Earlier text: THE COMING OF THE LORDThe Temptation of Christ.
By Ellen G. White
CHRIST was not in as favorable a position in the desolate wilderness to endure the temptations of Satan as was Adam when he was tempted in Eden. The Son of God humbled himself and took man's nature after the race had wandered four thousand years from Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. Sin had been making its terrible marks upon the race for ages; and physical, mental, and moral degeneracy prevailed throughout the human family. When Adam was assailed by the tempter in Eden he was without the taint of sin. He stood in the strength of his perfection before God. All the organs and faculties of his being were equally developed, and harmoniously balanced. Christ, in the wilderness of temptation, stood in Adam's place to bear the test he failed to endure. Here Christ overcame in the sinner's behalf, four thousand years after Adam turned his back upon the light of his home. Separated from the presence of God, the human family had been departing every successive generation, farther from the original purity, wisdom, and knowledge which Adam possessed in Eden. Christ bore the sins and infirmities of the race as they existed when he came to the earth to help man. In behalf of the race, with the weaknesses of fallen man upon him, he was to stand the temptations of Satan upon all points wherewith man would be assailed. Adam was surrounded with everything his heart could wish. Every want was supplied. There was no sin, and no signs of decay in glorious Eden. Angels of God conversed freely and lovingly with the holy pair. The happy songsters caroled forth their free, joyous songs of praise to their Creator. The peaceful beasts in happy innocence played about Adam and Eve, obedient to their word. Adam was in the perfection of manhood, the noblest of the Creator's work. He was in the image of God, but a little lower than the angels. In what contrast is the second Adam as he entered the gloomy wilderness to cope with Satan single-handed. Since the fall the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and sinking lower in the scale of moral worth, up to the period of Christ's advent to the earth. And in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was. He took human nature, and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He humiliated himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that he might be qualified to reach man, and bring him up from the degradation in which sin had plunged him. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” “For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Satan had been at war with the government of God, since he first rebelled. His success in tempting Adam and Eve in Eden, and introducing sin into the world, had emboldened this arch foe, and he had proudly boasted to the heavenly angels that when Christ should appear, taking man's nature, he would be weaker than himself, and he would overcome him by his power. He exulted that Adam and Eve in Eden could not resist his insinuations when he appealed to their appetite. The inhabitants of the old world he overcame in the same manner, through the indulgence of lustful appetite and corrupt passions. Through the gratification of appetite he had overthrown the Israelites. He boasted that the Son of God himself who was with Moses and Joshua was not able to resist his power, and lead the favored people of his choice to Canaan; for nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness. Also the meek man, Moses, he had tempted to take to himself glory which God claimed. David and Solomon, who had been especially favored of God, he had induced, through the indulgence of appetite and passion, to incur God's displeasure. And he boasted that he could yet succeed in thwarting the purpose of God in the salvation of man through Jesus Christ. In the wilderness of temptation Christ was without food forty days. Moses had, on especial occasions, been thus long without food. But he felt not the pangs of hunger. He was not tempted and harassed by a vile and powerful foe, as was the Son of God. He was elevated above the human. He was especially sustained by the glory of God which enshrouded him. Satan had succeeded so well in deceiving the angels of God, and in the fall of noble Adam, that he thought that in Christ's humiliation he should be successful in overcoming him. He looked with pleased exultation upon the result of his temptations and the increase of sin in the continued transgression of God's law for more than four thousand years. He had worked the ruin of our first parents, and brought sin and death into the world, and had led to ruin multitudes of all ages, countries, and classes. He had, by his power, controlled cities and nations until their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by fire, water, earthquakes, sword, famine and pestilence. By his subtility and untiring efforts he had controlled the appetite and excited and strengthened the passions, to so fearful a degree, that he had defaced, and almost obliterated the image of God in man. His physical and moral dignity were in so great a degree destroyed, that he bore but a faint resemblance in character, and noble perfection of form, to dignified Adam in Eden. At the first advent of Christ, Satan had brought man down from his original, exalted purity, and had dimmed the fine gold with sin. He had transformed the man, created to be a sovereign in Eden, to a slave in the earth, groaning under the curse of sin. The halo of glory, which God had given holy Adam, covering him as a garment, departed from him after his transgression. The light of