We have had many fears that students who attend Battle Creek College will fail to receive all the benefit they might, in the way of religious culture, from the families that furnish them rooms. Some families do not enjoy the sweet influences of the religion of Christ, although they are professed Christians. The influence which this class of persons exert over the students is more objectionable than that of those who make no pretensions to godliness. These irreligious, irresponsible formalists may stand forth before the world in pretentious leaves, while, like the barren fig-tree, they are wholly destitute of that which alone our Saviour values,—fruit to his glory. The work wrought on the heart by the grace of God, they know nothing about. These persons exert an influence which is detrimental to all with whom they associate. There should be committees, to see that the homes provided for the students are not with mere formalists, who have no burden for the souls of the dear youth.
Very much may be done for those who are deprived of the softening, subduing influences of the home circle. The spirit manifested by many shows that the language of the heart is, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” I have no burden or responsibility aside from my own family. I have no special burden or interest for the students who occupy rooms in my house. I would ask these persons if they have burdens and feel responsibilities for their own children. I am sorry to see so little anxiety on the part of some parents that all the influences surrounding their children should be favorable to the formation of Christian character; but those who do have soul-burdens for their own loved ones should not selfishly confine their interest to their own family. Jesus is our example in all things; but he has given us no example of such selfishness as we see manifested by many who profess to be his followers. If we abide in Christ, and his love abides in us, we shall love those for whom Christ died; for he has commanded his followers to love one another as he has loved them. Do we who profess his name obey this injunction? If we fail in this point we shall in others also. Had Christ studied his own profit, convenience, and pleasure, the world would have been left to perish in its sin and corruption.
A strange indifference in reference to the salvation of souls seems to have taken possession of many professed Christians. Sinners may be perishing all around them, and they have no particular burden in the matter. Will Christ say to these indifferent ones, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”? The joy of Christ consists in seeing souls redeemed through the sacrifice he has made for them.
Young men and women who are not under home influences need some one to look after them, and to manifest some interest for them; and those who do this are supplying a great lack, and are as verily doing a work for God and the salvation of souls as the minister in the pulpit. This work of disinterested benevolence in laboring for the good of the youth is no more than God requires of every one of us. How earnestly should the experienced Christian work to prevent the formation of those habits that indelibly mar the character. Let the followers of Christ make the word of God attractive to the youth. Let your own characters, softened and subdued by the beauties of holiness, be a daily, hourly sermon to the youth. Manifest no spirit of grumbling; but win them to holiness of life and obedience to God. Some professors, by their sourness, repel the young. The hearts of youth are now like impressible wax, and you may lead them to admire the Christian character; but in a few years the wax may become granite.
I call upon the professed Christians of Battle Creek as a church and as individuals, take up your God-given responsibilities. Walk with God yourselves; and exert an influence over the young which shall preserve them from falling under the manifold temptations made attractive to seduce the young of this generation. Satan is getting the start of God’s professed people. They seem to be asleep to the dangers of the young, and the ruin that threatens them. Satan exultingly displays his victories gained over the youth; and those who profess to be soldiers of the cross allow him to take his victims from under the very roof-tree, and appear wonderfully reconciled.
The cases of many are looked upon as hopeless by those who did not reach out a helping hand to save them. Some of these might have been saved; and even now, if proper interest was manifested in them, they could be reached. What have any of us that we did not receive? We are debtors to Christ for every ability, every grace, every good thought, and every proper action. Of ourselves we have nothing of which to boast. In lowliness and humility, let us bow at the foot of the cross; and let all our words and acts be such as shall win others to Christ, and not drive them farther from him.
I address you who reside at the great center of the work. You cannot be careless, irreverent formalists all to yourselves. Many witnesses are looking upon you, and many pattern after your course. An irreligious life not only seals your own condemnation, but ruins others also. You who live where such weighty interests are to be maintained, should be minute men, faithful sentinels, never off guard. One incautious moment spent in selfish ease or in self-gratification may give the enemy an advantage which years of hard labor may not recover. Those who choose Battle Creek for their home should be men and women of faith and prayer, true to the interests of those around them. There is no safety only as they walk with God.
There will be diversity of character among the youth who attend the College at Battle Creek. They have been differently educated and trained. Many have been left to follow the bent of their own inexperienced minds. The parents have thought they loved their children, but have proved themselves their worst enemies. They have let evil go unrestrained. They have allowed their children to cherish sin, which is like cherishing and petting a viper, that will not only sting the victim who cherishes it, but all with whom he is connected.
