Earlier text: History of the SabbathIs it possible for words to express the shivering horror that I feel for such a sentiment! Indeed, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous; no, not one but what needs to be cleansed by the atoning blood of Christ. And there is no church that is perfect and free from all error. Yet while there are some errors that are comparatively harmless (because they do not affect our vital piety, or hinder us from coming to God), there are others, the breath of which is death without cure. The honest deacon who believes the world flat and immovable may be just as good a christian, as devotional in all his exercises, and as godly in his walk, as one that believes otherwise. Such a faith, or such an error, has little or nothing to do with religion or practical godliness, because it neither denies the necessity nor worth of the atonement. But not so with the error that says, "No Spirit." This error strikes at the very root of the matter, and with one fell stroke it crushes down everything before it, leaving man utterly destitute of all goodness. I do not contend against forms, neither do I deny the worth of doctrine; yet I do say that when we take out the Spirit of God from the religion of the Bible, the rest that remains is not worth speaking about. How my heart has been pained within me at hearing men (teachers, even) who profess to be looking for Christ, and expecting to be changed when he comes, preach a gospel virtually leaving out the Spirit of God and its office work upon the hearts of men. The tendency and result of such teaching is utter darkness and death. Of course it is necessary to read the Scriptures, and the Bible is of priceless value to us; yet its value and importance consists in the relation that it sustains to the Spirit as being a record of what the Spirit has said or done, or promised to do. It is the sword of the Spirit, and as such is a mighty weapon in the hands of every living christian. The Bible, when corroborated by a living ministry and church, is evidence that the living and true God communicates with the children of men; but when the church which is the pillar and ground of the truth fails to live religion, the Bible is of but very little weight in convincing men of sin. And it is living, more than argumentative sermons, that is needed in removing skepticism. The infidel has his way of denying or doubting almost every truth revealed; but when the drunkard quits his cup, the debauchee becomes chaste, when the unholy man becomes godly, and the tricky man honest; in a word, when the chief of sinners becomes genuinely converted, and lives soberly and honestly, here is a fact that infidels can neither explain away, gainsay, or resist. And it is with pain and much concern of heart that for twelve or fifteen years I have observed the downward tendency of modern christianity upon these things. The Bible has been preached and praised quite to the neglect of what it really enjoins upon us. It requires (its Author does) faith, repentance, and holiness. It teaches that we must be converted and worship God (who is a Spirit) in spirit and in truth; and yet the sentiment that ignores the operations of the Spirit of God, denies in reality all these. No Spirit! What a monster! How it looms up with its dark and hideous proportions! And can it be possible that men of intelligence believe it, who believe the Bible, and who frequently read scores of such passages of scripture as the following? "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you." John xvi, 7. Please read eight verses more. Again, "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him." Luke xi, 13. "This I say then, [as though he would sum up the whole matter] Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye can not do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law (undoubtedly the law of sin and death reigning in our members). Gal. v, 16-18. And here follows a striking69 contrast in which are enumerated the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. Again, in 1 Cor. xii we have a full and glorious representation of the gifts of the Spirit to the church of the living God. And again: 'And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.' Eph. iv, 30. Believe that and then say, if you can, that the Bible is the only rule and comforter that the christian has by which to determine his relations to God, and his claims to an incorruptible inheritance. But it is replied by some that they do believe in the existence of the Spirit of God, that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that the gospel was preached by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; but then these things are not for us; they belong to that age, the apostolic church. Here is certainly a mistake. The conclusions arising from such a position are altogether too wide-sweeping. They leave us without any model church after which to pattern. They leave us without the gifts, and graces, and fruits of the Spirit of God. Also they leave us without any living promises upon which to rest our hopes. What! Was not the commission to preach the gospel, and the promise