THE INSENSIBILITY OF THE WORLD TO THE WARNING VOICE OF CHRIST.
By Hon. G. T. Noel, A. M.
If the prospect of the future be bright and consolatory to the true Christian, so ought it to be dark and oppressive to the unbelieving and the impenitent. The glory of God will receive its twofold manifestation in the awards of justice, and in the gifts of mercy. The time of vindication at length will come. During many a long year the name of Christ has afforded occasion for the exercise of mockery, contempt, and superstition. Recognized in the theory of human societies, whether political or ecclesiastical, he is practically despised; and the principles of worldly policy supersede his counsels, and nullify his decisions. The majority of nominal Christians are utterly careless of their responsibility to his tribunal; and expect the course of the world still to proceed in the same manner as it has done from age to age.
In vain the Scriptures announce a limited period to the forbearance of God; in vain they call for repentance, and faith, and godliness; in vain they proclaim “a day in which God will judge the world in righteousness” by the august Ruler “whose goings forth are from everlasting;” “whereof God hath given the assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” A death-like torpor and incredulity rests upon the human soul, and all the judgments and mercies of the Almighty make no impression. In private life tear chases tear, and death succeeds to death; but no man learns wisdom save the despised saint whom God deigns to enlighten and heal. In public life, wars and commotions, pestilence and earthquake, anarchy and blood, attest, during successive centuries, the controversy which God has with national impiety; but national reform, humiliation, and godliness, are conditions of public life unfelt, unseen, contemned.
If there be zeal for social rights—for mental freedom—for commercial greatness—for intellectual progress; it passes short of the claims of God. Secularity pollutes the church; and while civil policy expands the enactments of legislation to the multiplied interests of the citizen, it contracts their influence over the acknowledged rights of God. On this theatre of human action, man is everything, God is disregarded. His name is indeed upon their tongue, and his authority is registered upon the page of the public liturgy; but his will, his decisions, his warnings, and his promises, are matters of cold speculation or of excitement. In the day of sorrow, sickness, or death, there may be a transient reference to his mercy; but it is the refuse offering which the world will no longer ask for nor receive.
The approaching day of account, the government of the world in the hands of Christ, the results of his incarnation, his connection with mankind, the responsibility to him incurred by talent, wealth, rank, and power—these ideas are rejected as illiberal, onerous, and enthusiastic. The secondary interests of man chase his primary necessities from his sight, and threescore years of life are preferred to eternity. The care of the body is preferred to that of the soul; and the applause of man is deemed a brighter heritage than the enduring approbation of God.
It appalls the thoughtful mind to contemplate the fearful upshot of this state of human things. The day of God approaches; but where is the preparation for his advent?
When our Almighty Redeemer foretold his return in glory to the world, in which previously he had been rejected, he announced the very manifestations which we witness of this incredulity and contempt: “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be, for as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The flood came upon the world unexpectedly, though the theme of incessant prediction. During one hundred and twenty years did the warning voice of God utter its mournful accents, and intreat a cessation in the work of ungodliness and sin. The accents were scattered to the desert air; they reached no rebel heart of man. The shortness of time, the approach of death, the brooding darkness of the gathering storm, interrupted not the career of sensuality, the progress of licentiousness, nor the noise of sin. They ate, they drank; “the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine,” were in their feasts; they formed alliances; they built up many a domestic dwelling-place; they coveted individual and national renown; but “they regarded not the work of the Lord,” nor knew “the operation of his hands.” They ridiculed the prophetic record. They smiled in idle scorn, while the prophet built and surveyed his ark, the appointed refuge from the approaching wrath! But the insensibility of man delayed not the purpose of God; the neglected warning canceled not the recorded purpose; the mirth of the criminal arrested not the hand of the executioner; the horizon blackened; the tempest burst; and the teeming population lay buried beneath the waves!
