Earlier text: Historical Department.It is not of the prospect of our existence and prosperity as a nation, nor of this or that political party, that we propose to write, but of the hopeful future that just now lies open before the great cause of present truth, and particularly the question of the Sabbath. Not that we suppose any believer in present truth doubts the final issue of this question, for that is plainly revealed in the word of God; but we desire to speak of some of the encouraging features connected with this work. Prominent among these, we may consider, 1. The impregnability of our positions. Like all other great reforms, the progress of the third angel's message has been gradual. But as the work has been slowly but steadily increasing in magnitude, the light has also been increasing, and shining brighter and249 brighter, until the harmony of our positions is such that the man is yet to be found who can successfully cope with the Sabbath question. This is no idle boast, but has been repeatedly demonstrated, both by public debates and by the steady, onward progress of the work, even under the most discouraging circumstances and against the most violent opposition. This position has not been reached in a day, nor without agonizing prayer and much earnest thought and study; but in the providence of God it has been reached, and the humble child of God, well entrenched and fortified with the Bible truth, is a host against the efforts of opposers. 2. The state of the public mind relative to the subject. The Sabbath question is being agitated; not so much with a view of enforcing the true Sabbath, as to preserve the institution of Sunday. Honest, conscientious men and women are shocked at the increasing “Sabbath [Sunday] desecration,” and are making strenuous efforts to prevent it. This brings to view a class of opposers, who, although they do not claim to be Bible Christians, base their opposition on the fact that Sunday is only a human ordinance, and as such its obligation binds the consciences of those who do not choose to observe it. This agitation cannot fail to expose, in some degree at least, the rottenness of its foundation, and the weakness of the arguments used in its support. The honest seeker after truth will get some rays of light, and thus the mind be prepared for the reception of the truth when presented in all its clearness and beauty. 3. The weakness of our opponents. This may perhaps be considered as a necessary consequent upon the establishment of our first position. The point from which we wish to view it, however, is not the weakness of their positions, but the futility of their efforts against the truth. An error becomes dangerous in proportion as those who hold it become united in sustaining it. Unity of action is a principle of strength in any cause, and the chief weakness of the opposition to the Sabbath is lack of unity. The arguments of one class of opponents completely overthrow those of another. Especially is this true of that class who at the present time are taking the most active part in opposition to our work. We allude to the first-day or no-Sabbath Adventists. Seemingly determined that the Sabbath agitation shall be silenced, they are yet disagreed as to the best means of accomplishing so desirable an end. To use a familiar expression, their biggest guns have been fired and have failed to do the execution demanded. We believe there are many in their ranks who would gladly embrace the third angel's message upon a fair and candid hearing of its claims, and the agitation of the question in their midst accompanied with a thorough examination, would inevitably lead to such a result. Now with all these encouraging features, what is there to hinder or retard the rapid progress of this work? Manifestly nothing, except the blessing of God be withheld from it, and this is possible, even while we hold the mightiest and most solemn truths the world has ever heard. It becomes the people of God to see to it that they are not at fault in this matter, as a backwardness on the part of the church will block the wheels and retard the onward march of the truth. Let us move out in the advancing light of the message, carrying out every reform, taking up every cross, and moving in the counsel of God. Then the blessing of God will descend upon us, our prayers will be heard, and the prospering hand of God will be felt in all the work. W. C. G. NOTES BY THE WAY.
By J. M. A.
