Review and Herald, Vol. 34, No. 22.
OUR FAITH AND HOPE; Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We DoPage 1
Earlier text: OUR FAITH AND HOPE; Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We DoTHE ORDER OF EVENTS IN THE JUDGMENT.
We have seen that though the book of life is the final book of reference to determine who shall have part in the first resurrection, yet it must itself first be examined by the book of God's remembrance for the removal of every name that has not completed the work of overcoming. 1. The book called the “book of remembrance” is written expressly for the righteous, and is the book which shall determine, in their cases, the decision of the Judgment. This book is particularly referred to in the following passages: Mal. iii, 16–18: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Ps. lvi, 8: “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?” Neh. xiii, 14: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done, for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.” The book of God's remembrance mentioned in these texts pertains only to the righteous. Yet it appears to be a different book from the book of life. For though that book belongs alone to the righteous, it seems to be simply the record of their names (Luke x, 20; Phil. iv, 3; Rev. iii, 5; xiii, 8; xvii, 8), while the book of remembrance is the record of their good deeds. Mal. iii, 16–18; Ps. lvi, 8; Neh. xiii, 14. But should we conclude that the book of life is identical with the book of God's remembrance, it will not essentially change this argument. For it would still follow that the record of the good deeds of the righteous, if it shows that they have overcome all their faults, and perfected the graces of the Spirit of God in themselves, is that which determines that their names shall be retained in the book of life, and their sins blotted out of the books which record them. But if the record be not such that God can accept, then their names must be removed from that book (Ex. xxxii, 32, 33; Ps. lxix, 28; Rev. iii, 5), and the record of their good deeds also be blotted out to be no more remembered. Neh. xiii, 14; Eze. iii, 20. The book of God's remembrance contains the names of all who enter the service of God, and of such only. Yet not every one of these does follow on to know him. Many that set out to overcome do not complete the work. That record, however, will show just how far they advanced in overcoming, and how and when they failed. As it contains simply the good deeds of the righteous, it will show their acts of repentance, confession, obedience, and sacrifice recorded therein. When the work is complete then this record shows them prepared for the examination of the Judgment. This, therefore, is the book out of which the cases of the righteous are to be decided, and from whose record they are to be ACCOUNTED WORTHY of that world and the resurrection from the dead. 2. The justification of the righteous in the Judgment must precede that resurrection which is called “the resurrection of the just.” Our Lord speaks of the resurrection of the righteous by this designation. Luke xiv, 14. Paul states that this resurrection shall be at the coming of Christ. 1 Cor. xv, 23, 51–54; 1 Thess. iv, 16–18. Matt. xii, 36, 37: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” The justification of the Judgment must be when the righteous are ACCOUNTED WORTHY of a part in the first resurrection. But before they are thus justified in the Judgment they give an account of their words. And this being true, it follows that God preserves a record of the words which we speak; also that our evil words are not blotted out until this account has been rendered. But the acquittal and the blotting out do, of necessity, precede the gift of immortality to the righteous at the advent of our Lord. 3. The decision of the Judgment in the case of the righteous must be when the blotting out of their sins takes place. Eccl. xii, 14: “For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” God brings the conduct of men into the Judgment by means of books of record. They are judged “out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Rev. xx, 12, 13. But the sins of the righteous are blotted out before the coming of the Lord. Acts iii, 19, 20. And it is manifest that their sins cannot be brought into the Judgment after they are thus blotted out. But the righteous are to be judged as really as are the wicked. Eccl. iii, 17. It follows, therefore, that their Judgment must be at the time of the blotting out of their sins. For then there is an end made forever of the record of their transgressions. Now it is manifest that when this final work is wrought, it will pertain only to those who have fully repented of their sins, and have perfectly accomplished the work of overcoming. This work of blotting out sins brings our Lord’s priesthood to an end. He must be priest till then. He is not needed as priest after that. But when our Lord does blot out the sins of his people he must present their cases individually before his Father and show from the “book of remembrance” that they have severally repented of their sins, and have completed their work of overcoming. Then the Father accepts the statement thus made and the evidence thus presented in the case of each one, and bids the Son to blot out the record of that person’s sins. This is manifestly the very time and occasion at which the righteous are accounted worthy of the resurrection to immortality. Their sins are thus brought into the Judgment through their High Priest, and THROUGH HIM the righteous render account of their sins to the Father. This account being accepted, their sins are blotted out, and themselves pronounced just before God. This is the justification of the Judgment. 