Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1872
QUESTIONINGS
By Sel.
Why has the rose her thorns, the sky its clouds?
Why do the dew-drops teach the grass to weep?
Oh! why does mist the mountain peaks enshroud?
And why grow weeds among the corn we reap?
Why is each day embraced by gloomy night?
And why do nettles kiss the wayside flowers?
Oh! tell me, why is faith not turned to sight?
And why pain rides upon the winged hours?
Stay! can our arm explore the furthest reach
In deep unfathomed seas of thought divine?
We cannot learn till God, the all-knowing, teach,
And place within our hand the sounding line.
Let us remember we have human eyes;
Perhaps were Heaven open to our sight
The glorious beams which on our souls would rise,
Might blind us with infinitude of light!
But this I know—bright hearts of glistening gold
Hide in the roses on their thorny spray;
The grass that trembles 'neath the dew-drop cold
Drinks in new vigor for the long, hot day.
The mists that round the mountain summit cling,
Distill in gentle rain to bless the ground,
And sweeter music to the night winds sing,
When struggling through the trees their sobbing sound.
The weeds among the corn one day will lie,
And even nettles honeyed sweetness share.
The stars are only seen in darkened sky;
And men rise nobler through the pain they bear.
—Sel.
INTERESTING EXTRACTS CONCERNING THE SABBATH
By M. E. Cornell
Testimony of Eminent Authors.—No. 4.
BY ELD. M. E. CORNELL.
INTERESTING EXTRACTS CONCERNING THE SABBATH.
The weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment being placed in the very bosom of the decalogue, was honored above all the merely ceremonial Sabbaths of the Jewish economy. Its origin was at the beginning of the world and career of the human race. Traces of Sabbath knowledge and of observing the hebdomadal division of time are found among the Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Slavonians, Natives of Pegu, Chinese, inhabitants of Guinea, and Mexicans. It is not at all probable that these nations derived it from the Jews, for they were unknown to many of them, and hated by those to whom they were known. How, then, we inquire, came they by it? Either it commended itself to their reason, or it came down by tradition. If we accept the former hypothesis, it proves the Sabbath a natural institution; but if we admit the latter, it is in harmony with all we claim in regard to its Paradisaic origin.
Archbishop Usher says: “The very Gentiles, both civil and barbarous, both ancient and of later days, as it were by a universal kind of tradition retained the distinction of the seven days of the week.”—Works, part i, chap. 4.
“The seventh day is sacred.”—Hesiod (B. C. 870).
“Then came the seventh day that is sacred.”—Homer (B. C. 907).
“It was the seventh day wherein all things were finished.”—Homer.
“The seventh day wherein all things were finished.”—Linus.
“The seventh day among the best things.”—Homer out of Linus.
“Bad omens detained me on the sacred day of Saturn.”—Tibulus.
“The sacredness of one of the seven days was generally admitted by all.”—Aristobulus and Clemens.
Josephus against Apion says: “There is neither city of the Greeks nor barbarians, nor any nation whatever, to whom our custom of resting on the seventh day is not come;” or, as some translate, “does not prevail.”
Theophilus, of Antioch, declares that “all mankind make peculiar mention of the seventh day.”
Cox remarks: “The hebdomadal revolution of time generally admitted in the world is also a great testimony to the original institution of the Sabbath. Of old, it was catholic, and is at present received among those nations whose converse was not begun until of late with any of those parts of the world where there is a light gone forth in these things from the Scripture. All nations, I say, in all ages, have, from time immemorial, made the revolution of seven days to be the first stated period of time. And this observance is still continued throughout the world, unless amongst them who in other things are openly degenerated from the law of nature; as those barbarous Indians, who have no computation of times, but by sleeps, moons, and winters. The measure of time by a day and night, is pointed out to the sense by the diurnal course of the sun; lunar months, and solar years, are of an unavoidable observation unto all rational creatures. Whence, therefore, all men have reckoned time by days, months, and years, is obvious unto all. But whence the hebdomadal revolution, or weekly period of time should make its entrance, and obtain a catholic admittance, no man can give an account but with respect to some impressions on the minds of men from the constitution and law of our natures, with the tradition of a Sabbatical rest instituted from the foundation of the world.”—Works, p. 278.