In pursuance of a very urgent appeal from Bro. and Sr. White and the Editor, to join them at the Convocation Meeting in Iowa, and with the consent and advice of brethren at the Office, I rather reluctantly consented to go, being doubtful as to whether it was duty, from the fact that Bro. Smith was also absent. I resolved, however, to go to this meeting, hoping and praying for a good and profitable season. I accordingly left Battle Creek at 2:45, P. M., on Tuesday, westward bound. Next morning, at 7 o'clock found me at Rock Island, on the Mississippi river. And right here I feel like saying that a sleeping-car is a grand arrangement for night travelers. It don't pay to sit up all night, cramped and squeezed, and so nod the long hours away, when for a trifling expense they may be spent so much more comfortably. An all night's ride in a wide berth on this occasion proved a very pleasant and refreshing pastime to me. But here at Rock Island is the mighty Mississippi, the “Father of Waters,” in which I am particularly interested just now. I have often thought I should like to see this noted river,—the longest in the world—but scarcely expected to ever enjoy the privilege. I must now improve the opportunity to the best advantage; so I take my position on the platform of the car while crossing the bridge. Although it is a broad belt of water, it seemed at first sight quite shallow, and with this impression on my mind, and being a little confused for the moment as to my geographical whereabouts I very innocently enquired of the brakeman whether steam navigation extended up the river above that point? Oh! yes, said he, eleven hundred miles! How deep is the water here? Sixty feet at low water, was the response. I concluded I had better waive further questions. But my kind informer doubtless thinking I might like to know how the steamers got by the bridge, voluntarily informed me that there was a “draw” in the bridge, (over which we were at that moment passing) that let them through. Well, I have for once passed over the great Mississippi. In contemplating this vast belt of water, my mind was filled with wonder and admiration. Truly, the works of God are wonderful. I am now in Iowa, steaming still westward. The morning is delightful; the sky clear, and the air pure and bracing. The scenery on either side of the rail road is beautiful beyond description. I enjoy it much. My eyes never before rested on a western prairie. One has seen but little of the world if he has not seen a western prairie. Here is land as far as the eye can see. There is nothing to limit the vision. Here I saw the elements of wealth scattered in wide profusion, the chiefest of which seemed to be wheat, corn and cattle. Of these there seemed to be no end. As far as the eye could pierce the depths beyond, the vast plains were completely dotted and covered with stacks of grain and waving fields of tall corn. One noticeable feature of this western country is the fact, that they have but very few barns. The vast number of acres made this feature particularly noticeable. It was a rare sight indeed to see so many cattle. If I did not see “cattle on a thousand hills,” (the hills were not to be seen) I saw at least several thousand cattle on the plains. It was a very common thing to see droves numbering from one to two hundred each. Here, I thought, is where the vast trains of cattle come from, that furnish bruised, pelted and sickly meat for the eastern markets. I pass along. After journeying thus for an hour or more, we strike the Mississippi again at Muscatine. This, in western phrase, is a “right smart” town of about 12,000 inhabitants. The town is situated among the bluffs on the right and is partly hid from view, while the broad, deep river on the left flows peacefully and majestically on her course to the far-off gulf. While rapt in awe and admiration on beholding the scene before me, I thought how applicable the language of the prophet; “Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river.” I felt more than ever like hearkening to the commandments of God. Just at this juncture in my thoughts, two men, who had stepped out to view the town came into the cars; and one said to the other: In twenty-five years from now this will be a great place. Yes; said the other, but you and I will not be here then. Truly thought I. “You and I will not be here then.” Think of it, dear reader, where will we be, and what will be our condition twenty-five years from now? On hearing the conversation of these two men, I wished for an appropriate tract to place in their hands, showing that “the end of all things is at hand.” The distribution of tracts is a work which as a people we must enter into on a larger scale than ever heretofore. More must be said on this question hereafter. I arrived at Washington at 12:30 P. M. and am now, at this writing, Wednesday eve, sharing with Bro. Smith the kind hospitality of Bro. Kilgore and family. In the morning we start for the meeting at Pilot Grove, ten miles distant. Bro. and sister White are already there. May the blessing of God be with us at this meeting. TRUTH.—Truth and reason never cause revolutions on the earth; they are the fruit of experience, which can only be exercised when the passions are at rest; they excite not in the heart those furious emotions which shake empires to their base. Truth can only be discovered by peaceful minds; it is only adopted by kindred spirits. If it change the opinions of men, it is only by insensible gradations—a gentle and easy descent conducting them to reason. The revolutions caused by the progress of truth are always beneficial to society, and are only burdensome to those who deceive and oppress it. SUNDAY IN POLITICS.
