Review and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 10.
Constantine and the Sunday Law, ConcludedPage 1
Earlier text: An Appeal to Young MothersSeventh-day Adventist General Conference.
By N. V. Hull
We arrived at Battle Creek on the 13th of August, and found our Adventist friends were, with matters of business, uniting a camp-meeting, which had then been of several days’ continuance. We were received with every mark of respect, and this seemed really to ripen into affection, so that not a few tears were shed when we bade each other farewell. This was as true of the leaders as of the membership in general. On our arrival, Eld. White took us under his care, and from then to our parting showed us every attention possible, in which service Mrs. White heartily joined, nor was their care scarcely more unremitting than that of the entire eldership. There were on the grounds ninety-one family tents, and the average attendance of Sabbath-keepers was supposed to be about fifteen hundred. There were generally three sermons a day, one by Eld. White, one by Mrs. White, and one by Eld. Smith. Besides these, several social meetings were held each day by the congregation at large, and also prayer-meetings were held in several or all of the tents. Some of these were very spirited and refreshing. Of the sermons preached, several were designed to win converts to the Seventh-day Adventist faith, and to strengthen the confidence of the membership. These discourses were able and seemed greatly to encourage the brethren. The discourses, however, of Mrs. White were exceedingly earnest in favor of reform, and the necessity of a true Christian life, such as any one might hear with profit. On first-day, the congregation became very large, numbering, it was supposed, some five thousand, but the weather was fitful, alternating between sunshine and rain, so as to largely interrupt the order of the exercises, and yet we cannot but hope that much good was done. In the evening, we spoke to a congregation of about twenty-five hundred, who listened with absorbing interest and solemnity, and we are comforted with the hope that not a little good was done. On second-day morning, the General Conference was opened, Eld. White, the presiding officer, being in the chair; the regular order of business being pursued until noon, when the Conference adjourned to the call of the President, its business being nearly completed. By the kindness of Eld. White, attended by a number of prominent brethren, we were now shown the public buildings of our Adventist brethren located at Battle Creek. Of these, three are connected with their publishing interests. These are of brick, and all built after the same model. The third of these is just built, and as yet no business has been done in it, but it is to be immediately occupied. In these buildings, several tons of printed matter, in the form of books and tracts, are awaiting distribution. Their meeting-house is an excellent building, but already demands enlargement on account of the rapid increase of the congregation. After partaking of refreshments, we were shown through their scarcely finished school building, a noble structure, built of brick, and in the most substantial manner. Also, its location, the grounds, and everything around it, are of the most inviting character. In this movement we bid our Adventist brethren a hearty “God speed,” firmly believing that to them it will be a well-spring of life. Attention should at least be called to one more of these noble enterprises, which is their Health Institute, into which are already gathered some sixty invalids. The success attending their endeavors in this department of their labors is most hopeful. One thing more should be noticed in this connection, which is that the most beautiful portion of the city of Battle Creek is occupied by these public buildings, and these are surrounded by a strong and earnest body of Sabbath-keepers. Those interesting rambles being ended, we left to meet other engagements on our journey home, while our kind attendants returned to the camp-ground, where a sermon was to be preached, and the ordinance of baptism administered to several candidates. On the next morning, a farewell meeting was to be held, and then was to come the great separation. Besides what the Seventh-day Adventists are doing this side the Rocky Mountains, they are making themselves felt on the Pacific Coast, where there are already one thousand Sabbath-keepers. Here they are showing the same energy that they have in the East, having just sent on one of Cottrell & Babcock’s excellent presses to Oakland, from which place they are to send out by the millions their papers, tracts, and books. In San Francisco, they are about to erect a house of worship at a cost of some sixteen thousand dollars. In the Walla Walla Valley, they have a growing church with a good meeting-house. Their mission in Europe, under the care of Eld. J. N. Andrews, also promises to be a success. We have thus in a general