SOME weeks ago a living scorpion was found by a news dealer of New London, Conn., in a package of papers brought to him by a New York steamer. It was natural that the presence of such a venomous insect should create astonishment and excite alarm. It was felt that it was an unwelcome intruder, and that undetected and unrestrained it might endanger precious life. Sent out in a paper it might have carried wretchedness to any home in the city. The brightest and most promising youth might have fallen a victim to its death-inoculating sting. The scorpion was not sent on purpose and with the intention of doing harm. It is supposed that it was brought from the tropics hidden away in fruit.
But suppose that men in New York had secured thousands of scorpions, and had stored them away in the bundles of books and papers going forth every day from the great city to all parts of the land. Suppose that living scorpions were coming daily to news dealers, and without concern or thought on their part, were given over into the hands of people of all ages and classes. Suppose it were a common thing to find them among the books of the school children, lurking about their play-ground, secreted in their closets, and even treasured in their pockets. What would you think and say and do? Would you be indifferent? Would you say, "Let the scorpion come?" Would you insist that the youth must learn to let the scorpions alone? Would you claim that if some are stung and die, others will take warning? By no means. You would make loud, earnest and repeated protest. You would unite in efforts to have an end put to the danger. You would call law to your aid. Your course would be just. Duty would compel you to it. Silence and inaction would prove you unfaithful to the welfare of the rising generation and recreant to your sacred obligations as parents and citizens.
Of course there is no general trade in living scorpions. None come forward to deal in them for the sole reason that there are no buyers. There would be men to accept the business, no matter how ruinous it might prove, if they could make money by it. Parental anxieties, darkened homes, poisoned and blighted lives would be no obstacles.
There are moral scorpions and there are men whose business it is to procure and sell them. They tax their ingenuity to find ways and means of making sales. They are wide awake to discover opportunities for pushing them into schools and homes. They are shamelessly impudent in attracting youthful purchasers. Like "the scorpion among the papers," these more venomous moral insects, these intellectual and spiritual pests, go abroad hidden under book-covers, wrapped up in packages of papers, and are concealed at news-stands and in book-stores under layers of good reading. They take the form of circulars; they put on envelopes printed for the government as their clothing; they ride in our country's mail-bags; they dart out from our post-offices; they slip through the fingers of our postmasters.
Doubtless the reader's quick thought has outrun my slow pen. I have mused and the fire of my indignation burns, and I will write on hoping that the flames may catch in prepared material, and spread wide and far. Figures and comparisons aside, I mean by moral scorpions, the debasing, pernicious, and immoral books, pamphlets and papers, which are sent forth to corrupt the minds, fire the base passions, and curse the souls of our precious youth. The scattering of these scorpions is not accidental. Their distribution is planned and intended. Their senders know that their sting is death. They send abroad what is worse than fire-brands and arrows. Not for one day, but all the time, are the moral scorpions on their soul-ruining mission. Not in one direction are they sent, but in all directions. Not to one place do they find this way, but to every place. No home is secure; no youth can be so guarded or so secluded that he is absolutely safe. Our land swarms with them. All the time there are more to follow. Will the supply never fail? Will there come no respite? The locust and grasshopper and Colorado potato-beetle plagues do move on. Will this ever quit the field, hide for a season ever, or seek out pastures new? When shall it once be? Christians may well feel alarm. Let them bravely do their duty and call on God for help!