God's glory could not cover disobedience and sin. In the place of health and plenitude of blessings, poverty, sickness, and suffering of every type, were to be the portion of the children of Adam. Satan had, through his seductive power, led men to vain philosophy to question and finally to disbelieve in divine revelation and the existence of God. He could look abroad upon a world of moral wretchedness, and a race exposed to the wrath of a sin-avenging God, with fiendish triumph that he had been as successful in darkening the pathway of so many, and had led them to transgress the law of God. He clothed sin with pleasing attractions to secure the ruin of many. But his most successful scheme in deceiving man has been to conceal his real purposes, and his true character, by representing himself as man's friend and a benefactor of the race. He flatters men with the pleasing fable that there is no rebellious foe, no deadly enemy that they need to guard against, and that the existence of a personal devil is all a fiction. While he thus hides his existence, he is gathering thousands under his control. He is deceiving them, as he tried to deceive Christ, that he is an angel from Heaven doing a good work for humanity. And the masses are so blinded by sin that they cannot discern the devices of Satan, and they honor him as they would a heavenly angel, while he is working their eternal ruin. EDUCATING girls for household duties ought to be considered as necessary as instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and quite as universal. We are in our houses more than half of our existence, and it is the household surroundings which affect most largely the happiness or misery of domestic life. If the wife knows how to “keep house,” if she has learned how things ought to be cooked, how beds should be made, how carpets should be swept, how furniture should be dusted, how the clothes should be repaired and turned, and altered, and renovated; if she knows how purchases can be made to the best advantage, and understands the laying in of provisions; how to make them go the farthest and last the longest; if she appreciates the importance of system, order, tidiness, and the quiet management of children and servants, then she knows how to make a heaven of home: how to win her children from the street; how to keep her husband from the club-house, the gaming table and wine cup. Such a family will be trained to social respectability, to business success, and to efficiency and usefulness in whatever position may be allotted to them. It may be safe to say that not one girl in ten, in our large towns and cities, enters into married life who has learned to bake a loaf of bread, to purchase a roast, to dust a painting, to sweep a carpet, or to cut, fit, and make, her own dress. It would be an immeasurable advantage to make a beginning by attaching a kitchen to every girl’s school in the nation.—Hall’s Journal. How to Promote Peace in a Family.
1. Remember that you will be likely to be crossed every day, so prepare for it. 2. Everybody in the house has an evil nature as well as ourselves, and therefore we are not to expect too much. 3. To learn the different temper and disposition of each individual. 4. To look on each member of the family as one for whom we should have a care. 5. When any good happens to any one, to rejoice at it. 6. When inclined to give an angry answer, to “overcome evil with good.” 7. If from sickness, pain, or infirmity we feel irritable, to keep a very strict watch over ourselves. 8. To observe when others are so suffering, to drop a word of kindness and sympathy suited to them. 9. To watch for little opportunities of pleasing, and to put little annoyances out of the way. 10. To take a cheerful view of everything, of the weather, and encourage hope. 11. To speak kindly of the servants, to praise them for little things when you can. 12. In all little pleasures which may occur, to put self last. 13. To try for “the soft answer that turneth away wrath.” 14. When we have been pained by an unkind word or deed, to ask ourselves: “Have I not often done the same and been forgiven?” 15. In conversation not to exalt ourselves, but to bring others forward. 16. To be very gentle to the young ones, and treat them with respect. 17. Never to judge one another harshly, but to attribute a good motive when we can. Grace and Glory: Bud and Blossom
GRACE and glory differ but as the bud and the blossom. What is grace but glory begun? What is glory but grace perfected? No Salvation Outside Christ
THERE is no salvation for the sinner out of Christ. “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” UNDER this head, the following article on the greed for gain which prevails to such a terrible degree at the present day, appears in the Christian Statesman of June 27, 1874. Prophecy has singled out this as one of the sins which would be so prominent in the last days as to constitute a sign of the end. The following words from Sir Edward Hornby show a striking fulfilment:— A judge in Shanghai has been giving some useful hints on the prevalent desire to get rich too fast. A correspondent writing from that place tells of a criminal case which has been creating some excitement on account of its novelty, though we should perhaps not be disposed to regard it in the same light here. He says, “A gentleman holding a position of trust made use of moneys not belonging to him, and was tempted to act so by unsuccessful speculation and extravagance in living. The Chief Judge, in passing sentence, took advantage of the opportunity to read a wholesome lesson to the community, and his remarks are well worth repeating to a large sphere