THE apostle Paul instructs Timothy to avoid "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." As we live in a very scientific age, doubtless this instruction applies with as much force, as when it was first penned. The apostle indeed predicted that in "the last days" there would be a class "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Perhaps it will not be unprofitable to notice some of these oppositions of science which are current at the present day, and show that they are falsely so called.
1. We take the Lord's Sabbath as an example. The Sabbath was made for man, (Mark ii, 27,) and to man was given the habitable world for his dwelling place. Ps. cxv, 16. But science, falsely so called, has undertaken to prove it impossible for the Sabbath to be kept in different localities. It has discovered that the earth is round and turns on its axis every day, a fact that the Creator is supposed to be ignorant of, when at the close of his creative work, he sanctified the Sabbath for man. That this opposition is falsely so called appears from the fact, that if the earth did not move at all, there would be no succession of days—one side of the earth would be constantly in the light of the sun, while the other would be in constant darkness. It would be more difficult, in that case, to tell when the seventh-day came, than it is under the existing arrangement. Another thing that proves its falsity is, that it presents no obstacle to the observance of the first day of the week the world over.
All real science is in harmony with the teachings of the Bible. Hence science presents nothing that is really in opposition to revelation; the assumption that it does is false. How vainly have men tried to array science against the resurrection of the dead—a prominent doctrine of the sacred word. How learnedly have infidels talked of the possible and probable changes of the scattered particles of human dust, and then come to the impious as well as absurd conclusion that it is out of the power of Him who gave us being to bring us up again from the dead.
Closely allied to this is the position which some professed Christians take to prove the anti-scriptural doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul. Mr. Lee, in his work on the "Immortality of the Soul," asserts that "there can be no resurrection, unless the soul maintains its conscious existence during the interim" between death and the resurrection. He says, "We insist, then, that there can be no resurrection, if the mind does not live after the death of the body, to preserve a continuous being, whose consciousness shall extend back to the commencement of being." p. 108. Again, "As identity or personal sameness does not depend on the presence of the same particles of matter, but upon the sameness of mind, there can be no resurrection which will link the post-mortem being on to the ante-mortem being, without preserving consciousness during the period that elapses between death and the resurrection."
To this class of reasoners, as well as to infidels and Sadducees, is applicable the saying, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." Why should it be thought a thing incredible with them that God should raise the dead? Job asked the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" These philosophers answer it as follows: If he dies indeed, so that he ceases to think, it is impossible; but if he does not die, he may live again. If Mr. Lee is correct when he says, "It is the mind that constitutes the man," then when man dies, the mind dies; and this the Scriptures affirm: "Man dieth."
It is a pretty bold assertion, that God cannot restore consciousness of identity after it has ceased; but this is the position. It would be outrageously blasphemous, if it was not founded upon science. But when the profoundest reasoning, founded on scientific facts, leads to such sublime conclusions, who will blame a man for giving utterance to them, although it should contradict the word of Him who "raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them?"
But that this opposition of science is falsely so called, will readily appear, when we descend from the giddy hights of a soaring imagination, and look a little while calmly to the real incidents which are almost daily coming within the observation of those, who, for the want of wings, walk upon the surface of the earth. There are thousands of persons now living, who, from various causes, have been rendered totally unconscious for a space of time, some longer, some shorter, so that that period is an utter blank to them; and they can remember what took place before, and what has occurred since, and are perfectly conscious of their identity. This simple fact upsets the whole theory which is founded upon the necessity of preserving a continued consciousness of being, in order to a recognition of identity in the resurrection. If this consciousness of being can be interrupted for five minutes, without destroying the identity, it may for five days, five months or five thousand years. To object that these persons have never been dead, and that their physical organization was not destroyed will avail nothing; for, according to this philosophy, the immaterial spirit is independent of matter for its existence, and "conscious identity and responsibility do not depend upon the presence of205the same particles of matter, but upon sameness of mind; it is the mind that constitutes the man." Mr. Lee says, "The mind is not, and cannot be conscious of the presence of the same particles of matter at different periods." Hence he argues that to "establish the fact of a future existence, which shall involve the responsibilities of this life, the chain of consciousness, which is the only sure proof of identity, must be maintained unbroken between our present and future existence. To maintain this connecting link of conscious identity between our present and future existence, the soul or mind must maintain a conscious existence after the body is dead, and during the whole period of the intermediate state."