The very presence of this moral scorpion plague is bad enough. Its extent is something fearful to contemplate. Its possible danger is alarming. These, however, are not its worst features. These are found in the imperiled youth themselves. So strong is the impulse of a depraved curiosity, so keen is the relish for unnatural excitement, so hot is youthful blood, so easily blinded are mortal eyes to soul and eternal losses, so inclined are all to shut out the thought of God, that our youth are eager to be poisoned. They seek out the scorpion, and to get them will pay their money and practice deception, if they do not lie and steal. Obtained, they play with them in secret, and when under the infatuation of the sting they have received, they will pass them along to their fellows. Thus by the presence of one or two a whole community of youth may be poisoned, corrupted, ruined. Stung by these scorpions among the papers, the victims quickly show that their moral earnestness is sapped. Their perceptions of right and wrong are blunted. Their aims and purposes lose tone and quality, and grow sordid and selfish. Their minds are spoiled of vigor and strength, and crave only the sentimental, the lustful and criminal. Their native innocence and purity are driven out of the character, and the germs of all spiritual diseases are implanted.
It is from the ranks of those who read the "Boys' Papers," and publications of a similiar intellectual and moral tone, that thieves and liars and burglars come. From this trash, much of it the vilest hash of scenes and events from criminal life, boys of spirit and courage find impulses to band themselves together as brigands. This trash promotes tricking and deceit. It is the hot-bed for urging the fungus growth of slang and vulgarity. It is one of the strongest incitements to disobedience, unfaithfulness, and cruelty. It opens and gilds the way to licentiousness and other moral worthlessness. Take this instance as a sample: a young man was arrested for advertising and sending through the mails, under a dozen aliases, obscene matter. While his room at his father's house was being searched, the agent found hidden away in one corner a mass of "Boys' Papers." At this discovery, and as the agent was pulling them over, the young man turned his guilty eyes upon them, and pointing at them with trembling finger, in bitterness and remorse exclaimed, "There, there's the cause of my ruin—that has cursed me and brought me to this." You see he recognized the scorpion among the papers and knew that it had stung him. Parents and teachers, be vigilant. Do not shut your eyes to the fact that there are scorpions among the papers!—Rev. O. W. Gates, in Herald of Truth.
DOUBTING THOMASES AND NATURE-WORSHIPERS.
THOMAS doubted. When those grieving disciples assembled in that upper room in Jerusalem, he was conspicuous for his absence. Whether he knew of that little meeting or not, we cannot certainly say; the probabilities are that he did; but here was the first church service, and Thomas did not attend. He had doubted at the first, as the other disciples had, and when they learned to believe, he still had only his bundle of doubts. There are a great many doubting Thomases today, and, although they claim a place in the church, their beliefs are few, and their doubts many; and these, instead of passing away with time, as the dew is dissipated by the rising sun, rather grow with their growth.
When you enter the homes of these doubting Christians, there is nothing to indicate to the superficial observer that they are not as firm in the faith as others are. You will find the customary legend hung on the wall—"God Bless our Home," or, "The Lord will Provide"; you will see a Bible of the best flexible morocco, bearing the Bagster imprint, on the table. Nor is it wholly a closed book in that family. They read in it, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" They read in it something about "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together," but they never appropriate the rebuke which the apostle metes out to them for forsaking the service of the church. On the contrary, they continue to stay away, and, if in these summer days you search for them, you will find them in green fields, or pastures new, or in leafy woods, or by purling brooks. From casually omitting their attendance upon church worship, they have finally grown more and more indifferent to eternal437verities; doubts which now and then flitted across their paths like a cloud shadow have found permanent lodgment, and been nurtured till they have covered the truth. Later still, a callous indifference to doctrinal truth has supervened, and lips that used to move in prayer now cease to pray; instead we hear them declare that "it doesn't matter much what a man believes." They tell us, too, that they have come to the conclusion that no pent-up church can circumscribe their religion, and so they court the recesses of Nature. The trees, they say, are their preachers, and the birds their choir.