way put before our people the present condition of this body of Christians, in whom we, as Seventh-day Baptists, have a deep interest. They are true to the doctrine of the Sabbath, and wherever they go are earnest and able defenders of God’s law. It is also due to them and to us to say that they earnestly desire peace with our people. They unfeignedly regret any occurrences, the tendency of which has been to alienation. They understand the points of doctrine in which we differ from them, and their leaders advise that their evangelists do not seek to propagate them among us, but that they occupy in their discourses ground common to us both. For ourself, we believe that the operations of time will, after a series of years, bring the two bodies into such accord as to cause dissensions to cease. On the question of the Sabbath we are one as we are one in the love of God; and in the defense of God’s dishonored law we have not only to occupy common ground, but in the strife we are to stand side by side. This we can do without any sacrifice of principle on either side. We sincerely regret, and even deplore, some of the doctrines held by our Seventh-day Adventist friends, believing them unsound, but live in the belief that time will essentially modify them. God be thanked for raising up this earnest body of Sabbath reformers, and greatly increase their numbers and strength, and also stimulate us with a zeal like theirs, that shall alike harness us for the coming battle!—N. V. HULL, in Sabbath Recorder. Love and Law.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
THE religious tendency of this age is to belittle the law as a stiff, galling yoke of bondage, fit only for the childhood of the race; but to exalt love as infinitely above law, to make it the measure and rule of everything. The result is a sickly sentimentalism, a lowering down of morals which is terrible to contemplate. It is, therefore, refreshing to hear from so high a source such sound words as the following. I find the article in the Examiner and Chronicle:— “The Baccalaureate Sermon of President McCosh at Princeton College, June 27, was a timely discourse on ‘The Royal Law of Love; or Love in relation to Law and God.’ The texts were: ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law’ (Rom. 13:10); ‘If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well’ (James 2:8). In these passages, said he, there is reference to three things—to love, to law, and a king. I see before me an arch set upon earth, and spanning the heavens; the one side is law, the other side is love, and the keystone binding and crowning the whole is God. Our theme is the royal law of love. Let us first contemplate love and law separately, and then in their combination in God. “Law is in the nature of God from all eternity, and is the instrument of his government; it was inscribed on the nature of man when he was created; it was graven by God’s own finger on the granite blocks of Sinai; it was spoken in gentle and attractive tones by our Lord in the sermon on the mount, and it is written by God’s own Spirit as a new commandment on the hearts of God’s people. It goes with man wherever he goes, to tell him, if he is prepared to listen to it, what is right and what is wrong, and in the end to punish him if he refuses to obey. “That law has been broken, but is still binding. When Moses came down from the mount with the two tables, he threw them from him and broke them when he witnessed the wickedness of the children of Israel. But he had just to re-ascend to the mount and have them written again by God’s own finger, which thing may be unto us for an allegory. Man has broken God’s law; but that law retains all its claims, and ever renews them. The law is embodied in the gospel. Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil. The gospel, wherever it goes, carries within it the law fulfilled by Christ, the law still binding on his followers. “The law has two marked features. (1.) It is imperative. It speaks as one having authority; it speaks in the name of God. It says, ‘Thou shalt do this, thou shalt not do that.’ ‘The Categorical Imperative’ was the designation given to it by the great German metaphysician. Its function is not to tell us what is, but what ought to be. All its affirmations are commands; all its negations are prohibitions. It has rewards, rich and numerous, for those who obey it. It has penalties, certain and terrible, for those who transgress it. God has a vicegerent to sustain it, in the conscience, ‘which shows the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing, one another.’ There is a witness within which constrains us to acknowledge its right to obedience. (2.) It is determinative. It is categorical; it has its definite requirements which it cannot forego, and will not lower. ‘Guilty or not guilty’ are the alternatives it proposes. It admits of no middle course or compromise; it accepts of no excuse; it will not listen to any plea of extenuation. RELATION OF LOVE AND LAW.
