Since my last report from Arkansas, I attended the quarterly meeting at Burnside, Wis. Our meeting was one of interest. The power of God seemed to attend the word. Bro. Olsen was present, and we all felt that his labor was a blessing. It stormed terribly during this meeting, but the house was filled with interested hearers.
By direction of the Conference Committee, I then went to Avon, arriving there Dec. 27. The meetings were dull, and poorly attended at first, but the interest increased till I left for Battle Creek to attend the Biblical Institute. This was a season of great profit to me. After the Institute closed, the interest at Avon was such as our Conference Committee thought sufficient to warrant a continued effort.
Jan. 1 and 2, I attended a T. & M. meeting at Monroe. Bro. Pratt and others made some earnest appeals to our people. The Monroe church are workers in our prospering cause.
Jan. 6, commenced meetings again at Avon. The weather being bitter cold, but few came out. I had great liberty; and in giving myself into the hands of God, I found some hearts were being reached, almost the entire congregation being often in tears. Some have expressed themselves as feeling as never before, and cold hearts seemed to melt under God’s precious truth. But there was a terrible dread of obeying. I regret to say that the cause at Avon had been almost ruined by the unsanctified lives of some professing our faith.
I am happy to acknowledge the assistance rendered by Brn. Olsen and Decker, Dec. 12 and 13. During their stay, some were dropped from our church book, and others started anew to toil on to the kingdom. I have seldom seen a more solemn time than when parting with this church. All were in tears. Seven rose up, and by so doing agreed to obey the truth. Others are interested, and say they will investigate our faith.
Jan. 24, attended quarterly meeting at Monroe. Met Bro. Sanborn there. He had been preaching some before my arrival. Our meeting was solemn and impressive, and the sweet, melting spirit prevailed. On the 24th, Bro. Sanborn led fourteen happy souls down into the water, where they were buried with Christ. One young sister, just in the last stage of consumption, was the first to follow her Lord in baptism. I talked at night, and called on men to become soldiers for God. One who was with the writer in the late war, and there lost his eyes, came out and gave his heart to God. Others did the same.
Jan. 29, I commenced meetings in this place. I was surprised at first at having so small a congregation, but soon learned that there were three protracted meetings within three miles. We have been having one of the worst storms I ever saw. The roads are drifted full. Fences are nearly covered. I hope soon to report some success here. I never have had greater liberty in preaching the mighty truth of God than now.
Jan. 30, attended the quarterly meeting at Waterloo, which was a heart-searching time. Several were present from Mt. Hope. There is a general feeling among our brethren and sisters in Wisconsin that we are not through with this great work of labor and sacrifice, but have just begun to learn how to work. What once was faith with us is now knowledge. We know that God is with us, and in this work. For one, I am going to work more earnestly for God. He has sustained me, and my health is better than it has been for years, and I never labored so hard in my life as since last June. On the 30th and 31st, I preached six sermons, and rode twenty miles. All praise be to God.
To the brethren in Buffalo and Pepin Counties, let me say, Do not murmur nor feel that we are neglecting you. We will come as soon as God opens our way.
I close by saying, Here I devote myself and all I have to this glorious work.
D. Downer.
Hurricane Grove, Wis., Feb. 18, 1875.
Crawford Co., Wis.
By John Atkinson
AFTER the dedication of the church at Leon, I returned to Kickapoo Center to attend the quarterly meeting. I then went to Sand Prairie. The blessing of God was with us, and there seemed to be a determination on the part of the brethren and sisters, by the help of God, to become sanctified through belief in, and obedience to, the truth, and to work while the day lasts.
Jan. 1, went into a new field to labor in Crawford Co., at the Wayne school-house, seven miles from Wauzeka. The interest has been good, and the Lord has blessed his truth. The result is, that fourteen have embraced the Sabbath of the Lord, and others are interested, but seem to be hesitating.
May the Lord help them to decide on the side of truth is my prayer.
