon the offender.

It is truly God-like to show love and mercy to the erring: nature and human-like to love those only who love and treat us kindly; but truly Satan-like to abuse those who have never had ill toward us. When we receive such abuse, we need the love that the Saviour bore, that we may in perfect patience and forbearance, keep our hearts from murmuring. I have often felt the uprising of a complaining spirit against cruel injustice. This has shut out the sweet peace I could have felt, it has hindered me from exercising that faith in the precious promises, which would have sweetly sustained me in trial and affliction, I would, in future, bear all the ills I meet, knowing that all will work for my good if I love God, and his grace is sufficient for me in every time of need.

I feel to praise the Lord for his great goodness toward me, unworthy as I am. I have, thus far, been able to stand firm and unshaken on the precious truth. I rejoice in his love to-day. The Lord has ever had a tender care for me. At times when every earthly hope has failed, and all seemed dark and forbidding around me, he has opened some unexpected way for my relief. My life is spared, and my health at the present is better than for many years. The health-reform is doing a good work among us. The naturally strong, will be greatly benefited. The naturally weak and sickly must reap some benefit. I have found the latter true in my case, the three years passed, as I have been learning to live agreeably to the laws of my being. We have adopted the two-meal system, mostly of grains and fruits, and simply-cooked vegetables. I find that disease has less hold upon my weak system. I do not wish to expect more than can be accomplished for me. I know not as my slight constitution can ever become healthy. I would hold myself submissive to the will of my heavenly Father, in whatever he pleases, that I may devote the remainder of my life more perfectly to his service, to the honor and glory of his holy name.

F. M. BRAGG.

Cambridge, Wis.

Up Yonder

By Emily L. Canright

EVERY good doctrine leaves behind it an eternal furrow, ready for the planting of seeds which shall bring an abundant harvest.

Up Yonder.

CHRISTIAN, yonder, far up yonder In the ether blue, There's a city—God the founder, Built for me and you.

There a crystal stream is flowing, pure, and calm, and bright; And its limpid waves are glowing in that glorious light.

On the banks of this fair river, Is a lovely tree; Holding life for every person, Life for you and me.

As its laden boughs are tossing, rustling in the breeze, Its golden fruit is brightly glowing, 'mid the healthful leaves.

No dark shadows ever hover O'er that glorious sea; But a world of bliss is offered, Here for you and me.

And no sorrow, pain nor sickness, ever enters there, Where our Father and our Saviour, and the angels are.

Forward, Christian, hasten forward, Unto life's fair tree; And existence never ending, Is for you and me;

And a mansion in that city, and a robe of white; And a harp of heavenly tuning, and a crown of light. EMILY L. CANRIGHT. Albion, N. Y.

Put Your Children to Bed.

There may be some mothers who feel it to be a self-denial to leave their parlors, or firesides, or work, to put their little children to bed. They think that the nurse could do it just as well—that it is of no consequence who "hears the children say their prayers."

Now, there are really important reasons why the mother should not yield this privilege to any one. In the first place, it is the time of all times when a child is inclined to show its confidence and affection. All its little secrets come out with more truth and less restraint; its naughtiness through the day can be reproved and talked over with less excitement, and with the tenderness and calmness necessary to make permanent impressions. If the little one has shown a desire to do well and be obedient, its effort and success can be acknowledged and commended in a manner that need not render it vain or self-satisfied.

We must make it a habit to talk to our children, in order to get from them an expression of their feelings. We cannot understand the characters of these little beings committed to our care, unless we do. And if we do not know what they are, we shall not be able to govern them wisely, or educate them as their different natures demand.

Certainly it would be unwise to excite young children by too much conversation with them just before putting them to bed. Every mother, who carefully studies the temperament of her children, will know how to manage them in this respect. But of this all mothers may be assured, that the last words at night are of great importance, even to the babes of the flock; the very tones of the voice they last listened to, make an impression on their sensitive organizations.