in connection with the same, to be extended through all coming time? Was not the promise of the Comforter made to the entire church until the last member should be redeemed? Again: For whom were the gospels and epistles written? Were they written only for the church then living? These are important questions, admitting of being answered in only one of two ways: either the primitive church was to be a model church, patterned after by all that should follow, and the promises made to her were alike made to all, or else the promises were made to her only. If the former be true, then it is our duty to contend for the graces of the Spirit, and thereby exalt the standard of holiness and revive primitive Christianity; but if the latter be true, then are we utterly destitute, God-forsaken; and where is our hope? 'No Spirit.' 'Bible conversion.' Yes, I have heard such a gospel preached. Yes, I have seen men converted under such preaching; yet if fruits are any sign, they were not half converted. The old man of the flesh as much alive as ever, and all the change made was only from sin to selfishness: yea, and I have even learned about as much in my own experience. I have tried to live on good resolves, and serving God out of principle, until I have been made to exclaim, O God, save or I perish. I have learned, as did the apostle Paul, that there is no confidence to be put in the flesh. 'Good resolves!' Why a man can live physically as well as religiously upon good resolves. And we might as well resolve that we would neither get hungry nor thirsty, and accomplish our purpose, as to resolve that we would in our own strength, love divine instead of earthly things. What would a good resolve do in keeping a man from getting hungry? and what has simply a good resolve to do in hindering us from lusting after the things of the world? What we need is strength within. The flesh lusteth, and it is only by having divine strength imparted by the Spirit of the living God, that we are enabled to overcome the world. The doctrine that man may be cleansed, and delivered from the dominion of sin here, is as much a divine proposition, requiring divine interposition, as the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. But why enumerate. The plan of redemption in all its specifications and workings is divine, and the Spirit of the living God, the Holy Ghost, is the living and acting agent by which men are prepared to enjoy the glories of that God and the immortal age revealed in the Scriptures. E. GOODRICH.
Edinboro, Pa. THERE IS A DEVIL.
By R. F. Cottrell
THE Bible clearly reveals this fact, though many who profess faith in the Bible dispute it; and others who admit it, fancy that the Devil has no direct influence on them. But though we may have admitted the truth of this proposition always, yet the evidences of it increase so much in these days that we cannot help realizing it more and more. This truth has been repeatedly impressed upon my mind of late. When I see people that say they esteem all days of the week alike—each one just as good and holy as any other, and yet find them fretting because we choose to observe the seventh and not the first, I say within myself, There is a Devil! Says A. N. Seymour, in his recent effort against the Sabbath, "Then let us with the sword of truth, which is the word of God, at once strike a death-blow to seventh-day Sabbath-keeping." He takes the broad ground that the fourth commandment is abolished. He says, "All Protestant denominations are Sabbath-breakers if the fourth precept is binding." But these Protestant denominations profess to keep this precept; and, if they are honest, they really believe that they are keeping it, and consequently are just as wicked as though they kept it. If they are not honest, will Seymour claim that their prospect for salvation is fair? And if they are, is there not as much danger of their being "lost eternally" as though they really kept the precept which they profess to keep? Why this partiality? Why strike a death-blow to seventh-day Sabbath-keeping, while first-day Sabbath-keeping escapes unhurt? Why so much holy zeal to save a handful of deluded seventh-day Sabbath-keepers from being lost eternally, and at the same time let the multitude of first-day Sabbath-keepers go down to eternal perdition unwarned? Or if they are not in danger, why is it that keeping the fourth commandment on Sunday is so much better than keeping it on the day specified in the commandment? I can account for these things only on the supposition that there is a Devil, and that he hates whatever God has instituted, and is well pleased when men substitute their own inventions for the commandments of God. But if he is as short-sighted and illogical as some of his most devoted servants, it is a wonder how he can deceive so many. Sin must have perverted man's reasoning powers, so that he is led captive by Satan at his will, and yet the poor chained captive can say, as Mr. Seymour does, that he never knew his father to lie! Jno. viii, 44. R. F. COTTRELL. Self-Examination Necessary to Soul Prosperity
Self-examination is necessary to soul prosperity. QUESTION FOR BRO. SMITH.
