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Review and Herald, Vol. 49, No. 12.

THE CLOSING WORK

Review and Herald

Mar 22, 1877

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 22, 1877

THE CLOSING WORK.

By Albert Stone

Those whose experience includes a knowledge of our Lord’s closing work in the sanctuary above have been greatly benefited thereby. Such is their testimony. It has been a help to their faith and a strength to their hope. Unity of faith also and growth in grace generally are among the results of such experience. The subject of the sanctuary receives much attention in the teachings of Seventh-day Adventists. It is to be regretted that it does not thus engage the attention of other Adventists. This subject involves the facts connected with the disappointment, and shows why the Lord did not come in 1844. It has sometimes been the case, that the strength of Israel was to sit still. Isa. 30:7. The apostles were disappointed when their Lord was crucified, so were the Adventists when their time passed. Their cases were similar. Yet in both cases prophecy was fulfilled. Neither the apostles nor the Adventists could explain matters in the least. For either to act, in their then present state of mind, was only to act wrongly. Peter moves, but he takes the sword. Others move, but they forsake their Lord. Their strength had been to sit still. The Adventists spoke, but for the first time their language was confused. There were many messages of which God was not the author. It had been their strength to sit still. Prophetic truth was marching straight along in all this jostling, both of the apostles and of the Adventists. Both were having an experience designed for their benefit.
The peculiar trials of the one class were soon to be relieved by the light of the Pentecost, and those of the other by the third angel’s message. It was the Adventists that were jostled, and not their computation of the prophetic periods. These, as explained by William Miller, are proved to be correct by an array of testimony from astronomical, chronological, and historical coincidences that shows their correctness beyond the shadow of controversy. And a large class of Adventists have always held this view.
They believed the advent movement to be the work of God, and they well understood that the preaching of the time was the means employed; and there was no doubt among Adventists previous to the disappointment that the Holy Spirit indorsed the preaching of time. And with many, there has to this day been no doubt. They were disappointed in the passing of the time, but they did not attempt to readjust the time. But while waiting, and praying that God would be his own interpreter, the third angel of Rev. 14 commenced his flight in the midst of heaven.
The light of this angel showed at once that the Adventists, who had thought their work was done, had, as yet, seen but a small part of the programme of the advent movement. It showed that their work thus far was approved, but that a still greater work, requiring time, remained to be done. It corrected the erroneous view, that the earth was the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the periods, and pointed, instead, to the closing work of Christ’s priesthood in Heaven—a work that concerned the church and not the earth. It introduced a predicted reform, based on the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
The work of the third angel is designed by the Holy Spirit to shed light on the path of the saints through the perils of the last days to the close of human probation. Those who would have such light must receive it through the third angel’s message. The subject of the atonement, especially its concluding events, are wonderfully illustrated by the Bible doctrine of the sanctuary.
We deeply regret the backwardness of our first-day Adventist brethren to investigate this subject. They have never yet given it a candid hearing, nor will they allow it to be discussed in their papers, or preached in their pulpits. What can we do for our brethren to help them? At times we have much feeling on this subject. Many of these brethren are our personal friends. Side by side with them we fought some of the hot battles of the first angel’s message.
They were faithful soldiers of the cross, and solid witnesses for the truth. They have not forgotten how Satan trembled, and infidelity turned pale, in those days, when the truth was brought before the people. They saw and believed that God was in the first message. Why not believe he is in the third message? Has he begun a work, and left it unfinished? or has he concluded to finish this work without the aid of the third angel? No, no; God is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent.
Why should it be thought a thing incredible that the law of God should be made a test and pattern of character for the Judgment? Are not the ten commandments the divinely wrought pattern by which our Lord sought to fashion the character of his hearers? It is not the office of the gospel to originate moral principle, but to enforce it. There is no original law outside the ten commandments enforcing moral principle. To abrogate the law is to disannul moral obligation.
What is religion good for with moral principle cast out of its creed? But the third angel’s message includes both the law and the gospel, and was due to the people of God at the close of the prophetic periods. A great work is to be done for God’s people, and the third angel has that work in charge. God has set his seal of approbation to this work in a most remarkable manner. ALBERT STONE.

