Earlier text: Parable of the Laborers in the VineyardReport from Bro. Loughborough.
By John Norton Loughborough
ON Thursday, July 26, I left Battle Creek for the Ohio Conference. Tarried over night in Jackson, Mich., and on the afternoon of the 27th arrived at Lovett's Grove, the place of the meeting. Found Bro. Lawrence on the ground to assist in the exercises of the meeting. But a few delegates or brethren from other churches came to this meeting, owing to the short notice of the meeting, and the hurrying season of the year. Had the Conference been as late as the first of August, and sufficiently notified, undoubtedly it would have been fully attended. It was thought advisable during this Conference to fix upon the first of August as the proper time for the commencement of the Conference year, and future sessions of the Conference will probably be held as near that date as may be. Those who came together to this Conference, had a mind to work. The business was all attended to on Thursday evening and on sixth-day. There was no opposition, nor a jarring note in our business sessions, but all was dispatched with good cheer. There were five discourses given during this Conference, three by Bro. Lawrence, and two by myself. The Ohio brethren express the deepest gratitude, that they have not been forgotten in the distribution of labor by the General Conference. They are also highly pleased with the success that is attending the efforts being made with the tent, and otherwise. Several expressed deep gratitude concerning the recent good visit of Bro. Waggoner to that State, attended with such good fruits. The brethren contributed freely of their means for the advancement of the different enterprises that now especially call for means. As they had, after this, nearly $400.00 of Conference funds for which they had no immediate use, they kindly loaned this sum, without interest, to the Association. I would here take the liberty to say, that for the most part the churches in Ohio have kept up their s. b., although they have not had much labor in their State for some time. I am reminded here of an expression a brother made to me not long since, as we were looking over reports of funds in different places: “There is quite a difference between s. b. on paper, and funds in the hands of the Treasurer.” Ohio funds, for the most part, prove to be funds in hand. But in some few places, in some of the States, there is a gross neglect in this matter. They report their pledges on s. b. at high figures, and only in part pay it. Some pledge year after year, who never pay anything. Better not pledge at all, than to keep pledging and never pay. Let us all put down our figures at what we ought to pay, and then be prompt in paying it all up, monthly if possible. This we can do, if we use the same care that we do to meet Cæsar's claims. And are not the Lord's claims as just upon us, and as much to be regarded as those of Cæsar? s. b. on paper, and s. b. in the Lord's treasury, are two different things. The one will furnish ready means to carry forward the cause in all its departments. The other may have an appearance of doing something, while it will only in the end throw perplexity and care upon those who would make efforts to build up and extend the cause of truth. May we all be prompt in all things. Spent Monday, July 30, most of the day, in council with the Ohio State Committee, preparing minutes of Conferences for print, arranging for Quarterly Meetings and future labors in the State. In the afternoon went fourteen miles to Cass, where, on Tuesday, with the committee, I attended to the adjusting of some matters of trial in the church. At 4 p. m. of that day, I spoke by request to about one hundred in the Methodist house, on the death of Bro. Stacy, who had died some seven months previous. Aug. 2d, came on to Bellville, where the Ohio tent was pitched. Spent the day very pleasantly with Bro. Van Horn and Lawrence, and in the evening I spoke to an interested congregation of about five hundred. It seemed to me from the attention given them, that good success would attend the effort there with the tent. Friday, the 3d, I parted with the Brn. there, and came on to Norwalk, Ohio, and tarried over night with my old friend Bro. George Smith. On Sabbath morning we went to East Townsend, where I gave two short discourses to about twenty Brn. and sisters, at the house of Bro. Horner. On first day morning, had a meeting to permanently organize the church and re-arrange s. b. Some eighteen entered into church fellowship, and pledged about $136.00, per year, an increase of upwards of $40.00. In the afternoon, by the consent of the trustees, I spoke in the Methodist Chapel to an attentive congregation of about one hundred. Came the same day to Wakeman, where I rested, visited, and wrote, until Thursday, the 9th, when I went to Berea Station and there met Bro. Thomas White, of Strongsville, who conveyed me to his home. On the Sabbath I spoke to about a dozen at the house of Bro. White, and in the afternoon we partook of the Lord's supper. Although the numbers were few, the Lord was with us by his Spirit. On first-day we had a meeting in the forenoon to organize the church, and re-arrange s. b. Nine entered into church covenant, and their s. b. was increased some $22.00. In the afternoon I spoke to about forty or fifty on the Sabbath question, at the house of Bro. White. On Monday, Aug. 13, I returned to Battle Creek, where I have spent two Sabbaths, and in the mean time have attended to such duties of the General and State Conferences as seemed to demand attention. I am now about to start for the West, to attend the large meetings there. I feel of good courage still to press on, and I believe the Lord's hand is set to this cause to gather out and fit up a people for his kingdom and coming.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Aug. 26, 1866. Report from Bro. Waggoner.