of society. He said, ‘You are the self-made victim of a passion which seems to be seizing on society at large, and which, like disease, spares neither age nor sex, the single or the married, the rich or the poor—the passion for getting rich by one or more strokes of luck; by a process which is as much open to the fool as the wise man, to the knave as to the honest man. It appears as if in these times men had but one faith, one hope, one object in life—wealth. Respectability, contentment with what we have, the happiness of our family, honor, all are sacrificed to this one god of the age we live in. Everything is to be sacrificed—not only our own prospects, but the prospects of those dearest to us, the prospects of our wives and children—to the great mania of getting rich; and this wealth is not that which is the result of patient industry, uprightness in dealings, and legitimate trade,’ but the wealth of the gambling table. The words of Sir Edward Hornby are like a shower of pearls, and it is to be hoped that the effect will not be lost.” Information Asked and Offered.
By Uriah Smith
The Sabbath Recorder of July 16, 1874, reviewing our recent article, “Does he Understand Us?” says, “We do not see how our Advent friends can fairly deny the charge of materialism.” We made no effort in the article referred to, to deny that charge. It is a matter of no great solicitude with us by what terms our views are designated; but we are desirous that our real views and their tendency shall be understood, and that those views shall be what the Bible plainly teaches. Then, though people may call it materialism, or any other name, it matters not. We do not propose to recede from the truth because dissenting parties label it with an opprobrious name. The Recorder thinks the connection put by us “between spiritualism and the doctrine of the soul’s immortality disingenuous.” At the same time it admits that “if the soul’s immortality is a false idea, then there is no ground work for spiritualism to rest on.” If then this doctrine is the foundation of spiritualism, is there not just the connection we asserted between them? What did spiritualism proclaim through its mediums as its avowed object, when it made its advent upon the world? It was to convince mankind of the immortality of the soul. And it is a significant fact that after a little time it leads its adherents invariably to discard the Bible. Why is this if the Bible teaches that doctrine, as many still believe? Why does it not lead them to the Bible, its object being to teach the same thing? It is evident that the Bible does not teach it, but that spiritualism is a grand scheme of the enemy put forth in behalf of that, his favorite dogma. The Recorder takes large exception to our declaration that “the doctrine of eternal misery is what makes infidels.” It says, “It is the enmity of the heart that makes a man an infidel.” Very well. The correspondent of the Recorder, whose remarks we were reviewing, more than intimated that such was the tendency of our teaching which he denominated materialism. We are glad the Recorder thus publicly discards that view of the matter. We do not wish to be understood as saying that there is no other cause of infidelity but the doctrine of eternal misery; but we do say that, as between the two views, eternal misery and destruction, it is the former which leads men into infidelity rather than the latter, upon which it is so extensively charged. The Recorder continues, “Never did the doctrine of eternal misery make an infidel, nor that of destructionism save one.” Will it as frankly clear our doctrine of the charge so frequently made against it, and say that the doctrine of destruction never made an infidel? Nevertheless, it is not to be denied that these questions do influence the views which men entertain of the word of God. We know of hundreds who were formerly infidels, or disbelievers in the Bible, but who now sacredly cherish it as the word of God; who rejected the Bible because they supposed it taught the doctrine of eternal misery, and who now receive it because they see that it teaches no such unjustifiable dogma. Now it may be said that the “enmity of their hearts” was the primary cause of their infidelity, yet they never could have been reached by the invitations of the gospel till their minds had been disabused in regard to the teachings of the book of God. The Recorder is evidently perplexed over the fact that Christ is so plainly set forth as the source of immortality. It says that when the Bible speaks of immortality as secured by Christ, it means the immortality of the body. Then realizing how infinitely it degrades the great work of Christ to make its object simply the restoration of the body, it says that it does not deny that by a separate statement the immortality of the soul is also attributed to Christ. Then only the souls of the righteous will be made immortal; for he promises immortality only to his people; and if his work results in making all the wicked immortal so that they are as a consequence to suffer eternal misery, then more suffering than happiness, more evil than good, results from his intervention in our behalf. We cannot so dishonor the Author of the great plan of salvation as to entertain such a thought. The Recorder further says: “In no instance is the word immoral [which we suppose to be a typographical error for the word immortal] applied to the soul in the Scriptures.” With this statement we agree; and how will our friends account for this fact, if the Bible teaches that the soul is immortal? How can we claim that to be a Bible doctrine which the Bible never once states? The Blindness of Error.