“THAT IS WELL SAID.”

By Dudley Marvin Canright

So said a man after reading the following article. I have read it twice, and that is my mind. So I ask the editor to put it in the REVIEW; and now I ask all our people to read it, then talk it over with wife and family, and ask God to help you to put it into practice immediately.

“SYSTEMATIC GIVING.”

“It is becoming more and more evident that the setting apart of a definite amount, as a sacred portion, ever ready for the Master’s use, is the starting point of a mighty revolution in the church—an antidote against extravagance on the one hand, and greedy hoarding on the other. The Jew called the tithe the hedge around the rest. Can any one doubt the wholesome effect upon the individual of thus having all his earnings pass under the eye of God. It is asked, How much shall each disciple give? We would answer, a definite portion, determined beforehand, with much thought and prayer. With this decision there will need to be, in exercise, a large faith in the promise of God—a conviction that no man has given or can give his earnings, on the ground that ‘the Master hath need,’ who shall not in some way ‘receive an hundred-fold in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.’ In determining the amount to be given, we must remember that where much is given much will be required. We are to remember the land we possess, our means for developing wealth, the ‘unspeakable gift’ we have received, and all the great demands of God upon his church in the movements of human history. In view of the greater light, the greater opportunities, the greater exhibitions of the divine goodness and love bestowed now freely on us all, few will set apart a less sum than one-tenth; while many, with the grateful Zaccheus, will give one-half, or, in emergencies like those of the early church, will lay everything at the apostles’ feet.

“OBJECTIONS.”

“It may be objected that this is binding us down to the rigidity of law—of strict rules and arithmetical calculation. Says one, ‘The gospel demands all, and after deducting the necessary expenses of my family, I intend to give God the rest.’ Well, these intentions are good, but many who plead them may be robbing God. The sin which the Bible inveighs against with terrible denunciations is the sin of covetousness, represented by it as idolatry. Amid the multiplying wants of our times is there not absolute danger that God will be cheated out of his rightful dues, and be left to get a mere pittance, in those cases where all the rest are first served? Have we not occasion to think that the only way to secure him against this wrong is to bestow upon him the first fruits of our substance? We follow strict rules and arithmetical calculation in the observance of the Sabbath, giving to God a definite portion of time: why not apply the same rule to our means? What Christian would dare say, ‘I will not be bound beforehand by any definite rules as to holy time, but, when I have taken what I need for myself and family, God shall have the rest?’ Amid the multiplying demands upon our time, who would trust himself?
“But again it is said, ‘It is too much trouble to keep this bank account with God.’ Yes, to him who has no heart in this service, to whom religion consists in certain churchly forms by which he expects to gain Heaven, it may seem trouble; but to those with whom religion is a life, a daily walk with God, this continual recognition of stewardship will be a constant source of unceasing delight. Prayer without ceasing is trouble to him who has no heart in it; the daily watchfulness over our besetting sins is trouble, but to him who makes the service of God more than his meat and drink, all these duties become the most exalted privileges.

“ADVANTAGES.”

