Earlier text: CLERICAL SLANDERAfflictions in Warren
By M. A. Hayward
SISTER M. A. HAYWARD writes from Vermont: My heart always rejoices to hear from the cause in every place, and I thought it would not be amiss for me to write a few lines concerning the cause in this place. I moved into the town of Warren, ten years ago. Bro. A. Allen's house was always open for meeting. I went there as often as once or twice a week, until one year ago, when sister A. died, and he, being blind for many years, went home to his father's to spend the few remaining days that were allotted him here. He died, Jan. 1, 1868. Also Ada A. Hayward died, Jan. 5, 1868. Thus it will be seen that God has been afflicting us; and I hope it will serve to draw us near to the Lord, and that every affliction may have its desired effect on our hearts to wean us from this wicked world, so that when Jesus comes we all may have a part with those who rest in hope. These I have mentioned all left a good evidence that they would come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and be of those over whom the second death can have no power. In this I can rejoice, although it has been a very great trial to me to lay these dear ones away in the cold tomb. May we have grace to bear all afflictions that our Father in love sees fit to bestow upon us. Another is now added: Our much-loved Bro. Lockwood has broken one of his limbs, which has laid him up for awhile, so we have no meetings. A Pilgrim’s Hope
By L. A. Tucker
SISTER L. A. TUCKER writes from Westchester Co., N. Y.: I am a pilgrim and a sojourner here, with no sure abiding place, no continuing city; yet I have a hope of an inheritance in the golden city with its pearly gates, and golden streets. It is almost seven months since I first became alarmed for the safety of my soul. I attended the grove meeting here in Pleasantville. I knew that I must repent, and believe, and be baptized, or I never should be saved. Now dear brethren and sisters, I can say with the rest of you, that I am fighting the good fight of faith. I am striving to keep the commandments of God. There are a few of God's children here. We meet every Sabbath, and through the week. Bro. Wild is with us through all our meetings. Bro. P. C. Rodman is also with us now. God bless him, and strengthen him for the work that is before him; and may the good Lord bless all his dear children everywhere. My trust is in the Lord, and I feel determined, by his grace assisting me, to strive to press my way through to the kingdom. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.
By James White
To Miss M. The contrast between the present and future bodies of the saints (Isa. lxvi, 23, and 1 Cor. xv, 50), is not so much between “spirit” and “flesh,” as flesh in its connection with blood. Our present animal “life is in the blood;” our future life will not be; and it appears from several scriptures that spirit will bear the same relation to the future life, that blood does to this. The term “flesh and blood,” may properly represent man in his present corruptible state of animal life; while the term “all flesh,” may designate all the race existing, without any special designation of condition. It is also certain that Christ had “flesh and bones” after his resurrection; that there was blood connected with them does not appear. But our bodies will be like his in the resurrection. The difficulty in harmonizing Mal. iv, 1, with Isa. lxvi, 24, arises from the old error of making the “fire” and “worm” refer to the transgressors, instead of to the means of their destruction. John the Baptist said, “he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire;” the fire and chaff are different things, and we cannot think the fire would continue to burn after the chaff was “burned up.” The Lord said he would kindle a fire in the gates of Jerusalem, which should devour its palaces, and not be quenched. Jer. xvii, 27. We think both texts you refer to will be literally fulfilled when “fire comes down from God out of heaven,” to devour the wicked, who are even then compassing the camp of the saints. To H. B. The figures, “Man of Sin,” and “Mother of Harlots,” do not refer to the same thing. The woman of Rev. xvii, the Mother of Harlots, represents the Church of Antichrist, the Roman Catholic: The Man of Sin, represents the head of that church, the Pope. He, not the church, sits in the temple of God, &c. To R. A. W. You will find a sufficient answer to your first question in “Which? Mortal or Immortal?” pages 62, 63. To the second, a careful reading of 1 Pet. iv, 6, is all that is necessary to give its meaning, and it will also help you on the other passage. The Mormons and others, say that the gospel is preached to the dead. Peter says the gospel was preached to them that are dead; not that the gospel was preached to them that were dead, nor is preached to them that are dead. We have all heard the gospel preached to some of them that are dead, but they were not dead at the time it was preached to them. To J. C. We still think the statement is correct: that you refer to, namely, that the Atonement is made—the sanctuary cleansed—“before Satan is brought to take any part in the transaction.” The scapegoat was not brought into the sanctuary, and the sanctuary must be cleansed from the sins of the people, or else those sins would remain there, instead of being brought and put on the scapegoat. You seem to consider the work of cleansing the sanctuary and its vessels one thing, and the cleansing of the people another thing. By reading Lev. xvi, 16, “He shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,” you see they are identical. The name “mercy-seat,” is significant; the glory of God is above it, and the law of God beneath it; the