Earlier text: THE LAW OF GOD“BIND UP THE TESTIMONY, SEAL THE LAW AMONG MY DISCIPLES.”
By B. F. Robbins
THE first question that suggests itself to the mind in reading this text is, What is the testimony and law mentioned? To answer this question turn to Ex. xxv, 16. “And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” What was the testimony God gave Moses? Ex. xxxi, 18. “And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him up on mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger of God.” Ex. xxxii, 14, 15. “And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hands. The tables were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” Deut. x, 4, 5. “And he wrote upon the tables according to the first writing the ten commandments which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount and put the tables in the ark which I had made, and there they be as the Lord commanded me.” From these quotations we learn that the testimony and law mentioned in the text is the law of ten commandments, the law of God spoken by God in an audible voice from the summit of Sinai in the hearing of all the people in the day of the assembly [Ex. xx], and written by the finger of God upon the tables of stone which Moses put into the ark. It is the law and commandments of God of which the Scriptures affirm, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Ps. xix, 7. “Which are righteous and very faithful.” Ps. cxix, 138, 151. “Which is the truth.” “Which is holy, just and good.” Rom. vii, 12. “The commandments which are sure and stand fast forever and ever.” Ps. cxi, 7, 8. Jesus also affirms of them, “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” The law of God, the ten commandments, is the testimony and law to be bound up and sealed among his disciples. The text suggests to the mind that the law of God has been separated and mutilated in its precepts, and its seal torn away. Hence the command, “Bind up the testimony,” &c. That such would be the fact is clearly a subject of prophecy; and the wicked, blasphemous power that was to accomplish this work is as clearly identified. Dan. vii, 25. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change times and laws.” 2 Thess. ii, 4. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” By universal consent among Protestants he is identified as the Roman church, or popery. But has the pope exalted himself above God, and how? By taking away from and changing the law of God. In this he exalts himself above God, the only and supreme Law-giver. A power that repeals or changes the laws of another power or government, of necessity exalts itself above the original law-giving power or authority. This, by the voluntary confession of the Roman church, it has done, that is, so far as turning away the obedience of the majority of mankind from the law of God to their traditions, thus exalting himself above God. “Think to change times and laws.” He can only think to do it, because the principles upon which the law of God, the ten commandments, are based, are immutable and eternal, and must be an eternal rule of action to all subordinate intelligences, whether men or angels in the vast creation of God. As a perfect law it can admit of no change, because to add to it, or to change, or to diminish it, would prove it imperfect. If therefore the supreme Law-giver [I speak with reverence] should change or annul any of its precepts it would prove the testimony of his word in regard to its perfection and righteousness false, or exhibit imperfection in the Law-giver. Hence one jot or tittle can in no wise pass from the law. But in what has the law of God been changed or separated, and its seal torn from it so as to render it necessary to bind it up and re-seal it? Rome, in copying the law for the use of her people, has left out the second commandment, and changed and destroyed the fourth (this fact is undenied by that church), and substituted for the fourth an acknowledged tradition of her own. An examination of their Catechisms and published instructions, with their controversies with Protestants must convince the most sceptical. Protestants, with but few exceptions, have followed her example, and annulled the fourth commandment. We say annulled it, because to change the precept is to annul it. To change the rest-day of Jehovah from the seventh day to any other day of the week is to destroy the Sabbath institution, from the fact that the seventh day and no other is God's sanctified rest-day; and that God rested on the seventh from all his work and was refreshed, is a fixed and immutable fact to all eternity. Hence to change or substitute for the seventh day of the week is to destroy or annul the commandment. But the text speaks of sealing the law among the45 disciples. This supposes that the original seal that gave the law its binding force has been taken from it, and that in consequence it is to be re-sealed. That God gave to his law the broad seal of his authority is not to be doubted; but what is the seal to a law? It is that signature and sealed impression which shows the authority of the law-making power and the extent of that authority. Hence the enactments of our State