There are few pursuits more pleasurable to man than meditating on the beneficence of God, as shown in the works of Nature. But there is such a thing as seeking Nature simply for the pleasure which she gives; and even where there is a devout spirit of contemplation, still this is not religion. It needs something more than this to exemplify the obligations of religion. How long would be required for Nature-worship to make men better, and women better, and children better? In what measure of time would it be possible for a religion of external Nature to lift up humanity, preach hope to the poor sinner, comfort all that mourn, give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness? Ah! The Nature-worshipers never ask these questions; or if they do, we never have the answer. But sometime—sometime!—will not these questions have to be answered sometime? Is not every Nature-worshiper making up the answer in the record of his own failure to do the highest good that religion demands of him,—we say demands of him, for does not God require of every man to live up to the highest standard of his possibilities? And these doubts, confirmed by continued absence from the preached Word, just as mushrooms grow in the night, when light and heat are withdrawn; these doubts, which have crystallized, just as a solution of iron will crystallize when put away in a cool, dark place,—will not these doubts refuse to be put down sometime? Is there not a grim Giant Despair in Doubting Castle, ready to put his victim into "a very dark dungeon"? It is true there have not been wanting poets to build their fanes in the solitude of the woods, and to worship at the shrine of Nature. But no matter by whom tendered, however wooing the voice that courts us, we can only refuse to accept such a specious philosophy offered us for religion, though the voice of the charmer charm never so wisely. Indeed, the mighty Wordsworth himself may tell us—
"One impulse of yon vernal wood
May tell you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can."
Or, he may say of the little daisy, as he catches its appealing eye—
"Thou wouldst teach him how to find
A shelter under every wind,
A hope for times that are unkind,
And every season,—"
But the Christian will be slow to accept such a specious philosophy, such metrical sophistry, in place of the sure promises, the eternal hope, the joy and comfort of a pulsating, living Christianity.
Not by swelling buds, nor blossoming trees, nor singing birds, nor perfume of flowers, nor music of the running brooks, however lovely and refreshing all these may be, is the redemption of a sinning world accomplished, or the soul lifted up to the plane of its highest duties. God help us, if we must look to Nature to smooth the rough places of life, and give us a hope sure and steadfast for eternity! No; it is only by worshiping God in his appointed ways; by drinking in the truths which bubble from the fountain that never fails; by reading and meditating on His revealed word; by obeying His precepts, and making the Christ-life, with its obedience, and sacrifice, one's own, that the soul is carried up to Heaven, and Heaven brought down to the soul. The man who seeks in dumb, passionless Nature the will of God, hunts the wind and worships a statue. The religion of perfect joy is not to be found in a May-day saunter; it is not hidden in a bunch of anemones, or blushing hepaticas, or in song of birds, or babble of brooks; it lies in the revealed will of God, in knowing that will, and doing it. Had Nature sufficed for the world's redemption, we should never have had Revelation, and there would never have been the awful tragedy of Calvary. Nature alone offers us only her thanatopsis; Christ it is who has burst the barriers of the grave, and who says, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Wherefore, "AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST, AND ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST SHALL GIVE THEE LIGHT."—Christian at Work.
OBJECT OF THE SABBATH-SCHOOL.
By W. M. Healey
WE ought to have an object in all we do. What is the object of the Sabbath-school? It is to educate. This implies thought and study, and to be successful that study must be hard and earnest. "There is no excellency without great labor."
Genius is all very well, but those who have the power of steady, persevering application to the object in view possess a genius indeed, and are the most likely of any class to accomplish that which they undertake.
If the object of the Sabbath-school be to educate, then all who need to learn that which is taught there, ought to attend; and those who complain of difficulty in learning and remembering the lessons, have a special need to attend, and learn to remember.
Our public schools impart a knowledge of the elementary branches of education, such as is needed by all, no matter what their occupation. Then we have law schools, medical colleges, military, and agricultural schools, etc. These are designed to expand and develop the human faculties, and lead the thoughts in a particular direction, and as much attention should be paid to the direction of the thought, as to the cultivation of the intellect. Many persons who are giants in intellectual capacity are worse than useless in the world, because their ability has not been properly directed.
