Earlier text: Arrangements for the CentennialLack of Knowledge.
By J. O. CORLISS
SAYS the prophet, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4: 6. There never was a time when the above specifications were more fully met in the condition of the religious world than at the present time, though there was never a time in the history of the church when prosperity, as indicated by numbers, wealth, and popularity, seemed to attend it as at present. There never was a time when there was such a surplus of religious teachers as to-day; never a time when greater facilities were afforded for an education than now; and never a time when more talent and education were displayed in the pulpit than at the present day. Yet, notwithstanding this, God says his people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The deficiency spoken of by the prophet cannot be a lack of knowledge of the arts and sciences; for surely the world is steadily gaining information in that direction; but of the will of God—a knowledge which can only be gained through the study of his word. We would not ignore education, neither would we trust wholly to it in teaching the word of truth; for a liberal education, well seasoned with common sense and sanctified by the Spirit of God, we believe to be a great help in the propagation of the gospel. The tendency of the human mind has ever been toward extremes, especially in teaching the way of life and salvation; for while one class of teachers discard the work of the Spirit in conversion and cling entirely to the word, another class reject the word and hold up the “blessed Spirit” as a sufficient guide. By thus separating the word and the Spirit, which are mutually indispensable as a pilot to man, they are left to pursue a course of their own, which generally leads to discord and every kind of fanaticism. A few days ago it was our lot to attend a quarterly meeting of a sect holding the latter view. And as we had been holding meetings in the neighborhood, their discourses and many of their exhortations, were but a series of warnings against false teachers who were able to turn from Genesis to Revelation and produce a plausible argument from the Bible. Reason: A knowledge of the Bible is not necessary to the life of a Christian. In proof of this position, Phil. 3: 16 was made to testify as follows: “Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” The rule and thing were explained to be the Spirit, without reference to the context. To strengthen this position, Col. 2: 6 was quoted: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” But according to the explanation of the text, we were not to walk at all, but stand still just where we received the Lord, and we were not to try to understand his word, as that would lead to infidelity. It was enough to have the blessed Spirit in the heart. The same minister, on being asked where the dream of the metallic image was recorded, said he thought it was in Jeremiah or Daniel, but he was not certain which. We have no faith whatever in a Spirit that keeps one in such profound ignorance. “Search the Scriptures” is a plain command of our blessed Saviour, and if we heed this requirement, sincerely desiring to know the truth, the Spirit of God will accompany the word, and our hearts will be impressed with a sense of our obligation to obey its written precepts. This is in harmony with Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians (chap. 2: 13), in which he says that God has chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Peter says we become the elect through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience. The word is the sword, which, being wielded by the Spirit of God, is quick and powerful to show us our sins, and teach us the ways of righteousness. The apostle, exhorting the Ephesians to faithfulness, said, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God.” The pieces which compose this armor, enumerated in their order, are, the girdle of truth (the law of God. See Ps. 119: 142, 151), the breastplate of righteousness (right doing), shoes the preparation of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Add to these a life of prayer and watchfulness, and we shall be able to conquer the adversary of our souls, and receive at last a welcome at the gates of the city of God. Resolutions: Keeping Promises Made at Conference Meetings
By H. A. St.John
So far as the accomplishment of good is concerned, with most of us, life is largely made up of resolutions made and resolutions broken. Certainly it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Perhaps all organized bodies at regular meetings pass resolutions, and not unfrequently these resolutions involve future action. Wants and failures are discovered, and resolutions are made to meet them. These resolutions are not thought of again, perhaps, until the secretary reads the minutes at the next regular meeting; then failures are discovered and resolutions made, to fail again. I have no thought that S. D. Adventists are free from this reprehensible custom. Reader, have you voted for resolutions not yet redeemed? If so, do you bear them distinctly in mind? Do you say that the body will carry them out? Ah! here is the deception. You must remember that the body is made up of individuals and individual responsibility must be felt, or the body surely fails. The business of our State Conferences, including resolutions, is published in the REVIEW, and it appears to me that we all should preserve these for frequent reference. How gloriously would the cause of the Lord prosper in almost every Conference, if excellent resolutions, unanimously adopted, were only remembered, and faithfully carried out. Now I propose, brethren, that we do better. Who says, Amen? H. A. St.John. A Sensible Spider.