Some of these petted children are among the students who attend our College. Teachers, and all who are interested in the students and would help them, have an unenviable task in seeking to benefit this class of untamed youth. They have not been in subjection to their parents at home, and have no idea of having a head at school or in the homes where they board. What faith, and patience, and grace, and wisdom are required to deal with these neglected, much-to-be-pitied youth. The deceived parents may even take sides with the children against school and home discipline. They would restrain others from doing the duty God requires of them, and which they have grossly neglected. What wisdom from God is needed to deal justly and love mercy under these trying circumstances. How difficult to balance in the right direction minds that have been warped by this mismanagement. While some have been unrestrained, others have been governed too much; and when away from the vigilant hands that held the reins of control harshly, leaving love and mercy out of the question, they have felt that they would not be dictated to by any one. They despise the very thought of restraint.
Should not those who have the difficult task of educating these young people and molding their characters have the faithful prayers of the children of God? Care, burdens, and weighty responsibilities must fall to the lot of the conscientious, God-fearing teacher, as well as that of the burden-bearing fathers and mothers in Israel who reside in Battle Creek. All sincere Christians, who value souls for whom Christ died, will make earnest efforts to do all in their power to correct even the wrongs and neglects of the natural parents. The teachers will feel that they have a duty devolving upon them to present their pupils before the world and before God with symmetrical characters and well-balanced minds. But the teachers cannot bear all this burden, and should not be expected to be alone responsible for the good manners and elevated morals of their pupils. Every family that provides rooms for them should have rules to which they must conform. It will not be doing them or their parents a kindness to allow them to form lawless habits and break or deface furniture. If they have exuberant spirits and pent-up energy, let them do vigorous manual labor, until weariness prepares them to appreciate rest in their rooms.
The rooms of some of the students last year bore an unfavorable record of the roomers. If students are coarse and rude, their rooms frequently make this fact apparent. Reckless sport, boisterous laughter, and late hours should not be tolerated by those who rent rooms. If they allow this conduct in the students, they do them a serious wrong, and make themselves, in a great degree, responsible for the misconduct. The rooms of students should be frequently visited, to see if they are favorable to health and comfort, and to ascertain if all are living in accordance with the rules of the school. Any remissness should be pointed out, and the students should be faithfully labored with. If they are insubordinate and will not be controlled, they are better off at home, and the school is better off without them. Our College should not become depraved for the sake of a few lawless students. The colleges in our land are many of them places where the youth are in danger of becoming immoral and depraved through these evil associations.
The associations of our students is an important matter, and should not be neglected. Many who come to our College are professed Christians. Especial interest should be manifested in these, and they should be encouraged in their endeavors to live a Christian life. They should be guarded, as far as possible, from the temptations that meet the youth whichever way they may turn. To those who have had years of experience, the temptations which overcome these young people may seem so light and trivial that they will withdraw their sympathies from the tempted and tried ones. This is wrong. Their own life and early experience may have been even more varying than those of the youth they would censure for their weakness.
Many who profess to be followers of Christ are weak in moral power. They have never been heroes of the cross, and are easily attracted from their allegiance to God by selfish pleasures or amusements. These persons should be helped. They should not be left to chance in choosing their companions and room-mates. Those who love and fear God should bear the burden of these cases upon their souls, and should move discreetly in changing unfavorable associations. Christian youth who are inclined to be influenced by irreligious associates should have for companions those who will strengthen good resolutions and religious inclinations. A well-disposed, religiously-inclined youth, and even a professor of religion, may lose his religious impressions by association with one who speaks lightly of sacred and religious things, and perhaps ridicules them, and who lacks reverence and conscientiousness. A little leaven may leaven the lump. Some are weak in the faith; but if placed with proper room-mates, whose influence is strong for the right, they may be balanced in the right direction, obtain a valuable religious experience, and be successful in the formation of Christian character.
I would that our brethren and sisters would watch for souls as they that must give an account. My mind has been deeply exercised upon this subject. I would urge upon those who profess Christ the necessity of putting on the whole armor; then work for our youth who attend Battle Creek College. They may not need sermons and long censorious lectures as much as they need genuine interest. Let them know by your works that you love them, and have a care for their souls. If you would manifest for the tender youth now coming to Battle Creek, who are thrown into the very arms of the church, one-half the care you have for your temporal interests, you might bind them to you by the strongest bonds of sympathy; and your influence over them would be a power for good.