One mile from where I have been holding meetings, Satan is stirring up his forces through spiritualism, and pretending to take likenesses of the dead. Six of those who have embraced the truth are Methodists, and they are stirred up about it. I pray God to give me wisdom to do his will.
JOHN ATKINSON.
A Few Words
By Chas. P. Whitford
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TRACT AND MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF VERMONT.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS:—The cause in which we have enlisted is everything or it is nothing. If this third angel's message of Rev. 14 be the truth of God, then our all is at stake. We should bend all our energies to act well our part for its advancement. The world must be warned of the nearness of the advent of Christ, and be taught the true preparation for that great event.
Never was a greater responsibility committed to a body of men than that which God has given to us. When God caused this great truth to be brought to our knowledge he made us debtors to our fellow-men, to make known to them what he had given to us. This vast indebtedness is upon us, and can only be discharged by faithful, self-sacrificing efforts; and unless we make these efforts without growing weary in our work, we will find that the blood of souls is upon us in the final reckoning. When Jesus was about to ascend on high, he pointed to the harvest fields, and said to his followers: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Are we faithful to our trust? God requires our earnest efforts. The world has the utmost need to understand that the advent of the Saviour is swiftly approaching, and that it will very soon be witnessed. Upon us rests the responsibility of proclaiming this truth to the world. Our time to work is short. Are we watching every opportunity to help spread a knowledge of this truth by means of our books, tracts, and papers? Are we sacrificing our love of ease by going out, with the truth burning in our hearts, to induce others to read our publications? Shall the late call for six hundred new subscribers for The Voice of Truth, and The Health Reformer be responded to, and the names immediately forwarded to the Office? At our late State quarterly meeting, it was voted that we respond to this call. As yet not quite three hundred names have been forwarded to the Office. If each individual member of the tract Society had obtained two names, the number assigned us would have been furnished before this date. There are two districts in the State that have not furnished a dozen names. If all felt the responsibility resting upon them, we should have a power in our midst that would make the world tremble.
Dear brethren, we must set ourselves to this work as those who labor to save the perishing, and who think not of their own ease, or convenience, or comfort. God calls us to labor, and not to faint. Let us respond to the call.
To the active worker, Christ has addressed these words: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Who that reads these lines will resolve to deny self, and work for God, that the wasting harvest may be gathered?
CHAS. P. WHITFORD.
A Short Address to the Seventh-day Baptists.
By One Who Believes in Consistency
[A BROTHER has sent us the following printed circular, which he says is extensively circulated through the mails, in the section where he lives, in Rhode Island. The inquiries are certainly pertinent, and deserve consideration by any whom they may concern.]
Will our S. D. Baptist friends permit one who entertains a high regard for their piety and conscientiousness to call their attention to some points that I have observed in their practice, which are deemed not quite consistent with their belief, which I will illustrate by the following proposition, viz.: You believe the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God, and, consequently, that all who refuse to keep it, whether ministers or laymen, professors or non-professors, are living in violation of the law of God, and therefore are sinners; which fact you prove by the following text of Scripture, “Whosoever sinneth transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. And, whereas other denominations are guilty of the above sin, you refuse to commune with them, which is strictly consistent on your part, so far; nevertheless you invite those Sabbath-breaking ministers into your churches to preach, and treat them as good Christians, never reproving them for Sabbath-breaking, and you carefully avoid saying anything to them about the Sabbath or the law of God, and by your silence lead them to believe you esteem the matter of small importance yourselves. It is believed your inconsistency in this matter has cost you the loss of many of your young people, who take it for granted from your practice that you believe Sabbath-breakers of other denominations are good Christians, which encourages them to abandon the Sabbath themselves.
Again, you would not invite a Roman Catholic priest into one of your churches, nor recognize him as a Christian minister, because he breaks the second command by paying adoration to images. Now I would like to know what the difference is between the Catholic who breaks the second, and the Protestant who breaks the fourth, command. Are they not equally guilty, in proportion to the knowledge they possess? But, say you, the former violates two commands, the second and fourth, while the latter violates the fourth. But what says the apostle James of such? Whosoever shall “offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas. 2:10,) notwithstanding he may keep every other command of the law.
