Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 6. (2/7/1884)

Signs of the Times

Feb 7, 1884

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 7, 1884

The Christian Rule in Deal.

By Ellen G. White

"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. . . . He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved."

The psalmist here describes some of the characteristics of those whom God accepts, and who will be permitted to join in his worship in the heavenly courts.

The first is, "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness." The very first step in the path to life is to keep the mind stayed on God, to have his fear continually before the eyes. A single departure from moral integrity blunts the conscience, and opens the door to the next temptation. "He that walketh uprightly walketh surely; but he that perverteth his way shall be known." We are commanded to love God supremely, and our neighbor as ourselves; but the daily experience of life shows that this law is disregarded. Uprightness in deal and moral integrity will secure the favor of God, and make a man a blessing to himself and to society; but amid the varied temptations that assail one whichever way he may turn, it is impossible to keep a clear conscience and the approval of Heaven without divine aid and a principle to love honesty for the sake of the right.

A character that is approved of God and man is to be preferred to wealth. The foundation should be laid broad and deep, resting on the rock Christ Jesus. There are too many who profess to work from the true foundation, whose loose dealing shows them to be building on sliding sand; but the great tempest will sweep away their foundation, and they will have no refuge.

Many plead that unless they are sharp, and watch to advantage themselves, they will meet with loss. Their unscrupulous neighbors, who take selfish advantages, are prospered; while they, although trying to deal strictly in accordance with Bible principles, are not so highly favored. Do these persons see the future? Or are their eyes too dim to see, through the miasma-laden fogs of worldliness, that honor and integrity are not rewarded in the coin of this world? Will God reward virtue with mere worldly success? He has their names graven on the palms of his hands, as heirs to enduring honors, riches that are imperishable. What did that dishonest man gain by his worldly policy? How high a price did he pay for his success? He has sacrificed his noble manhood, and has started on the road that leads to perdition. He may be converted; he may see the wickedness of his injustice to his fellow-men, and, as far as possible, make restitution; but the scars of a wounded conscience will ever remain.

What a lesson we have in the course pursued by Abraham! The tidings come that Lot and his family are prisoners. Abraham's affection for his nephew is awakened; and he determines that he shall be rescued. He gathers an army in haste, and soon overtakes the enemy. The Lord aids, and a victory is gained. The scene is one to inflame the worst passions of the heart. The field is strewn with dead bodies, and the groans of the dying mingle with the voice of triumph. The rich spoils of the enemy lie scattered in profusion, and, according to the usage of war, a large share falls to Abraham. The king of Sodom begs for his subjects, but freely yields the goods. How many would have taken advantage of this opportunity to secure a rich booty, regardless of the claims of justice or the rights of others! But what a noble, unselfish disposition does Abraham manifest on this occasion! What a rebuke to such mercenary spirits is his example!

Abraham regards the claims of justice and humanity. He obeys the rule, "As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." He says to the king of Sodom: "I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of Heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich." This is an example worthy of imitation; it illustrates the Christian maxim, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

He that "speaketh the truth in his heart." Some, when their feet once diverge from the right path, go on and on in moral degradation. The fact may be concealed from every one else, but the man himself knows that he is no longer walking uprightly. His advertisements are deceptive; he is exacting in his deal with his workmen. He clutches his coin with a miserly grasp; for has he not sacrificed everything that was worth living for to obtain it? Others, in their eager desire for gain, practice secret fraud, act a lie; and they do not see that their course is sinful if they are not detected. But God reads men's hearts as an open book, and the record of their deeds will be made manifest before all men. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Some success may seem to attend this dishonest policy for a time; but will it pay? Will you part with rectitude and a clear conscience for a little worldly wealth?