Mother, do not think the time and strength wasted which you spend in reviewing the day with your little boy or girl; do not neglect to teach it how to pray, and to pray for it in simple and earnest language, which it can understand. Soothe and quiet its little heart, after the experience of the day. It has had its disappointments and trials, as well as its play and pleasures; it is ready to throw its arms around your neck, and take its good-night kiss.

Precious Jesus.

By L. E. Millne

“Unto them that believe, He is precious.” Blessed words! like the sweetest music they fall on our enraptured ear, and we take up the sweet strain, JESUS, precious JESUS. “His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” What name so sweet and attractive to the believer! What high and holy aspirations cluster around the sacred name! Precious Jesus, thou wast slain for us. Oh, what love! what wondrous love! Be astonished, O my soul, at such amazing condescension! What theme on earth so glorious, so sublime! Precious Jesus, thou art my Saviour, my Redeemer,

“Oh, who’s like my Saviour, he’s Salem’s bright King, He smiles, and he loves me, and learns me to sing; I’ll praise him, I’ll praise him, with notes loud and shrill, While rivers of pleasure my spirits do fill.”

His name shall be called the Wonderful, the Counselor, the great and mighty Lord. He is the chiefest among ten thousand, the one altogether lovely. O Jesus, thou lovely Saviour, let me ever praise thee while I live. Let me never be ashamed of thee and of thy precious cause. Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Thy yoke is easy, and thy burden is light. Thy ways are ways of pleasantness, and all thy paths are peace. Being justified by faith we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. Who would not listen to his cheering voice! Who would not have this blessed peace which comes through faith in his name! Who would not rest under his banner of love with great delight? Oh precious trust! who would not confide in Jesus, the blessed Lamb of God? Who would not love him with all their hearts, and seek to reflect his lovely image, that all his grace may abound in us, that we be not barren nor unfruitful in the Lord! for so an entrance shall be administered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. L. E. Millne.

The Christian’s Daily Cross and Duty

THREE things should be thought of by the Christian every morning; his daily cross, his daily duty, and his daily privilege—how he shall bear the one, perform the other, and enjoy the third.

The Four Precious Things of the Apostle Peter.

1. “Precious Blood.” 1. Peter i, 19. Precious, because he who shed it is the mighty God and the sinless man; because infinite love was in it; because without it sin could never be forgiven, lost sinners never saved, nor reconciled to God. Precious, because its voice, both within the vail and in believing hearts, ever whispers peace. Precious, because every soul sprinkled with it shall be eternally safe from the glittering sword of God's vengeance. Of its preciousness the white robed multitude will sing before the throne of God.

2. “Precious Jesus.” 1. Peter ii, 7. Precious, because he is the brightness of the Father's glory; because he is "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh;" because that all the majesty of divinity, all the tenderness of perfect humanity, meet in him; because in his person and in his work there is exact suitableness to meet the need of ruined souls and trusting saints. He is the "One pearl of great price"—the "Chiefest among ten thousand"—the "Altogether lovely One." His holiness, his power, his love, his grace, are precious. His living, his dying, his interceding, his second coming, are precious. So exceeding precious is he to believing hearts, that to all eternity they will gaze upon it, and tell it out, and yet leave its depth unfathomed.

3. “Precious Faith.” 2. Peter i, 1. Precious, because it is the hand that clings to a precious Christ—the eye that gazes upon him through the mists and vapors that darken this vale of tears. Precious, because it draws the soul into communion with its risen Head. Precious, because it rests upon the sure foundation of the truth of a covenant-keeping God. Precious, because it looks "not at the things which are seen," "the fulness of joy," which is at God's "right hand for evermore."