By J. H. WAGGONER.
Conversing lately with a friend in Green Co., who had been hearing our sermons on the Sabbath, on the future of Sabbath-keeping in this country, he expressed the belief that as these views were disseminated, and the people became more liberal-minded, the Sunday laws would be erased from our statute books. Of course I dissented, for the “sure word of prophecy” has foretold the perverseness of men in these last days, already so prominently displayed, and their preference for fables, rather than for truth. A few days after I was reading the Western Christian Advocate, published in Cincinnati, of Sept. 11, 1867, in which was an article on “Sunday Rail Reading,” which urges a rigorous enforcement of Sunday laws, and ended with the following remark:— “This Sunday question may yet have a bearing on our State politics. Sabbath [Sunday] lovers everywhere should gird themselves, stand to the truth and fight it through.”
Sunday lovers well know that they stand a much better chance in the political field than in a Bible argument; and, though their movement will meet with strong opposition, they are numerous enough to make it an object for unscrupulous politicians to do their bidding to secure their votes. This is where the controversy will soon be carried. Let the warning of the third angel be faithfully given, that the faithful may be warned. The same paper contains a notice of the fact that the English and American departments in the Paris “Exposition” were closed on Sunday, while all was life and activity in the departments of all other nations, which caused a Frenchman to remark: “These Protestant heretics observe the Catholic commandments better than the orthodox Catholics themselves!” This is significant, and points to the origin of the commandment. If the “heretic Protestants” had not got ashamed of their cherished institution—ashamed to call on him for “absolution” for breaking the “commandments of the church,” their practice would be somewhat different, and more in conformity to that of Europe; and if they would be consistent, and reject the institution as well as its author, they would not have to seek the field of worldly “politics” to promulgate their faith. J. H. WAGGONER. We commend the following, which we find in an exchange, to the notice of our contributors. Inaccuracies in quoting Scripture should be avoided in writing as much as in speaking, and no small amount of editorial labor might be saved if correspondents would be very careful in this matter. W. C. G. QUOTING SCRIPTURE.—If you pretend to quote Scripture at all, quote it accurately. Take no liberties with the word of God.—A quotation from Scripture, when correctly given and properly applied, carries great force with it. But a mis-quotation is worse than none at all. When, in writing, you give a passage of Scripture, turn to it in your Bible and give it just as it is, spelling, punctuation and all. Your articles will stand a much better chance of insertion than they will if carelessly written and needing many corrections. A HEALTHY Christian is one who can work as well as eat. If there is a heavy load to carry in Christ’s cause, he takes to it at once. If there is a wall to build, he is the man to lift the big stones. If some one has to go out into the storm and endure pelting opposition, who so able to bear it as his broad breast and brawny arms? A man that loves Christ loves work. A dyspeptic Christian dreads work. A lazy Christian shirks it. What a hospital is many a church! Here lies one poor man down with a paralysis of faith. Here is another laid up by a sprain which he got by a sudden fall into temptation. Here is one whom the fever of passion has burned out; he looks hardly worth the medicine to cure him. Alas, for another, he is under pastoral treatment for the blindness of unbelief! and for another, whose gaping wound reveals the spot where Satan’s fiery dart went in! A revival commonly clears the church hospital. But a long period of spiritual declension crams it to the door-way. Oh, what need that he who went through Galilee healing all manner of diseases, should come into some of our hearts. There is no one point in this world so critical of Christian character as the power to maintain love toward all men—not a love of personal attraction, but a love of benevolence, that begets a willingness to bear with them and work for them. And you will take notice that the only prayer of the Lord on which he made any commentary was this; “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” On this official prayer he says, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.” He conditions a man’s own salvation; he makes the evidence of a man’s own piety to depend on his capacity to forgive. And I think there is not another point on which men have such a fight as on that.—Sel. The following is from a sermon published by a son of Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher:— There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the Creed-Power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible, as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way. During the whole course of seven years' study, the Protestant candidate for the ministry sees before him an authorized statement, spiked down and stereotyped, of what he must find in the Bible or be martyred. And does any one acquainted with human nature, need to be told that he studies under a tremendous pressure of motive? Is that freedom of opinion—the 'liberty wherewith Christ maketh free?'—Rome would have given that. Every one of her clergy might have studied the Bible to find the Pontifical Creed, on the pain of death. Was that liberty? Hence, I say, that the liberty of our Theological Seminaries is a mere form. To say nothing of the thumb-screw criticism, by which every mind is tortured into negative propriety, the whole boasted liberty of the student consists in a choice of chains—a choice of handcuffs—whether he will wear the Presbyterian handcuff, or Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, or other evangelical handcuff. Hence it has now come to251 pass, that the ministry themselves dare not study their Bible. Large portions thereof are seldom touched. It lies useless lumber; or if they do study and search, they dare not show their people what they find. There is something criminal in saying any thing new. It is shocking to utter words that have not the mould of ages upon them. GUARD WELL THY LIPS.