"He that putteth not out his money to usury." Exacting usury is directly opposed to God's rule as given in Ex. 22: 21-26: "Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in anywise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry, And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down." Deut. 23: 19, 20: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

Thus God commanded his people not to take advantage of the necessities of the poor, to enrich themselves by impoverishing their poorer brethren. Of Gentiles they might take usury; but they were not permitted to be exorbitant or oppressive. God is the rightful king of the universe. And he inquires of Israel, "What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" To-day he might make the same challenge. The laws he gave to his ancient people were wiser, better, and more humane than those of the most civilized nations of the earth. The laws of the nations bear marks of the infirmities and passions of the unrenewed heart; but God's laws bear the stamp of the divine, and if they are obeyed, they will lead to a tender regard for the rights and privileges of others. The Lord appeals to man's compassion for his fellow-man. His watchful care is over all the interests of his children, and he declares he will undertake the cause of the afflicted and the oppressed. If they cry unto him, he says, "I will hear, for I am gracious."

A man of means, if he possesses strict integrity, and loves and fears God, may be a benefactor to the poor. He can help them, and take no more interest than can be mercifully exacted. He thus meets with no loss himself, and his unfortunate neighbor is greatly benefited, for he is saved from the hands of the dishonest schemer. The principles of the Golden Rule are not to be lost sight of for a moment in any business transaction. Every man who lends money at ten or twelve per cent. interest is a robber in the sight of God. Although the laws of man may justify him, the law of God condemns him. He is dealing unjustly; and God will reward him according to his deeds. God never designed that one man should prey upon another. He jealously guards the rights of his children, and in the books of Heaven great loss is set down on the side of the unjust dealer.

In the Holy Scriptures fearful denunciations are pronounced against the sin of covetousness. "No covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." The psalmist says, "The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." Paul ranks covetous men with idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, none of whom shall inherit the kingdom of God. These are the fruits of a corrupt tree, and God is dishonored by them. We are not to make the customs and maxims of the world our criterion. Reforms must take place; all injustice must be put away.

We are commanded to "search the Scriptures." The whole word of God is our rule of action. We are to carry out its principles in our daily lives; there is no surer mark of Christianity than this. We must carry out the great principles of justice and mercy in our intercourse with one another. We must be daily cultivating those qualities that will fit us for the society of Heaven. If we do these things, God becomes our surety, and promises to bless all that we undertake; and we "shall never be moved."

GOD IN ALL.

If each moment of pleasure and gladness That unto us mortals is given, Were not followed by sorrow and sadness, Then this earth might seem dearer than Heaven. If our joys were not followed by sorrow, If our woes did not shadow our bliss, We should not care for any to-morrow, But rest well contented with this.

If our hearts were but sure of each pleasure, If we saw not an end to each joy, We should lay not in Heaven our treasure, Where no rust can corrode or destroy. But there is not a joy without sadness, And there is not a bliss without pain, And the pattering footfall of gladness Lies close to the drip of the rain.

He knows what is best for us ever, Or whether 'tis laughter or woe, He leadeth our footsteps, that never Can stray if He bids them to go. The way may seem darksome and weary, And clouded and shadowed may be, But the heart, it can never be weary, If only it lean upon Thee.

So close when the sunshine is fuming, And closer when shadow shall fall, We follow Thy way without turning, And go where the Master may call. We answer thee, Lord, without pleading; Or whether by day or by night, Contented to follow thy leading, And knowing it endeth in light. —Selected.

Inside View of Spiritualism.

By Editor

THE SPIRITS CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED.

If this assertion can be established, if it can be shown that Spiritualists themselves, after long and carefully testing the matter, acknowledge that spirits cannot be identified—that they will personate and deceive so as to defy all efforts at detection—then their unreliability is fully shown. No better evidence than this is needed of the danger of the system, because deception cannot certainly be detected in any instance, therefore the deception may be permanent—never exposed till the deceived and bewildered soul is ruined.

