Review and Herald, Vol. 37, No. 3.
OUR FAITH AND HOPE; Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We DoPage 1
Earlier text: She Has Outlived Her UsefulnessA CONVENTION of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in the United Presbyterian Church, New Concord, Ohio. Most of the sentiments expressed by the different speakers, sound, to one listening from a Bible standpoint, strangely incoherent and mixed. For instance, one is reported to have said, “Much harm is done to the sacredness of the Lord’s Day by the use of the heathenish term, Sunday, instead of the scriptural designations of the day.” Good, so far as the name is concerned; but why not state the whole truth, and acknowledge that the institution itself is as heathenish as the name? But he speaks of using the “scriptural designations of the day.” Good again, if he will only confine himself to such designations. But what does he mean by this? He evidently means, Lord’s Day, or Sabbath. But will he, or any one else, tell us where the first day of the week is ever called the Sabbath? Where is it ever called the Lord’s day? Rev. 1:10, isn’t the place; for the writer of the Revelation afterward speaks of the first day of the week, and calls it simply “first-day of the week.” John 20:1, 19. Where has Christ ever claimed the first day of the week as his? Where has he ever taken it into his lips, or given us any directions or any instruction whatever in regard to it? Where have the apostles ever given us any information respecting the setting apart this day to a holy use? or where have they ever so observed it? Nothing of the kind can be found. On the other hand, they have given directions for devoting it to secular employments, 1 Cor. 16:2, and they have set us an example for so doing. Acts 20:7–15. As a pretended scriptural institution, none can be more utterly and absolutely without foundation than the Sunday Sabbath. The Roman Catholic retort against the practice of Protestants in this respect, has in it scathing force: “If we should produce no better [reasons] for purgatory and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have good cause indeed to laugh us to scorn.” Another speaker, “hoped the Convention would take some action against the use of the term ‘Sunday’ instead of ‘Sabbath,’ as inconsistent with Christian character.” We do not wonder they are ashamed of the name; but let them not impose upon Christianity to get out of the dilemma. What right have they to take the term Sabbath and apply it to Sunday? Sabbath is a scriptural name, but Sunday is not a scriptural institution. The two do not belong together; and it would please us to know in what respect it is a mark of “Christian character”(?) to join them. In the name of truth, consistency, and Scripture, we protest against thus “stealing the livery of Heaven, to serve,” &c. On another point, the perceptions of the Convention were much clearer. Thus “the Rev. James White” (not, however, the President of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association) is reported to have said: “The question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National Reform movement; for until the government comes to know God, and honor his law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations.” Give a rogue an inch and he will take an ell. To Correspondents.
By Editor
H. T. G.: The matter seems so perfectly plain to us, that we can hardly conceive how a person can examine the Sabbath question in the light of the Bible, and not be satisfied of his duty to keep the seventh day. If you have any convictions in that direction, we think it will be perfectly safe for you to move out upon them. In regard to Mr. Kelley's lecture, we appreciate your efforts and kind intentions in sending us a synopsis of it. For your sake, and that of others immediately concerned, we should be happy to notice some of his absurdities. But we must take into account the interest of all our readers, the great majority of whom have no acquaintance with Mr. K., and care not what he believes nor what he preaches. Hence it is thought best to give our space to matter which we judge will be of more general interest. D. M. CANRIGHT: We have not the paper, and shall be glad of the article, and of any information you can give on the subject you mention. P. ARMSTRONG: Bro. White is now writing on Matt. 24 and 25, and will in a few weeks present an exposition of the passage to which you refer. Forgiveness.
By John Nevins Andrews
The Lord's prayer teaches us a most expressive lesson on this subject. We ask to be forgiven as we forgive others. We cannot use this prayer while we hold any hardness in our hearts toward our fellow-men. An unforgiving spirit on our part, shuts us away from the mercy-seat. For we cannot pray after any other “manner” than this; and to pray with a heart that does not forgive others, is to ask God to withhold forgiveness from us. If this be true, how forcible the admonition of Paul, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” So long as the heart is unforgiving, so long is it not only unforgiven, but really debarred from prayer. J. N. Andrews. Test of Obedience.
