Earlier text: The Present TimeWhy We Reject It.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
Our reasons for rejecting the common doctrine of the immortality of the soul and conscious state of the dead are many and strong. 1. We reject it because the Bible nowhere teaches it; and this is sufficient ground for the rejection of any doctrine. 2. We reject it because it is the very corner-stone and foundation of the blasphemous doctrine of modern spiritualism. The assumption of the immortality of the soul and conscious existence after death, is the thing upon which spiritualism is built. Spiritualists are simply carrying out the legitimate results of Christian teaching upon this point. Ministers often say that our departed friends are not dead, that their departed spirits are hovering around us, that they know what we are doing or saying. They often relate cases where they claim that departed spirits have been seen and talked with. If this is so, why should not these friends seek to communicate with the living? Why is it unreasonable that they should? Why is it wrong? Having gone thus far they cannot reasonably refuse to go farther and admit just what spiritualists claim. Thousands and millions of them are rapidly doing this. 3. We reject it because it is the very foundation of the doctrine of eternal torment, a doctrine which is no less unscriptural, unreasonable, and a blasphemy against the character of God, one which has driven millions to infidelity. Reader, did you ever seriously consider the horrors of an orthodox hell, such a hell to last eternally, and conscious, sensitive souls, embracing the majority of mankind, to be kept in a burning hell millions upon millions of ages? What is the use of such a hell? It certainly cannot benefit the bad for they are lost beyond hope. Can the merciful God delight in such a scene? Will it add to the happiness of the angels? Is it necessary in order to keep the saints in subjection? Who can defend this awful doctrine and still justify the ways of God to men? Reader, you know that the enlightenment of this age will not tolerate this horrid doctrine longer. It has got to be given up either tacitly or squarely. Few ministers openly preach it any more. Why not be frank and honest, and squarely renounce what no one believes, but what is a reproach to God and the Bible? What is more reasonable than that God should destroy the wicked, turn them back to dust, and let their miserable existence cease. Let us reason together saith the Lord. 4. We reject it because it is the foundation for universalism, a doctrine which is squarely subversive of the Bible, and the pure religion of Jesus Christ. It justifies sin and lulls the sinner into fatal security. But universalism is the natural rebound from eternal torment. Granting the immortality of the soul, it is the only escape from an endless hell. But it is the hight of presumption and absurdity, as well as a square contradiction of the plainest Bible teachings. The assumption that vile, hardened, and unrepenting sinners, who have spent their life in cursing God and abusing his people, should be taken right into the joys of Heaven, we reject in the name of the Bible and reason. 5. We reject this doctrine because it is the very foundation of purgatory, that abominable doctrine upon which priests and popes have fatted for ages. If the dead are sleeping in their graves, then purgatory is a lie. 6. We reject the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead because it is unreasonable and undesirable. It teaches that the body is not the real man, that the real person is an immaterial, invisible sort of essence, thinner than the lightest air. What can there be desirable in such an existence? Who delights to think of a friend in such a form? You can neither handle them, touch them, nor embrace them. Again, what kind of a Heaven must it be for our dead friends if they know all that is transpiring upon the earth. A mother dies, leaving a family of small children in poverty. They are scattered here and there, left to hunger and suffer. They are whipped and abused, and knocked around from pillar to post. They come up without education, and they learn only vice and crime. They live disgraceful lives which end in shame. How must that mother feel if she sees this all? She sees them hungering, but cannot feed them; sees them abused, but cannot interfere; hears their cries, but cannot relieve them. She sees them coming up in a way which she knows will end in shame here and eternal torment hereafter, yet she is powerless to lift her finger or speak a word. That were hell to the heart of a loving mother. Again, a mother is saved, but her children, bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh, whom