E. G. White.
THE MINIMUM CHRISTIAN.
THE minimum Christian! And who is he? The Christian who is going to be saved at the cheapest rate possible; the Christian who intends to get all the world he can, and not meet the worldling’s doom; the Christian who aims to have as little religion as he may, without lacking it altogether.
The minimum Christian goes to church in the morning, and in the afternoon also, unless it rains, or is too warm, or too cold, or he is too sleepy, or has a headache from eating too much dinner. He listens most respectfully to the preacher, and joins in the prayer and praise. He applies the truth very judiciously,—sometimes to himself, often to his neighbors.
The minimum Christian is very friendly to all good works. He wishes them well, but it is not in his power to do much for them. The Sabbath-school he looks upon as an admirable institution, especially for the neglected and the ignorant. It is not convenient, however, for him to take a class. His business engagements are so pressing during the week that he needs the Sabbath as a day of rest; nor does he think himself qualified to act as a teacher. There are so many persons better prepared for this important duty that he must beg to be excused. He is very friendly to home and foreign missions and colportage, and gives his mite. He thinks there are too many appeals, but he gives, if not enough to save his reputation, pretty near it; at all events he aims to.
The minimum Christian is not clear on a number of points. The opera and dancing, the theater and card-playing, and large, fashionable parties, give him much trouble. He cannot see the harm in this or that or the other popular amusement. There is nothing in the Bible against it. He does not see but that a man may be a Christian and dance, or go to the opera. He knows several excellent persons who do so. Why should not he? He stands so close to the dividing line between the people of God and the world that it is hard to say on which side of it he is actually to be found.
Ah, my brother, are you making this attempt? Beware, lest you find at last that, in trying to get into Heaven with a little religion, you miss it altogether: lest, without gaining the whole world, you lose your own soul!—Presbyterian at Work.
Baltimore Convention Addresses the Tramp Nuisance
The tramp nuisance in the United States has assumed immense proportions, and the people, led by the most prominent citizens, are trying to devise means to check it. An exchange tells of a State convention held recently in Baltimore, to consider the tramp nuisance: “Hon. Montgomery Blair presided and made a brief address. He estimated the number of tramps in the country at 1,200,000. As a remedy, he said, we must have the co-operation of the churches, and the aid of business men with their millions of capital and acres of idle land. He recommended the organization of colonies and the establishment of manufactories to give them employment. Other speakers advocated a law compelling tramps to either work or leave the State.”
Church Fair Stages Mock Slave Auction at Pittsburgh
Another attraction has been devised by the fertile managers of a church fair at Pittsburgh. In addition to the usual catch-penny allurements, they reared the slave-block, and thereon sacrificed a dozen of the prettiest girls of the congregation, selling them off one by one. The highest price brought was $4.75, which was a goodly sum, taking into consideration the fact that no bill of sale or guarantee of any kind was given with the girls, who were at liberty to repudiate the entire transaction. Anything to make money is the only thought now-a-days.
Bible Biographies as God's Best Teaching Method
THERE is no treatise on faith like the simple story of Abraham’s life; none upon patience like the story of Job; none upon courage like the story of Daniel; none upon meekness like the life of Moses; none upon zeal like the life of Paul; none upon love like the story of Jesus. This is God’s method, and the best.
THE SABBATH OF THE LORD.
By Marion Bernstein
Our God a holy name hath given
To but one day of all the seven—
The Sabbath of the Lord.
Then why despise the seventh day?
Why take its sacred name away?
And why that name accord
Unto a day God hath not blessed,
A day on which he did not rest?
If children of the Lord,
Why think you his commandment strange?
Why strive his ordinance to change,
And trample on his word?
—Marion Bernstein.
Jump In and Scramble Through
The fact is, that in doing anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.— Sydney Smith.
Silence as the Response to Contradiction
SILENCE is the softest response for all the contradictions that arise from impertinence, vulgarity, and envy.
