“Mother, how much tobacco does it take to make a sermon?”
“What do you mean, my son?”
“Why, I mean how much tobacco does father chew, and how many cigars does he smoke, while he is making a sermon?”
“Well, the tobacco and the smoke do not make the sermon, do they?”
“I don't know but they do—they help along, at any rate; for I heard father tell Mr. Morris, the minister who preached for him last Sunday, that he could never write a sermon without a cigar. So I thought maybe the tobacco makes the sermon, or the best part of it.”
“My son, I am shocked to hear you talk so!”
“Well, mother, I was only telling what father said; and what it made me think. He said a prime cigar was a great solace (whatever that is); and he said, besides, it drove away the blues—put him in a happy frame of mind, and simmerated or stimulated his brain, so he could work better. I suppose stimulated means to make one think easier. Now, mother, I have been thinking I could study better if I had something to stimulate my brain; and the next time I have one of those knotty questions in arithmetic to work out, I will get a cigar, and see if it won't help me along. You know you often tell me if I follow my father's example I will not go astray; and now I would like a few cigars to make my brain work well, so I can stand at the head of my class.”
“I hope I shall never see my son with a cigar in his mouth; it would be the first step to ruin.”
“You don't think father is ruined, do you? He has taken a good many steps since he took the first cigar.”
“I think, my son, your father would be better without cigars or tobacco in any shape; but he formed the habit when a young man.”
“But father says we are to blame for forming bad habits, and it is a sin to continue in them. I heard him say that in the pulpit, not long ago. There is old Tom Jenkins, who gets tight every day. I suppose he would find it rather hard to break off drinking whisky. But father says it's no excuse for a man, when he gets drunk, to say he is in the habit of getting drunk. He says it only needs resolution and moral courage to break off bad habits.”
“But, my son, smoking tobacco is not quite like drinking whisky and getting drunk.”
“No, I know that, mother; but I was going on to say that, if smoking was a bad habit, father would have given it up long ago. But I don't believe smoking is any harm; and it does some folks a great deal of good. You know how nervous and fidgety father gets when he has to go without any cigars; and, besides, he could not write his sermons without them. I am sure if he could write as well and do as much good without using tobacco, he would not spend so much money for it. When I want to buy a little candy, or a bit of spruce gum, father tells me I had better practice the grace of self-denial, and save my money for the missionary box. Besides, he says such stuff is not good for me; it will spoil my teeth and ruin my health. Now I am quite certain that father would not spend money—more than I have ever spent in my whole life for candy, gum, clothes, and everything—if he did not believe tobacco was a real benefit to himself and others. Why, mother, do you know anything about the price of cigars in these times? Cousin Ned Wilkins, who smokes a great many, says ‘you can't get a decent cigar for less than fifteen cents; and the best cost forty and fifty cents apiece!’ And I heard Deacon Tompkins say his cigars cost him six hundred dollars a year; for he uses nothing but the very best, and they are all imported. He told father so the other day, when they were smoking together in the study after dinner, and I was trying to get my arithmetic lesson. Now, mother, do you think my father, and Deacon Tompkins, and a whole host of ministers, and elders, and temperance lecturers, and lots and lots of good Christian people, would spend so much money to keep themselves in bad habits? Why, just the sum that Deacon Tompkins alone spends upon cigars, would support a missionary in the West for a whole year, and would be a better salary than many western ministers now get! Really, mother, I cannot believe that using tobacco is wrong as long as so many good Christians do use it. I don't care so much about chewing—would rather have some nice, clean spruce gum, such as they have got down to Dickinson's store; but I would like to smoke as my father does; and please, mother, give me a little money to get a few cigars.”
“My son, you may talk to your father about this matter. Ask him if he thinks it would improve your habits and manners to learn to smoke; and if he approves, you may ask him for a cigar.—Advent Herald.”
Geological Riddles.
