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Review and Herald, Vol. 24, No. 22.

A Good Word from Orthodoxy

Review and Herald

Oct 25, 1864

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 25, 1864

A Good Word from Orthodoxy.

EVERY lover of Christ and his appearing, will find a rich treat in the following article. It is from the Northern Christian Advocate. Amid the general apostasy of religious teaching on this subject, it is an encouraging feature of the times, that persons are occasionally found, who, through popular journals, dare utter in the ears of the error-loving multitude such sentiments as these. What S. D. Adventist could have spoken more to the point? A stray expression about consciousness in the intermediate state, the church being the bride, &c., the reader can correct for himself in the light of Scripture. We hope such articles will not be without their influence in preparing hearts for the full reception of the truth.

LOVING CHRIST'S APPEARING A TEST OF PREPARATION FOR A CROWN OF LIFE.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me in that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8.
In the preceding verse the apostle says, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” This time of being offered and of departure, said to be at hand, must be the time of death and not the time of receiving the crown of righteousness. The time when Paul and “all them also that love his appearing” shall receive the gift of the crown of life, will be “that day,” doubtless referring to the day of his (Christ's) appearing. Such are the teachings of Christ that “the righteous shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Whatever may be the nature or degree of the bliss of holy departed spirits in the intermediate state, Christ most clearly directs our faith and hope to the time of his coming in the following language: “And behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his works shall be.” To this bright, focal point “the exceeding great and precious promises of God all point, and on these only can our faith and hope safely rest. It would be in vain to attempt to conceal the fact that the eye of the Christian world has, by some suspicious influence been diverted from this point, this faith and hope. Instead of loving Christ's appearing, and looking for it, this great and precious truth seems quite generally obscured by the mist of plausible and popular error, and thus lost sight of by most of the religious teachers of our day. Numerous theories and sophisms abound, the object of which seems to be to prove in substance that “my Lord delayeth his coming,” as if that were a most important and desirable point to gain. According to the popular teaching and theology of our day, the coming and kingdom of Christ is not to be expected or looked for as a literal reality. That is, the real appearing of the real Jesus who was once on earth, was crucified, rose from Joseph's tomb, conversed with the disciples on their way to Emmaus, while their hearts burned within them, ascended from Olivet, and was thus taken up as a cloud received him out of their sight. The same actual return of this very same personal Jesus is not a joyful and most welcome thought even to the professing Christian world. The very idea is met with frowns and decided opposition. The present Gentile Church is not yet ready to see the Lord of life and glory, and who will attempt to make it appear that the professed Christians of our day do generally really love Christ's appearing?
The inventive powers and literary taste of our age have created several other theories of Christ's appearing, which very much relieve the objections and fears of those who are not quite ready for his real personal appearing. Hence, frequently the hobby funeral text is gravely used in good faith as usual, “Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.” That is, death cometh!—Learned Commentators have amused themselves, and others with a coming of Christ to destroy Jerusalem in the shape of a Roman army under Titus. All having been fulfilled, This of course is very learned, and withal serves as a comforting fable for the self-deception of those who, not being prepared, would not like to see the blessed Saviour coming with power and great glory.
There is still another appearing of Christ, advocated by the popular religious teachers of our day, very generally received by the churches as an orthodox theory, and yet this appearing and kingdom of Christ, so called, is not his real appearing and kingdom. Hence it is called his spiritual coming and kingdom, where Christ is to reign in some secondary sense in his personal absence, or as we would say, reign by proxy, in his name, but under the auspices of the Holy Ghost, which of course, in all fairness and common sense, would not be the kingdom and reign of Christ, but in reality, of the Holy Spirit, whose person, office, and work is distinct from, and not the same as, that of Christ the Son.