SUGGESTIONS ABOUT CONDUCTING A COURSE OF LECTURES.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
Having devoted a good share of my time for thirteen years to lecturing in new fields, and having observed a great many others who are doing the same thing, perhaps I may make some profitable suggestions to our younger brethren who are just beginning in the same work. Frequently I have been much pained to see the lack of judgment manifested by some in conducting a course of lectures. Sometimes the success of a meeting turns upon a very small thing. A little blunder, a lack of energy, an improper connection of subjects, or something like that, may result in losing what might have been a grand success. Certainly, so far as the Lord is concerned, he is as willing to bless the labors of one man as another, if he is a good man.
How is it, then, that some of our brethren of considerable ability seldom have much success? They will go from one field to another, trying here and there, but their reports generally end about the same. Three or four or a half dozen have embraced the truth where there was a good interest, and that is all. They finally conclude that their Conference is a very hard field in which to labor. But other laborers go into these same fields, and have the best of success. There must be some reason for this. I am more and more satisfied that it is in the laborers themselves, and not half so much in the field. Of course every man has not the same calling, and some could not accomplish as much as others anywhere; yet all can improve, if they make a proper effort.
SELECTING A FIELD.
I have observed that with us all it is generally a matter of great solicitude to select the best field for labor. When one of our ministers thinks of going out, how anxious he is! How long he will discuss the probabilities of this, that, or the other field! As for myself, I have worried over this much more in the past than I ever shall in the future. The more I observe, the more I am satisfied that you can tell little or nothing about it. Some general principles may hold good; but even these will fail you in the majority of cases. Where you would least expect good results, you often have the greatest success; and where you think you have a flattering opening, in the majority of cases it is a failure. My advice is to begin at the first place you can put your hook in. Don't spend much time or money in running hither, and yon to61find a field. Stop at the first four corners or little village, and go to work.
MAKE YOUR PLACE OF LECTURES ATTRACTIVE.
Whatever place you have in which to lecture, whether tent, hall, or house, do all in your power, that is reasonable, to make it pleasant, cheerful, and so attractive. We should learn from the children of this world about these things. Observe the successful merchant, grocer, hotel-keeper, or liquor-dealer. See how neat, clean, and attractive he makes his place of business. His success depends largely upon this. Why should not we have as good sense as they? But, I am sorry to say, I have frequently seen our brethren unaccountably stupid in these things. If they are in a hall or school-house, they will allow the floor to become as dirty and black as a barn floor. The windows you will see covered with dust and cobwebs. The seats are left to shift for themselves. Perhaps the room is not half lighted; there is one lamp where there ought to be three, and these smoked up and half trimmed. People of good taste will not come many times to such a place, whatever the speaker may say. They receive the impression right off that he and the people he represents are an ignorant, low class of people.
Our truth and our people are necessarily unpopular anyway; we always meet much prejudice in entering a new field. Hence every possible effort should be put forth to make a favorable impression the first time. The appearance of our meeting-house is the first thing at which people will look. Look out well for that. But some preachers with whom I am acquainted don't seem to have the least idea of what a clean lamp and a well-lighted house mean. After talking with them personally about it, I have found them lecturing, with a house so dimly lighted that only a few nearest the lamps could see to read a hymn. Oil is cheap. Last summer we burned fourteen large lamps in our sixty-foot tent; and the whole cost was only sixty cents a week. I have seen brethren running a tent with only four lamps. Then there is everything in cleaning a lamp. Every evening it should be as bright as a new silver dollar, from top to bottom, and full of oil.
If a tent is used, more care still is required. If the tent is not pitched right, it will look more like a scare-crow than a meeting-house. It should sit as tight and trim as a new silk hat. Then the seats should all be of the same length to an inch, and they should all have backs to them, and be kept arranged in exact order. Generally seats in tents are not high enough. They should be as high as chairs,—sixteen inches.
ADVERTISING.
After all that has been said by our people about advertising thoroughly, it should not be necessary to say any more. Very much depends at first on advertising. Every person within several miles of the place should be informed of the meeting. Don't put up a few bills in the most prominent places, and then imagine that everybody knows everything about your meeting. Send a bill to every house, and then post them thickly all over town. Take advantage of every daily and weekly paper. Get something into them. If papers have spoken favorably of your labors elsewhere, make short extracts from them, and put on the backs of your bills. It will help you wonderfully.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
THEOLOGICAL CONVULSIONS.
By Editor
The earthquake which has been agitating the whole country for some weeks past in reference to the question of eternal misery, has not yet subsided. The old castle of eternal torment, which has proved in so many cases to be the residence of old Giant Despair, and in so many others, the grand recruiting station of skepticism and infidelity, is rudely shaken, and begins to show some alarming fissures, indicating the possibility of its soon tumbling into ruins.