And so shall it be, we are told, by infallible authority, in the last judgments of the great day. The same insensibility; the same licentiousness; the same preference of sensual to spiritual joy; the same complacency in ungodly gratifications; the same oblivion of justice and mercy; the same contempt of divine law, and attachment to human schemes, will characterize the period of time, proximate to the second advent of Christ, as characterized the period antecedent to the terrific flood of Noah. It would be an awful employment to portray to the mind, with any thing like historical accuracy, the tremendous alarm which must at length have seized upon the world, when the threatened judgment actually commenced; when the torrents of the skies and the tides of the ocean united their fearful strength; and by successive ravages marked out a storm unlike the wintry desolations of other years, a storm directed by the same Almighty hand which hitherto had restrained the furious elements, and made them subservient to human welfare. Creative power was now charged with retributive indignation, and the arm of God had shattered the schemes of man! The business of earth at length paused; the din of pleasure ceased; the strife of individuals was suspended; the politics of nations were arrested; all classes of society mingled together, appalled by a common ruin; the landmarks of property were annihilated; armies were useless; wealth was a name; and science a delusion. The avenging scourge of Omnipotence passed over the whole earth, and no criminal remained behind to tell the tale. Conviction came too late; remorse could be no substitute for repentance. The hour for contrition was forever gone.
And to this scene of utter disaster the Redeemer refers, in order to illustrate the consternation which will arrest an impenitent world when he shall return to the earth on which he has been so long despised.
The day of his advent will arrive, and who may abide his anger? Insensibility and scorn will characterize human society. The voice which warns will excite contempt; and the hand which, not in anger but in love, points to predicted judgments, will be met by no friendly eye. The business, pleasure, gains, and philosophy of life, will occupy the world, until the sign of the Son of man shall appear in the heavens, and the authority of Christ shall allow of scorn no more. It were fearful to portray that final alarm which will overwhelm a guilty world, when, too late for refusal, the cup of trembling is held to its lips!
The destruction and calamities of the last days “of the times of the Gentiles,” are delineated on the page of Scripture with a force and energy calculated to shake to the foundation the strongest confidence of the world. But the men of this world will not read; they will not listen; they pursue the game of life, and sport upon the precipice of perdition!
True religion is despised, and the authority of the Son of God is forgotten. But the obduracy of man cannot invalidate the claims of God. The records of the Omniscient no human hands can erase; resisted or received, they hasten to their accomplishment. Would to God that the great and the rich of the earth, the wise and the intelligent—the princes and the prelates, the nobles and the clergy of every land—would that all to whom God has intrusted the use of power, and influence, and eloquence, and wealth, might remember the condition of man, and the tribunal before which he must stand. And would that the mingled multitudes doomed to toil, obscurity, and penury, might alike receive the message of the eternal word. Would that if any human being hitherto occupied but with the details of earth, should scan these feeble lines, he might hear the warning voice, and remember the Saviour of whom it speaks! Painful is it to think of a ruin which no human skill can avert, of a degradation which no art of man can reclaim, of a “waste” for which no “after-thrift” can atone!
Whoso is wise will ponder these things, and he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.—Hon. G. T. Noel, A. M.
UNCHASTE CONVERSATION.
By Eliza H. Morton
Few are aware to what an alarming extent unchaste conversation prevails in the world, especially among the young. Being a teacher, I have had many opportunities of knowing the extent of this evil, and of raising my voice against it. I have been shocked at the knowledge of sin manifested, and the obscene language used, by even the smallest children in our common schools.
Many people think it no harm to talk about the sinful deeds and acts committed by their neighbors; and so they get together and talk, and laugh, and joke, about those things which Paul says “ought not to be mentioned by those professing godliness.”
The mind is the seat of all sin. Keep the mind full of licentious images, and the animal passions gain strength and clamor for indulgence. Impure thoughts lead to impure words; and impure words, to impure acts. No person changes from purity and holiness to depravity, corruption, and crime, in a moment. The work is gradual, and takes time. The mind becomes debased by encouraging the constant presence of low, vulgar thoughts, and the sin which was once loathsome becomes pleasant.
No one can take “coals in his bosom and not be burned,” no more can an individual associate with the sensualist and not be influenced to evil. Many virtuous youths have been led into the path of the libertine by indulging in impure conversation. Although at first such conversation shocked the finer sensibilities of their souls and caused a feeling of disgust to creep over them, yet by degrees these feelings wore off, lustful passions took their place, their natures became low and sensual, and ruin of body and soul was the result.
