THE Saviour in speaking concerning the gate and the way that leads to eternal life, and the effort necessary to secure an entrance therein, said [Luke xiii, 24], "Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." The necessity for striving is found in the fact that the gate is strait (difficult of access), and the way is narrow (not easily found or walked in), and simply good desires and wishes, without earnest, constant and lawful striving, cannot secure us an entrance.
Again he said [Matt. v, 29, 30], "And if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee. . . . And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." The true sentiment here taught is, that whatever obstacles present themselves in the way, causing us to err or forfeit eternal life, though the objects are as sacred as a right eye or hand, we are nevertheless to sacrifice them, for it would be far better to obtain the kingdom of God without these, than to forfeit the same by retaining them.
This is indeed strong meat, yet not any too strong, for it is to be feared that many set out for the kingdom of God with far too low an estimate of the cost. They understand neither the roughness nor the perils of the way, nor the amount of sacrifice to be made in getting through. They do not seem to realize that they are in the narrow way, and therefore cannot carry all that their hearts desire of the riches, the honors, the fashions and the pleasures of this world. To such it is proper to say, in the language above, Never mind the stuff.
Undoubtedly the same reason why the multitude throng the broad road, is because that in this they can walk without any inconvenience to self. For there is no restraint of lust, or curtailing of pride, to all that walk in the broad road. In fact all the paths of passion and of pride lead directly into it. And as it is a downward grade the amount carried does not hinder, but increases the progress. With these facilities it can scarcely be a wonder that this should be the most popular of thoroughfares, accommodating as it does all kinds of travel. Here the carnalist with his lustful bloated soul, the ambitious with all his objects of pursuit, the mammonist with his stores of gain and gods of gold, yea, all votaries of fashion, all seekers of pleasure, all lovers of fame, may walk without one sacrifice of feeling, desire or object.
But not so with the Christian. His is the narrow way, his the pilgrim's journey, and it is for him to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset, and run with patience the race that is set before him. It is for him to forego the present by denying self and taking up his cross and following his Master in all things, that he may be accounted worthy to obtain the world to come.
Again, the way to the kingdom of God may be likened unto a patent gold coin detector—the object of which is to detect spurious coin. And as size and weight are the only criterions, and as the specific gravity of gold is greater than that of any other metal (except platina), and hence, as no compound can just equal in weight and in size the pure gold, the machine is so constructed as to determine both size and weight. It is made with a kind of open work at the top, just large enough to receive the genuine stamp. The coin is then caused to pass down through when it comes in contact with a nicely poised balance, on the opposite side of which is poised a genuine coin. And if the piece thus examined is just equal in size and weight to the genuine, it is said to be good also.
This may illustrate many who suppose they are heirs of the kingdom. While some are so large with self-righteousness and love of the world that they cannot humble themselves like little children, and therefore cannot get in, others are so light with fear and unbelief, that when weighed they will be found wanting. We may deceive our fellows, yea, even ourselves, but God and the truth we cannot deceive. And unless we are Christians in deed, in heart and in life, we can never obtain that goodly land.
E. GOODRICH.
Edenboro, Pa. Sept. 12th.
EASTERN TOUR.
By James White
We were not able to visit New York city for want of time and strength to travel. We were sorry to disappoint the friends there; but it was undertaking too much to visit the city between Sabbaths. Others have sent urgent requests for us to vist them; but we must pass by them this time. We have extended the time of this tour six weeks, yet we cannot call on all who request a visit. We regret the necessity of passing by Penn. and Ohio; but requests from those States did not reach us until our arrangements were made up to November 19.
Our meeting at Kensington, Conn., the 3d and 4th, was small, and the few were in trial in consequence of false impressions and exercises, which have had a scattering influence. We spoke to the brethren of the importance of dwelling on the great principles of truth and duty, instead of descending to the particulars of each other's duty. This brought relief to the meeting, and it closed with an encouraging influence.