By J. H. W.
THE subject of the intelligence of the lower animals and of insects has become one of great interest since the assumed evidences of the natural immortality of man have been more closely examined. A few years ago no argument was more ready than this: “Matter cannot think; matter cannot reason. Thought and reason are attributes of spirit, and evidences of immortality.” But as the evidences accumulate that the lower animals, and even insects, do think and reason, this argument loses all its force. One by one the props of superstition give way, and the truth is being acknowledged by thousands that Jesus Christ “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Among the incidents which have been published of late years we have seen none more interesting than the following:— “Some years ago, when living in a lonely way, I took pains to cultivate the acquaintance of a remarkably well-developed spider, who had formed a beautifully symmetrical web in one corner of my room. In order to propitiate his favor, I fed him regularly with such food as I thought adapted to his taste, and after a while he seemed to rely upon me entirely for his supplies, relapsing, as human beings often do under similar circumstances, into a condition of luxurious ease and inactivity. One morning, by way of testing his temper, I threw a small bit of wet tobacco into his web. He, supposing it to be his usual morning fly, rushed toward the tobacco with hungry avidity, and instantly ran away to a remote quarter of his premises with still greater velocity.” “I was aware that the presence of such a nauseous substance as this in his domicile would be very offensive, and I also knew that he would not venture as near to it a second time, as would be necessary in order to remove the article; and my curiosity was excited to see what course he would pursue. After a while he crawled to the upper part of his web and shook it with all his might, but was unsuccessful in dislodging the offending substance. He then returned to his accustomed place in the center of the web, and for a few minutes appeared to be thinking the matter over. At last he stepped out with an air of confidence that satisfied me he had hit upon something, though I was unable to conjecture what it would be. True enough, he had solved the problem, and accordingly he went to work at once to saw away a circle round the tobacco, some two or three inches in diameter, until the whole concern fell out together, after which he repaired the damage and all was right again. I think, however, that from this time my spider-friend never gave me his entire confidence.” We admire, not only the method and calculation displayed, but the good sense to so apply skill as to get rid of such a filthy enemy without coming in direct contact with it. How much wiser than many human beings! How many dwellings there are in the land which ought to be served as the spider served his, broken up to get rid of this abominable nuisance. Until our senses become so blunted and our taste so perverted that we should prefer a scorpion to an egg, or a serpent to a fish, we too would withhold our confidence from him who would try to satisfy our wants with tobacco. We would banish it from our household even if we had to break up a board or remove a beam. Noble spider! how many “half-reasoning” humans might profit by your example.—J. H. W., in SIGNS OF TIMES. Justified by Faith.