“Of the advantages attending systematic giving we name but a very few.
“1. Nothing else will so clearly give the idea of stewardship as this daily reckoning with God. Ministers will not waste strength and patience in continual pumping to keep the channels of liberality full, but the streams of charity will flow from an interior river of living water. Our giving will not depend upon the pungency of sudden appeal, or the tact or shrewdness of the operator upon our sensibilities, but upon our well-considered obligations to God and to the spread of his kingdom. Conscience and principle will take the place of irregular impulse, and inconstant or fitful sensibility.
“2. All the difficulties in the way of weekly offerings will be obviated; and, in that sacred portion consecrated to God, every one will have a joyous gift to bring on each recurring Sabbath for the treasury of his Lord. The difficulty of securing the consent of the will to give to God what has already been appropriated to the multifarious uses to which property is now applied, has been the mountain barrier in the way of all systematic giving. Assign unto the Lord first what is his due, the fixed portion, and all these difficulties vanish.
“3. We shall then study with peculiar interest and deep pleasure the great Christian enterprises of the age. It will be an object to select the channels in which our benefactions may flow so as best to honor God and bless mankind. The missionary sermon will no longer be regarded as a tiresome device to extort our hoarded gains, but a source of much coveted knowledge, aiding us to determine where we may send forth our gifts to make the desert blossom as the rose.
“4. We shall then be enabled to use the world as not abusing it, and as not being abused and destroyed by it. The thought that all our work and all our gains are passing in review before God will be a powerful restraint upon those unworthy practices and doubtful methods which now so deaden the conscience and paralyze the Christian life.”—Home Missionary.
Who can object to this? No reasonable Bible Christian. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TWO WAYS TO ETERNAL LIFE.

By R. F. COTTRELL

ARE there two ways? Did Jesus teach two ways?
There is a class of teachers in these days who say the ten commandments have been abolished, blotted out, being nailed to the cross of Christ; that the decalogue was the old covenant, which has passed away, being superseded by the new. They tell us that instead of the ten commandments, we have the two great commandments given by Christ; namely, to love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourself. These, they say, comprehend man's whole duty; and to this we say, Amen. They were not new, however, when spoken by Jesus, but were quoted from the books of Moses. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18. Had they superseded the ten in the days of Moses? If not, if the ten were then binding, why not now? What proves our love to be genuine? “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,” not as a burden grievous to be borne, but in so hearty a manner that “his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3.
Four of the ten teach our duty directly to God, and the other six, our duty to our fellow-men. Can we break one of these six, and still love our neighbor as ourself? Impossible. And can we love God with all the heart, and still break one of the four that are given expressly to teach us how he would have us honor him? Is it not evident, that the ten are all comprehended in the two? No one will deny that nine of them are. Why not the other?
To the young man who asked the Saviour, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus answered, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” He then quoted five of the ten, so that we are sure that he meant the ten. See Matt. 19:16–19. The term, the commandments, includes the whole code of which he quoted a part. Therefore, Jesus did teach the keeping of these commandments as the way to life.
Again, a certain lawyer demanded of Jesus, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do and thou shalt live.” Luke 10:25–28.
Now the question is, Did Jesus teach two ways to eternal life? If he did not, then to keep the ten commandments truly, and to love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourself, is one and the same. If there is but one way to eternal life taught by Christ, whoever truly and heartily keeps the ten commandments, loves God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself; and whoever loves God and his neighbor as he ought, will not willingly break one of the ten commandments. In mathematics two quantities, or lines of extension, that are each precisely equal to a third, are precisely equal to each other. Therefore, if our Saviour did not teach two different ways to eternal life, the two great commandments “in the law,” and the ten of the decalogue, are precisely equal. On the two “hang all the law;” if these are kept, the whole moral law of God is kept. There is no way of pardon of our transgressions, but by faith in Christ; and the only way to life is the way of the commandments. The parting blessing to his church pronounced by Jesus to his beloved servant on the lonely isle is, “Blessed are they that do his [the Father’s, not my] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.” Disobedience drove man from the tree of life; obedience is the only way back. R. F. COTTRELL.

THE BUILDERS.

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

ALL are architects of fate, Working in these walls of time; Some with massive deeds and great, Some with ornaments of rhyme.
Nothing useless is, or low; Each thing in its place is best; And what seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise, Time is with materials filled; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build.
Truly shape and fashion these; Leave no yawning gaps between; Think not because no man sees, Such things will remain unseen.
In the elder days of art, Builders wrought with greatest care Each minute and unseen part; For our God sees everywhere.
Let us do our work as well, Both the unseen and the seen; Make the house where God may dwell, Beautiful, entire, and clean.
Else our lives are incomplete, Standing in these walls of time, Broken stairways, where the feet Stumble as they seek to climb.
Build to-day, then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure Shall to-morrow find its place.
Thus alone can we attain To those turrets where the eye Sees the world as one vast plain, And one boundless reach of sky.
—Longfellow.