President Goguet says: “We find from time immemorial the use of this period among all nations, without variation in the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and in a word, all the nations of the earth, have in all ages made use of a week of seven days.”
Mr. Buckingham and Mrs. Somerville tell us the same custom existed among the ancient Romans, Britons, Germans, Gauls, and others.
The learned Grotius informs us that the memory of creation’s being performed in seven days was preserved among the Greeks, Italians, Celts, and Indians, all of whom divided their time into weeks.
Calmet says: “Manasseh Ben Israel assures us that according to the tradition of the ancients, Abraham and his posterity, having preserved the memory of creation, observed the Sabbath also in consequence of natural law to that purpose. It is also believed that the religion of the seventh day is preserved among the pagans; and that the observation of this day is as old as the world itself.” “Almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day holy.”
A document recently published in the Asiatic Journal says: “The prime minister of the Empire affirms that the Sabbath was anciently observed by the Chinese in conformity to the directions of the king.”
The Sabbath necessity being founded in the very constitution of man, shows that its institution must have been at the first, and is co-eval with the human race. Being of universal and permanent benefit, its origin must be among man’s first necessities. So we find that God “sanctified” the Sabbath day in the beginning.
Charles Elliot, Prof. Bib. Lit. in Pres. Theological Seminary, Chicago Ill. says: “The Hebrew word, in the Piel species (the species used in Gen. 2: 3.), signifies ‘To regard and treat as holy, to consecrate.’”
The duties enjoined in the Sabbath law are such as are necessary to our well-being as physical, intellectual, and moral creatures, and hence they are not limited to any particular age or nation, but enduring as the human race. There is nothing in the fourth commandment pointing to any particular individual interest or history; nothing national, but every one of the reasons for the Sabbath apply alike to all. Its object, therefore, is to supply the demands of nature.
Dr. Fairbairn, in his Typology, Vol. ii, p. 116, remarks: “Where the true religion has been unknown, it has always been found necessary to appoint, by some constituted authority, a certain number of holidays, which have often, even in heathen countries, exceeded, rarely anywhere have fallen short of, the number of God’s instituted Sabbaths. The animal and mental, the bodily and spiritual natures of man alike demand them. Even Plato deemed the appointment of such days of so benign and gracious a tendency, that he ascribed them to that pity which the gods have for mankind born to painful labor, that they might have an ease and cessation from their toils. And what is this but an experimental testimony to the truth of God’s having ordered his work of creation with a view to the appointment of such an institution in providence? and to his wisdom and goodness in having done so?”
In Wickliffe’s Bible, Gen 2: 2 reads as follows: “And God fulfilled in the seventh day his work that he made; and he rested the seventh day from all work that he had fulfilled; and he blessed the seventh day, and he hallowed it; for in it he had ceased from all his work.”
On this, Lange comments as follows: “Therefore the expression, ‘He hallowed it,’ must be for men, for all men who were to be on the earth, or it is a mere blank.”
Calvin on the same says: “First, therefore, God rested; then he blessed this rest, that in all ages it might be held sacred among men; or he dedicated every seventh day to rest, that his own example might be a perpetual rule.”
An unknown author comments as follows: “And God rested from his work, and blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, as a Sabbath to the man and to his posterity.”
Isaac Abendana, a learned Jew who resided many years at Oxford and elsewhere in England before 1706, writes as follows: “In the fourth commandment we are commanded to ‘remember the Sabbath day,’ which therefore must have been enjoined before, and consequently could be no other than the seventh in a regular circulation from the Sabbath of the creation, for we know of no other.”
We may observe that the Almighty plainly declared (by the sending of the manna) which was the Sabbath whereon he rested from all his works, and which he commanded to be thenceforward observed by all those to whom he vouchsafed to give the manna; and, therefore, hereby we certainly know the precise Sabbath, and accordingly celebrate it. Now, to say that any seventh day after six days of usual labor, will answer the design of the institution of the Sabbath, is not only improbable, and so fit to be rejected by us, but overthrows the very ground of the fourth commandment; which is, that therefore we are to keep holy the Sabbath day, because that on it God rested from all his work. And to say he rested from his works any seventh day seems a very harsh interpretation: and therefore must we understand it precisely of the Sabbath immediately ensuing the work of the creation; and consequently that is the precise day we are obliged to celebrate, called the Sabbath by way of eminence, and as such distinguished from all others. Hence Jonathan in his Chaldee Paraphrase ascribes a peculiar excellency to this Sabbath, saying, ‘God blessed and sanctified it before all other days in the week.’