The facts to which I have referred, prove that the "chain of consciousness" can be, and frequently is broken in this life, and conscious identity restored; hence it is not a thing impossible with God to raise the dead, even if they are dead between death and the resurrection; though Mr. Lee and others may assert the contrary with all the boldness and positiveness of conscious infallibility.
What is the difference between the assertion of the open infidel, that it is impossible for God to raise the body, and that of the professed Christian, that He cannot restore the mind to its consciousness, in case it should cease to think? If there is a difference, which is the most insulting to the majesty of the Most High? One is open infidelity, the other is—what? Beware, dear reader, of a doctrine which leads its advocates, for want of Bible evidence, to limit the power of the Holy One of Israel. There is but one step between this and the rankest spiritualism, though they may not be aware of it. Let no man spoil you through philosophy and science falsely so called.
R. F. COTTRILL.
A Correction
By T. M. Preble
A CORRECTION.—There is an error in my argument on the Sabbath question, which I wish to correct. It is found in the Crisis of March 1, page 94, near the close, where it is said that the phrase, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," originated with Christ. This is not so, as the same is found in Lev. xix, 18.
T. M. PREBLE—in World's Crisis.
Notice.
By Editor
ELDERS J. N. Loughborough and J. N. Andrews will labor in the State of Michigan during the month of June. Their first appointments are as follows:
Monterey, Sabbath May 28th, Wright, Sabbath and first-day June 4th and 5th.
JOHN BYINGTON,
G. W. AMADON,
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, } Gen. Conf. Committee.
To the Brethren in N. Y.
By John Nevins Andrews
You will understand from the above notice that I remain in this State for a season by direction of the general conference committee. I now expect to resume labor in the State of N. Y. in the early part of July. It is my purpose to visit in order those churches in N. Y. that stand in need of assistance, and who desire me to visit them. This has been my business since the State conference at Adams' Center, in November last. The central and western parts of the State have necessarily taken up all my time until the meeting of the General Conference. I can say with safety that considerable good has been accomplished in the above named field of labor. It is my purpose next to visit the eastern and northern portions of the State wherever it may be proper that I should labor and to continue in each place as long as duty may demand. Those therefore who have any requests to make concerning the above named proposition will please address me immediately, Rochester, N. Y. Box 648.
I would add that providential circumstances have for the present cast our lot in Rochester. As our home is no longer at Kirkville, I esteem it a privilege to express our gratitude to the brethren and sisters of that place for their great kindness to us during our residence there, and especially for their care for us during the period of our affliction. J. N. ANDREWS.
Battle Creek, May 23, 1864.
Tobacco - Using. No. 2.
God made man upright—in his own image; but he has sought out many inventions. Fallen and degraded as man now is, there comes with the fall no moral necessity for his adding to his degradation by low and indecent violations of the laws of his physical nature. He has no occasion for dissatisfaction with his natural appetites, while they are rightly treated and kept within due indulgence. All his natural appetites are right in themselves, and, while treated rightly, will all contribute to true happiness and health. It is from undue indulgence of natural appetites, and the creating and fostering of those wholly foreign to his nature, that disease, and suffering, and premature death, are brought on.
Men seem to think they must have, however unnatural and unpromising to health it may be, some one, at least, favorite indulgence. And tobacco-using has become, to the vast majority of men, that favorite. Instead of studying the true economy of life, calculating their highest earthly interests, and trusting in the unabused resources of nature for the enjoyment of life, they madly seek to make themselves happy by indulgences which are unnatural, uncongenial to the constitution, and bring on early old age, and a premature grave.