READING

By Jos. Clarke

“Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” 1 Tim. 4:13.
Our minds are greatly influenced by the books and periodicals we daily peruse; all persons of age and experience will testify to this fact. If the Bible is daily read and studied, and such history as can be relied upon is read in connection with the divine word, with such a selection from the literature of the day as may be necessary to a proper knowledge of the times, how different the effect upon the mind from that caused by a careless way of reading whatever comes in our way without system or plan!
The great number and variety of modern publications, and most of these gotten up with a view of gain, and written often in a style conducive to pride and love of the fanciful, renders it necessary to be very careful what we read. A large per cent of the reading of the day is unfit for the attention and study of such as take the Bible as a rule of life.
It is not the design of this article to lay out any definite plan of reading, as circumstances greatly differ with us; but this we may be certain of: The Bible is too much neglected; the secular newspaper is often read in preference to this wonderful book; and the events, local, domestic, and foreign, chronicled in the secular paper, are too often better understood than the grand and glorious themes of Holy Writ.
The grand old Bible is not appreciated, because it is not daily studied with diligence and prayer. The more we read this blessed book, the more we value it. It seems to one who makes it a study, like a mine, all glistening with gold and precious stones. The study of the Bible corrects the taste and confirms good impressions. It begets a spirit of prayer and devotion, and uproots evil habits, and lights the narrow path to Heaven with a brilliant and heavenly light. It subdues our pride, while it sustains our courage, and increases our love for God and our fellow-men, and causes us to set a due value upon our own existence and our own talents as the gifts of God.
The Bible stimulates its reader to a course of improvement. It gives calmness, intelligence, and hope. It restrains by the gentlest means, and draws you to God with a silken cord. Its commands are always imperative, and its exhortations are positive; yet they never seem to use undue authority. The most imperative commands are given in a tone of love, respect, and esteem; and its mildest form of persuasion never sinks to a level with the transgressor.
It is a book of wonders. It commences so far back that wicked men shrink in unbelief, and it reaches so far forward to future events that scoffers turn from it with scorn. The good, the pure, alone, properly value the Bible. There is a natural affinity which goodness has for goodness; and like allies itself to like. Truth has a regard for truth, and virtue is recognized by virtue. As light joins its rays with light, so the good and the true recognize in the word of God the marks of divinity.
For such reasons the wisest of men seek for wisdom and strength from the word of God. It is their fountain of light and life. Paul made it his study and his delight, and he directs young Timothy to do the same. It was the guide of all ancient prophets and apostles, and of the good of all past ages.
Give attention to reading. A mind preoccupied with the Bible is already fortified; but it needs a daily supply. It should come often, fresh from the fountain; then the life of the Christian becomes radiant with faith and hope and love.
Jos. CLARKE.

THE RACE.