By M. J. COTTRILL
GUARD well thy lips: that careless word
May cut a wound too deep
To e’er be healed by act of thine,
Or word which thou canst speak. Thou dost not know the trials which
May burden that poor heart;
A smile may beam upon the eye
Where struggle tears to start. Guard well thy lips, for what may seem
To thee a trifling thing,
May cause another’s heart to writhe
As with a venomed sting. Guard well thy lips, for word of thine
May cause some lonely one
To seek for love in dangerous paths,
To stray from friends and home. Guard well thy lips, lest e’en thy tone
May make some listener feel
That you care not for wish of his,
And turn his heart to steel. Guard well thy lips, for on some heart
Thy words are surely traced
In characters which thou wilt find
Not easily erased. It is to be hoped that the pictures clearly drawn in the following lines, do not find their original in any of the believers in present truth, but as a caution against this curse of forever saying something about our neighbors and brethren we give them to our readers: I HAVE known a country society which withered away all to nothing under the dry-rot of gossip only. Friendships, once as firm as granite, dissolved to jelly, and then ran away to water, only because of this. Love, that promised a future as enduring as Heaven and as stable as truth, evaporated into a morning mist that turned to a days' long tears, only because of this. A father and a son were set foot to foot with the fiery breath of anger that would never cool again between them, only because of this; and a husband and his young wife, each straining at the heated leash which in the beginning had been the golden bondage of a God-blessed love, sat mournfully by the side of the grave where all their love and all their joy lay buried, and only because of this. I have seen faith transformed to mean doubt, hope give place to grim despair, and charity take on itself the features of black malevolence, all because of the spell-words of scandal and the magic mutterings of gossip. Great crimes work great wrong, and the deeper tragedies of human life spring from its larger passions; but woeful and most mournful are the uncatalogued tragedies that issue from gossip and detraction; most mournful the shipwreck often made of noble natures and lovely lives by the bitter winds and dead, salt waters of slander. So easy to say, yet so hard to disprove—throwing on the innocent all the burden and the strain of demonstrating their innocence, and punishing them as guilty if unable to pluck out the stings they never see, and to silence words they never hear—gossip and slander are the deadliest and the cruelest weapons man has ever forged for his brother's hurt.—All the Year Round. “If we walk in the light then have we fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” There is a deplorable absence of union and sympathy among the children of men at the present day. This is because they live on the dark side of existence; like cowards in the dark, imagining everything to be as enemy, men go through the world thrusting and beating each other as though hatred and violence were inborn and controlling features of their creation, when the fact of the case is, that God made man upright but he has sought out many unrighteous inventions. “Christianity proposes to restore to those who will accept, their first estate, and make men of those who have made themselves beasts.” FOREVER WITH THE LORD.