We are taught in the Bible to get wisdom, and with all our getting to get understanding. That is, learn how to use the wisdom we obtain. The object of the Sabbath-school is not merely that the pupil may mechanically recite the lesson, (which, of course, should be learned elsewhere,) but that it may be thoroughly understood; and every school should be so conducted, that a deep and lasting impression may be made upon the moral faculties.
The object of the school should be to educate its members, and direct their thoughts in the way of morality; in other words, make them Christians.
All we know, we first had to learn. An infant's brain may be compared to a sheet of blank paper, upon which impressions are to be made; upon finely finished writing paper very beautiful lines may be drawn, while upon a coarser article it would be impossible to make them fine and smooth. So of the brain; when impressions are made upon it through any of the senses, action takes place, and thought is the result. If a certain class of impressions is made, a corresponding kind of thought is developed; but the strength and beauty of this thought may differ greatly in different persons, as the brain of one may be more highly organized than that of another. As soon as the brain begins to grow, character begins to form. Therefore, we cannot begin too young in the matter of education to see that correct impressions are made.
Human beings are the most helpless of any of the animal creation, when they make their advent into this world. The lamb soon runs and plays; the young deer at a few days old can follow its dame at a rapid rate, and soon learns to take care of itself; but the human dear must be long carried in another's arms. It must be watched, fed, and all its wants supplied by others for years; and in some cases, he never becomes able to care for himself, no matter how old he grows.
In this long period of helplessness is the time to mould the character, when the influences upon the child may be more fully controlled than at any later period of life. This is the time to see that right—and only right—impressions are made upon the brain. Proper education will result in making a Christian of the child. To this it is objected, that some parents are very strict, and yet their children have come up bad. No doubt this is true; but many children get far more education in the streets, than from Christian parents. How many there are who talk to their little ones of the love of Jesus, and the beauties of his character, until their youthful minds reach out with a desire to be like him, and in the next moment perhaps, they have fallen into a violent passion, and in a few sharp, cross words, forever broken the spell, and destroyed the confidence of those children in the existence of any such love, and left them in just the condition to receive evil into their hearts. Yes, many a child has been turned into the way of life or death, by a few words spoken when the mind was undecided, and almost evenly balanced.
How careful then ought we to be that our Sabbath-schools exert that sacred, hallowed influence, that will direct the thoughts heavenward, and turn the heart to Jesus. Keep ever before you the true object of the school. Educate for Jesus and the future life. W. M. HEALEY.
GOD WANTS YOU.
By D. T. Taylor
O MEN and women, God wants you! A mighty conflict is in progress. It is the war of the centuries between truth and falsehood, holiness and sin, good and evil, God and the devil. This conflict deepens. There is not a soul on earth who does not bear a part in it. Each and every one is for or against; neutral positions in this war, there are none. He or she that is idle is against God; and to be against him is to be in peril of irretrievable loss, for Jehovah will at last certainly win. There is so much to do and so short a time in which to do it, that to do nothing is a crime of the deepest dye. Besides, to sit down and sit still is personally perilous. Resist, or be swept away. All may, and should work. Wisdom cries, Work well. Some can do much; others but little; each can do something; all can do more than they dream.
Mankind is treading the verge of a wonderful age. Mighty foes heave and toss society. Mighty activities accelerate its masses to a pitch of speed absolutely headlong. Rest or calm there is none. Hurry, hurry, haste, haste, goads on all men. A trumpet-call sounds, "To arms!" Under a blood-stained banner or beneath a black flag all are ranging. What are you doing? Where is your place? Come out of your hiding, come into the light. Report for active service. You are wanted in the King's grand army. Cling to the evil, and you will go down in the swift-coming struggle. Awake! Bestir thyself. Fold not your arms in lazy lock. At the foe. Dare to do right, dare to be true. Do your own work. No other can do it for you. The conflict intensifies as the age's end approaches. It is the last age of sin's reign on the earth. The sinful cherub rages, and his dragon voice roars hideously. His day of doom is fast nearing. Men may well be alarmed at his fury and power, but God is not alarmed. God's hour of eternal victory cometh. The storm will end in glorious, ceaseless calm; all that sin has disjointed and marred shall return sweetly into its old-time beauty. The conqueror shall rest from toil, and wear the laurels of the hard-won fight.