By R. F. Cottrell
MEN can see the propriety and the reasonableness of all of the ten commandments except the fourth. And they admit also that it is reasonable that man should devote a portion of his time, say one-seventh, to religious duties. But that a particular day should be required to be regarded as more sacred than the rest, and men be required to abstain from worldly employment on that day, and that the consecration of another day will not answer the purpose just as well, they cannot see to be reasonable. Such should remember that God has a right to test their loyalty and fidelity. God had the right to reserve one tree in Eden; and it was not man's prerogative to question the propriety of his prohibition, and say, If I leave another to God, I may partake of the fruit of this; though he might see no reason why that particular tree should be withheld. The Sabbath of the Lord stands among the days of the week, like the interdicted tree among the trees of the garden; and the commandment for its holy observance, in like manner stands in the midst of the holy, just, and good, precepts of the moral law. And a good and sufficient reason is given why it should be distinguished and honored above other days; it being the day on which God rested from the work of creation, for which reason it was set apart; so that to observe it, is to honor him; and to disregard it, is to dishonor him. To choose another in its place, is to choose our own will in preference to the expressed will of God. The Sabbath is a good test of obedience. Therefore it was chosen in preference to any other precept, when God said concerning Israel, “That I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no.” See Ex. 16: 4, and the context following. And so this down-trodden precept is the grand test in the third angel's message (Rev. 14: 9-12), well calculated to separate the worshipers of God from the worshipers of the beast. What God does is right. R. F. COTTRELL. What does it Mean!
By Dudley Marvin Canright
In the programme of the week of prayer for all the evangelical churches in the world, to be held the first week in 1871, I find the following: “Saturday, Jan. 7. Prayer for Christian missions for the conversion of the world, and for the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If the first petition is granted, and the world is converted, then of course will come that glorious time of 1000 years millennium. How, then, can they at the same time expect the Lord to come? Or is not the conversion of the world the only coming of Christ that they now look for? We fear that it is. If not, the thing is mixed. Rabbi Eliezer said, “Turn to God one day before your death.” His disciples said, “How can a man know the day of his death?” He answered them, “Then you should turn to God today; perhaps you may die to-morrow; thus every day will be employed in returning.” The pitcher that goes often to the well gets broken at last. Very Poor Rent.
By John Norton Loughborough
BEING in conversation a few days since with one who is passing from infidelity into faith in the present truth, he said: “Christians profess to believe that ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;’ but I think there are a mass of them that pay very poor rent.” How true. Life, breath, food, health, strength, lands, houses, grains, cattle, all, all the Lord’s, we using and enjoying them. How much rent do we pay? Do not many rather feel, when the way opens to appropriate even a portion of the increase to forward the Lord’s cause, that it is all theirs, and that those who would present to them the claims of the cause are only beggars? If you say, “I earned what I have with my own strength; its mine,” remember what the Lord said to the Israelites: “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God . . . Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied . . . . and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Deut. 8: 11–18. May we rather feel to exclaim, “My Maker and my King,
To thee my all I owe;
Thy sovereign bounty is the spring
Whence all my blessings flow.” May we all realize that we are but stewards, and act with faithfulness, as those who must soon give account of their stewardship. Modern Improvements a Sign of the Times.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
“BUT thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4. The time of the end was to begin with the ending of the 1260 years of papal supremacy. Compare Dan. 12:5–10, with 7:25. These years ended in 1798. A marked increase of knowledge should then take place in this time of the end. Has this been so since 1798? If so, it is another good evidence that we are near the final end. “Knowledge shall be increased,”—God has said it, and it will be so when the time of the end does arrive. This is a plain prophecy. Has it come to pass? Really, no answer is needed, as everybody knows that not only a marked, but astonishing, advancement has been made in all kinds of knowledge, science, and inventions, since 1798. Everybody notices it; everybody talks about it; yet few seem to know what it means,—that it is a sign of the end, that God has said so. The most necessary and useful articles, as well as the ornamental, from cellar to garret, in the barn, on the farm, in the highways,—everywhere, have been invented since 1798. There is a list of the most important ones. Study it well, and think what we could now do without them. Banish all these, set us back 72 years, and it would seem that the world had suddenly stopped! Yet for nearly 6000 years, men lived without any of these. And then, as it were, they were all hatched out at one brood! Had they come along gradually, covering a long period of time, it would have been no wonder. But all at once they come thick and fast, so that nothing hardly is now restrained from men that they can not do. Is not the hand of God in all this? The following I have gleaned from the New American Cyclopedia, under their respective heads, showing when each was invented and first applied: 1798. Gas, to light a manufacturing house in Birmingham, England.