A CORRESPONDENT of the United Presbyterian, writing from Colorado, gives some curious accounts of the geological structure of the mountains near Denver, in the following extract:—
The South Park is about from twelve to twenty-five miles wide, and forty or fifty feet long. It is probably the bed of some ancient lake. But you can’t tell anything about this country. It has evidently been once all torn to pieces by volcanic action. Coal beds are vertical or perpendicular, in veins like silver or gold lodes. Some of them have been sunk to a depth of one or two hundred feet, and I don’t know how much deeper they go. Where a geologist would expect to find the first limestone, he will as likely as not find granite, and where his science or books tell him to look for granite, he is just as likely to find the old red sandstone, porphyry, or slate, or flint, or something else.
I know an English geologist here who has sunk several holes from two hundred to two thousand feet deep, and he says, as the result of his experiments, that in this country there is no reliance to be placed in the commonly received doctrines of geology. Well, if geology will not tell the truth here, must Moses be put down as untruthful, merely because “scientists,” falsely so called, affirm that geology and the Bible are at variance? I know a place not ten miles from here where there is malachite now in a formation state. Two years ago it was softer than putty. At present it is quite hard. If it hardens as fast for two years more, it will be as hard as agate or jasper. Then let one of the self-conceited “scientists” of the present day look at it. He will put on his glasses and look wise and say: “Well, that’s malachite (from the Greek malachae). It is a native carbonate of copper; it occurs in mammillary masses, consisting of concentric layers having a fibrous structure,” etc., etc. Then he tells its age, perhaps five or ten thousand years, with as much confidence or positiveness and pretence of philosophy as if he really knew much about it, and with the same positiveness he will turn around and say, These things being so, the Bible must necessarily be a humbug. I could then tell him that I wrote my name in that malachite only four years ago, when it was as soft as mud and as pliable as his science.
Compromise.
By A. P. Lawton
Much is couched in the term compromise. It has decided the destiny of many individuals and nations. When righteously used, it has resulted in untold peace, happiness, and prosperity. It is a mighty lever in adjusting differences that no legislation could affect. “Yielding pacifies great offenses.” We should find a pleasure in yielding to others when it can be done without compromising principle or justice; but my friend asks too much when he would have me compromise the word of God.
We may be called bigoted, conservative, and fanatical; be it so. These epithets we can bear, but we cannot endure the frowns of Him, one jot or tittle of whose word will not fall to the ground till all be fulfilled. Take it as we would another book, just as it reads, and all is plain.
Men have changed the law, broken the everlasting covenant, and their children and children's children have done what Ezekiel said they would do. “One built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” Read Ezekiel, 13th chapter, and learn what became of the wall and those who daubed it. Many boast of their large charity and Christian tolerance, while they abate not a jot of their sectarian prejudices. Excuse me if my cloak of charity will not cover so much. A permanent, solid structure cannot be expected from such incohesive particles. While one says, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; I of Cephas; and I of Christ,” are we not carnal, and walk as men? We are exhorted to be of one mind and of one judgment, and all to speak the same thing. When we heed this counsel, the building will go up without the sound of a hammer; and all the parts, fitly joined together, will grow up into a perfect building in Christ.
Jesus said he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. He kept his Father's commandments, and said that he said and did what his Father told him.
But, says my friend, do you suppose none will be saved only those who keep the seventh day? Paul says, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Where there is no law, there is no transgression; but when its claims are brought home, we have no excuse; we know our duty. “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
It is a good thing to be established, but always in the truth. There should always be room to pray,
“If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, O, teach my heart
To find that better way.”
God will bless the honest seeker after truth.
A. P. LAWTON.
West Winfield, N. Y.
Delighting in Meditation and Talk of God
He who truly loves God delights to meditate of him, and to discourse of him, and to hear the mention of his name, and is weary of the conversations where God is irreverently mentioned, or seldom or slightly remembered.
White Robes.
By James White
THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION EMBRACES ALL THE AGES OF HUMAN PROBATION.
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9, 10.
The white-robed multitude, as argued in last week’s REVIEW, embraces the redeemed from all the ages of human probation. These all unite in one triumphant song, ascribing the praises of their salvation to the divine Law-giver, and to the divine Redeemer of sinners from the transgressions of the divine law. “I and my Father are one,” saith the Son of God. They were one in creation. Said Jehovah to Jesus, “Let us make man in our image.” They are one in the redemption of sinners in all the ages, as seen in the unit song of all the redeemed from all the nations of all time—“Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Hence the position taken, that the law of the Father, and the gospel of the Son, constitute harmonious parts of the great plan of salvation, covering the entire period of man’s probation.