Human language is not forcible enough to picture the misery, woe, and unhappiness caused by unchaste conversation. It leads to a sin which the Bible rebukes in language of the greatest detestation, and which it frequently and earnestly admonishes men to loathe and abhor.
In this generation, unchastity is the prevailing sin; and those who would be pure must resolutely shut their eyes and close their ears against that knowledge which leaves a stain upon the soul. The only safety for any one is in diligently seeking that wisdom which comes from above, that will destroy all desire for corrupt knowledge, raise men from the lowest depths of sin and degradation, and elevate them to unfading beauty and purity in the paradise of God. ELIZA H. MORTON.
Allan’s Corner, Me.
SILENT GRIEFS.
By Sel.
There are sighs unheard, there are tears unwept, There are lutes unstrung, there are harps unwept, There are griefs unknown, there are thoughts untold, There are hearts that beat warm when they are cold, There are loves unlost when they seem so dead, There are wounds unseen that have often bled; For the soul feels most when in silence deep It lives unheard, as the winds in their sleep.
There are sorrows dark that o'ercloud our way, And that shade our hearts in life's glad day; There are joys unfelt, there are hopes unfed, There are pledges hushed, there are vows unsaid; There are flowers dead mong the blooming leaves, There are treasures lost mong the golden sheaves; There are memories sweet, and we love them well, But the eyes grow dim as the currents swell.
There are friendships gone like the dews of morn, There are smiles now turned to the coldest scorn; There are dreams we loved in the days gone by, When the sun was warm and so bright our sky, That are passed like spray on the ocean's breast, When the storm has ceased and her waters rest, And the heart grows sad that its loves have fled, That its hopes are gone and its garlands dead.
There are scenes we knew that are faded now, There are gathered wreaths and a shaded brow, There are songs unsung we loved to hear When the heart was fresh and its pleasures near; There are footsteps laid in the sands of time, There are voices stilled in this earthly clime; But the echoes come from the boundless shore That lies beyond in the vast evermore.
There are prayers we breathe for the ones we love, While we linger here from our home above; Yet we smile to think that our griefs will cease And our hearts rejoice in an endless peace; Far away above the ethereal blue, Where each soul is glad and each heart is true, We will live in love, and her radiant beam Will inspire the soul with a heavenly dream. —Sel.
Moody on the Key to Job
An Englishman said to me, “Moody, did you ever study the life of Job?” I said, “No, I never did.” He said, “If you get a key to Job you get a key to the whole Bible.” “What has Job to do with the Bible?” He said, “I will tell you. I will divide the subject into five heads. First, Job, before he was tried, was a perfect man untried. He was like Adam in Eden until Satan came in. Secondly, he was tried by adversity. Thirdly, the wisdom of the world is represented by Job’s friends trying to restore him. See what language they used. They were wonderfully wise men, but they could not help Job out of his difficulties. Men are miserable comforters when they do not understand the grace of God. Job could stand his scolding wife and his boils better than these men’s arguments; they made him worse instead of better. Fourthly, God speaks, and Job humbles himself in the dust. God, before he saves a man, brings him down into the dust. He does not talk about how he has fed the hungry and clothed the naked; but he says, I am vile. Fifthly, God restored him, and the last end of Job was better than the first. So the last state of man is better than the first. It is better than the state of Adam, because Adam might have lived ten thousand years and then fallen; therefore it is better for us to be outside of Eden with Christ than that we should be in Eden without him. God gave Job double as much wealth as he had before, but he only gave him ten children. He had ten before his calamity came upon him. That is worthy of notice. God would not admit that Job had lost any children. He gave him ten here and ten in Heaven.”
Nothing Lowers a Man Who Honors His Lord
By Spurgeon
NOTHING lowers a man, if thereby he honors his Lord. It is not possible for any godly work to be beneath our dignity; rather ought we to know that the lowest grade of service bestows dignity upon the man who heartily performs it.—Spurgeon.
Tangled Web of Deception
Oh! what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!—Walter Scott.
“AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?”
By S. M. Spicer
The scene in which this language was uttered forms a most striking preface to the dark annals of a sin-cursed race. Indeed, it seems as if the first out-speaking or manifestation of fallen human nature, descended at one leap to the darkest depths of crime, comprehending at once almost the whole catalogue of human folly and wickedness.
When envy was permitted to enter the bosom of the first murderer, he probably had no idea of the darker links of crime which were to follow in the chain. He thought not how soon that bitter hatred would spring up which dealt the murderous blow. And, next, what a fearful falsehood! as he said “I know not” when God called to him, “Where is Abel, thy brother?” Thinking to hide the truth from God, how little he knows of the character of that all-wise, holy Being! Next follows the bold, insulting question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” as much as to say, you have no business to ask me such a question. When we look over the astonishing features of Cain’s crimes, we wonder at God’s forbearance, that he did not at once blot out the life of the vile offender.
But we have introduced this chain of crimes for the purpose of considering at this time the last item as given in the narrative, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain’s purpose in this question was not only to conceal the terrible crime committed, but to ignore all responsibility of obligation toward his brother. This seems comparatively the smallest item among his crimes; but yet the principle involved lies at the foundation of the second great command of the law—“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” A recognition of the specific duties herein required forms the basis of the social compact, and every failure to meet individual obligation and responsibility tends to loosen the bonds and interrupt the harmony of society. It was an all-wise God who fully understood the77nature and relations of his creatures, who announced the laws by which they should be governed; and his omniscient eye, noting not only the outward act, but the inner motive, can easily determine the character and desert of every individual.
But practically on this question, when and how do we virtually ask, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We answer: In our own family circle,—when we show unkindness to any member, or even indifference to what is necessary to his welfare and happiness. In the neighborhood, when, scrambling to make every surrounding circumstance contribute to our personal interest or gratification, we forget or disregard the rights of all around us. In the church, when we see a brother or sister falter or turn aside to the ways of sin, and neglect to kindly warn of danger, and entreat to return to righteousness. In our listlessness, when we are called upon as God’s stewards, to use every talent he has given us, to assist in giving the bread of life to every hungry, thirsting soul, and to hold up the light of truth, till it illumines the darkest corners of the earth.
We ask this question in our lives of indifference, as we mingle day by day with the multitude traveling on their thoughtless way. How seldom we even think of the eternal consequences pending while that giddy throng is drifting, by course of influences, through the devious paths of sin on, on toward the vortex of ruin. “Am I my brother’s keeper,” that I should be interested to notice his condition, to speak a warning word, pointing out his danger, or kindly persuade him to choose a better life, and its glorious rewards? In the busy walks of life, how many cross our path, all unthinking if not ignorant of the better way, and soon after, perhaps, suddenly drop into eternity unprepared, unwarned, when perhaps a transient word from our lips might have been blessed to save a soul from death.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” says the employer in the various manufactories of our land, while the busy laborers toil, toil on, and he knows comparatively nothing of their homes or homeless condition. Often, some one may be sent adrift by trivial circumstances, and be compelled to seek from place to place the means of subsistence, again and again repulsed, meeting not one kind inquiry or word of encouragement. Who knows or thinks how many, thus disheartened by neglect or injustice, may have been swept down into the common current of destruction? How many fill drunkards’ graves because a brother did not care to warn or keep him from the first temptation? How many of the worst criminals might trace back their dark pathway of sin to a time when, with heart and hand yet unstained, they failed to find a “brother’s keeper?” When the books are opened at last, what fearful records will reveal the neglect and unfaithfulness of those who, all along time’s history, have said—“Am I my brother’s keeper?” S. M. SPICER.
THE SANCTUARY.
By Uriah Smith
Thirty-fifth Paper.—The Mystery of God Finished.
In last week’s article upon the subject of the sanctuary, it was shown that at the time when the 2300 days ended, and the cleansing of the sanctuary commenced, there the temple of God, that apartment where the ark is, was opened; and that that took place under, and marked the commencement of, the sounding of the seventh trumpet. When the seventh trumpet, the last of the series of trumpets which cover the gospel dispensation, sounds, the temple of God is opened in Heaven, and the cleansing of the sanctuary commences.