priest, bearing the sins of the people, enters there, and the place is defiled. But the blood which makes atonement is sprinkled between the Law-giver and his violated law, and justice is honored, and the sinner forgiven. This, we understand, is the “blotting out” of sin. Here, at the mercy-seat, mercy is administered. And now, the sin being removed from the people, and from the presence of God, it only remains to put them on the scapegoat and send them away. In the antitype, an angel is represented as coming down from Heaven and laying hold of Satan, binding him, &c. But the plagues have been previously poured out, and evidently the sanctuary above will be cleansed before the plagues are poured out; certainly before the Saviour comes and the Devil is bound. And it is before this that it is said “He that is holy, let him be holy still,” showing that the work is accomplished for the saints, and their characters are completed before God. Some have been troubled over Lev. xvi, 10, where the scapegoat is reserved also “to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” While in general the definition of the original is, to cover, expiate, or forgive, Gesenius gives as one definition, “to do away or obliterate.” Now we have always contended that the forgiveness of sin was relative, not absolute, as most writers on the Atonement insist; that is, when the sin is forgiven and removed from God’s people, it still has an existence, and falls somewhere else: in the type, on the scapegoat; in the antitype, on the Devil. And when he is destroyed, sin perishes with him; it is in his extinction, literally “done away or obliterated.” In this sense only has he any thing to do with an atonement. But as soon as the sins of Israel are removed from the most holy—the place of judgment—the work is finished for them, and the priest no longer bears sin to represent them, but to place them on the head of their originator. Practically, as far as the people of God are concerned, it would not make a particle of difference whether laid on Satan, or disposed of some other way; they are secure when the blood on the mercy-seat has produced release for them, as they are acquitted at the throne of judgment. CREDULITY—SKEPTICISM.
By Robert F. Cottrell
How credulous, how skeptical is man! How ready to believe, and yet how slow! even to believe without a mite of proof, and disbelieve against all proof divine! In spite of reason, spite of common sense, to swallow lies and still reject the truth! God rested on the seventh day from the work of creation. It is easy enough to believe that he rested on one day in seven; but how difficult to believe that he rested on any particular day. The day on which He rested he called his Sabbath, or rest-day. How perfectly reasonable to believe that that rest-day can be changed to some other day of the week, some day on which he did not rest; but how absurd, how utterly impossible that it should forever be confined to the definite seventh day. Who ever heard of such a thing as that the time to commemorate any event should be confined to the day on which it occurred! After God had rested on the seventh day, he blessed the day on which he had rested. How easy to lift that blessing and place it on another day; but how difficult to believe that it still rests only on the same seventh day on which it was originally placed. God sanctified, set apart, or appointed the seventh day, reserving it from secular employment, because that in it he had rested. How very natural and easy to believe that he did not sanctify or appoint any one day, but only a seventh part of them all, and left man to sanctify or appoint any day he pleases. How wholesome and convenient too for man to make his own laws, and appoint his own times, so that they can be varied to suit his own character and convenience! How unreasonable that God should reserve to himself each successive seventh day for all time to come. How narrow such a scheme! Apostolic teaching represents believers as being buried by baptism in the likeness of Christ's death, and that by being raised up from the liquid grave they show their faith in the resurrection of Christ by the power of God. Col. ii, 12. Rom. vi, 4, 5. How difficult to see how baptism can memorialize the resurrection of Christ; but how perfectly adapted to this purpose it is to rest on that day of bustle and activity on which Jesus joined two of the disciples in a pretty long walk down to Emmaus, and met with them again, and the remainder of the eleven at Jerusalem the same day at evening. Of course the resurrection cannot be changed to another day. How evident that the true first-day has been preserved to the present time; but how absurd to suppose that the seventh day has been preserved. How almost certain it is that that day has been lost! How utterly impossible for the seventh day to be observed285 all over the round and rolling earth; but how easy to keep the first day in any latitude or longitude. How very natural and easy to believe that the law of the Most High is changeable; how hard to believe that “all his commandments are sure,” that “they stand fast for ever and ever.” How hard to believe that the antichristian power of Dan. vii, who should think to change God's times and laws, has made the current change in the law of God; but how perfectly easy and natural to believe that Christ has done this work of Antichrist. How perfectly easy to believe that the warning message God has prepared for the last generation, Rev. xiv, 2–12, concerning the keeping of his commandments, is entirely unnecessary, since no change on the part of the people is demanded; but how difficult to entertain the thought that the people were wrong in their practice. How credulous, how skeptical is man!