But you say, We must exercise charity toward our Protestant friends; perhaps they have not been enlightened on the Sabbath question. But how is that? Have they not the same Bible that you have? and if ignorant of the claims of God’s law upon them, is it not their own fault? The Saviour said of such, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19. And, although you doubtless should extend Christian charity to the errors of thousands of Christian people in various parts of our country, who have never had their attention called to the claims of the Bible Sabbath, yet such apology will not apply in the case of the people here, whose attention is called to the subject every week by seeing the seventh-day people close their places of business on the Sabbath, and go to church. The Saviour said, “That servant, which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.” Luke 12:47, 48.
But I must not neglect to call the attention of Seventh-day Baptists to the charge that is sometimes brought against them, of not setting a proper example of Sabbath-keeping before others, in that some have employed men to work for them on the Sabbath, and allowed their business to go on on that day.63This is looked upon as a great inconsistency, inasmuch as the fourth command prohibits labor by your employees as much as by yourselves on the Sabbath. Ex. 20:10. In view of the above, if Seventh-day Baptists have the truth in relation to the Sabbath, will not God hold them accountable for the way they keep it, and also for any failure on their part in teaching it to others?
If on the other hand, the keeping of the seventh day is not a matter of any account, why not abandon it, and cease to divide the church by keeping a different day from the one kept by the majority?
All of which is respectfully submitted for your consideration, by
ONE WHO BELIEVES IN CONSISTENCY.
THE WAKING HOUR.
By Keble
“Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13:11.
AWAKE—again the gospel trump is blown—
From year to year it swells with louder tone;
From year to year the signs of wrath
Are gathering round the Judge’s path,
Strange words fulfilled, and mighty works achieved,
And truth in all the world both hated and believed.
Awake! why linger in the gorgeous town,
Sworn liegeman of the cross and thorny crown?
Up from your beds of sloth; for shame!
Speed to the eastern mount like flame,
Nor wonder should we find your King in tears,
Even with the loud hosannah ringing in his ears.
Alas! no need to rouse them: long ago
They are gone forth to swell Messiah’s show;
With glittering robes, and garlands sweet
They strew the ground beneath his feet:
All but your hearts are there—O doomed to prove
The arrows winged in Heaven for faith that will
not love!
Thus bad and good their several warnings give
Of His approach whom none may see and live:
Faith’s ear, with awful, still delight,
Counts them like minute bells at night,
Keeping the heart awake till dawn of morn,
While to her funeral pile this aged world is borne.
But what are Heaven’s alarms to hearts that cower
In wilful slumber, deepening every hour,
That draw their curtains closer round,
The nearer swells the trumpet’s sound?
Lord, ere our trembling lamps sink down and die,
Touch us with chastening hand, and make us feel
thee nigh.
—Keble.
Come over and Help Us.
By J. L. Jordan
Will some one of the preaching brethren of this State visit Smithland, Iowa, and hold a series of meetings here? The people are starving for the truth. We have had a course of lectures on the prophecies here this winter by Bro. Bartlett. Twenty-eight signed the covenant to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
We have social meeting and Sabbath-school every Sabbath. The M. E. presiding elder attended our Sabbath-school a week ago yesterday. He took exceptions to our position on Daniel 12:1, that Michael was Christ, declaring in his sermon that evening that such a position was blasphemous, base, low, and sacrilegious. He earnestly entreated the people not to listen to such blasphemy. He then attempted to prove the change of the Sabbath to be of divine authority from the following scriptures: Isa. 11:10; Heb. 3:18, 19, 4:1-10.
J. L. JORDAN.
Woodbury Co., Iowa. Feb. 1, 1875.
A Letter from Chicago.
By Anna M. Hansen
[Translated from the Danish for the REVIEW.]