Sept. 10th and 11th, we met with a few friends of the cause at Salem, Mass. The meetings were held in Lyceum hall, a very convenient place. The people were well notified by hand-bills, and notice in the leading Journals; but few came out. At our last lecture there were 175 persons present, who gave close attention. We hope some good may result.
There is a great anxiety on the part of the friends in Massachusetts for efficient labor in the State. And we are fully satisfied that many of the efforts, and much of the labor, for a year or two in the past, has been worse than nothing. Much could be done with the tent in Mass. But it wants two or three of our strongest preachers to remain in one place three or four weeks after thoroughly advertising. Brn. Andrews and Loughborough are wanted to hold two tent meetings in Mass. next summer and fall. Brn. Johnson, Folsom and A. Farnsworth were chosen a committee to appoint general conference, and arrange for tent meeting for 1860. J. W.
Dartmouth, Mass. Sept., 16th, 1859.
UNITY IN WORSHIP.
By Jos. Clarke
It is a solemn thing to attempt the worship of God. It is an inestimable privilege, a high and glorious employment to address the holy One, who inhabiteth eternity.
There are many ways in which God may be worshiped and honored, but pre-eminent above them all, is the assembly of the upright, convened for the especial purpose of public worship, in prayer, praise and exhortation, or in listening to the warnings and instructions of his chosen servants.
There is such a thing as improving these opportunities to our spiritual benefit, and there is, too, such a thing as entirely losing the benefit these social privileges afford.
Witness the careless worshiper. He has a form of godliness, keeps the Sabbath, attends meeting regularly, but does not keep his heart. Sabbath comes, his work ceases, but his thoughts are still on the world. Its vain enchantments allure his mind. He attends meeting, but his thoughts rove about from one vanity to another. If the sermon is very interesting, he praises it; if a prayer is remarkably fervent, he enters into it; but not till his turn comes does he think of praying himself. Then he tries, but his heart is cold, his tongue is palsied, and he thinks he has no talent, and pleads inability. If he exhorts it is to keep up his credit with his brethren. If he sings, it is to fill out the programme.
Far too many of us do not worship God with all our powers of heart and soul. There are so many subjects to attract the mind, so many objects to draw off the attention, that our social and public worship of God is too much like mockery. The mind is not wholly disciplined to the will of God.
Let us unite. When one is engaged in prayer, let us all unite heart and soul, adopt his petitions as our own, and with fervent desire and simple faith, send them up to where Jesus pleads his blood; then may we expect the heavens to break over our heads with blessings.
When one rises to exhort, inwardly pray that he may be upheld and strengthened from on high, that the Spirit may speak through him to the edification of the body of believers. If he is not awake to righteousness, carry his case to God in secret, pray him to arouse the lukewarm brother, then perhaps the Lord will give thee some good word for him, if not, thine own soul will be strengthened.
When the praises of God are sung, join in the singing, making melody in thine heart. Do not let the mind rove to other subjects, but let the Lord have the attention of all hearts, at once rising in songs of praise with a full flow of harmony. O how wicked, how hypocritical, to worship him in a negligent, careless way, with the mind so wavering that the opening of a door or the entrance of a tardy brother or sister should draw off the mind of the worshipers from their holy employment.
Or if you have the privilege of listening to his chosen servants, do not consider that the church is to listen as merely the passive recipient of his instructions, for thus you will be a heavy weight, a burden upon your minister. No wonder he falters when you listen to him as a spectator. Each one should pray for him, that God would touch his lips as with a live coal from off the altar, that the Spirit would quicken and animate all his powers, and send home the truth to all. Thus let us all do, who desire the good of Zion, and the reward will come. JOS. CLARKE.
Loose Professors Ensnare Simple Souls
Loose professors are the devil's traps, by which he ensnares simple souls.
THE WHIRL OF CLOSING EVENTS.