By M. Wood

“Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Heb. 21:1. In the time of the apostle Paul, running was one of the most popular of the Olympic games. And in order to get a better understanding of this illustration used by the apostle, it is necessary to give at least a partial description of those ancient foot races.
The place prepared for the race was called the stadium because of its length, which was about six hundred Greek feet. The stadium was an oblong area with a straight wall across one end, where were the entrances, the other end being rounded and entirely closed. Tiers of seats were on either side for the spectators, or “witnesses.” The starting point was at the entrance end, and was marked by a square pillar. At the opposite end was the goal, where sat the judge holding in his hand the prize. The eyes of the competitors were fixed upon him, and with earnest desires they pressed forward toward the mark for the prize.
“Let us lay aside every weight,” says the apostle. As those who ran in the Olympic races would throw aside everything that might impede them in their course, so Christians professing a love and zeal for the heavenly race must throw aside every thing that might hinder them in their Christian race. Whatever weighs down our hearts and weds us to this earth is carefully to be avoided; for no man with the love of the world in his heart can ever reach the kingdom of Heaven.
In Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians he says, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.” 1 Cor. 9:24. Be as much in earnest as the racers are to gain their prize; and although only one of them can win, all of us may obtain the glorious reward which lays at the end of the Christian’s course, if we run looking steadily unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
There are other passages where allusions are made to the game of running. In 1 Tim. 6:12, Paul says, as rendered in our version, “Fight the good fight of faith;” and in 2 Tim. 4. 7, “I have fought a good fight.” Some commentators understand that in both these passages, running rather than fighting is designed by the original terms. The idea is one of contest for superiority. “I have finished my course;” that is, “My race is run.” The “course” is also mentioned in Acts 20:24, and 2 Thess. 3:1. Phil. 3:13, 14, also refers to the race.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Here the course is not yet finished: he has not yet “apprehended” or seized the prize. Not looking behind and murmuring of the hardness of the way, but with his eye fixed upon the hope, of Israel, presses toward the mark with earnestness and zeal, determined to succeed.
In 2 Tim. 4:8, we have his testimony to this effect: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Those who have complied with the conditions of the gospel, those who have their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, and are living in expectation of the coming of Christ, who anticipate it with joyfulness, having buried the world and laid up all their hopes above, will ere long hear it said to them, “Come ye blessed of my Father.”
M. Wood.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS NOT THE OLD COVENANT.

By S. H. Lane

Whenever we present the law of God, the ten commandments, and clearly prove their moral obligation binding on all mankind, our opponents are immediately awakened, and claim that the ten commandments constitute the old covenant; and as that has long since been abolished and given way to a new and better one, therefore the ten commandments are no longer binding, at least, only such parts of them as have been embodied in the new covenant.
To those who are unacquainted with that which the Bible teaches in regard to the covenant question, the position of the opponents may seem plausible, but to those who have searched the Scriptures in reference to the subject, the position is absurd in the superlative degree. The primary definition of the term covenant, according to Webster, is, “a mutual agreement of two or more persons, or parties, in writing and under seal, to do or refrain from some act or thing; a contract; stipulation.”
In speaking of both the old and the new covenants, the establishment of the old, the contracting parties, and the time when made, the prophet Jeremiah says: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.” Jer. 31:31, 32.
The reader will notice that in each instance the covenants are made with the house of Israel and Judah, never in one instance for them. A covenant can be made with a party, and the very fact that such is the case proves that both parties were concerned in the making thereof. This was the case when the old covenant was made, as may be readily ascertained by examining Ex 19:1-6. Such is not the case with a law. It is not made with the people but for them. It is given by a superior party to an inferior, who owes allegiance thereunto. Not always so with the making of a covenant. One party contracting may be superior, or both may be of equal rank.
As our Heavenly Father did not make the ten commandments with the children of Israel, said commandments cannot constitute the old covenant, but may very appropriately become the condition of a contract or covenant, as was the fact in the case of the old covenant. By the observance of said commandments the children of Israel should become unto the Lord “a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, an holy nation.” The contract was broken on their part by not keeping the ten commandments, and the covenant thus proving faulty was abolished. The law, having thus lost its connection with the old covenant, is made the condition of eternal life by Him who taught the principles of the new covenant which he established. Matt. 19:17; Luke 22:19, 20.
This point and many others clearly and forcibly prove that the ten commandments are not the old covenant.
S. H. LANE.

WHAT DOES BAPTIZE MEAN?