Dear Bro. Matteson:—It is now more than three years since you first preached to us in this city. You presented the last message of mercy; and after nearly four months of wearing labor, you asked for your pay, that is, believing souls as the fruit of your toil. I commenced to love the law of God, and, with others, to walk in the footsteps of Christ. I felt that I had no strength to praise God for the light I had received; yet I promised to do so as soon as I received more strength. Now the voice of the Spirit says, Pay thy vows to the Most High; for soon you must die. And who shall give thanks in the grave?
I am still sick abed every day, but God is very good to me. I believe he will yet add a few days to my life, for which I am thankful. I have many sharp corners that must be ground off. I am lacking in many respects, and must often cry with tears: Lord, is it possible that thou canst accept of me, and make me a bright jewel in the crown of my Saviour?
I will strive hard, as long as I live, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. I have many enemies to overcome; but I trust that I shall at last obtain the victory. I long, and wait for my Saviour, and I want to humble myself before my Heavenly Father while he is so good, and Jesus still pleads as a high priest in the Heavenly sanctuary, that he in mercy may forgive all my ingratitude.
I have many things on my mind which I desire to speak of, but my strength will not suffice. I am now busy writing letters to my friends in Norway, and sending them the Advent Tidende. It is my greatest desire that this truth may spread, and shine as a light in a dark place, and that we all may honor the doctrine of our blessed Saviour.
Farewell. Pray for me, that I may be faithful unto the end.
Anna M. Hansen.
Feb. 5, 1875.
Walla Walla, W. T.
By I. D. Van Horn
SINCE new-year's, I have been laboring in two different school districts, and with some encouraging results. While laboring in Bro. Maxon's neighborhood, the weather was so extremely cold, and the snow so deep that but few could attend. But we were all made to rejoice, and Bro. Maxon especially, when his only son and his wife started out to keep the Sabbath, and to obey all the truth. An old lady, who has been an advocate of health reform for many years, has also taken her stand on the platform of present truth.
I am now holding meetings in Milton, Oregon, and here three families have commenced to keep the Sabbath. Thus we are encouraged from time to time by seeing men and women come out from the world to obey the present truth. We shall do what we can here till spring, and then we shall take the tent down to the Willamette Valley, and see what can be done there.
Our people here are putting forth every effort to establish the work permanently, and we are glad to see success crown their efforts. I. D. VAN HORN.
Walla Walla, Jan. 29, 1875.
Health Department.
By James White
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2.
Bible Hygiene.
The Bible, from the earliest record of man’s creation in Genesis, to the closing Revelation which brings to view his triumphant redemption, exalts man as
THE GLORY OF THE CREATOR.
This is seen in the words of Jehovah to his Son, in the beginning, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;” and is no less apparent in the declaration in the last book of the Bible from the four and twenty elders, as they worship at the throne of Heaven, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Whether it was man’s moral character, his physical form, or both, that was made in the likeness of God, we leave with theologians to discuss. In either case we behold man as expressed in David’s song of praise to the beneficent Creator, “Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor; thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.” The goodness of God in creation, in the gift of his Son for the redemption of fallen man, and in the ministrations of holy angels and the gift of the Holy Spirit, through which his word has been revealed, is feebly expressed in these words of the beloved John, “God is love.”
The record of his creation, his ample provisions and glorious surroundings in Eden, fully attest the love of God to man, and the glory he would confer upon him in this life. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.”
LABOR A BLESSING.
Man was formed for activity. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” It was the design of the Creator that he should derive his chief delights of existence from those pursuits that would demand physical and mental action. Before sin entered happy Eden, the representatives of the race were put into the garden, “to dress it and to keep it,” where their minds could trace, in a thousand varied forms, the perfections and power of the divine creative Hand. In the estimation of God, and his Son, and of the holy angels, labor was honorable and for the good of man, even for sinless hands in holy Eden.
After the transgression, God said to Adam, “Cursed be the ground for thy sake.” The earth was cursed in consequence of Adam’s sin. But the fact that he was to eat his bread by the sweat of his face was not the curse. Increased labor was simply a consequence which was for his best good in his fallen condition.