By J. H. Waggoner
We left Memphis the 13th, and arrived in St. Charles the 14th. As the roads north were very bad, and it was raining almost daily, we concluded to remain there over the Sabbath, as we could hardly expect to get the tent pitched that week. It being the time of their Monthly Meeting, we had the pleasure of seeing the brethren and sisters from Fremont and Chesaning. We commenced meetings Thursday evening, continuing them till Sunday evening. Sabbath, A. M., we devoted to the subject of Health, followed by a tolerably good social meeting. Sunday morning being the time of the Methodist appointment, we convened at 9 o'clock, at Bro. Griggs', and resumed our examination of the Health question. Some had not realized its importance, and I trust the interest is augmented on this subject.109 Monday morning, the 20th, was fair, and we started for Midland in fine spirits; but after stopping three times on account of rain, we had to stop ten miles from Midland. Next morning we started early, and going there were much disappointed at the prospect. First, the Sabbath-keepers had removed to a new settlement twenty miles up the Tittabawassa river, and it was on their account the minds of the brethren were directed to the place. Second, the village was unfavorably located for pitching a tent. Main street is on a sand ridge near the river, and back of that every sandy knoll or spot large enough to set a house was occupied. Part of the village, and back of it to an extent to us unknown, is low, wet marsh. Third, the dysentery was prevalent and very fatal. This we learned by the papers before we went there, but hoped the reports might be exaggerated, but found they were not. We judge it would not be prudent for any one to go there to spend the next six weeks, even though other circumstances were favorable. Consulting together, we decided that it was advisable, from what we could learn, for one to go up the river and hold some meetings in "Sixteen," as the settlement referred to is called, and the other go to Holly and see if the way opened as favorably as the friends seemed to suppose it would. Bro. Cornell preferred going up there, as he did not wish to take the burden of the tent on his mind; and I was willing to make this arrangement for the additional reason that circumstances might demand more labor there than I should feel free to bestow and leave him with the tent alone; so I told him to do his duty there and I would take care of the tent till he came. And so we parted about one o'clock, when I started for Saginaw City, where I arrived about eight last evening. To-day I shipped the tent for Holly, and came on, much to the gratification of the friends here. The privilege of the ground and lumber have been obtained, and we have decided to pitch this week. The weather is very cold for the season, but we hope it may be more favorable. I am anxious to commence as soon as possible, on account of the lateness of the season. As we were sent out especially to hold a tent meeting the brethren may think our position discouraging; but we do not feel so. Our meetings have been profitable we trust, and had the place been selected and all ready, we could not have pitched the tent on account of the weather. Bro. H. S. Guilford, of St. Charles, is with me here, to remain as may be duty. Brethren, pray for us. P. S.— Thursday morning. It is so very cold that we have decided not to pitch the tent till the first of next week. We dare not commence under such unfavorable circumstances. Paul's Mode of Raising up Churches.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
The apostle Paul was chosen of God to go out among unbelievers and raise up churches to Christ. He was very successful in doing this as he especially had the Spirit of God to direct him. Now it seems to me that we who in these days have a similar work to perform, i. e., to go out into new fields and raise up churches might learn how to do it successfully from his example. Believing that time was very short, and that we had an important message for the world which all must hear, and knowing that there were but few to do the work, we have been too much in a haste to stop to do our work well. We would pitch the tent in a new place, give ten and twenty lectures on the most important subjects, then leave and repeat the same in another place. In this way we held a great many meetings but accomplished little or nothing. The next year visit those places again, and often you find only a few half-hearted believers who were a reproach and a curse to the cause. Thus, much valuable time, means, and labor has been thrown away. “Haste makes waste” in the cause of God, as well as in business. The man who would have permanent success in anything must do his work well; otherwise it soon comes to nothing. This is emphatically true in bringing men into the present truth. It is not so much how many come in, as it is how they come. One sound ear of corn is worth a peck of frost-bitten nubbins. I wish to call attention to the length of time which Paul generally spent in raising up a church in a new place. After he was converted, the first meeting which he held was in Damascus. Of his labors there we read thus: “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” “But Paul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is the very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him.” Acts ix, 20, 22, 23. He preached here many days till he was compelled to leave. Paul and Barnabas held a meeting in Antioch of which we have this record: “Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. Acts