John Milton, of the time of public worship, says: “Under the law it was the Sabbath, that is, the seventh day, which was consecrated to God from the beginning of the world.”
John Smith, London, A. D. 1694, says: “If that day which God, by his example and precept, first sanctified for the weekly Sabbath be Saturday, that day cannot be unsanctified, and another day adopted in its room, but by an equal, if not a superior, authority to that which consecrated Saturday. Now, a superior authority to the example and precept of God cannot be imagined, and that which is alleged by either party for the unsanctifying of Saturday falls far short of equality to it.”—Smith’s Works, p. 291.
Dr. Benj. Kennicott, of Christ Church, Oxford, comments on strangers’ keeping the Sabbath, as follows: “This mention of the strangers’ being required to observe the Sabbath is a proof that the command of a Sabbath is not merely Jewish, as has frequently been asserted. No stranger could join in eating the passover without being first circumcised, and thereby initiated into Judaism (Ex. 12: 43, 44); but a stranger might, nay, was obliged to keep the Sabbath, though he had not been circumcised. The reason of which remarkable distinction is, that circumcision was a national, and the Sabbath a universal, institution; the former given in command to Abraham, and obligatory only on his descendants; while the latter was given in command to Adam, the father of all mankind.”
Sir John David Michaelis, Professor of Theology and Oriental Literature in the University of Göttingen, was born 1717, and died 1791. In his Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, translated from the German by Alexander Smith, D. D., London, A. D. 1814, he thus remarks: “Moses found a custom among the people, established from the very earliest period, by which they solemnized the Sabbath day, and it is probable that even the Egyptians had left this day to them as a day of rest; at least he describes this solemnity as instituted by God immediately after the creation (Gen. 2: 2, 3), and he nowhere mentions its having been abolished, or become obsolete.”—Vol. iii, p. 150.
Of William Sellers, A. D. 1671, Dr. Cox thus speaks: “In opposition to the opinion that some one day in seven is all that the fourth commandment requires to be set apart, the writer maintains the obligation of the Saturday Sabbath on the ground that God himself directly in the letter of the text calls the seventh day the Sabbath-day, giving both the names to one and the self-same day, as all men know that ever read the commandments.”—Cox, Vol. ii, p. 35.
Walker observes: “God’s blessing a seventh day and sanctifying it, by his commandment given to our first parents is as easily to be learned, and known, and kept in memory, as many other things of less moment, which heathen infidels do learn, and know, and keep in memory for worldly respects. If they would travel, and send abroad into far countries to learn heavenly knowledge and holy behavior, as diligently as they do to learn human knowledge and worldly wisdom, art, and skill, they could not be ignorant of God’s law concerning the weekly Sabbath.”—B. pp. 107, 108.
Dr. Barnes on Isa. 56: 2: “That layeth hold on it,” thus comments: “Heb. binds himself fast to it, or seizes upon it with strength. That is, he adheres firmly to the purpose as a man seizes upon a thing with an intention not to let it go.”
An Adroit Reproof.
A PRESIDING elder of the United Brethren Church was preaching in Minnesota, and was much annoyed by persons talking and laughing. He paused, looked at the disturbers, and said: “I am always afraid to reprove those who misbehave in church. In the early part of my ministry I made a great mistake. As I was preaching, a young man who sat before me was constantly laughing, talking, and making uncouth grimaces. I paused and administered a severe rebuke. After the close of the service, one of the official members came and said to me: ‘Brother, you have made a great mistake. That young man whom you reproved is an idiot.’ Since then I have always been afraid to reprove those who misbehave in church, lest I should repeat that mistake, and reprove another idiot.” During the rest of that service, at least, there was good order.—Herald and Presbyter.
The Progress of Spiritualism.
By George Ide Butler
The work of spiritualism we regard as a leading sign of the last days; and, as such, its progress is a matter of great interest to us, which should be carefully considered. Perhaps the history of the world has never shown more rapid progress from so insignificant and feeble a beginning, with peaceable means.