4. “Precious Promises.” 2. Peter i, 4. Precious, because they are very many, and their clusters are very sweet. Pardon for the guilty, strength for the weak, comfort for the mourner—yea, every good and perfect gift that hungry, weary, thirsting souls can need, are wrapped up in those "precious promises." They shine forth through the word, as brilliant stars shine out at midnight. They rejoice the heart as fair flowers charm the weary wanderer over a desert way. Precious, because they are "yea and amen in Christ Jesus." The believer's heritage of promise, in all its rich unfailing abundance, can never be forfeited.

The world's gems tarnish; earth's fairest flowers droop and die; but these precious things of the apostle, possessed by the soul, make it rich and joyful forever.

The Form Without the Power of Godliness.

ST. PAUL tells us that in the last days perilous times shall come. Conspicuous among these perils he enumerates a formal, powerless religion, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." Are these perilous times upon us? We can approximate an answer to this question only by setting face to face a godliness in form and a godliness in power. Each has features and fruits peculiarly its own.

What, then, is religious formalism in the church? It is to have a creed, and never really believe it, at least never so believe it as to get any spiritual nourishment from it. It is to have a covenant, and to hear it read once in two months—that is the last and the whole of it; living up to it is out of account. It is to pledge love and fidelity to each other as brethren, and then bite and devour one another. It is to profess all confidence in the cross of Christ as the power and wisdom of God, and then demand that every thing else be preached but Christ and him crucified. It is to descant on the importance of prayer, and then leave others to do the praying. It is to appoint the weekly prayer-meeting, and then seldom or never attend it; or to call it a social prayer-meeting, and never lift a voice or finger to make it social. It is to covenant to have family worship morning and evening, and then to have it occasionally, when the world's business is not crowding too hard. It is to put a minister in the pulpit, and then go to be entertained with his wit, rhetoric and flashes of oratory. It is to set pastors over the churches, and to profess great love for them, and then to reduce them to penury or starvation. It is to build splendid churches, put into them a costly organ and a charming quartette, and then expect these will do the work of home evangelization. It is to discourse charmingly of the service of song in the house of the Lord, and then hire strange men and women to do the singing. It is to boast of our religious progress, while confessedly the proportion of church-going people is less and less every year. It is to glory over our religious organizations—our Missionary, Tract, and Bible Societies—and then calculate they are going to move themselves—a sort of self-running machine to convert the world. It is to write prize essays and exhort on the duty of beneficence, and then scowl when a contribution is named. It is to extol our Christian charities, and then average annually a sixpence apiece, all told.

Seeking Christ’s Glory

WHAT matter whether on earth or in Heaven, if Christ is with us, and is getting glory by us? Seek his glory; so will you enjoy his presence, and answer every valuable end of life.

God's Present Dealings with His People.

By Editor

Seventh-day Adventists have for years believed that the testimony to the seventh and last church, Rev. iii, 14–22, applied to us as a people. This message, like all the preceding messages, is addressed to the angel of the church. By the angel of the church, we understand the ministry of the church, or the true ministers of God, during the period covered by that church. The message to the Laodiceans is therefore addressed to the ministers of that church; not that it has exclusive reference to them personally, but it is designed to be given through them to the people. Whatever special dealings, therefore, God should intimate that he would have with the last, or any of the seven churches, we might expect the ministers to be the ones chiefly concerned therein, they standing as a representative of the church.

In the message to the Laodiceans, the time must somewhere come when what is intimated in verse 19, will have its fulfillment: "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." As the ministers are the representative of the church, might we not expect it would be especially manifested through them?