xi, 25, 26. Did they throw away this time, or stay longer than was necessary? Doubtless not. It is said of them that at Iconium “long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Acts xiv, 1–3. “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.” After preaching there some time and receiving much opposition, he evidently became discouraged and was about to leave the place when the Lord spoke thus to him: “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” “And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while.” Acts xviii, 1, 9–11, 18. What would some of our Advent ministers now think of giving such a long course of lectures as this? Either Paul made a sad mistake in his manner of raising up churches, or else we have. It seems, at least, that he was satisfied with this way of preaching, for in the next chapter we read that he stayed two years at Ephesus preaching the word of God. Acts xix, 8–12. A great work was done and a large church established. It looks to me that we also would accomplish much more if we would make less beginnings in new places and hold on a little longer when we do begin. Our Present Life vs. Immortality.
By H. I. FARNUM.
WHAT is our life? A brief existence checkered with anomalies, made up of lights and shadows, hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, happiness and misery. In its spring-time hope is buoyant, all the world looks beautiful, and life itself appears a glorious thing. The blue arch above is pure and bright, the green earth on which we tread seems animate with beauty, while bright blossoms emit their fragrance, and verdant fields and groves are resonant with song. Thoughts of change and decay mingle not their shadows with our earliest joys. Would that it were thus in the happiness of later years. But alas! even in youth, faded flowers and withered hopes are wet with tears, and we learn too soon the frail and fleeting nature of the world of life and beauty around us. And then, as summer drinks up the freshness of spring, as the autumn breeze whispers of change and decay, and the blast of winter tells of death, the shroud, and the narrow house; so, as life advances, we become acquainted with toil, and care, and weariness, and disappointment, sorrow, and human suffering. You bright orbs, still brilliantly shine; but oh! we realize that they look upon a world of graves, and we know that rude storms will shroud their light. The trees don their freshest verdure, but soon the falling leaf reminds us of our mortality. The flowers open their petals as gaily as ever; but we know that their loveliness will soon be lost in death. We learn that all these are but emblems of human life. Our hopes flee like the dewdrops of morning; the beings we love fade like the falling leaf, or wither as withers the morning flower when chilled by an untimely blast. The warm spring showers and sunshine waken the leaves and blossoms; but, alas! they bring not back our lost treasures. We have seen them, cold and silent, borne across the plain, laid away in the earth, and the cold sods heaped above them; and now, perhaps, only a mound of flowers or a drift of snow, around which sad memories cluster, tells where they rest. And is this all of life? Is this the consummation of life's struggles? the only goal of all our toils, our prayers, our tears, and our hopes? Is this all of life? Infidelity and unbelief answer, “This is all of life;” but Hope says, Nay; and Revelation loudly answers, Nay; for life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel. Those that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. If our life is hid with Christ in God, when he who is our life appears, we shall appear with him in glory. And again, “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Then will be realized that for which we have lived, prayed, toiled, wept, and suffered—redemption through the blood of Jesus, an eternal weight of glory, the gift of God, even immortality and eternal life. No doubts or fears will then intrude themselves upon our happiness. No false hopes will deceive. No tempter will lure to stray. No unkindness will there be to chill and wound us. No weariness will be there, no pain, no sorrow, no human agony to oppress, no death, no graves. No pallid forms will ever be hid in the new earth's soil. Clouds will nevermore shadow “yon pure cerulean arch.” The new earth's verdure will know no decay, its flowers, no blight. The beings we love will not flit around us like shadows and then vanish away, but dwell in our presence forever. And He, who in infinite love yielded up his life for us, while we were yet aliens from, and enemies against, him, will dwell with us and be our God, and we shall be his people. Vain are all our efforts to catch a glimpse of the crowns, the harps, the robes, the mansions, in preparation for the redeemed; for “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for those that love him.” “I will haste my flight and speed me away,
To the evergreen hills of that beautiful clime,
Where the leaves of the forest never decay,
Beyond the frosts of time.” Our mortal existence is brief. Is it too much that we forego the pleasures of sin, and devote all its little span to the service of Him who shed his blood in agony, and tasted death, that we, poor sinners, might obtain salvation from our sins, and thus become the recipients of the wonderful gifts of God? “Oh! ’twere sweet to toil in sadness,
Oh! ’twere well the cross to bear,
If, at last, in joy and gladness,
We may rest forever there.” Meetings in Lapeer, Mich.