4. There is a time for blotting out the names of some from the book of life, and of confessing the names of the others before the Father. Rev. iii, 5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” The time of blotting out names from the book of life precedes the deliverance of the saints. For at the time of that event every one shall be delivered “that shall be found written in the book.” Dan. xii, 1. Thus the fearful threatening of Ex. xxxii, 32, 33; Ps. lxix, 28; Rev. xxii, 19; is executed in the removal of names from this book before the coming of Christ. Those who overcome are the ones who have their sins blotted out. But those who fail to overcome have their names stricken from the book of life. The examination of their record must, therefore, precede both these acts of blotting out, for the express purpose of determining whether they shall have their sins blotted out, or have their names removed from the book of life. We have seen that it is at this very point that the righteous give account of their sins through their High Priest, who, from the book of God’s remembrance, shows that they have repented, confessed, forsaken, and overcome, their sins. Also that they are thus acquitted and justified in order that they may have a part in the resurrection to immortality. Here is also the very act of the Saviour in confessing the names of his people before his Father and the holy angels, that shall close our Lord’s priesthood and place his people where they shall be forever free from all their sins. For when the book of God’s remembrance is found to prove that the person under examination is an overcomer, it is then the part of the Saviour to confess his name before his Father and the holy angels, and the part of the Father to give judgment that that person’s sins be blotted from the record. Surely it is of some account to us that we have part in the fulfilment of the promise, “I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Matt. x, 32; Luke xii, 8; Rev. iii, 5. 5. The righteous are not done with their sins till they have rendered account in the Judgment. Eccl. iii, 17; xii, 14; Matt. xii, 36, 37. The only account that they can render is to show that they have made perfect work of repentance and of overcoming. This must be done before they are blotted out of the record above. Our Advocate with the Father must hold his office till he has saved his people from their sins. 1 John ii, 1; Matt. i, 21. He cannot close this work till he has seen them accepted in the Judgment. Whence it follows that his office of Advocate will constrain him to confess their names before the tribunal of his Father, and to show that their sins should be removed from the books. 6. When our Lord has thus finished his work as priest, his people are prepared to stand in the sight of God without an atoning sacrifice. The following texts make this very clear: Micah vii, 18, 19: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” And David, using the past for the future, as is frequent in the prophets, says: “As far as the EAST is from the WEST, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Ps. ciii, 12. Jeremiah, in the promise of the new covenant, says: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Chap. xxxi, 34. Paul, quoting Jeremiah, says: “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. viii, 12. Isa. xliii, 25: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Jer. l, 20: “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” When these prophetic declarations are accomplished we shall no longer need an Advocate, Intercessor, Mediator, or High Priest. Our sins will never after that exist even in the record of the court of Heaven. Our lost innocence will then have been recovered, and we shall then be like to the angels of God who walk in their original uprightness. 7. The accomplishment of this work of blotting out the sins of those who overcome is marked by a declaration of awful solemnity: Rev. xxii, 11, 12: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” These words virtually announce the close of our Lord’s work as High Priest. They cannot be uttered till he, as our Advocate, has secured the blotting out of the sins of his people at his Father’s tribunal. Yet we have seen that this work of blotting out is accomplished before he comes the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb. ix, 27, 28. The text under consideration is in exact harmony with these facts. The solemn announcement, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, . . . and he that is holy, let him be holy still,” is followed by these words: “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” The final work of our Lord for the removal of his people’s sins does therefore precede his return in the clouds of heaven to reward every man according to his works.173 The chaff is to be separated from the wheat, and burned in the unquenchable fire. Matt. iii, 12. When the harvest comes, the chaff is only fit to be