1800. Cast-iron plough, first used in America, in N. Y. City.
1802. Steamboat, by Robert Fulton.
1803. Steel pen, by Mr. Wise, England.
1811. Steam printing press, printed the London Times.
1823. Gold pen, John P. Hawkins, America.
1825. Railroad cars.
1825. Furnace, for heating houses, Prof. Johnson, Philadelphia.
1829. Lucifer match, John Walker, England.
1833. Reaper and mower, Obed Hussey, Cincinnati, Ohio.
1837. Telegraph, Prof. Morse.
1839. Photography, Daguerre, France.
1846. First complete sewing-machine, Elias Howe, Jr.
1851. Submarine cable. This list might be extended almost indefinitely, besides the great improvements made on things before partially invented. It seems wonderful that the world went on for nearly 6000 years without any of these things, to us now almost indispensable. Of late, machinery has been invented, which, in its work, seems almost superhuman. The Phrenological Journal, for Dec., 1870, says of the American Watch Manufacturers: “There are those (machines) which will take a shaving off a hair, or slice up steel like an apple; those which will drill holes invisible to the naked eye; registers which will measure the ten-thousandth part of an inch; screw cutters which will turn out perfect screws so small that, on white paper, they appear like tiny dots.” “Knowledge shall be increased” in the time of the end, says the Lord. Has it not come? Yet with all this, men are not becoming better, but rather worse, more proud, vain, corrupt, and infidel. Let us prepare for the end. Was Paul the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews?
By Miles E. Cornell
THERE have been skeptical persons, who were given to much doubting, who have denied that Paul was the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. And some classes of Christians, whose creed was condemned by the testimony of that book, have questioned its authority. We met such a class in Boston, headed by a man of some talent. They deny that Christ was the mediator of the new covenant 1800 years ago, for the reason that it is only just now being made. But the author of Hebrews declared that “He [Christ] is the mediator of the new testament.” Heb. 9:15. Hence, to maintain their position, they reject the book of Hebrews. The following is a brief summary of the evidence we brought in our defense: 1. The Christians of Alexandria, the most celebrated theologians of the early church, were almost unanimous that Paul was the author. Among them were Clement, Pantaenus, Origen, Justin Martyr, and a host of others. 2. The inscription of the oldest Greek, the Syriac, and Italic translations and versions, make Paul the author. 3. Eusebius, bishop in Palestine, collected testimony from all quarters, having heard of the objection as to Paul being the author. After carefully weighing the objection, he regarded Hebrews as the undoubted production of the apostle Paul. 4. The objection to it was first raised in Rome, and not in the eastern churches. 5. Paul was the companion and intimate friend of Timothy. The author of Hebrews says, “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty?” Heb. 13:23. Just what might be expected of that apostle. 6. He was in bonds when he wrote the epistle. “Ye had compassion on me in my bonds.” Heb. 10:34. 7. The salutation he sends was peculiarly Pauline. “They of Italy salute you.” Heb. 13:24. 8. The doctrines of the book exactly agree with those taught by Paul in his undisputed writings. 9. The Scriptures would be incomplete without this book. It supplies an important place in the divine record. 10. If it be rejected because anonymous, or the name of its author not given, then the 1st, 2d, and 3d epistles of John must be ruled out for the same reason. 11. None but an apostle of deep experience could have been its author; hence, no other apostle was so well qualified to write it. The style is exactly that of Paul. 12. It has Paul’s token or seal at the conclusion. “Grace be with you all. Amen.” In the epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul says: “This is the token in every epistle; so I write.” That is, he hints that his epistles may be known by the style. “So I write.” Every one of Paul’s 14 epistles closes in this manner. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1st and 2d Peter, James, 1st, 2d, and 3d John, and Jude, none of them close in this way. That style seems peculiar to the apostle Paul. 13. Like all the other epistles of Paul, it was written in the Greek language. Paul had used the Greek for twenty-five years, both in writing and speaking. It was not a translation; for all agree that it was originally written in Greek because of its free, flowing, full style, like an original composition. 14. To all who have an interest in the work of our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, this book is of paramount importance, as it contains the only complete commentaries on the subject of the sanctuary, both type and antitype, to be found in the Bible. It brings more clearly to view the fact that salvation is made sure by a “better covenant,” established upon “better promises,” set forth by a “more excellent ministry,” affording a “better hope” of “better things,” to be realized in a “better country,” through a “better resurrection,” and adds the blessed assurance that God has provided some “better thing for us that they without us shall not be made perfect.” Praise God for such a book. And let all the people say, Amen. M. E. CORNELL. Two Laws.