By R. S. Owen

The great question in regard to the form of baptism rests primitively upon the meaning of the word baptize. It is the Greek word baptizo brought into the English language without translation. If it means to sprinkle, then those who use only a few drops of water to an individual are fulfilling the commission of our Saviour, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” If on the other hand it signifies immerse, dip, or plunge, as it is defined in thirty-seven Greek lexicons, and as it is translated in every instance where the Greek word is not used, then this duty is as plain as though Christ should say to-day, immerse, dip, or plunge, them in the name of the Father, &c.
The meaning of a word in any language must ultimately be determined by its use in that language. Here are some instances of the use of baptizo by eminent Greek writers, who certainly understood their language better than we: Polybius, speaking of soldiers’ fording a stream, says they were “baptized up to the breast.” Plutarch says of a dying soldier, “Having baptized his hand in blood, he wrote the inscription for a trophy.” Lucian quotes the words of a cruel man thus: “If in winter the river should carry away any one with its stream, and the person with out-stretched hands should beg to be taken out of the river, I would drive him from the bank, and baptize him headlong, so that he would not be able again to lift his head above water.”
Strabo, speaking of a lake in Sicily, says, “Things which otherwise will not swim, do not baptize in the water of this lake, but float like wood.” Again he says, “The bitumen floats atop because of the nature of the water which admits of no diving; for if a man goes into it, he cannot sink, or be baptized, but is forcibly kept above water.” From the above passages it is clear that the part only which is under water is baptized, and that which cannot be under water cannot be baptized. What then can baptism be but immersion?
Hippocrates says, “Shall I not laugh at the man who baptizes his ship by overloading it, and then complains of the sea, that it engulfs it with its cargo?” Josephus speaking of Jonah says, “When the ship was on the point of sinking, or just about to be baptized.” Again, concerning the misfortunes of Cestius, he says, “After this misfortune of Cestius, many of the Jews of distinction left the city, as people swim away from a baptizing ship.” Did the people in the days of Josephus jump overboard and swim away from a ship because a few drops of water were sprinkled upon it?
Diodorus Siculus says, that “when the water overflows the country many of the land animals baptized in the river perished.” From the use of the word in the Greek language, who could have the shadow of a doubt of its meaning immersion? and how harmonious this is with the Bible usage, “Buried with him by baptism,” “planted in the likeness of his death.” Rom. 6: 4, 5. R. S. OWEN.

WEAK POINTS.

By J. M. Gallemore

This is a world of imperfections. No such thing as perfection is attained in it—perfection is not of mortals. The person who keeps these facts in his mind, will not only be the more guarded in respect to his own actions, but will at the same time be the better prepared to make due and necessary allowances for the actions of others. All mankind have their weak points. It is true the weakness of some is much greater than that of others and of a very different nature, but there are none entirely exempt. We are very apt to expect too much, or to require too much, of our fellow-men. We fail to make needed and necessary allowances for their failings. We forget that even those whom we look upon as foremost Christians are by no means infallible, and that all that are human are liable to err, and do err.
We expect too much of weak mortals. It is true there are those of whom we have a right to expect much, and who above all others, it appears, have learned of the Great Teacher. But even these have their failings, and though not perhaps as great and as serious as ours, they are still failings. And as there are none of us exempt from our weak points, does it not become us to study well what these weak points are, that we may watch and guard against them? Here is where Satan, with whom we have to war, attacks us. How necessary, then, does it become that we search out these besetting sins, as it were, and with God's help, endeavor earnestly to overcome them!
And let us no longer look upon the faults of others without a proper degree of allowance, and instead of holding them up to the inspection of the world, let us help those in whom we see them to discover and put them away. Let us look more at the motives and good intentions of our fellow-men, and less at those errors that come from natural failings, or from the head and not from the heart. If we will do this, we shall be much happier, our love for erring humanity greater, and our labor in the vineyard of the Lord much more effective.
J. M. GALLEMORE.

DISTURBERS OF WORSHIP.

