Long we have heard, and in our childhood days we were carefully taught, that the soul was immortal, and if everlasting happiness and bliss were not obtained by a life of obedience here, an eternity of misery and unspeakable woe in that terrible lake of fire would surely follow. We were told that the Bible said this. And, further, it was told us that the wicked, in their unutterable torment, would go on sinning against God to such an extent that after a thousand years of this punishment they would be further from their just deserts than when they first entered upon it. We were astonished at such thoughts, and to say that in our childish folly serious doubts arose, would be stating the case mildly.
In after years we read the Bible for ourselves, and were led to ask: “Will the lost in their anguish too great for tongue or pen to express, or the power of reason to comprehend, ever lift up their voices in praise to God and the Lamb, and thus mingle, in confusing accents, blessings and cursings?” Will this be so? No, never. But the prophet of Christ in his vision of the future said: “And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Rev. 5:13.
As every creature in Heaven above, and in the earth beneath is here said to ascribe praise and glory to God and the Lamb, it surely follows that the time will come when not one single creature in all the universe of God will be in pain or woe. “How glad I am for the thought,” says one; “for now I see clearly that, as the real man is immortal, the time will come when all God’s creatures will be restored to his favor; and thus beautifully appears the convincing evidence that all mankind will finally be saved.” And now we have before us this astonishing medley,—the doctrine of the everlasting conscious misery of the impenitent and that of universal salvation, one directly opposed to the other, both securely anchored to the dogma of the natural immortality of man. Can both be true? It is impossible. The premise is wrong, the conclusions are errors. “But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel.” “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.”
From the word of God we learn that he will give eternal life, through Christ, to them who seek for immortality by well doing; while the wages of those who will not shall be death. Rom. 2:7; 6:23. Of the wicked God says, “For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.” Isa. 10:25. Not burned to all eternity, not all saved. The righteous shall be blessed with life eternal, and the wicked, driven from existence by the implements of the wrath of God, shall be as though they had not been. Obad. 16.
God will again have a clean universe, good and holy as in the beginning, and then will be fulfilled that beautiful scripture, “And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4. Not one single trace of the sinner or the bad effects of sin shall ever more appear; but every creature in Heaven and in earth with one heart and voice shall give blessing and honor, glory and power, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, to the Lamb for ever and ever.
E. R. JONES.
The Public Health
Mr. Angell, in his address upon “Public Health Associations,” has made some very interesting comparative statements, and called attention renewedly to a subject which has at different times occupied the mind of the public, with varied expression of opinions. In the course of his remarks he said, substantially, that in France no medicine could be sold that had not been approved by a board of the best chemists of Paris, and no physician could practice there who had not been approved by a board of the best Paris physicians. Deadly poisons could only be sold by persons of good character, and every precaution is taken in that country to prevent the sale of poisonous, dangerous, or adulterated articles, and to protect public health. In the United States, on the contrary, the country of freedom, millions of dollars’ worth of quack medicines, which no physician would prescribe, are sold; the most dangerous poisons can be bought at hundreds of places in our cities without restriction, and in Boston alone more than three hundred ignorant persons are practicing medicine.
An eminent chemist of Massachusetts testifies that almost every class of articles for food sold in this country is adulterated, and many of the mixtures are extremely poisonous. Cayenne pepper is adulterated with red lead; mustard with chromate of lead; vinegar with sulphuric acid, arsenic, and corrosive sublimate. Half the vinegar sold is said to be rank poison. Of twelve packages of pickles analyzed, copper was found in ten. Of another lot of sixteen packages, copper was found in every one, though no two were put up by the same wholesale house. Sirups, flavoring oils, jellies, and preserved fruits contain poisons. Tea and coffee are largely adulterated; cocoa and chocolate, with minerals. White stone is ground up in New England mills for adulterating soda, sugar, and flour. Thousands of tons of it have been ground for the purpose in one Massachusetts town. Flour is mixed with plaster of Paris, bone dust, clay, sand, chalk, etc.; candy, with terra alba. A Boston chemist found 75 per cent of terra alba in one sample of cooking cream of tartar. Milk is mixed with water taken from barn-yard wells, and thousands of gallons of compound are sold as milk that do not contain one drop of the genuine article. Diseased meats, eggs, poultry, and fish are sold in the markets. Butter is manufactured in enormous quantities from animal fats, often obtained from diseased animals, and even this is adulterated. In 1878 there were made and sold in the United States of this kind of butter upwards of ninety million pounds, and 40,000,000 pounds of cheese were made from the same material.