By John Norton Loughborough
“NEITHER will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 2 Kings 21: 8. Here seems to be a plain distinction between that which the Lord had directly spoken to the people, and that law which had been communicated to them by Moses. The above text is strikingly suggestive of the moral law which God spoke from Sinai, in contrast with the law of types communicated by Moses. “The Best and Truest.”
By R. F. Cottrell
A MAN IN Connecticut advertises “the best and the truest exposition” of the seventh-day delusion. By this we may infer that there have been other expositions of the same heresy; but that none have been so good and true as this; and further, that this does not claim to be absolutely true, but is truer than any that have preceded it. It may, then, be all that it claims to be, and yet be very far from the truth. It is still possible that the author may properly be classed with “all liars.”
R. F. COTTRELL. Labors in Ohio.
By I. D. Van Horn
DEC. 12, 1870, I left Troy, Ashland Co., and came to Norwalk, where I held two meetings. I found but little interest to hear the truth. The 15th, I came on to Defiance, where I found Bro. C. G. Daniels waiting to take me to his home, some eight miles south, in the township of Auglaize. At the beginning of the Sabbath, the 16th, I commenced meetings, which have continued nearly two weeks. I have held in all twenty meetings, and the result has been good. Some prejudice has been taken from the minds of the people, and a few have become somewhat interested. Another of Bro. Daniel's sons came out decided on the truth, and received evidence of acceptance with God. There were tears of joy and much rejoicing in the family because of this. This young man, his sister, and a brother-in-law, were baptized. This was a happy season. We went four miles to the Auglaize river, where a hole was cut in the ice; and while engaged in this solemn ordinance, the Lord gave us his rich blessing. The next day we held a meeting for organizing a church, and it resulted in forming a society of ten members. This little band are not only united together in the bonds of Christian fellowship, but they are all, as it were, one family in the flesh: father and mother, grandmother, sons, sons-in-law, daughters, and daughters-in-law. Bro. and Sr. Daniels have now seen all but one of their children that have come to years of understanding, accept the present truth. How full of gratitude their hearts should be! and how earnestly they should strive to live the truth and lead their family and friends to the kingdom of God. They were unanimous in choosing the father, the head of the family, to stand at the head of the church. We all had evidence of the approbation of God as we bowed in prayer, while the elder was set apart for his place in the church. The plan of Systematic Benevolence was heartily adopted by this little company, and they put down their figures to the amount of $60.00. After the meeting for organization was over, we enjoyed a most happy season in celebrating the ordinances. It was truly affecting to see parents and children confessing to each other, with tears flowing freely, and at the same time trying to comfort and encourage one another to be faithful unto the end. If this little church will be a bright and shining light in the community where they live, others will soon join their number. Defiance, O., Dec. 28, 1870. Meetings in Illinois.
By B. F. Merritt; C. H. Bliss
Oct. 30, we commenced meetings in a school-house near Eugene, Knox Co., and continued them with good interest till Dec. 2, when we returned home to Princeville, to attend quarterly meeting. This meeting was a time of refreshing to the church. The Lord was with us. This church has been passing through very severe trials during the past year. Deadly evils have been in our midst; but as these are being brought to light, and removed from us, the blessing of the Lord seems coming upon us. Some of our leading brethren who have remained inactive for sometime past, are now coming up to the work. We were glad to hear such cheering testimonies from some of our absent members. The Lord preserve them blameless. On first-day, two were baptized. We returned in the afternoon to commence meetings in a school-house two miles north of Eugene. We held but one meeting there, as the house was closed against us; but a number being desirous of hearing, we obtained a neighboring school-house, and continued meetings till after first-day, making in all about forty meetings in the neighborhood. Many acknowledge the truth on the Sabbath, and seven or eight have commenced keeping it. We obtained three subscribers for the REVIEW and two for Instructor. B. F. MERRITT,