legislature to give them binding force upon the people of the State, must have the signature of the Governor as the head of the law-making authority, and the seal of the State to show the extent of the authority of the law. What then is the seal of the law of God that gives it binding force or authority? It is the fourth commandment. Take away the fourth commandment and the seal of the law is gone; all that gives it binding force or authority is taken from it; we have no knowledge of the Law-giver, nor the extent of his authority. But the Sabbath commandment is the sign or seal of God from the fact that it shows us the supreme and rightful Law-giver, and the extent of his authority. The Lord that made heaven and earth, &c. Hence as the Creator by immutable right he is the Law-giver, and the extent of his authority is his creation. Therefore in taking away the fourth commandment the seal of God's law is gone, and all that gives it binding force and authority is torn from it. The stability of our argument upon this point is sustained by direct testimony from the word of God, in which the Sabbath is recognized as the sign or seal between God and his people forever. Ex. xxxi, 16, 17. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath, throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” Eze. xx, 20. “And hallow my sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Now from these testimonies we learn the all-important truth that in both dispensations all who hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment are the sealed and signed servants of God the Creator, and acknowledge their allegiance to him as the supreme Law-giver, and on his part they receive from him the acknowledgement, I am the Lord your God. I know it is objected that the words quoted above were spoken to the literal descendants of Jacob, the children of Israel, and therefore only applied to them. But I would ask, Has not God an Israel now? Are not they that be Christ's Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise? Who, we would ask, constituted Paul's “Israel of God” but the believers in Jesus in Galatia? And was not the Sabbath to be a perpetual covenant, a sign between God and the children of Israel, or the Israel of God, forever? And is not the knowledge of God as the Creator, and the Lord our God, as important for us as for them? How weighty the responsibility that rests upon the professed Christian teachers of this age in view of their influence upon the world of mankind! To them applies the declaration of Jesus [Matt. v], “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” And yet by their precept and example they are sustaining the rival institution to God's Sabbath, that of the man of sin, the son of perdition; thus leading the people from God's seal and mark to take upon themselves the mark of the authority of the man of sin. When is this work of binding up the testimony and sealing the law to be accomplished? It is when the people associate themselves and are to be broken in pieces. Verse 9. When they take counsel and it shall come to nought. Verse 10. It is when the Lord speaks and instructs not to walk in the way of this associated people, who are saying, A confederacy, or a union, among themselves. Verses 11, 12. It is when the Lord's people are to fear and sanctify him. Verse 13. When he shall be a sanctuary for them, but a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to both the houses of Israel. Verse 14. When many shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and taken. Verse 15. When some are waiting upon the Lord and looking for him. Verse 17. It is when the people are consulting familiar spirits, for the living to the dead. Verse 19. When the only appeal is to the law and to the testimony. Verse 20. This evidently refers to the present time and the work of binding up the testimony and sealing the law is a present work to be accomplished. And why? Because the predictions of the prophet in this chapter are being fulfilled now. The different sects of nominal Christians notwithstanding their diversity of opinions are associating and confederating themselves into a nominal union, and are all of them opposing the commandments of God and the true faith of Jesus. Ministers of the rival sects can cordially unite and associate themselves in opposition to God's sanctified Sabbath, and multitudes of professed Christians and ministers of this day openly deny the obligation of God's holy and perfect law. The first house of Israel stumbled and fell over the humility and suffering of Jesus at his first advent; so the present professed house of Israel stumble, and are preparing themselves to be broken, and snared, and taken, in his second advent, and from the same cause, unbelief of the word of God. It is at the present time that the people are seeking unto familiar spirits, the living to the dead for knowledge, and not unto God and his word. Now the command of the text, as the voice of God, is calling upon all who tremble at his word and believe its testimony to arise and bind up the testimony and seal the law among the honest disciples of Jesus.
B. F. ROBBINS.
Friendship, N. Y. SPIRITUALISM.—HEATHENISM.