In the light of the sacred oracles, the reign of the Holy Spirit is a reign of grace over the heart or man's inner nature, a reign of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the only reign of the Holy Ghost, which the Scriptures reveal. This reign of grace in us constitutes our bodies temples of the Holy Ghost; thus the true believer becomes both a subject and an heir of Christ's future, everlasting kingdom, which shall come “at his appearing,” and in no comprehensible sense before. The future coming kingdom and glorious reign of Christ on the renewed and restored earth, will be as real and personal as was his first coming, incarnation, humiliation, suffering, and death.
The return of Christ to this world as its heir, conqueror, and king, is the world's hope, and especially the only hope of the church, which he has purchased with his blood. There is meaning in that expression spoken by the holy prophet, “The desire of nations shall come.” The ancient worthies looked forward through the vista of coming ages to this hope, to this coming glory of the Messiah. The apostle speaks of them thus, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” All these “received not the promise” for the reason that “God having provided some better things for us,” they were not to be made perfect in their attainments and bliss “without us,” that is, all saints are to participate at the final consummation, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the coronation of the King and crowning of him with all his saints.
This is really the theme and burden of prophetic song through Moses and all the prophets. From these scriptures a few only can here be specified. Among them the language of Job is very remarkable for clearness, considering the age in which he lived. He certainly must have loved Christ's appearing, as appears in the following words: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin-worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Job xix, 25-27. No comment can add to the clearness of the meaning here intended. How significant that precious gospel name, “my Redeemer,” and how unmistakable is that reference to the resurrection of “the blest and holy” when Job should see his Redeemer standing on the earth, when he, the Redeemer, should dwell with them and be their God. Rev. xxi, 3. The prophet refers to this same glory thus, “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” Isa. xxiv, 23. What reign can this be, so glorious, if not that of David's Son on Israel's throne spoken of in so many of the precious promises of the holy Scriptures? And why may this not be the time when Job, with others, “shall see with his own eyes the King in his beauty and the land that was then afar off.”
The Psalmist very frequently exultingly dwells on the same holy theme, and calls on all the works of God to praise him in joyful expectation. One of his sweet strains reads thus, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the fields be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with truth.” Ps. xcvi, 11–13.
As this glorious event draws nigh, and the sorrows and tribulation of earth are sadly multiplying, certainly the joy of every heir of future glory should be no less than that of ancient saints. In view of it the Lord comforted his tried, suffering people of old, by the following words which he commissioned the prophet to speak to them, and all who shall come out of great tribulation, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not: behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense: he will come and save you.” Isa. xxxv, 4. In another place the prophet describes what may be regarded as the marriage-supper of the Lord: “A feast of fat things,” and further says, “and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.” This prophecy ushers us into the future dispensation of glory, where the vail shall be no more on the mind, but we shall see as we are seen, and where there shall be no cause for tears, and where “death shall be destroyed,” it being “swallowed up in victory,” as quoted by the apostle Paul. 1 Cor. xv, 54. This will most certainly be at the appearing and kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as clearly appears from the next verse of the prophet, thus, “And it shall be said in that day, Lo! this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. xxv, 9. Such are some of the glowing, prophetic descriptions of the acclamations of welcome and joy with which the King of Israel will be hailed by those who love his appearing, when he shall again and finally return to our sin-ruined world as its Deliverer, Lord, and King. Not then, as when in meekness, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, he once rode into