By L. E. Miller
ENRAPTURING thought! Can it be that such poor, unworthy beings as we are, shall ever be permitted to dwell with Jesus, the Lord of life and glory? Yes; it is possible. He died to redeem us from all iniquity, and present us faultless before the Father, and shall we not avail ourselves of the offers of salvation, so full and free to all that will come? We may be purified and made like our blessed Jesus. Oh, who would not strive with all their powers of mind to imitate their divine Lord, who was meek and lowly and went about doing good? If we submit to all the requirements of God and endure every test, we shall soon, yes, very soon be forever with the Lord. Through the ceaseless ages of eternity we shall enjoy immortal life in his glorious kingdom. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we first begun.” Oh, how bright the vision; forever with the Lord. Then we shall be like Jesus the King of kings, and Lord of lords. We shall be adorned with his beauty and loveliness; and he is the one altogether lovely, fairer than the sons of men. Oh, glorious prospect! Blessed hope! Shall we who profess to be looking for the soon coming of our adorable Redeemer, be clothed in white robes, in shining raiment? Shall we be rich in faith, and have the tried gold and the eyesalve? Oh, who shall abide the day of his coming? Oh, my soul, be it thy one great aim and object to make thy calling and election sure, to be prepared for that solemn event, when the earth shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens be rolled together as a scroll, and be among that happy, holy throng, who shall look up with confidence and say, “This is our God, we have waited for him and he will save us.” Will not this be enough, though we pass through great tribulation here? Oh, to inhabit those bright mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare, and be forever with the Lord where there is fullness of joy forevermore. My heart is filled with gladness as I contemplate the glorious consummation of the Christian’s hope, forever with the Lord. Sinner, where will you hide in that dreadful day, when the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and destroy the sinners thereof out of it, you who slighted all the offers of salvation, and resisted the last call of mercy? Then will he laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh. In vain will you call for rocks and mountains to fall upon you to hide you from his face. Then will you see all the faithful, waiting ones who have made the Lord their refuge, with their faces shining far brighter than Moses’ just from the mount, crying, Alleluiah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so be forever with the Lord. Tokens of the End.
By Cumming
We shall find nothing that can occur in the shape of material phenomena, however unprecedented or extraordinary, which men will not explain away. I have no doubt that many of the cotemporaries of Noah, while they saw him building the ark, derided his folly, and described Noah and his project in the Charivaris and caricatures of the day, as an antediluvian lunatic, while they contemptuously smiled at the stupid old man who dreamed that any force we are acquainted with could raise the ocean from its oozy bed, and cause it to overflow hill and valley, and leave not a living thing over the face of the whole earth. Up to that very morning when the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven poured down water, the philosophers and the astronomers-royal of the age demonstrated with mathematical accuracy that a universal flood was a physical impossibility, and that Noah was, beyond all dispute, a fool and a fanatic, whose requests to the people to enter into the ark ought to be treated with the contempt such counsels deserved. When phenomena shall overtake this world that shall be the divinely-appointed pioneers of the great and final convulsion, demonstrations in leading articles, and letters, and essays, will appear thick as dead leaves in November, showing that all is explicable from electricity, or the polarization of light, or other natural law, and that it is very wrong in Christian ministers to disturb weak nerves, and alarm timid minds; pleading, also, as they did of old, “All things continue as they were from the beginning until now;” not knowing that thousands of signs are pre-signifying the exhaustion of an age in which we play so momentous a part, and the approach of a glorious dispensation, in which I trust and pray that we shall be found heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.—Cumming. MEN are atheistical because they are first vicious, and question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practice. It is out of a broken heart that all truly holy affections do flow. Christian affections are like Mary’s precious ointment that she poured on Christ’s head that filled the house with a sweet odor. That was poured out of an alabaster box; so gracious affections flow out of a broken heart. Gracious affections are also like those of Mary Magdalene, who also poured precious ointment on Christ, out of a broken alabaster box, anointed therewith the feet of Jesus, when she had washed them with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. All gracious affections, that are a sweet odor to Christ, and that fill the soul of a Christian with a heavenly sweetness and fragrancy, are broken-hearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires; their hope is humble; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable and full of glory, is a humble, broken-hearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behaviour.—Edwards on the Affections. From Sister Webster.