Once more I charge you that you are wanted in this sacred war. Again I say, Do something for God. Do it, even though it is but a little. Enlist, not for a day nor an hour, but for life. Join the thinned ranks of the holy. Inquire reverently, "Lord, what more can I do?" Do nothing rashly nor impetuously, but in the calmness of assured hope and conscious salvation. "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." To the warriors on Time's battle fields, Eternity's day will be long, its throne will be sure, and its rest will be sweet. The King cries, "Behold, I come quickly, to give to every man according as his work shall be." Then work, O reader, work for your Lord; he wants you!—D. T. Taylor, in The Christian.
THE RELIGION NEEDED.
By F. D. Huntington, D. D.
We want a Christianity that is Christian across counters, over dinner tables, behind your neighbor's back as in his face. We want a Christianity that we can find in the temperance of the meal, in moderation of the dress, in respect for authority, in amiability at home, in veracity and simplicity in mixed society. Rowland Hill used to say he would give little for the religion of the man whose very dog and cat were not the better for it.
To make them effectual, all our public religious measures, institutions, benevolent agencies, and missions, need to be conducted on a high scrupulous and unquestionable scale of honor; without evasion or partisanship, or overmuch of the serpent's cunning. The hand that gives away the Bible must be unspotted from the world. The money which sends the missionary to the heathen, must be honestly earned. In short, both arms of the church—justice and mercy—must be stretched out, working for men, strengthening the brethren, or else your faith is vain and ye are yet in your sins.—F. D. Huntington, D. D.
How Long It Takes to Think
Prof. Helmholtz has demonstrated that it requires an appreciable time to think. In a frog, sensation travels along a nerve at the rate of eighty-five feet a second; in a whale, the rate of progress is one hundred feet a second; in man, the velocity is doubled. So that if a whale fifty feet in length were struck on the tail, the sensation of pain would require half a second to reach the brain of the animal. But sensation is not felt as soon as it reaches the brain. The results of carefully conducted experiments show that the brain requires one-tenth of a second to receive a sensation. In other words, it takes one-tenth of a second to think.
Pope on Giving While Living
"I AM rich enough," said Pope to Swift. "I can afford to give away a hundred pounds a year. I would not crawl upon the earth without doing a little good. I will enjoy the pleasure of what I give by giving it while I live and seeing another enjoy it. When I die I should be ashamed to leave enough for a monument, if a wanting friend was above ground." That speech of Pope's was enough to immortalize him, independent of his philosophic verse.
Mr. Gladstone’s One Sleepless Night
Mr. Gladstone's One Sleepless Night.—Dr. Theodore Cuyler relates a conversation he had with the British Premier when in London. He says: “When I congratulated Mr. Gladstone on his vigorous health and power of achievement, he told me that he owed his good health to two or three rules well carried out. He carefully avoided the sins of the table, he took a great deal of muscular exercise with his ax, and he never allowed anything to rob him of his sleep. ‘When I shut my chamber-door at night,’ said he, ‘I lock out all cares of State and of everything else.’ He said that only one thing had ever kept him awake, and that was one evening when at Lord Lyttleton's place he had begun to cut a tree down, and darkness and a storm came on. He laid awake in some anxiety lest that tree should blow down!”
HOW TO TRAIN THE MEMORY.
Your memory is bad, perhaps, but I can tell you two secrets that will cure the worst memory. One of them is to read a subject when interested; the other is not only to read, but think. When you have read a paragraph, or a page, stop, close the book, and try to remember the ideas on the page, and not only call them vaguely to mind, but put them in words and speak them out. Faithfully follow these two rules, and you have the golden key of knowledge. Besides inattentive reading, there are other things injurious to the memory. One is the habit of skimming over newspapers, items of news, smart remarks, bits of information, political reflections, fashion notes, so that all is a confused jumble, never to be thought of again, thus diligently cultivating a habit of careless reading hard to break. Another is the reading of trashy novels.—Exchange.