The remark is often made, in reference to this habit, as well as in multiplied other instances, "I want to enjoy life while I do live:" as much as to say, "The God of nature has given us such meagre natural resources of happiness, that it becomes necessary for us to get up artificial means,—means contrary to nature, and in direct conflict with the law of Deity revealed in the human constitution." How foolish men are to indulge the idea that they can excel the skill of the Almighty in establishing ways and means of human happiness!
While men are resorting to such agents in securing the desired ends of life, they are digging away, most effectually, the underpinning of the house they live in; so that, though it may stand to-day, looking as though it would remain safe a hundred years to come, to-morrow it falls with fearful crash, because the last stone that bore it up is torn away. Nature will bear abuse as long as she can, without complaint; but by and by she will utter groans of agony, and cease to maintain her equilibrium. That man is insane who indulges the idea of increasing his amount of happiness in this life, by seeking to do it at the expense of the true resources of Nature.
The Creator has supplied, even to this fallen world, abundant resources for the comfort and happiness of man. He has caused the earth to bring forth plentifully its rich fruits, to supply him with the most healthful nutrition to support his vitality. He has also given a natural appetite for these fruits; so that while they give strength and vigor, they also give pleasure to his physical tastes,—while he is delighting his taste in their luxuriousness, he is supporting life.
But when he resorts to tobacco, or any other unnatural thing, to add to the enjoyment of human life, he is actually diminishing it. While he resorts to this, he is doing violence to his natural instincts; and those instincts, thus mutilated and crushed, become gradually paralysed and insensible; so that they can no longer rightly appreciate the true luxuries which the Creator has furnished for our comfort and benefit. The most delicious fruits, which so delight the unabused natural taste, become to the tobacco-user comparatively stale and tasteless. The real enjoyment to be derived from them is less, because that deadly weed has weakened the sensibility of his natural appetites.
Besides impairing our natural physical tastes, it deadens our natural mental tastes. The Author of nature has furnished abundant resources of beauty for the delight of the mind, through the optic, auditory, and olfactory avenues. But this deadly narcotic stifles their perceptive and discriminating powers. A profound worshiper of this demon weed is less able to appreciate any beauty in the flowery field, the harmony of voices, or the odor of natural perfumery. His susceptibilities to these divinely instituted luxuries of human life, are oppressed and benumbed. He makes an exchange of these heaven-born delights, for that loathsome, inconvenient, and sub-brutish violation of nature.
While the natural sensibilities of the unmarcotized man are awake to the variegated beauties furnished by the different kingdoms of nature, the tobacco-user's chief delight is confined to puffing and champing the dirty plug, and spitting in all directions its abominable fluids. While the one is feasting on the rich luxuries which Heaven has spread over earth, the other, a bond-slave, is working hard at the tobacco-mill, grinding the weed, expressing its juice, and spreading its odor, and essence upon everything within its reach.
The drunkard drinks because he wants to enjoy himself. He, too, wants to live while he does live. And if he indulges only with moderate drunkenness, he is not wasting as rapidly his true resources of life and comfort, as he who gluts himself with that more deadly poison, tobacco. He uses an article which burns up the vital powers by its stimulus merely. But tobacco besides possessing a burning power by virtue of its stimulus, continually deadens and paralyzes the vital energies of the body by its narcotic properties.
If a man possessing a large fortune should squander it in costly entertainments and extravagant enjoyments, till he had reduced himself to poverty and beggary, would he not label himself, in the eyes of all who knew him, a consummate fool? And is he less a fool who is guilty of squandering property of higher value than oceans of gold, which Providence has cast into his hands? What sane man will waste the vital properties of his nature, destroy his health, and make himself a miserable sufferer for the rest of life? Who squanders the greater wealth, and who the greater fool, he who squanders silver and gold, houses and lands, or he who treats with shameless wantonness the life and health which God has given him?