WHO has not stood on the margin of some whirlpool, and noticed how gradually objects revolve in the outer circles, but increase their speed as they near the center, until after a few rapid whirls they plunge down into the vortex? Or, if not seen, who cannot imagine this? How securely float the occupants of some stately ship, as it enters the verge of the Norwegian Mael-strom! how leisurely it circles around the outer disk; but when it nears the center how its speed is momentarily increased, until it makes the fatal plunge, and becomes a wreck! So it is often with events in this world's history. Slowly the primary causes operate; gradually results ripen; but as they near their crises, they seemingly thicken, until the result suddenly bursts upon our startled vision.
This is true in events of ordinary history. Take our own American revolution: the causes that produced it were slowly culminating for a long period, and becoming more and more significant, until at length the train was suddenly fired.
The world as a whole shows a similar rapidity of events as it nears its final catastrophe. The last hundred years, has witnessed more marked occurrences in the world's history, a greater progress in the arts and sciences, multiplication of discoveries materially affecting man's interests, than there have been in any previous ten.
A century ago, and the independence of this nation was hardly thought of: only about two millions of people of European descent, inhabited these shores, and they had not penetrated west of the Alleghanies; there was not an independent state on this western continent; there was not a railroad in existence; only a few canals had been dug, and none west of the Atlantic; America had but few post routes, or regular modes of conveyance. Travel was performed mostly on horseback, all transmission of intelligence was slow and tedious and it was a week's journey from Boston to New York; the whole west was an unbroken wilderness, where roamed savage beasts—and more savage men; not a heathen or Mohammedan country was open to Protestant missions; there were no societies organized for the extension of the gospel, or for the circulation of the Bible, or religious books or tracts; and the press itself was an imperfect instrument and little used. And yet the world itself had existed nearly sixty centuries, growing old with slow and tardy footsteps.
Another century only has been added to the number of the past, and what a change! The thirteen British colonies, that hugged the Atlantic coast, have expanded into more than thirty sovereign states bordering on two oceans, extending from the lakes to the gulf, and comprising thirty millions of people; independent states also occupy all the southern part of this continent; the savage tribes have disappeared from an extent of land more than 1000 miles in breadth, and where the smoke of their wigwans curled among the trees, are now populous cities, thriving villages and cultivated fields; where their canoes glided on our inland streams, the sails of a nation's commerce now whiten; fire and steam have been made subservient to man, and propel vessels at his will; the broad Atlantic, which could be crossed only by months of tedious sail, is now an ocean ferry; millions of bushels of grain are annually raised and floated from regions 1000 miles west of the then civilized settlements, through canals dug hundreds of miles across the then wilderness; the iron railway has extended its briarean arms many thousands of miles in extent, linking together all parts of this and other countries, annihilating distance; and the steam propelled cars traverse back and forth upon them swifter than a weaver's shuttle; journeys are now performed in days, that then occupied months, and, in hours, that then required days; the electric flash now instantaneously transmits intelligence over thousands of miles of telegraphic wires, which unite all parts of this land and of other lands, and which will soon put, in instantaneous communication with each other, the opposite and distant shores of the Atlantic; the tide of emigration has rolled on and on, in successive waves, over the Alleghanies, across the prairies of the west, across the Mississippi, across the plains beyond, and over the Rocky mountains, until arrested by the shores of the Pacific, where it has created independent states in what was a waste wilderness within the remembrance of those who have not yet reached middle age; in eastern Asia, southern Africa, distant Australia, and the isles of the sea, the English race and tongue have found their way and established empire; the whole heathen, and Mohammedan world have been made accessible to the preached word; lands which were unknown have been explored, and those which were uninhabited, covered with the habitations of men; societies, for sending the living preacher into all countries, for accompanying them with the sacred Oracles rendered into unnumbered dialects, and for otherwise ameliorating the condition of man, have been greatly multiplied, and their agencies widely extended; the press has increased its efficiency a thousand fold, and brought the word of God within the reach of the most humble; discoveries in science and the arts have kept pace with the spread of empire, and facilities for international communication; and, without any hyperbole, more progress has been made by the generation now living, than by any ten generations that ever preceded.