How ready to believe, and yet how slow!
E'en to believe without a shade of proof,
And disbelieve against all proof divine!
In spite of reason, spite of common sense,
To swallow lies and still reject the truth!
How worthy of all praise is such an one!
How just his claim to immortality! Sabbath Recorder, Please copy. MRS. B. BEARDSLEY writes in the Earnest Christian of April 1868, concerning the popular church, with its church fairs, festivals, oyster suppers, &c.: “The church to-day is dripping with the blood of souls. Oh! I warn you in the name of Jesus to come out from among them, and put on your white robes, and get ready for the Judgment, and clear your garments from the blood of souls, and hate the garment spotted by the flesh. Oh! may we keep ourselves unspotted from the world. “I say all this in love to souls.” LIFE INCIDENTS.
By James White
We are daily receiving letters from brethren in all parts of the field, containing expressions like the following from Bro. L. M. Jones of the Monterey church. It is no small gratification to know that our humble and feeble efforts are appreciated. “Your Life Incidents is certainly very interesting. Our children hardly know how to wait from one week to another for the paper to come. Our good Bro. Smith said in meeting not long since, ‘Any one that can read those pieces from Bro. White, now coming through the Review, and not shed tears, is certainly made of different material than I am.’ And so say I. Bro. Day says he hopes you will be particular and get it all in, and not leave one stone unturned.” The work is much greater than we first expected. We design that it shall not only contain those incidents in Advent experience which the writer has witnessed, but a faithful sketch of the entire Advent movement. Brethren, pray for us. JAMES WHITE. FEEDING OF INFANTS.
By Ellen G. White
I AM often told that in How to Live, I stated that infants should be nursed but three times a day. This is a mistake. But it is true that in the second number of that work, page 52, the following expression is found: “Babes should be nursed but three times a-day.” These are neither my words, nor my sentiments. The article containing them was extracted from Cole’s Philosophy of Health. The printer failing to give the proper credit, the following statement was given on the first page of No. 3: “The article in No. 2, headed, Particular directions to Parents and Guardians, should have been credited to this excellent work, The Philosophy of Health.” My sentiments are these:— 1. No general rules can be established in the care of all infants, in consequence of their almost endless varieties of condition at birth, and their different constitutional wants. 2. No mother would confine the period of infancy to a few days, or weeks, or even months after birth. In How to Live, No. 2, page 44, I did say, “Infancy extends to the age of six or seven years.” 3. The term properly called infancy, requires several changes as to the periods of taking food. Before birth it is receiving nourishment constantly. And the changes from this to the establishment of only two meals a day, which may, in most children, be done from the ages of one to three years, must be gradual. 4. No rules for all children can be given as to the progressive steps in these changes. Parents must view the wants of their children by the best light they have. When all act upon the best light they can obtain, it can hardly be expected that all mistakes will be avoided, but it is safest and best for the cause of reform, to err, if err we must, on the side of custom, rather than on the side of extreme change. Greenville, Mich., April 8, 1868. THAT was a beautiful idea expressed by a Christian lady on her death-bed, in reply to a remark of her brother who was taking leave of her to return to his distant residence, that he should probably never meet her in the land of the living. “Brother, I trust we shall meet in the land of the living. We are now in the land of the dying.” THE PRESENT PROPHETIC DISCUSSION.