Jerusalem, but “with power and great glory.” In the New Testament Scriptures, this same truth is kept constantly before the mind’s eye, as a great central promise on which believers are to base their faith and hope. To this, Christ himself very often referred. In reply to the high priest he said, “Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” To the church at Colosse, Paul wrote, “When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The apostle James writes to his afflicted brethren, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” The loving disciple, John, writes, “And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” Again he says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” The closing words of comfort in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to his servants are, “He that testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly.” The weary bride responds, Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.
Verily the return of Christ our Redeemer to our world, to save and rule over it as King of kings and Lord of lords, is its only reliable hope. Self-conceited humanity has been trying its vast resources and appliances for nearly two thousand years, in the personal absence of our blessed Lord. And what is the real result of this two thousand years’ experimenting on a large scale? Even with all the vast improvements of science and the arts, the intellectual and physical advance of our wonderful age, it would be well to stop to take breath and gravely ask, Where are we, in a moral or religious point of view? Alas for us, the world has not yet been regulated, for it still goes wrong in the last half of the nineteenth century. Look over the last five years, or a little more, beginning with the Crimean war. England and France allies with Turkey against Russia. Then the horrible rebellion in India, which cost the lives of so many Britons, suppressed for the time being. Then comes the war in which Austria, France, and Sardinia were involved in a fierce death-grapple, by which human gore flowed in torrents. Then came the outbreak of the Druses against the Christians, fertilizing the soil of ancient Lebanon with the blood of its slain. Then the Italian war, led by Garibaldi, somewhat changing the political phase of the Italians. Then the war of France with China, then France with Mexico, then Russia and Circassia and others. Still the great rebellion in the Chinese Empire is far from being subdued, though France and England have, from selfish motives, intervened. What of our own late, so prosperous and happy land? From darkness we step by step hasten to deeper gloom, and nothing but Divine interposition can perpetuate our national existence. Scarcely less cheerless are the prospects of other nations. The train seems already laid, and a straggling spark may at any time set the nations all ablaze in self-destructive war. How long, at this rate, will it take the church to convert the world, in the absence of her Saviour and Lord, so it will be fit for his return, according to modern theory?
While expatiating on these things to be done before Christ could come again, a preacher recently told his congregation, in substance, that they need have no fears of the coming of Christ for several hundred and probably thousands of years. This of course was very consoling, quite conclusive, and perfectly satisfactory to those who had slighted the means of grace and neglected the great salvation. The effect of such teaching is morally ruinous, especially to a fashionable, worldly-minded church, and hence we see them asleep all around us. No oil in their vessels, no grace in their hearts, and therefore they do not love Christ nor his appearing, though it is so evident that all is lost unless Christ comes to us speedily. Like that ship in the midst of the sea, Christ sees us toiling and rowing, for the winds are contrary, and the warring elements seem to be in fearful conspiracy to hasten our doom: the night is dark and the storm is high, and hopes forlorn. Thus, on the troubled waters, Christ is again coming with vengeance on his enemies who “destroy the earth,” but with a recompense to save those that love him. To such as love and “look for him, he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Why then should such be afraid or troubled? He comes on the rolling, troubled waters for our relief and rescue. He kindly speaks to us, if we have ears to hear, and says again, “It is I; be not afraid.” What sympathy in Jesus for suffering men. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. Not to love the appearing of such a Christ, is not to love him. Not to love him is most unreasonable and inexcusable. Nay more, it is a damnable heresy reduced to practice. “If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha,” 1 Cor. xvi, 22, that is, accursed, for the Lord is coming.

