The following is the report of the Kentucky and Tennessee Tract Society for the quarter ending July 7, 1878:—
No of members, 45
“ “ letters written, 26
“ “ “ received, 8
“ “ families visited, 9
“ “ pages tracts distributed, 5,918
“ “ periodicals, 740
“ “ subscribers obtained for periodicals, 50
“ “ Annuals sold, 12
Received from new members, $2.00
“ “ subscribers, 38.25
“ “ book sales, 9.45
Total, $49.70
BETTIE COOMBS, Sec.
Sr. BETTIE COOMBS writes as follows to the tract and missionary laborers of Kentucky and Tennessee:—
How thankful we should be that we have been enabled to accomplish as much as we have since the commencement of the year. This work was new to many of us when Bro. Haskell came South. Thanks to the Lord for his timely presence. I can see that our efforts in this direction have inspired some of us with more faith, hope, and courage, and with a firmer trust in the Lord. I would say to those among us who have made no special efforts in the missionary work, Try our plan, and see if you do not enjoy more of the blessing of the Lord, and greater peace of mind than ever before. My experience is that God will abundantly bless those who sacrifice and deny self for the advancement of his cause and the salvation of precious souls. Our time to labor will soon be over. Jesus will soon come, and those who faithfully toil now will then receive a rich reward. Dear brethren and sisters, let each one of us during this quarter be more watchful and prayerful in our missionary efforts. If we are, we shall accomplish more than we have during any previous quarter. Let us see if Jesus will not verify unto us his promise: “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven.”
BRO. ALONZO T. JONES, in a letter from Eugene City, Oregon, under date of July 30, enclosing contributions to the Dime Tabernacle from himself and wife, says:—
Please send me some more Dime Tabernacle blanks, librarians’ lists, and monthly reports. I want to get every lover of the truth in this district, No. 3, to take part in this grand move.
I just received a letter from Bro. Van Horn in which he informs me that he starts to-day from Salem to Walla Walla. Sr. Van Horn remains in Salem.
The interest in Eugene City is excellent. The numbers in attendance at our meetings have increased from the first, till last Sunday night we had fully four hundred hearers. Never had better attention; there is no noise or disorderly conduct around the tent, but everything appears favorable for the truth. We hope for several substantial persons here to accept the truth.
OUR SCHOOL.
By R. F. Andrews
THROUGH the goodness of God we have a good school, where our children may be educated. A good education is worth far more to our children than wealth. The next school term is right upon us. Parents and guardians who have children that should go to school, should make an earnest effort to send them on time. I know very well the reluctance that some parents have to sending their dear children away from home, for I have experienced it myself. But as I spent ten weeks at our college last winter, I am prepared to speak from personal knowledge. I have quite an extensive acquaintance among our people in the West, and I know that the influences our children will be under while at school in Battle Creek, are, in nineteen cases out of twenty, far preferable to the influences surrounding them at their homes.
The church at Battle Creek seem to have a sense of the trust reposed in them by their brethren, and they work in sympathy and union with the college faculty for the best good of the students. It is but justice to this dear people that we say, that we do not see how they could manifest more interest were the children their own. This is just as it should be. And our fervent prayer is, and shall be, that it may ever be thus.
Professors Brownsberger and Bell have the best good of the school at heart. I speak of them because I know them personally, and have witnessed their untiring efforts in working for the interest of every one placed under their care. They are men of God, and act as those who expect to give account. And as far as my knowledge goes, this is true of all engaged as teachers in the school.
I would say to my brethren everywhere, Put away your reluctance. Send your children to school. Repose confidence in your brethren at Battle Creek, and in the college faculty; they are worthy of it, and will not betray you.
R. F. ANDREWS.
Our Especial Mission.
By Editor
OUR object is to do good unto all men. On the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, such as Faith, Repentance, Conversion, Holy Living, &c., we are in harmony with the Protestant world. But in addition to these we believe light is shining upon important Bible truths which have long been neglected. We believe the last note of warning is now going forth, and, in the name of the Lord, we ask the people to hear.
We bring no new-fangled notions, but inquire for the Old Paths.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.
By G. H. Bell
LESSON X.—CHARACTERISTICS AND SYMBOLS.
QUESTIONS.
1. In what condition was the kingdom of Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar had the dream recorded in Dan. 2?