Nothing is being done to stop these adulterations. In San Francisco tea is made from exhausted tea leaves colored with Prussian blue; coffee, of burnt flour flavored with essence of coffee; bread, of potatoes and alum. Of wines and liquors there is no end to the variety of adulterations. Whisky contains creosote, salts of copper, alum, etc. In a cask of “pure” sherry wine purchased of a Boston firm for sick patients, not a drop of the juice of the grape was found upon analysis. Wines and liquors are manufactured here, shipped to Europe, and then “imported” into this country. California wines are made in Boston cellars. Forty gallons of compound is changed into brandy, whisky, and other liquors at a cost of ten cents a gallon. A Massachusetts chemist says that of all the wines and liquors sold in eight out of ten places in the State, ninety per cent are adulterated.
Drugs and medicines are fearfully adulterated. A physician orders medicine for a patient dangerously sick, and because the medicine has only a quarter the strength it should have, the patient dies. Tinware contains lead in soluble form. In fabrics for clothing, arsenic, corrosive sublimate and other deadly poisons enter—in ladies dresses, in silks, veils, threads, artificial flowers, gentlemen’s underclothing, socks, gloves, hat linings, boot and shoe linings, paper collars, and other articles. In a green dress eight grains of arsenic were found in each square foot. Wall papers, tickets, lamp shades, cards, etc., contain large quantities of arsenic. Thirty barrels of this substance were found in one New England factory. The proprietor kept away from it, and the operatives could only work two days a week. The amount of arsenic imported into this country during 1875 was 2,327,742 pounds, and each pound contains a fatal dose for 2,800 adult human beings. It is sold in our markets almost as freely as wood and coal.
A retired sugar dealer says that sugar, molasses, and honey are so largely adulterated that he dares not use them, except in small quantities. Kerosene oil is so adulterated that out of twenty samples tested by a Boston chemist eighteen were dangerous. As a consequence, losses by fire have increased in the United States from $35,000,000 in 1868 to nearly $100,000,000 at present annually.
Is there any remedy for these things? The speaker pointed out that laws should be enacted and enforced controlling and governing these matters in all their forms. Boards of health do great service, but they cannot touch this evil. Combinations of capital and political influence paralyze their influence. Public health associations, composed of influential citizens, supported by voluntary contributions, employing officers who cannot be bribed, he thought the only true and available remedy.—Boston Herald.
SECURE YOUR SEAT EARLY.
“Secure your seat early;” but not for the play,
Where pleasure and folly and vanity meet,
With the gildings of vice turning night into day,
And winging the hours with fraud and deceit;
Where modesty loses her signal of pain,
And chastity waxes licentious and bold;
And the ear grows familiar with language profane,
And the heart, with false sympathy, callous and cold.
“Secure your seat early;” but not for the ball,
Where fashion supreme in her tyranny reigns,
And the dupes of her blandishments answer the call,
To kneel to the scepter and welcome her chains;
For the visor of tinsel which folly may wear
Conceals but the skeleton features of death;
And the mirror of purity, spotless and fair,
May be marred by a whisper, or dimmed with a breath.
“Secure your seat early;” but not for the feast,
Where the song, and the jest, and the revel abound;
Where appetite wantons, by plenty increased,
And the cup of Bacchante is worshipped and crowned;
For that board is no shrine to the Godhead above,
That song is no pean of glory divine,
That libation no sacrifice offered by love
To the Saviour, whose life was once offered for thine.
There's a drama preparing, oh, awful and grand!
And a stage where all Heaven, with God, will appear!
And an audience summoned from every land
At the sound of the “trump” will be gathered to hear.
There's a place on the “left” where the wicked shall meet,
With demons for ushers, no seats to procure;
There's a place on the “right” where angels will greet,
And provide for the righteous—secure your seats there.
There's a feast which the Lord for his people provides,
Abundant and rich, in his palace on high.
Where seraphs attend, where the Father presides,
And Jesus will welcome the guests of the sky.
With their crowns, and their harps, and their “banners of palm,”
Shall saints in the revels celestial share;
With the anthem of “glory to God and the Lamb,”
And the song of redemption—secure your seat there.
The programmes are ready, the tickets are out,
An angel is waiting your name to record;
Secure your seat early—delay not or doubt—
For the drama of Judgment—the feast of the Lord!