“The planet is held in its sphere by two influences; one impelling, the other staying it. So it is with moral beings; they are drawn by love, but it is love regulated by law. It is well that the earth should have an attraction toward the sun, without which it would wander into an outer region of coldness, darkness, and destruction; but were there no restraining power, it would be drawn into the sun’s atmosphere, and be consumed by his heat. In like manner, moral excellence implies of necessity these two things, love and law; the one to attract, the other to guide in the right path. “It is not easy to embody in human conceptions, and to express in human language, the relation of law and love. We know that the two are closely connected. Their connection is in God, the source of both. Even as God is the origin of all other things, of nature, of force, of matter, of mind, so is he also the origin of love and law. All these streams, if we follow them up sufficiently far, carry us to the Fountain. Love is the refreshing water; the law is the channel for it to flow in; and the spring is in the bosom of God. Let us love one another, for love is of God. Charity is the highest of all the graces: ‘And now abideth these three, faith, hope, and charity; but the greatest of these is charity.’ But then charity never tries to set itself above law; if it did so, it might work only mischief. ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’ Love takes the form of a commandment. When asked by the lawyer, ‘Which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ Thus indissolubly are charity and commandment joined in Scripture. It is love that makes us like unto God, who is love; but the love of God is a love regulated by eternal justice. “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” There is no propriety in drawing invidious comparisons as to the relative importance of the two. It might be argued that law is the higher, for it commands love, says when it is to flow, and where it is to stay. But then love is the very end for which the law exists; the end of the commandment is charity. Law without love is a mere form without life; love without law is a life without a body in which to reside. Law without love is a channel without a stream; love without law may be a stream bursting forth and spreading destruction. Let the two revolve around each other like binary stars, each with its own color, the one the complement of the other. Let righteousness stand forever on the pedestal on which he has been set up, with his high look and unbending mien the master and the guardian; and ever beside him, beneath him, and leaning upon him, yet beautiful and graceful as he, let there be seen love, with smiles upon her face and gifts in her hands. “I believe they were never separated till sin appeared. Alas, that seducer and corrupter has severed them! There has arisen a stern doctrine, which has no tenderness; whose gaze is as unmoved and unmovable as that of the Egyptian sphinx, looking out from its desert of sand. If there be theologians still dwelling in a cold palace of ice, I recommend them to let the beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon it and thaw it. But the defect I am now speaking of belongs rather to the seventeenth than the nineteenth century. We are now more in danger of a sentimental and a simpering faith, acting the part of a Delilah, professing love to the man who boasts that he is strong, only in the end to show how weak he is, and to consign him to blindness and darkness. Let us have charity, they say; but charity without principle to guide it may distribute its gifts very indiscriminately and injuriously. Let us have fire, they insist; but we cannot have fire without fuel to feed it, and fire cannot be allowed to burn and consume in every place and as it pleases. While the sun has a photosphere to radiate its beneficent influence, it has also a solid body to keep up the supply of heat and light. There should be a vessel to contain the pleasant incense that we offer, otherwise it will soon dissipate into insanity. “It is true that there have been men who have preached or practiced a Pharisaic morality; that is, a law without love. A law has been set forth and enforced which is not the law of love, and has driven men away from God, who is love, and from the gospel, which is essentially a message of reconciliation from God to sinful men. The terrors of the law have been used, not as by Paul to persuade men, but to tempt or drive them to rebellion or resistance. In ages past, law has been used lawlessly by monarchs and by masters. But in the present day, the tendency seems all the other way. If some preachers, in ages gone by, preached hell and damnation instead of Christ, it is possible that some in these times are so relaxed by a weak charity that they have not the courage or faithfulness to bid men flee from the wrath to come. If there have been preachers in certain ages who insisted on nothing but stern duty, there are not a few in our day who recommend love without the due restraints of law, who are tampering with the marriage relation, lowering the sacredness of wedlock, and allowing such liberty of divorce as is fitted to break up the family, which, I may remark, is the only means of securing proper moral culture, and training the rising generation to virtue. More evil may arise from lawless love, which is fascinating, than from hatred, which is repulsive. So we have no intention of changing the truths of God’s word, on the miserable pretense of making them softer and more lovable than God has made them in his word. THE FRUITS OF SUCH TEACHING.