By B. D. H.
Having read Dr. Litch's article entitled “Antichrist, and the Prophetic numbers,” and as an old subscriber, and one who has been identified with the cause of our coming King from the very first, I wish to express, through the Herald, my regret at the position Bro. Litch now takes with reference to the fulfillment of prophecy, and my greater regret that he should publish his speculations through the Herald. In my view, it can only work evil to the weary souls who for twenty-five years have waited for the “salvation of God.” If I understand his present position, he denies: 1. That the given “signs” have been seen. 2. That the prophetic numbers have even commenced. 3. That the ten-fold form of the last kingdom has been developed. 4. That the papacy is the man of sin, or Antichrist, &c., &c. Now I should like to know how much there is left us that will not be denied by the same process of hyper-criticism adopted in the article in question. All our denominational neighbors have each some central truth, or truths, which they deem of such importance as to warrant a separate organism; we have had ours, and have suffered something, to say the least, in its defense; but now it would appear our position is, and always has been untenable, and as honest men we ought to take down our sign, shut up our shop, and creep back to the churches from which we seceded, make our best salaam and own our mistakes and ignorance. While on this matter I cannot help making the following inquiries: 1. The Herald is “devoted to the advocacy of the speedy, personal advent of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but how can it be advocated if the chairman of the Committee on Publication denies the data from which alone evidence to that point is deductible? 2. Why did not the same acumen which enabled him thirty years ago to “plant himself firmly on the Bible” in the denial of one erroneous doctrine, enable him to discover and deny at the same time those other errors which he now denies, as it would have spared the Advent people much folly, mortification and disappointment? 3. If any of the brethren have for twenty-five years leaned on Bro. Litch as an expositor and been deceived, how can he expect them to accept him as a prophet of the future? 4. Are we, as a people, to be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of our own special truth? As the same elements for a solution of the difficulties on the points now so peremptorily denied, were available twenty-five years ago, we may inquire, Why was not the truth on each of these points presented at that time? But the positions taken by Dr. Litch are essentially Roman Catholic,—were used against the Reformers, were in part adopted by the English Baptists in the last century at the commencement of their East India mission, and—if I am not quite mistaken—were used against the Adventists in 1841-2 and controverted in the columns of the “Signs of the Times.” The Dr. has only galvanized an old mummy. In our efforts and researches after truth, two principles are necessary to its elucidation not always found in the same individual, these are analysis and generalization; by the one, the exact import of every word of the text is searched out, and by the other, the subject in the length and breadth to which the text refers, is comprehended in the inquiry. Bro. Litch excels in the former, surely, for he has shown how effectually he can pick to pieces, but his position with reference to the prophetic times, shows him lacking in the latter. A just consideration of the entire subject, viz., the great desolation which these periods measure,—will convince the honest inquirer that these periods are not literal days, and are now mainly in the past; indeed the Doctor's process is like looking through the wrong end of the telescope—distorting and inverting all the great outline of God's purpose as delineated in prophecy.—B. D. H. REJOICING IN THE TRUTH.