God's heralds are calling from valley and plain,
And mountains are sending the tidings abroad—
It'll echo to echo repeats it again;
Secure your seat early—secure it with God.
And it must be secured—O, secure it in time;
For no tickets are sold at eternity's door,
Nor the janitor bribed, were the universe thine,
To purchase a seat thou hast failed to secure.
Oh, no! when death closes the record of grace,
The soul whose address is not registered there
Must turn from the portal of Heaven; to trace
Its name on the page of eternal despair.
—Selected.
FISHERS OF MEN.
By C. H. Spurgeon
I saw on Lake Como, when we visited Bellagio, some men fishing. They had torches burning in their boats, and the fish were attracted to them by the glare of the light. You must know how to get the fish together. You know there is such a thing as the ground bait for the fishes. You must know how to allure men. The preacher does this by using images, symbols, and illustrations. You must know how to catch the fish, throwing out first, perhaps, not a remark directly to the point, because that might be unwise, but a side-way remark, which shall lead to another, and yet another. If you are to be a “fisher of men,” you must have your wits about you. It will not do to blunder over men’s souls. Fish are not caught by every boy who chooses to take a pin and a piece of cotton and make his way to the pond. Fish want a fisherman, and there is a sort of congruity between the fish and the man who catches them. I do not wonder that Izaak Walton should catch fish. He seems to have been born and made on purpose for it. And so there are some men who are made on purpose for winning souls. They naturally care for their fellows, and they have such a way of putting the truth that as soon as they speak men say, “Here is a man come who knows all about me, and knows how to deal with me,” and they at once yield to his influence. God has called them, and has made them true fishers of men; they know about men, and also how to allure them. —C. H. Spurgeon.
Bitter Words
The knife's sharp cut can be endured—
Its ugly gash by time is cured;
But bitter words, when they o'erflow,
Inflict a deep, unhealing blow.
—From the Turkish.
Aim High, but Within Reach
Aim high; but not so high as not to be able to hit anything.
THE LAST MAIL.
By James White
We walked a mile to the post-office the morning of the 18th, and found letters, one from Sister Jennie Ings, Bâle, Switzerland, to Mrs. White, in her usual clear and affectionate style, inclosing a beautiful book mark, on which is the gracious promise, written by the hand that has a hundred times ministered to our comfort,—“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
As we opened another from Mary A. Kelley, we found one of our relief pledge papers for the house of worship at Oakland, California, inclosing $20, which this sister loans without interest. We shall forward a note by next mail.
Another from Bro. Simpson contained a draft for $250, which he loans without interest, for the benefit of the Oakland church, till December, 1880.
Then came the REVIEW, with appropriate articles from Elders Canright, Littlejohn, Butler, and others. The editorial pages are rich in thought, pointed, and sharp. They contain good reports from Elders Canright and Matteson. But as we looked through this paper, we were disappointed to find so little said and done for our houses of worship at Oakland and Battle Creek.
True, Bro. C. W. Stone reports a meeting on New Year’s at Eden, Vt., where the sum of $21.92 was pledged for the relief of the Oakland church, of which $11.47 was paid; and $3.70 was paid for the Dime Tabernacle. And besides these there is no report of what was said or done on New Year’s for these houses of worship, excepting from the correspondent at Mackinaw, Illinois, who says: “At the business meeting held the same day, the sum of $20.20 was pledged to the houses of worship at Oakland, Cal., and Battle Creek, Mich.,—$15.20 to the Oakland house and $5.00 to the Tabernacle at Battle Creek. Two little boys, sons of Bro. and Sr. Wordel, gave their Christmas presents, ten cents each, to the Oakland house.”
We did expect that in every meeting of our brethren, great and small, in every part of the land, something, more or less, would be done to raise the debts from these houses. And we shall expect to see reports from all our ministers in the near future, stating what was done here and there for these houses at the great centers of the work. Ohio is a rich State. We have sent our ablest and best ministers to that State. And it is reasonable to expect fruit. So when we opened the REVIEW of Jan. 16, containing two reports from Ohio by Elder Canright, we were disappointed to find not a word in response to our appeals. No, not a word even from one of the General Conference Committee. Just so sure as we lead off and set the example, and ask the brethren to follow us, they will come into line. If we do nothing and say nothing, they will be content to do nothing.