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
BEING in Holly the latter part of last week, and unable to pitch the tent, I concluded to go to Lapeer to spend the Sabbath. I arrived there about the beginning of the Sabbath and attended the prayer meeting. Sabbath morning spoke on the Health Reform. Afternoon had a social meeting. It being quite cold, as there was no stove in their new meeting house, we had meeting that evening in the house of Bro. Higley, when I spoke again on the subject of health. On Sunday had two meetings. On the health question I found this church quite behind any other that I have met with this season. Whether their lack of interest in this subject was the only cause of the lukewarmness which has prevailed there, I need not inquire, for I consider this a sufficient cause. But I hope an interest was awakened which may lead to good results. They ask for help, and I think they need it; and join my request110 with theirs to the State Committee to grant them efficient labor as soon as circumstances will admit. It having been about seven years since I visited that place, it gave me great pleasure to meet once more with them. May the Lord bless and revive the church in Lapeer. NOTE. Bro. Loughborough designs to visit Lapeer, with other places, on his return from the N. Y. Conference. MICH. CONF. COM. Spiritual Infidelity.
By R. F. Cottrell
The prevailing infidelity of the present day may be properly denominated spiritual infidelity. The enemy of man, the author of evil, and instigator and promoter of infidelity, changes his mode of warfare to suit the prevailing opinions of the times, and lays his plans as he deems best calculated to seduce men from faith by imperceptible degrees. In his outward hostility to the church of God, he has chosen to get up a spurious religion, resembling in many of its features the genuine, but essentially false and erroneous; and, placing it by the side of the true, demands the homage of all on pain of death. Before the first advent, Satan's church had sacrificial rites and ceremonies, resembling those institutions by God as typical of the promised Messiah; but after that shadowy system had ended, being superseded by the rites and worship of the present dispensation, Satan's spurious religion must be changed from a counterfeit of the Jewish forms to that of the Christian. In other words paganism must be superseded by a corrupt Christianity, in order more successfully to oppose the onward march of truth. Again, where the light of the Reformation renders the Roman persecutor ineffectual, a corrupted Protestantism is the grand engine by which to oppose the truth. So in regard to infidelity. Before the popular mind, in Christian countries, had become so deeply imbued with the fabled and fanciful view of an immaterial immortality, the immortality of the gospel, founded upon Christ, and a literal, bodily resurrection, was opposed by a materialistic infidelity, which claimed that when a man dies, that is the last of him. But as materialism becomes unpopular, and the professors of Christianity slide into the view of an immaterial immortality that virtually supersedes and makes useless a bodily resurrection, infidelity throws aside its material garb and puts on the popular immaterial clothing. Oh, yes, says modern infidelity, man is immortal independent of the resurrection and independent of Christ, of whom it is said, He died and rose again as a pledge of the resurrection of the dead. And infidelity has an advantage over false though popular faith, from the plain and self-evident truth, that, admitting man is immortal without the resurrection, the resurrection is not only useless, but the doctrine is inconsistent. If death frees the immortal spirit from a useless and burdensome materiality, there is no good reason why that materiality should be resumed. This is the ground upon which modern infidelity denies the clearly revealed doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The popular mind is ripened for the change. Hence Satan prefers spiritualistic, in preference to materialistic infidelity. Modern infidelity reasons against Christ and the resurrection as follows. In the first place it is claimed that the Old Testament is totally obscure on the subject of the resurrection. In this work of darkening and smutting the Old Testament, infidels are aided by those professed Christians who either wish to evade the Sabbath law, or to prove the immortality of the soul—a doctrine expressly and emphatically denied in that portion of the word of God. As a consequence it is next assumed that the Jews knew nothing of the doctrine of the resurrection, till after their captivity in Babylon and their mingling with other nations, especially the Persians, who, it is claimed, held the doctrine long before, and from whom the Jews first learned it. Thus it was, it is claimed, that the Pharisees in the days of Christ had derived this doctrine from the Persians: and Paul being a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, the ancient Persian doctrine has come to enjoy so much favor in the writings of the New Testament. Modern infidelity speaks thus: “Dr. Martin Haug thinks it certain that Zoroaster lived in a remote antiquity, from fifteen hundred to two thousand years before Christ. He says that Judaism after the exile—and, through Judaism, Christianity afterward—received an important influence which in regard to the doctrine of angels, Satan, and the resurrection of the