she has nursed, fed, cherished, and loved dearer than life itself, these children are cast into the burning flames before her eyes. She knows it, she sees it. While she is in Heaven she knows they are in hell. After she has been there one thousand years she thinks of her children. Where are they? Writhing in the torments of hell. Ages roll on, and still she remembers that down there in a lake of fire are her offspring at this very moment suffering untold agonies of devouring fire. Reader, is that desirable? No; indeed. We have a better God than that. 7. We reject this doctrine because the doctrine of the sleep of the dead is not only scriptural, but reasonable and beautiful. It teaches that at death, all, both old and young, both saint and sinner, quietly rest in the grave till the resurrection. While the saints are not in Heaven, the wicked are not in torment. What is there so terrible about this? To those in sound sleep there is no lapse of time. Abel's sleep will seem no longer to him than to the saint who has been dead but a year. See that anxious mother watch over her restless, crying baby. She rocks it and sings to it till at last it falls into a sleep. Softly she lays it in the cradle, and remarks, the little dear has now forgotten all its troubles. It is asleep. Is that terrible? Is that something to be dreaded? After the cares, labors, and anxieties of the day, how sweet to lie down and forget it in quiet slumber! Do you dread that? Do you call it awful? No. Why, then, should we think it a strange thing, to be dreaded, that we should quietly, sweetly sleep in death till the Life-giver comes? Then when the trump of God shall sound, all the saints of every age, and from every nation, shall awake and come up again. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, shall all arise together to meet the Lord in the air. Then with Jesus and all the holy angels, they shall ascend to the shining gates of Heaven. At the same time and all together, the redeemed hosts march into the celestial city. What a grand day of triumph that will be! How much more beautiful this than for the saints silently to pass off to Heaven one at a time, and leave their friends behind as the common theory teaches. Brethren, the doctrine of the sleep of the dead is one of the most reasonable and beautiful of all the doctrines of the Bible. 8. We reject the conscious state of the dead because it utterly subverts other fundamental doctrines of the Bible. First; The Judgment. Nothing is more plainly, emphatically, and repeatedly taught in the Bible than that there will be a day of general Judgment in the end of the world, in which all men, good and bad, shall be judged, and then rewarded according to their deeds. But if the righteous go immediately to Heaven at death, and the wicked to hell, what is the use of a future Judgment. How absurd the idea that, after a soul has been in hell or Heaven for thousands of years, God should call it up to Judgment, and solemnly set in judgment upon it to decide whether it should be saved or damned! Such a scene could be nothing but a solemn farce. No, brethren, God's word is more consistent than that. Secondly. The second advent. If the righteous go to Heaven at death, right into the presence of Christ, and God, and glory, what they for the second advent of Christ. They are saved, they are immortal, they are with the angels, they are in the presence of God and their Redeemer; they are pure and happy. Then why should they long for the second advent of Christ to the earth? No; they would not. It is a noticeable fact that those who hold this doctrine are gradually but surely coming to ignore the doctrine of the personal second coming of Christ. They have no place for it in their theory, and hence, consistently drop it out. But how different when we come to the Bible. There it is everything. There it is longed for, and prayed for. There it is held up as a terror to the wicked, and the great hope of the righteous. A theory which subverts such a great fundamental doctrine as this should be rejected, and by the grace of God we do reject it. Thirdly: The resurrection. If the soul can live separate from, and independent of, the body; if it can think, and live, and act; if it can be like the angels; if this body is simply a prison house, a cage in which it is tied down; if the soul is more free separate from the body than in the body, then when the spirit has once gained its freedom from this clog of clay, why should this body ever be resurrected, and the soul thrust into it again? Of what use will be the resurrection? There could be no sense in it whatever. Hence, again, those who believe in the immortality of the soul place but little stress upon the resurrection. More Confusion.