There is another remarkable prediction concerning what takes place at the sounding of the seventh trumpet which now invites our attention. It was said to John, Rev. 10:7: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” What is meant by the mystery of God, and its finishing? In a number of passages Paul speaks very definitely concerning the mystery of God. In Eph. 3:3–6, he says: “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Here Paul states explicitly that the mystery was made known to him by revelation. In his epistle to the Galatians he tells us what was made known to him by revelation. Gal. 1:11: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” This is what he had written “afore,” or a little before, “in few words.” The epistle to the Galatians was written six years before the letter to the Ephesians. And what in Ephesians he calls the mystery made known to him by revelation, in Galatians he calls plainly the gospel as preached to the Gentiles.
Again he says, Eph. 1:9: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.” Again in Col. 1:25–27, we have this declaration: “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” Eph. 3:9: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Rom. 16:25, 26: “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.”
All these texts speak to the same point, and testify unmistakably to the fact that the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, &c., is no more nor less than the gospel of Jesus Christ through which the Gentiles are brought in to be members of the commonwealth of Israel and partakers with the household of faith. This being the mystery, its finishing would be the close of the proclamation of the gospel, the completion of the work which it was designed to accomplish. This of course ends probation and finishes up the plan of salvation.
But this, as we have seen, is the very result involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary. That concludes Christ’s work as priest, finishes his mediation, decides the cases of all mankind and concludes the work of the gospel.
The reader will now perceive another beautiful link in the faultless chain of harmony which the Bible presents to us on this subject. When the seventh angel sounds, then commences the work called the finishing of the mystery of God. But it will occupy some years; for it is “in the days,” years, “of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound” that this mystery is to be finished. This work will occupy the first years of the sounding of this trumpet. But this trumpet commenced to sound at the end of the 2300 days in 1844, when the temple of God was opened in Heaven. We are now therefore in the period of the finishing of the mystery of God; and this finishing work we find to be the same as the cleansing of the sanctuary there introduced, and the ministration in that apartment of the heavenly temple then opened. Could facts more completely harmonize than these?
The mystery of God was to be finished, said the angel to John, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. Where had he declared this? This is but a part of the declaration of the angel, which includes the preceding verses; and in these we find him uttering a solemn oath that “time shall be no longer.” Rev. 10:6. This cannot mean literal time; for the angel immediately speaks of the days of the seventh angel to succeed. It cannot mean probationary time; for John as a representative of the church, is commissioned to proclaim another message to the people after that. But one other kind of time remains, and that is prophetic time; and to this therefore the passage must refer. But the period of 2300 days is the longest prophetic period given in the Bible, and reaches down to the latest point. Therefore this oath of the angel has its application at the point where the 2300 days terminate; and the expression is equivalent to a declaration that then prophetic time should end, or the 2300 days would terminate. Then the angel states what shall immediately follow; namely, the mystery of God should be finished, as he had declared to his servants the prophets. What had God declared to the prophets should take place at the end of the 2300 days? Why, it had been shown to Daniel that then the sanctuary should be cleansed. Here, then, is where he had declared to his servants the prophets that the mystery of God should be finished; which is the same thing. Such is the unquestionable parallel between these prophecies.
U. S.
THE VERMONT CAMP-MEETING.
By Uriah Smith
This meeting was held, according to appointment, Aug. 17-22, 1876. The brethren assembled to the number of about three hundred and fifty, bringing upon the ground forty church and family tents, besides the large tents for meeting purposes.
There are brethren in this State old in the truth and proportionately strong in the faith. It was good to meet with these veterans in the cause of the third message. There are also not a few young men of activity and promise in this Conference. All freely testified to their confidence in the truth, and their love for it; but this, as was manifest on this occasion, is not always synonymous with spiritual activity. It soon became apparent that the brethren were not prepared to take hold of the work of the meeting with all that life and vigor that was desirable. This called forth some special labor and earnest exhortations from the servants of the Lord. As the Sabbath drew on, the people assembled at the stand, to welcome in the Sabbath with a season of prayer. Bro. White was led out in some very impressive and instructive remarks relative to the privilege of prayer, and its almost omnipotent power, as by this means we move the arm that upholds and moves the universe. He then enjoyed much freedom in calling upon the Lord. Others had freedom in prayer, and it was felt that the Lord was drawing near to his people. There were several such occasions during the meeting, when light broke in, and a good measure of victory and freedom was gained.