If the doctrine of endless misery was founded on the plain declarations of the Scriptures, its friends need have no fears for it. But, as it has been in the past, so it is now, what men cannot defend by the Bible, they endeavor to defend by the anathemas of the church. This is the way they are dealing with the question in Brooklyn, N. Y., according to the following paragraph:—
“The Second Baptist Church, Brooklyn, has taken decided action on the future-punishment question. Deacon James R. Gibson dissented from the views of the pastor, who believes in a material hell, and expressed the opinion that the Bible did not prove the inherent immortality of the soul. The deacon was asked to retract or be expelled from the church. He declined to retract, and, without hearing his defense, the church adopted, almost unanimously, a resolution of expulsion. W. H. Gomes and L. B. Giles thereupon expressed their concurrence in Gibson’s views, and, on the next Friday evening, they were expelled. The action of the church has caused, it is reported, great excitement among the Baptists of Brooklyn, the majority approving.”
The agitation of this question will result in good. While many, with partisan feelings, will blindly rivet upon themselves more firmly than ever the shackles of bigotry and superstition, many will find themselves liberated from their former theological thralldom, rejoicing in the better views of God and his Son, which they are able to maintain in the light of the true teaching of his word in reference to the final disposition of the incorrigibly wicked. It will prepare the way for the investigation and readjustment of views upon other great Bible doctrines, over which, throughout almost all Christendom, the fog of the Dark Ages still hangs, dense and heavy.
If we rightly apprehend the situation, the Sabbath question is to cause the next great upheaval in the theological world. The doctrine that the seventh day is the Sabbath, than which there is no doctrine more clear and beautifully simple in all the Bible, is destined to agitate this country to as great an extent as any other question within the past century. We hail the approach of the hour when it shall assert its claims with power, and the world shall learn that if they defend the wrong at all, it must be with other weapons than are found in the word of God.
IS SPIRITUALISM DECLINING?
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
So some people believe. They say, “We do not hear much more about spiritualism.” The novelty is worn off, and people pay little attention to what is said; and other matters of absorbing interest attract the attention just now. But it is true that spiritualism is making giant strides toward a popular position in the public mind. A Georgetown, Mass., correspondent of the Newburyport Herald says:—
“Liberality in religious matters is becoming a marked characteristic of this town. Rev. Charles Beecher, following the lead of his brother Henry Ward, has gone back on hell, and is now preaching a course of what are denominated Universalist sermons. Spiritualism is rapidly gaining ground, and lectures and ‘seances’ are in order every week, at which clergymen and ‘pillars in the churches’ are interested attendants. One minister declares that he is certain he talked with the spirit of his daughter, and another is sure that his seeing over twenty ‘materialized forms’ at a recent sitting was not an illusion of the senses or a freak of the imagination.”
The following I clip from a Jackson, Mich., paper of Feb. 6, 1878:—
“SPIRITS, OR WHAT IS IT?”
“An Hour with C. E. Watkins, the Independent Slate Writer:
“I went to Paris and Duffins, and bought two small slates of the same size; after washing them I placed a small piece of slate pencil the size of a small kernel of wheat on one slate and then laid the other slate on the top and screwed them together with four screws, one screw in each side and one in each end. I then went with my slate to C. E. Watkins’ room. I said to Mr. Watkins that I would like to have him make the little piece of slate pencil write me a message without his taking the slate out of my hands. He (Watkins) said that that was a ten-dollar test, at the same time he placed himself at the table, requesting me to sit opposite, which I did, all the time holding my screwed slates in my hands. In a very few minutes I could hear within the slates the writing and then three taps, when Mr. Watkins said I could unscrew the slates, which I did and found a message of ten words. All this in the daylight and inside the slates screwed together.
“Dr. Wm. E. Choate.”
I was informed in Jackson that Dr. Choate is a practicing physician in that city. This “test” was certainly a very decisive one, and not easily explained except on the theory of the interposition of spirits.
Among the clergy, and the “pillars in the churches,” it is now making its conquests. This is a sure way to secure popularity. It will make its power felt in due time.
Years ago, in a work published by Mrs. E. G. White, it was stated that the time would come when it would be considered blasphemy to speak against spiritualism. To the world that did not then seem probable; but it is already a fact. Church members raise their hands in pious horror when we say that spiritualism is of the devil. They are ignorant of what “the law and the testimony” say (Isa. 8:19, 20), and forsake the word of God to inquire of familiar spirits.