PERFORMED IN LOVE.
GREAT deeds, like the lofty mountains,
Far their splendid shadows throw;
Little deeds, like sparkling fountains,
Joy diffuse where'er they flow.
Words of kindness and affection,
Words of love to music set,
Scatter good and leave reflection
Of the blessings they beget.
Smallest acts of sunny duty,
With free heart performed in love,
God will crown with life and beauty
Like the sunbeams from above.
With an open hand and bosom
Toil and pray and give thy mite;
Fruits around thy paths shall blossom,
And mature in peaceful light.
—Herald and Presbyter.
Christ as Alpha and Omega
By James White
ALPHA AND OMEGA. ALPHA is the name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter. In the work of redemption the Son of God declares himself to be Alpha and Omega, giving the idea that he, our adorable Re deemer, is the only source of redemption from sin, in all the ages of human probation. He says, "And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Rev. 22:12, 13. That these are the words of Christ, is evident from the following facts:-
1. It is the Coming One, and not John, who speaks. He says, "Behold, I come quickly." The church is not waiting for the advent of the prophet; but for the com ing of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven.
2. The last book of the Bible is not the "Revelation of St. John the Divine," as stated in the caption at the head of the first chapter; but it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ as stated in the first verse of the inspired book; "The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him." Rev. 1:1. Christ is the speaker.
3. The Coming One appears the second time in glory with rewards in his hands for his obedient, trusting people "to give every man according as his work shall be." Scott, in his Commentary p. 730, speaking of the Revelation, says:-
"The prophecy of this book principally relates to the opposition, which, in one form or other, would be made to the cause of Christ; the temporary success of his enemies and his final triumph over them all: and therefore, at the very opening of it, the reader's attention is called to that great day, when these scenes will be closed, and when all will see the wisdom and happiness of the friends of Christ, and the madness and misery of his enemies. For 'behold,' with attention and solemn awe, the Saviour who loved us and washed us from our sins 'in his own blood,' 'is coming with clouds,' or 'in the clouds of Heaven,' in his own glory as Mediator, and in the glory of the Father, to be the Judge of the world!"
"The whole vision related to Christ, from whom immediately the revelation was given; most of the expressions here used, or others equivalent to them, are afterwards spoken by him, and concerning himself; and the construction and arrangement of this passage, and the context, would be very intricate, if we were to suppose the Father to be the speaker. The Lord Jesus, therefore, here declared, that he is the 'Alpha and Omega,' which are the names of the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, the language in which the apostle wrote. This implies that he is the First Cause and the End, the Author and the Finisher of all things, in creation, providence and redemption; 'the Beginning and the Ending,' the Source of existence, of life, of holiness, and of felicity; and the Completion of them, in every sense, and in all respects."
Speaking of Rev. 1:8, where the words, Alpha and Omega are used, Bloomfield says:-
"With respect to the sense, it is very applicable to God the Father, as most recent commentators interpret (to which purpose similar expressions are cited from the Classical and Rabbinical writers); but the context (see 5:7, and 17, 18; and 2:8) plainly shows that it is applied to God the Son, who, indeed, applies those titles to himself, 21:6; 22:13; which fully establishes the Deity of Christ."
"Alpha is the first, Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Let his enemies boast and rage ever so much in the intermediate time, yet the Lord God is both the Alpha, or beginning, and the Omega, or end, of all things. God is the beginning, as he is the Author and Creator of all things, as he proposes, declares, and promises so great things. He is the end, as he brings all the things which are here revealed to a complete and glorious conclusion. Again, the beginning and the end of a thing, is in Scripture styled the whole thing." -Wesley's Notes, p. 654.