The word gospel signifies a “joyful message,” or good news. The gospel is the good news of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ. We inquire, When was the good news of redemption from sin first heard? How early in the sad history of fallen man was the joyful message of salvation through the Son of God proclaimed? Was it first given in the days of Christ and his first apostles? or of Moses? of Abraham? or of Adam? These questions and the answer we shall give may open to the reader a new and profitable field of thought. We unhesitatingly answer that the gospel dates back to the time when the hope of pardon and redemption was set before the fallen representatives of our race. We distinctly trace the faith and hope of the gospel of the Son of God in that early denunciation of wrath upon Satan, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. In this sentence against the author of sin and death, we hear the gospel of our triumphant Redeemer, as verily as in the song of the angels to the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will to men.” “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Immediately after the fall, hope of a future life hung on Christ, as truly as we hang our hopes upon him. And when the first sons of Adam brought their offerings to the Lord, Cain, in his unbelief, brought an offering unto the Lord of the first-fruits of the ground. But Abel, in faith of the great sacrifice for sin, to be manifested in the distant future, brought of the firstlings of his flock. Through that lamb, Abel saw the Lamb of God, the Redeemer of the world, and set his hope upon him. In the blood of that firstling, Abel saw the figure of the blood of Jesus Christ. He looked forward to Christ, and made his offering in the faith and hope of the gospel, and through it saw the great sacrifice for sin, as truly as we see the bleeding Lamb of God as we look back to Calvary through the broken bread and the fruit of the vine at the Lord’s supper. In these emblems, we see Christ shedding his blood for our sins on the cross. Abel saw the same in the bleeding, dying firstling which he offered.
“And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.” Gen. 4:4, 5. The sacred narrative shows that, while Abel’s act of faith in the Redeemer to come sealed his righteous character, cost him his life, and placed him at the head of the holy martyrs of Jesus, Cain’s infidelity was regarded as sinful, and was the stepping stone to the high crime of the murder of his brother, which sealed his character as a vagabond in the earth.
The great apostle, in the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews, places Abel at the head of the faithful worthies. He speaks of his righteous act of faith in offering to the Lord in sacrifice the type of the Redeemer to come, in these emphatic words: “By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it he being dead yet speaketh.” Abel laid hold of the hope that was set before him of the Redeemer to come, and in type, embraced Christ. And, as he set the seal to his faith and hope in presenting before the Lord the most fitting emblem of the dying Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, high Heaven bestowed the signal witness that he was righteous. And for nearly six thousand years, this eminent preacher of the gospel, though dead, has been speaking of his faith in Christ.
The beloved John, in contrasting the infidelity and murderous spirit of Cain with the confiding faith, pure love and obedience of those who revere the commandments of God, and lay hold of the faith of Jesus Christ, says, “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” Abel formed a righteous character, not only in laying hold of the Redeemer to come by faith through the figure of the firstling of his flock, but by perfecting that saving faith in the act of presenting the sacrifice before the Lord his God.
From Abel, we pass down the brief sacred history of the fallen race to Abraham, and there we find the joyful message of salvation through Jesus Christ, to be extended to the nations of the earth, proclaimed to the trusting, obedient patriarch. Paul speaks of it thus: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Gal. 3:8. The apostle quotes from Gen. 12:3. See also verse 7, and chap. 17:7, 8, where this promise is extended to Abraham’s seed.
The gospel of the Son of God is proclaimed to Abraham in this promise, in that it is really a promise of Christ, as argued by the apostle in Gal. 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” The promise to Abraham, that in him all the families of the earth should be blessed, embraced Jesus Christ as the only hope of salvation of man from all the nations, as stated by the apostle in verse 14: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.”
The faith of Abraham embraced Christ as its glorious object. This is seen in Christ’s reply to the Jews, who boasted in Abraham as their father. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and saw it, and was glad.” John 8:56. The great plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, was opened to Abraham, and his faith reached forward even to the restitution by the Son of God.