By Uriah Smith
Error does not seem to be able to bear in mind that truth is as eternal as the years of God. The truth may for a time be covered up and hidden, but it still lives; for it cannot be destroyed; and in due time it will manifest its existence and vindicate its own rights. He who has embarked in a campaign against it is engaged in a losing warfare. As impotent and useless will be his efforts as to try to arrest the flow of Niagara with a gill dipper. Error may for a while congratulate itself over its false issues, its misrepresentations, and its untruthful and malicious statements. But whatever gain it may secure in this way is only temporary. Those who are deceived and misled will, if honest, eventually have the opportunity of learning the truth, and will discover the fraud and cheat of which they have been the victims. These thoughts are suggested by the course of Eld. Grant, of the World’s Crisis, who is just now fuming terribly over the visions of sister White. When a very sanctified man is shown to have pursued a very unsanctified course, the exposure no doubt is exceedingly trying to the carnal heart; and having been thoroughly exposed in his unchristian and dishonest course toward our views and people, he seeks retaliation by waging a petty warfare against the visions. Relying on the prejudice he may be able to excite, rather than on the arguments he can produce, he resorts to this course. What a convenient thing it is for a person to be so “sanctified” that he cannot sin, and so “holy” that any course he may pursue is honorable. In the Crisis of July 8, 1874, is an article from his pen on the “Mark of the Beast,” some parts of which are so glaringly false that we shall be pardoned for alluding to it. He seems to be wrought up to such a pitch of bitterness, that he cannot even state our views correctly. He says:— “It is said the mark of the beast will consist in keeping the Lord’s day, instead of the seventh day observed by the Jews under the old covenant.” Eld. G. is combating our views, and states this as our belief upon this point. But we have never said any such thing. We have repeatedly proved, as our publications testify, that the Lord’s day is the true Sabbath, the seventh day. We do not believe that keeping the Lord’s day is ever to constitute the mark of the beast. He means, of course, Sunday; but let him not attach a false title to the day, and then state it as our view. Again he says:— “When we inquire for the reason of the belief that keeping the Lord’s day will constitute the mark of the beast, we find it consists mainly in the visions of one who professes to be a prophetess of the Lord.” There has no vision been given on this question. In the first volume of the PRESENT TRUTH published as far back as 1849, our views on this question are set forth based on the Bible. And as far back as 1845, Eld. T. M. Preble more than suggested that view, when in his essay dated Feb. 13, of that year, he said: “Therefore it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the Sabbath, are Pope’s Sunday-keepers, and God’s Sabbath-breakers.” No one ever pleads the visions as proof of our views of the mark of the beast. It is not in the visions themselves, nor in our books, nor in the sermons of our preachers. We go to the Bible alone. All this Eld. G. well knows. Yet he says “We find” that the reason for this belief consists mainly in the visions. How does he “find” it? He coins it from the bitterness of his own spirit, or receives it from the lips of his associates in falsehood. On the subject of history he most astonishingly and deliberately falsifies. Thus he says:— “It is a fact that the Christians in the first century did observe the Lord’s day—the first day—as a day of rest and worship, set apart to commemorate the resurrection of Christ.” Such a statement from him is inexcusable in whatever light we may view it. If