Event, also, has followed event with increasing rapidity. To go back only a very short period, what wonderful changes have transpired! The discovery of gold in California, caused such a rush of emigration there, that a full fledged sovereignty sprang into existence in less than half a score of years. A like discovery in Australia, peopled those shores with equal rapidity: Napoleon was dethroned by the monarchs of Europe, imprisoned to die on a rock in the ocean, and his name disinherited in France; but within a quarter of century the house of the Bourbon and that of Orleans, were driven into exile, by successive revolutions, and another Napoleon reinstated on the throne. In the apparently peaceful possession of India, the British rule was suddenly periled by the revolt of a hundred thousand armed Sepoys, and wide spread disaffection among the populace; and almost as suddenly were the disaffected provinces re-conquered and the British rule re-established over the millions of India. The crescent has so waned under the remonstrances of Christian diplomacy, as to submissively permit equal rights to all religions,—where before it was death to renounce the dogmas of the false prophet, and it retains political power in Europe only by the sufferance of other nations, and because they are disagreed respecting the disposal of the "sick man's" effects. China and Japan, which were impenetrable by those of other lands, and hermetically sealed against the admission of the gospel, have opened their doors, removed the interdiction, and become accessible to men of every race and creed.
The various systems of Paganism are losing their hold on the confidence of their devotees—though infidelity is too often the substitute. The last thirty years have witnessed the change of an island of savages, into a Christian kingdom of civilized men. The political power of Romanism has waned, until it, like the Turk exists only by sufferance: any turn of the wheel may demolish it utterly; and how far its ecclesiastical organization may be affected by changes in its political, human prescience cannot determine. The last ten years has witnessed the rise of demonology, the multiplication of converts to it by millions, as claimed by its votaries, and its marvelous spread throughout christendom. Infidelity, irreligion of every kind, and vice in every form, stalk over the earth uncontrolled and almost unrebuked. *
All these things betoken that we are in that age of the world which is nearing its consummation; that as the more swiftly circling waves are those which are nearer the vortex, and as the rapidity of their whirl is augmented by their nearing the final plunge, so are the swiftly circling events of time, the sudden and multiplied changes in the world's diplomacy, the running to and fro of multitudes and increase of knowledge, unmistakable munitionss that God will shortly overturn, and overturn, and overturn, until He comes whose right it is; when the kingdom shall be given to Him.—Advent Herald.
"But we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not quickly shaken in your mind, nor alarmed, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present. Let no one deceive you in any way: for that shall not be, unless there come the apostasy first, and there be revealed the man of sin, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and uplifteth himself against every one called God or an object of worship; so that he in the temple of God, as God sitteth, showing himself forth that he is God. Remember ye not when I was with you I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery is already working in lawlessness, until only he, who withholdeth for the present, be taken out of the way: and then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the appearing of his coming; even him whose coming is according to the energy of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all deceitfulness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing; because they accepted not the love of the truth, that they might be saved; and therefore shall God send them an energy of delusion that they may believe the falsehood.
The apostasy was future in Paul's day, but is not in ours. That man of sin, the Papacy, of which Paul spake, and which Daniel and John saw in vision, has been clearly shown in these last days as described by them. See Dan. vii, 8, 24, 25; viii, 9-12; xi, 36-38; Rev. xiii, 1-10. It has rebelled against the King of kings, its words have been against the Most High; its thoughts to change his laws, its acts to wear out his saints. Dan. vii, 25.
It has shown itself to be the lawless one, by suppressing that precept which forbade the making and worshiping of images; and then, as though the suppression had completely annulled that precept, it proceeded boldly to make these images, and teach the children of men to worship them. But the man of sin stopped not here. After laying his unholy hands on God's holy law, he would fain have its author put out of the way. This he might not do—he could not destroy the author—so he breaks the signet, tears off the royal title, thereby leaving the subjects free to worship a god of their own choosing, providing they would worship a god. And then, as though that were not enough, he would make God a liar. Moved by Satan, he reiterated that fearful lie, the falsehood which brought misery and death upon the happy dwellers in Eden's garden.