destroyed. Yet it had been of some use. Indeed it may be said to have been indispensable to the wheat. It was not wheat itself. It had no intrinsic goodness. But it served as a protection to the wheat while it was being formed and matured. When the grain is perfected, the chaff is of no further consequence, and is given to the devouring fire. It will not do, indeed, to make any more definite application of a figure than the Bible makes. But may we not properly understand the chaff as representing, not the wicked in general, but that large class of half-way Christians, who, though not the real wheat themselves, are at least as much connected with the wheat, as is the chaff while the wheat is being produced? Is it not a proper designation of those who take some degree of interest in the cause of God, and who, to a greater or less extent, bear the burdens that are to be borne in that cause, yet never feel the burden of their own sins, and never really receive into their hearts the saving grace of God? How many there are who wish well to the cause of God, and who, in various ways, render it great, and sometimes almost indispensable, service, who never have in their own hearts the deep moving of the Holy Spirit! They are as closely connected to the wheat as the green hull to the grain that is being formed. Yet they are contented to live without the transforming power of that grace which could fit them for a place in the garner of God. Oh, terrible mistake! Oh, fatal error is this! How bitter the disappointment that awaits this numerous class of our own kindred and fellow-men! Why not be a whole-hearted Christian? Why not be the plump wheat, ripened and matured in all the graces of the Spirit of God? No particle of chaff will enter the garner of God. The wheat, well ripened and perfect, will enter there. The chaff, with all the shrivelled and blasted grain, shall be burned up in the devouring fire. A separation is certainly before us. Reader, be honest with God and your own soul. Which of these classes do you belong to, the wheat or the chaff? Book and Tract Department.
By Editor
Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days. EDITED BY ELD. JAMES WHITE. PRICES OF OUR PUBLICATIONS.
It is with pleasure that we call attention to the low prices of our publications. The work in which we are engaged is one of sacrifice. Those who have written our valuable works, have received little or no pay for their labors. And the Association wishes to make profits only sufficient to cover losses. Hence our publications are furnished at low prices. The Book Fund which we commenced to raise in September, 1868, is destined to be a wonderful means of circulating our publications. Since last June we have given, from this Fund, a little more than $1200 worth of publications, and during the same time we have received about $1400. Here is a gain to the Fund of $200, without especially appealing to our people, and after they had responded liberally to our urgent calls. The amount in the treasury enables us to purchase large lots of paper at reduced prices, and to print large editions of our works. This enables us to offer our publications at reduced prices. We offer our tracts to those who wish them for gratuitous circulation, at the rate of sixteen hundred pages for $1.00. When we put them into the hands of our preachers and others to circulate gratuitously, they are charged to the Book Fund at the rate of sixteen hundred pages for $1.00. Our tracts are well written. They are printed on good paper, with good type, and their pages are of respectable size. That we are able to offer sixteen hundred pages of such matter, on such paper, of such size, for $1.00, is a matter of grateful interest to us. Our pamphlets and books are below the market prices of religious publications of their sizes, even from those societies who print for the million from stereotype plates. We are a small people. The market for our publications is comparatively limited at present; and it is a matter of deep interest that we can afford these larger works at prices below those issued by other societies under far more favorable circumstances. Our plan is to sell our publications where we consistently can. But there are many cases where it would be better to give judiciously than to urge a sale. It is not always best to give large works, or many small ones, at once. A tract or two, or a pamphlet, at first, might awaken an interest to obtain and read more, which might result better than to give a larger quantity. We place the retail prices of all our works as low as possible, and do justice to writer, printer, and binder. We discount one-fourth from these prices when we sell to agents, colporteurs, and others, by the quantity. But we discount one-third on all publications given, and charge to the Book Fund. With these facts before us, we make free to call on the friends of Bible truth to help in this important work. Here is an opportunity for you to bring in your free-will offerings. God would be pleased with thank-offerings from those he has blessed with health, and has prospered in business, or in spiritual advancement. At the Kirkville camp-meeting a brother handed us $30 for the cause, to be applied as we thought best, saying, “Here is a thank-offering from us children to the Lord for sparing to us our mother.” Another handed me $15 as a thank-offering to God for