By D. A. Robinson
THOSE who deny the perpetuity of the law of God plead that we are “justified by faith.” A no-law Adventist, at the close of a discourse on the Sabbath question, said, “Knowing that a man is justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the deeds of the law; for ‘by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.’” These words were spoken with an air of triumph, as though that settled the question. In reply, a passage from the same apostle was quoted as follows: “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,” Rom. 2: 13, and the friend was requested to harmonize the two passages with his view of the subject. Of course, he could not do this. Justification by faith would never have been needed had man always kept the law of God; but having become involved in sin, or transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), and there being nothing in the law to justify him, he flees to Christ for pardon. His faith takes hold of the great sin offering, who came not to put away the law, but the transgression of it, by the sacrifice of himself. The sinner believes that he is able to save him from his sins, not in them; and that he is “set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.” Having received remission for his past sins, he stands justified by faith. But how shall he retain his justification? By obedience to the law that proved him a sinner, and showed him his need of justification. After declaring that none are justified by the works of the law, Paul adds these forcible words, “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?” Gal. 2: 17. That is, after you have been justified by Christ, if you are then found a sinner, or transgressor of the law, you make Christ the minister of sin, but, says Paul, “God forbid.” Again, men are to be judged by the law. “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” Rom. 2: 12, 16. But we are told that the law here spoken of is Christ’s law, and that the law of ten commandments has been abolished. Let us briefly examine this position. It is admitted by all that it was the ten commandments which proved the Jew a sinner. This fact is too plain to be denied. Now carry it a little further. The Judgment was a future event when Paul wrote: Now, when the case of the Jew who died in his sins comes up in the Judgment, by what law will he be proved worthy of the second death? It cannot be the ten commandment law, the one which proved him a sinner in the former dispensation; for that has been abolished, and so he must be acquitted because the law which showed his guilt has passed away; hence the universal salvation of all who died before the first advent of Christ becomes a fixed fact. These are some of the absurdities that follow the terrible position that the law of God is abolished. May you, dear reader, be found among those of whom it can be said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” and may you, by obedience to the righteous, holy, just, and good law of God, have a right to the tree of life, and an entrance through the gates into the city. Rom. 7: 12; Rev. 22: 14. D. A. ROBINSON. Mattapoisett, Mass., Oct. 23, 1875. ITS RE-APPEARANCE IN THE MARSHY DISTRICTS OF WESTERN ASIA—WILL IT SPREAD?
An old and very unwelcome visitant has made its appearance in the marshy districts between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is the old-fashioned plague, which, under the name of Black Death, destroyed in Europe, between 1348 and 1351, about 25,000,000 of people, Italy losing half of its inhabitants; Germany about 1,240,000 souls, and London alone 100,000 of its residents. In China, 13,000,000, and in the other countries of the east 24,000,000, persons are said to have fallen victims to this epidemic, which seems to have extended to Africa in the south and to Greenland in the north. No such destructive scourge had been known, and, as usual in the Middle Ages, the Jews in Europe were held responsible. It was said that they had poisoned the wells, and at Mayence 12,000 of them were massacred. The plague has since spread into Europe at different periods, but its ravages have been confined to narrower limits. In 1576, Titian died from it at Venice. In 1665, it raged in London, nearly 70,000 having fallen victims to it. In 1720, not far from one-half the people of Marseilles were swept away, and, about 1790, it was very fatal in Russia and Poland. The later visitations of the plague have mainly been confined to the countries lying on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The disease is fatal in the majority of cases, death occurring in less than a week after the first attack. Nowhere have its symptoms been more faithfully and vividly described than in Defoe’s wonderful description of the plague-year in London, which is true to reality, though the basis of the narrative is imaginative. About thirty years have elapsed since the last violent inroad of the plague into Egypt and Asia Minor. Its ravages in the former country are briefly, yet eloquently, portrayed in Kinglake’s Eothen. People were beginning to hope that it had died out, when in 1867 some cases appeared in the low and malarious districts of Mesopotamia. The spread of the disease was quite slow, and it did not attract much notice until the close of 1873. From that time until now cases have multiplied, and the area of infection has been widened. Some localities have suffered frightfully. The future alone can tell whether the malady will be confined to sections to which it appears almost endemic, or whether, as at former periods, it will overleap its limits and advance toward the civilized centers. It may be aided, as are other diseases, by dirt and poverty, but, on the other hand, the channels through which infection may be spread are largely increased. Medical skill, as yet, has discovered no specific against it, and, like small-pox, which half a century ago seemed likely to be stamped out, it may be entering upon a new cycle of vigor. As yet there is no reason for alarm, but there certainly is need of watchfulness on the part of European officials and physicians. Travel in the east will doubtless grow into disfavor, and the quarantine regulations of the Mediterranean ports will be very vigorously enforced.