The words of Paul show that Abraham did not receive the promised inheritance in Canaan; but, that he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange land, looking forward to the eternal city, of the immortal kingdom where Christ shall reign in all his glory upon the new earth. “By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Heb. 11:8–10.
The gospel was preached to the Hebrews in the wilderness. Mark well the peculiar expression of the apostle, as he speaks to the point: “Unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Heb. 4:2. It is a serious doubt with very many, whether the children of Israel, in the days of Moses, had the gospel of the Son of God at all. But Paul treats the subject as a settled fact, that the gospel was preached to them in the wilderness. And in his epistle to the Hebrew Christians, he states that it was also preached to them, as well as to their fathers in a former dispensation. He also testifies of the Hebrews in the wilderness, that they “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:2–4.
Moses, and the believing Jews had the faith and hope of the gospel. Through the blood of the sacrificial offerings, they saw Christ, and by faith embraced him. Their hopes of the future life were not in the law, but in Christ. The typical system was but the shadow of good things to come, of which Christ, as a sacrifice and mediator, is the center. These good things are the body that casts its shadow back into the Jewish age. The bleeding sacrifices of the former ages were but the shadow, while Christ, bleeding on the cross, was the great reality. The blood of beasts offered by the Jews, understandingly, and in faith, as clearly pointed forward to the blood of Christ, as the Lord’s supper and baptism point back to his sufferings, death, and resurrection. J. W.
Organization Among Seventh-day Adventists and the General Conference
Organization.
Organization with Seventh-day Adventists was not so much a choice as a matter of necessity, and was first entered into very cautiously by some, and rather reluctantly by others. And as numbers have increased, and missionary fields have opened before us, we have all come to prize our simple and, to human view, complete organization. And while we value our organization, we should respect the important offices we elect men to fill.
Our General Conference is the highest earthly authority with our people, and is designed to take charge of the entire work in this and all other countries. The officers of our State Conferences, and, also, those of our institutions located at Battle Creek, are expected to respect our General Conference Committee as the men appointed to take the general supervision of the cause in all its branches and interests. They should be regarded as the safest counselors and the proper persons to give advice in all important matters.
One or more of the General Conference Committee should be present at each State Conference, and should be invited to take part in all deliberations and counsels, especially in licensing men to improve their gifts in teaching the word of God, and auditing accounts, and settling with ministers. It is simply an insult to our system of organization to urge the President of the General Conference, and other members of the Committee, to attend State Camp-meetings, do nearly all the preaching, and most of the other labor, and not show proper regard for their position and judgment in the important business of the State Conferences. These men, who labor from State to State, and have their minds exercised with the matters pertaining to the general wants and dangers of the cause, are far better prepared to judge of the local wants of State Conferences than their own officers possibly can be. Every auditing committee should avail themselves of the experience and good judgment of the President of the General Conference. If he is not eminently qualified to give good counsel in all important matters, he is not competent to fill his office in any respect. The history of our cause bears a decided testimony in favor of our system of organization. The men who framed it, and introduced it, felt the importance of their work. The Guiding Hand was with them, which is the reason why the lapse of more than ten years has not revealed defects which have demanded changes. We unhesitatingly express our firm convictions that organization with us was by the direct providence of God. And to disregard our organization is an insult to God's providential dealings with us, and a sin of no small magnitude. We say, then, let our General Conference Committee be sustained in their efforts to establish order, build up our institutions, and establish others that are needed. We certainly should do this with a becoming zeal, or we should abolish our General Conference, and let each State Conference, and each church, and each member, virtually constitute an independent body.
The permanency of the cause, and united effort of all our people to push the work forward, depends upon the establishment and maintenance of order. And this cannot be done without proper organization. And organization only exists in form when the offices of such organization are trampled under foot.
No man, capable of filling any office in the cause of God, will feel exalted by such promotion. The true principle bearing upon this subject is expressed by our Lord in these words: “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” While those who are leaders and officers should be regarded as such, the respect which they may receive will, unless they are downright novices, lead them to highly esteem and love those who sustain them in their official duties.