“God is love.” We must not view the curse in the light of retaliation on the part of the gracious Creator. We call in question that lazy theology that makes work the sum of the curse, and looks forward to the time when immaterial spirits shall go to an immaterial Heaven to get rid of work, and sit on the edge of a cloud and sing hallelujahs to all eternity.
But labor, first instituted in holy Eden, is for man’s best good in his fallen condition out of Eden. And as for the future, give us the tangible inheritance of the saints in light, in the earth redeemed from the curse, and happy Eden restored upon it again. There the redeemed, in all the gladness of immortal life, will enjoy the delights of activity of body and mind in a world of inexhaustible variety, bearing the impress of both the creating and the redeeming hand.
GOD IS LOVE.
And in love he created our first parents, and richly endowed them with physical and mental power. This was for the glory of the Creator, and the happiness of the creature man. God is the author of life, health, strength, and true happiness. Death, sickness, sorrow, physical and moral wretchedness, are the legitimate offspring of the transgression of moral and natural law instituted by the divine Author of all good.
“God is love.” He is not the author of sickness, sorrow, and death. In a general sense, sickness is no more a necessity than sin. At a funeral, a sensible minister once made the startling assertion that it was a disgrace to die. He did not mean that death was avoidable at a good old age; but that its existence, even in ripe age, was the result of the first great transgression on the part of the representatives of the dying race. And he might have added that premature death, in childhood, youth, or in the strength of middle life, was the result of continued transgression.
“God is love.” He is not the author of our woes. And it is a stupid reflection upon the divine character to lay our sickness, pains, bereavements, tears, and sorrows, to the mysterious dealings of his providential hand. It may, however, be fashionable, on funeral occasions, for ministers, in their words of condolence with the bereaved, to charge the progress of disease and the ravages of death, in those who should live to bless society, to the wise dealings of the loving Disposer of events. They may gravely state that for very good and wise reasons, he has removed dear friends from us by death. Fashion and custom may dress and decorate corpses of the youth with muslin and flowers. Taste and expense may adorn our cemeteries with the sculpture of art and the glory of nature: yet we hear the voice of revelation and of reason declaring that death is the reward of sin, and is man’s dreaded foe. Poets may sing:—
“Why do we mourn for dying friends?
Or shake at death’s alarm?
’Tis but the voice that Jesus sends,
To call them to his arms.
“Why should we start, and fear to die?
What timorous worms we mortals are!
Death is the gate to endless joy,
And yet we dread to enter there.”
And yet the great apostle, when speaking of the resurrection of the just to the joys of eternal life, says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 1 Cor. 15 : 26.
“God is love.” And his revealed will relates to man’s well-being in this life, as well as to that which is to come. God does not take pleasure in the miseries of this mortal state. He delights in the happiness of obedient intelligences in this world, as well as in the future joys of the redeemed in the world that is to come. The Bible teaches how to live so as to enjoy that health and happiness in this life favorable to securing eternal life. True godliness does not neglect the laws of our present being, and dimly view only the immortal existence. It is profitable unto all things. It gives promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
The religion of the Bible was not intended simply as a garment to put on, to cover moral and physical impurities. It was designed to convert the entire man, soul, body, and spirit, that he might be pure within and without. That bogus piety which would give license to consecrated gluttony, devoted lust, and sanctified filthiness, is simply a burlesque upon the religion of the Bible.
J. W.
An Eventful Night.
THREE travelers, weary and travel-stained, toiled over the wide moor, seeking the least frequented, the most difficult and dangerous passes; pausing at the top of each ridge to look fearfully behind them, and listening anxiously to every sound that the wind bore to their ears. One could see at a glance that they were fleeing from the hands of an enemy. And so they were. They were three godly Covenanters, seeking to escape from the soldiers. They had been at a meeting of God's saints, held in a wild and lonely glen. Just as the worship was about to begin, their watchman on the heights gave warning that a troop of horses were coming toward them. And the congregation had been obliged to break up, each man seeking his safety as best he might. The three friends we have seen on the moor kept together, seeking a ford by which they could cross the river. The two older men, farmers, were not far from their own homes, and might soon have been safely housed. But they were determined not to leave their younger companion till they had seen him to the other side of the water. He was the minister who was to have conducted the services of the conventicle—James Renwick, one of the most godly, spiritual-minded and devoted of all the many servants of God wherewith he had blessed his persecuted church in those days.