Commencing near Rochester, N. Y., in 1848, by strange and unaccountable raps on the walls of a house, it has spread over the earth in twenty-four years, and numbers, with its mediums and believers, many millions in the United States alone. It has been introduced to the leading courts of Europe, and crowned heads have observed with astonishment and faith the performances of this unseen agency. Scientific men, judges of courts, lawyers, physicians, ministers, and men of influence, are numbered among its believers. And if in our villages, remote from the busy marts of trade, avowed spiritualists are often few in number, yet in our larger towns—the centers of influence and commerce, in which public opinion is largely directed—its votaries are plenty enough. Its progress in numbers, wealth, and influence, is too evident for any well-informed man to deny, and, of course, is very gratifying and hopeful to its adherents, and it gives them great faith that it will ultimately form the leading religion of the world. The cause of this progress, which is certainly nothing less than wonderful, cannot be ascribed to its superiority in holiness, love of truth, or increase in virtue and righteousness, or fear of God. For it is notorious that the writings of leading spiritualists, the ones to whom we should naturally look to get the real spirit of the system, abound in denials of the existence of a personal God, of the doctrines of Christ, and of his existence before his birth into this world, and of the authority of the Bible; they also break down the distinction between right and wrong, deny the existence of evil and the accountability of man to any higher authority than himself, and contain expressions blasphemous in character, and denials of truth, settled by the consent of ages.
That it should make such progress in view of such principles, is no great compliment to the spiritual discernment of this age; and this progress can only be accounted for by considering the peculiar miraculous manifestations that have attended it from the beginning of its work. These have carried it forward in spite of the abominable character of its teachings. Its infidelity is notorious. Its connection, more or less, with free-love and other abominations, is generally understood, and yet in this nineteenth century it has made most rapid speed. There can be no doubt, however, that it would have made even a greater advance, had these hideous features been more concealed. They have caused multitudes to take their stand against it who would otherwise have hailed its manifestations with rapture, as furnishing the needed demonstration of the immortality of the soul, thus bridging over the gap left open by the lack of Scripture evidence. But early instruction in morality and respect for the Bible have not lost their influence, and consequently the deformities of spiritualism cause them to shrink back with fear from recognizing it as from any good source. God has, in mercy, permitted its true character to stand out clearly in the first stages of its progress, that all honest lovers of truth need not be deceived as to its nature.
We believe there are plain prophecies in the Scriptures that show that this delusion will become nearly universal, and will constitute the “hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.” How can it become so when there are so many that have taken their stand against it? We believe it must yet put on more of a religious garb. We think the Scriptures plainly show this must be so in order that certain prophecies be fulfilled, and that it is even now assuming this phase, and that things are so shaping that this can be discerned without difficulty. Let us notice several scriptures that seem to refer to this subject:—“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matt. 24: 23–27.
The connection very plainly shows that this work is to be seen just before Christ comes. It is introduced immediately after the great papal tribulation, or persecution, of twelve hundred and sixty years. It comes up as a counterfeit and deceptive work, designed to show that the Lord will not come in a literal, personal manner, but in some spiritual way. The Saviour guards this point thus: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” This shows plainly that the design of this deceptive work is to teach just the contrary.
Again, it will claim to be the real coming of Christ. “There shall arise false christs, showing great signs and wonders,” &c. A false christ is one that claims to be the genuine, but is not. We believe spiritualism has a large place in the fulfillment of this prophecy. It comes at the right time, and in the right manner. Its manifestations generally occur in the “secret chambers,” or retired room. It claims to be the second coming of Christ.
Said the Truth Seeker, a spiritualist paper, in its prospectus, “It shall be the organ through which the christs of the last dispensation will choose to speak.” The Spiritual Telegraph says, “Hearken then to the voice of wisdom, O ye inhabitants of the earth, and be not blinded as to your Lord’s appearing; for he is already in your midst.” The italics are mine. Again, Mrs. Conant, in the Banner of Light, Nov. 18, 1865, says, “Spiritualism is that second coming of Christ.”