On Sunday, the morning was cold and rainy, but before noon the clouds dispersed, and fair weather smiled upon the encampment. In the afternoon, by actual count, five hundred and fifty-one teams came through the gate of the camp-ground, averaging four persons to each team. These, with the Sabbath-keepers upon the ground, made a congregation of twenty-five hundred, to whom Bro. White spoke with great liberty on the reasons of our faith and hope. Unfortunately sister White was unable to speak at all on first-day.
The business sessions, both of the State Conference and the T. & M. Society, passed off harmoniously and well. There was no dragging in the proceedings, but everything moved off promptly and in order. Bro. Hutchins, the President of the Conference and of the tract work, has labored hard to infuse a spirit of order and activity into all branches of the work, which has been to quite a degree successful.
On Monday ten were baptized by Bro. Bean, in the beautiful Lamoille river which flows through the deep valley immediately west of the ground. Many from the surrounding neighborhood assembled to witness the ceremony. The attendance from without was quite large during the week-day meetings. The parting meeting was held Tuesday morning, and the brethren reluctantly separated for their homes.
MANY at the present day believe in what they are pleased to call a present salvation. This is well enough if salvation is not considered as absolutely completed, and the person does not think himself beyond the reach of danger of being liable to fall, or that no new duties may present themselves that demand obedience. It is not uncommon now-a-days to hear people say, “I am a sinner saved by grace,” “Christ has saved me,” “I am fully saved,” etc., meaning far more than any Bible phrase will warrant. Such persons generally have no use for the if of the text above.
Do not let it be understood that the use of the terms noticed are wrong in themselves considered, for all sinners are saved by grace, but only absolutely when they have “endured to the end.” The assurance of final salvation till that time is in a conscious obedience to the divine will, and a ready mind to yield to new obligations, or step out upon increasing light. Christ has saved sinners as the children of Israel were saved out of Egypt, yet their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and the doom of saved sinners will be just as fearful if they do not continue “rooted and grounded in the faith,” and hold fast the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end.
There is no belief so destructive in its consequences as that which places less value upon the word of God than upon the raptures of the mind; it is a deception that will cause the severest anguish of soul in the day of God. Too many think that because the Lord has once granted them pardon and peace, henceforth they are privileged persons, forgetting that the same course that brought so priceless a boon is the only means by which it can be retained.
A son may merit, and receive, the approbation of his father, yet how inconsiderate would it be for that son, at any future time, to presume upon his father's good will and transgress his plain commandment. How foolish for him to say that, having once the evidence of his father's love, nothing he could henceforth do would displease him! How much better to say, “I will endeavor now to even anticipate his desires.”
When the law of God is presented in some of its claims, a deceived heart will sometimes answer, “The Lord Jesus has saved me. He saved me five or ten years ago; he saved me as I am, and I am saved now.” The word of God has no weight; the simple statement, accredited as fact, although a delusive falsehood, admits of no argument, and the soul that is completely filled with a counterfeit glory cannot be touched by precept.
A flight of feeling is not religion, not even an evidence of it, nor yet a necessary concomitant; for the souls of the best of men have, in all past time, been bowed down with a weight of woe, of care, and of tears. Instead of letting feeling decide whether one has religion, let the word declare if the feeling is inspired by the Spirit of God. Thousands upon thousands, to this day, are carried away with an infatuation, the seductive snare of feeling. Then let us say, not that my feelings shall be my guide, but, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” If it be so, now and forever the if is virtually removed, and then only.
D. H. Lamson.
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.