Eternal Life.

By Cecil Frances Alexander

THE roseate hues of early dawn, The brightness of the day, The crimson of the sunset sky, How fast they fade away! Oh! for the pearly gates of heaven! Oh! for the golden floor! Oh! for the sun of righteousness That setteth nevermore!
The highest hopes we cherish here, How fast they tire and faint! How many a spot defiles the robe That wraps an earthly saint! Oh! for a heart that never sins! Oh! for a soul washed white! Oh! for a voice to praise our King, Nor weary day or night!
Here faith is ours, and heavenly hope, And grace to lead us higher: But there are perfectness and peace Beyond our best desire. Oh! by Thy love and anguish, Lord! Oh! by Thy life laid down! Oh! that we fall not from Thy grace, Nor cast away our crown! —Cecil Frances Alexander.

The Soul Neglected.

Impenitent friend! you are in danger from an unexpected quarter. If you are finally condemned by the righteous Judge, it will not probably be on account of the sins that have swept multitudes into perdition. You are not likely to be condemned as a blasphemer, or as a slave-driver, or a highway-robber, or a drunkard, or a scoffing skeptic. Of none of these shameless outrages against sense and decency are you likely to be guilty. Nor is it necessary for you to be a scoffer, or a sensualist, or a sot, or a swindler, in order to be shut out of Heaven. The abodes of despair are not reached alone by the impious and the reckless devotees of vice. You need not break openly every law of God in order to reach perdition.
You will simply have to persist in your present course. Simply go on as you have begun—simply "neglect the great salvation"—and you will make your everlasting ruin sure. Many foolish, faithless parents have stood by the grave of a child which they dug with their own hands. How? Did they administer slow poison, or strike an assassin-knife through the young heart? No; but they killed their child just as surely, by simple neglect of the first laws of health. Many a father, too, has wrung his hands in agony before the prison-cell which held a ruined son, or over the letter which told him of a son's disgrace, and on those very hands rested the guilt of that boy's ruin. Why? Had they led that son into Sabbath-breaking or theft, or profligacy? No; but they had let the youth alone, and left him to rush into them unrestrained. Neglect was the boy's ruin. There is no need that the man in a skiff amid Niagara's rapids should row toward the cataract; resting on his oars is quite enough to send him over the awful verge.
It is the neglected wheel that capsizes the vehicle and maims for life the passengers. It is the neglected leak that sinks the ship. It is the neglected field that yields briars instead of bread. It is the neglected spark kindling near the magazine whose tremendous explosion sends its hundreds of mangled wretches into eternity. The neglect of an officer to throw up a rocket on a certain night caused the fall of Antwerp, and postponed the deliverance of Holland for twenty or more years. The neglect of a sentinel to give an alarm hindered the fall of Sebastopol, and resulted in the loss of many thousand lives.
And, my friend, it will be the stupendous aggregation of all your fatal neglects—of all the neglected Sabbaths, joined to the neglected offers of grace, and added to the neglected duties, and multiplied by the neglected drawings of God's Spirit—that will sink you (if you die impenitent) into perdition. When you neglect a Sabbath, you bar up an open door into the pathway to Heaven. When you neglect an inward call of God's Spirit, you extinguish the flame on which as much may depend as on the last match or tinder in the possession of an Arctic traveler amid the icebergs. The Spirit gives last knocks at sinners' hearts; the neglect to open leaves "the house desolate." When you neglect the offers of Christ's atoning love, you cast away your only hope. You insult the long-suffering mercy of God. You put the crucified Saviour to an open shame. You voluntarily put yourself into the complete power of the Adversary. You waste your only life of probation, and fling away all the good that a godly life might accomplish for truth and humanity. You damn your own soul! All these are the simple, inevitable consequences of "neglecting so great a salvation!"
It matters not that, while neglecting your soul you are engaged in other and honorable pursuits—in merchandise, in literature, in agriculture, in science, or in statesmanship. Right in their proper place, all these high callings become wrong when they crowd out all thought of God and eternity. Even they are infinitely more dignified and ennobled by true religion. But they cannot save the soul.
If the victorious Kearsarge were to spring a leak from striking on a sunken rock, what matters it that the captain should take to studying his charts, or the pilot to noting his compass, or the sailing-master to making up the log, or the marines to their accustomed drill? These are all proper occupations at the proper time. But they don't save the ship! How can they escape, if they neglect to stop that leak? Oh! unforgiven, unconverted reader, what shall it profit thee to enjoy all art, and all polite letters, and revel amid wealth uncounted, if at the last thou awake amid the agonies of the lost?
The only remedy for neglect is immediate devotion to your eternal welfare. The past is gone. The future may be but a handbreadth. The present is in thy hand. Use it. Let no sin, no Satan, no selfish interest hinder thee. If business press, say, "Now it is my business to seek God." If pleasure beckon, set your heart on the loftier pleasure—of pleasing God. Let your soul-cry be, "Oh, neglected, forbearing Jesus! I neglect thee no longer! Give me that sacred hand, so long refused. I am ready to grasp it in faith, and trust thee to save me, and to guide me to the pathway of eternal life. Be merciful to me a sinner! "Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress; Helpless, look to thee for grace; Vile, I to this fountain fly; Wash me, Saviour, or I die!"—Cuyler.

Slander.