By Uriah Smith
Does the original of Matt. xviii, read, "In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first-day Sabbath," when literally rendered? And can the places where the first day is mentioned in the New Testament be rendered first-day Sabbath with any propriety? This question has been suggested by reading a Sabbath Manual which is quite popular here. If you will please answer them through the Review you will greatly oblige.
T. K. HENRY. ANSWER.—We see by the above question that people have not yet ceased from their efforts to throw Greek dust into the eyes of the honest, thereby to blind, confuse, and deceive them on the subject of the Sabbath. We are not surprised at this. We expect the great Enemy of all truth will improve well his ground, and leave no stone unturned. His efforts on the Greek of Matt. xxviii, 1, and other places of like construction,70 are only dangerous to those who have not given attention to the study of that language. Those who have any acquaintance with it, it matters not much how slight, will be able to detect at once the fallacy of that interpretation; and the ignorance or sophistry of those who urge it. In the expression, "In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," the words, Sabbath, and week, are translated from the same original word sabbaton; but this is susceptible of the clearest explanation, as we shall now show: Robinson in his Greek Lexicon of the New Testament gives the following as a second definition of sabbaton : "2. Meton, a sabbath, put for the interval from sabbath to sabbath; hence a se'nnight, a week." One of the definitions which Greenfield also gives to this word, is, "a period of seven days, a week," whether in the singular or plural. An instance of its use in this sense is found in Luke xviii, 12, where the proud Pharisee, in his self-righteousness, exclaimed, "I fast twice in the week" (neesteuso dis tou sabbatou). Will our new translators say that sabbatou here includes one day only, and that the old Pharisee fasted twice on the Sabbath? The word in this sense, according to Robinson, occurs elsewhere "only after numerals marking the days of the week;" and in proof of this he cites us to those very texts which some have of late been using in try-to make people believe that the term, Sabbath, is applied by Scripture to the first day of the week; namely, Matt. xxviii, 1; Mark xvi, 2, 9; Luke xxiv, 1; John xx, 1, 19; Acts xx, 7; 1 Cor. xvi, 2. In view of these facts let us look more particularly at Matt. xxviii, 1. Opse de sabbatoon, but in the end of the Sabbath (or week, the seventh day, or Sabbath, being the last day of the week), tē epiphooskousee, as it began to dawn, eis, toward, mian, the first (the numeral, marking the day of the week, according to Robinson) sabbatoon, of the week. Concerning the numeral mian, we would remark that it can not agree with sabbaton understood, as would necessarily be the case if it meant one (Sabbath) of a new series of Sabbaths then introduced; for mian is of the feminine gender, and sabbaton is neuter. There is no word with which, in this case, it can agree, except hemeran, day, understood, as is given in the margin of the Greek Testament. With mian, therefore, agreeing with day understood, and sabbatoon denoting the week, the case clearly stands thus: "As it began to dawn toward the first (day) of the week." Hence any one can see that it is not possible, without doing violence to the sacred text, to give to such passages as Matt. xxviii, 1, a rendering essentially different from that of the common version. In what light then shall we look upon those who boldly assert that the first day of the week is called the Sabbath, and base the assertion upon their translation of the above named texts, while at the same time they are either ignorant of, or intentionally conceal, the fact that the word sabbaton is sometimes used in a secondary sense, meaning the whole week, and especially so when preceded by a numeral adjective denoting the day of the week? Shall we look upon these efforts to defend Sunday-keeping as the result of ignorance only? or as a betrayal of the enmity that rankles in their hearts against the holy and good law of a righteous God? We are sorry to regard any one in such an unenviable light; but they thus place themselves before us, as often as they engage in such attempts to sustain a groundless position. And we would recommend those Sunday-keepers who have suddenly become enamored of the Greek, thinking to find therein something to support their cherished theory, to meditate carefully upon the word anomia, as it occurs in the following instances, beginning with the words of Christ, "Depart from me, ye that work (teen anomian) lawlessness;" or, ye law-breakers: Matt. vii, 23; xiii, 41; xxiii, 28; xxiv, 12; Rom. iv, 7; vi, 19; 2 Cor. vi, 14; 2 Thess. ii, 7; Titus ii, 14; Heb. i, 9; viii, 12; x, 17; 1 John iii, 4. The truth is, those who endeavor to ride away from the requirements of the moral law, upon the Greek language, "do, or ought to know" that they have mounted the wrong hobby. OCCASION TO BLASPHEME.