God, by the mouth of Ezekiel, said, The soul that sinneth, it shall die.Eze. xviii, 4, 20. 'Nay,' says antichrist, 'you cannot die, for you are already immortal.'
Martin Luther, the great reformer, seeing the corruptions of the Romish church, came out of her, or allowed himself to be disowned. In his defense he says, 'I permit the pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful; such as, the pope is emperor of the world, king of heaven, God upon earth, and that the soul is immortal, with all those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill of decretals.' 'His argument against the mass, purgatory, and prayer to the saints, was to deny the immortality of the soul;' he maintained that all that had been said about it was vended by antichrist to make the pope's pot boil. From 'Audlin's life of Luther.'
O that papacy had the finishing of the dark picture! My heart sickens, while the truth is pressed upon me, that Protestant christendom is leavened with the same corrupt leaven.
The principles instilled into the very heart of Protestantism, while yet in swaddling bands, carefully nurtured in the bosom of the mother church, without150strength to break away from paternal or maternal restraint, these principles or doctrines, became as it were a part of its being. It needed more than mortal energy to eradicate them. Some, they, the Protestants, considered obviously the doctrines of Satan. But other some, had such a beautiful web over them, that Satan's foot and finger-prints were hidden from their view. But to the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them. The word says, "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii, 4; and "The wages of sin is death." Rom. vi, 23. What is death? The extinction of life; mortality. Webster. But what say nearly all the religionists of the present day? Man is an immortal being, hence cannot die. God breathed a part of himself into man—a part of God cannot die. Satan told Eve she would be as God, and now through the Papacy he makes her children believe they are as God, having an undying nature. And now, in these last days, God permits an energy of delusion to come upon those who would not accept the love of the truth; they accept the delusion, and believe THE FALSEHOOD, and their fate is sure. This strong delusion has been manifested in the spiritual manifestations of this time. The professed object of the mission of spirits is to convince the world of the natural immortality of the soul. Bishop Tillotson says "The immortality of the soul is rather supposed, or taken for granted, than expressly revealed in the Bible." The Talmudists say "it needed a revelation from God to make it believed that the soul is immortal." Yes, that revelation is yet wanting, and wanted; so Satan commissions his servants to bring it, and professed believers of God take it from them. O that the honest ones might discover the source of this doctrine before they are drawn by it into the fatal snare of Spiritualism. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry &c. 1 Tim. iv, 13. So did the Catholics,—so do free love Spiritualists now.
Truly these last days are perilous, for some having the form of godliness, creep into houses and lead away silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. And they resist the truth as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses. Aided by Satan, Spiritualists perform miracles, causing many to think the spirits are from God. See 2 Tim. iii, 1-9. But as the magicians' deception came to an end, and they and the deceived were destroyed, so will it be with those who are content to be deceived by Satan in these last days. What says the word? "Sin is the transgression of the law." What law? Says Paul, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Rom. vii, 7. What law is this found in? Why in the law of ten commandments—the law of God. The law of what God? for there be gods many. 1 Cor. viii, 5. We examine the law to see if there be a distinctive title by which we may determine. Yes here it is. Here is the royal signature: "The Lord thy God, the maker of heaven and earth." That is plain enough; for none but the living God made heaven and earth and all therein. This God truly is a great God. Let us not dare to transgress even the least of his commands, for certainly he who made, can utterly destroy.
Let us see. Somewhere in close proximity to the seal, we see a command something on this wise: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." That is reasonable—isn't it neighbor Pope? Nay verily! There is no such command for me—I have changed it—it now reads, "Remember the Sunday to keep it holy. In it thou shalt not do any work; for on the first day of the week Christ rose from the dead." O I see you are the one we read of who would think to change laws—we dare not parley with you.