We know they do great signs and wonders, and millions are ensnared by them. Thus far all is very plain. But how are the very elect of God in danger of deception from them? The elect are those who are trying to honor and obey God, and who believe his word. In order for them to be deceived, or to be in danger in that direction, something must come up having an appearance of the genuine article. We are in danger of being deceived by counterfeit money, because it has a look like the true. So in this case something must come up that looks like the true. But the general character of the teachings of spiritualism in the past has had no appearance of true religion. They are simply blasphemous in their denials of God, of Christ, and the Scriptures. So we look for something different that will have a great appearance of piety and religion, but will really deny its vital principles.
Again, Paul says, “Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thess. 2: 9–11. Here we have the same idea of deception and strong delusion brought to view. They have something they think is truth and that has a resemblance to genuine religion, and yet is a delusive snare.
In 2 Tim. 3, we have a wonderful description of the main characteristics of the last days, showing the condition of society, the character of the youthful generation, and especially of the mass of professors of religion. Verse 5: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” These are certainly professors of religion. Verse 8 carries the matter further: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”
The very ones who resist the truth, as the magicians did in Moses’ time, are the same class as those “who have the form of godliness, but deny the power;” in other words, those who profess religion—not atheists and infidels. How did Jannes and Jambres withstand Moses? Whenever Moses wrought miracles by the power of God, these men wrought miracles by the power of Satan, to deceive. Professors of religion are going to do this in the last days. This is where false christs and false prophets are going to deceive all but the elect. This will take place in the “last days;” but “they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was.” As they met a sudden destruction with Pharaoh and all his host, so shall these by the coming of Christ.
The same idea is also manifest in connection with the fall of mystic Babylon. Rev. 18: 2. Many commentators agree that in this term is embraced corrupted religion, which is worldwide in extent. As the word Babylon means confusion, mixture, it embraces that mixed state of truth and error commingled in a thousand different forms. The time comes in the last days when great light is given and rejected, and, as the consequence, a moral fall takes place. The consequences of that fall are seen in the verse above referred to. Babylon becomes “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit.” As Babylon is certainly a professedly religious body, and as these spirits become the animating power of that body after the Lord leaves it and calls his people out, I cannot see how the conclusion can be escaped that these spirits are to take a religious guise, and that they will deceive the people by this means.
Has not Satan always worked through a counterfeit system? It is astonishing how many forms paganism has in common with true religion. False prophets always existed side by side with the true. In the Saviour’s time, those most bitter toward him were the religionists of that age who had the popular ear, and Paul says in his day there were “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11: 13, 14. That is, Satan, the great angel of darkness, can make himself appear like an angel of God. If Satan has wrought in this way in the past, shall we doubt that in his last and greatest deception he is going to excel himself in this respect? We do not believe that his Satanic works are going to be shown as plainly all through as they have been thus far in spiritualism; but we expect to see it take on a religious garb, and claim to be the veritable religion of our Lord Jesus Christ. In no other way, it seems to us, can these scriptures have a complete fulfillment. And now, do the events taking place around us point in this direction? This is our next inquiry.
It has been the case since the advent of spiritualism, and is largely so still, that the ministers of the popular churches of our land have spoken against it, and have denounced it, and have given its true character. But there are signs that show it is becoming more popular among those who have the public ear. I will here give an extract from a sermon by the Rev. O. B. Frothingham. I think he is a minister of the Unitarian church. This was published in the Springfield Republican, of May 26, 1871, one of the most influential papers in New England, and was designed to prove the immortality of the soul. He is one of the most popular lecturers of our day, a man of intellect and eloquence, and, so far as I know, has never called himself a spiritualist, or identified himself with them. His words, of course, are all the more noticeable for this reason. Having given some of the usual reasons for a belief of this doctrine, and having spoken of the growing skepticism on the subject of the soul’s immortality, and of the danger of its losing its hold in the popular mind, Mr. F. says:
“The advent of spiritualism saved the popular belief in immortality from the danger of, if not total, yet partial, eclipse. To the multitude of mankind, spiritualism brought a new revelation; and the eagerness with which it was welcomed, showed the need of it that was felt. Hundreds of thousands—nay, millions in America and in Europe, in sober England and mercurial France—hailed the promise of communication with rapture. People of every degree and class—the instructed and the uninstructed, toilers and thinkers, mechanics and mathematicians, merchants and men of letters, tradesfolk and philosophers, physicians, lawyers, professors, judges, divines—investigated and embraced it. It met the crying demand for palpable evidence, for substantial and incontrovertible facts. It challenged the experimental method of modern science; it courted skepticism; it offered proof for tradition, law for miracle, the confirmation of the senses for the dogma of faith. It came to the doubting disciple and said: ‘Reach hither thy fingers and behold my hands; reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.’ The Baron de Guldenstubbe of Paris, attests that more than fifty persons, among whom were barons, princes, counts, colonels, physicians, men of culture, and artists of renown, witnessed again and again the astounding phenomenon of direct communication by writing from invisible beings.