By Uriah Smith
If it could be said of one anciently, because he violated the morality of his religion and of the Bible, that he had given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, so it may be said of the popular theology of the present day, because it has departed from the teaching of the word of God, that it has given occasion to the enemies of the truth of these days to occupy the blasphemous and infidel positions that they do. There is nothing which puts a more potent weapon into the hands of infidelity against the Bible than the unscriptural dogma of eternal misery. To show the conclusions to which those are driven who hold that doctrine, we give the following which we find quoted in the conclusion of an infidel work, and over which infidels and the infidel press not unjustly hold carnival: "The happiness of the elect in heaven will in part consist in witnessing the torments of the damned in hell; and among these may be their own children, parents, husbands, wives, and friends. Every time they look upon the damned, it will excite in them a lively and admiring sense of the grace of God in making them so to differ.' One part of the business of the blessed is to celebrate the doctrine of reprobation. While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torments will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of those miserable objects, will say, Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord."—Emmons' Sermons. "The saints in glory will be far more sensible how dreadful the wrath of God is, and will understand how terrible the sufferings of the damned are; yet this will be no occasion of grief to them, but rejoicing. They will not be sorry for the damned; it will cause no uneasiness or dissatisfaction to them; but, on the contrary, when they see this sight, it will occasion rejoicing and excite them to joyful praise."—Edwards' Practical Sermons. Under this head we may also not inappropriately give the following "Gem from Spurgeon:" "Our lost friends are lost forever; we recollect that there is no shadow of a hope for them; when the iron gate of hell is once closed upon them, it shall never be unbarred again, to give them free exit; when once shut up within those walls of sweltering flame which girdle the fiery gulf, there is no possibility of flight; we recollect that they have 'forever' stamped upon their chains, 'forever' carved in deep lines of despair upon their hearts. It is the hell of hell, that everything there lasts forever. Here, time wears away our griefs, and blunts the keen edge of our sorrow; but there time never mitigates the woe; hell grows more hellish, as eternity marches on with its mighty paces. The abyss becomes more dense and fiery—the sufferers grow more ghastly and wretched, as years, if there be such sad variety in that fixed state, roll their everlasting rounds. Here the sympathy of loving kindred, in the midst of sickness or suffering, can alleviate our pain; but there, the tortured ghosts are sport for fiends, and the mutual upbraidings and reproaches of fellow-sinners give fresh wings to torment too dread to be endured. Here, too, when nature's last palliative shall fail, to die may be a happy release; a man can count the weary hours till death shall give him rest: but, oh! remember there is no death in hell; death, which is a monster on earth, would be an angel in hell. If death could go there, all the damned would fall down and worship him; every tongue would sing, and every heart would praise; each cavern then would echo with a shout of triumph till all was still, and silence brood where terrors reigned."—Spurgeon's Gems, pp. 109, 161. Every sentiment of humanity revolts at these pictures. Every principle of justice and mercy is outraged by them. And when it is believed and taught that the Bible supports such a doctrine as that, multitudes are not slow to reject and cast it away. Thus is christianity wounded in the house of its friends. Thus has the old serpent insidiously coiled himself in the very bosom of the church which all men will look up to as a representative of christianity, and is striking at its very vitals with his fatal sting. Let the true teaching of the Bible on this point be faithfully set forth. Let that destiny of the wicked which it declares, in which justice and mercy so beautifully blend, be maintained, and the Bible shielded from the aspersions to which by the popular doctrine it is so grievously exposed. "THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM."