If man would pay the same respect to his own instincts which the dumb animals are accustomed to do,—if he would behave himself with as much propriety in this respect as the brute creation, he would save himself from vast suffering. If he would follow the example of the brute, in scorning the taste of this deadly poisonous vegetable, he would elevate his own dignity. But, in using it, he degrades himself below the level of the brute. He takes that into his mouth which the brute creation, as a standing rule, will not eat. There are but three kinds of animals which generally will taste it. The Rock Goat of Africa, whose stench is so insufferable that no other animal can approach it, the Tobacco Worm, whose intolerable image gives to every beholder an involuntary shudder, and one other sort of non-descript animal, whose tobacco froth-ings and spittings defile his own visage, bespatter and bedaub everything within his reach; who besmudges and pollutes the atmosphere with his nauseous fumigations, and whose Stygian breath seems to denote approximation to some bottomless pit.
Tobacco is a narcotic stimulant. Its character, in this respect, resembles that of opium, but possesses greater power in the same form. It gives an unhealthy stimulus to the nervous system, which is followed by a narcotic or deadening influence. Its narcotic and paralyzing power is not easily discerned while its stimulus is kept up; nor is the re-acting and debilitating influence of alcohol detected while some degree of its intoxication is continued. But let any one, long accustomed to the stimulus of tobacco, cease to use it for forty-eight hours, and he will probably have a fair view of its narcotic and destroying power. The whole nervous system will be found prostrated; the power of muscular exertion greatly diminished; the mind exceedingly deranged and prostrated; the memory gone; the disposition disturbed. In short, the whole man is found in a debilitated, deranged, topsy-turvy condition, which defies description. Here may be seen the power of this destroying angel upon the body, soul, and spirit, by its narcotic properties.
It gradually supplants the vital energies of the body. Natural vitality is being driven out, and the narcotic stimulus of tobacco is taking its place. Genuine vitality is being dispersed and wasted, and a counterfeit is being furnished. Instead of a healthy electric fluid circulating throughout the nerves,—instead of a healthy vital force pervading the nervous system,—there is found the deadly narcotic power of this poison, sending its exciting and paralyzing influence into every nerve of the body.
This is a perversion of Divine law. As before said, Nature bears ill-treatment without murmuring as long as she can, so that the user of this poison verily flatters himself that it is harmless. He goes on destroying his native vitality, and supplying this counterfeit, to which he has become so strongly attached; feeling the glow of hourly excitement which it gives, without perceiving the waste going on in his natural vitality, till Nature, no longer able to bear abuse, bows down under her cruel load. And even then, such is the blinding nature of this infernal charm, that the sufferer does not perhaps perceive the true cause of this wreck of health, but tries to quiet himself under the Heaven-insulting idea that this is a visitation of Providence.
By way of proving that tobacco drives out natural vitality, as just stated, let the use of it be discontinued a few days, and he will soon find his vital energies weakened; and if a large consumer, he will find them exceedingly prostrated. His natural energies of life and of mind will be so far prostrated, that he will be ready to conclude that his very continuance in life depends upon his return to the deadly thing; and though he may have supposed his resolution to quit it to be strong, there are nine chances in ten that, like the dog, he will return to his vomit again.
Its work of destruction on the powers of life, as before remarked, is generally unperceived. If it would kill men suddenly, with as much certainty as it is killing them gradually, they would be frightened into its disuse. But, though gradual in its work of ruin, it kills as truly as though its first touch was death.
Tobacco as truly intoxicates the brain and nerves as does alcohol. The word "intoxicate" is derived from two Greek words, en and toxon; the toxon was an arrow dipped in poison, to render its wound more certainly fatal. He who had received this into his flesh was intoxicated. He, too, who receives any other poison into his system, has a measure of intoxication proportioned to its power and quantity. Tobacco being a more powerful poison than any other used by the known world as a luxury, it therefore more powerfully intoxicates the system than any other. Though it is not now pushed to an extent which results in immediate insanity, like alcohol, yet its tendency is that way; and the habit of depending on its intoxicating properties is more steadfast, unremitting, and unconquerable.