By Spurgeon

It is not a very pleasant thing for a man honestly to serve God, and then to find his character taken from him; and yet, beloved, this has been the lot of all true men in every age. The world never does permit a man to rebuke her follies, without replying with a volley of mud. If she cannot stop the man's mouth, she blackens his character. If you will turn to the lives of any of the saints of God, you will discover that they were the victims of slanders of the grossest kind. To this very day it is asserted by Romanists, that Martin Luther was a drunkard. In his own day he was called the German beast, that for lust must needs marry Catherine. If you turn to the life of Whitefield—our great and mighty Whitefield—in more modern times, what was his character? Why, he was accused of every crime that even Sodom knew; and perjury stood up and swore that all was true. As for Wesley—I have heard that on one occasion he said that he had been charged with every crime in the calendar, except drunkenness; and when a woman in the crowd stood up and accused him of that, he then said, "Blessed be God, I have now had all manner of evil spoken against me falsely, for Christ's name sake." You remember in the life of John Bunyan that episode concerning Agnes Beaumont. The good man suffered this young woman to ride behind him on his horse to a meeting at Gamlingay, and for this his character was implicated in two charges, before a magistrate, which might have involved him in the crime of poisoning, and laid the foundation for villainous reports of uncleanness; yet John Bunyan was the purest, and most heavenly-minded man who ever put his hand to paper; and he did put his hand to the paper, as no other man ever did who was not inspired. Now, this is not pleasant, but if you are a true Christian, and you are called to occupy a prominent post in the service of God, set your account for this; expect to lose your character; expect to have only the good opinion of your God and the faithful ones, who like you are willing to bear contempt. But what joy it is for these holy men, to know that at last God will plead the cause of their souls!—Spurgeon.

God Delivers.

"ONE Sunday," says the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, "I went up into my pulpit, intending to preach a sermon which I had prepared for that purpose; but my mind was so confused, that I could not recollect either my text or any part of my discourse. I was afraid I should be obliged to come down without saying anything; but having recollected myself a little, I thought I should say something on the third chapter of Daniel, containing an account of the three children cast into the fiery furnace. I found in doing it, such an extraordinary assistance from God, that I supposed there must be some cause for it. I then stated to the congregation that if any one found any particular benefit, they should acquaint me with it the following week. In consequence of this, the Wednesday after, a woman came, and gave me the following account:
'I have been for some time much concerned for my soul. I have attended the church at all opportunities, and have spent much time in prayer. At this my husband, who is a butcher, has been exceeding enraged, and threatened me severely, if I dared to go to John Fletcher's church; yes, if I dared to go any more to any religious meeting whatever. When I told him I could not in conscience refrain from going at least, to our parish church, he grew quite outrageous, and swore dreadfully, if I went any more, he would cut my throat as soon as I came home. This made me cry mightily to God, that he would support me in that trying hour. And though I did not feel any degree of comfort, yet having a sure confidence in God, I determined to go on in my duty, and leave the event to him.
""'Last Sunday, after many struggles with the Devil and my own heart, I came down stairs ready for church. My husband asked whither I was going. I told him. Well then, said he, I shall not as I intended cut your throat; but I will heat the oven, and throw you into it the moment you come home. Notwithstanding this threatening, which he enforced with many bitter oaths, I went to church, praying all the way that God would strengthen me to suffer whatever might befall me. While you were speaking of the three children whom Nebuchadnezzar cast into a burning fiery furnace, I found it all belonged to me, and God applied every word of it to my heart. And when the sermon was ended, I thought if I had a thousand lives, I could lay them all down for God. I felt my soul so filled with his love, that I hastened home, fully determined to give myself to whatsoever God pleased: nothing doubting, but that he would either take me to Heaven if he suffered me to be burnt to death, or that he would in some way deliver me, even as he did his three servants that trusted in him. When I got almost to my own door, I saw the flames issuing out of the mouth of the oven; and I expected nothing else, but that I should be thrown into it immediately. I felt my heart rejoice, that if it were so, the will of the Lord would be done. I opened the door, and to my utter astonishment, saw my husband upon his knees, wrestling with God in prayer for the forgiveness of his sins. He caught me in his arms, and earnestly begged my pardon, and he has continued diligently seeking God ever since.'
"I now know," adds Mr. Fletcher, "why my sermon was taken from me, namely, that God might thus magnify his mercy."

Talks About Health.

By Dio Lewis

A WORD TO MY DYSPEPTIC FRIEND.

You have asked me to prescribe for you. You expect medicine. Perhaps you hope for whisky, just now the rage for chronic maladies. But I shall give you nothing to swallow. You swallow too much already.
Of all the maladies, dyspepsia is the most distressing. To get rid of its horrors, you would part with your right arm. I believe you. But will you part with a portion of your table luxuries? I fear not. But presuming you are in earnest, I will prescribe for you.