ThUS is the present state of Europe denominated by an able English writer, who takes the position that the end of this dispensation is at hand. When referring to the movements of the year now closed, and the apparent delay in the execution of the vast programme, he says: "The outbreak that has so long been contemplated is of so enormous a magnitude, both in violence and extent, that as the time approached, the very conspirators themselves stood aghast at their own work. Hence as he says, 'more preparation' was the word. All must be made sure—nothing left to chance—the plan fully digested—every agent in his place—every implement of war wrought to perfection—the subtle inventions of the most destructive brain carried out into form, before the great conspiracy unfolds. After forty years of peace—after a deluge of CANT—the whole extent of christendom is converted into a theater of war. One half of mankind preparing to defend—the other to destroy. One half preparing to defend the venerable hypocrisies and villainies of the past, the other half to set up the blooming hypocrisies and villainies of the present. . . . On both sides, preparations for war that are absolutely without a parallel. The ancient armies of Rome and Macedon were like 'two little flocks of kids,' compared with the armies of that christendom which takes its name from the Prince of Peace. The whole ingenuity of Christian nations is exhausted upon implements, not of use, but of destruction—in devising, not how to save, but how to kill. . . . Such is the state of things. A calm before a storm—and the longer the calm, the more dreadful the storm. The winds are gathering up their sullen strength, and folding their dark wings, until the appointed hour shall come; and they will cover the whole heavens with one instantaneous gloom. "Yet all these things are in the hand of God. One man seems to hold all the cords that now move the world; but that man himself is held by the hand of God. . . . For this extraordinary crisis the Devil is now preparing with proportionate activity. He has long ago undermined the foundations of divine truth by the introduction of 'spiritualizing interpretation.' The nominal church glories in spiritualizing interpretation. . . . From whence but the father of lies has it come that the kingdom of heaven, which means the reign of Christ over the earth, is now understood to mean nothing more than the rude, imperfect, feeble Christianity, which we find scattered here and there over the world? . . . By the practice of 'spiritualizing,' the edge of the sword has been thoroughly blunted, so that it is now no longer capable of dealing with extraordinary antagonists, or with any but the ordinary difficulties of human life. . . . He has blunted the spirit by means of 'Spiritualism.' He has employed the false metal to shatter the edge of the true metal. Be assured of this—that when the hour of peril comes, the ministers of the gospel will be found bewildered and unarmed. . . . The mischief is now irreparable, and the penalty of 'spiritualizing' must be paid. . . . "As the enemy has invented 'spiritualizing,' so he has also invented Spiritualism, another preparation for the approaching future. . . . The world has rejected altogether the supernaturalism of the Devil. . . . The Devil, has, therefore, two distinct agencies by which he is preparing the world for his immediate, and, perhaps, visible presence,—'spiritualizing,' and 'Spiritualism.' By 'spiritualizing' he has destroyed the power and beauty of Scripture as far as they can be destroyed." Is a very unpleasant season to those who are unprepared for its severe storms and frosts; but for those who are ready, it is rendered quite tolerable, and often pleasant. Those farmers who house carefully their stock, can sit down comfortably at night by the blazing fire, and read, or sing, or talk, or meditate, or pray. They can sleep quietly upon their beds, and no sharp twinges of conscience to disturb their slumbers on account of their cruelty to the poor dumb brutes who are not able to state their wrongs to the grand jury. But those farmers whose good oxen and cows (that have served them so truly and uncomplainingly) are now shivering in the fence-corners, while old Boreas drives the sleet and snow into every corner, leaving them no place for repose; I say such farmers dread the winter, for it brings with it a troubled conscience. "The merciful man is merciful to his beast," and his conscience must indeed be hardened who can view unmoved the shivering beasts, who look to their owner as the last resource for redress, and as such unfortunate brutes as find no protection in their owner from wintry weather, yield to disease, and lie down never to rise, I should think the losing party would think of something else but his loss. The Lord loved king Josiah because his heart was tender, and no doubt if mankind were tender-hearted, their brutes would feel it too, and God, who cares for the sparrows, notices