“That a belief thus attested and published should have spread like a new gospel of the kingdom, is not wonderful. It would have been wonderful had it not. It was what the world was waiting for. It came as an answer to passionate prayer. It was the bringing of life and immortality to light that desponding humanity groaned for. The shadowy realm came into view; the gloomy barriers of the sepulcher disappeared; the dividing flood was dried up; voices were heard from the silent land; the bleak waste of the Beyond was lively with happy forms; dirges changed into songs; the raiment of mourning fell off. The heart reached out its eager hands once more, and was thankful to embrace something more substantial than a shade. The family in Heaven and earth was re-united.”
This man claims to be only a “thoughtful looker on,” a minister of the gospel, and is a popular orator. That such men should speak thus is certainly a sign of the times, and shows whither we are drifting.
To this we would add the manifestations in Beecher’s church, an account of which recently appeared in the Review. I clipped the same account from the columns of the Springfield Republican, and it was no doubt published extensively elsewhere, and these were most certainly remarkable occurrences. This matter went so far that it was commonly reported that Mr. Beecher had fully committed himself as a spiritualist. But he made a public statement in the papers that he had not yet taken this position, not denying, however, but that he had been much interested in the subject and was favorably impressed. Here is a great fact, and we think no well-informed man will deny it, who is candid, that this most popular pulpit orator of our land has been looking into this subject with great interest, and that surprising manifestations have taken place right before a crowded audience in his own church, while he himself was holding services, and that he has manifested quite a strong leaning in the direction of their views and philosophy. This is certainly a very large straw, showing the direction of the current.
Now we have no idea that should Mr. Beecher take this stand fully, he would resemble in his utterances those spiritualists who blaspheme and deny the God of the Bible, and boldly deny distinctions of right and wrong. Mr. B. would no doubt give us a very pretty and seemingly beautiful theory of morality, in which love and goodness would largely figure. And here it seems to us the “deception” spoken of in the prophecies is coming in, a largely spiritualizing method of interpreting the Scriptures is to be adopted so that it can be made to harmonize with infidel geology, or almost anything else desired by the interpreter and be pleasing to the popular ear, while this modern philosophy will be the ruling spirit.
Great outward respect can thus be shown for the Bible, but precious little real respect for its plain commands. To my mind, it is astonishing what progress has been made in this direction all over our land within the last few years. It is seen especially in the prevalent ideas concerning future punishment, even among those whose creeds proclaim the doctrine of endless torment for the wicked. How common it was a few years since to hear ministers discourse largely of a burning hell to be maintained to all eternity, as the abode of the wicked. Who ever hears of it now? The prevalent idea is, that mainly of the spiritualists that men’s spirits go into the other world to live about as they do here so far as moral ideas are concerned. To be sure they will suffer pangs of conscience if they have done wrong, but it will not be so very hard after all; for they were liable to that in this life; but many of them seemed to endure all the pains that conscience inflicted with remarkable ease. Why may they not in the future life, then?
The cardinal doctrine of spiritualism that men go into the other world to live in this respect as they lived here, is becoming exceedingly common, and it is rare that men can be found holding the immortal-soul theory, who are believers in any punishment but a mental or a figurative one. And such ideas of God’s goodness are being generally entertained by our greatest public teachers; so that it is thought he will not punish any one very much for sin. This is another direction in which the popular ideas123of theology are rapidly approximating the spiritualist theory.
Now let the belief become general that the friends who have passed away (whose spirits our popular preachers tell us are hovering around us, beholding with interest all we do), can communicate with us, that their loving influence is all about us, and where is the difference in essentials between spiritualism and popular theology? And is not this view very taking in its character, yea, most enticing to those who have lost friends?
