EVERYWHERE do we find error softly creeping along like the serpent among the flowers of Eden, and nowhere more dangerous than when reposing in the lines of the poet.
In the following extract we find the modern delusion of the millennium (the conversion of the world) alluded to in the third stanza; and what renders it more dangerous is, that the first two verses are beautiful and appropriate, and according to the truth; which is well calculated to give currency to error in the last verse.
Thus it is, error is so mixed up with the truth that unless one is alive and awake to the delusions of the age, he may be imposed upon at every turn in life, by the sugar-coated, gilded poisons of the times, which lurk in most of the popular worship, and teachings of this age.
Parents talk to the unsuspecting child, of a future, golden age of man; of an immortal soul independent of the resurrection; of an immaterial heaven, &c. The preacher preaches it, the church talks and prays it, the poet clothes it with beauty and wordy power, the vocalist sings it, the child breathes it from the moral atmosphere around; and, arriving at maturity, he finds that "endless torments," "deathless spirits," a "shadowy, immaterial future," and the future "conversion of the world," are, with the "first-day Sabbath," constituent parts of his belief; and unless there is honesty of heart beneath all this rubbish, when you take from him these long-cherished errors, you have demolished his fortress in which his soul trusted. But here are the verses:
"Hark! the cry of death is ringing,
Wildly from the reeking plain;
Guilty glory, too, is flinging,
Proudly forth her vaunting strain.
Thousands on the field are lying,
Slaughtered in the useless strife;
Wildly mingled, dead and dying,
Show the waste of human life.
"Listen to the supplications
Of the widowed ones of earth;
Listen to the cry of nations,
Ringing loudly, wildly forth;
Nations bruised and crushed forever,
By the iron heel of war.
God of mercy wilt thou never
Send deliverance from afar!
"Yes! a light is faintly beaming,
Through the cloud that hovers o'er;
Soon the radiance of its beaming,
Full upon our land will pour.
'Tis the light that tells the dawning
Of the bright millennial day,
Heralding its blessed morning,
With its peace-bestowing ray."
The lulling peace-and-safety song is here surely.
J. CLARKE.
Take Up Thy Cross.
By R. C. Farrar
LONG had I prayed, long had I wept,
No comfort o'er my spirit crept,
Till meek and penitent with grief,
I looked to Jesus for relief;
"What shall I do?" in anguish cried;
A tender, loving voice replied,
"If thou wilt my disciple be,
Take up thy cross, and follow me."
Blest Saviour, since that happy hour,
Oft have I felt the tempter's power,
To lure me from the heavenly road,
So narrow and so little trod;
For worldly wisdom turns away,
To tread the broad and flowery way;
But ah! I knew this flowery path
Led down to everlasting death!
The rugged, thorny path I viewed,
And oft irresolute I stood.
The worldly throng seemed glad and gay,
And Pleasure beckoned me to stay:
"Come taste this cup of joy," said she,
"These fairy flowers I'll twine for thee,
Why shouldst thou spend youth's spring-time
In toiling up that rugged way?" [gay.
How oft I yielded to the spell,
My aching heart recalls too well.
The withered flowers I might forget,
But ah! the thorns, I feel them yet!
The cup that I so madly sought,
I found with sad repentance fraught;
And I reviewed the misspent years,
With bitter, self-upbraiding tears.
Then half-despairing, half in hope,
Saviour, I dared to thee look up,
And in my darkness and despair,
I saw a gleam of pity there.
In accents gentle, but severe,
Again these words fell on my ear;
"If thou wilt my disciple be,
Take up thy cross, and follow me."
Dear Saviour, up the rugged way,
I strive to toil from day to day;
A light upon the path has shone,
Strengthened and cheered, I'm pressing on;
My heart is fixed the end to see,
Where fadeless joys are waiting me;
What care I for the worldling's frown?
Brighter will shine the immortal crown.
Press on! press on! ye worn and faint!
Rest soon will soothe the weary saint.
There's one sweet hope our hearts to cheer,
Redemption's day is drawing near.
A voice rings on the startled air
In thunder tones, "Prepare! prepare!
Ye soon shall my salvation see,
Who faithfully have followed me."
R. C. FARRAR.
Deerfield, Waushara Co., Wis.
Extracts from Letters.