dead, cannot be mistaken. The Hebrew theology had no demonology, no Satan, until after the resurrection at Babylon. This is admitted. Well, is not the resurrection a pendant to the doctrine of Satan? Without the idea of a Satan there would be no idea of a retributive banishment of souls in hell, and of course no occasion for a vindicating restoration of them thence to their former or a superior state.” In support of the idea that the resurrection of the Persians, as taught by Zoroaster, was a physical resurrection, the writer above quoted says, “It might be thought that the familiar Persian conception of angels, both good and evil, fervers and devs, and the reception of departed souls into their company, with Ormuzd in Garotman, or with Ahriman in Dutsakh, would exclude the belief in a future bodily resurrection. But Christians and Mohammedans at this day believe in immaterial angels and devils, and in the immediate entrance of disembodied souls upon reward or punishment in their society, and still believe in their final return to the earth, and in a restoration to them of their former tabernacles of flesh. Discordant, incoherent, as the two beliefs may be, if their co-existence is a fact with cultivated and reasonable people now, much more was it possible with an undisciplined and credulous populace three thousand years in the past.” These two beliefs are truly characterized by our author as discordant and incoherent; and if those professing faith in the Bible as a revelation from God, had all adhered to the simple and consistent teachings of that book, modern spiritualistic infidelity would have had no help from them in the seduction of the world to this last form of infidelity. But the unscriptural doctrine, that all men are immortal—that they will exist eternally in conscious happiness or misery, independent of the resurrection—is the greatest auxiliary to the infidelity of the times. From the egg of natural immortality in every popular church, a brood of vipers is being hatched. And there is a terrible responsibility resting upon those who, having the Bible truth urged upon their minds, still cling to the popular fable, and labor with their might to sustain the false foundation upon which Spiritualism is built, and without which it could never have existed. Our author says it is admitted that the Hebrew theology had no demonology, no Satan, until after the residence in Babylon. It is true that they had not the demonology of the heathens, before that time. Their theology did not teach that dead men were either gods or demons. It left the dead in Sheol, where there is no work, nor device, nor wisdom, nor knowledge. But were they ignorant of the existence of evil spirits, since God forbade through Moses their intercourse with familiar spirits on pain of death? Were they not forbidden to sacrifice to devils? Lev. xvii, 7; Deut. xxxii, 17; 2 Chron. xi, 15; Psa. cvi, 37. And did not Satan provoke David to number Israel? 1 Chron. xxi, 1. David, as well as Job, understood there was such a person. Psa. cix, 6; Job i, 7–22; ii, 1–7. There was abundant opportunity for the Persians, and all the surrounding nations to get their ideas, which harmonize with the Mosaic account, from the Israelites, long before the captivity in Babylon; and mixing these with their mythology, to form a system like the Zoroastrian. In regard to the resurrection, David had prophesied, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol”—“thou wilt show me the path of life,”—“my flesh shall rest in hope.” “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.” Psa. xvi, 9–11; xvii, 15. Isaiah had also said, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” Isa. xxvi, 19. The ancient man of Uz also trusted in a Redeemer, who in the latter day should stand upon the earth, by whose redeeming power he should in his flesh see God, though his skin and his body should have been destroyed by worms and lost in the dust. Is it true that the Jews first learned the doctrine of the resurrection from the Persians? Had Abraham no hope of a future life, when God promised him personally an inheritance in the land of Canaan, and then told him he would die more than four hundred years before his descendants should go to that land? It is said he believed God; but he could not believe these two propositions, without believing he was to arise from the dead. Hence Paul was right in representing Abraham as looking for the city that is to descend from heaven. Had the people who have the word of God, adhered to it as it reads, spiritual infidelity would not prevail in the world as it does. Its mouth would be stopped. But it is a sad fact, that, while no truth of the Christian system has been derived from the heathens, the popular view of the nature of man has; and this has prepared the way for infidelity to flourish as it does this day. And it is in vain for Christians to stop the mouths of these ranters against revelation, and maintain the Bible doctrine of the resurrection, till they repudiate the pagan fable that makes the resurrection unnecessary and absurd. “And ye by putting them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. If the souls be in Heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be? And then what cause is there of the resurrection?”—Tyndale. These queries of this reformer of the sixteenth century, deserve a candid consideration. If the ideas of natural immortality and the resurrection are harmonious, let it be made apparent. Our Influence.