They reached the river side. There had been a heavy thunder-storm among the hills, and over the usually shallow, smooth ford was now rolling a brown and angry stream into which they feared to enter.
“Let us first kneel down and ask the Lord to take us over in safety,” said Mr. Renwick.
His companions gladly agreed. And they withdrew among the alder bushes and presented their case before the Lord. Their short prayer ended, they rose and were going forward again to the edge of the stream, when, to their extreme surprise, they saw the whole party of their pursuers in the very act of riding through the ford, some already landed on the opposite side. They had come up to the river while these children of God were engaged in prayer, and feeling uneasy at the rapidly increasing strength of the torrent, had hastened to ride through the ford before it should become impossible to do so. Mr. Renwick and his friends waited until the troopers had disappeared, and then trusting in the Lord to uphold their steps, walked boldly into the river. They cut a long branch of the rowan-tree, and held it between them like a rope, so that if one lost his footing the other two might be able to help him. In this way they got to the other bank, and Renwick’s two companions, having bidden him farewell, passed through the ford in perfect safety to their own side. But even as they set foot on the bank, a fierce roaring was heard, and down came the stream in all its might and fury, carrying everything before it, and spreading itself over both banks. Mr. Renwick on one side, and his two friends on the other, rendered praise and thanks unto the Lord who had thus preserved them, and then pursued their roads.
The darkness of night was coming on, and Mr. Renwick saw that he could not hope to reach the friend’s house where he had purposed to spend the night. A very narrow, dark glen came in his way. He entered it, and finding a kind of hole sheltered by bushes in one of the rocky banks, he crept into it, lay down, and fell asleep. Further on in the night he awoke. A furious storm of wind and rain had come on. The wet had come through his leafy covering and drenched him to the skin. He sat up to think what he ought to do; and at that moment a faint sound of singing was borne past him on the wind. He fancied he recognized a psalm tune, and the fancy gladdened his heart.
“A godly family at their evening devotions,” he said to himself; “surely with them I shall find shelter for the night.”
And he set out at once in the direction from which the sounds seemed to come. The fierce blasts of the wind and the driving rain prevented him from hearing anything more distinctly. And as he fought against them he did not pause to listen until he stood before the door of the house he sought. Then, alas! he heard only too plainly that no psalm-singers were there, but a set of rioters, drinking toasts, singing plain songs, and laughing at coarse jests. His first thought was to leave the place and seek another shelter. But he was so wet and chilled that it seemed impossible to turn away from the ruddy firelight that came through the window. And he was so worn-out that he did not feel as if he could go many yards further. So, with his usual simple prayer to God for protection and guidance, he knocked at the door. It was opened by the master of the house, a shepherd named M’Culloch. He was a rude, hard man. But on this particular occasion his heart had been opened by feasting and merriment. He invited the stranger in, made him sit down by the fire and dry his clothes, and called loudly on his wife to bring in food and drink. Mrs. M’Culloch was as unlike her husband as could be. She was a staid, sober, godly woman. Her whole heart was with the Covenanters. And many a time had she sheltered and helped some of them without her husband’s knowledge. She saw at once that the grave young stranger who had come in, and who looked so pained and grieved at the rude, profane merriment around him, was one of that persecuted people. Her husband also soon perceived that his guest was very different from himself and his companions. And he began to look upon him with ill-will, and to mutter something about conventicles, and “dogs of rebels and canting preachers.” His senses were, however, confused by the quantity of strong drink he had taken, and Mrs. M’Culloch succeeded in conducting Mr. Renwick to his bedroom without any more open token of enmity having been shown him. Here she had kindled a little fire to dry his clothes, and telling him he would be quite safe, but that he ought not to tell her husband who he was, she left him, with a heartfelt prayer for his safety and comfort. He slept soundly and sweetly and did not awake till a late hour on the following morning. Looking out of the bed, he saw at once that all his clothes had been carried away from the screen before the fire where he had hung them the previous night to dry. And he began to fear that his hostess was treacherous, and meant to keep him a prisoner. But at that moment the woman came in with a suit of her husband’s clothes.