J. H. Waggoner.
WESTERN TOUR.
By S. N. Haskell
THURSDAY, Feb. 7, we reached Loyal, Wis., and found the brethren gathered from all parts of the district. Our first meeting was held Friday at ten A. M. To give particulars would simply be to say that God was with us from the commencement to the close. Each church in the district was fully represented, every member but one, who was sick, being present. I never have met a company of brethren and sisters among whom there was more of a universal desire to learn how to serve God better, and to give their hearts unreservedly to him, than at this place.
On Sabbath afternoon, four took their stand to keep the commandments of God, and leave the service of Satan. Backsliders were reclaimed, and a general move was made by those present to give themselves anew to God. A heavenly atmosphere pervaded the whole meeting.
Our business meeting on first-day was a success. The brethren were in embarrassing circumstances, owing to the fact that for want of snow nothing is being done here this winter at lumbering, which is the business of the people in this section. Notwithstanding this, our business meeting on Sunday was characterized with a practical interest in the missionary work. Over one hundred copies of the SIGNS were taken by those present, to be used in securing interested readers. These, sent out weekly during the year, will reach as many as five thousand families, allowing for the missionary labor that will be performed by those who become interested.
The plan of obtaining subscribers for the REFORMER with the Household Manual opened a way for them to pay their monthly installments, of which they took advantage. According to the present arrangement, if fifty brethren and sisters each obtain one subscriber per month during the year, for the REFORMER, with the Household Manual as a premium, they will thus pay for one hundred copies of the SIGNS; and many can do much more than this.
These brethren were principally the fruit of Eld. Decker’s first year’s labor as a licentiate.
S. N. HASKELL.
DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?
When God reveals his truth to the world, does it make any difference with them whether they believe it and receive it or not? When the Bible points out any great system of iniquity, describes it as a blasphemous, Heaven-daring organization, and warns God's people against it, does it make any difference whether we regard it in this light, or whether we fraternize with it, excuse its offenses against High Heaven, and canonize its apostles?
This query is suggested by the deification now accorded to the late pope, Pius IX, by some Protestant divines. For instance, H. W. Beecher, in Brooklyn, Feb. 11, spoke of him as follows:—
“With all the complications of instructions, and doctrines, and usages, one would think, standing as we do in the simplicity of Protestant faith, these would have smothered his best nature and turned him out to be merely a hierarch. But his sweetness, simplicity, love, unaffected piety, very generous personal wishes toward all, showed that, notwithstanding all the surrounding influences and circumstances, his love of God and man was so strong in him as to overpower them all, and when he died, in an instant God's angels bore him gently, as if a little child carried on its mother's breast, into the presence of the Saviour, and then a crown was put upon his head; not because he was a pope, but because a new heart had been given him just for so loving. True religion means the fellowship of pure-hearted men one with another. If any religion doesn't bring you up to that it is false, because the heart of religion is left out of it.”
If to have true religion we must fellowship the head of such a system as the papacy, what difference does it make what the Bible says about these things? However many good traits Pius may have had about him, as an individual, he was the visible head of that great apostasy and system of evil, which the Bible, if we can understand it at all, so plainly points out, and so unsparingly denounces. And when that iniquitous organization shall go alive into the lake of fire, Rev. 19:20, when it shall be consumed by the spirit of Christ's mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming, 2 Thess. 2:8, when it shall meet such an overthrow as is fitly illustrated by the act of the “mighty angel” when he “took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all,” Rev. 18:21, we cannot believe that any pope of this age or any other, any “man of sin,” or “son of perdition,” as Paul calls the head of that system, 2 Thess. 2:3, will sit enthroned and crowned by the side of Christ, and unite his voice with the voices of his martyr victims, and the holy apostles and prophets, when they obey the divine command, “Rejoice over her; . . . for God hath avenged you on her.” Rev. 18:20.
It is just such utterances as these from such popular men as Mr. Beecher, and such wholesale ignoring of all distinctions, which the Bible so clearly defines, that are paralyzing the influence of that book upon the minds of the people. They conclude at once that what it says amounts to nothing, and they are only too willing to throw it aside accordingly. The consciences of men are lulled to sleep, and thus they are being prepared to be taken by the day of the Lord as a bird in the snare of the fowler.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
L. M. Winne: We should do all that we can to favor and aid the cause of temperance. If the red ribbon movement is properly conducted, kept free from side issues, and from unworthy exercises and accompaniments, support it.