Bro. J. Heath writes from South Hardwick, Vt.: "I still feel interested in reading the Review and Instructor. I have an interest in the cause they advocate, and am trying to live out the great truths they hold up before the world. The third angel's message, for a little more than two years, has been a sweet and heavenly message to me. Although I had been a professor of religion for more than forty years, and a Methodist class-leader for a number of years, and besides had been in the first and second messages, when this truth found a place in my heart, O, what a change! It lifted me up and showed me that there was yet a work to be done for me. Every belief not according to the word of God must be given up. O, how strait the way! how narrow! Every idol must be cast away. The testimony to the church must be fully received. I hope that I shall come up fully to the work, and be ready for the coming of Christ."
Bro. O. Davis writes from North Berwick, Me.: "I am glad to see the subject of State Conferences being agitated. It appears to me that a judicious arrangement in Conferences of the Lord's people so that a general meeting in a State as often as once a year, at least, would result in a great blessing to the cause. As things are this way now, nothing definite is looked forward to, and if I am rightly informed, in many places meetings are dropped almost entirely. Troubles are likely to soon press upon us in respect to military matters, and we shall all need the strengthening influence of meeting together and building up one another's faith. I have often felt the need of opportunities of consulting with brethren of experience in my trials and difficulties."
Sister J. Stacy writes from Cass, Ohio: "I hope we shall all awake to our eternal interest. I feel more than ever determined to live out the present truth. When I look forward to the glorious inheritance that lies at the end of the race, it inspires me with new courage to move onward. Think, brethren, what Jesus said when he left his disciples. 'I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also.' Blessed thought! that while the wicked are calling for rocks to fall on them, we have a place prepared for us."
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APPOINTMENTS.
By H. C. Blanchard
The next quarterly meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist church at Princeville, Ills., will be the first Sabbath and first-day in September, at my house, three and a half miles south-west of Princeville. We cordially invite the brethren and sisters from abroad, especially those from Elmwood. Come up to the meeting, brethren, and may the Lord meet with us and bless us, and we be furthered on toward heaven and immortal glory.
Our monthly meetings will be the first Sabbath and first-day in each month.
The brethren send a cordial invitation to Bro. and Sr. White to visit Princeville, and will aid them with their prayers and means in furthering on the last message of mercy.
By order of the church.
H. C. BLANCHARD.
Princeville, Aug. 3, 1862.
The Future of Spiritualism.
We often hear the remark, "Spiritualism is dying out." Whenever we hear one make such a statement, we are led to think at once, Did you know what it is doing, you would take back that saying, and stand aghast at its gigantic strides. He might as well have said, Popery was dying out in the thirteenth century, because very little noise was made about it. The reason was, there were scarcely any left to oppose, hence all was comparatively quiet. Spiritualism has already planted its sentiments so firmly, and generally, in church and state, that the victory is nearly complete. The opposition is now very feeble, like that of a dying man in his last moments.
We do not say that the great body of church and state are yet avowed Spiritualists; but that the sentiments of Spiritualists, more or less, are being adopted by the masses. As poison, from the bite of the rattlesnake, taken into the smallest vein soon affects the whole system, causing subsequent death; so is Spiritualism poisoning the whole world. Like drugged liquors, the doctrines may exhilarate at first, but delirium and death are sure to follow.
But we are to speak of its future. Its past and present are partially known to the world, while its future history is yet unwritten, except on the prophetic page of inspiration. It is a well-known fact that false systems of religion, existing in the past, have sought political power. The Pagan, Mahommedan, Catholic, and some others, have succeeded more or less. We have now arrived at a period in the world's history when we may expect the last development of Satanic power, for the purpose of overthrowing the doctrine of Christ and the apostles, and establishing the great lie to man in Eden, that he is now immortal, and hence cannot die. In order to make this fable triumphant, it needs to be woven into politics among Protestants, as it has been by Pagans and Catholics. In the new system of government about to arise, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is denominated the first of the eternal principles—the foundation-stone.
The Spiritualists, by the advice of the spirits of demons, now begin to talk freely about organization. The following extract from an article in the Banner of Light, July 19, 1862, headed, "Principles of Organization," will give a glimpse of coming events. Referring to a previous article, the writer says:
"I have heretofore shown, at considerable length, the method by which the two essential, yet opposite, principles of the sovereignty of the individual on the one hand, and of implicit obedience to the commands of a chief on the other, can be harmoniously balanced and adjusted in practical organization or government."
The government proposed is called, "new system," composed of two elements combined—Monarchy and Republicanism. This explains the sentence just quoted.—World's Crisis.
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