In arguing this and other points, we produce as evidence the testimony of Spiritualists, and such as have been Spiritualists; here we wish to introduce their evidence, with a few interesting remarks from President Mahan:—

"Certain experiments have been made, in order to determine whether spirits are present. Individuals go in as inquirers, and get definite answers—in the first place, from departed spirits of persons yet living; in the second place, from departed spirits of persons who never existed here or anywhere else; in the third place, from departed spirits of brute beasts. Now, it will not be denied that answers are obtained from these, but it is said the communications come from spirits in a dishonest state of mind. But they will answer all the test questions that any other spirits can do. You cannot get a test applied in any question, cannot form or establish a test, that will not be as perfectly fulfilled in these cases as in any other. Now, if lying spirits can read our inmost thoughts, what evidence have you that any but lying spirits ever did communicate? How do you know but that when you were communicating, the father of lies was present, and shaped his lies for the very purpose of deception?"—Discussion at Cleveland with Tiffany and Rhen, page 13.

Had the President followed up the last idea presented above, instead of trying to account for all the phenomena on natural principles, he would doubtless have more nearly met the arguments of his opponents. Again, he says:—

"I venture to affirm that the testimony of no individual would be received in a court of justice which varied according to the persons with whom he conversed. Now I say that you cannot bring a solitary spirit that will not do this identical thing. A spirit will come into an orthodox circle, and affirm absolutely all the articles of the orthodox creed. You may in the same spot change the character of the circle and he will deny all he has said before. You may change the third time, and he will deny all he has said before, and assert an entirely new theory. Now I will appeal to any judge of any court, if he would receive the testimony of such a person. Again, they contradict each other in things that spirits cannot be ignorant of. They have attempted to tell us the location of the spheres, the distance between the surface of the earth and the spheres; and I do not believe that you can bring two spirits from the vasty deep that will agree in such a simple fact as that—that will agree with regard to any essential condition with reference to the spirits there, who is there, and what is their condition."

"Judge Edmonds has drawn a picture of what he has seen, that made one of his hearers say, 'Why, Judge Edmonds, that is worse than a Presbyterian Hell!' He says that he has seen spirits which have been there 18,000 years, that look like monkeys; and that he has seen those who have horns, just as he has seen in pictures. I take the books, and then the testimony of all that have witnessed these circles, of whom I have inquired, and I have never yet met an individual who would honestly tell me that he believed that the testimony of the spirits was reliable. When in New York, I obtained the loan of a book, and wishing to know whether it was a spiritual production, I went down to the Spiritual Telegraph Office, and inquired of Mr. Brittan if that was a hoax. He said, 'We are not responsible for the sentiments here, only for its origin. We do not take the testimony of spirits as reliable.' I put the same question to Dr. Underhill, and he said, 'I would not rely upon the responses received through any medium. If the spirits tell me what accords with true philosophy, I believe it, but if they do not, I do not believe it.' Well, now, what a source of information is that? Why, if it accords with what we know before, believe it, but all beyond is doubt. Now I do not believe that any person dare go beyond that."—Id., page 37.

In a discussion of this subject in the summer of 1856, one who claimed to have been the first Spiritualist in the State of Michigan, made the following remark:—

"The spirit sometimes assumes the name of an individual belonging to the same church, to induce them to hear. This is necessary with some who are so bigoted they would not believe unless a name was assumed which they respected."

This was an admission which we did not then suppose an intelligent Spiritualist would make. Any such assumption by a lying spirit would avail nothing if the person spoken to believed what the Bible says, that "the dead know not anything." Eccl. 9:5. That they do deceive those who seek to them is beyond all doubt; and to ward off the force of this fact, the flimsy covering of doing evil that good may come, is thrown over them. They are good, but it is our weakness and bigotry that causes them to profess to be what they are not! They are obliged to deceive us for our benefit, and to lie us into the truth.

We did not know till that time that Spiritualists had so little confidence in these communications; but investigation proves the fact. Yet it is an obvious fact that all Spiritualists have changed in their faith and lives under the influence of the spirits. This is a point worthy of careful consideration, that they are continually being molded and fashioned by an influence in which they dare not publicly avow the least confidence.