2. How did Nebuchadnezzar rank among the monarchs of that kingdom?
3. What did the head of gold fitly represent?
4. What characteristics of the kingdom were best represented by the lion?
5. How did Babylon among the nations resemble the lion among beasts?
6. What Scripture proofs can you give to show that Babylon was a universal kingdom?
7. What change took place in the Babylonian kingdom?
8. How was this change indicated in the symbol?
9. Relate the circumstances of Belshazzar’s death.
10. By whom was Babylon taken?
11. How did Cyrus gain possession of the kingdom?
12. By what symbols was the Medo-Persian kingdom symbolized?
13. What would the silver seem to indicate?
14. Of what was the bear a fit emblem?
15. What example have we of the unyielding character of the Medo Persians?
16. What was said concerning the ram, that showed the universal dominion of the second kingdom?
17. What are the three ribs in the mouth of the bear supposed to denote?
18. What was denoted by the two horns of the ram?
19. Why is one represented as coming up last and being higher than the other?
20. Can you describe the city of Babylon and give the particulars of its capture?
21. What remarkable prophecy had foretold this event nearly two hundred years before?
SYNOPSIS.
The kingdom of Babylon was in the height of its glory when Nebuchadnezzar, its most distinguished and powerful monarch, had the dream recorded in Dan. 2.
The unparalleled wealth and magnificence of this kingdom were fitly represented by the head of gold, Dan. 2:38; and its power and military prowess, by the lion, Dan. 7:4.
But under the dissolute reign of Belshazzar, the kingdom became weak, and to show this, it is said of the lion that his wings should be plucked, and a man’s heart given him. Daniel 7:4.
It was while this Belshazzar was holding a drunken feast, and he and his lords were drinking wine from the golden vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, that Cyrus, at the head of the combined armies of the Medes and Persians, entered the city of Babylon at night, slew Belshazzar, and gained possession of the kingdom. Read Dan. 5.
The Medo-Persian kingdom was first symbolized by the breast and arms of the image; secondly, by the bear; and thirdly, by the ram.
The breast and arms being of silver, while the head was of gold, would seem to indicate that the second kingdom was inferior, in wealth and grandeur, to the first.
The bear was a fit emblem of the cruelty and tenacity of the Medes and Persians; for the laws of that kingdom could not be changed, even to save Daniel from the lion’s den.
The ram showed the universal dominion of the kingdom; for none could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand.Dan. 8:4.
The three ribs in the mouth of the bear are supposed to denote some of the principal conquests of the Medo-Persian kingdom, probably Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
The two horns of the ram, one higher than the other, denoted the two powers that were united in this kingdom, and that Persia, although it came up last, would rise higher in power than Media.
NOTE ON THE CONQUEST OF BABYLON.—More than one hundred and seventy years before his birth, Cyrus was mentioned by name in prophecy as the one that was to conquer Babylon, even the manner in which he would enter the city being predicted. Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4.
The city of Babylon was deemed impregnable. It was surrounded by a wall said to be three hundred feet high and eighty-seven feet thick. Outside of the wall was a vast ditch from which the material had been taken to build the wall. This ditch was filled with water making a canal of great depth and breadth. The city contained a store of provisions sufficient to last its inhabitants twenty years.
The river Euphrates ran through the city, but it passed into the city and out of it under the wall, and on either side of the river there was a wall as high and strong as that which surrounded the city. Cyrus turned the river out of its natural channel into an artificial one which his men had dug. This left the bed of the river dry where it passed through the city, and through this river bed Cyrus and his army passed under the wall in the night, marched into the heart of the city, and entered it through gates that had been carelessly left open.
G. H. BELL.
Dr. Lee and the Recorder.
By James White
Elder Charles Lee, a Swede, physician, and once a Seventh-day Adventist preacher of some ability, having rashly, and without reasonable excuse, torn away from his brethren, who have done all in their power to help him, now, through the columns of the Sabbath Recorder, offers himself to the Seventh-day Baptists. Elder Lee, having been instrumental in raising up several churches among the Swedes in Minnesota, had their confidence and sympathy, which gave him influence with them. And when he apostatized he drew about one-half of the Swedish brethren with him.
But Dr. Lee was a spiritualist at the time he embraced the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists, and although he renounced spiritualism, his mind had been so racked by that terrible ism, and also by domestic troubles, that when he came among us he was hardly a sane man. At one time Elders Canright, Littlejohn, and Kilgore saw him at State Center, Iowa, without the use of his reason, without proper clothing, hatless, wandering—he knew not whither. For a time, however, he received that instruction and reproof which he needed to raise him from the mire into which he had fallen. But as soon as he threw off this restraint, and followed his own spirit, he became a wild fanatic, and gave himself up to the most fanciful expositions of the word of God, making himself and his faction the subjects of prophecy. Mrs. White was the woman Jezebel, and he asserted a hundred and one things on the authority of Charles Lee, too numerous and too silly to mention.