“It is a profound saying of one of the brothers Hare: ‘To form a correct judgment concerning the tendency of any doctrine, we should rather look at the forms it bears in the disciples than in the teacher. For he only made it; they are made by it.’ We may now see the kind of characters that are made in this school of love and humanity. There was first a turning away from the old doctrine, and this has been followed by a turning away from the old morality.” The reform introduced by the third angel’s message touching the law of God exactly meets the needs of this generation. Every year makes this more apparent. D. M. CANRIGHT. Fostoria, Ohio, Aug. 28, 1875
By H. A. St. John
Since my last report, I have had the privilege of attending our good camp-meeting near Battle Creek. This was indeed an excellent, as well as an important, meeting. I trust that its influence will not be soon lost upon myself. But abler pens have reported this meeting, so I will say no more. After returning from the camp-meeting, I spent the following Sabbath and first-day with the church in Jefferson. I found them of good courage in the Lord, and growing in the truth. Our meetings were interesting, and, I think, very profitable. At the Sabbath meeting, six of the youth came forward for prayers. The tender, melting Spirit of God was present. What is a more beautiful sight, and one that occasions greater rejoicing, than to see the youth turning to the Lord? We know, too, that it occasions joy among the angels in Heaven. After forenoon service on first-day, we repaired to the beautiful Bird Lake, where six followed their Lord in baptism. This was the sixth time since June 6 that we had gathered on the same spot to administer the solemn rite of baptism. The very place seemed invested with sacredness. Here forty-two precious souls have found a grave in the baptismal waters, and we hope, and sincerely pray, that they all may walk in newness of life till Jesus comes to change this vile body, and fashion it like unto his glorious body. The church in Jefferson now numbers forty-one members, and we feel quite sure that if these walk circumspectly and humbly before God, they will receive additions to their numbers of such as shall be saved. Work upon the meeting-house is begun, and we hope that it may be completed before cold weather. It is our judgment that another course of lectures immediately following the dedication would prove a great blessing to the cause of God in Jefferson. May the Lord direct. To the dear brethren and sisters in Jefferson I would say, Have fervent charity among yourselves, and love one another with pure hearts fervently. I know you love one another very much, but I greatly desire that your love may abound more and more. Fostoria, Ohio, Aug. 28, 1875
Flint, Mich.
By D. H. Lamson; E. R. Jones
The tent is again pitched in this city, and in the best location that can be found—one easy of access to all. The interest, apparently, has not abated. The meetings on the Sabbath while the tent was at the Battle Creek Camp-meeting were held at the house of Bro. Newbury, and were, on each occasion, well attended. The work with many seems to be permanent, and quite a number of new converts have decided in favor of the truth. Although the tent enterprise is much talked about, we have been unable to stir the masses of church communicants. This is owing in a great measure to the influence of their ministers, who keep the people away. We have often heard the remark that those are found at our meetings who are seldom seen inside of a church. Many of these have been benefited, and some converted. As the Catholic church has forbidden its ministers or people to talk or preach about future events as brought to view by the prophets, so the Protestant ministry to-day, as a rule, hate the proclamation that Christ is coming to judge the world, though it is based on the sure word of prophecy. We expect to have service three times on each Sabbath while the tent is standing, and we earnestly invite the co-operation of surrounding churches to move this work onward. Those who have the tract and missionary work at heart would find here a promising field of operations. For any colporteurs who can come recommended by their respective churches and spend a few days in this city in distributing tracts, we will extend a hearty welcome, and will see that they are properly cared for. There could be no better time for a general move in this direction than now, and we earnestly request that this proposition shall be quickly considered, as there is no time to lose. It is possible that every family in this city who will read may be supplied with something on the present truth, and thus do away with no little feeling against us. We would suggest that perhaps the only tract that Catholics would accept is the “Sufferings of Christ;” others would not be so difficult to approach. There are many Germans in the city. One family has fully embraced the truth. The head of this family was for some time a colporteur for the American Tract Society, and since coming into the truth has translated “Which Day,” &c., into the German language, and is anxious for his countrymen. There are more than ten thousand people in this place, and who knows but many souls will receive the truth at our coming camp-meeting? May God, in his mercy, give us wisdom and energy in the work. D. H. Lamson,