Elder S. N. Haskell has recently reported that the church at South Lancaster, Mass., raised $8.00 for the Oakland church, and $8.00 for the Battle Creek Tabernacle. Here is a church composed mostly of poor mechanics, dependent on their daily labor for their daily bread. But they have become willing and able to give by giving. There is scarcely a church of S. D. Adventists in Ohio but has more property than the South Lancaster church. And yet many of the Lancaster church have given to the cause of God, during the past twenty years, four times as much as they are worth to-day, and yet they give.
The churches at Oakland, San Francisco, and Woodland have done nobly. The example set by the Oakland church, most of whose members are poor, has gained the day for their house of worship. The Signs of the Times of Jan. 9, 1879, reports that the amount raised in San Francisco on Christmas eve was one hundred dollars. In Oakland it was a splendid success. Amount raised, in money, $800; and other property valued at about $250. Over $1000 in all. Sixty-three dollars are reported from Woodland. The rising sun of Jan. 1, 1880, will cast its morning rays upon our good house of worship in that city free from debt.
But the church at Battle Creek, God bless the people of our charge there, has loved her neighbor across the continent better than herself. The REVIEW of Jan. 9 reports: “In subscribing on New Year’s day nearly twice as much for the house in Oakland, Cal., as for the Tabernacle here, the church has shown in a marked manner how it can waive home considerations and home interests in behalf of a church in a far-distant State. But the cause is one and the same everywhere; and we feel an interest in the work on the Pacific coast the same as at our own doors, the same in Europe as in America.”
This morning, Jan. 22, we received a letter from our old friend, Bro. Sanford Rogers, of La Fayette, Indiana. He says:—
“I send you in this a draft for $200, which you can have for one year without interest, to use in the Lord’s cause where you think it is most needed at this time. We may not want it at the end of the year, unless we should buy a small home. I will notify you if we should want it, in time for you to raise it without trouble.
“I want to tell you how I came to get it. About ten days ago I received a circular in the Signs, with your name and that of Sister W., showing how much you had given to the good cause in California. I thought how glad I would be to have a little money to do the same; but I had none due me till spring, and then but a small amount of interest. I had promised to pay the schooling of one of my nephews at Battle Creek College for one year, and this would take all my interest money for this year, so I thought that I should have to give up doing anything more at present; but in less than five days the man in Ohio who was owing me sent me this draft. It was not due yet for about fifteen months. I had not even asked him for any money. I took it as an evidence that the Lord would try my motives and my liberality, and I thank God that my heart was not only willing but anxious to send it to you as soon as it came into my hands. I therefore send it, hoping that it may do some good.”
Bro. Rogers has set a good example, which we hope will be followed by others. We shall not be discouraged that so few respond to our appeals. The money must be raised. We shall be able to report just how the matter stands in an address which we shall prepare to be read in all our churches on the first first-day in February. In like manner the matter must be kept before our people until relief shall come. Each month a printed report can be read, showing what progress is made.
We request that reports from all our churches, accompanying pledges and money donated and loaned, be forwarded immediately to Elder James White, Denison, Texas. J. W.
Two correspondents, Mrs. B. A. and J. V. W., will find an answer to their queries on this subject in the following. The queries raised are, What evidence is there that the first 7 of the 70 weeks, or the first 49 years of the 490, ended with the last act of reformation under Nehemiah, in the 15th of Darius Nothus, B. C. 408, as stated in Thoughts on Daniel, and how can this be reconciled with the chronology given in the book of Nehemiah? The answer is as follows:—
Nehemiah made several visits to Jerusalem; and while the building of the wall was finished in a very short time during his first visit, from 444 to 432 B. C., there were other matters to be accomplished in the work of the restoration of Jerusalem, which he attended to afterward. In the 32d year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah returned to the king of Persia, and after some days, how long after is not stated, he gained permission to go up to Jerusalem again. Neh. 13:6. Prideaux makes his tarry at the Persian court, at this time, at least five years, and his return to Jerusalem in the 37th year of the king, B. C. 427. Whether he returned to Persia again or not is not stated. Artaxerxes reigned 41 years, to B. C. 423, and in the canon of Ptolemy, was succeeded by Darius Nothus, the short reigns of the usurpers Xerxes and Sogdianus, amounting together to less than a year, being thrown out of the count. The 15th year of Darius Nothus would therefore be as late as B. C. 408, nineteen years from the date of Nehemiah’s second journey to Jerusalem. That Nehemiah’s last act of reform, as recorded in Nehemiah 13:23-31, was as late as the 15th of Darius Nothus, is ascertained from the fact that Nehemiah himself says, verse 28, that it was in the priesthood of Joiada, who came to the priesthood on the death of Eliashib, his father, in the 11th year of Darius. This was within four years of the point where the seven weeks, or forty-nine years, would end. And as the act of restoration was accomplished under this priesthood, and we have the light of the prophecy to guide us, the only reasonable place to locate it is in the fourth year of the priesthood of Joiada, the fifteenth of the reign of Darius, B. C. 408, just forty-nine years from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem, B. C. 457.