The several State Conferences are appointing men to move to Battle Creek to take charge of the leading interests of our cause located in that city. This subject would not have been agitated, and the plan would not have received the sanction of our General Conference, had it not been indispensably necessary. There was no real want of talent among our people at Battle Creek to make it necessary that others should come in. Neither has there been a lack of faithful warnings of the consequences if they did not come up and sustain those who had the burden of the work upon them, and the cause at heart. But all such warning and entreaties for them to come up and stand free and clear in the counsel of God, for the right, and against wrong, seemed to be lost upon them, with very few exceptions. And as those who should have been the responsible persons in the Battle Creek church failed to stand where they should, and do what God would have blest them in doing, men and families are now being appointed by our State Conferences, under the supervision of the General Conference Committee, to move to Battle Creek, and take charge of the work at headquarters.
These representative men and families stand in close connection with our efficient General Conference Committee. Should one of them prove not to be the person for the place, he will be reported back to his State Conference by the General Conference Committee, and another will be appointed by the State Conference to fill his place.
Now shall the General Conference, and, also, our State Conferences, be sustained by our people far and near? Shall the representative men and families, who bear the burdens of the work at Battle Creek, have the prayers and confidence of the people everywhere? Doubtless there will be those who, awaking to the position their past unfaithfulness and rebellion now places them, will make an effort to obtain sympathy, especially from those who do not understand the facts in the case. But we do hope that our brethren everywhere have sufficient confidence in the good judgment of our General Conference Committee, and our State Conferences, in their appointments of representative men, and in the men themselves, who have come to Battle Creek at great sacrifices to do the will of God, not to be prejudiced against any important action of the men who have the burden and charge of the work.
All persons of good sense will admire the wisdom and safety of our arrangements to guard our institutions and cause. They have been made with the greatest care, and no small sacrifice. And now for any of our people to withhold their confidence, sympathy, and support from the General Conference Committee, and the picked men at Battle Creek, and take stock in a spirit of murmuring and fault-finding criticism that may arise in consequence of decided action for the right, and against wrong, would be not only an insult upon General Conference, the State Conferences, the men sent to Battle Creek, but our entire system of order and organization.
It is the duty of our General Conference Committee to understand every rope in the ship, to know how matters are moving, to correct wrongs, and to sustain the right. And it would be an exhibition of consummate folly for those who know but very little of the workings of the cause to set up their judgment against those who know all about it, and are annually appointed to take charge of it.
In the earlier history of our cause, in the absence of our system of organization, measures had to be carried on very much by individual influence and effort. This was not only laborious, and sometimes painful to the pioneers in the cause; but what most cut them to the heart was the fact that their very best efforts with their good results, were liable to be counteracted at any time, more or less, by the criticisms, fault-finding, murmuring, and, finally, rebellion of those who seemed to consider it a virtue to hold in doubt, and call in question, the course of those who had the burden of the work. Some have assumed an air of very devout cautiousness, and have occupied a sort of middle61ground between those who were battling for the right, and those who occupied the position of downright rebellion. The influence of such has been the hardest to meet, and they have done the cause the most harm.
Others have seemed inspired with a satanic shrewdness in criticising the faithful efforts of those who were wearing themselves out in building up the cause, and they have pressed them, and pursued them, to the very verge of the grave. But these persons would be the very last to take responsibilities upon themselves; and at the same time they appeared to regard it a virtue in them to cast all the doubt and distrust in the minds of the people, upon the course of those who were giving their entire energies, and were sacrificing all that makes this life of any value, to push forward the cause of truth and righteousness. The writer and his faithful companion have drunk largely of this bitter cup.
But, thank God, so far as these hopeful words can apply to the case in hand, “Old things have passed away, and, behold all things have become new.” We are very happy to turn over to the General Conference, the State Conferences, and the representative men at Battle Creek, all those very knowing and wise persons who had so much trouble with the management of the pioneers of the cause, they taking it for granted that they understood far better how the cause should be managed than those whom God had called to lead out in it from the very first. These will no longer have the satisfaction of feeling that their course annoys us. The burden has fallen off, and we are happy in a freedom we have not enjoyed in twenty years.