E. R. Jones. Report from Germany.
By J. Ertzenberger
JULY 21, I wrote a letter for the REVIEW. My design was to make a general statement of the reasons which caused my long silence, and to humble myself. At the same time I spoke of my coming to Prussia. To-day I wish to report in regard to my labor and experience here. I enjoyed the great privilege of accompanying our beloved brother, J. N. Andrews, to this country. The solemn truths he spoke found a response in my heart. The way being opened for lecturing, Eld. Andrews closed his arduous and faithful labors here for the time, and returned to Switzerland. By his coming, and by the plain and pointed truths he taught here, he won the hearts of many. And still they remember him with much love. After his return, I had none to go before me, but was obliged to fight the battle alone. Hilden, a town on the right of the Rhine near Dusseldorf, was my first place of public labor in this country. One-half of its population are Protestants; the other half are Catholics. I met much opposition and great indifference. The first was caused by those who think themselves to be Christians or children of God. The enemy tried with his might to keep people away, and to disturb us in the lectures, by his agents. The congregation ranged from ten to seventy persons; thus appearances were not very encouraging. However, I tried to labor on and to go through. I constantly sought the Lord for help, and for the guidance of his Spirit; and several times I bowed before him, pleading with tears for benighted souls. I labored also privately by visiting from house to house. Although the attention was in general good, although the Spirit of God was moving on the hearts of those who listened to the word, and although many tears were shed when feeling the importance of the truth, the success is small. It is true, the few brethren there were greatly benefited; two new converts took a stand with them; and the Lord did much for me there. The blessings I enjoyed were such as I never knew before. I feasted on the precious truths rejected by very many. And often I could but weep in view of all the Lord was doing for me. He gave me much of his sweet peace, and kept near to me. Blessed be his holy name! Each Sabbath day, and several times during the week, I met with the brethren at some place, especially at Vohwinkel, to hold meetings. Nearly every Sabbath I had to speak three times. The subjects on which I spoke were partly doctrinal and partly practical, so as to best help the friends, and to bring the truth before those who were attending our meetings from outside. These meetings were most solemn, and the influence of the Spirit of God was felt. Several times all who were present wept. The truth found a deeper place in the hearts of the brethren here, and, being thankful for the light they have received, they try to walk in it. I also visited from house to house in this place and vicinity, among friends as well as outsiders. Although I encountered great difficulties, and although I had to contend with Satan in an unexpected way, the truth is gaining ground. At this place two have lately decided to keep all of God's commandments and the faith of Jesus. The first of August I commenced a course of lectures in the city of Solinger. This is a new field of labor, and one in which there is not one Sabbath-keeper to be found. Solinger is an old city of 18,000 inhabitants. About three-fourths of the people belong to different Protestant churches, and nearly all of the remaining one-fourth are Catholics. There is also a synagogue. The main trade of the population is cutlery. Solinger is a city on a branch of the Berg. Mark railway, between Deutz (Cologne) and Elberfeld. The lecture-room is a hall in a second class hotel on one of the principal streets of the city. I gave my first lecture there, Aug. 1. About three hundred very attentive listeners were present. God's Spirit was felt. Many were moved to tears. And the news is spreading favorably through the city and vicinity. God alone be praised. I hope that some may be reached and led to obey the truth. May the Lord help; and may I be guided by his Spirit. Dear brethren, pray for me. The brethren here send their fraternal greeting and Christian love to the dear brethren in America. They hail with joy the good news, and feel thankful for the great interest you take in them as manifested through the dear weekly visitant, the REVIEW. Vohwinkel, near Elberfeld, Prussia, Aug. 5, 1875. In the name of God advancing,
Sow thy seed at morning light;
Cheerily the furrows turning,
Labor on with all thy might.
Look not to the far-off future,
Do the work which nearest lies;
Sow thou must before thou reapest,
Rest at last is labor’s prize. Standing still is dangerous ever,
Toil is meant for Christians now;
Let there be, when evening cometh,
Honest sweat upon thy brow;
And the Master shall come, smiling,
When work stops, at set of sun,
Saying, as he pays his wages,
“Good and faithful man, well done.”
—Sel. Indian Lake.