The more inveterate the poison habitually used, the more powerful are its chains binding to slavery. Those who have been addicted habitually to alcohol and tobacco, and have quit them both, will uniformly testify that it was almost infinitely more difficult to conquer the latter than the former.
The degree of morbid excitement which it produces is not generally known. The smoking of a single cigar will create such a degree of fever as to increase the number of the pulse from fifteen to twenty beats in a minute. The pulse which beats naturally seventy strokes per minute will be increased to eighty-five or ninety. Such, too, is the effect of chewing. No man can be constantly provoking such a febrile action of his system, without gradually exhausting the forces of physical life.
Objection is sometimes raised against the proof of its poisonous power, on the ground that men live under its use to old age. So, too, some live to old age who have kept themselves literally pickled in alcoholic liquor. Some have lived to advanced age who were habitual opium-eaters. Do these instances prove the habitual use of opium and alcohol to insure health and longevity? They only prove the native strength and firmness of their natural constitutions; and enhance the guilt of those whose habits show a disregard for the possession of such blessings. The habit of using this article tends to lessen its immediately perceptible effect. But what is the true philosophy of this? How is it that a man by habit can use such a quantity, and not kill himself outright? The answer presents a fearful truth. It is this: the habit of using it tends to stupefy and paralyze the immediate sensibility of the nervous system to its properties. The more it is used, the less vivid are the nervous susceptibilities to it. And that deadening process is going on as long as the tobacco shall continue to be used. And in the latter part of life, if not before, its deadly workings will more clearly develop themselves in local diseases, or in the form of a broken constitution.
Nature's feelers after danger, set to watch day and night for her safety, become stupid and insensible, by being long drugged with narcotics. Her physical perceptions are comparatively destroyed. They lie prostrate and trodden under foot of her assassins. Their voice is hushed, and the destroyers riot undetected, till her habitation is demolished; and she, ravished of her virtue and her pride, is abandoned to wantonness and ruin.
The habitual use of any poison will produce analogous results. Habitual opium-eaters so overcome the susceptibility of the nervous system to an immediate recognition of the narcotic power of this drug, that they only perceive its stimulating properties, and verily think they are made better by its use. So, too, persons may for a long time continue taking arsenic, till they can bear a quantity that would destroy the life of two or three persons, who should divide the same quantity between them for a first dose.
In like manner as the continuance in crime tends to stupefy the conscience, so the continuance of poisons to the body blunts its susceptibility to impressions. Want of conscience, or its obtuseness by oft-repeated crime, does not relieve the weight of real guilt; nor do oft-repeated poisons to the body diminish their intrinsic power. Though unseen for a time, their inundating forces upon the foundation of health and life will finally manifest themselves; and perhaps too late to make amends.
Many chewers of tobacco take enough every day to kill any three men who never used it before, if compelled to use it in the same way for the same time. Take one man's twenty-four hours quantum, cut it into three equal parts, and give them to three men, compelling them to use the article in the same way, and they would all be, within twenty-four hours, dead men. Although men paralyze the susceptibility of their nerves to its perceptible power, yet its poison is there, and takes permanent lodgment in the system. The habit of using it does not lessen its really poisonous property, but only the susceptibility of the nerves to take cognizance of its presence and destructive potency.
The use of tobacco, as already stated, not only strikes a deadly blow on the nerves, but sends its essences throughout all the fluids of the body. The tobacco flavor, denoting the presence of its essential properties, can be detected in the blood taken from a tobacco-user's veins. Every drop of blood that passes through his heart, that circulates through his arteries, and flows back through his veins, is flavored and impregnated with the essence of this offensive drug. And from this tobacconized blood the secretions of the various glands and membranes of the whole body are made; so that every drop of the fluids of the whole system becomes saturated with the foul tincture.
Tobacco is not only carried with the circulating fluids, but into all the solids. In proof of this, it is an incontrovertible fact that the race of human beings called cannibals—from their habit of eating human flesh—detect in the flesh of tobacco-users, by the flavor and the taste, the presence of the article, and cast that flesh aside, as unfit for their use. The reputation of human flesh, among cannibals, therefore, is destroyed by being tobacconized.