By James White
On the last page of this paper it will be seen that the fifteenth annual meeting of the S. D. Adventist General Conference will commence on Tuesday, September 19, 1876, at 2 o’clock P. M. The session will commence promptly on time, with an opening address from the President of the Conference on the Rise, Progress, Permanency and Wants of the Cause. All should leave their homes in season to be on the ground as early as Tuesday noon. All tents should go up Monday, or at the latest, on Tuesday forenoon, as it is exceedingly annoying to a business meeting, or to those engaged in a religious service, to hear the noise of axes and hammers from those who are putting up tents and making other preparations. J. W.
A TREMENDOUS JUMP.
By Uriah Smith
WE do not refer to the tragic event that gave the name to that notable spot called “The Lover’s Leap,” nor to the vaulting of one Mr. Samuel Patch over Niagara or Genesee Falls. We refer to a more wonderful jump than either of these; and that is, the jump some people make to reach a conclusion.
We had an illustration of this at the late camp-meeting in Ohio. There was a Universalist upon the ground; and one of the methods of argument by which he sought to sustain his belief was this: Said he, “Does it not read that God is kind to the unthankful as well as to the thankful, and that he sends his rain upon the unjust as well as the just? and is he not the same yesterday, to-day and forever? I think,” said he, “that if God is kind to all men here in this life, he will be kind to them hereafter.”
What a conclusion to draw from such promises! This is a period of mercy, long-suffering, and probation. God waits for men to repent, telling them meanwhile what they must meet if they do not. Sentence is out against every evil work, but is not immediately executed; and because it is not, some are ready to conclude that it never will be. And now, because God is kind and merciful to all during this period, shall we conclude that he will deny himself, and turn from the penalty he has threatened against sin, though he bears long with it?
In this the reasoner endeavors to vault clear over the dark and fathomless abyss that was made between earth and Heaven when this world fell into revolt from the government of God. To reach Heaven and life and happiness hereafter we must in some way pass this yawning chasm. Christ by his intervention in our behalf has bridged it over; and on him alone can any man safely pass to the other side. All who attempt in wild recklessness to leap it, will find themselves swallowed up therein. There is none other name under Heaven through which salvation is to be found. A living, personal interest in him, manifested by the public and outward acts of faith, is our only passport to the proffered boon of life. Christ is the only ladder from earth to Heaven. Let us shun the fatal step of trying to leap the gulf and gain Heaven without him. U. S.
MORE ABOUT THE WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA MEETING.
After further consideration and consultation, we decide to have a meeting of several days' duration in the vicinity of Blair, Nebraska, as this is a central point for railroad connections, as well as geographically, for those desiring to attend. This meeting should commence Thursday, October 5, and continue over Sunday. It should be as near to Blair as a suitable place can be found. We hereby appoint the following brethren as a committee to secure a suitable place, and make proper preparations for this meeting: C. L. Boyd, of Seward, Neb., A. W. Shepherd, of Nebraska City, Neb., and Bro. Middaugh, address unknown. We wish these brethren to consult together at once, and take the oversight of preparing for this meeting.
At least two members of the Conference Committee will be present to assist in preaching the word, and to help forward the good work. Opportunity for baptism will be offered. Two of the forty-foot tents now running in the West will be present. The friends who can should bring tents with them; but let none who have no tents stay away. We should be glad could this meeting have been held earlier; but this could not be without interfering with tent labor, and other important meetings. The weather in Nebraska is usually good at this season, and we will hope for good results. Those who attend should come supplied with proper clothing and bedding to be prepared for sudden changes of the weather. Let those who can reasonably do so bring their own provisions. They can also be obtained on the ground.
Our great anxiety for the progress of the work in this comparatively new field causes the appointment of this meeting. We want it to be a general gathering of the friends of the cause throughout this section. Nebraska will soon be strong enough to stand as a Conference by itself. The brethren there should feel that this is their meeting, and make a good, strong rally. Let it be much the largest meeting ever held in that section. Let the friends of the cause come from all directions across the beautiful prairies, and gather for the service of the Lord of hosts. We extend to Bro. and Sr. White, or any one whom the General Conference Committee shall designate, a hearty invitation to be present. Come, brethren, bring your children and interested friends, and let us make this season a source of great encouragement to the friends of the cause in this whole section.