Give a preacher a good “send off” when he begins his sermon, and then listen attentively, and in nine cases out of ten you will be rewarded with an interesting and instructive discourse. Many things done by thoughtless and indiscreet hearers perplex and annoy the sensitive preacher, and where there is little sensitiveness there is little sense. I will point out briefly some of the individuals who trouble the minister, and disturb the devotion of the well-behaved and devout hearer.
1. Those who are late. They are not all alike, for some have been detained by sickness and unforeseen accident; but the habitual late comer is sure to stalk up the aisle during the service, and his squeaking boots proclaim his arrival, and call the attention of the auditors to his Sabbath suit and the fine figure it covers. The noise he makes adds discord to music, and introduces a vein of thought not in unison with sacred worship, and provokes criticism not complimentary to his taste and judgment. Business men say in the silent speech of reflection, “He is not on time here, and cannot be depended upon when he makes a contract in trade.” In that way his name and presence become associated with broken engagements, unpaid bills, and protested notes.
2. Those who cough needlessly. Those whose bodily afflictions and infirmities make coughing a necessity are not included in these strictures. A large number of persons have a habit of yielding to the slightest irritation of the throat. The juice of the mouth, the saliva, would, if used, moisten the membrane of the throat, and the exercise of the will would completely conquer the inclination to cough; but one begins to bark, the habit becomes contagious, and those who are never heard in any other way in public attract attention by making an unpleasant sound, which is neither a sob nor a shout. A sermon punctuated with coughs is almost as unintelligible as the speech of the drunken man, which contains as many hic-coughs as syllables. The minister makes a fine point which is lost in a cough. He is eloquent, but his rhetoric is spoiled, and the climax is crowned with a cough. He touches the heart with his pathos, and moves the intellect with his passionate logic, but the effect has been irretrievably impaired by a needless cough.
3. Inattentive hearers. Men and women who claim the advantage of education and culture, will do in church what they would not do in their parlors. They will shut their eyes, and put down their heads when a friend, and that friend their pastor, is talking to them. They would not insult a stranger in their drawing-rooms by going to sleep when he is conversing with them, and yet they will indulge the habit of sleeping in church when the minister is delivering to them a message which cost him a week of hard work. Such bad manners come close to the border line of bad morals, save in those instances in which sleep is a disease which the vigilance of the afflicted fails to cure. Men who never sleep at their desks, who are wide awake on the street and at places of amusement, need not seek to conceal themselves behind an excuse for sleeping in church. It often signifies too much eating and too little appreciation.
4. Those who leave during service. Sickness and positive engagements may make it necessary for a hearer to leave church before the conclusion of the services. I have no reproof for them. I refer to the little vessels that soon fill up and run over and run out—to the unquiet hearers who go to church to see and be seen, and who make themselves conspicuous by their impatience and noise. Perhaps they are offended because the preacher has uttered an unpopular sentiment, and they seek to advertise their anger and parade their opposition to his views by leaving the church abruptly. There are men of narrow minds, who endeavor to control the minister by their down-sitting and uprising, their incoming and their out-going, but they only make themselves prominently ridiculous and conspicuously foolish.
5. Those who are critical. Some hearers are nothing unless they are critical. Slips of the tongue are nuts for them to crack. Mistakes of any kind are sure to be noticed by them, and they are sure to let the minister know how sharp they are at discovering the mishaps and accidents that may overtake a man that is in the pulpit. “To err is human.” The other part of the quotation is not known to them. These maudlin critics are not all qualified for the task they assume. In the words of Miss Emily Faithful, they have been dipped in a thin solution of useless accomplishments, and know just enough to annoy those whose mission is to teach the lesson of eternal truth. Nothing pleases them so much as a misquotation or the literary blunder of a minister, unless it might be an act of immorality. I might add to this list those who whisper in church loud enough to attract notice, those who bang their books into the pew boxes, those who scrape the footstools upon the church floor, and those who spit tobacco juice where there is no receptacle for it.—Christian Intelligencer.
Continue reading: JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY'S GENERAL RULES