the conversion of his wife at that meeting. We applied these to the Book Fund. Others have made thank-offerings for similar reasons. Many more would do well to do the same. Hundreds among us have been wonderfully blessed with health, increase of property, conversion of companions, children, brothers, and sisters, and yet have manifested (only in word) no gratitude to God, who holds all such blessings in his hands, and dispenses them to his own glory.174 And yet many others would be blessed in bringing to the treasury of the Lord trespass-offerings. Some have vowed to God that they would help the cause with their means when their worldly circumstances should improve, and have failed to pay their vows. Such a course is fearful. While others have robbed God, they have robbed the treasury, not only by withholding from it, but some by taking from it. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse.” Mal. iii, 8, 9. We close these remarks by quoting the exhortation of the Lord by his prophet: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Eld. R. F. Cottrell writes, Nov. 15, 1869: “Though we are afflicted, the Lord is kind and good. Ulysses has suffered much of late, but the Lord has heard our cries, relieved his severe pains, and he seems really improving. We wish to make a thank-offering to the Lord. We send $15.00 (R. F., C. M., and J. U., Cottrell), $5.00 each, for this fund. Pray for us all, and for me, that the Lord will prepare me for labor, and open the way and guide.” Let these thank-offerings to God come in, and let the light shine out to his glory. Amen. THE CLOSING MESSAGES.—NO. 15.
By R. F. Cottrell
It is now a historical fact, that in 1844, the cry, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, was distinctly made by those who believed in the second coming of Christ at hand. It was believed that the fall was a moral one, and was applicable to the churches in general. The first evidences that the cry was from Heaven—that it was the fulfillment of the prophecy—are that the message was heard, that it was heard at the right time, and came in the order given in the prophecy. But leaving these, we inquire, What evidences have followed the preaching and the rejection of the Advent doctrine, showing that a moral change has taken place in the religious world, and especially in the most popular Protestant churches of our own country? In reply to this inquiry, we notice, in the first place, the great spiritual dearth, so extensively acknowledged in 1844. A little previous to this time there was much of revival interest in the various churches of our land, and awakenings and conversions were general; especially where Advent preaching was tolerated and encouraged, revivals prevailed and conversions were numerous. But when the tide began to set so strongly against the doctrine of the soon coming of Christ, a change so marked took place that it was felt and acknowledged by the churches themselves. We give some of their own testimonies to the fact: The Christian Palladium for May 15, 1844, speaks in the following mournful strains: “In every direction we hear the dolorous sound, wafting upon every breeze of heaven, chilling as the blasts from the icebergs of the north—settling like an incubus on the breasts of the timid, and drinking up the energies of the weak; that lukewarmness, division, anarchy and desolation are distressing the borders of Zion.” The Religious Telescope of 1844 uses the following language: We have never witnessed such a general declension of religion as at the present. Truly the church should awake and search into the cause of this affliction; for an affliction every one that loves Zion must view it. When we call to mind how few and far between cases of true conversion are, and the almost unparalleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost involuntarily exclaim, ‘Has God forgotten to be gracious? or is the door of mercy closed?’ About that time proclamations of facts and seasons of prayer for the return of the Holy Spirit were sent out in the religious papers. Even the Philadelphia Sun of Nov. 11, 1844, has the following: “The undersigned ministers and members of various denominations in Philadelphia and vicinity, solemnly believing that the present signs of the times—the spiritual dearth in our churches generally, and the extreme evils in the world around us, seem to call loudly on all Christians for a special season of prayer, do therefore hereby agree, by divine permission, to unite in a week of special prayer to Almighty God, for the outpouring of his Holy Spirit on our city, our country, and the world.” Prof. Finney, editor of the Oberlin Evangelist, Feb. 1844, says: “We have had the fact before our minds, that in general, the Protestant churches of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age. There are partial exceptions, yet not enough to render the fact otherwise than general. We have also another corroborated fact: the almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of the whole land testifies. Very extensively church members are becoming devotees of fashion—joining hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, &c. But we need not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence thickens and rolls heavily upon us, to show that the churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and he has withdrawn himself from them.” - It may be said that our views of the moral fall and spiritual death of the churches are shown to be incorrect by the great revivals of 1858. Of the fruit of these revivals let the leading Congregational and Baptist papers of Boston bear testimony:
Says the Congregationalist for Nov. 19, 1858: “The revival piety of our churches is not such that one can confidently infer, from its mere existence, its legitimate, practical fruits. It ought, for example, to be as certain, after such a shower of grace, that the treasuries of our benevolent societies would be filled, as it is after a plentiful rain, that the streams will swell in their channels. But the managers of our societies are bewailing the feebleness of the sympathy and aid of the churches. “There is another and sadder illustration of the same general truth. The Watchman and Reflector recently stated that there had never been among the Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present. And the sad fact is mentioned that this sin infects the very churches which shared most largely in the late revival. And the still more melancholy fact is added, that these alienations date back their origin, in most cases, to the very midst of that scene of awakening. Even a glance at the weekly journals of our own denomination will evince that the evil is by no means confined to the Baptists. Our own columns have, perhaps, never borne so humiliating a record of contentions, and ecclesiastical litigations as during the last few months.” A Presbyterian pastor of Belfast, Ireland, uses the following language respecting the recent revivals in this country: “The determination to crush all ministers who say a word against their national sin [slavery], the determination to suffocate and suppress the plain teachings of Scripture, can be persisted in and carried out at the very time these New York Christians are expecting the religious world to hail their revivals. Until the wretchedly degraded churches of America do the work of God in their own land, they have no spiritual vitality to communicate to others; their revivals are in the religious world what their flaunted cries of liberty, intermingled with the groans of the slave, are in the political.” N. Y. Independent, Dec. 1859. - During the time of the great Irish revival of 1859, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church of Ireland held its session in Belfast. Says the Belfast News-Letter of Sept. 30: “Here in this venerable body of ministers and elders, we find two ministers openly giving each other the lie, and the whole General Assembly turned into a scene of confusion bordering upon a riot.”
- These sad facts need no comment. In Ireland the ministers of the gospel are unable to meet in General Assembly without a riot among themselves; in America prayers for the enslaved were not allowed in the revival meetings. No wonder the fruit of genuine piety is difficult to be found. R. F. COTTRELL.
CHRIST'S PRAYERS.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
It would seem that if ever there was a being who could live without constant and earnest prayer and supplication to God, it was Jesus Christ. He was God's only-begotten Son. He came from the bosom of his Father. He was holy; he had no sins to confess, no wickedness to repent of; he knew that God loved him, and all Heaven was interested for him. It would seem that there was little need for him to pray, especially to agonize in prayer and supplication. But let us read a few texts which speak of this subject. Matt. xiv, 23: "And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come he was there alone." Mark i, 35: "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Luke xxii, 41-44: "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from Heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke vi, 12: "And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God." Heb. v, 7: "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." By these we see that Christ often went away alone in the mountains to pray. We find him in the morning rising up a great while before day, and going out into a solitary place to pray. Ought not this to rebuke our drowsiness? At another time Luke says he continued all night apart in prayer to God. What a season of prayer that must have been! The Son of God alone spends all the long dark night in pleading with his Father! And this was he who never knew sin! Then behold the intensity of that memorable prayer in the garden, when being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. How much is expressed in the language of the apostle, when he says that Christ offered up prayer and supplication, with strong crying and tears. If the Son of God must needs thus pray, how should sinners cry to God; and yet a few feeble prayers, a few formal words, will often suffice. If we are Christ's disciples we should have the spirit that he had. The trouble with us is, we do not realize our danger and need of help from God. Our danger and our need is much greater than was that of Christ. Could we realize this as we ought, we should spend as much time in prayer, and should pray as earnestly, as he did; then the enemy would not prevent us, sleep would not deaden us, and the world would not beguile us into security. Christ has taught us, both by precept and example, that we should pray always and earnestly. NOTE FROM CALIFORNIA.