By Charlotte Webster
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I love to read your cheering testimonies; it does my heart good, and encourages me to press forward with renewed zeal toward the kingdom of God. I have ever felt, since trying to live out the truths of the third angel’s message, that my trials were very severe. Perhaps they have been, but when Bro. and Sr. White were at Ithaca, Bro. White remarked that since he had been engaged in the work he had made some sacrifices and had some trials, but seemed to regard them as small matters, although he is so worn out in the cause. I felt condemned, and determined to complain of trials no more. How often do we think that those at the head of the work have only smooth roads to travel, while it is theirs to bear the heaviest burdens. I can say for one that Bro. and Sr. White’s visit here has been of great benefit to me. Weak and helpless I will cast my care upon Jesus and trust him in the future. Shall we not brighten our armor dear brethren and sisters, and relinquish our hold upon earthly things, laying aside the gratification of pride, and use the means thus unwisely spent, for the advancement of the cause of God? With our hearts and energies employed in the blessed cause of God we shall be prepared to meet our Lord when he shall return from the wedding. The mark of the beast we never shall feel.
When we stand with the saints on the glorified shore,
With the servants of God we then shall be sealed,
And dwell in the presence of God evermore. The powers of earth that would fain bring us down,
Shall powerless lay in the depths of the tomb;
And monarchs whose brows are now decked with a crown,
Will know that Jehovah is monarch alone. The papers are fairly glutted with records of crime—far more than we care to publish. We should think the Devil was abroad in the land “having great wrath.”—Ch. Secretary. Such is the statement of a religious journal, respecting a land of open Bibles and of a free gospel. Crimes which would have disgraced Paganism, are perpetrated under the garb of Christianity; yet men boast of progress, and affirm that we are on the eve of the millennium, if indeed it has not already commenced! When will men open their eyes to the truth that the work of this dispensation is an elective one; that “God did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name;” and that till Jesus—the Lord of the millennium—comes, there will be the co-existence of Christianity and Antichristianity? Till then the church will be like the “lily among thorns;” and because “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” the times will be “perilous” for the church and the world. Read 2 Tim., third chapter, and iv, 1–3.—Advent Herald. Exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. Heb. 10, 25. This Department is designed to fill the same place in the paper that the Conference or Social Meeting does in the worship of God. Speak often one to another to comfort, edify and aid each other in the way of holiness and true Christian experience. From Bro. Wild.
By Wm. H. Wild
DEAR BRO. SMITH: I want to say through the Review, for the encouragement of those of like precious faith, who are trying to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, that our little Grove Meeting here was like one of the old ’44 meetings. The sweet spirit of truth descended upon us at the commencement and carried the truth to the hearts of the hearers. Several have decided to keep the Sabbath; others are examining it, and I trust will soon take a decided stand to keep all of God’s commandments. Bro. Rodman preached on the three messages, and the two laws, and it was received by nearly all of the dear children. I expect to see before long a little church here keeping the commandments of God as well as the faith of Jesus. Bro. George Barker of Lime Rock, Ct., a first-day preacher, was with us from the commencement. Bro. Henry Pratt of Springfield, Mass., was with us until Sabbath morning. Friday afternoon he preached against the Sabbath, taking up the old objections, calling the typical law the moral law, saying it was dead, &c. His argument to those who never heard on the two laws looked like truth, but when Bro. Rodman preached on the two laws they saw a beauty and a harmony in it as they never saw before. Thank God for the light of present truth.
Wm. H. Wild. From Bro. Keyser.
By N. Keyser
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS IN CHRIST: I can truly say that I am a believer in present truth. I believe we are living in the last days, when the dragon is wroth with the woman and makes war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. I have been trying to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus for seven years. I have tried not to live under the law, but under grace. I am one of the lonely ones, as there is but one Sabbath-keeper in this county that I know of. The Review is all the preaching I have. Yours in hope of eternal life. N. KEYSER. From Sister Baker.