We have no time to answer grumbling and complaining letters. These will be either returned, or consigned to the flames. We shall be happy to hear from the real friends of the cause. And all our friends, and the dear friends of truth and righteousness, must allow us, while enjoying the “blessed lonesome” of our quiet, mountain retreat, free from the cares and perplexities of the unfortunate past, to prize very highly the advantages of organization.
Working for the Lord.
By George I. Butler
OUR Saviour represents the kingdom of Heaven by a man hiring laborers to work in his vineyard. He inquires, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” He wants to employ all that have a mind to work. He has a plenty for all to do, and plenty to reward them with at the close of their labor. The great trouble is, there are so many ready to excuse themselves, or who prefer to work for others, the world, themselves, or even Satan, rather than the Master.
But there are many who really think they should like to work for the Lord if they only knew how, if they could find some field of usefulness adequate to their ability. They see no openings near them, nothing to do that they can do. Perchance, after they get qualified for it, they can labor, after their education is completed, or their faculties developed, or they find some more convenient sphere of usefulness. But right around them they see nothing to do that they can do. I have no question but many feel thus and really think that such is the case.
I was struck the other day while reading Eph. 6:20, with the thought of how some of Paul’s most important labors were wrought, “For which I am an ambassador in bonds” (or “in a chain,” margin). The great apostle was asking for the prayers of God’s people, that he might have strength to open his mouth boldly and speak as he ought to speak. Most ministers would think if they were prisoners, fastened with a chain, whether literally or figuratively, that they would be thenceforth excused from labor. But not so with Paul. I suppose it would have been morally impossible to keep him from laboring for Christ unless they shut him away from every one or gagged him. We find when he was made fast in the stocks with Silas, after being severely whipped, that they could then sing praises to God. And on that very night the jailer and all his house were converted. Some of the apostle’s most important epistles were written for the use of future ages when an “ambassador in bonds.” And we have no means of knowing how many were converted by his preaching at the same time. He preached Christ wherever he was.
So it has been with some of the greatest workers the Lord has ever had in the world. Their circumstances have not been so peculiarly favorable, but they had the spirit of labor in them. They have labored against seeming impossibilities. Noah only saved his own family. Moses’ mission to Egypt must have seemed to him like taking his life in his hand. Elijah thought there were none of the worshipers of Jehovah left but himself, and his own life was sought. Jeremiah sent his burning words of reproof to a hardened king and court, only to have them cut up and thrown to the flames. But he resolutely wrote another roll, with words of like import, from his prison. John the Baptist raised his warning voice in the solitary wilderness. The prospect of an audience could not have seemed great. But those words were so full of power that all Jerusalem and Judea came to hear them. The great Martin Luther was but a poor boy, so poor that in his school-boy days he begged his bread from door to door. When he began his labors he was but a poor monk. But he went to work, speaking powerfully against the abuses of priests and cardinals. He kept to work till the world was stirred. Other men had better opportunities, and knew as much as he of the wrongs existing. Erasmus had influence, and could have spoken more eloquently or learnedly; others also might, but would not. John Bunyan was a poor man, with very few opportunities in his youth for mental improvement; and these he did not use to any good purpose, but was noted as a hardened sinner. When converted, he labored ardently for others, till at last he was cast into prison, where he remained twelve years, in all. Here he could easily have excused himself from labor, but this was not his desire. He studied his Bible all the more earnestly, and labored faithfully for all who visited him. And so deep was his experience in spiritual things that he wrote that wonderful work, the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which has done a vast amount of good; so that his imprisonment was, in the hands of God, of greater benefit to the cause of truth than his freedom would have been.
I will mention one other instance, William Carvosso, an orphan boy, trained up in ignorance and vice, apprenticed to a farmer, able to spell out but a few words on the printed page. When he married, he became a fisherman on the coast of England, in an obscure village. Certainly, his opportunities were not great. But the love of God was in his heart; and he labored for his fellow-men until the obscure village was transformed. Chapels were built and hundreds were converted to God, under his efforts, while laboring as a fisherman and a farmer. Seven hundred in one place were brought out under his labors, as he went from house to house. He could not write till sixty-five years of age; but after that he mastered the art, and his autobiography and letters written after this have been the means of converting many more.