By John Norton Loughborough
OUR last report was made by Bro. Bourdeau, just as the tent had left Healdsburg. The tent was pitched in this place, and the meetings commenced the evening of Sept. 15, since which time we have had about sixty meetings with great interest. Last Sabbath, ten arose to keep the Sabbath, most of these are seeking the Lord for the first time in their lives. We have met with the company at Healdsburg four Sabbaths, and one Sabbath in Petaluma, and have had a rally of our brethren and sisters of this county during the tent-meeting here. The brethren and sisters of Santa Rosa (seven miles off), have met with us some and expect to be with us next Sabbath, at which time several expect to be baptized. It is expected that the meeting-house in Santa Rosa will be enclosed, ready, with temporary seats, for this winter's use in about two weeks. Our tent is still up, but will have to be laid by soon, as the evenings are quite cool. We have now been using the tent seven months. With the exception of one Sabbath, it has been used every Sabbath and first-day in the time. We are somewhat worn, as we have had in that time two hundred and forty meetings, and labored much from house to house. It is now our design to organize the companies raised up, and then enter still other new fields. Calls come in from various quarters; we want wisdom to move in the counsel of God. Pray for us. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. Sebastopol, Cal., Nov. 4, 1869. God’s Guidance in Present Duties
By E. MACOMBER
DEAR BRETHREN AND FRIENDS: I feel like adding my testimony with yours on the Lord's side. Truly, the Lord has remembered us in much mercy. Since returning from the New England Camp-meeting, my mind has been much exercised upon present duties: First, in the morning to seek the Lord with all my heart, and ask with confidence his guiding Spirit; then, as duties appear before me, to discharge them faithfully. God is very near to help. I have experienced it, and one circumstance in proof, I will mention. When in Newport, R. I., with my wife, visiting her relatives, and Sabbath had come, and no Sabbath-keepers in that wicked city of pleasure-seekers, my mind was directed to visit a noble-minded and kind-hearted minister of one of the popular churches. I was greeted with kindness, and felt that I had found the right place to spend the passing hours of the holy Sabbath. I told him my business. He drank of the good Spirit, and commenced to relate his experience concerning the Sabbath. Said he, “I was called upon, when in college, to write an essay on the first-day Sabbath; and, to my utter astonishment, I could find no proof whatever for first-day observance. The time came for me to bring forward my production, and I had none. I asked for two weeks more to investigate the matter more thoroughly. The time passed, and I found myself no better prepared to treat the subject than before. I plainly told the professor of the Institute that I could not write an essay from the Bible, for there was no authority for the first-day Sabbath, in the word of God. I was dealt with.
“Time passed on, and I left college fitted for the ministry. The time for ordination came. I was questioned175 upon the articles of faith of the Baptist denomination; all went well until the question of the Sabbath was introduced by one of the venerable body. I told them frankly that there was no authority in the Bible for the first-day Sabbath. They came near rejecting me, but concluded finally to let me pass. Ever since, I have occupied a position among them as a Baptist minister.” He inquired to know if the Seventh-day Advent people believed in the gift of prophecy now in the church, and if they practised the washing of the saints’ feet as recorded in St. John xiii, 14, and healing the sick, and the anointing with oil, &c., &c. These he considered to be duties and privileges belonging to the church of Christ to-day. I passed the afternoon with much satisfaction, and we closed the interview with a melting and cementing season of prayer. The angels of God were there; we were “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” I was strengthened to move in the order of the Lord. Dear brethren and sisters, you that have access to the throne of grace, remember the little flock in Rhode Island, and this dear brother of whom I speak. The cry of the third angel comes welling up in my soul, and the power and spirit of the first and second messages are being renewed in my whole being. Let us move in harmony with God’s great plan, and victory is ours. Ashaway, Washington Co., R. I. NOTE FROM BRO. MATTESON.
By John Matteson
South of Mound City, I remained about three weeks. Was sick one week, and unable to hold meetings. There was a small church there of four members. Several others were also keeping the Sabbath, but were not fully in harmony with the rest. Two more embraced the commandments, four united with us, and three were baptized. One of those candidates was Bro. Kerns, a mute brother, who came sixty miles, from Le Roy, to take me up there to preach. He seems to love the truth, and to be very firm. He loves to read the REVIEW, and tracts and testimonies, which friends make out his social meetings. How happy such will be, if faithful, when the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. I thought it not best to go with him now, but went, on the first of November, with Bro. Morrison, twenty miles to Centerville, Linn Co., where I am now holding meetings. Obtained a good, large school-house to meet in. Helped Bro. M. to build a little shanty, three miles from the school-house, where we now live. Have held eight meetings, with good attendance, and good interest manifested. Centerville, Kansas, Nov. 14, 1869. LABORS IN INDIANA.