By R. F. Cottrell
THOSE who have the truth are in harmony with each other. They do not have a thousand discordant and contradictory reasons for their faith and practice. The reason is, truth is ready made, and all they have to do is to accept it as it is; and therefore their inventive faculties are not taxed to find a reason for their position. They are thoroughly furnished with all that is necessary in the word of God. The enemies of the Lord's Sabbath, on the contrary, are in confusion. The builders of Babel were never more so. Each advocate of error adds a little to the confusion. As an example, I give some extracts from a short article on the Sabbath by M. G. in the World's Crisis, as follows:— "Jesus and his disciples were doing that which was a violation of the Sabbath law, hence the inquiry, 'Why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?'" There is nothing new in this. The enemies of the Sabbath are wont to take sides with the enemies and accusers of Christ, thus making him a sinner—a transgressor, or violator of the law—and this before the time when they claim that he took it out of the way, that is, at the cross. The evidence of the guilt of the blessed Saviour and his disciples they find in the accusation of their enemies: "Why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?" If they would permit the Lord Jesus to take the witness' stand, they would find him testifying that the accusers of his disciples had "condemned the GUILTLESS," and that "it is LAWFUL to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12 : 7-10. That which is lawful is according to the law. The question between Christ and his accusers was the lawfulness of what the disciples did in the presence, and under the sanction of the Master. The accusers claimed that it was "not lawful." Jesus affirmed that it was, and that consequently they had condemned the guiltless. Which shall we believe? M. G. coolly says, "JESUS and his disciples were doing that which was a violation of the Sabbath law." We give further quotations from his article as follows:— "The sacredness of any day consists in the manner of keeping it. We are acquainted with no one who keeps the Sabbath day in harmony with the regulations given by the Lord in the time of Moses. If that is the one to be kept now, it should be kept now as then." "The Lord worked six days during the creation week, and then rested the seventh day. This is the general law regulating man's rest-day. After working six days of twenty-four hours each, like his Creator, then he should rest the next twenty-four hours." "There is no evidence that Adam observed the same day kept by the Creator. In fact, he could not do it without violating the established rest-day law, which requires six days' labor to precede the day of rest. When, it is said, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,' the obvious meaning is that God did not make man to keep some particular day of rest, but that man, after laboring six days, would need a Sabbath day to advance his own welfare. Whoever works six days, beginning with either day of the week, and rests the seventh, commemorates the creation week, and the following rest-day." In these quotations I have followed copy in the use of italics. It will be noticed that in the first he emphasizes the manner of keeping the Sabbath, and gravely argues that if the same Sabbath is now kept, it must be kept in the same manner. But he sees no one doing this. Therefore, he leaves the reader to infer for a certainty that as no one is keeping the Sabbath as it was anciently required to be kept, the day kept now must of necessity be some other day. What logic! How convincing! It would certainly be convenient to us to have the new day revealed, together with the manner of keeping it. But we need not be discouraged because such a revelation is not. Our author tells us there is a "general law" regulating the keeping of the Sabbath, which is to work six days and then rest the seventh. Is no one doing this? And does the fact that no one is, necessitate the conclusion that the day is changed? But G. tells us that Adam "could not" observe "the same day kept by the Creator," without violating the established rest-day law, which requires six days' labor to precede the day of rest. And as man was created on the sixth day, he thinks that should not be counted as his first working day, but that he must have commenced work on the seventh day, the very day on which God rested, and so Adam's first Sabbath would be on the sixth day in the order of the creation week. It may seem strange that the author of the fourth commandment should set his "man servant" to work on the same day on which he was resting. But of necessity he must work that day, so that of necessity he must rest on another day, the sixth, otherwise he would violate the established day law. Other first-day writers with equal assurance have told us that at the Exodus God set the Sabbath back one day, for the particular use of the Jews, and set it forward again one day for the use of Christians. And thus they claim that the "Christian Sabbath" is the original seventh day. But G. has equal claim to credence; therefore, as the day has been twice set back to the preceding day, it must be set forward one day more to place it upon the original Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Lord. But let us lay two of G.'s assertions together. He makes it necessary for man to work just six days, and then rest the seventh, else he will violate the Sabbath law. Again he represents that whoever rests one day after working six, "beginning with either day of the week," truly keeps the Sabbath in accordance with the commandment. Put these two propositions together and it amounts to this: Every person must of necessity keep that day which is the seventh from the time that he as an individual begins to labor, or violate the established law for keeping the Sabbath; therefore, different men must keep different days for the Sabbath, or violate the law, unless they do their first work on a particular day of the week. How careful parents should be to have their children do their first work on Monday! Otherwise they cannot keep Sunday without violating the Sabbath law! Is the reader satiated with such puerility put forward as grave argument in a subject involving the honor of God and obedience to him? Then turn with me to the grand and majestic facts as stated in divine revelation. 1. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." The fact that he rested on that particular day made it the rest-day, or Sabbath day of the Lord. 2. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work." The sanctification of the day of his rest separated it, or set it apart from the "six working days," making all future seventh days a memorial of the one on which God rested. 3. This is the day that he has commanded all men to remember and keep holy, not doing their own work upon it. Man is to rest on that day, because that God rested on it. "After making all things in six days, he 'rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day [i. e., the day of his rest], and sanctified it." All this is worthy of a God, and yet suited, or I might say, because it is suited to the capacity of a child. Reader, will you honor the word of the Lord, rather than the silly and blasphemous sophisms by which men attempt to set it aside. Encouraging.