By D. W. MILK
I rejoice in the light of the third angel's message. That God has, in his providence, led me and mine to see light in these harmonious and glorious truths, makes our hearts exceedingly glad. I have often expressed, and heard the same from others, and have almost as often asked myself the question, How much do I really love these truths? And in pursuing this question, I have sometimes been led to see too much of a selfish love, somewhat illustrated by the following story: A poor drayman lost his only horse, which was his only source for supporting his family, and he had no means to secure another. His friends gathered around him in sympathy, and said, It is too bad, I am sorry, how I pity, &c. While they were thus conversing, a benevolent man comes forward and says, I pity this man ten dollars' worth. Suiting the action to the word, aroused the right kind of pity in others, and he soon obtained nearly enough to purchase the poor man another horse. Words of charity are good, but deeds are acceptable. This in a measure, illustrates our position, when we rejoice in the truth, and pray that others may see it, without lending help to spread it abroad. But you may ask, What can I do, I am so unworthy? Let me suggest for you. You perhaps have books and papers, which you have read, and can spare. Or, if not, there are plenty of them at the Review Office, waiting to be sent out to herald the glad tidings of the coming kingdom. Send these, those of you who are able, to your friends and kindred, praying for the blessing of God to attend them. Thus all may become laborers in the Lord's vineyard. But you may say, I have tried your plan and have never heard any good from it, and I almost despair, seeing no fruit from my labors. Wait a moment and let me try to encourage you. About six years ago, while visiting my relatives in the western part of the State of New York, I scattered a $5.00 package of books among them, often remembering them at the throne of grace. Over five years passed before I heard from the fruit thereof. But in due time I learned that one of my cousins, and his family, had been keeping the Sabbath about three years, as the result. You only, who have experienced such, can realize the joy I felt. I felt doubly paid for my labors. A few weeks since I visited them again, not forgetting a good supply of publications. I found them holding fast to what they had learned, though making but little progress, not having the Review and other helps that the lonely traveler needs. I induced them to take the Review, and encouraged them in the health reform as best I could by precept and example, and received faithful promises, which, if they continue in them, will do them good. And this was not all. They had not suffered the truth to be buried in their hearts, nor their books to become dusty upon their shelves, but had induced their friends to read, until two more, men of large families, are now keeping the Lord's Sabbath, and others are interested. These two took one copy of the Review. In company with my cousin and family, we visited these two families, some ten miles distant, and held a meeting in the evening. Some of their neighbors came in. A good interest was manifested, and I sold $2.00 worth of books, and gave some away. Thus the way is opening for the truth to be spread before that people, and I trust the day is not far distant, when they shall be privileged to hear, and learn more perfectly the will of the Lord. May they be kept from the power of the enemy till Jesus comes. Thus, dear brethren and sisters I take courage, seeing so much fruit from these feeble efforts. And now I believe I can truly say, I do rejoice in the truth; and that my rejoicing is not altogether a selfish one. May the Lord help us all to be laborers together in his vineyard, that we may rejoice together in his kingdom is my prayer. Chesaning, Mich., April 5, 1868. DESERTING THE LANDMARKS.
By James White
We always read and contemplate with pleasure the arguments by which the “loud voice” of the message of Rev. xiv, 6, 7, was produced; and we have looked with an affectionate respect upon the men whom God, in his providence, raised up to meet a gainsaying world with incontestible proofs of the Lord’s near coming. But as one after another virtually denies the faith, and labors to subvert the truths put forth in the Spirit in that movement, we feel sorry for them, and pray that their course may be a warning to us, that we may not fall after the same example of unbelief. Not many that left Egypt under the guiding hand of Israel’s God—that followed the pillar of his glory through many dangers and triumphs—entered the land of promise. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” He who finds a truth finds a treasure which may open the way to many more; he who denies one truth darkens his mind, and shuts up the way against an increase of light. As they fell all along the way from the Red Sea to Jordan, so have they been falling all the way from the fulfillment of the prophetic-time message to this present; and they are falling still. The following from a late Advent Herald will astonish many. May the Lord give us that “other spirit” possessed by Caleb and Joshua, and lead us clear through to the goodly land.