the sufferings of larger animals. Better sell one-third of your stock to house the two-thirds, than to let them go unhoused this cold weather, even on account of profit and loss in your own pocket. But there is a more serious light in which to view this matter. God is displeased with all unnecessary neglect of what is entrusted to our care. If we are not faithful over the unrighteous mammon, how can we expected to be entrusted with the true riches? A. is not able to build a barn to shelter his small stock, so he sets some posts in the ground, and nails up second quality of boards on the sides, and throws poles across the top, and then covers the top with prairie hay, or refuse straw, or the like, and thus his cattle are comfortably and cheaply housed. We need not plead poverty. He who is able to keep a cow, or a horse, or a yoke of oxen, or more, is ordinarily able to house them in some way or other from the inclemency of winter. What is wanting, is the will to do so. People think because cattle can survive the winter, they must still continue to do so; but I ask if a man were tested as to what he could possibly endure, and should be compelled to pass the same trials always, would not this be hard? A man well fed is able to endure cold that would congeal the blood of an ox or horse. Is this a sufficient reason for compelling him to do so against his will? Consider what men endure who visit the frozen north. They endure it voluntarily, but who would dare compel man to do this? But the poor brutes must stand out in freezing rains, and chilling winds, because they can possibly live through it. O, I am glad that we are at the mercy of God and not in the hands of man. God is very pitiful and of tender mercy. J. CLARKE. BEING GOOD, YET NOT LOVING GOD.
I MEAN to do right, said one, I would not do a wrong to any human being. Within my circle of near friends and relatives, I find scope enough for my benevolence. But I make no profession of religion; I do not think much about it. I often think of death; but I do not give myself much anxiety about it. I have no fear that God will do anything unjust with me; and as for the rest, I see no reason to suppose I shall ever feel differently from what I now do. I do not see how I can. This friend remarked also, incidentally, that most of the persons within his circle of personal acquaintance, felt much as he did, and he presumed this to be a very common experience. What should we say to such a friend? We knew him too well to question the general truth of what he had said of himself. There could be no doubt that he was just in his dealings, amiable in his temper and bearing; and even generous within the circle of special friends and near relatives. There was manifestly no occasion to deny or even question any of these things. This:—It is in vain for even you to account your heart and life sinless toward God. You say yourself that you do not often think of God; of course you restrain prayer and refuse him praise. To that God who has given you existence, and has filled your cup with good ever since you were born, you return no grateful acknowledgments; you offer no humble homage. Can this be right? If the favored friends within your circle, upon whom you have conferred favors so freely, were never to recognize your kindness, never to speak to you nor of you with affectionate regard, would you account it all right, and altogether satisfactory? Does it strike you that such a thoughtless, thankless bearing toward benefactors comes fully up to the obvious demands of duty? But again: this really gracious Father above knew and felt your abuse of his love; yet he did not at once draw back and say, "Not another mercy!" but he proceeded to provide and to offer you yet more and richer71 blessings. He gave you his Son to die for you, and his Spirit to touch you and to turn your heart fully to himself. With these offered blessings there would come, if accepted, a glorious wealth of spiritual good to your soul—peace, purity, the sweet consciousness of being forgiven through the Saviour's blood, and brought home to the bosom of God's eternal love. You might know what it is to live in the communion of abiding peace and friendship with the great and blessed God, and with his incarnate Son. All this is now a blank in your personal experience; but would it not be a change, beyond measure great and precious, if it might soon pass over you and all this new state become in you a conscious reality? You certainly can see that it must be a great blessing to know that your heart is in sympathy with God, and that between him and yourself there exists a friendship and fellowship that never can cease, but shall assuredly grow stronger and more blessed to yourself throughout eternity! It seemed fitting that we should also say in this case— We beg you to seek this gospel salvation, not merely for God's sake, although he will enjoy your real happiness and salvation exceedingly; nor for our sake alone, although