By John Norton Loughborough
As we are about to go to press, we learn by private letters from Washington Territory that Bro. Van Horn has pitched the tent in Waitsburg some sixteen or eighteen miles from Walla Walla, and that there is a prospect of good success there. Bro. Healy writes that those who embraced the truth in Lake Co., Cal., last winter, are holding on and keeping up their regular Sabbath meetings. A letter from Bro. Hicks just received confirms the same. He says, "A few Sabbath-keepers of us up here (Guenoc) and at Lower Lake have Sabbath meetings every Sabbath, I can't say that it is attended with that degree of interest that I would like to see, but I hope to see a change for the better soon. We need some one of our preachers to preach to us." You shall have a call soon, and then those who wish baptism can attend to it. J. N. L. Missionary Department.
By John Norton Loughborough
"Philip saith unto him, Come and see." John 1:46. WE claim, as a people, to have a well-defined and special work to perform. It is to proclaim to the world the message of the third angel, Rev. 14:9-12, which message is to ripen the harvest of the earth. Ripening the harvest is fitting the receiver for translation, while those who reject the truth by which they might be prepared for translation, are hardened in sin by which they are fitted for destruction. The ripening of the harvest of the earth is a work to be performed not simply in our own nation, or in our own neighborhood, but it is a work to be accomplished for all the nations of the earth. So this work is spoken of in Rev. 10, in these words: "Thou must prophesy again before many nations and peoples and tongues and kings." Those who have the light of these truths have responsibilities placed upon them which they should not lightly regard. If we as a people realize our position and responsibilities, we shall take hold with a burning zeal, and unflagging energy to push these precious truths to earth's remotest bounds. We look with interest on those special providences of God that are preparing the way for the rapid spread of the message among the nations of the earth, and with true gratitude we should praise God that he has moved his faithful servants to prepare works in the various languages, to meet the increasing demand of the times. All cannot labor in foreign tongues, but each in the language that he can use, and in the sphere in which he moves, should be sure he is doing his work faithfully and well. With our present facilities and our organization of T. and M. Societies, every soul can do something. Tracts, pamphlets, books, and papers, written by humble faithful men, with patient study and many prayers, are fitted to the hand of those who wish to carry the truth. A good work can now be accomplished by those who themselves have not the ability to speak in defense of the truth, but who have wisdom to hand out the right tract, book, or paper, at the right time. There are still some persons among the Seventh-day Adventists who cannot trust the written truth to the perusal of the candid reader, unless they have first displayed their own talent in arguing, using the truth as a goad; and have made their auditor feel their superiority by driving him whom they would convince into a corner, and making him feel, if they do not plainly tell him, "you are cornered." Thus they arouse opposition and prejudice, and, very likely, getting badly excited themselves, so mar the truth they handle that those with whom they have conversed will remember more of their way of arguing than of the precious truth they tried to present. Seventh-day Adventists, as a people, protest against that mode of procedure, and have a more excellent way to recommend. Let those who would do good, cultivate in their hearts, more and more, a love for souls, a desire for the salvation of perishing mortals around them. Pray earnestly to God in secret for those you would approach with the truth. Seek wisdom to approach them aright, and let your words be few and well chosen. Study to know their condition of mind, their prejudices, circumstances, and belief. Select such reading matter as is adapted to their circumstance. As soon as occasion offers pray with and for them. Let your deportment be such that they will ever see and know that you have more desire for them to lead lives of obedience to God than to turn them to mere theories of truth. Do not place in their hands too much reading matter at once. It is better to begin on some one point of truth, as the millennium, the coming of Christ, or the signs of the times, and follow it up from time to time with such works as will meet objections arising in their minds. I have heard of a brother who has been very successful in tract and paper distribution, who makes it a special point to argue with no one who rises up in opposition, but, instead, he places in his hands a work treating upon his peculiar objection, with a kind request that he read it. The result has been excellent thus far, and it always will be when such a course is taken. Let each one, as he goes out to his daily vocations where he expects to meet with opportunities to distribute reading matter, carefully select papers and tracts on the various subjects. The papers can be passed out to almost any one as each one contains a variety of matter. Perhaps you meet one who can't see why you should keep the seventh day, or who thinks the New Testament sustains Sunday-keeping. Which day and why? Elihu, or Seven Reasons for Sunday-keeping, are just to the point. So from time to time as you meet the same person you may find new objections arising in his mind, but remember these objections are all answered in our tracts and books. May we all have wisdom to use these instrumentalities placed within our reach. Responsibility rests upon us to use the means God has provided for us. Shall we be faithful in the discharge of our duties, and act our part in the special work for this time? Scatter the Tracts.