C. H. BLISS. THERE are truths which pertain not to this life alone, which, if received, will, with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, bring man from darkness to light, from death unto life eternal. The world knows not God as it has need to know him. Gross darkness covers the people. They stand sadly in need of the means of deliverance from spiritual darkness, from sin, and death; and in what direction shall they look for it? On Sinai’s top, by the voice of God, was proclaimed a law. It was graven with his own finger on tables of stone. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, that thou mayest teach them.” Ex. 20:12. This law, which was given by Jehovah to his servant Moses, and which has been handed down from generation to generation, and miraculously preserved by the power of God through ages past, has been sadly trampled upon by its enemies. Satan, the author of error, has sought to place his cloven foot upon it. Vain, sinful man has disregarded it, and thus forfeited his right to the mercies of its Author. But all efforts to make any real change in this law have proved ineffectual; for the Scriptures everywhere teach that the law of God is unchangeable, and that not one jot or tittle shall ever pass from it till all is fulfilled. Yet so long as Satan can so darken the minds and pervert the ideas of those to whom this law is given as to cause them to disobey it, his ends are answered, he is satisfied. It matters not to him how near man gets to Heaven’s door so long as he fails to enter in. And now we will inquire, What is truth? This is, indeed, an important question; and more especially so in these last days. Not that truth is changeable, or ever ceases to be truth; but that ideas have become so perverted, there is a failure to understand what it is. As the Saviour came to earth to “bear witness unto the truth,” let him answer the question. This he does in the following language addressed to the Father: “Thy word is truth.” All may understand by this that the word of God is truth. But simply a knowledge of this fact is insufficient. Theory alone is valueless. But a strict adherence to the principles of truth in every-day life, aided by the influence of the Holy Spirit, will lead to a close walk with God—will serve to extricate man from the filthy ditch into which error has plunged him. He who seeks for truth in the love of the truth will find consolation in the fact that life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel. And if there be any truth, the acknowledgment of which should lead to a sense of its importance, or a feeling of its power, it is surely that of the death of Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of men. And who is there that, in their search for divine truth, can pass by Calvary, and there behold the sufferings of Christ, without pondering deeply on the guiltiness of the transgression of the Father’s law, which nothing but the voluntary death of his Son could expiate? and on that infinite goodness and love which gave the ransom whereby, though guilt could not go unpunished, the guilty might be saved? Truth is elevating. It is ennobling. Angels of light love and cherish it. Yet few, very few, of the human race believe this. Some do not believe it, because they will not. It is easy to exclude light by closing the eyes. It is easy to resist the clearest truths by hardening the heart against it. Oh! would that the friends of truth were not so few. Would its enemies were fewer. And would that those who do have some love for the truth, would be earnest, united, and persevering, in their efforts to bring others to a love of it. Their labors shall not be in vain so long as they yield obedience to that word which is the charter of their salvation. “He that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:21. And, friends, let us pray unto our Heavenly Father that wherever there is light, we may see it; wherever there is truth, we may know it; and that we may be saved from the delusion of vain imaginations, from all darkness of the understanding, from all perverseness of the will, from all the deceitfulness of the heart, and that we may learn to love and obey the truth, “even to the saving of the soul.” J. R. TREMBLEY. Battle Creek, Mich. Oh! the magic of these words! How they cheer the lone, weary traveler, and smooth life's rough pathway, and light up the valley of the shadow of death. The fairest pleasures of earth are made more captivating and glorious by them; and in the hours of temptation and conflict, they fall like inspiring music on the ear. Going home! It may be a season of prosperity with you, dear reader; roses fair are strewn along your homeward path. Wealth, honor, fame, and earth's fairest jewels may be yours. Death, perhaps, has not entered your family circle and removed the dearest and most loved ones, and blighted the sweet prospect of earthly bliss; nor the storms of misfortune swept over you; but in green pastures and beside the still waters have thy joyful feet been led. The grateful expression of your heart should be, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name.” But life, perhaps, wears a different aspect from this. Its sunshine has passed away and left you in gloom and sadness. The sweet buds of hope have withered in your grasp, and thorns and briars have sprung up in your road. You have to bear the yoke in your youth; and care is early stamped on your brow. All looks cheerless and dark around you. But stop; think one moment; is there no hope to shed its radiance on your path? Have you lost sight of this blessed promise, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”? Joy cometh! Yes, for you; though here you may not realize it, yet Heaven had it in reserve for you. The long, dark night of anguish is wearing away. Only a few more days of sorrows, disappointments, and trials sore. A few more conflicts, a few more tears, and the night of sorrow will close. Then the glad morn of eternal day will bring to our view scenes of endless joys. And with such a future before you, can you not cheerfully endure the trials of life? You are going home; and will not