The chronology given in the margin of the book of Nehemiah is not consistent with the record of the book itself, nor with the chronology placed in the margin of the book of Ezra. For instance, the first year of Artaxerxes Longimanus is placed beyond controversy in the year B. C. 464. To get his seventh year, we subtract seven from that, which gives 457, as is given in the margin of Ezra 7. Nehemiah (2:1) received his first commission in the twentieth year of the king. Twenty from 464 would give us 444. But in the margin we find the figures 445, and this number is carried through to the end of the book, without regard to the record of chapter 13:6.
Prideaux argues this matter fully in his “Connexion,” vol. i. pp. 322-324, making it clear that the record of Nehemiah brings us down to the end of the seven weeks of Dan. 9:25, to the 15th year of Darius Nothus.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
By Editor
C. M. French: An explanation of Mark 9: 44, 46, 48, and Rev. 20: 10 will be found in Man’s Nature and Destiny.—Matt. 5: 25, 26 teaches the utter destruction rather than the restoration of the wicked; for the penalty they pay being eternal death, they never reach the end of that state.—Christ was in the power of wicked men three nights.
Ans. The previous verses speak about some being seized, or taken, and others escaping, or being left. Those who are seized are those who are overtaken by the judgments of God’s wrath, in the day of trouble. Those who escape are those to whom the plagues do not come nigh, and who are saved by Christ at his coming. Therefore we conclude that the “body” of verse 37, called “carcass” in Matt. 24: 28, denotes the wicked; and that the eagles are the judgments of God, especially the seven last plagues.—We do not know that Judas ever gave any evidence of being a good man.
W. Crittenden: Some do experience some such blessing as is mentioned in Acts 10: 44; but we suppose it was not invariably the case even in those days.
Wm. Schram:Matt. 25: 31–33 does not contradict the idea that the investigative Judgment is held before Christ comes, which is taught by the subject of the sanctuary; for what is brought to view in this scripture is only the carrying out of the decisions rendered in that Judgment; namely, separating the righteous from the wicked. See explanation of Luke 24: 39 in Man’s Nature and Destiny.
M. A. Green: Cyrus entered Babylon B. C. 538. The prophecy concerning him, Isa. 45: 1–3, was given B. C. 712, one hundred and seventy-four years before the fulfillment.—Araunah, 2 Sam. 24, and Ornan, 1 Chron. 21: 15; 2 Chron. 3: 1, are the same.
J. M. Hopkins: We think there would be nothing inconsistent in renting a farm with team and implements to a first-day keeper, provided the Sabbath-keeper is so situated as not to be disturbed in his Sabbath privileges and duties.—We think Rome is the seat of the beast, and that no other place will ever become such. Hence we do not look for the papacy ever to be removed from Rome.
Ans. Dr. Clarke says that “we really do not know what the original word shaatnez, which we translate linen and woolen, means;” but he thinks the prohibition of divers sorts and colors in garments was designed as a safeguard against pride, which was especially manifested in that manner in that land and age.
D. B. Welch: The saints reign through a thousand years, doubtless, in the same sense in which they reign on the new earth.
Ans. The word “heard” in the latter reference means to “understand.” They heard the sound, as stated in Acts 9: 7; they did not37understand the words, as stated in Acts 22: 9.
M. McGregor: For an explanation of the two covenants, see the pamphlets on the subject published at this office.
MISSION TO GREAT BRITAIN.
By Editor
The time has fully come to start a mission in England to be extended throughout Great Britain. Eld. Loughborough is already in that field. We call for one hundred thousand dollars for that mission, to be paid in eight quarterly payments. The sum is not too large to meet the expenses of missionaries to England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, and elsewhere in the Queen’s dominions, and to establish a complete publishing house.