RULES.

1. Rise early, dress warm, and go out. If strong, walk; if weak, saunter. Drink cold water three times. Of all cold baths, this is the best for the dyspeptic. After a half hour or more, come in for breakfast.
2. For breakfast eat a piece of good steak half as large as your hand, a slice of coarse bread, and a baked apple. Eat very slowly. Talk pleasantly with your neighbors. Read the cheerful comments of loyal journals. Avoid copperheads as you do hot biscuits and strong coffee. Drink nothing.
3. Digest for an hour, and then to your work. I trust it is in the open air. Work hard till noon, and then rest body and mind till dinner. Sleep a little. Drink water.
4. For dinner (2 or 3 o'clock) eat a slice of beef, mutton, or fish, as large as your hand, a potato, two or three spoonfuls of other vegetables, and a slice of coarse bread. Avoid tomatoes. For dessert, an apple. Give more than half an hour to this meal. Use no drink.
5. After dinner play anaconda for an hour. Now for the social, for pleasant games—a good time.
6. No supper. A little toast and tea even, for supper, will make your recovery very slow.
7. In a warm room, bathe your skin with cold water, hastily, and go to bed in a well-ventilated room, before 9 o'clock.
Follow this prescription for three months, and your stomach will so far recover that you can indulge for some time in all sorts of irregular and gluttonous eating.
Or, if you have resolved, in the fear of Heaven, to "present your bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God," and will continue to eat and work like a Christian, your distressing malady will soon be forgotten.—DIO LEWIS, M. D.

Mourning Secret Lusts Before God

A sanctified Christian mourns most before God for those lusts which appear least before men.

Mourning Secret Sins

Others cannot mourn in secret for public sins, but we should mourn in public for secret sins.

Crime in England.

THE London Morning Post thus speaks of Baron Martin's charge at the opening of the Liverpool assizes:
"*Never before, says Baron Martin, in the course of his whole judicial experience, has he seen so heavy a calendar. With the single exception of treason, it enjoys the unenviable distinction of embracing every crime under heaven, which can render a man obnoxious to the laws of England. Four murders, fourteen cases of manslaughter, twenty-four of burglary, are among the products of this ominous jail delivery. Rape, robbery, stabbing, and a host of minor offenses have all had their separate representatives. If we need any stimulus to increased exertion in the cause of morality it is amply supplied in the list of prisoners undergoing their trial at the present moment in one country town alone. Little flattering as the conclusion may be to our national vanity, we doubt not whether the Liverpool Calendar be not a very tolerable index of the state of crime all over the country.' Within a few weeks we have been called upon to chronicle a succession of homicides, alike repulsive in their barbarous details, and apparently destitute of any adequate incentives. The wretched child who fell a victim to the knife of the assassin in an obscure Wiltshire village could scarcely have excited the resentment of his murderer, and might even have been safe from his fears. Yet innocence and helplessness in this case are no security against a cruelty the most apparently purposeless and gratuitous we ever remember. Not to dwell on minor atrocities, we have one case in which a few angry words between two fellow servants at a lonely farm on a lonely hillside resulted in the deliberate butchery of a female. Another woman was sent to her last account in consequence of a lover's quarrel, originating in an ineffectual attempt upon the part of her admirer to tender some good advice. Its ill reception by the object of his affections piqued him, and the death of the girl was apparently the only thing which could give relief to his wounded feelings. A still darker tragedy yet awaits investigation at the hands of justice. A single night proved fatal in one of the suburbs of the metropolis itself to no less than four unoffending individuals. Of five inmates of the dwelling, one alone survives. Mother, brothers, and affianced bride, all perished, undoubtedly by the same knife. While such things can still occur at our very doors, it is vain to plume ourselves upon a civilization and refinement which yet abounds with passages worthy of the recent savage episodes of Lebanon or Damascus."

Improprieties in Public Worship.