the pleasure of that glorious home where angels dwell amid the sea of bliss, amply compensate you for the troubles you now experience? Then “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4. Is not this enough to make you patient in tribulation? Are the sufferings of this present time worthy to be compared with the glory that shall hereafter be revealed in you? Going home! Is it so, bereaved Christian? Then let us comfort one another with these words. We may weep beside the graves which are hallowed to the memory of the departed; but the sunshine of Heaven shall illumine our tears and bring a rainbow of promise over our hearts. True, our friends cannot return to us; for the hand of death has laid them low in the dust. They need not our tears, neither do they know the bitter wailings of our sad hearts. We call; but there is no answer. The sweet voice that once gladdened our ears, is now hushed, silent, cold, and still. They are sleeping that sleep which nought can break till the glorious resurrection morn, when the voice of the Archangel shall break the power of death, and bring to life the slumbering dead. Oh! blessed thought—ere long we shall be clasped in their embrace, and gladdened by their converse; and as we think of the glad meeting which will restore us to each other and banish in a moment the pain of past separation, the distance now between us seems to lessen; and we say to ourselves, Patience, sad heart; bear up a little longer; we shall be at home presently. Going home! How soothing is this assurance to those humble believers who have no earthly home; to those who, through bereavement or reverse of fortune, have been thrown among strangers, and who often sigh for the generous sympathy and the fond endearments which surrounded them in earlier years. In moments of loneliness and gloom, let us soften all hard thoughts of our present condition by the refreshing contrast which a coming future unfolds to us. Will not the fair vision of our home above help to make us more patient and contented under the privations which we now endure? We are solitary and neglected here, and our aching hearts sometimes yearn for the love that others enjoy; but there we shall no longer be orphans, but children at home, and that for ever and ever. All the tenderest feelings and all the social instincts of our nature will then be perfectly satisfied, and our warm and out-gushing affection be fondly and fully reciprocated. Going home! Here we have no continuing city; but we seek one to come. We are strangers and sojourners upon the earth. And we rejoice in the fact. We are glad that this world is not our rest. We would not like to think that our fairest hopes and our brightest joys were already realized, and that we were never to expect release from care and disappointment. Amidst our various trials and temptations, when sin grieves and when bereavement saddens us, how it comforts our hearts to feel that there is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us! And in our happiest hours, as we remember how mutable and insecure are life's best joys, we check all anxious forebodings that would disturb our peace, by the thought that there are purer and more perfect pleasures stored up for us in the future. Going home! Let this be your cheering motto, the bright pole-star by which you steer your bark. Going home—a home with Jesus, a home in Heaven. “Home, home, bliss to the parted ;
Friends, friends, meet on its shore ;
Here, here, lonely they've left us ;
Soon we'll be parted no more.
Home, home, home, home—
Friends will be parted no more.
“Home, home, let us now hasten ;
See, see, angels above !
Hark! hark! now do they call us
Home to their dwelling of love.
Home, home, home, home—
Home of our Father's kind love.” Wilderness Trainings.
By E. H. Whitney
“And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” Isa. 42:16. Recently, I listened to a sermon from this text. The speaker mentioned the devious ways and unknown paths by which God often leads his children, blinded by the earthly veil which conceals him from us—ways leading sometimes through the valley of affliction where blow after blow is struck at our happiness; and we in our blindness cannot see why we are thus tried; sometimes through bitter disappointments when our hopes are blasted just at the opening; and, again, where dark clouds of doubt and fear gather round the believer, shutting out for a time his Father’s face. The children of Israel were led through unknown paths from the land of their thralldom into the promised inheritance. Through faith, they crossed the waters of the Red Sea—a way impassable save as God’s hand led them. And then as faith flagged or revived they were led backward or forward on their journey at times almost cut off from before the Lord—and anon, as they showed signs of repentance, cheered by some token of his favor; showing that God did not forget his people, even in their sinfulness and wanderings. But why were their wanderings permitted? Were they not to show them their own weakness23and dependence? To teach them where to look for strength? Their long slavery had unfitted them for the conflicts that awaited them on the borders of the promised land, and they needed these wilderness trainings to fit them for what lay before them. The people of God of all times have needed such discipline, and will to the end. When we get too careless or too confident, and forget from whence