By H. I. F.
Too MUCH cannot be said upon the judicious distribution of tracts, especially at the present time. The minds of the people everywhere are being prepared to investigate the truth for these last days. Scores of cases might be cited to show the vast importance of this work which prepares the mind to receive the truth, especially when they can hear the living preacher. One case I will mention of a brother who was away from home on a visit on the fourth of July last, when he happened to pick up a tract on the Sabbath question. It arrested his attention and led him to search his Bible on the subject. In a short time in the providence of God the tent was pitched in the place where he resided. And ere the Sabbath question was fairly canvassed he heartily embraced it. This illustrates the cases of many and by it we can see how it aids in the work, to scatter the tracts. This too, is a work we can all engage in, and with the blessing of God can accomplish something, however weak we are, which will aid in spreading the light and truth. If in the Judgment it appears that in any way we have lent a helping hand in saving precious souls, we shall not have lived in vain. And does it not give us more joy than anything of an earthly nature to see precious souls embrace the truth in the love of it? Then let us each labor on in our humble sphere, praying that our labors may be blessed to the good of some souls for whom Jesus died, and we be prepared to hear from the lips of our adorable Redeemer, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.—H. I. F., in True Missionary for September. Woodland, Red Bluff, and Stockton.
By John Norton Loughborough
According to appointment in the Signs, I was with the church in Woodland, May 1 and 2, and was pleased to see a goodly number who had embraced the truth during Bro. Waggoner's recent meetings. Most of these have already united with the Woodland church. One more was voted in while I was there. The brethren and sisters appear to be much encouraged and strengthened by the labors of Bro. Waggoner, and the visit and discourses of sister White. I spoke five times during my two days' meeting, and held one business session. There was one thing I was sorry to see on the part of two or three, who have for some time professed the truth, that is a disposition to set up their peculiar feelings against the judgment of the church, and against the judgment of the ministers, as well as against the counsel of those who have stood long for the truth. To see a few such, charging these old hands of "setting up idols in their hearts," simply because they advise that which in the sincerity of their souls they believe will tend to promote harmony in the worship of God in Woodland, does not look like Paul's advice of submission to one another. If people cannot see everything as others do, it does not look like the work of the Spirit of God for them to fly off at once and refuse to meet with the people God. I fear such moves result from too high a regard for ones individual opinions instead of true humility. I trust all such will see themselves in this trial and learn thereby. Bro. H. C. Yerbey, director of district No. 5, having disposed of his property at Woodland, and being about to move away, tendered his resignation as director of that district. Bro. Geo. Martin of Woodland was nominated and elected to act as director, subject however to the action of the next State quarterly meeting. At Red Bank, May 8, 9, I spoke three times and held one business meeting, for the T. and M. Society of district No. 6, and also a meeting to celebrate the ordinances. Several who had been reading the Signs with interest for a few months past came eleven miles and stayed through all our meetings. At the close of the meeting on Sunday one of these, a sister, decided to obey the Lord. We baptized her, and she was received as a member of the Red Bluff Church. So we see still more fruit of missionary effort, especially in distributing the Signs. Don't slack your efforts, brethren and sisters, for you know not which shall prosper, this or that, or whether both shall be alike good. The evening of May 11 and 12, I was with Bro. Canright in the tent at Stockton, and spoke each evening to good attentive audiences. The interest is increasing in the meetings. Although the tent has been in Stockton only about three weeks, twelve have come out firmly on the truth, and others are almost persuaded. So the good work progresses. Bro. Waggoner will probably join Bro. Canright to-morrow to assist in the good begun work. News from the Field.