SPIRITUALISM claims to be pre-eminently a religion of progression. We grant it; denying only its claim as to the direction in which it is progressing. It is progressing, if we may be permitted thus to use the word, in the wrong direction; not forward, but backward; not into new light, and higher attainments of knowledge in spiritual things, but into the darkness and foolishness of ancient heathenism. The identity of these two isms will be seen from the following definition of the latter by the German historian, Kurtz, with which we were, for this very reason, particularly struck. He says: "When the words were spoken, 'Go to, let us build,' &c., the hour of the birth of heathenism had arrived. For heathenism essentially consists, on the one hand, in a denial of the living and personal God, and contempt of the salvation which he had pre-determined to bestow—and, on the other, in the opinion of man that he can and must aid himself by his own power and wisdom, and, consequently, in the effort to set forth salvation by his own means." If this is a good definition of heathenism, and who will say that it is not? how clear is the identity between it, and modern Spiritualism; for what is Spiritualism but the very thing here defined? Who has not heard Spiritualists, those who have progressed (?) the farthest, loud in their insults against the majesty of Jehovah, and peculiarly zealous and bitter in heaping "contempt upon the salvation" offered us through Christ. Who has not heard them ridicule the idea of the vicarious sufferings of the Saviour, and set up the Devil-inspired, and fool-hardy claim that man is, and must be, his own redeemer! He who is familiar with these things can come to only one conclusion, namely, that in all their essential elements Heathenism and Spiritualism are the same! QUERY. When is the killing process accomplished spoken of in Rev. vi, 11? Does it have reference to the remnant? Also what constitutes the "virgins" of Rev. xiv, 4? It is supposed by some that they are those that have never belonged to the churches. If so, none but such will constitute the 144,000. Will you give your views on these two passages? ANSWER. Rev. vi, 11 refers to events which take place under Papal supremacy. The fourth seal [verse 7] symbolizes the time of Pagan Rome. When that seal closes, and the fifth seal is opened, the apostle sees under the altar the victims of the cruel persecutions of that power. They are told that they must rest till their fellow-servants and their brethren should be killed as they had been; which killing was to be accomplished under the fifth seal, by the persecutions of Papal Rome. The white robes denote the favorable estimate put by Heaven upon their characters. It can therefore have no reference to the church of the present day. We regard the "women" of Rev. xiv, 4, as symbols of churches, and the "virgins" as those who are pure in not being contaminated by a connection with them. Must then the 144,000 be made up of those who have never been connected with the churches? No; for it is not until a certain time that persons become defiled by such a connection. See Rev. xviii, 4. Speaking of the depths of corruption into which great Babylon sinks after her fall, John says: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Here is a class of persons addressed who are still in Babylon, still hold a connection with the churches. They are called to come out that they be not partakers of her sins. If they do not heed this call, if, when the light of truth is set before them, they reject the light, and cling to their old errors and associations, then they become partakers of Babylon's sins. But if, on the other hand, they come out, and separate themselves from the impure bodies to which they belong, they do not become contaminated by a connection with them; in other words, they are not "defiled with women." They then occupy exactly the position described in Rev. xiv, 4. We think it not inconsistent with a cautious interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy, to expect a mighty movement on this point, not far in the future. “I DO THE BEST I KNOW HOW.”
By James Sawyer
A TEXT USED IN THE LAST DAYS.