J. H. W. THE ANTEDILUVIANS.
By D. H. LAMSON
In a recent issue of the Detroit Weekly Tribune was an extract from a sermon by Henry Ward Beecher on the above subject. The writer, often admitting the longevity to which those people attained, and their immense stature as compared with men of the present day, takes up the subject of their intellectual capacities, and argues that though well developed physically, they were mere pigmies in thought, great gawky, awkward creatures; in short, intellectual no-bodies, whose only object in life was to eat, drink, procreate and die, with scarcely an aspiring thought, or performing a single act worthy of record. Such is the history of our progenitors by a master mind of the present day; and how is this information obtained? No proof is offered, nothing but bare assertion. It is but vain imagination, self-laudation, striving to fulfill the prophecy of the Devil to our first parents, “Ye shall be as gods.” “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased.” Man was made in the image of God. He was pronounced, with all the rest of creation, very good. Gen. i, 27, 31. Lo! this only have I found, that God hath made man upright. Eccl. vii, 29. These are testimonies from the Lord, and from him to whom greater wisdom was given than any had attained to before, or any should obtain after. I Kings iii, 12. To be good, to be upright, is to be great, in the highest sense. To form such a character as this was the great object in life of holy men of old. They obtained the evidence, many of them, that their ways pleased God. Of them the apostle says, “The world was not worthy,” enumerating them from Abel down. Two of them at least were translated to Heaven, to be the companions of God, and Christ, and angels. Awkward creatures, forsooth! Great gawkies in Heaven! Yes, according to H. W. B., but not according to the Bible. Let God be true. As to the peculiar smartness of the present age, its inventive genius, &c., a sufficient answer will be found in Eccl. i, 9; iii, 15; also Spir. Gifts, Vol. iv, chap. 41. The hope of meeting these ancient worthies, together with the good of all ages, has ever been a joy to me, and should this hope ever be realized, I should expect to see men perfect in form and feature, lofty in stature, mighty in mind, fresh as it were from the hand of God. How far above Enoch and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in their own estimation, are the men of this generation? Too good, too wise, to be in their company. The latter may be found outside of the city of God. May you and I, dear reader, have a place with the former within its everlasting walls, for they will be there. Matt. iii, 2. Luke xiii, 28. D. H. LAMSON. Publication Department.
By Editor
The Publishing Association.
The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association was incorporated in Battle Creek, Mich., May 3, 1861. Its object is to issue “periodicals, books, tracts, documents, and other publications, calculated to impart instruction on Bible truth, especially the fulfilment of prophecy, the commandments of God, and the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Its capital stock is raised by shares at $10 each; and every shareholder is entitled to one vote in all the deliberations of the Association, for every share that he or she may hold. The Association has now a large and well-furnished Office of publication, established in Battle Creek, Mich., and employs two steam power presses in carrying on its business. A meeting of the stockholders is held each year, at which a board of trustees is elected to manage its business, and editors chosen to conduct its periodicals, till the ensuing meeting. All persons employed in the publishing department, are engaged at stipulated wages, and all profits accruing from the business, are strictly applied by the Association to the carrying out of the object of its formation, and to its charitable uses and purposes. All lovers of truth, who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” are still invited to take shares in the Association, and have a voice in all its deliberations. The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
Is a large sixteen-page religious family paper, issued weekly by the S. D. A. Pub. Association, and devoted to an earnest investigation of all Bible questions. It is designed to be an exponent of momentous and solemn truths pertaining to the present time, some of which are set forth by no other periodical in the land. The fulfilment of prophecy, the second personal advent of the Saviour as an event now near at hand, immortality through Christ alone, a change of heart through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the divinity and mediatorial work of Christ, and the development of a holy character by obedience to the perfect and holy law of God, as embodied in the decalogue, are among its special themes. And while it will endeavor to present impartially both sides of all important questions, it has a definite theory to teach, and hence will not devote its space to an indiscriminate and aimless mass of conflicting sentiments and views. Regular price, $3.00 per year, or $1.50 for a volume of 26 numbers. On trial for six months $1.00. No subscriptions taken for less than six months. To the worthy poor—free, by their reporting themselves and requesting its continuance, once in six months. The friends of the Review are invited to earnest and unceasing efforts to