Said Joel Tiffany:—

"Persons have supposed that when they get correct answers they get tests. But when we come to understand that the spirit can come into rapport with the mind in the circle, we then discover that he can perceive his thoughts and get the answer as well as the question from his mind, and then being in communication with the medium can answer all his questions, and give him perfect answers, as to identity, at the same time that he is a far different spirit from what he purports to be."—Discussion with Mahan, page 92.

The following remarks from Dr. Hare, made in the N. Y. Investigating Class, show that he also believed there was danger of being deceived:—

"There was a difficulty, undoubtedly, in knowing precisely how it is, even upon the testimony of spirits, because spirits there occupying different spheres and immensely differing in their degrees of development, accordingly give discrepant accounts of the matter. We must first identify the spirit and determine his trustworthiness before we could accredit his testimony. We must observe the same rules of evidence, apply the same tests, and have the same care in ascertaining their identity and veracity we do in like matters here."

What folly, to talk of applying the same tests of identity to spirits that we do to persons here! The Doctor knew better, as every one does. But he admits that we cannot trust them, unless we can identify them, and the most experienced Spiritualists say that it is impossible. He seemed to consider himself safe from deception, as will appear by the following remark:—

"He thought it impossible that he could have been deceived. It was not likely that any spirit would, in such a conversation, where Washington, Franklin, his father and mother, and others were present, assume a false character and name to deceive him any more than it was possible for any individual to assume to be and speak as some one else at a town meeting, without being detected."

But Dr. Hare assumed that, "Washington, Franklin, his father and mother," were present, for he could have no evidence of it whatever. We have attended many town meetings in years gone by, but we never yet knew any man to speak in such meetings in the name of his neighbor; but such things often take place in "circles," according to the testimony of Spiritualists.

Judge Edmonds, in "Spiritual Tracts," No. 7, page 4, says:—

"One day while I was at West Roxbury, there came to me, through Laura as the medium, the spirit of one with whom I had been well acquainted, but from whom I had been separated some fifteen years. His was a very peculiar character—one unlike that of any other man whom I ever knew, and so strongly marked that it was not easy to mistake his identity. "I had not seen him in several years; he was not at all in my mind at the time, and he was unknown to the medium. Yet he identified himself unmistakably, not only by his peculiar characteristics, but by referring to matters known only to him and me."

"I took it for granted he was dead, and was surprised afterward to learn that he was not. He is yet living. "I cannot, on this occasion, go into all the particulars of an interview which lasted more than an hour. I was certain there was no delusion about it, and as certain that it was just as much of a spiritual manifestation as any I ever witnessed or heard of."

But the credulity of Spiritualists knows no bounds. With all the evidence before him, and the well-known admissions of Spiritualists that lying spirits personate our friends so well as to defy detection, the Judge yet thought it was the spirit of his living friend! EDITOR. (To be continued.)

Leaving First Love

By Editor

THE moral quality of that kind of coldness and listlessness, which turns away one's heart from fervor and one's hands from duty, cannot be concealed by any form of soft or extenuating words. We sometimes say of a young convert, who began well for a few years, but then lapsed from his zeal, "He has lost his early love, poor fellow!" But the Bible does not say "lost," it speaks out plainly; it says "left," in order to indicate willfulness in the dereliction, and fix responsibility for the shame: "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." Rev. 2:4.—Ed.

The Moral Duty of Doing Good

By Editor

MORALITY is not all there is of religion, but it is a good part of it. By this we mean not the negative morality which avoids outbreaking sins, but the positive morality of doing good to others. Christ says that, in the Judgment day, the lost will be condemned for not doing beneficent acts, like visiting the sick and suffering, and that the saved will be rewarded for doing just this active benevolence. Perhaps we err in not making enough of good works.

The Special Work of the Spirit Attends Every Special Work of God.