he has read history, he knows that it is false; and if he is so ignorant as not to know it, he is inexcusable for pretending to be a teacher on this subject. But we happen to know that he has read enough on this subject to know that history furnishes no support whatever for the Sunday institution. We therefore leave the reader to account for the declaration as best he can. We will give but one extract more, as follows:— “Does it look reasonable that after the dear friends of our Lord have kept and honored this day for eighteen hundred years, and enjoyed his special blessing century after century, as they have met on that day for his worship, working as freely on Saturday as on any other day without feeling any condemnation, that all at once the keeping of this same day, for the same reason, by those who love Christ, and accept him as their only Savior, should by so doing receive the mark of the beast or government that utterly denies Christ as a Savior?” If this sentence can be surpassed as a grammatical curiosity, we should be happy to see it. But passing over this, we would state that we have italicized one expression in the foregoing extract, because the iniquity of that expression needs to be made prominent. It has been repeatedly explained, even to Eld. G. himself, that we do not hold that Sunday-keeping will constitute the mark of the beast, till enforced by the government in direct opposition to the Sabbath of the Lord. And with this issue plainly set before them, people then cannot and will not keep Sunday for the “same reason” that many have kept it in the past and many keep it to-day. They will keep it because the government enjoins it, their attention being also called to the fact that God’s law requires another day. Then by keeping it they will designate themselves as followers or worshipers of the power that enjoins that day. Yet Eld. G. seems anxious to state very explicitly that we hold that keeping Sunday for the same reason that the good of past ages have kept it, who supposed that they were doing God service, is all at once without any change in the programme, to constitute the mark of the beast; while he well knows that we neither hold nor teach any such view. There are no terms of censure that can fitly condemn such a course. Adapting to the present circumstances some lines of Whittier’s, we can say, “Patience, friends! the eye of God,
Every path by “falsehood” trod,
Watches lidless day and night.”
While deception’s devious maze,
And all those who love her ways,
“And our hearts are in his sight.” The best antidote for the work of the enemy is to spread abroad the truth. Let books and pamphlets be put into the hands of all who will honestly investigate. Some of the leaders of the opposition have already given evidence that they fear these, as Satan fears the light of Heaven. The History of the Sabbath should be immensely circulated. In the Crisis of July 22, 1874, is a reiteration of the stale old falsehoods about the visions teaching that the door of mercy was shut, and the salvation of sinners past in 1844. Let the visions themselves be read that their spirit and tendency may be seen by all who desire to investigate them. By their fruits, says Christ, ye shall know them. And Eld. G. has himself admitted that whoever would follow their teaching would be saved. A curious devil we have indeed, if he has turned to be a preacher of righteousness without connecting with it any error or deception of such a nature as to debar a person from the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever will candidly investigate the writings of Sr. White, will be more and more astonished at the uncalled-for and bitter attacks that are made upon them. U. S. IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT
By Geo. J. Butler
Thoughts on Church Government.—No. 1.
IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT.