As a consequence, sensible people could not receive his fancies, and he not only failed to bring people to the Sabbath, but a large portion of the faction he drew off have apostatized from the Sabbath. Elder Canright, who is at our side as we write, attended the Minnesota camp-meeting in June of the present summer, and there learned the present condition of Dr. Lee’s faction. According to his best knowledge and belief in the case, more than one-half this unfortunate faction have renounced the ancient Sabbath of the Lord, and the balance do not give Dr. Lee any support, neither would they go with him to the S. D. Baptists or anywhere else. Eld. Canright says that Bro. Norstrum, a Swedish preacher who used to travel with Dr. Lee, but did not follow him, says that Lee told him that when he was with the Seventh-day Adventists he had friends, but now he has none.
Dr. Lee says in the Recorder that “there are with us nine churches.” But there were only five churches in Minnesota in their most prosperous days. The largest church was at Litchfield, but it has gone down entirely, leaving a very few who still observe the Sabbath. These did not go with Dr. Lee. He separated a few from the Scandinavian church in Chicago, who have all, or nearly all, renounced the Sabbath. Besides these, there are a few in Portland and New Sweden, Me., in a distracted and discouraged condition in consequence of Dr. Lee’s strange course. Besides these, we know of no churches of Sabbath-keeping Swedes in America.
We deeply sympathize with our Swedish brethren who still adhere to the Sabbath, and have no doubt but their trials will work in the end for the good of the cause among their people. The American brethren, at an early date in the history of the cause, suffered greater losses several times than has been sustained by the apostasy of Dr. Lee. At one time fully three-fourths went off in a blind rebellion; but as nine-tenths of them left the Sabbath, their fall has been a warning to sensible people not to run off with ranting fanatics, who deal in smut and blacking as their principal stock in trade.
But, to return to Dr. Lee; what seems most astounding is that the editor of the Sabbath Recorder should give such an article without first learning the facts in the case from us. The article itself shows that the writer is not friendly to us, and that he would gladly cast a prejudicial influence against the Seventh-day Adventists. Has the editor of the Recorder more confidence in a disaffected stranger than he has in a people whose history he knows, and with whom he took sweet counsel at our General Conference in 1875?
The Seventh-day Adventists have done all in their power to come near to the S. D. Baptists, and to cultivate fraternal intercourse and Christian feelings with them. And neither the Review nor the Signs has contained a word unfriendly to that people, who were before us in revering the Sabbath of the Bible, while the Recorder seems willing to give just such articles as this from Dr. Lee. True, that paper has a certain right to publish what it pleases; and if it continues this course we shall not put on mourning; but if the Seventh-day Baptists really wish to reciprocate our charitable views of them, and our friendly feelings toward them, and thus labor to build up each other in the Lord and his truth, it will be an easy matter to convince Seventh-day Adventists of the fact by ceasing to give publicity to prejudicial articles in their leading organ. We shall see. We close with an extract from a letter from Elder Smith:—
“It may be a matter of entertainment to you to know that Chas. Lee, having run out everywhere else, has got down on his marrow-bones before the S. D. Baptists, and begs them to take him up, pledging himself to do just as they want him to do. Not knowing that Bro. Canright has ordered his Recorder sent to Colorado, I send the paper containing his appeal. Next to taking up Lee, it seems to me they could not manifest greater weakness than is shown in publishing his letter.” J. W.
“LET ALL THE PEOPLE SAY, AMEN!”
By J. H. Waggoner
This was the feeling of my heart, and the expression of my lips, as I read Bro. White’s article on the proper observance of the Sabbath, and how to commence and close it. This is a subject of the greatest importance; and all who have had any experience in the third angel’s message can realize it. Some cannot see how it is, or whether it is so, that the doctrine of the advent of our Lord has a bearing on our interest in the observance of the Sabbath. But my testimony is that of one who first found the Sabbath in the third angel’s message of Rev. 14:9-12. My own experience, and a somewhat extensive observation of others, leads me to the conclusion that whenever we suffer our minds to be diverted from the “blessed hope” of the near coming of the Saviour, there is a corresponding decline in our minds from the sacredness of the Sabbath of the Lord. The fact that some who have been trained from childhood to hold the seventh day as holy to the Lord, engage in partnerships where their work is carried on upon the Sabbath, is suggestive on this point. The burden of the message is the Sabbath, as contrasted with “the mark of the beast,” and the message is the special warning to this age. Thus the Sabbath is a very important part of “present truth” to all believers in the message.