DEAR reader, will you pause long enough to consider whether you are governed by the above text or not? Please lay down this paper and answer the question before you proceed any farther. If this should be the highest standard of your religion, may you not be deceived? May not your house fall when the storms beat upon it? May you not be on the broad road to destruction? In justification of the text-principle one says, I am an erring, sinful creature, doing every day something displeasing to God: the best, however, have their faults; David had his, Solomon had his, and others theirs. I do not know but that God winks at, or overlooks my sins of ignorance. Acts xvii, 30. My secret faults are many. I think of many things on the Sabbath-day which interrupt the worship of God. Sometimes my heart-wanderings lead me to be wavering and doubtful, and I am afraid to bear testimony to the truth. Sometimes I think it hard that I am not prospered in this world's goods like some of my neighbors, when it seems as though I tried as much as they do, to get along—and they seem to have an easy road, and I a rough one; they seem to go down the hill, and I up the hill. My feelings are sometimes liberal towards the support of the gospel, and I would like to give more than I do, but my wages are so small, how can I do any more than support my family? Such and other kindred thoughts are filling up his mind, and he calls them secret faults, and lets them pass with the innumerable number of sins of ignorance which the Lord overlooks, winks at, or does not make any account of. But what says the word? Ps. xix, 12. Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Ps. xc, 8. Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. Matt. vi, 6. Pray to thy Father which seeth in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thee openly. But is a sin of ignorance a trespass or a transgression? Read Lev. v. 17–19. Will a just God look upon sin with allowance? How can we be probationers and not desire correction? Dare we conjecture that God is shutting his eyes and making allowance for our faults because we have excuses? Is he not rather turning his eyes from us because our ways are abhorrent? Rev. xiv, 5. “In their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Shall we not then say with the Psalmist, “Lord, cleanse thou me from secret faults?” Will not such cleansing be necessary to fit for translation? “I do the best I know how.” Will not this let us climb up some other way, and get the heathen on the ladder going right into heaven? Much teaching of the present day is consonant with this, although a mockery to the efforts which have already been made in the missionary cause. Such walls are being built. Will you dare trust to them? Lift up your heads and see if they will secure us. Are they safe? You have lifted up your heads, what do you see? Mortar and brick, you say. Will you examine the mortar and see if it be tempered? It is untempered mortar you say. Flee then! O flee quickly [Eze. xiii]! for the wall is daubed, and the great hailstones and a stormy wind will rend it, and you will be consumed in the midst thereof unless “ye go up into the gaps and help make up the hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the day of the Lord.” Eze. xiii. To the testimony. Ps. ix, 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Ps. xciv, 10. He that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct? Ps. ix, 15. The heathen are sunk down in a pit that they made. If then the heathen be such as forget God, how can they be saved? For they who forget God are like the rush and the flag without water to nourish. Job viii, 12–14. Their hope shall be cut off—their trust, a spider's web. They who forget God will be reproved, will be torn in pieces, and none shall deliver them unless they consider the reproof. Ps. l, 21, 22. How then will our ignorance, our forgetfulness, or our lack of knowledge excuse us? Can we take hold of the promises of God without asking for them? Can we enter the door of heaven and intrude ourselves abruptly into the presence of holy beings, without asking admission, and then say we forgot to knock at the door, or did not know it was required of us, but thought we could come right in, of ourselves? I did the best I know how, Lord, I even “prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils,” will not answer. It was your privilege to have done better than you did. Why did you not seek me with all your heart? And you have robbed me. Wherein, Lord? In tithes and offerings. Because ye could not sing like the Psalmist, ye would not praise me at all. Because ye had not my cattle upon a thousand hills, ye gave me no offering, not even two turtle doves, or two pigeons [Lev. v, 7], and when ye did bring a lamb it was either lame or blind. Your principle of action should have been, I will do the best I can know how. Jesus who was to be with such people to the end of the world, was the one to whom you should have daily gone. He was the one who would have given you wisdom if ye had asked. Jas. i, 5. To the testimony. Hosea iv, 6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Ignorance, or lack of knowledge will not excuse us then, forgetfulness will not screen us, but unless we become wise unto salvation, with the daring ungodly shall we share the unmixed wrath of the Lord, when he taketh up the controversy in the land and it mourneth, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, and the beasts are taken away. Hosea. iv, 1–3.
JAMES SAWYER. DIRECT CONVERSATION.