Brother Protestant, how understandest thou the law to read? O, the same as neighbor Pope in regard to the Sabbath. The first day of the week is the Sabbath now, because Christ rose on that day. O brother, how dare you transgress the law of God? "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey?" Rom. vi, 16. "Whenever any civil or ecclesiastical enactment conflicts with the requisitions of Jehovah, that power is worshiped which is obeyed in preference to the other." Do not pattern after THE LAWLESS ONE, but make haste to obey every precept of God's holy law, that you may escape the dreadful fate of those who worship the beast, or Papacy. See Rev. xiv, 9-11. As for me, I mean to obey the command which contains the seal of the living God.
M.
Letters.
By Patrick Mongan
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
From Bro. Mongan.
BRO. SMITH: For the first time I endeavor to let my dear brethren and sisters know what great things the Lord has done for me, notwithstanding my great unworthiness.
I have been heretofore a Roman Catholic, much established in that corrupt and superstitious doctrine. I do truly feel to praise my heavenly Father for his loving kindness in permitting me to hear this last message of mercy, and also these fearful warnings against the worshiping of the beast. Now I can plainly discern the position wherein I stood, and the danger that surrounded me on every side. I was involved in, and held fast by, strong delusions, deceptions and traditions, groping my way in darkness in the midst of danger, but nevertheless the Lord delivered me. I cried unto the Lord and he heard my supplication. He extended his holy arm to my assistance; he stretched forth a Father's loving hand and finally severed the strong cords that bound me, and brought me up out of the pit of miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. And I believe he has washed my sins away, not through the priests or pope, but through the merits of his only begotten Son, in whom he is well pleased. Yes, praise God, he applied the atoning blood, and it proved sufficient to wash away my guilt. And I do not guess at it by any means. I know it. I know when God opened the flood-gates of heaven and poured me down a blessing. I know when I first rejoiced in a Saviour's love. O what joy, what love, what peace, unspeakable and full of glory! How thick and dark the veil that tradition had woven over my vision! But thank God, who tore it away! Then I could see free salvation, and go unto the Lord penitent, with a contrite heart, and obtain forgiveness of sins through the merits of a Saviour's blood, and have nothing to pay subsequently.
I do truly rejoice in the present truth. I behold the light of it. Truly it is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. O what a contrast to compare it to Roman Catholic traditions, such as Sunday-keeping, purgatory, invocation of saints, prayers for the dead, and a host of other simple notions, which I do not deem it consistent to weary you with. I apprehend that all my connections are Catholics. Consequently I can plainly perceive their imminent danger from the coming storm, but they will not listen to me nor to God's warning voice, I fear, until great Babylon comes in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Brethren and sisters, I do thank the Lord that I am on his side, and that I hold no allegiance or connection with Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, the abomination of the earth. But nevertheless I have many conflicts, and also many trials and afflictions to encounter. My Catholic friends have risen up in opposition to me, and not only Catholics, but Protestants also. Still I am determined by the grace of God to fight my way through, fearless of reproach and regardless of consequences. I do hereby acknowledge that I do love the people of God, and feel to sympathize and participate with them in all their afflictions. O let it be mainly and chiefly our object to glorify God amid the adverse winds and currents of temptation. Let us be faithful, cheerful and submissive, pressing forward, reaching forth, bearing manfully, wisely and courageously, ever standing at our post of duty. Although at times trials may press heavily, still look up. Doubt not the goodness of God; he will surely carry us through. All his promises are sure. I feel truly that I am a pilgrim and a stranger wandering here. Pray for me that I may not get weary in well doing. May I be active in the service of God, and always prove a faithful servant.
There are about twenty-five of us here who keep the Sabbath, and are trying to live to the honor and glory of God. It is about fourteen months since I commenced, in my feeble way, to keep all the commandments of God. I delight to do his will. I feel willing to deny self, sacrifice any thing, or do any thing, that God requires, that I may have eternal life.
Yours, by the grace of God, trying to overcome and be one of the hundred and forty-four thousand that will stand redeemed on mount Zion, to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
PATRICK MORGAN.
Mackford, Wis., Aug., 1859.
A Call for Spiritual Revival
By I. S. Chaffee
From Bro. Chaffee.