GOVERNMENT is defined by Mr. Webster to be “the exercise of authority; direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies, or States; the exercise of authority by a parent or household,” &c. Authority is a “legal power, or a right to command or act.” The word government is used in a very wide range of significations, many of which we shall not attempt to notice in this article. We see it manifested in the family, the school, the church, the nation, and in God’s supervision of his creatures; and in all these relations experience proves it to be most necessary. God is evidently the author of government, and he has designed it for the good of his creatures. All rightful government centers in him, and is exercised by virtue of his authority. The power to create carries with it the right to direct and control. The dependence of every creature upon their Creator for life, and the means of perpetuating that life, carries with it the most solemn obligation to be obedient to that control. The highest possible duty grows out of the reception of the greatest blessings. The wisdom, goodness, and justice of God is manifest from the fact that all his creatures capable of forming a moral character, will be held accountable for the use they make of the privileges granted them; and their eternal destiny will be determined in the Judgment by this consideration. Hence the highest expediency harmonizes with the highest duty, in requiring of man perfect submission to the government of God. The restraining influences upon mankind growing out of the government of God and the certainty of judgment, have been of inestimable value to the world. By virtue of these, there has been some check to the flood of wickedness prevailing upon our globe, which but for them would have run such riot as the world has never witnessed. The world before the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the French Revolution, and other events in the world’s history, afford partial illustrations of what might have been, but for the dread of the hereafter when God shall rise up in Judgment and vindicate his righteous government. In precise proportion as man has recognized God’s government and conformed his life to it has real good resulted to the world, and in the ratio that he has spurned it has evil triumphed. The benefits of God’s government cannot fully be realized till the future state is reached; for the results are only in process of being worked out in this. But enough has already been seen to show that it is of inestimable importance to the race. God has authorized government among the nations. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. “For he is the minister of God to thee for good. He is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers attending continually upon this very thing.” Rom. 13: 1–7. It would be difficult to frame language more plain than the foregoing to show that God has ordained political government. Government of any kind is better than anarchy. It is really the embodiment of the will of the people, whether imperial, kingly, or republican, in form; for the majority of the people have the right and the power to make or change it to any form they choose. Rulers represent the people, and act in their stead and by virtue of their will. God, for wise purposes, has committed the right and power to control and govern individuals, with certain limitations, to the aggregate mass composed of these individuals. This power is liable to great abuses. It will always be of about the same character morally as the mass of the people whom it represents, and of course will fall far short of God’s standard in perfection. Our obligation to human government can never release us from our obligation to God’s government; for the former falls infinitely short of the latter in its claims upon us. God has never committed to any human government his own prerogatives, nor released us from his high claims upon us for honor and obedience. When human government therefore conflicts with the divine, the former must give place to the latter, much as a decision of a mere justice of the peace would be displaced by that of the Supreme Court of the United States. Yes, and in an infinitely higher sense than that. But within these limitations it is reasonable that the few should conform to such rules as the many are willing to submit to. And God has endowed them with authority to enforce obedience. To resist that authority within the limits suggested, is to resist the ordinance of God who has given this authority. Imperfect as human government must necessarily be, coming as it does from human wisdom, and mingled as it is with human passion, yet its benefits to the race are immense. Could we imagine the condition of the world if every individual was left perfectly free to act as he chose, to gratify his own desires, inflict his own punishments, and fight his own way through the world without any combination of men to have a watch-care for others, then we may see what would be our condition without a government. The stronger individuals could then override the weaker, avarice and lust would be the order of the day, thieving and murder would stalk through our streets, and anarchy would reign supreme. Human governments impose certain limits to these things, and give the weaker members a chance to be heard. The strong arm of the body of the people, represented by the rulers of their choice, brings the lawless to terms. Those who never feel under obligation to human governments take a very short-sighted and foolish view of things. With all their burdens, inefficiency, and imperfection, governments are among our greatest temporal blessings, and we should thank God for them. Doubtless, it is because of these things that the Bible commands us to pray for rulers and those in authority. What would be the condition of things in our world if all the criminals in our jails and prisons were loose, with no organized government to apprehend and confine them? If such were the case, there would then be ten criminals where there is now one. Were there no organized government to establish a standard of value, coin and issue money, regulate commerce, and do a thousand things of this nature, our property would be comparatively valueless, our comfortable homes would soon become desolate, and life itself would be robbed of its charms. A mere glance suffices to show us some of the important