we should enjoy it too, more than we have words to express; but we commend it to you especially for your own sake; because, although you have no reason to fear any injustice from God, yet you cannot afford to be satisfied with mere justice. You can have something far better! Justice, though glorious to God, might be dreadful to yourself! For there must be fearful guilt in "denying the Lord that bought you," and in "trampling under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood of his covenant an unholy thing." Can you afford to meet the righteous doom of that sorer punishment of which he will be worthy who hath done this? Besides, you cannot afford to forego the positive blessings which God, in the gospel, provides and proffers to you without money or price. And as to the remark that you see no way out of your present state, God himself says, "Then shall ye find me when ye shall seek me with all your heart." The gospel is not written like Draco's laws, too high to be read. It is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. A spirit of docility will ensure you right instruction from God himself; and a firm purpose to act up to all the light God gives you, will surely put you in the right way to eternal life. No sinners perish from under the gospel's light, simply because there is no way for them out of a state of sin and unbelief into pardon, peace, and full salvation. It is the glory of God that, in his gospel, salvation is provided and offered honestly, in full sincerity, and made acceptable to all who will come to Christ for life. Every word in this last statement is both true and full of meaning, and you can never find it otherwise. Will you put these exceeding great and precious promises to the proof? Will you test the sincerity of God's love in the gospel of his Son? Will you give your hearty consent to become the loving child of such a Father—the willing servant of such a Master—the confiding friend of one so great and good?—Oberlin Evangelist. "Bow down thine ear, O Lord: hear me, for I am
poor and needy." Jesus, Jesus, hear my cry,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
Save, O save me from my sins,
To thy courts O let me in. Human arms in vain I seek,
They, O Lord, are all too weak,
Unto thee, O God, I cry,
Pardon, Lord, or else I die. Did not Jesus die for me?
Haste, O Lord, and set me free,
Free from all my woes and pains,
Free from all my guilty stains. See, the stream from Jesus' side,
See, for sin 'tis opened wide.
In the stream my guilty soul
Thou canst wash, and make me whole. Jesus' smiling face I see,
List his voice, he speaks to me,
Bids my weary heart find rest,
Leaning on my Saviour's breast. REFLECTIONS
By Sarah E. Lindsley
On the Death of our dear sister H. S. Drake.
FOND, cherished hopes are vanished! terrestrial joys are fled;
Dear sister, thou art numbered now with the sleeping dead. Sudden was thy departure from sorrow and from woe,
And now that thou art absent, a gloom is spread below. When round the social altar, we miss thine earnest prayer,
Or met for public worship, alas, we miss thee there.
We miss thy exhortations, poured forth in fervent strain,
That we might strive with ardor, eternal life to gain. Long hadst thou been expecting, soon to behold thy Lord
Upon the clouds descending, the faithful to reward.
Thy hopes are disappointed; but still thou art more blest,
For God in love hath chosen, to lay thee down to rest. Safely from earth's commotions, sweetly dost thou repose,
Hid from a stormy future, hid from thine inward foes.
Almost we look with envy, upon the new-made mound,
And wish ourselves beside thee, so peaceful in the ground. But may we still be faithful, and to the end endure,
And bear life's ills with patience, through trials growing pure.
His grace is all sufficient, in whom we have believed,
And none, howe'er unworthy, hath ever he deceived. Not long will be thy slumbers, in yonder quiet tomb,
The King of life is coming, to banish all its gloom,
'Tis then, beloved sister, we trust to meet thee there,
Where scenes that mortal's ne'er conceived, the ransomed saints will share. SARAH E. LINDSLEY.
New Haven, N. Y. "I CAN'T quit chewing tobacco." "There is no use in trying." "I know it is a useless, dirty habit, and I wish I could let it alone." So said three brethren at different times and places—so have said hundreds of others. To each of these—all class-leaders—I recommended an application to the throne of grace; "for whom the Son maketh free" from dirty habits, "is free indeed." They each asked and obtained divine aid. They promised God to try to quit the use of tobacco; the Lord heard and helped, and they are cleanly men, and fit to lead class. Each one of these brethren told me that he experienced no trouble after committing the whole thing to God. In these times of retrenchment, begin with your tobacco. If you are a christian, and believe you ought to quit, you have a sad deficiency of moral courage if you do not do it.