These thoughts have been suggested by the peculiar condition of our ministers at the present time. That God is touching us in a remarkable and especial manner, the careful observer cannot have failed to perceive. One year ago when in answer to the prayers of the church, the winds were so signally stayed according to Rev. vii, 2, 3, we expected to see an immediate rise in the message, an increase of laborers qualified to sound the last message of mercy, the unmistakable manifestations of God's providence with his people, and in behalf of his truth, the progress of the work in power, until in due time, having accomplished its purpose, it should close in the triumph and deliverance of God's people. From these glowing anticipations, how much and what has been realized? Instead of a special rise in the message, the progress of the truth the past year, has been no more than ordinary; and instead of an increase of laborers, many of the more efficient ones then in the field, have been either entirely prostrated, or afflicted in some way calculated to dishearten or cripple them. And as in times of prosperity it is proper to enumerate our blessings, so now in this time of adversity and humiliation let us enumerate our calamities:

1. Bro. White, unable to labor since August last.

2. Bro. Loughborough incapable of being in the field, during the same period.

3. Bro. D. T. Bourdeau, lost to the cause through feeble health, since last Conference.

4. Bro. Hutchins obliged to rest a great proportion of the past year.

5. Bro. Frisbie severely afflicted with sickness, and kept for months from the field.

6. Bro. Byington more or less crippled with poor health and some severe sickness the past year.

7. Bro. C. O. Taylor written childless, in the loss of all three of his interesting children.

8. Bro. R. J. Lawrence of Mich., afflicted in the loss of a son, in his absence from home.

9. Bro. Bates, the day before he expected his only son to arrive at home, learns by letter of his death and burial in the ocean, on his homeward passage from Europe.

10. Bro. Andrews, laboring far away from his family, is occasioned weeks of distress and anxiety by the sickness and death of an infant daughter.

11. Bro. Fuller had a son attacked with measles; the disease so affecting the brain as to leave him insane, without much prospect of recovery, a constant source of care and anxiety.

12. Bro. John Bostwick of Minn., deceased.

13. The Gen. Conf. Committee, and the Mich. State Conf. Committee unable to act on account, in each case, of the sickness of two out of their three members.

Other cases might be mentioned, but are not these sufficient? All this has intervened since our last Conference; and what is the meaning of it all? If God is by these things designing to teach us an important lesson, we should not be slow to learn it. This is not an affliction upon the preachers merely. No greater affliction could come upon the church than to have her messengers disabled; and all who are in sympathy with the body will feel it such. As already remarked, the ministers are the representatives of the church; and when they are touched, the whole cause is affected.

But there is no occasion in this for discouragement. It is not an evidence that God is casting us off; but on the contrary, his testimony is, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." It is designed to bring us into a right relation to himself, where he can come into our hearts, and sup with us and we with him. As a people, we are now called upon to humble ourselves under his mighty hand.

In view of these things, the present state of the cause, and our need of immediate help from God, it has seemed good to us to appoint the following

Season of Fasting and Prayer.

We cannot believe but that God signally heard the prayers of his people one year since, and restrained the winds of war and strife in behalf of his cause. The prophecy asserts that the winds are held, that the servants of God might be sealed. But there has as yet appeared no change for the better in the progress of this sealing work. It appears to us therefore that we should feel as deeply over our present spiritual condition, as we did one year since over the temporal evils that then seemed to threaten us, and that there is now as much occasion for a season of fasting and prayer as there was then. We therefore recommend and request that four days, commencing Wednesday, May 9, and continuing till the close of the following Sabbath, be set apart as special days of humiliation, fasting and prayer on the part of the church. Let business be suspended, and the churches meet at one o'clock on the afternoon of each week day and twice on the Sabbath, to pour out their supplications before God. These meetings should be free from anything like discussions, and be characterized by humiliation, confessions, prayers for light and truth, and efforts for a fresh and individual experience in the things of God.

During these days of prayer we recommend on the part of all a very abstemious and simple diet, Dan. x, 1; while some may more or less abstain from food as their health may permit, or their feelings prompt.

Let us cry to the Lord to revive his cause, remove his rebuke from off his people, restore his servants, and lead on the message to its destined victory. We shall expect that all who have the interest of the message at heart, will enter willingly and heartily into this matter. We have reached a crisis in which it seems that the Lord alone can save us; and may we not stand still and see of his salvation. We believe he will be inquired of at our hand, and once more make bare his arm in behalf of his people.

Gen. Conf. Com.

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