The use of the article would destroy, also, the reputation of the hog fatted for pork. Let a farmer bring his pork to market; and on being asked how it was fatted, if he should say, "Fatted chiefly on tobacco," no man of sense—not even the tobacco-chewer or smoker himself—would purchase the pork. Such would be the intuitive perception of the unavoidable tobacconization of the flesh thus fatted, that every one would reject it, at any price, as unfit for market.
(To be continued.)
Quarterly Meeting at Hundred-Mile Grove,
By N. M. Jordon
Wisconsin.
BRO. WHITE: This meeting was held according to appointment May 7 and 8. Notwithstanding the wet weather and muddy roads, we had a very good attendance. We were disappointed in not having a messenger to preach to us. However the Lord blessed us and gave us one of the most interesting meetings we ever enjoyed.
All expressed warm attachment to the great truths of the third message, and manifested a determination to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Warm and soul-stirring testimonies were given. There was living and lively faith in the hearts of God's people at this meeting.
In the afternoon of the Sabbath we attended to the ordinances of the Lord's house. It was a profitable season. While we partook of the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, there was a sweet spirit of love and unity seemed to rest down upon us.
At the close of this season we unanimously covenanted with one another and with the Lord that we would pray more and live nearer to the Lord.
In the evening we attended to our S. B. pledges which were all promptly paid amounting to about $40.
On first-day we met and staked off the ground for a meeting house and then let out the building of the house to Bro. Taber who is to build the same by the first of September 1864.
Yours in hope.
Lodi, Wis.
WM. K. LOUGHBOROUGH
By John Norton Loughborough
From Bro. Loughborough.
Bro. White : I would express my gratitude to the Lord for what he is doing for me and my family, and for what he is doing for the church in Western N. Y. The church here is rising and coming up to the work. We have established a circuit, that we can meet together each Sabbath in the month ; the first at Rochester ; the second, our monthly meeting ; the third, at Fairport ; the fourth, at Victor. The Lord is blessing the labors of his children. Two weeks ago last Sabbath, Bro. Andrews was with us at Victor ; and as the result of his labors here, our dear father Norton confessed the Sabbath, and is now keeping it with us, happy in God. He is another fireside preacher, for which the Lord be praised. Our dear brother, J. N. Loughborough, called on his way to the Conference, and preached to us one evening, and our hearts were made glad to see and hear him once more. We had a good gathering, notwithstanding it rained.
The cause is also prospering in Fairport. Bro. A. spent two Sabbaths with us there. One (Bro. Sadden)207has embraced the truth, and we believe others will follow. At our last monthly meeting at Bro. Lamson's, in Hamlin, the Lord worked for us in a powerful manner. There were but a few brethren and sisters there, on account of a great rain-storm ; but the Lord verified his promise to us, to meet with two or three. There was a general breaking down of all that were there, and a reaching out after faith and a full consecration to the Lord of all we have and are. The good Lord blessed us abundantly. Bro. Lamson's youngest daughter made a start to go with the remnant to mount Zion. May the Lord bless her, and keep her from falling under the tempter's cruel power.
May the Lord prepare us for the work that is before us, that we may be in our place, and not be stumbling-blocks in the way of others, but found reaping when the Lord of the harvest comes.
WM. K. LOUGHBOROUGH
Report from Bro. Sanborn.
By Isaac Sanborn
BRO. WHITE: Pursuant to appointment, I met with the church at Avon, and enjoyed several good seasons with them, and had freedom in preaching the word to them. This church has never been in a better condition than now, to work and let their light shine, and I trust they will make proper use of the means and circumstances to do so.
Met also with the few brethren in Dayton for the first time, as they came out under Bro. Goodenough's preaching about one year ago. Here also I had liberty in preaching the truth. One decided to obey the truth, and with six others was baptized. This little company are trying to press their way on to mount Zion.