I know this view to be wonderfully increasing all over our country among those who abhor the blasphemous utterances of spiritualists, and would not for the world be identified with them; and some are certain that they daily have the influences of dear departed ones about them. Now let these influences increase till the forms of departed friends appear, and are apparently recognized, and the churches of our land generally recognize them as such, and place themselves under their care, and we have a very alluring form of error, most captivating and lovely indeed to those who believe in it. How much would declarations of the Bible influence such? They would consider they had actual demonstration, and they would weigh but little.
Now when we realize that these are “the spirits of devils working miracles,” “Satan transformed as an angel of light,” “a class who shall deceive if possible the very elect,” “Satan working with all power and signs and lying wonders,” we can realize that this will be an “hour of temptation,” that will try all the dwellers on the earth. And nothing short of a thorough belief in the Bible statement that the “dead know not anything,” and kindred declarations, and a daily, living experience of the Holy Spirit’s influence on the heart can preserve us from it. The Spirit’s influence we believe to be the “eye salve” which is designed to make us see clearly. If we are accustomed to its holy, melting tenderness, it will enable us to distinguish the true from the false. How much we need to seek it, and enjoy it. It will only be given to the pure in heart.
In this way, substantially, do we believe the church organizations of our land will come under this influence. The signs of the times show they are ripe for it, and already some of the most popular leaders are strongly leaning that way; and thus can this error become clothed with a religious garb, and led on by the prince of devils, ready to do the final work prophesied of it in the Holy Scriptures. Certainly the progress that has been made is surprising, and we are prepared for almost anything in the future. Enough has already transpired to show the great day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
Trenton, Mo., March 20, 1872.
The Warning Cries in Mammoth Cave.
A few days since, a company, seventy in number, each carrying a staff for support, and a lamp to give light, started to explore the long route in this wonderful cavern. A faithful, experienced guide to lead the way, and another to see that none lagged or wandered into dangerous by-ways, gave us a feeling of security. When entering upon the more fearful parts, our track, at times a narrow path on the edge of yawning chasms, the cry from the guide in front would come with echoing peal, “Dreadful pit to the right of you! Watch where you put your feet, and send the warning words along the line.” The words were fairly shouted to those in the rear, and every foot was placed more carefully, and every staff more firmly, as a strong light from the magnesian wire was thrown into the fearful abyss. A few rods of apparent security, and then a louder cry, “Bottomless pit to the left of you, and the path very slippery.”
Were the warnings from pulpit and press, of the pit-falls in our great cities, as well heeded as were these, fewer steps would slide toward the pit, and fewer lights go out to leave the traveler in the darkness of despair.
Along one labyrinth, a strong iron rail was placed, and, at the head of a fearful descent, the guide stood and gave a helping hand to each, giving directions about a narrow bridge at the foot of the stairs, and telling us to wait in the open space beyond until he could again take the lead. A loud call, warning of the dangers of the Dead Sea, soon followed, and then, “Low heads through the Vale of Humility,” and taking the stooping posture of the guide, we saved our poor heads from painful contact with overhanging rocks. Soon we gathered at the river and waited our turn to be ferried to the other shore. “Hold fast to the rocks, there are quicksands below,” and we clung for life. As we entered the boat, we heard the orders, “Be steady! Keep still! the water is deep, and the way is dark.” Now the echo of the music from a band in a distant hall suggested the melody of the better land. Our feeble lights threw no radiance on the hills beyond, but we had implicit trust in our guide, and we were soon an unbroken band, resting beneath a great dome, whose roof sparkled with the stony stars and flowers made by God's secret chemistry in this dark chamber of the earth.
What an epitome, thought I, as I there meditated, has this journey been of the whole of human life. Dangers on every side, escaped by trusting and obeying our guide, and keeping our lamps trimmed and burning to give light to our feet. There is a never-erring never-wearying Guide for our life journey, and in his written directions he has pointed out the pit-falls and quicksands, and calls with tenderness, “Hear, O my son; enter not into the path of the wicked, for their way is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.” To those who keep in the path of the just, he gives the shining light, and says, “I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest.”
“Do footsteps seem to glide? Then only raise
Thine eye to Me, and in the slippery ways
I will hold up thy goings.
Trust my all-seeing care, and thou shalt find
A never failing Guide.”