—Cincinnati Gazette SHALL the Sabbath be desecrated in the management of the Centennial Exposition next year? Shall the display go on without regard to the Sabbath? We have scarcely regarded it possible that so gross an offense to the American people is seriously contemplated. If it is, and the earnest protests which are rising on all sides are disregarded, then we say, Let a National Sabbath League be organized, and a straight battle be fought on that issue in Philadelphia next year. Let us test the question whether or not the laws of the State of Pennsylvania can be trampled upon with impunity in the face of an on-looking world. The friends of our free institutions cannot afford to stand by and see our nation disgraced in that manner, and more, they will not. There will be no lack of money to support a defense of the right, by resort to every means of legal redress that the law and the courts afford. One of the chief things that good citizens mean shall be on exhibition in Philadelphia is a well-observed Christian Sabbath.—Interior. Meetings in Michigan.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
AFTER parting with Bro. Smith at the Indiana Camp-meeting, I went to Quincy, Michigan, and held meetings Sabbath and Sunday. This little company started well, and probably would have got along nicely till the present time had it not been for the wrong course of an old Sabbath-keeper who moved among them. By his fair promises they were induced to build a meeting-house when they were utterly unable to do it. He promised to assist them liberally, but wholly failed to do so, although abundantly able. He has now gone to California. We hope he will not be allowed to curse some other church as he has cursed this. The brethren have a very neat little house. It will require a great effort for them to save it, but we think they will do this by giving them time. I like the appearance of the brethren and sisters here very much. They need to be more prompt in their attendance at meeting, i. e., to be there at the time appointed. A failure to do this hurt my meetings much. I have seldom seen a company where they were so slack upon this point. I baptized three who were taken into the church. Two of them were my cousins, whom I have known from infancy. It was a precious privilege to me. I took a few days the next week to visit my old home, in the southern part of Branch Co., where I was born and lived till about the time I began to preach present truth. I had not been back for fourteen years. I was most urgently solicited to give them a course of lectures. It would be a great privilege for me to do this sometime. The next Sabbath I spent at Springport. My wife and children joined me here, after an absence of ten weeks. They were all in unusually good health. We hope to be together some of the time this winter. A good number of brethren and sisters came together on the Sabbath, and quite a number of outsiders came in on first-day. We felt very much at home with Bro. and sister Bramhall, and our good aunt, sister Betsey Landon. Several in the neighborhood embraced the truth a short time ago, under the labors of Bro. Jones. This is a very large church, but it is much scattered. We were happy to find them all in harmony and in good working order, so far as we became acquainted with them. In the two places above mentioned I did not try to accomplish much, as I was simply resting and visiting among our friends. October 17, we came to Tuscola village and labored one whole week. The weather was exceedingly bad—rainy, dark, and muddy—so that many who designed to attend could not. Still we had a fair audience all the time. Several times our house was well filled. I believe that if the proper course is taken the time will soon come that a course of lectures here would bring out a good number in the truth. One embraced the Sabbath at this time. On the Sabbath, seven young persons came forward for prayers. We re-organized s. b., raising the figures from $44 to $85. But I am sorry to say that we found things in a very low condition here. The spirit of sacrifice has nearly died out of the church, with some exceptions. Systematic Benevolence was down far below what it ought to be, and is much lower still than it should be. Several have allowed their pledges to go unpaid for months and years. Very little stock has been taken in our institutions generally. Their meeting-house has been suffered to remain unpainted and in a dilapidated condition. I am satisfied that God has been dishonored by these things; that he has been displeased with them; and that the church has greatly suffered on account of their negligence. A spirit of watching, and of comparing themselves among themselves had taken possession of some. This is not true of all, however. One dear sister, who was a mother in Israel, has fallen asleep since I was here before. They have deeply felt the loss. Another one, however, who was then backslidden, we were now happy to find zealous for the truth again. We labored the best we knew how to have all realize their present condition, and I think most of them do to some extent. I obtained several subscribers for the REVIEW. The brethren resolved to repair their meeting-house, and raised a subscription sufficient to do it, though it is too late to accomplish it this winter. Since this church was organized, two good members have died, and ten have moved away who are still strong in the truth. Very few have apostatized. They have no reason to be discouraged here. If they will put their house in good shape, a course of lectures can be given here which will be quite sure to double their number. Leaving Wisconsin.