extend its circulation. Is a monthly sheet, published as above, and designed to be to the youth and children what the Review and Herald is to those of riper years. You who wish to see your children instructed in the great truths which so interest you, will here find a sheet in which these things are set forth in a plain and interesting manner, free from the popular fables and errors of the age. It should not only visit regularly every youth and child who professes to be a follower of Jesus, but should be taken and read in every Sabbath-keeping family. Don’t forget the children. See that they have the Instructor. Terms, 50 cts. per year in advance. This is the title of a monthly health journal, “devoted to an exposition of the laws of our being, and the application of those laws in the preservation of health and the treatment of disease.” It is an earnest advocate of the true philosophy of life, the only rational method of treating disease, and the best means of preserving health. Practical instructions will be given from month to month relative to water, air, light, food, sleep, rest, recreation, &c. Health, its recovery and preservation, is a subject of world-wide interest, whatever may be a person’s tenets in other respects; and to this the Reformer will be exclusively devoted. Edited by H. S. Lay, M. D., Managing Physician of the Health-Reform Institute. Terms $1.00 in advance for a volume of twelve numbers. Address Dr. H. S. Lay, Battle Creek, Mich. Is becoming a theme of wide-spread and absorbing interest. To those who wish to give the subject a thorough investigation, we recommend the History of the Sabbath. As a work setting forth a connected Bible view of the Sabbath question, its history since the271 Christian era, and the different steps by which the human institution of the first day of the week has usurped the place of the Bible institution of the seventh day, it is unsurpassed by any publication extant. Between two and three hundred quotations from history are given, to each of which is appended a full reference to the authority from which it is taken. It is replete with facts and arguments which challenge denial or refutation. Other works on this subject, from the penny tract to the largest size pamphlet, will be found noticed in our book list. There is no other Bible subject upon which a more extensive misunderstanding exists, than upon the Sabbath question. Circulate the books, and spread abroad the light on this subject. The works upon this important subject to which we would call especial attention, are, The Prophecy of Daniel, The Sanctuary and 2300 Days, and The Three Messages of Rev. xiv. The first gives an exposition of the plain and thrilling prophecies of Daniel ii, vii, and viii, showing from the course of empire that the God of Heaven is about to set up his kingdom. The Sanctuary question is the great central subject of the plan of salvation, and yet there are but few, comparatively, who have any acquaintance with it. It gives a new interest to a great part of the Bible, leads to an intelligent view of the position and work of Christ as our great High Priest in Heaven, completely explains the past Advent movement, and shows clearly our position in prophecy and the world’s history. The three messages bring to view present duty, and future peril. All should read these books, and ponder well their teaching. Immortality through Christ alone.
We call the special attention of the reader to the subjects of the nature of man, his condition in death, and the destiny of the wicked. More than ordinary importance attaches to these subjects, at the present time. We would confidently recommend to all a thorough reading of the work by H. H. Dohney entitled, Future Punishment, as advertised in our book list. The reader will find it a work exhaustive in its investigations, and remarkable for its candor, and the strength and clearness of its reasoning. Which? Mortal or Immortal? is a lower-priced and more-condensed work on the same subjects. While “The End of the Wicked,” and the one, two and three cent tracts may be found sufficient to awaken interest with those who would not commence with larger works. For the convenience of those who may wish to purchase books for general circulation, we have put up assorted packages of tracts in two sizes, which we will send post-paid at 50c., and $1.00, respectively. The 50c. package contains Sabbath Tracts Nos. 1, 2, and 3. End of Wicked, Mark of Beast, Sin of Witchcraft, Objections to Second Advent, answered, Death and Burial, Positive Institutions, Much in Little, Truth, Preach the Word, Law by Wesley, and Miscellany. The $1.00 package contains The Three Messages, Which, Mortal or Immortal? Prophecy of Daniel, Saints Inheritance, Signs of Times, Seven Trumpets, Celestial R. R., Perpetuity of Spiritual Gifts, Scripture References, Wicked Dead, Sabbath by Elihu, Infidelity and Spiritualism, War and Sealing, Who Changed Sabbath, Seven Reasons for Sunday-keeping Examined, Institution of Sabbath, Thoughts for the Candid, Appeal to men of reason, Personality of God, Seven Seals, and Time Lost. Those who order these packages, save their postage. We cannot too strongly urge upon all the circulation of our publications, books and papers. Many, now rejoicing in the truth, can attribute their first interest in these things to these silent preachers; while in some instances they have opened the way for the formation of well established and flourishing churches.