By D. Hildreth
This is a very important subject. Words have a great deal of power either for good or evil. The word abounds with caution and instruction on this point, and a perfect control over the tongue is one of the highest attainments in the Christian life. Hear the apostle James: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." Chap. iii, 2. This being the case we cannot be too careful of our words. There are some that have such an inclination to talk that it seems next to impossible for them to keep their tongues still when there is any one to talk with. If talkers would always say that which is good and profitable, they would perhaps be excused for their loquacity; but the grand difficulty is, that talkers are pretty apt to talk things which they ought not. Ponds generally have an outlet larger than the inlet;46 so with some persons, they tell all they hear and a little more. How much mischief has been done by this talking, this tattling, this tale-bearing, this telling everybody everything a person hears or knows. Some talkers are continually telling about trials, and the defects of members of the church. For instance, one of this class stops with you over night or over the Sabbath. He soon commences to tell you the news. Bro. A. is in deep trial; he and Bro. C. have been in difficulty a long while. He goes on and tells you all the particulars, supposing you are as much interested in such gossip as himself. After telling of the errors and defects of his brethren and sisters, he tells you of his own trials, for he has a great many. Now this is all wrong. 1. It is an injury to the person spoken of. To have one's errors and faults trumpeted through the land is no small injury to reputation. Talkers are apt to exaggerate, and give the person they are talking about a "setting out." The person that has committed the error mingles with his brethren, fully persuaded that Bro. Talkative has exposed him, and so his peace of mind is destroyed. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves we should be very careful how we talked about others. Are we as careful of the reputation of others as we are of our own? Think of this. 2. It is an injury to the church. It causes alienation of feeling among brethren. Tale-hearing divides and scatters—our effort should be to cement and bring together. When such things are going on in the church, it has a bad effect on the cause. 3. It injures the narrator. When a person sits and hears him tell a long story about some one, he concludes the chances are that he will talk to others about him in the same manner. Now Bro. Talkative, I can assure you that your brethren would think more of you if you would cease talking so much about them. Some seem to think that they have a right to talk about others as much as they please, and still it is not evil-speaking. Thinking and talking over trials is exceedingly unprofitable. It casts a shade over the whole being. Such things should be meddled with only when it is really necessary. We should strive to look on the bright side of the picture as much as possible. The disposition to talk about others should be restrained. Was Jesus in the habit of talking with Peter, James and John about the failings of the rest of the disciples? Imitate his example. Do as you think he would do under the same circumstances. This talk is useless. It does not minister grace to the hearers. It does no good, but much hurt. We should be honest and open-hearted, but still not tell everything we know. Use discretion my brethren in your conversation. Say only that which will glorify God. Some things elevate the mind and instruct the heart, but dwelling on darkness and trials does not. When the conversation turns upon individuals, it is always safe not to say anything against them unless their course is going to injure others. Be careful, be courteous, be pitiful, be gentle. "Have compassion one of another, love as brethren." TO PARENTS.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
THE duty of parents to their children does not consist alone in feeding and clothing them, but in training them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. While you feel that the coldness and indifference of former friends is as much as you can bear up under, with the grace of God to help you, don't forget the children. They, too, had their little friends and associates with whom they took much delight, but they are all cut off. The separating line has been drawn. The pleasure of school-days is gone. Many cannot attend school at all, and others that do, are made very unhappy. Instead of the love and kindness of their playmates, they hear nothing but taunts and reproaches. Poor children, how I have pitied them, when they have come to me with quivering lip and a broken heart, saying, "The children won't play with me. They say they don't love me—that my pa is deluded—he is an old Advent." Now what is to be done to make up this loss they have sustained? They feel it, and know it, and it is no use to try to hide their eyes from it. A substitute must be provided or there is danger of their saying of the Sabbath, "What a weariness is it." It is not only required that we turn away our foot from the Sabbath, but also that we call it a delight. I have seen children keep the Sabbath only as an imposed task, and I could not blame them for it, because it brought no delight to them. They had no Sabbath-school to attend, no interesting instruction imparted to them at home, no good books to read, no, not even their own little paper that is prepared for them with so much care and interest, a copy of which ought to be in every Sabbath-keeper's house. The Lord has raised up those who feel an interest in the salvation of the children. But it depends much upon parents whether they will place this means of instruction within their reach. Encourage them to save means enough to take the little sheet as their own, and if two or three children in one family send for it, and love it for the spirit of its teachings, and obey its admonitions, they could not spend their money more profitably. Only think, this is the only thing in all the publications at this Office adapted to the understanding of a child. And will you deprive your children of the milk that is calculated to nourish them, and qualify them for the examination that they must soon pass? I know you will not. We expect all who love their children, all who love the truth, and look for the coming of Jesus, to send in their orders for the Instructor at the opening of the present volume. "Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another."