But while our publishing houses at Oakland, Cal., Battle Creek, Mich., and Bâle, Switzerland, are embarrassed, no more should be established. When these shall be above want, and friends shall be raised up in Great Britain sufficient to support the publishing work without help from America, then our people here should rally to the work of planting a house of publication in England.
And further, while there is so great need of relieving the cause in Oakland, Cal., our people on the Pacific coast should consider it their first duty to meet the wants of the cause at their headquarters, and the mission to Great Britain should be second.
The General Conference sent Elder L. to England, and the Executive Committee of that body will see that the mission is sustained. At present Elder L. will get his publications from Michigan, and patronize principally the California paper. The sales of publications and what he shall receive for the Signs and REVIEW will sustain him.
When our publishing houses and the houses of worship at Battle Creek and Oakland shall be free from debt, then we will send Elder L. help to push the work in the countries aforementioned. Then it will be time to publish in Great Britain. The brethren at Battle Creek and Oakland should send no means abroad till their church debts shall be paid. To others who have pledged, we would say that we shall regard you good for the sums you have pledged, but extend the time one year, that you may all help us lift those debts during the current year. As means may be needed for the mission to Great Britain we shall call for help; but the time to raise the one hundred thousand dollars is extended to January 1, 1882. God will bless the cheerful and liberal giver.
GEN. CONF. COM.
EASILY SATISFIED.
JOSEPH COOK, in his lecture on “Trades Unions,” published in the Independent of Jan. 16, 1879, refers to the prophecy of Daniel 2, as follows:—
“I open a book three thousand years old, and I read that the stone cut out of the mountain shall fill the whole earth. That prophecy has come to pass.”
The italics are our own. The prophecy states that the stone was to smite the image upon its feet, dashing it to atoms, the wind was to blow away the debris like the chaff, so that no place could be found for it, and then the stone was to become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. The interpretation given by Daniel was that in the days of the last earthly kingdoms the God of Heaven should set up a kingdom which should never pass away nor be left to other people, but, having broken in pieces and consumed all these earthly kingdoms, it should stand forever.
“That prophecy,” says Mr. Cook, “has come to pass”!! All earthly kingdoms, then, are destroyed! The saints of the Most High, as expressed in Dan. 7:18, 27, have taken the kingdom. We have reached that which is to last forever. Nothing better is to come.
Such is the teaching of Mr. Cook; and a Boston audience greets it with applause. Is he, are they, satisfied with the present condition of the world as the accomplishment and fulfillment of God’s best promises? Is there nothing better to come? Then how easily are they satisfied. It would be nothing to write prophecies for such people. Whatever might be written, all they would have to do would be to sit down complacently and say, That has come to pass; and it would be just as true of that as of this.
But we cannot be satisfied with any such view. Nothing will satisfy us but to have, according to the prophecy, all these worldly mis-governments come to an end; to have wickedness and oppression cease; to have the saints possess the kingdom; to have the righteous dead awake in their Saviour’s likeness; to have the meek inherit the earth; to have evil, pain, sickness, and death done away; to have the tears dried from every mourner’s eye; and to have the whole earth glow with more than Edenic life and loveliness and beauty, as the holy mountain of God.
When all this has come, as it must come to fulfil the prophecy, and as it will come, for God has said it, then in deed and in truth can it be said, “The book said that the stone cut out of the mountain should fill the whole earth. That prophecy has come to pass; and the book has kept its promise with the nations.”
A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
At the late Conference in Battle Creek, a resolution was adopted recommending that ministers be assigned their fields of labor at the commencement of the Conference year, and that they continue to labor in that section of the Conference at least one year. I see that other Conferences have since recommended the same thing. The importance of this move can readily be seen. As it has been in the past, in many cases the traveling expenses of the ministers have been about as much as their weekly wages. This should not be so. Sometimes our most efficient ministers have been called hither and thither to different parts of the field, and they have had to travel hundreds of miles to reach their appointments. In the case of the president of a Conference or some such person, this cannot be avoided; but there is no reason why all the ministers in a Conference should thus run about.
1. It involves an immense expense. 2. It involves a great loss of time. 3. It takes the minister away from the very place where he ought to labor. 4. It takes the responsibility off from the minister, so far as any interest which he may have raised up is concerned. If the church does not prosper, or if the interest goes down, he says he is not to blame, as he was not left there to complete the work. 5. In a large number of cases, young companies of Sabbath-keepers are thus left to settle down half-converted. They become discouraged, and finally give up the truth almost entirely. We see this everywhere we go, and it is becoming a crying evil among our people.