By C. M. WILLIS
'Mid the forest's dark shade, in a sweet sheltered nook,
Where the birds warbled forth from each spray,
I sat myself down by a murmuring brook,
And watched as it wandered away. The tall trees were waving their branches o'erhead,
The soft breezes murmured around,
As the brooklet its course unresistingly sped
Toward the haven to which it was bound. 'Twas a small silver thread as it trickled away,
But I thought as it wound toward the sea,
And gathered its littles throughout the long day,
How soon a stronger river 'twould be. On its bosom tall ships would majestically ride,
On its banks would the water-wheel play,
And 'twould serve in its glory man's power and pride,
In its course, on its way to the sea. With our influence 'tis thus—'tis a light, idle word,
But one 'mid a large, countless throng,
The depth of some heart by its power is stirred,
We know not for good, or for wrong. Like the careless thrown pebble by school-boy at play,
Far out in old ocean's wild roar,
Its circling eddies spread wider away,
'Till it reaches some far distant shore. A little rill, first hardly seen by the throng,
A rivulet, river, a sea,
How mighty its course as it rushes along,
Enduring as eternity. C. M. WILLIS.
Charlotte, Mich. Portland Fire Casualty Estimate
A LATER and more correct estimate of the number of buildings burned in Portland places it at 1800 instead of 1500, as previously reported, and 3000 families rendered homeless. Corn Distributed in Georgia
ONE hundred and eighty-three thousand bushels of corn have been distributed among the destitute in Georgia. About 40,000 persons were the recipients. Selfishness Is Its Own Hangman
Selfishness is its own HANGMAN. Sister S. Powers writes: When I say that God is love, and that Jesus Christ our Redeemer is full of tender mercies toward sinners, I speak from experience. I tried the vanities of worldly pleasures until I found that there was nothing good in them; and now I regret exceedingly that I lingered so long over the casket of the world, when in God's love the precious jewel was contained. Each day that pearl of great price grows brighter, and clearer, and more precious to my soul; and I feel that no earthly joys or cares can induce me to part with this my precious treasure, the love of God in my heart. Oh that I could tell to all the world God's goodness and tender mercies to me, a sinner. I would that all could be brought to a knowledge of their sins, that they might seek the Lord while he may be found. Our longest time on earth is short. Sister Jane Stacy writes from Cass, Ohio: I am encouraged to go on in the present truth. This truth has done much for me. And especially do I feel indebted to the health reform. Most every spring I have been laid up with the rheumatism, and had a doctor's bill to pay. But I have quit my coffee, and tea, and pork; and I have had no doctor's bill to pay this spring. I was a slave to tea and pork. I felt that I must have my tea three times a day; and if I had good ham, I wanted that three times a day. But I have laid these aside, and mean from this time on, whether I eat or drink, to do it all to the glory of God. If we eat and drink things that injure our health, we do not glorify him. But let us strive to go on to perfection; for we shall reap if we faint not. He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. We are living in a glorious time, the time when the last note of warning is sounding through the land, to prepare a people to stand on Mount Zion. Sister H. I. Westcott writes from Logansville, Sauk Co., Wis.: I am not afraid to risk all I have on the success of the truth. I am much afflicted, but feel to put my trust in the Lord; for I do not believe he will forsake those who trust in him. My hopes are all centered on the success of the message. I believe we are living in the last days, and Satan is at work with great power. And when I see those who have been called from darkness into the marvelous light of the third angel's message, turn and fight against the truth, I tremble, knowing how weak and prone to wander we poor mortals are. Oh for a closer walk with God; and may he increase our faith, and give us strength to overcome. I feel to rejoice when I read the accounts in the Review that our messengers who have labored so hard for the spread of the gospel, are again regaining their health, and are able with the assisting grace of God to stand up boldly in defense of present truth. May God grant to be with them all, and may many honest souls flock around the standard of truth as the fruits of their labors. I believe the visions are of God from the fruit they bear, although I come short of living them out as I should. I yet hope to be a complete overcomer. Sister F. Winchel writes from Cooleyville, Minn.: I am yet trying to stand for the truth without wavering, knowing that we shall reap in due time if we faint not. The testimonies of God's people have been a great help to