By R. F. Cottrell

MANY have rejected the third angel's message, and many stand aloof and in doubt concerning it, not because its teachings in respect to the law and the gospel are false, but simply because the work is accompanied by a special manifestation of the Spirit of God. If there was nothing of this kind in the work, they think they could receive it as the truth, and as a genuine work of God. Take away the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy—rob the work of its special credentials as a special work of God—and they could receive it. Then they could number themselves with the remnant of the woman's seed, "which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Now it is self-evident that the proclamation of the last message of probation is a special work. In its importance it is not exceeded by any work ever performed among men upon earth. At different times in the past, when the special promises of God became due, there have been special interpositions of God's providence in their fulfillment. The fulfillment of these special promises in the development of the great plan of salvation is what I call special works of God. And I affirm that God never performed such a work without the presence of direct and special inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let us notice some examples.

God made a promise to Abraham that after his children should serve the Egyptians four hundred years, he would bring them out of their bondage to the land he had promised to give them. And when "the time of the promise" was come, he sent Moses, filled with the Spirit and endowed with miraculous powers, and with the promise, "I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say;" and so redeemed the promise which he had made.

Another instance we find in the fulfillment of the promised restoration after the seventy years' captivity in Babylon. Few and feeble were the Israelites that returned to build again Jerusalem and the temple of God. Their enemies stood ready to oppose the work by every available means. There was much to discourage the people; but God had promised; and it was not by the power of the people, but by the Spirit of God, that the work was to be accomplished. Zech. 4: 6, 7. But for the prophesyings of Haggai and Zechariah, it is evident that the work would not have been accomplished. But "they prospered through the prophesyings of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel." Ezra 6: 14. Can the exceeding great and tremendous work of the closing messages of probation be accomplished without the gift of prophecy to unite and encourage the feeble laborers? No. With emphasis all must say, No! Without it the work could never have been brought to its present state of development; but with it, it will prosper to its completion.

We have another instance in John the Baptist. The Lord had promised to send a messenger before the Messiah to prepare the way. In order for Christ to be the Christ of promise, the promised messenger must precede him. There was no greater prophet than John; and yet it is expressly affirmed of him that he "did no miracle." The light of prophecy, without the aid of miracles, was sufficient proof of his mission. It was by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that his work was accomplished.

No special message, no special work, was ever done without divine inspiration. Will the closing messages, than which there has been no greater, be an exception to this general rule? The idea would be preposterous, had not the Spirit described the remnant of the church as having "the testimony of Jesus," which is the spirit of prophecy."

The work in which we are engaged is a work of promise; and it is second in importance to no other, from the beginning to the end of the world. It should have the special sanction and aid of the Spirit of God. This is promised in the Scriptures of truth. See the tract entitled, "The Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts." And it is not only reasonable and Scriptural that it should be expected, but the promise is being fulfilled. The builders in this work know what is promised in prophecy—that such a work must and will be done; but they would lack the essential unity and courage to prosper in the work, and might in discouragement conclude, as the returned Israel of old, "that the time is not come" for the work to be performed. Hag. 1: 3. It is encouragement to put forth united effort that is needed. It is the assurance that the builders will be successful when they put all their energies into the work. Encouraging words like these: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it."

If God spoke through the gift of prophecy to aid and carry forward the work of rebuilding the temple, that his promise might be fulfilled in its restoration, will he not speak in that way to those who have the last message to proclaim to mankind—a message upon which the destiny of the last generation living is to be decided. Reasoning from analogy the conclusion is inevitable; and besides this we have the sure promise of God's word for it. The presence of the gift of prophecy, therefore, is no objection; on the contrary, its absence would be the greatest objection against the genuineness of the work. R. F. COTTRELL.

Much Ado about Nothing.

By Editor

THE following comment accompanies a rather amusing picture in the Sword and Trowel:

This seems a very silly business, stopping the plow and wasting the time of a man and a boy and four horses to catch a mouse. The reader smiles at the picture, but we have often felt ready to cry when we have seen the thing done in real life.