By Editor
A SWEDISH brother from Neosho Co., Kansas, writes: "I am thankful that your paper was recommended to me about a year ago. It led me to search the Bible, to see whether the Sabbath had been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week. My search for evidence of a change was in vain. I have been keeping the Sabbath now about a year, and there are eight of us in all who have accepted the seventh day as a rest-day, and we meet every Sabbath to meditate on God's word. We wish to be remembered in the prayers of the brethren. We are poor. Our crops failed last summer through drouth, chintzbugs, and grasshoppers." Elder Charles Lee reports among the Swedes that seven have embraced the truth at Lake Crystal, Minn. A brother named Lindblad who received the truth over a year ago, has been laboring in the cause and reports that eight have taken hold of the truth. Also a brother Lasson reports that under his labors several have resolved to obey the truth. The following letter received from Sweden is of interest:— "DEAR BRETHREN IN AMERICA: You have made our hearts glad by calling our attention to these precious truths. We are living in a country where superstition and ceremonies prevail to the greatest extent; and where the truth is kept from the people. I stand here alone, with the sword of truth in my hand. There are hundreds of sinners about me; and many cry, 'Come over and help us.' I have now been preaching till my family suffer for want of means to live upon, and as the higher authorities are watching me, I have no help to keep me up. I am obliged to work with my hands to support my sickly wife and six children between the times that I seek poor, perishing souls. God will help me. Oh! that some of the brethren in America could come over and help us! Please send us the Harold and tracts, that the people may read; for many are searching for light and express a great desire to read your publications. The people are so hungry for the word of God that, though they have to wade through the snow-drifts, they fill the largest room that I can get to hold meetings in. May God bless all the dear brethren that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Bro. S. H. Lane reports interesting meetings in Indiana. At Bunker Hill, Miami Co., where the tent was pitched last summer, eight were baptized April 11. The work is prospering in Indiana.23 Elders E. B. Lane and J. O. Corliss write from Pine Run, Mich., as follows:— "The interest here still deepens. We had our first Sabbath meeting with this people last Sabbath. Forty-five were present; some new ones kept it. Listened to, and reviewed, a second opposition discourse on the Sabbath question, yesterday. By public request, we did not take up our appointment during the opposition discourse, as usual. Both churches were well filled at the same time; and when the evening review came, our large, 40x60 feet church was densely packed. The aisles, which had been seated with loose seats, were filled, and many remained standing. The minister was present, and probably there was never a greater stir here than now. We hope for much good." Eld. Cornell reports that he is in the midst of a course of lectures in Quincy, Mich., with some prospect of success. A letter to the Review from Bro. J. R. Purinton, of Madison Co., Ohio, contains the following interesting words:— "I feel thankful to my God first, and then to you, for the light I have received through the publications you have sent me. Before I received them, I often sought in vain to solve what I thought to be the terrible mysteries of the book of Daniel, the Revelation, and other prophecies. I have asked learned men, and pastors of churches to explain some of these mysteries to me. I asked them because I sought for knowledge, but I asked in vain. Sorrow fills my heart near unto breaking to hear teachers in Israel proclaim a part of God's holy Bible a mystery, because they, blind leaders, have been led by the blind, and have not searched deep enough into the great mine of religious knowledge to discover the precious gold. Since I have read your publications, my eyes have been opened to see and understand that all "Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." I thank thee, O God, that in the light of the present truth all mysteries vanish. The seals are broken; the scales are falling from the eyes of God's people; the mysteries have become light; for the time has come for us to read, understand, and know, that the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. My father writes me from West Virginia, saying that he has received the publications you sent him, both books and the Review and Herald. He is reading them carefully, he says, for no other purpose than to know the truth. He is deeply interested in them. Some of his neighbors are also reading them with some interest." "Lost for want of a word!"