By D. T. Bourdeau
Since reporting the progress of the cause in Green Bay and Fort Howard, the following results have been reached: Two more of the French have taken their stand on the truth, regular weekly prayer-meetings have been established, a Bible-class and Sabbath-school have been organized, eight have been baptized, and Systematic Benevolence has been organized amounting to about $60 a year. Much more remains to be done for this company. We hope their needs will be supplied by faithful men who will throw their whole energies into the work. Last week, besides holding meetings at three points, we took a trip among the French brethren in Bay Settlement, and called on a number of families that were favorable to the truth. To meet the spiritual wants of the French brethren, etc., we have ordained a judicious and tried man for elder, and left him a good supply of our French works, encouraging him to visit families, pray with them, and talk the truth to them. We have organized, as far as practicable, systematic labor. We expect to learn of success in the French branch of the work, if the farewell advice we gave last night in a three hours’ talk is heeded. The Truth Appreciated.
By A. L. Pottenger
I WANT to tell how precious the REVIEW is to me. Though I have taken it but a short time, I prize it next to my Bible, and hope I shall never miss a single number while I have need of earthly comforts. To those who hear but little preaching, and are separated from Sabbath-keepers, as is the case with myself, it is a welcome visitor, imparting reproof, instruction, and encouragement. The names of some of the writers have grown very familiar, and we should be disappointed if we did not find words of counsel from them. Indeed, we sometimes fancy that we can almost hear their earnest voices urging sinners to repent while probation yet lingers. I do not believe anything but the present truth could have reclaimed me from infidelity, the principles of which I believed, though it is not common or popular for a woman to advocate such views, and I never did so publicly. The Lord, through his truth, wrought the mighty change last spring, giving me glorious light in place of impenetrable darkness. I can make no compensation to him for his wonderful mercy to such a rebellious sinner, but I have promised, with his help, to give myself to the service of the Master. The word of the Lord has said that the prayers of the righteous avail much, and I ask the readers of the REVIEW to pray earnestly that the labors of his servant, about to commence in this place may be greatly blessed; and that honest souls may be brought to the truth, such as will be faithful workers in the vineyard of the Master. I feel that there are many worthy people here, whom God would have doing and teaching all his commandments. The Closing Message.
By N. G. Sanders
In Rev. 18:1, an angel is seen to come down from Heaven having great power; and the earth is lightened with his glory. This we understand is symbolic of the power and glory which is to attend the closing work of the third angel's message. But think of it! The earth is lightened by the sun. Now suppose the third angel's message to lighten the earth, not a part, but the whole earth, as the sun now lightens it, only substituting gospel light for sun light. Truly this message must forget its feebleness, and become a mighty power. We have looked for a general interest to be awakened here which should spread to other lands, but God has gone ahead of his appointed agents, and has dropped here and there in distant countries rays of light which are being reflected back on our own land and people, thus reproving the lack of faith, zeal, and energy, in his chosen people, and beckoning them on to fill his opening providence.159 We hail with joy every sign of advancement, every token that God's hand is in this work in laying plans and putting them into execution. These plans are partially, and but partially as yet, commensurate with the great work yet to be accomplished by the third angel. We rejoice in the evidences that the message is rising, that from comparative obscurity our work and influence are to become all-pervading. But are we individually prepared to stand the testing rays of such clear light? Why, yes, responds every lover of the truth; we long for it, we pray for it. But remember, my brother, my sister, my own heart, remember, that the same light that lightens the world and gives your cherished faith the publicity and influence which you covet for it, will reveal to angels and men the deformities of personal character; and shall we, after having loved and labored for the truth, be set aside by its clear light as work not brought to perfection, and so be cast away, and miss the reward which is to be given the overcomer when there is a mighty shout of victory over the beast and his image? Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. But while we rejoice that the message is rising, we remember that another and a mighty work is also progressing in every nook and corner of our earth. Darkness, made more dense by the power of evil angels, is binding in chains of delusion the unsuspecting masses, and agents are not wanting, bold, zealous, and persevering agents, who laud this darkness as the clearest possible light, and are pressing its claims as such wherever an ear can be found to hear. And others there are—God pity them, and open the eyes of the professed church that they may not act over again the work of the people who have in past ages been highly favored of God, and become blind leaders of the blind. Oh! that they could see that sanctification without the truth is a spurious work, calculated to deceive but not to save. Oh! that they would read the history of the past conflicts of Christianity with the errors of the corresponding times and learn lessons for their own times. Oh! that they would stop and consider that we must be somewhere, somehow, connected with God's plan that reaches from creation to the consummation of the gospel, and laying aside prejudice, would search his word and see where their work is foretold, its nature, extent, and end—see, too, where abides the ark of God—see where lies the truth in the controversies of their own day. They laud past reformers. They thank God and Luther too for the light that broke the strong power of the papal dominion and gave us back the free word of God, a free conscience, and to our land a free government. But will they prove themselves worthy of such noble predecessors, or will they stand at last with the church of which it will be said, “In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” But whether they will consider it or not, we are somewhere in the great stream of time that is spanned by the prophetic word, and whether we consider or not, in the end the truth will find us all out; and how should this consideration help to chasten our hearts and steady our nerves as we are going over a road we can never retrace, and yet the choice of which will decide our destinies. Wisconsin. N. G. Sanders. The days are evil; light
Has come, and men regard it not;
Another light hath blinded them—
This world their chosen lot,
Its flowery paths but lead astray,
And turn the soul from God away. There is a little flock;
There is a golden thread that binds
Thine own in love, and all to Thee;
Where’er the true light shines,
Where’er the word takes root, and grace
Finds in the heart a resting-place. And we are gathered there,
Within the circle of Thine arms;
Within the fold of Christ we meet,
Safe from the world’s alarms;
Without, men’s passions rage and swell,
But here is peace, no words can tell. Our Father, unto thee
We lift our hearts, our voices raise,
In full assurance of thy love—
In songs of grateful praise,
Weary of ill, to thee we turn,
And lessons of sweet patience learn. The Spirit helps our need,
We look to him to aid and guide,
To take of Christ, and unto us
Rightly the word divide;
His blessed presence cheers our souls,
And all erratic thought controls. Around thy table, Lord,
In faith thy saints are gathered now,
Thy death remembering, thy death,
To whom all knees shall bow—
The risen One, so soon to come,
And take His ransomed people home, J. O. CORLISS
By J. O. Corliss
LEFT Battle Creek for this field of labor the 26th of last May, and since that time have labored as the way seemed to open. I started out with the tent in company with Bro. R. S. Webber, and we held our first meeting June 13, continuing the lectures until Aug. 15. Our meetings were broken up a number of times by the frequent storms of the past season, so that the people could be brought together only a little more than half the time. Ten, however, embraced the truth as the result of this effort. After our excellent camp-meeting, I went to Solon, and remained three weeks. Here, again, it stormed almost continually, which kept the people away from the meetings, so that but little could be done except by visiting, which we did as the way seemed to open. The result of this effort is that two whole families, numbering nine in all, are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord, and we believe they love the truth. They will keep up meetings on the Sabbath, and we expect to see others unite with them soon. May the Lord help them to be faithful that they may grow in the truth. I have labored under a great disadvantage since coming to this State. The damp air of this climate has affected my lungs and throat, and brought a hoarseness upon me, which it has seemed almost impossible to throw off. But I am not discouraged; for I know the Lord is able and willing to sustain those who try to discharge duty and trust in him. I believe there are precious souls in Maine that may, by faithful and judicious labor, be found and brought into the fold. I want to be found among the faithful workers. May the Lord give wisdom and guide in judgment is my prayer. My address for the present will be South Norridgewood, Me., from which place mail will be forwarded to me. Nebraska Meetings Near Salem Bring Converts
By G. V. Kilgore
“Two weeks ago, I commenced meetings near Salem. When I arrived here I was not well, but now God has blessed me with health sufficient to do duty. Three have already determined to obey God’s law. One of these was in great trouble before I came on account of near and dear friends who had fallen victims to death. None could comfort her. They feared she would lose her mind, and some protested against her attending these meetings or studying the Bible for fear she would. But she attended, and now is as composed in mind as any of them. She delights to think of the glorious resurrection. There has been a good interest thus far. If all who are convinced of the truth will obey it, meetings can be held every Sabbath by enough to make them really interesting. Never before have I felt so great an interest in people, or such a desire to see them embrace precious, saving truth, which will be a shield and buckler to the saints when the storms of unmixed wrath come upon the ungodly. I earnestly desire all who love God to pray earnestly for the prosperity of the cause. Let us never hold our peace “day nor night.” Let those “that make mention of the Lord keep not silence.” My address is Salem, Richardson Co., Neb. G. V. KILGORE. Daviess Co., Missouri.