Met also with the church at Oakland, and enjoyed a good, refreshing time with them. One was baptized. These brethren show that they have a mind to work in this great cause, as they have a meeting-house up and covered, which will be finished by fall, when they hope to have some one come and hold a protracted meeting, which I think without doubt would be a great help to them.
ISAAC SANBORN.
Oakland, Wis.
Note from Bro. Ingraham.
By William S. Ingraham
We are having some prosperity in Monroe, Wis. One more has just received the truth. There is not a jarring note among us. We have a Bible-class and Sabbath-school and the interest in both is increasing. Our prospect is now fair and we hope for better days.
WM. S. INGRAHAM.
Be Cheerful.
This world is not all cheerless,
As some would have us think,
Who ever are complaining,
That they are on the brink
Of some heart-rending sorrow,
Some trial dark and dire;
Their faith is melancholy,
Instead of something higher.
The life of each has sunshine,
Commingled with the shade,
And he's the true Philosopher,
Who never is afraid,
That overwhelming torrents
Of grief shall e'er arise,
To overcome his courage,
And take away his prize.
He sees in every trial,
A Father's hand displayed,
And hears his Saviour speaking,
"It is I, be not afraid."
Thus passes life serenely,
Contented with his lot,
Well knowing by his Father
He never is forgot.
Then let us never cherish,
A cold complaining tone,
Nor ever feel within us
That we are all alone.
But to our work go, trusting,
That if we sow the seed,
The harvest shall be gathered,
Though not perhaps with speed.
Perform the work with patience,
And we've the promise left
That of the fruits of labor,
We ne'er shall be bereft.
Our bread cast on the waters
Will after many days,
Return again to bless us,
And our sad hearts will raise.
Letters.
By Editor
"Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another."
This department of the paper is designed for the brethren and sisters to freely and fully communicate with each other respecting their hopes and determinations, conflicts and victories, attainments and desires, in the heavenly journey. Seek first a living experience and then record it, carefully and prayerfully, for the comfort and encouragement of the other members of the household of faith.
Empty Hands at Death
ONE of Dean Trench's sermons on the subject. "What we can and cannot carry away when we die," commences thus appositely : "Alexander the Great, being upon his death bed, commanded that when he was carried forth to his grave his hands should not be wrapped, as was usual, in the cereclothes, but should be left outside the bier, that all men might see them, and might see that they were empty."
A Child in the Midst.
By Cuyler
WHEN Christ wished to rebuke the selfish ambition of his disciples, he took a little child and "set him in the midst of them." From that child they were taught a lesson of unselfishness and humility.
So our heavenly Father now sets little children in our houses to be our teachers, as well as to be taught themselves. No home is complete without child-music to enliven it, and little faces to light up its apartments. Never was there a cottage so humble, or so meager, but that it could be made cheerful by the crow and chirrup of infant gladness. And we have seen a magnificent mansion that, with all its rosewood and velvet, its pictures and marbles, was yet sadly empty, for no crib stood in its sumptuous chambers, and no child-voice rang through its lofty halls. No house is a "furnished house" until God in his loving kindness, setteth a little child in the midst of it.
Bear in mind that the little child is placed there to teach us, their parents, as well as to be trained themselves. What lessons they impart to us, what inspirations, what exhibitions of our own faults, what spiritual discipline! They are not sinless cherubs, or they would not teach us so much; we are not sinless Adams and Eves, or else we should not so much need to be taught.
One of the first lessons they give us is in patience—a virtue that some of us are slow in acquiring. But who can teach it better than a helpless, dependent, and often wayward and exacting child? Through long, wakeful nights the peevish cry of the little sufferer means, "Bear with me, mother! I know no better. I can't help it. I can't be any lighter to carry, or any quieter under the dartings of pain's sharp needles. You must bear with me." Every year is a year of added instruction. Is the youngster slow and dull over his books? Then be patient. If it is hard to get the truth in, it will be harder to get it out. "Why do you tell that child the same thing a dozen times?" said the father of John Wesley to his persevering mother. "Because" replied the shrewd woman, "all the other eleven times will go for nothing unless I succeed at the twelfth." We do not know whether it requires more patience to get on with mercurial, quick-tempered children, or with slow-witted ones. Both require forbearance and careful handling. Both can drill us into patience. How patient God is with our willful disobedience, and ingratitude, and stubbornness! Should not we be long-suffering toward the little trespassers against parental law?