THE following anecdote of Garrick and Dr. Stonehouse, from the Countess of Huntington's Life and Times, is well worthy the attention of clergymen, some of whom, we doubt not, occasionally lay themselves open to a rebuke similar to the one given by the British Roscius:
Dr. Stonehouse is said to have been one of the most correct and elegant preachers in the kingdom. When he entered into the holy orders he took occasion to profit by his acquaintance with Garrick, to procure from him some valuable instruction in elocution. Being once engaged to read prayers and preach at a church in the city, he prevailed upon Garrick to go with him. After the service, the British Roscius asked the Doctor what business he had to do when the duty was over? "None," said the other, "I thought you had," said Garrick, "on seeing you enter the reading desk in such a hurry. Nothing can be more indecent than to see a clergyman set about sacred business as if he were a tradesman, and go into the church as if he wanted to get out of it as soon as possible."
He next asked the Doctor what books he had in the desk before him? "Only the Bible and Prayer Book." "Only the Bible and Prayer-Book," replied the player; why, you tossed them backward and forward, and turned the leaves as carelessly as if they were those of a day-book or ledger." The Doctor was wise enough to see the force of these observations, and ever after he avoided the faults they were designed to reprove.

Cunningly-Devised Fables.

No words of mockery can be uttered by latter-day scoffers, nor words of opposition by error-loving professors, nor sentiments of scorn or indifference by a careless and ease-loving world, but the word of God has pointed them out, and fortified the humble disciple against them.
Scoffers refute themselves. How often are the Advent people told, in the bitterness of the opposition which they have to meet, that they are the false prophets that should arise in the last days, as recorded in Matt. xxiv, 24. How is this? Are we those false prophets? Yes! exclaims the enraged opponent. But, friend, those false prophets were to arise just before the coming of Christ, and constitute a sign of that event; and if we are the ones, then that sign is fulfilled, we are in the last days, and the coming of Christ is at the door! But hold! that is the very doctrine we are proclaiming, and hence we cannot be the false prophets spoken of. Thus the skeptic refutes himself and clears us.
Again, Peter informs us that "there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" Now it is evident that before this can take place, the doctrine of the Lord's coming must be agitated. There must be a general move on that subject, and the attention of the people be called to it, or there would be no occasion for the scoffer to arise and propose his question, Where is the promise of his coming? If, then, we can find a time when the doctrine of the Lord's coming is urged upon the people, and scoffers coming up all over the land, with the very question in their mouths which Peter ascribes to them, what must we conclude? Why, beyond controversy, that we have reached the very time spoken of by Peter. And when did he say these things should happen? "In the last days." Very well. These things are now transpiring before our eyes. The picture Peter has presented before us, is being fulfilled to the letter. We have therefore only to say to the scoffer as he comes up, that there is abundant promise of the Lord's coming; that Peter has pointed him out, and described his work, as that that should take place in the last days; and that therefore he is himself furnishing unanswerable evidence in favor of the doctrine against which he scoffs.
But again, Peter takes occasion to assure the disciples that they "have not followed cunningly-devised fables." In reference to what subject does he speak this? Answer. "The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." What is the matter here? Why, we may be sure that this doctrine will be denounced as a fable; and not being able to account for the scripture harmony by which it is sustained, people will endeavor to soothe their consciences with the thought that it is very "cunningly devised" but still a fable. And how is it? If popular theology be correct, we are certainly following a fable. We are deluded. All our expectations of the coming of Christ, and all that we are doing in reference to that event, are wholly based on fable. But how do they account for the wonderful harmony which our theory presents? Oh, how often we hear the expression, your doctrine is very curious; it is well put together; what an ingenious theory you have; &c., &c., but still they declare it a fable, and go to their farms, their merchandise, or their pleasure. Has not Peter anticipated this very thing? May we not tell such persons that Peter has declared that they would denounce the doctrine of the Lord's coming as a fable, and then pass over the wonderful harmony of the doctrine, by regarding it as very cunningly devised? Verily so.
But, brethren, the assurance of Peter is ours: We have not followed cunningly-devised fables, in making known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter saw upon the mount a miniature representation of the future glorious coming of our Lord in the clouds of heaven. We shall soon behold the reality. And then our course will be vindicated, and our hopes fulfilled before an unbelieving and scoffing world.
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