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: During the short period of time that I have been a reader of your letters "of good cheer" in the Review, I have often thought that were mine the pen of a ready writer, cheerfully would I contribute to the merits of its columns by a short letter; but I have finally concluded, that if acceptable, I will at least cast in my mite. And if in so doing I shall encourage any dear lamb of the flock, I shall indeed greatly rejoice. Scarce three months have passed since I felt the evidence in my heart of sins for Christ's sake forgiven; yet I can truly say, I love the Lord, and am looking for his glorious appearing. I believe that I am willing to become anything or nothing for the sake of my blessed Lord and Master. Indeed, I feel there is no sacrifice too great to make in return for the great love wherewith he hath loved me. And though at first I found it exceeding difficult to come out from the pleasures and gaieties of this fashionable world, and felt so very bitterly the reproaches of my former companions, and though it seemed the loss of their society was almost irreparable, I can now say, truly "if God be for us, who can be against us," and joyfully sing the language of the poet: Earth's scoffs and scorns well pleased I'll hear,
Nor mourn though under foot I'm trod,
If day by day I may but share,
Thine approbation, O my God!"
And have we not the greatest reason to rejoice in the blessed hope? If we continue patient in well-doing, we shall soon have the reward of the righteous, even life eternal at His blessed appearing. When I reflect upon all the joys that await but a little hence the true child of God, I can truly exclaim, it is enough! If, as the poet says, "One hour with my God will make up for them all," how much more glorious will life eternal repay us for all the sorrows we may have to endure. Even this poor life I can give cheerfully in exchange for one where there can be no more sorrow, pain nor death. Cheerfully then will I labor, performing every known duty in the fear of the Lord. It shall be my highest aim to spend my time, strength, and life, if necessary, in the service of my divine Master. O that I could impress upon the minds of the young, the necessity of our being active, diligent laborers, as it is impressed upon mine. Let us labor to bring precious souls into the fold of Christ, that they may shine as stars in the crown of our rejoicing, and let us also strive faithfully to lessen the cares of those who have so long borne the burden and heat of the day, remembering "the greater the cross the brighter the crown." My elder brethren and sisters, I earnestly entreat you to remember at the throne of grace those of us who are young in age, and still younger in the cause. Bear in mind the thousand snares that are laid for the young, and especially remember the lambs of the flock. Your young sister in Christ, L. V. WITTER.