"I am Alpha and Omega. These are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, and denote properly the first and the last. So in Rev. 22:13, when the two expressions are united, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.' So in chap. 1:17, the speaker says of himself, 'I am the first and the last.' Among the Jewish Rabbins it was common to use the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet to denote the whole of anything, from beginning to end. Thus it is said, 'Adam transgressed the whole law from Aleph to Täv.' Abraham kept the whole law from Aleph to Täv."
"I am Alpha and Omega. The idea here is, that he will thus show that he is the first and the last-the beginning and the end. He originated the whole plan of salvation, and he will determine its close; he formed the world, and he will wind up its affairs. In the beginning, the continuance, and the end, he will be recognized as the same being presiding over and controlling all." -Barnes' Notes, pp. 98, 501.
Sin separated man so far from God that he could not at any period communicate directly with the fallen race. Christ undertakes man's redemption. And there is none other name under Heaven given among men by which he can be saved. Christ bridges the gulf from the fall to the day of redemption. Christ died for sinners. Christ pleads his blood for sinners. "Sin is the transgression of the law." John 3:4.
In whatever age we find sin, there we find law transgressed, and a need of Christ, but "Where no law is, there is no transgression," Rom. 4:15, and no need of Christ. Sin reigns from Adam to the time when sin and sinners shall be no more. Parallel with the reign of sin, runs both the existence of the moral code and the mediation of Christ. Remove the law, and you take away sin, and have no need of Christ. We cannot spare Christ. He is the world's only redeemer in all the ages. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."
J. W.
NEW YORK CAMP-MEETINGS.
By James White
Two camp-meetings have been held in the State of New York the present season, one in the northern part of the State, on the fair-ground at Canton, St. Lawrence Co., Sept. 1-6. Of this meeting a reporter says:—
“The location and surroundings were pleasant, the weather was lovely, and the regular attendance from without large. Indeed, we seldom see so deep an interest as was manifested here. Everybody was friendly, and spoke of the meetings in high praise.”
There was a much larger meeting at Hornellsville, Sept. 9-14, where were held the business sessions of both the New York and Pennsylvania Conferences. The so-called “Free-Thinkers” had been holding a series of meetings in the town of Hornellsville. The bold expression of infidel principles by the speakers had greatly disgusted and distressed the good people of that place who revered God and the Bible, and they looked forward to our camp-meeting with much anxiety. The Elmira Daily Advertiser for Sept. 8 gives the following:—
“Hornellsville must have some peculiar attraction to draw to its welcome doors the Free-Thinkers and the Adventists. Last week the infidels and blasphemers held a convention there, and this week the Seventh-day Adventists are holding their annual Conference in Belknap Grove, two miles east of the village. But, thanks be to Almighty God, the Adventists are an entirely different class of people from the Free-Thinkers. The Adventists believe in God and Jesus Christ. They believe in a seventh-day Sabbath, even like our earnest friends up at Alfred, in Allegany county. They believe that Christ will come upon the earth a second time to redeem the world, but the time of his coming is not to them disclosed.
“They believe that all men, when they die, go into a sleep, and so sleeping, remain until the coming of Christ. Then comes the Judgment. The righteous will be awarded eternal life; the wicked will be punished by eternal death, or extinction; in other words, the righteous will be glad they are living; while the unrighteous will be as if they had never existed.
“The Adventists are a sort of half-way religionists between the Universalists, who believe all will be saved, and the so-called orthodox, who believe in punishment in its literal sense. They do not believe God is a monster, or that he is capable of doing to his subjects what one of his subjects would not do to a fellow; that is, consign him to everlasting pain. The Adventists believe that no one will go either to Heaven or hell until the coming of Christ.