“Your own were so dripping wet,” she said, “I have not been able yet to get them thoroughly dried. My husband is away to drive his sheep off the low ground for fear of the floods. For some hours you will be quite safe here, and you can wear these things until your own are ready.”
He rose and dressed himself, and having breakfasted, and, at the good woman’s request, conducted family prayers, he proposed to go out a little way to breathe the fresh air. She told him it would be quite safe for him to do so, but gave him a shepherd’s plaid to put on, as she said the breeze was still strong and chill. As he threw the plaid around his shoulders, one of the shepherd’s dogs, well used to that signal, rose and followed him out of the hut. He had gone but a few steps from the door, and was standing still to admire the brilliance and freshness of everything after last night’s rain, when a bark from the dog at his feet caused him to look around, and he saw a party of dragoons riding over the soft turf and not many yards from him.
“I am in Thy hands, O Lord, for good or for evil,” he said, and stood calmly still till they came up to him.
He had forgotten his change of dress, and never doubted that he should be instantly seized and carried off to prison. But the commander only greeted him civilly, and asked him who lived in the hut.
“M’Culloch, a shepherd,” he answered, quietly.
“Oh, I know him,” said one of the troopers; “he is a true man, and hates a Covenanter like poison.”
“Are you M’Culloch, then?” asked the commander, “or is he in the house?”
“No, sir. He’s away to the other side of the hill after his sheep.”
“Oh, well, it does not signify. If he be the true man you say, we need not search his house for Covenanters. And, at any rate, I am very sure there are none on this side of the water. No one could cross after we did last night.”
And he rode off leaving Mr. Renwick to return thanks to the Lord, who had preserved his righteous servants from the hands of his enemies.
And thus will the Lord help all who put their trust in him. In every emergency, in every trial and temptation, he is always near us, and ever ready to guide and guard us. Oh, then let us have more faith in God. Let us trust in him always, and we will be sure to come out safe in the end.
Sinner, put your trust in God, and he will save you.—Sel.
Obituary Notices.
By V. S.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”
Died, in Battle Creek, Mich., of internal cancer, Feb. 6, 1875, sister Sarah J. Gilmore, aged 37. Sister G. had kept the Sabbath about two years, with her aged mother, and her daughter. She was baptized by Bro. White and united with the B. C. church, in September last, though then quite feeble. She endured much physical suffering, and welcomed release in death. She was firm in all the truth, and has left behind good evidence of a well-grounded hope in Christ. Funeral discourse, Sabbath, Feb. 13, 1875. V. S.
Marquis of Bute Obstructs Cardiff Free Library
THE recent action of Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, forbidding the people of his diocese to frequent the public libraries or draw books from them, has been more than matched by the action of another eminent Catholic beyond the sea. This time it is the Marquis of Bute, one of the wealthiest noblemen in Great Britain, and a recent “pervert” to popery through the influence of Ritualism, who illustrates the attitude of Rome toward popular education, and supplies another commentary on the Papal Syllabus. He owns the greater part of the town of Cardiff in Wales. The people of this town determined with most commendable spirit to expend £20,000 in establishing a Free Library for the benefit of the citizens. The Marquis of Bute tried, by various disgraceful devices, to evade giving a site without directly refusing one. He would allow them to build in the dirtiest and lowest suburb; he would demand a rent of £250 a year; he must dictate the style of the building and the character of the library. No wonder the enterprise was given up in disgust. The Marquis was acting under the advice of his ecclesiastical superiors. These are the men who assume to dictate the policy of America touching her public schools.
To Correspondents.
By Uriah Smith
J. W. RAYMOND: The New York papers were all mailed before your appointment for Dist. No. 9, Feb. 20, at Farmington, Pa., was received.