our help cometh, we wander away from the side of our Leader into blind ways of sin. So may we see our own frailty, and learn humility. Sometimes when we feel that we have strayed away from our Guide, and begin to cry for help, he leaves us to call unanswered for a time; to grope about in the palpable darkness of our own hearts, reaching after him in our helplessness, and thinking him a long way off; when, if we could only feel it, he is very near, only waiting till we shall cry with more importunate earnestness ere he lift the veil and let in the light of his smile. Often, too, our prayers are answered as we least expect, and in ways sorely trying to our faith. We pray for holiness and purity, and he places us in the furnace of affliction, till the dross shall be purged away. We ask to be transformed into his image and to have our hearts fixed upon him, and he cuts away the unsightly proportions with blows that sometimes seem cruelly sharp, and takes our affections to himself by severing the links that bind us to earth. We pray that we may lay up treasure in Heaven, and he takes away our earthly treasure. We ask humility and meekness, and he sends us crosses and bitter disappointments, to teach us meekness and humility. Such in part were the thoughts presented that day, and in part the answering train awakened in my own mind. I had wandered away from my Saviour, and had listened in vain for an answer to my returning cry. Like his wandering children of old, I feared the Lord had left me to the devices of my own heart. I was cheered and encouraged to cry on till he answered, knowing that he was near. Are there none who may see these words who have felt these “wilderness trainings,” or are even now in this bitter experience? “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” Are there any who are passing through the fires of affliction? So he sitteth as a refiner. He sees what measure of trial is needed to separate the bright gold. He knows how much we can bear. He will not try us beyond our strength. Are there any to whom the sky seems an arch of brass to turn back every petition? Pray on—for because of your importunity he will hear you. And if your prayers are answered in ways not in accordance with your expectations, remember, “He doeth all things well.” Are there those to whom life’s journey seems to lie all through the wilderness? Look with faith to the dawn of a brighter day, remembering that, though “weeping may endure for a night,” yet “joy cometh in the morning.” We need these wilderness trainings to fit us more fully for the work here, and the joys hereafter. We have not yet come up to the standard set for us. We need pruning and training to grow into “the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Our feet have not learned to keep time to God’s music; they need much drilling yet. Our sojourn in the Egyptian darkness and slavery of sin, has left us but poorly fitted to “go up and possess the land,” or to meet the conflicts which yet lie between it and us. Dark shadows of night await us yet before the glorious dawn for which we look. But what saith the Lord our God? “These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” Shall we doubt the word of the Lord? “Thou knowest, Lord, the weariness of sorrow
Of the sad heart that comes to thee for rest;
Cares of to-day, and burdens for to-morrow,
Blessings implored and sins to be confessed:
I come before thee at thy gracious word,
And lay them at thy feet; thou knowest, Lord. Thou knowest all the past; how long and blindly
On the dark mountains the lost sheep had strayed;
How the good shepherd followed, and how kindly
He bore it home upon his shoulders laid,
And healed the bleeding wounds, and soothed the pain,
And brought it life, and hope, and strength, again. Thou knowest all the present; each temptation,
Each toilsome duty, each foreboding fear;
All to myself assigned of tribulation,
Or to beloved ones than self more dear;
All pensive memories, as I journey on,
Longings for vanished smiles and voices gone. Thou knowest, not alone as God, all-knowing;
As man, our mortal weakness thou hast proved;
On earth with purest sympathies o'erflowing,
O Saviour, thou hast wept and thou hast loved!
And love and sorrow still to thee may come,
And find a hiding-place, a rest, a home. Therefore, I come, thy gentle call obeying,
And lay my sins and sorrows at thy feet,
On everlasting strength my weakness staying,
Clothed in thy robe of righteousness complete;
Then rising, all refreshed, I leave thy throne,
And follow on to know as I am known.
—Am. Messenger. Alba, Penn.
By J. L. Baker
BRO. J. L. BAKER writes from Alba, Pa.: Since my return from the N. Y. and Pa. Conference, I have been holding meetings in the town of Armenia, some three miles from my home. Four have commenced keeping the Sabbath, and others are interested. A Freewill Baptist preacher is much interested. He says he can find no evidence in the Bible in favor of Sunday-keeping. We have commenced a series of meetings in the Disciple church at Alba, which we design holding, Sabbath evenings, as long as it seems duty. In the Highways and Hedges.
By C. O. Taylor
My labors, for a few weeks past, have been in the highways and hedges, endeavoring to persuade some to come to the knowledge of the truth. Some eight or ten have commenced to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. Others are interested, reading and examining. C. O. TAYLOR.