“The Conference is composed of delegates from the States of New York and Pennsylvania. They have a regular camping-out time, and have already some sixty tents in the grove. The Conference began last evening, and will continue one week. Station agent Belknap of Hornellsville is rendering the Conference material assistance. All local trains of the Erie Railway will stop at the grounds, and excursion tickets have been arranged for persons desiring to attend the Conference. We cannot refrain from wishing the Adventists abundant success.”
The Advertiser gives further particulars of the meeting in its issue of the 9th:—
“The encampment here is still growing. Over sixty commodious tents are already pitched and well filled. A special car over the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira road on Monday brought a load of delegates and others from the northern part of the State, and people from intermediate parts are pouring in from different directions.
“Delegates from Essex, Warren, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Monroe, Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Steuben, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chenango, Tompkins, Herkimer counties, New York City and several counties in Pennsylvania are present.
“The ground is every way adapted to the purpose for which it is being used; a grassy plot of several acres, level as a floor and carefully cleared from everything that would offend the eye.
“The encampment is laid out with a noticeable neatness and regularity. The immense cotton tabernacle occupies the centre of the open space, round which the dwelling tents are pitched, and furnishes an audience room with a capacity of one hundred by one hundred and eighteen feet. This is well seated, and most of the seats are furnished with comfortable backs. Flowers adorn the stand, beautifully executed banners and mottoes greet the eye in every direction.
“The preaching stand is well supplied with talent both from the State and from abroad. Excellent practical discourses have been given which have been well received. Elder C. B. Reynolds, of Rochester, N. Y., gave an appropriate opening discourse Tuesday evening.
“Elder D. M. Canright, President of the Ohio Conference, occupied the hour of the forenoon service today, and Elder D. T. Fero, of Allegany county, preached this afternoon.
“A meeting of the New York Sabbath-school Association was held at five this afternoon, closely followed by a meeting of the Pennsylvania Association.
“Elder James White, President of the General Conference, and his wife, Mrs. E. G. White, of Battle Creek, Mich., and Elder G. I. Butler, President of Iowa Conference, arrive to-night. Mrs. White is a gifted speaker, and the crowds who listened to her impressive eloquence last year are anxiously inquiring for her again this season.”
This was said to be the largest and best camp-meeting ever held by our people in the State of New York. Here we were happy to meet Elder D. T. Fero, who was so very sick upon the same camp-ground a year ago, when he was ordained. He now enjoys excellent health. We had the pleasure of seeing him baptize thirteen on the last day of the meeting. The services of that good day closed with the ordination of brethren E. W. Whitney, C. C. Lewis, and F. Peabody. J. W.
THE fourteenth chapter of Job is a wonderful testimony to the sleep of man in death: "So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Verse 12. This plainly declares that the sleep of man shall continue till the heavens pass away, which Peter says, shall be with a great noise. 2 Pet. 3:10. David said he should be satisfied when he should awake with the likeness of the Lord. Ps. 17:15. So David is yet asleep, and the time for him to be satisfied has not come. Acts 13:36; 12:34.
But does not the close of Job 14, forbid the sleep of the real man in death? His soul within him shall mourn. Does not this plainly indicate consciousness in death? Let us read the last two verses of the chapter:—
"His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Verse 21. This is the sleep of death, certainly. Now does the next verse contradict this?439
"But HIS FLESH upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn." Verse 22. The first clause of this verse shows that the condition of man in death is not the subject matter of the verse, while his soul within him mourns, his flesh upon him has pain. This text, if it relates to man in death, proves that his flesh is in a state of conscious suffering, an idea that is absurd, and that no one believes.
What then do the words of verse 22 signify? One of two views must be taken: It either relates to man before his dissolution, and is descriptive of the pains of death, or it has reference to man when raised from the dead to suffer for his sins. In the first case, it might pertain to mankind in general, i. e., to both the righteous and the wicked. In the latter case, it can relate to the wicked only. But in either view, it cannot relate to the man while sleeping in death. It is the whole man that is conscious; his flesh suffers as well as his mental nature. J. N. A.