J. M. ADAMS: There would be no object in our discussing with the Catholics the points of difference between us. All who have the moral courage to come out from that denomination will come by simply hearing the truth. We know of no two chapters in the Bible exactly alike. 2 Sam. 22 and Ps. 18, both record David's psalm of thanksgiving at being delivered from the hand of Saul; the record in Samuel showing its historical connection, that in the psalms being given as a part of the collection of David's writings.
R. H. PECK: An avalanche of Sabbath tracts we think would do good in the vicinity where Mr. Langford's discourse was preached. We see nothing in it not already answered.
ARTICLES ACCEPTED. Sound the Tocsin.—The Power of God.—Loss and Gain.
ARTICLES DECLINED. A Ministerial Visit, Rather too personal. U. S.
Appointments and Quarterly Meeting Notices
Appointments
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
** Services in Chicago, every Sabbath (seventh day), at 269 West Erie St. All Sabbath-keepers spending a Sabbath in Chicago are invited to attend.
MEETING at Athens, Sabbath, Feb. 27. The friends there will please arrange for place of meeting. The brethren from Colon and other places around are invited to attend. E. R. JONES.
QUARTERLY meeting at Mt. Hope, Grant Co., Wis., Feb. 27, 28. We hope to see all the friends of the cause at these meetings. Eld. Downer will be present. WM. PROCTOR, Eld.
QUARTERLY meeting of the churches of Saginaw Co., Mich., at St. Charles, Feb. 20, 21, 1875. T. & M. quarterly meeting for Dist. No. 8, in connection. We look for a good representation, as it is a general quarterly meeting of the T. & M. Society. Come prepared to seek the Lord. JOHN McGREGOR, Director.
THERE will be a general quarterly meeting of the Maine T. & M. Society with the church at Cornville, March 20 and 21, 1875. Dist. No. 1 will hold its next quarterly meeting in connection with this meeting. Let each church librarian see that his report is sent in season to the Dist. Sec., Albert T. Hilton, Cornville, Maine. This meeting is designed to take the place of the monthly meeting for March.
Dist. No. 2 will hold its next quarterly meeting at Allen’s Corner, Deering, Me., March 6 and 7. We hope to see a general gathering of the friends of the cause at these meetings.
Dist. No. 3 will hold its next quarterly meeting at Smyrna Mills, Aroostook Co., Me., March 7. Bro. Enos Leavitt in charge. J. B. GOODRICH, Pres.
THERE will be meetings of the New York, and Pennsylvania T. & M. Society as follows:—
Dist. No. 11, at East Otto, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., Feb. 27 and 28. Those coming to this meeting by railroad will be met by teams at Cattaraugus on the N. Y. and Erie R. R. It is requested that those who come in this way reach the station as early as 2 P. M. of Friday, Feb. 26. The director requests the librarians to send their reports to the Dist. Sec., so they may be received Feb. 24.
Dist. No. 10, at Niles Hill, Allegany Co., N. Y., March 6 and 7. The State meeting for this quarter will be held at Buck’s Bridge, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., March 13 and 14, 1875. The meeting for Dist. No. 4 will be held in connection with the State meeting.
It is expected that these meetings will be of special interest to the localities in which they are held, and we extend an urgent invitation to Bro. Butler or Bro. Haskell to attend them. The directors in the other districts, who have not already appointed their district meetings, will please do so, immediately, so that their reports may be ready for the State meeting. B. L. WHITNEY, Pres.
PROVIDENCE permitting, I will hold meetings in Wis., as follows:—
Johnstown Center, Rock Co., Feb. 27, 28. Among the French near Weyauwega, Brown Co., March, 6, 7. Plainfield, Waushara Co., “ 13, 14. Maple Works, Clark Co., “ 20, 21.
These are intended for meetings of special interest, and it is hoped and expected that the Sabbath-keepers in their vicinity will make a special effort to attend and make them profitable. The meeting at Plainfield is intended for the quarterly meeting for that District. The meeting at Maple Works will be the quarterly meeting for District No. 13. O. A. OLSEN.