Wellsville, N. Y. Firm in the Present Truth
By B. McCormick
BRO. SMITH: We are still firm in the present truth. The more we investigate, the brighter it shines. The only thing we fear is, our not being able to live up to the light we have received. Notwithstanding my weakness, I feel determined by the grace of God to hold out to the end. A few of us, four in number, besides Bro. and sister Daniels, met at Bro. Daniels' two weeks ago last Sabbath for a season of prayer. The Lord met with us by his Spirit, and we all felt strengthened and encouraged in the glorious cause we are trying to live out before the world. We realize that this world is not our home, and are striving for an interest in that immortal kingdom soon to be established. How careful we should live! Satan is constantly on our track, and watching every move we make. If a brother or sister is inclined to move slow he will try to have them become slack and indifferent; if zealous and active, he will try to push them ahead too fast. I believe in keeping pace with the body. I have no sympathy with any dividing spirit. I am young in the cause, having had no experience in the first and second messages; yet I can see the hand of God in the work from the first to present time. Such a chain of truth! how plain to those who want to understand! Since I embraced the present truth I have done what little I could to induce others to embrace the same, and my labor has not been in vain in the Lord. He has given me one brother and sister to go with us to Mt. Zion. I am glad to see a review of Rev. Luther Lee on the Christian Sabbath in our paper, as he is noted in the W. Methodist church, and some of my friends belonging to that church are readers of the paper. We want to see the sophistry of his so-called Christian Sabbath47 shown up in its true light, that the honest may see where the truth is. Yours hoping for immortality through Christ,
B. McCormick. You may sing of the beauty of mountain and dale,
Of the silvery streamlets and flowers of the vale,
But the place most delightful this earth can afford,
Is the place of devotion, the house of the Lord. You may boast of the sweetness of day's early dawn,
Of the skies' softening graces when day has just gone,
But there's no other season nor time can compare,
With the hour of devotion, the season of prayer. You may value the friendship of youth and of age,
And select for your comrads the noble and sage,
But the friends that most cheer me on life's rugged road,
Are the friends of my Master, the children of God. You may talk of your prospects, of fame and of wealth,
And the hopes that oft flatter the favorites of health,
But the hope of bright glory, of heavenly bliss,—
Take away every other, and give me but this! Ever hail blessed temple! abode of my Lord,
I will turn to thee often to hear from his word,
I will walk to the altar with those that I love,
And rejoice in the prospect revealed from above. The Review as a Comforter
By J. H. Curtis
Bro. Smith: I return heart-felt thanks to the brethren for the Review which has come each week as a comforter to me in my pilgrimage journey to a better country. To me it is next to the Bible, for it seems filled with light from the word of God that I can find in no other paper. I read them over and over again, feeling impatient for the next number; and when I hear of the union and love of commandment-keepers, although many miles apart, it fills my heart with joy and gladness. As for myself, I stand alone here in this place, yet I am striving to do my duty before the world. I feel to praise the Lord for his kindness to me. Although afflicted and unfortunate, yet his grace is sufficient for me, and I am encouraged to go on in the good way. Ours is a glorious hope. Soon the conflict will be over, and immortality and eternal life be gained. The prize is in view; the time is near when he that shall come will come and take to glory all who are prepared. O let us be firm, unshaken, have the faith of Jesus, and we shall receive a crown. Rejoicing in the Present Truth
By E. E. Taylor
Bro. Smith: I greatly rejoice in the present truth. I love every agency that is blessed of God in its establishment, and I believe the Review has no small share in the accomplishment of this great and noble work; and I can truly say that it finds in my humble heart a warm reception. And as it comes to me each week I am cheered and comforted in affliction, while my understanding is becoming more clearly convinced and my purposes strengthened to go on to know more of these blessed truths which God in his infinite love has been pleased to unfold like a glorious light upon my pathway. As my light has increased, I know more is required at my hands, and if I now fail to meet the requirements of God's law and do not take up my cross and willingly follow Jesus, through evil report as well as good, I prove myself unworthy of him, and I realize that where light and hope now beam upon my path, darkness and despair without one cheering ray will forever settle. But bless the Lord for the hope which is like an anchor to my soul both sure and steadfast, and reaches to that within the vail. Yes, through grace I expect to overcome. I feel that I am nearing my desired home, the haven of eternal bliss, where the wicked will cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. "It is not for me to be seeking my bliss,
Or building my hopes in a region like this;
I look for a city that hands have not piled,
I pant for a country by sin undefiled."
Bro. Sanborn was here according to appointment. Being quite ill at the time I was unable to attend the preaching of the word, but I should judge it was meat in due season, for our little band seem to be growing in grace and the knowledge of the truth.
E. E. Taylor.
Lodi, Wis.