If our churches are to prosper, there must be a change in regard to this matter. It is recommended , therefore, when a minister has been assigned to a certain field, or when he has selected one for himself, that he continue to labor there or in that vicinity, so as to hold every inch of ground he may gain. If a man embraces the truth, he should be looked after, visited, and instructed until he becomes thoroughly settled in all the principles of the faith. If eight, or ten or more receive the truth, they need constant watching and care for the first six months at least.
All over the country we find little companies that have been brought into the truth by a tent effort or a month's course of lectures, and then the minister has left them. No one has visited them again for six months, and sometimes not for a whole year. The result is always the same. They are only partially in the truth, and they make no progress. Tobacco-users do not give up that habit, nothing is done in the tract work, little or no S. B. is paid, and only a small part take the papers. Their meetings are uninteresting, some of them give up the truth, the cause suffers reproach in that neighborhood, and the brethren become discouraged. But if these little beginnings had been carefully followed up, if that company had been visited once a month for the first year, they would have become a strong, healthy church. Nearly all who started would have been saved to the cause, and other good members would have been added. Instead of a small, weak, discouraged, half-converted company, there would have been a vigorous, working church.
It is a sin against God, and the souls that you bring into the truth, to leave them in this destitute condition. Hence we say that when a minister has selected his field of labor, or the providence of God has opened the way for him to labor in a certain section, we believe that he ought to remain in that vicinity, so as to develop his work in a workmanlike manner.
If at the end of the year he cannot show any organized church or churches; if he cannot show healthy believers soundly in the faith in all its parts, and taking stock in the various enterprises of the third angel's message; if he cannot raise up believers who have enough of the spirit of sacrifice to support the man who has brought them into the truth, then we think it is very doubtful whether he has been called of God to the work. At least two or three years' labor in this direction ought to settle the question.
There is no sense or justice in the idea that a minister can run from field to field, from one part of the State to another, and simply persuade men to keep the Sabbath, and then call on the Conference for pay, when the men he has brought into the truth will not pay a dollar toward his support. A change in this respect will produce a more healthy state of affairs in our churches. D. M. CANRIGHT.
THE TOBACCO HABIT.
By R. F. Cottrell
It may be thought that enough has already been said in the REVIEW on this subject, and it doubtless is enough to those who have read it. Still there are new readers that need to be enlightened and benefited. There is a class to whom it would be a pleasure to speak, but there is this difficulty in reaching them,—they are too poor to take the paper. If any know of such who are called brethren or sisters in their vicinity, please do them the favor to lend this copy to them to read.
Such are also apt to complain that the REVIEW is a dear paper; because the price is nominally higher than that of the papers that depend more upon what they receive for advertising than they do upon their subscribers. Now the REVIEW costs but two dollars a year. How much does your tobacco cost? Is it five, ten, twelve, fifteen or twenty dollars a year? Is not the tobacco too dear? Which do you prize the higher?—enlightening and saving truth, or the gratification of a perverted, unnatural appetite, of your own acquiring? The following testimony will bear the strictest scientific investigation:—
“Tobacco, in whatever form it is used, tells upon the constitution. It is a slow poison. It affects the brain and benumbs the sensibilities, so that the mind cannot discern spiritual things, especially those truths which have a tendency to correct this filthy indulgence. Those who use tobacco in any form are not clear before God. In such a filthy practice it is impossible for them to glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are his. And while they are using slow and sure poisons, which are ruining their health, and debasing the faculties of the mind, God cannot approbate them. He may be merciful to them while they indulge in this pernicious habit in ignorance of the injury it is doing them, but when the matter is set before them in its true light, then they are guilty before God if they continue to indulge this gross appetite.” “Tobacco is a poison of the most deceitful and malignant kind, having an exciting, then a paralyzing influence upon the nerves of the body.” “Multitudes have fallen victims to its poisonous influence. They have surely murdered themselves by this slow poison.”
It is false for any one to say, as many have said, “It does not hurt me.” A poison so virulent is hurtful to every one who takes it. There are no exceptions in natural laws. Tobacco-using has not one redeeming quality. It is useless, expensive, injurious, and filthy. It makes the near presence of the user repulsive to those who are free from the habit. A Christian ought to be free from its disgusting taint. And is it not evident that it is a sin against self and society? If so, is it not a sin against God?