Children are more than teachers of patience and forbearance. They are household mirrors to reflect our own faults—sometimes, too, our own graces. If we wish to see how ridiculous and hateful are our ebullitions of sudden passion, we have but to look at the anger-storms of our little imitators at our own firesides. That sullen scowl was caught probably from our brows. That ill-natured snarl was the echo of our own. That revengeful blow struck at a brother may be but the rehearsal of the last angry slap we gave the lad, more in revenge than in the love of correction.
Would you see your own faults? Look at your children. They are the plates on which father and mother are photographed. Sometimes the "family likeness" is frightful. Would you see how your own desecration of the Sabbath looks? Look at your eldest son lounging down, late and ill-humored, to his tardy meal on a Sabbath morning, more keen for your daily Herald than for a preparation for the house of God. He is only photographing his father. Would you know how melodious is an oath? Listen to the young practitioner of your own profanity. When you lose temper at his spendthrift habits, remember who it was that taught him to prefer a fine coat to a fine character. Are your daughters extravagant? They but begin just where their fashion-worshipping mother leaves off; and they go commonly as much beyond her as she went beyond Christian prudence and economy. Do you get provoked at their tattle? Perhaps they caught a relish of scandal at their parents' table; perhaps they learned to coin falsehoods from your hypocrisy toward visitors, or from false messages sent through servants to the door. Childish deceit is often the mirror's reflection of parental cunning and dissimulation. Many a worldly-minded mother has seen in the mocking impenitence of a daughter the reflex of her own "lust of the eye and the pride of life." Many a David has wept over his sensual, licentious Absalom—and tears all the more bitter because he saw his own sins stereotyped in his offspring.
Believe it, O parents! that when God sets a child in the midst of us, he puts a looking-glass there to see ourselves in. Our vices are often made to glare back hideous from the countenance and conduct of those who sin our sins over again, and "break out" with our moral infections! I once saw a mother weeping over the coffin of an infant who had died from a disorder communicated by herself! It was to me a type and a parable. When, on the other hand, I have seen a godly-minded pair, looking with grateful joy on the child of their love as he came home with his prize from school, or as he stood up before the church to confess Jesus Christ in the fresh beauty of a youthful consecration, then I saw the mirror of childhood giving back the beautiful reflection of parental piety and grace. If we are faithful to our children's souls—if we more ardently desire to see them rich toward God than rich in gold or bank-stocks—if we live out so lovely and consistent a religion that they may long to reflect it in their own lives—if we consecrate our children to God by consecrating ourselves, then we may thoroughly expect to rejoice in the early conversion of our offspring to Jesus, and in an after-career of usefulness and honor. And when we reach heaven at last—there too it will be seen that Jesus Christ "sets our child in the midst" of us.
Meeting at Memphis
By I. W. Barker
From Bro. Barker.
Bro. White: We have had one of the best meetings in Memphis that I ever attended. Brn. Andrews and Loughborough came here the 13th, and remained with us over Sabbath and first-day, and gave seven lectures. We had a good attendance during the meetings. The Spirit of the Lord was with us, and we were made to rejoice in the hope of soon seeing Jesus coming to take his children home. First-day p. m., Bro. Loughborough spoke on the inheritance of the saints. There was a deep solemnity rested upon the people. The sinner was warned of his danger, and entreated to come to the Saviour; the saints were made to rejoice in the glorious prospect before them. I returned home resolved that I would say no more about my light afflictions, which are but for a moment; but I for one would pray more earnestly to God, that I might be kept humble at his feet, that when he comes I may have it said to me, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.