The history of God’s people presents many such instances of men small in themselves, their surroundings not encouraging, but who have done great good in the Master’s vineyard. God can do great things through and by us if we have the love of labor in us. This is the great thing. It is not because there are not opportunities around us to do good, that we accomplish no more, but we lack the zeal. We love self too much. We talk of everything but religion. Gossip, idle talk, and variety, are the themes of thousands of professed Christians. Should religion be introduced into many a visiting circle of professors, a silence, deep and profound, would be its only welcome. Work! Why, there is a vast amount of it awaiting us at every turn, if we had the heart to take hold of it. Mothers, in their families, almost anywhere, can find a plenty of it that is sadly neglected. How few mothers there are in this age who carefully instruct their children in the great truths of God’s word, and train them faithfully to live out its principles! And yet one of its plainest commands requires parents to do so.
One ardent, humble sister in a church or neighborhood can cast a mighty influence for good. Lay brethren can be strong in faith and good works. There is no reason why they should not love the cause of God as much as the minister. They can labor to sacrifice for it, if their hearts are in it, instead of the world. They can lay up treasure in Heaven in this way, if they will. They can encourage the hearts of others, by their words of good cheer, of faith, and hope. They can have a living experience themselves, and it will manifest itself if it is there. They can scatter tracts and papers, books and pamphlets, which will open blind eyes. They can live in their neighborhoods above all suspicion of selfishness. Instead of sticking for the last cent in trade, they can be liberal and generous, and many times a few cents thrown off in this way, will go farther toward winning a soul, than to give a tract or talk a week.
But many who have ability to labor in word and doctrine, were they consecrated to God, are holding back. They say they believe the Lord is coming to cut off all the wicked of the earth. How much concern do they feel for their souls? Not so much as they do for temporary ease and comfort. Others, who already have occupied positions of responsibility, go back to their business, their worldly concerns, at the slightest obstacles. We need more of the spirit of labor in our hearts, ministers especially. How much there is to be done, and how little we are doing! For one, I feel that we ought to have more of the fire of zeal in our hearts; we must be terribly in earnest. This is the only consistent position we can take, if our work is genuine. The Lord is coming, we believe. No people ought to compare with us in zeal. We should feel as if we could not hold our peace, instead of its being necessary that we be urged at every step. Let us look around us and take up our burdens. We shall grow strong in bearing them.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, July 2, 1873.
Signs of Apostasy.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
HERE is a short paragraph from the Christian Union, showing that American Protestants are treading hard on the heels of the Europeans in going back to the world:—
“Another writes that he remembers the time when, to wear ordinary attire, or a beard, or to read a novel, or to go to a concert or ball or to a public dinner, or to play in a charade or at chess or billiards, was denounced as sinful. Now he experiences a change that suits him. He plays at billiards and charades with ministers’ families in ministers’ houses, and finds that beards, concerts, private plays, etc., are quite the fashion in religious circles as means of recreation and amusement.”
And here is still another, from Mr. Beecher, to the same effect:—
“On the corners of the streets in New York, in banks, and in business houses, I have been told, and have been afflicted by being told, in several instances by good men, men who were not scornful, who were not open-mouthed revilers, but who were religiously disposed, ‘Mr. Beecher, in business we do not think as well of a man who is a church member as we do of one who is not. We have learned by experience that men are more likely to be untruthful, and to deceive us, where they are in churches, than where they are out of churches.’ It has several times been said to me, that professors of religion were less to be depended upon under such and such temptations, than non-professors. I hope it was exaggerated. It has been accounted for on the ground that men have been so preached to about Heaven and immortality, and about what they owe to God and to Christ, that at last they have come to suppose that if they are Christians, and have spirituality, it is not so much matter about ethics or morality. It is said that church-people have taken the higher forms of life to be a substitute for the lower forms. . . .
“Consider how the whole course of business is tending toward this vast voluminous temptation to deceive—to deviate from the truth. It is one of the grand fundamental tendencies of our times to sacrifice truth in business; and I am one of those who believe that when this comes to pass the sill is rotten, and will not hold the superstructure. A nation of liars never could govern themselves nor achieve any eminence in patriotic virtue.”