By C. H. Chaffee
AFTER Conference I visited my brother who is keeping the Sabbath in Labette Co., Kan. Spoke twice to the people there; but the attendance was small, on account of sickness. I returned home Sept. 22, and spent a few days there. Oct. 1, I commenced a course of lectures at Pleasant Hill, Mo. The meetings have been hindered some by meetings of the grangers and good templars, and a few rainy evenings, but I have given twenty-nine discourses, and eleven have decided to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Eld. Martindale (Methodist presiding elder) preached against us on the Sabbath question, taking the Sunday-seventh-day position. I had freedom in reviewing the discourse. At the close, a call was made for any that would keep all the commandments of God to come forward, when five of the most substantial citizens in the community responded. Several more are interested, and may yet decide in favor of the truth. I am of good courage, and my health is good, for which I praise the Lord. I shall still strive to do the Master's business, looking to him for grace. I desire the prayers of God's people. Pleasant Hill, Daviess Co., Mo., Nov. 2, 1875. A Testimony.
By S. O. James
DEAR EDITOR OF THE REVIEW: I feel to thank God for the privilege of testifying in favor of his truth as brought to view in the three messages. For nearly three years before God in his mercy turned my eyes toward the light, I had been a poor, benighted infidel, yet, I believe a sincere, one. My dear mother (who now sleeps in Jesus) at length prevailed on me to read the REVIEW and other S. D. Adventist publications, in which the doctrines of the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the coming of Christ, the Judgment, end of the wicked, &c., are so clearly set forth, making God’s blessed book so harmonious in its teachings. His Spirit took hold of my heart, and I was more than willing to accept it. For five years I have tried to live out the principles of the truth, and to obtain true godliness, that I may be prepared for the things that are coming on the earth. When I hear scoffers scoff, and when I see the terrible declension from piety in these days, coupled with the bitter spirit against the plain scriptural doctrine of Christ’s soon coming, I am the more firmly convinced that the Bible is of divine origin. That worldliness and infidelity are the legitimate offspring of a popular theology which has for its most attractive feature the cry of “peace and safety” I have no doubt. I may add that before the truth found me I was almost hopelessly, as I felt, addicted to several vicious, soul-destroying habits, such as gambling, using ardent spirits, chewing tobacco, and taking the name of God in vain; from these, and many more, I am now free, for which I praise the God of our blessed Bible. Yours for the truth, S. O. JAMES. An Acknowledgment.
By J. H. Cook
I LEFT home Sept. 19, for Beloit, Mitchell Co., Kan., intending, on the way, to visit the church in Richland, Shawnee Co., in connection with Bro. J. N. Ayres. On the 20th, I was taken sick. I traveled three days in an open buggy when I should have had treatment and rest. On the third day we reached the hospitable home of Bro. Kennedy, and remained there until the fever abated. Bro. and sister Disney then came and took me to their home, where I was helpless two more weeks. To care for me during my sickness, was a tax on both these families, but they showed me every kindness. And the Saviour says, “Insomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Others appeared to be equally kind. We felt drawn out in love and Christian sympathy for those dear brethren, yet we found it necessary to bear to them a straight testimony, especially on health reform and the testimonies. The Lord helped, and we felt we had victory in his name. They made new resolves on these points and I trust they will draw nigh to God as they carry out their convictions of duty. Beloit, Mitchell Co., Kan., Oct. 29, 1875.