ANS. It appears that God had commanded Moses to circumcise his son, which he had neglected to do. On this account, as every one not circumcised was to be cut off from his people, the Lord sought (or threatened, as the word means) to cut off or slay this son. Zipporah therefore herself performed the duty, and then claimed herself to have entered into covenant relation with God as fully as the one upon whom the rite had been performed, in these words, “A bloody husband thou art to me,” or a husband by blood, by means of this circumcision. See Dr. Clarke’s note on the passage.
J. H. C.: We cannot answer for the explanation which would be given of Mark 15:42, by those who place the crucifixion on Thursday. Probably they would say that the preparation day was the one introduced by the “even” of that verse. It would then be the day following the crucifixion, and the day before the Sabbath.
ANS. The verb rendered “hear” in these passages, means not only to distinguish sounds by the ear, but also to understand. We give it the first sense in Acts 9:7, and the last in Acts 22:9. They heard the voice, the sound, but did not understand the words spoken. See Bloomfield and Dean Alford, on these passages.
ANSWERED BY LETTER: Dr. La Due, S. H. Lane, G. S. Honeywell, Mrs. L. Canright, E. P. Daniels, W. H. Kynett, J. M. Minier, R. F. Cottrell, J. A. Burdoin, E. A. Dean.
GOD'S PECULIAR PEOPLE.
By Roswell Fenner Cottrell
God has a peculiar people, and a specific work to which he has called them. This has been the case in past ages of the world, and it will be to the end. In the development of the great plan of redemption and salvation, the people of God have been called to maintain their peculiarity; and their worst enemies, those from whom have arisen their greatest danger, have been false religionists, who have ever sought to lure them from their high calling, as witnesses for the truth, and bring them down to a level with themselves.
In ancient times the worshipers of the true God were beset around with idolaters. These professed religion, as well as themselves. All they asked was charity. Men might worship Jehovah, if they would not be exclusive, but would put him on a level with their gods. They would invite them to the sacrifices which they offered to their gods, and if they would consent to be present, they would soon see that “other folks had religion as well as themselves;” the object of false religion was gained, the truth was degraded, for its professors no longer maintained their peculiarity as witnesses for the truth.
Similar dangers beset us in these last days. God has given his people a testimony to bear and a work to do. Their only safety is in attending to the work that is given them to do,—proclaiming the last message of the gospel to mankind. The worst enemy of God and men is a corrupt church, which with high professions of charity is ready to seduce the unwary from their peculiar character and work. They have religion; but if it will not bear the test of the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” it is not of the right kind; and weak souls in their association with them are sure to be the losers through their influence.
R. F. COTTRELL.
MEETINGS IN VERMONT.
By A. S. Hutchins
I can say respecting the meetings which I have held the past two months, they have been very good generally, both those held with the churches, and those more especially for the benefit of such as have not practically embraced the truths we publish. It is, however, proper to say that such has been the traveling most of the time, that it has been very difficult to get together for general meetings, had nothing else stood in the way.
We regret that so far as being able to transact tract and missionary business in the general tract meeting at Bordoville, the first of the present month, the meeting proved a failure, for want of the presence of the officers of the society. So we were unable to act on important matters; yet the meeting in some respects was crowned with success.
Bro. L. Bean, vice-president of the T. and M. Society, resides here. He was able to be in the meeting but a few minutes. In addition to a protracted and heavy affliction which has visited his companion, he has been sick for two months, in which time his sufferings have been great, and he has narrowly escaped death. Last week he was able to leave home for the Sanitarium at Battle Creek. We trust our brethren and sisters will remember Bro. and sister Bean in their prayers.
We earnestly desire that fervent prayer may be offered to God for the prosperity of the work of present truth in our State. We need to awake to the importance of the fast-flying moments. The Master is coming soon, coming quickly, and who, oh! who of us will be ready for that event? We are now made to hope that an experienced laborer will soon be in our State to labor a year or more. Are we prepared to stand by such an one and follow him everywhere by our prayers as he may go out to gather precious souls?
The angels are watching the development of character and a daily record is being made of our lives. What will that record be when we meet it? May it be, “Well done.”