By Jacob Wilbur
Our quarterly meeting held at the above place, Aug. 21, 22, 1875, was a feast of fat things to all who attended it. And although it was only a district meeting, it proved to be one of considerable importance to the cause of present truth in Northern New York. Some new members joined the Tract and Missionary Society; five united with the church; six were baptized, and several arose for prayers during the meeting. The Lord has quite a large number of true children in Warren and Hamilton Counties, who were converted to the present truth under the faithful labors of Eld. S. B. Whitney, whom they miss very much since he left Chester. We were told an incident, the result of scattering tracts, by one of our missionary workers near Indian Lake, which I think will be interesting to the readers of our paper, and I will mention it in this connection. A young man became converted to God in one of the Western Territories, and, I think, joined some popular church. Having a desire to save a brother who lives in Hamilton Co. (a Sabbath-keeper), he came East and went into the lumber woods to work. He there received tracts and other reading matter which opened his eyes and heart to the third angel’s message. He declared in the presence of his companions and employer that he would work no more on the seventh day, and has now returned to the West to engage in the work of spreading the truth in a new country. He has recently written to Bro. Payne of his success in spreading the light, which is cheering indeed. Let us all engage with renewed zeal in the missionary work. JACOB WILBUR. Watseka, Ill.
By R. F. Andrews
We took down our tent at Watseka on Monday, Aug. 23, after a stay of seven weeks and four days. The opposition was determined and bitter, but the truth has gained a decided victory. To the Lord belongs all the praise. Thirty-two have taken their stand upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and we have strong hopes for quite a number of others. We obtained eleven subscribers for the REVIEW, and two for the Instructor, and sold about seventy dollars’ worth of books. As there are several places where they need help, and as the interest here must be followed up, we decided it would be better to take down the tent and establish those already interested, and visit some places where there are persons anxiously waiting for baptism, than to undertake to awaken a new interest to the neglect of the work already commenced. We expect to spend Sabbath and first-day, the 28th and 29th, at Beaverville; Sept. 4 and 5, at Watseka, and then to look after matters in the churches in other places where such work is needed. Northern Iowa Tent.
By C. A. Washburn; F. A. Barlow
OUR meetings are now closed in Hardin. We have given forty-five discourses and held nine other meetings. Fourteen decided to keep the Sabbath according to the commandments. Many others were almost persuaded. Five were keeping the Sabbath before we came to Hardin, making a company of nineteen in all. If these would all be steadfast in the truth we feel sure the Lord would add to their numbers, but some are hesitating and fearful. The tent is now pitched in Monona, six miles from Hardin. Dear brethren, pray for us as we go forth to battle for the truth against the powers of darkness. Our address, till further notice, will be Monona, Clayton Co., Iowa. C. A. WASHBURN,
F. A. BARLOW. North Pacific Mission.
By I. D. Van Horn
THE result of our effort with the tent at Dayton has been good for so small a place. Sixteen have signed the covenant to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They have meetings every Sabbath. When I closed the tent-meeting there, I stated that I designed going immediately to the Willamette Valley. As soon as this was known, the Rev. Mr. Chamberlain, of Walla Walla, was sent for to give the ‘other side’ of the Sabbath question. Accordingly an appointment was given out for him. My wife being sick, we did not go down to Western Oregon as we designed, and I immediately made arrangements to reply to him at Dayton. The Methodists freely opened their meeting-house to him, but refused it to us. The result has been to secure us many friends, while they have wounded their own cause. The Baptists also have made a small effort against us; but the people in Dayton have read their Bibles too much lately to be satisfied with assertions. Last Friday, the 6th, I went to Dayton again, and held four meetings on Sabbath and first-day, and I found the interest still good. I heard of others who were commencing to keep the Sabbath, but they have not yet identified themselves with us. The work is not done there yet. The way has been opened, and a very urgent call made, for me to hold a series of meetings in the Grand Round Valley. This valley lies on the east side of the Blue Mountains, about sixty miles south-east of Walla Walla. A wealthy, influential man of that place came to see me expressly to have me go there. He owns a meeting-house in one place, and the old Court House in La Grande, and he said both of these houses were open to me as long as I might wish to hold meetings. I begin to think that it was on account of these two circumstances, the work at Dayton and the opening in the Grand Round Valley, that the Lord hedged up the way, and hindered me from going to the Willamette Valley by my wife’s sickness. She is getting better now, and I am in hopes soon to be out in the field at work again. The Lord is good to us, and we have some precious seasons waiting before him in prayer. We believe he is leading us. Our post-office address is still Walla Walla, Wash. Ter.—I. D. VAN HORN, in Signs of the Times. A Warning Voice in Denmark.