By E. B. Lane
At the close of our tent-meeting at Coldwater, as reported by Bro. Strong, we concluded to labor this winter in the State of Indiana. After spending a week at home, I came to North Liberty, and held a few meetings with the church in that place. They have a convenient, neat, and tasty house of worship, which is an honor to them, and an ornament to the place. The church there seem to be holding firmly to the truth, and I believe are trying to get nearer to the Lord, with something of a realizing sense of the times in which we live. They have been much neglected in the past as to ministerial labor, and seem to highly appreciate such when received. From this place, I started for Spencer, Owen Co., but by request, I called on a Bro. Seward, who resides in Henry Co. I was surprised to find so many keeping the Sabbath in this place, as I expected to find but one or two families. There are quite a good many, so that a large Sabbath meeting is sustained. The wants of the cause have so much demanded labor in these parts, that Bro. Seward has, by the earnest requests of his friends and neighbors, gone into several places and explained the truth as best he could. The effects have been such as to create a great interest in the surrounding country. I spent the first week in fulfilling appointments which he had out in different places, and selecting a location to give a course of lectures. I found a good opening about ten miles west of Kokomo, where I have been lecturing for nearly four weeks. I found some prejudice and opposition here, which soon gave away, and the congregation has been steadily increasing from the beginning. I had a Sabbath meeting with the people last Sabbath for the first time. The house was well filled, and, by vote of the congregation, we found that quite a goodly number of them were keeping that Sabbath for the first. Quite a good many more, I think, will take hold of the truth, as they are most thoroughly convinced. There were none in this place when I commenced; so all are beginners. Enough have taken hold to sustain Sabbath meetings, and I sincerely hope and pray that they may hold on, and prove faithful. I shall continue here as long as it may seem duty. There has been but a small amount of labor bestowed upon the people of this State, yet I believe many honest souls are here who will be saved at the second coming of our Lord Jesus. I ask an interest in the prayers of the people of God. Yours in love of the truth. E. B. LANE. Request Labor Through James Harvey
By E. B. L.
P. S. I would say to the brethren in the different parts of this State who desire labor, open a communication with Bro. James Harvey, North Liberty, St. Joseph Co., Indiana. E. B. L. CALVIN GREEN
By Calvin Green
"Exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: How many of us are heeding the apostle's admonitions? We claim to be sojourners and pilgrims here on our way together to a better land. Now those who are emigrating to another country, beguile the way by talking of the pleasure, profit, and happiness they expect to derive from their going thither. They overcome the obstacles by the way, not by petty jealousies and evil surmisings, but by encouraging one another with cheering words and united action. Shall we be any the less wise? Oh! let us by the way enter each other's houses, not to talk of the faults of others, but to inquire of one another, of "How goes the battle?" and encourage by acts of kindness, words of sympathy, and prayer to God, for help to overcome. Let us open our hearts and tell of our weak points; points where Satan takes the advantage of us, and by confessing our faults one to another, and praying one for another, we have the promise that we shall be healed. Praise the Lord! Then will the spirit of love enter our hearts, and that charity that thinketh no evil prevail in all our actions. Then from our lips will come gentle words, that will distil as the small rain, and the pleasant sunshine into the darkened minds of the desponding, the careless and indifferent, and, may be, encourage and effect their lives so as to glorify our Lord and Master. How much better it would be to have our conversation in Heaven, than on the things of earth; things which may answer for a purpose, but can never serve for happiness here, nor hereafter. Brethren and sisters, let us love God and keep his commandments in deed and in truth, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Then when the pearly gates shall open,
Of the city of our Lord,
We shall all of us be welcomed,
For the keeping of his word.