Bro. Smith: I would say that my trust is in the Lord, and I am trying to live in obedience to his requirements; but the longer I live in this world, the more I see the need of having the Spirit of my blessed Saviour. I need a great deal of the grace of God to live and exhibit the spirit of Christ, and keep myself unspotted from the world. My heart says, Praise the Lord for his goodness towards unworthy me, when I realize what I have been and what I have done, and how much he has done for me. The nearer I live to God, the more I enjoy, and the more I want to be moulded into the image of Christ. O I want to get into that place where I shall abide in God, and have his word abide in me, and then I may ask what I will and it shall be done.
My heart is made to cry out when I see the coldness of the professors of Christ here in this place. My prayer is that the Spirit of God may operate upon their hearts, that they may see themselves in the light of God's truth, and repent of their stupidity and coldness, and once more feel that they have a charge to keep and a God to glorify. God says, Son, give me thy heart. O how many have given their hearts to God and run well for a season, but grown weary in well-doing, and taken back the gift that they had laid upon the altar. My prayer is that pure and undefiled religion may be once more revived in this place, and that there may be a people here whose God is the Lord. I would exhort those who have hung their harps upon the willows, to take them down, and tone them once more to Zion's songs. I want to say to the watchmen who stand upon the walls, Cry aloud and spare not: lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Truly we are living in perilous times, but the service of the Lord is still delightful. I love to be where I can praise God as David did of old, and have my heart filled to overflowing with his love. And while there is such a fullness in Jesus, and it is free for all, why do not all enjoy it? O I fear that too many151among us love too well to follow the fashions and customs of the world, to mingle with the world, and therefore they do not keep themselves unspotted from the world, and Christ cannot dwell in the hearts of such. Again, instead of going to meeting, they had rather stay at home and read newspapers, stories and novels, or visit the neighbors, on the Sabbath. O, Christian friends, if you want to enjoy the fullness that there is in Jesus, you must keep yourselves unspotted from the world, lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset you, and run patiently the whole of the Christian race.
Remember the great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, might, mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. If we have not the Spirit of Christ we are none of his.
Yours searching after truth, and in hope of full redemption through the blood of Christ.
I. S. Chaffee.
Ordino, Wis.
"Sweet are the Uses of Adversity."
THE following will be the better appreciated by concealing the author's name:
"And, as the longer you keep the canary bird in a darkened cage, the sweeter it will sing, so the more severe the discipline of the good man's experience, the sweeter the songs of his spirit-life. The gold that is refined in hottest furnace comes out the brightest, and the character moulded by intensest heat will exhibit the most wonderous excellencies. God's children are like stars, that shines brightest in the darkest night; like torches that are the better for beating; like grapes, that come not to the proof till they come to the press; like trees, that drive down their roots farther and grasp the earth tighter, by reason of the storm; like vines, that grow the better for bleeding; like gold, that looks the better for scouring; like glow worms, that shine best in the dark; like juniper, that smell sweetest in the fire; like the pomander, which becomes more fragrant for chafing; like the palm tree, which proves the better for pressing; like the camomile, which spreads the more as you tread upon it.
"There is a flower, when trampled on,
Doth still more richly bloom,
And even to its bitterest foe
Gives forth its sweet perfume.
The rose that's crushed and shattered,
Doth on the breeze bestow
A fairer scant that further goes,
E'en for the cruel blow."
Letters from Maine and Iowa
Sister S. E. A. Bogues writes from Camden, Me., Sept. 15th: "I feel very lonely at times, and miss the society of the people of God. But I look forward with sweet anticipation to the time when the saints shall meet in one general assembly to part no more. I hope I shall be among them, unworthy as I am.
"While a pilgrim here I in sadness roam,
I will think of the shining band,
And the many joys I shall share with them,
In the home of the promised land."152The Report from Brn. Cornell and Hull, now in Knoxville, Iowa, is yet encouraging. The interest was still increasing when they last wrote. From two to four hundred persons had expressed by rising in meeting their conviction that the seventh day is and always was the only weekly Sabbath. Their last two letters have brought us 55 new subscribers for the REVIEW.