Fallen among thieves and dying;
Priests and Levites passing
The place where he is lying,
He is too faint to call,
Too far off to be heard;
There are those beside life's highway
Lost for want of a word! "Lost for want of a word!"
All in the black night straying
Among the mazes of thought;
False lights ever betraying;
Oh, that a human voice
The mirky darkness had stirred!
Lost and benighted forever!
Lost for want of a word! "Lost for want of a word!"
Too high, it may be, and noble,
To be ever checked in his sin,
Or led to Christ in his trouble.
No one boldly and truly
To show him where he has erred—
Poor handful of dust and ashes!
Lost for want of a word! "!Lost for want of a word!"
A word that you might have spoken;
Who knows what eyes may be dim,
Or what hearts may be aching or broken?
Go, scatter beside all waters,
Nor sicken at hope deferred;
Let never a soul, by thy dumbness,
Be lost for want of a word! Instruction.
By John Norton Loughborough
In former numbers we gave some instructions to District Secretaries, Librarians, and Business Agents, respecting keeping their cash books, but we have not said all we designed to say. The cash account of the District Secretary concerns all T. and M. documents received by the district from the President. The Secretary opens an account with each church in his district, making that church Dr. to tracts, pamphlets, and other T. and M. documents furnished to that church by the director from the President. This account is furnished to the Secretary at the same time the documents are dealt out by the director. On the Cr. page of that church is made an entry of all money received for memberships, donations to T. M. Society, or for book sales in that church. Thus far the account of the district may not balance at all. The cash book of the District Secretary should contain also an account of all the credit business of the SIGNS, or our periodicals at Battle Creek, so entered that it can be readily told, at any time the director may have occasion to examine the book, how much that district owes each office. When money is paid to the director on SIGNS, or Eastern periodicals, he should report at once to the Secretary so that the Secretary can make an entry upon his cash book of the amount for SIGNS or for Battle Creek periodicals, to the credit of that church. The account on periodicals should be balanced at the time of the district quarterly meeting. That portion of money belonging to the SIGNS office, should be paid at the State quarterly meeting, so as to be placed on the office books to the credit of the respective district. That belonging on periodicals at Battle Creek should be paid to the State Treasurer of the T. and M. Society, so as to be forwarded to Battle Creek, and placed there to the credit of the Cal. T. and M. Society. At the same time that each district pays to the State Treasury their indebtedness on periodicals at Battle Creek, let them report the same to our State Secretary so that the amount can be placed to the credit of the respective district on the State Secretary's cash book. Reports.
By John Norton Loughborough
WHILE I was in the SIGNS office I kept account of what each district did in obtaining subscribers. Since leaving the office my attention has been taken up with other matters. Those in charge of the business affairs of the office were not sufficiently familiar with our district lines to make an accurate report each week and so that branch of reports has been dropped. I would say, however, that our brethren have not ceased their efforts to obtain subscribers. Some earnest workers are sending in names from time to time. We hope to see a more earnest taking hold of this matter on the part of all, then we shall soon have good material for reports again in this direction. J. N. L. Oakland.
By John Norton Loughborough
Sabbath and first-day, May 15 and 16, at 11 A. M. of each day, I had meetings with the Oakland church. On Sabbath I spoke to them of the object to be accomplished by proper order in the church, and how a church should move to be indeed a house of God, and grow into "a holy temple in the Lord." First-day at 11 A. M., we met and organized the church. Some forty members united together to form the church, and more will unite soon. Bro. D. B. Rickey was elected elder and John I. Tay, Deacon, and these were immediately ordained to these important offices, Bro. Geo. Manuel was elected church clerk.