By A. B. O.
[THE following from Advent Tidende, we translate for the REVIEW, thinking it may be of interest to its readers. It is another evidence that the Lord is in this work, and that he is working upon the hearts of the people. A. B. O.] “Den Danske Pioner [a Danish political paper published in Omaha, Neb.] states that Pastor Frandberg has severed his connection with the State church in Denmark, and that he is now proclaiming before the people the soon coming of Christ and the end of the world. He held a grove-meeting, June 27, this year, at Bornholm. He had called the attention of the people beforehand, through the papers, to the texts in Daniel, Joel, and the Revelation, touching these points. And when the time for the meeting came, about two thousand persons gathered together to hear him. He tried to convince his hearers that there is a probability that the day of the Lord will come in the present generation. He has many followers, and his sermons make a deep impression.” More Light Wanted.
By W. G. Moore
By reading the REVIEW and comparing its teachings with the Bible, I find the evidence sufficient to convince any candid mind that the leading doctrines taught by the Seventh-day Adventists are the sacred truths of the Bible. My soul is nearly overwhelmed at the thought that I have so long lived in violation of the fourth commandment; but the truths I have learned from this paper have filled me with joy unspeakable. I would be very glad if some one could come here and preach a few times. I think there might be great good done. I do not want to say too much, but I am anxious for more truth, and I want to have meetings established here. Report of the Annual Meeting of the Mich. T. & M. Society.
By E. H. Root; Mary Gaskill
THE fourth annual meeting of the Michigan Tract and Missionary Society was held at Battle Creek in connection with the camp-meeting, Aug. 16, 1875. After the usual opening exercises the secretary’s report was read, which showed the following:— Increase of membership, 54; total membership, 1149; number of families visited, 2608; number of letters written, 501; number of periodicals distributed, 2674; number of pages of tracts and pamphlets loaned and given away, 661,683; number of pages of bound books placed in public libraries, 9696; total number of pages distributed 671,329; number of new subscribers obtained for the REVIEW, 129; for the Instructor, 134; for the Reformer, 1316; for the Voice of Truth, 3231; total number of subscribers obtained for periodicals, 4810. In connection with this report, the treasurer’s report was also read, showing that there was in the treasury at the commencement of the year $1974.51. Received during the year, $2514.67; paid out $5191.59; leaving a deficit of $702.41. Following the reading of reports, it was moved and supported, that the President appoint a Nominating Committee for the election of officers for the ensuing year. E. R. Jones, J. H. Kellogg, J. M. Baker, were appointed such committee. The committee reported the following persons as officers: President, E. H. Root; Vice-President, I. A. Olmstead; Secretary, Mrs. S. H. Lane; Treasurer, Miss Freddie House. Directors, District No. 1, S. D. Salisbury; No. 2, Robert Sawyer; No. 3, I. A. Olmstead; No. 4, A. H. Hilliard (deceased); No. 5, J. C. Wicks; No. 6, J. Fargo; No. 7, Franklin Squire; No. 8, H. S. Guilford; No. 9, E. G. Doud; No. 10, Wm. Potter; No. 11, Alex Carpenter; No. 12, John Trotman. By vote, the above persons were unanimously elected. Bro. Haskell then made remarks in regard to the small increase of members during the year, and urged the people to make an effort to get others to join the Society, by first awakening an interest in their own hearts, and by feeling the importance and burden of the work. With this spirit they could induce others to join in it. Bro. White followed with a short explanation of the manner in which the Tract Society first arose among our people, showing that before its organization his mind had been burdened with it; also, that the Spirit of the Lord had shown when the cause was in its infancy that measures in this direction for the spread of the truth should be taken. He appealed to the people to become familiar with their neighbors, sowing the seeds of truth carefully and judiciously, handing out our periodicals and tracts in a manner to reach the heart, canvassing the ground gone over, finding where there is, and where there is not, an interest and cautiously acting in reference to it. At the close of these remarks, on motion the following resolution was adopted:— Resolved, That we recommend that those who have canvassed for the Voice and Health Reformer canvass, to learn the interest of those receiving these papers, and to see that none are sent to persons not interested in reading them. It was then voted to adjourn.