me. When with poor health and many cares I am almost ready to sink in discouragement, their weekly visits seem to give me new strength to follow on, and a sweet hope that we may yet overcome all that would separate us from our Saviour. I greatly feel the need of Christian counsel in these times when trials and temptations are on every side. Our experience for some years past has been such as to lessen our faith in most medicines, and drive us to the Lord for help. There I have learned that even now the Lord will hear and answer the prayers of those who seek him with their whole heart. I love the Sabbath of the Lord. His people are my people wherever they are. I desire an interest in the prayers that are being offered for the lonely ones, and trust that when we have done our duty, the Lord will put it into the hearts of some of the messengers of his truth to come this way and help us. I feel assured that the truth will prosper in this State. Bro. A. Damon writes from Orwell, N. Y.: My mind is firmly fixed to serve the Lord, to enjoy present truth, to obey God in all his righteous requirements, to love and regard the brotherhood tenderly, to strive to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, ever seeking and following that which is good. My portion in days gone by has been that of affliction and sore trials. Last October, I laid away in the grave a dearly loved companion, and that affliction did not come alone; but my trust is in the Lord, that out of them all he will deliver me. If we go through the furnace with patience, we shall come forth purified. We must remember while we are looking for eventful things to transpire, that through us the Lord is to accomplish his work. We must be made fit temples for his Spirit to dwell in. I mean to give more earnest heed to prayer. While I love to pray, I love to know also that God hears and answers me. Let us watch much, pray much, love the Lord fervently, and we shall meet ere long where we shall see each other's faces with joy and gladness. Sister L. J. Shaw writes from Strykersville, N. Y.: Having just had my heart warmed by a refreshing season with the brethren and sisters at Lancaster, I feel called upon to express my joy at being permitted to unite my interest with them, feeling that I have their love, their prayers, and watchcare, and that in heart and mind we are one still. I feel very unworthy a name or place among them, but I mean to strive with all my heart to heed the counsel of the faithful and true Witness, and seek meekness, and righteousness, and strive to be wholly engaged in the great preparation that will fit me for the coming of the Lord. I trust I am united by a living faith to the same Lord, believing the same truths, claiming the same promises, trusting the same most precious blood, and rejoicing in the same glorious prospect of living and reigning with Christ and all the redeemed. I feel a great responsibility resting upon me to live as a fit representative of the cause I profess, being ever ready to give a reason of the hope I have within me. Bro. A. H. Cooper writes from Rockford, Minn.: Though separated from all of like faith, I mean to hold on my way, and go through to the kingdom. We miss the communion of saints; but, though separated from them in body, we are with them in spirit. We long for the rest that remains, and for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Strange, but True.
By E. G. Doud
In the Pioneer bearing date May 30, I find an excellent article taken from the Saginaw Enterprise, headed “Street Education.” The writer after describing the scenes that daily occur in the streets among the children, says: “This state of youthful merriment ceases not with the six days of play and labor, but the seventh, the Holy Sabbath, is desecrated by the same scenes.” Nothing could be more true or more ruinous in its results. But did the writer actually mean what he said, or did he mean the first-day? Coming from the source it does, I have reason to believe that he says one thing and means quite another. Question: Are the terms seventh-day and first-day synonymous? From the teachings of the present day, we are left to infer that they are. Is not this truly strange? Have the people of the present day the power of thought, and yet when told that the first-day is the seventh, think it is all right? Were I to tell them that white was black would they consent to it and call it the truth? Is not this a strange state of things? Would it not be more consistent when the Sabbath is mentioned to call it the seventh-day, as did the writer of the article referred to? and when the first-day is spoken of to either call it by its number or name? Is it not best to call things by their right names? Would it not be better if people exercised thought more and asked themselves the question, Does calling the first-day the seventh make it so? Why people receive this as truth, is one of the mysteries of these days.