A number of Christian gentlemen on a committee, with business to do for the Lord which concerns thousands of souls, will wrangle over a point of order, or a matter of detail of the most minute importance, delaying great movements upon a subject not worth so much as one poor mouse. A whole denomination of Christians will debate and dispute over merely personal differences which only in the smallest degree affect the grand enterprise in which Heaven and earth are concerned. A body of Christians will split into pieces over a petty quarrel, a personal feud, or an infinitesimal point of opinion, while all around them the masses are perishing for want of the gospel. Thus a miserable little mouse, which no cat would even hunt after, takes them off from their Lord's work. Good men will spend months of time and heaps of money in inventing and publishing mere speculations, while the great field of the world lies unploughed; and the hemlock of vice is running to seed all over it. In other matters, a little common sense is allowed to rule; but in the weightiest matters, foolishness is sadly conspicuous. Oh that love to God and a concern for the salvation of men would lead good men to use their brains, and leave little things alone while eternal matters ask their attention!

Reader, let us kill a mouse when it nibbles our bread; but let us not spend our lives over it. Let us give our chief attention to the chief things—the glory of God, the winning of souls for Jesus, and our own growth in grace. There are fools enough in the world, and there can be no need that Christian men should swell the number.

Conceit and Skepticism.

By T. S. Doolittle

A PROLIFIC source of doubt regarding the validity of the Scriptures lies in the intellectual pride and conceit of the doubter. God designed man to become a truth-seeker only by a conscientious and loving nourishment of his moral faculties. If, now, he sets out to use these faculties only as a means of self-display, and of tickling his vanity by winning brilliant applause, he may startle others by his destructive theories, and will finally forfeit his own capacity to discover eternal truth. It was, for example, Hume's boast on one occasion that he "threw out his skeptical speculations only for the entertainment and amusement of the learned and metaphysical world." What a shameless confession this, and how representative in its character! In exactly the same spirit some scientists of our day seem to engage in skeptical discussions—not for the sake of truth alone, but rather for showing off their own splendid abilities in devising original yet highly plausible systems antagonistic to old notions, and especially to Biblical doctrines. The fame of a heretic is absolutely courted, and the odium theologicum is their dainty delight. The semblance of a crown of martyrdom on their heads makes their books sell, and gathers enormous lecture fees for their pockets. But this intellectual vanity, this desire to stun the world with novel views, or a novel defense of old heresies, is moral suicide. Hume followed it until, by his own lamentable confession, he became absolutely incapacitated to discern the difference between truth and error; and he concluded at last that "no one opinion was any more probable than any other." Such a dismal end may indeed be reached through philosophic speculations or scientific negations; but the seeing eye will recognize that end as already prefigured in the intellectual pride of the poor victim at the beginning, just as the oak lies inwrapped in the germ of the acorn. And because a Haeckel forges the iron of science into a dagger with which to stab Christianity, let us not blame the iron, but rather the forger. Haeckel is an atheist plainly, but his science is not. Possessed of the same spirit, he would have converted Biblical criticism, had he occupied a theological chair, into a weapon against Jesus and his church. The love of speculation for its own sake never made a truth-seeker, and much less a truth-finder.—Prof. T. S. Doolittle, in Christian Union.

The Church Organ.

A WRITER in the London Nonconformist, relating an interview with Mr. Sankey, says:—

"Mr. Sankey and his singing have in several ways distinctly advanced our church music. To him more than to any living person must be attributed the ripening of opinion in favor of organs in Scotland. He did not argue the lawfulness of instrumental accompaniments in divine worship, but he superseded argument by making people feel that organs were consistent with devotion and helpful to it. Of course, like all blessings, organs may be so used as to become a curse. As we converse with Mr. Sankey on this point, he says: 'I use my reed-organ just to support my own voice or the voices of the choir. But, oh! the rushing and roaring of the organ that often greets me when I attend church. The din is sometimes so great that I cannot sing. If organists must make a noise, let them play a solo. When voices are singing they ought to be at the top.'"

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