benefits of political government.53 Family government also occupies an important field in the well-being of mankind. It is a nursery or training school to fit persons for action in other departments of government. If well trained in this, they will be far better qualified to act their proper part in connection with the government of God, in the church, or in the State. It is instituted by divine authority. God has committed to parents authority over their children, within certain limits, and requires of them the exercise of this authority. Children are required to submit to it unless it conflicts with God’s claims upon them. His claims are far higher than those of parents. God says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother.” Parents are required to train their children up in accordance with right principles. Children are under obligation to render obedience to their parents; because God says so, as well as because of the blessings conferred upon them by their parents. Under God they owe to them their existence. They have received of them much care and protection in their helpless infancy. They have been fed and clothed, when they would have perished but for this care. This brings them under obligations to their parents, from which nothing but death can release them. Family government is authorized by God, because it is best for children and for mankind. Were parents not authorized to use power to compel obedience, and were children as free to do as they please as parents, the state of things in the world would be far worse than it is. If children were left to follow every childish fancy or caprice, and were under no constraint, a far larger portion would grow up lawless and worthless than do now. There is so little genuine family government in the world that the result is now bad enough. But there is enough so that many evils are avoided. A family under such training as the Scriptures teach is almost a miniature Heaven on the earth. Children under such training grow up to respect rightful authority, fear God, and follow the ways of virtue. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” So says the book of God. The nearer we approximate to such training the more certain will we be to obtain such results. One great object to be obtained in family government, yes, and in all government, is submission to rightful authority. Family government which does not accomplish this is truly a failure. By submission, I mean the full yielding of the will to a higher power. A yielding to the wishes of the parent because of coaxing or buying up, or because certain inducements are held before the mind, is one thing; submission to the claims of rightful authority because duty requires it, is quite another. When the latter is not obtained, such family training is a failure. When it is obtained, a lesson is learned, the effects of which will be of life-long duration, blessing and ennobling the possessor and others with whom he associates. The human heart in its present state is filled with turbulent passions. The mind is sadly unbalanced. Every child that comes into the world has internal enemies to control, which are most dangerous to his well-being. These are liable to run riot, lead the imagination astray, and color the reflections of the intellect. The child needs to be taught self-government. It wants to do as it pleases, follow its own fancy, and gratify its appetite, even at the expense of physical and moral health. The child is largely animal in its feelings, cultivating the lower instead of the higher powers. What its great need demands is to have rightful parental authority step in and oblige it to submit to that which is for its highest good. This should be done gently and firmly, till the plastic mind is molded to yield obedience to right. It is better for the child that this be done, even if the infliction of present pain be necessary. Such authority should be steady, mild, and decided, imitating as closely as possible the example of God, the fountain of all authority. When children grow up under such training, their course through the world will not be like that of the wandering star, fickle and changeable as the wind, but straight forward, true to the pole-star of principle, and ever reliable. No one is ever fitted to command until he has first learned to obey. Those are best fitted to properly train children who have been properly trained themselves. Family government is a great subject, embracing much that is important for the race. But it is not my design to discuss it at length here. It qualifies the subjects of it, when properly carried out, to better discharge the duties of this life, and helps to fit them for the higher life. Rebellion in the universe of God, has been a terrible thing. It was seen in Heaven itself, when Satan, the anointed cherub, proudly rose up against the Creator, and one third part of the angels were cast with him out of Heaven. Our race is in rebellion against its lawful sovereign. To come back to our allegiance and submit ourselves to God, is the lesson we must learn. Judicious family government, when the mind is tender and plastic, helps powerfully to accomplish this great object, and every parent who neglects it is guilty of a great sin against his child. The church of God occupies a position of great importance in the world. It is a school in which people are trained in the principles of Heaven. In it they are brought into a relation peculiar to themselves, to the world, and to God. In it they are trained and instructed in those principles which will fit them to discharge the duties of this life properly, and prepare them to live eternally in the presence of God. The issues and relations connected with the church are peculiar and important. The church is an object of God’s special care; for in it, more than anywhere else in the world, are those who take him for their rightful sovereign—those who are trying to walk in submission to his will. We may therefore rest assured that the church has received authority to act in those relations prescribed by the eternal mind, and that it will have a government. If government is important in those relations which we have been considering, in the family and State, certainly we expect it to be in the church, “the temple of the living God,” “the pillar and ground of the truth.” In succeeding articles we will more fully consider the subject of church government.