By Rosetta Baker
Bro. Smith: I am still striving to be an overcomer, and go through to the end with the tried people of God, although I feel my weakness and unfitness to be one among them, yet I feel determined to go with the remnant. I realize that we are living in the last days, when sin is on every hand, and it is only by constant prayer and watching that we can overcome our evil ways. I feel thankful for our excellent paper, and I feel encouraged when I read the testimonies from the tempted and tried ones; many times I see lines from those that are lonely and tried as I am, and my prayer is for such that God in his great mercy will bless them, and will hasten on the day when we shall have our companions with us, in trying to lead our little ones to that blessed land, where there shall be no sighing for the company of those of like precious faith. I feel thankful for the light of present truth, and for the Health Reform. I am trying to live up to it as well as circumstances will permit, but I find that I fail when I do my best. But I know that our Father has promised to help us in time of need, and I feel that he has helped me to overcome much that is sinful in his sight, and hurtful to my health. Pray for me that I may still overcome, until I shall stand at last with those that shall hear the welcome, “Well done.” Your unworthy sister, striving for a home in Heaven. From Sister Hall.
By Eleathea Hall
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I desire to give my testimony in behalf of the truth of the third angel’s message. Something like one year ago I was convicted that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the Lord, and I went to searching my Bible for the truth and found it, and am now trying to live it out as well as I can. I am sixty-nine years old, and I praise the Lord for his mercy to me in bringing me to the light in my old age, for I can say that I find great peace of mind in keeping the commandments, and living out the faith of the Saviour. I feel thankful for the Review. It gives me much strength and encouragement, for I have sore trials to pass through, as all my family connections oppose me, but I feel that I have the truth, and if I live it out I shall have a part in the first resurrection. I feel very thankful for the privilege I have of meeting a few of like precious faith on the Sabbath, to sing and pray together. I do love the Advent cause and hope to be among those that will stand on Mount Zion, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Pray for me that I may be faithful, and keep pace with the third angel’s message, and go through with the remnant people of the Lord, and be with them forever. SHOWING PIETY AT HOME.
By Rev. A. L. Stone
You tell me a man is changed by the converting and renewing grace of God. Is he? Let me look at him. It is something, that I may see him with the Bible in his hands. It goes as confirmation, that I behold him on his knees. It helps the evidence, that I hear him speaking his public vows in covenant with God and his people. But I would rather visit him insensibly in his home; see what sort of a husband and father he has become; whether he is gentle and self-restrained, when he used to be petulant and irritable; whether he is monarch of all he surveys, or the servant and minister of all; lives to receive the incense of the family homage, to be saved trouble, and guard his personal comfort and convenience from interference and restriction, or to lavish thought, and toil, and care upon the welfare of all the dependent circle. Let me know, are his angles rounded off in the house? Is he eager to lift off the household burdens from the frailer form at his side, and adjust them to his own broader shoulders? Especially, has he become, in a Scriptural and meaning phrase, a nursing father to the little ones there? Are they only the playthings of his idle moments, with whom he frolics as so many kittens when he is good-natured, and looks upon as so many stumbling-blocks to be kicked out of the way when he is moody and hasty; or are they young plants to be watched and nurtured for the garden of God, youthful learners to be taught the way of life, early pilgrims whose feet he is to lead with his own in the path to heaven? Show me the evidence that he has discerned and accepted his most responsible calling of nurseryman for the great Husbandman in this little plantation of human beings. I wish to see him kneel with his right arm around his eldest born, and his left on the cradle of his babe; to hear him—with a tax which he shall feel because it is painstaking study and effort, and yet for love’s sake shall not feel, because it is freely and gladly borne—reading and expounding to young learners the way of truth and salvation. If his heart is not turned to his children, it is not turned to Christ.—Rev. A. L. Stone. WORDS, so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.