It is not unreasonable to conclude that the Spirit of God witnesses to a truth according to its timeliness. The Jews believed a great deal of truth; they trusted in Moses and the prophets. But they rejected that part of the Scriptures which had a special bearing on their own times. They knew that God spake unto their fathers, but refused to examine the evidence that he had also a message specially to them. So now; the churches know they have truth. In this they are right. But the truth which they hold does not separate them from the world, nor turn them from its vanities and follies. And this is because they turn away from the “present truth.” They reject the message which the fulfillment of prophecy shows to belong to this age; which contains the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They have lost all sense of the sacredness of God’s law, and are making a vain effort to unite the service of God and mammon. We cannot doubt that the Spirit of God will entirely leave them if they persist in this course.
And now comes another article from the hills of Colorado bringing forth the same response. It is in relation to the mission to England. It has been a subject of inquiry with some why missions are opened in Denmark, Switzerland, Prussia, France, etc., and England, with those speaking our own tongue, has no missionary of the Seventh-day Adventists. It is a good thing to wait on Providence in these matters; but who can doubt, on reading Bro. White’s article on this subject, that the time has fully come to open the work vigorously in Great Britain? And who can fail to rejoice? And who cannot heartily second the effort soon to be put forth in that direction?
Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work.” Much more can this be said by those who are engaged in a work which is to warn the nations, and to prepare a people to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. May all our actions show that we realize its magnitude and its importance.
Having been recently requested to explain the declaration in Gen. 2:2, that God ended his work on the seventh day, we have thought it advisable to submit for publication the criticism of Dr. Adam Clarke on the words in question. It is as follows:—
“On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made.] It is the general voice of Scripture, that God finished the whole of the creation in six days, and rested the seventh; giving us an example that we might labor six days, and rest the seventh from all manual exercises. It is worthy of notice, that the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Samaritan, read the sixth day instead of the seventh; and this should be considered the genuine reading, which appears from these versions to have been originally that of the Hebrew text. How the word sixth became changed into seventh, may be easily conceived from this circumstance. It is very likely that, in ancient times, all the numerals were signified by letters, and not by words at full length. This is the case in the most ancient Greek and Latin MSS. and in almost all the rabbinical writings. When these numeral letters became changed for words at full length, two letters, nearly similar, might be mistaken for each other: ו, vau, stands for six; ז, zain, for seven: how easy to mistake these letters for each other, when writing the words at full length, and so give birth to the reading in question?”
From the above, the candid reader will readily discover that when Gen. 2:2 is properly translated it harmonizes perfectly with the declaration found in the fourth commandment, Ex. 20:8-11, and in other portions of the Scriptures, to the effect that the whole of the work of creation was completed in six literal days, and that no work whatever was performed on the seventh day, which was made exclusively a day of rest. Even if it could be shown that the words, “God ended his work on the seventh day,” would imply that he must have performed more or less work on that day, that fact would in no wise release us from the duty of abstaining from labor during the whole of the Sabbath day; for, even though we should grant for the sake of the argument, that God did perform a certain amount of labor on the last day of creation week, still it would be unquestionably true that5he rested during a portion of its hours, at least, and, consequently, that it would be perfectly legitimate for him—should he see fit to do so—to require us to commemorate his partial rest by the cessation on our part from labor during the whole day.
But the question need not be discussed at length. The whole difficulty arises from a mistranslation, as proved by the criticism of so eminent a divine as Dr. Clarke, who, though an observer of the first day of the week, frankly concedes that the passage, when properly rendered, in no wise conflicts with those portions of the word which prove that God rested the whole of the seventh day.
W. H. LITTLEJOHN.
THAT LAST HALF HOUR.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
Who likes long sermons? Who will vote for them? What minister will praise them in another speaker? Not one. Everybody dislikes a long sermon; every minister will confess that it is a bad thing and will argue against it. Then why not practice what we all agree to be good? Simply because it is so much easier to drift into the wrong, than it is to stick to the right.
One hour is the right length of time for a good, live, interesting sermon. An audience can sit very comfortably that long, and the speaker's strength will generally hold out without undue strain. If the meeting closes then, all feel satisfied. They go home in just the mood to come again. But if they are all tired out with a long, wearisome sermon, they will be much less inclined to come next time.
But the chief harm comes to the speaker himself. After he has spoken a full hour, he is tired enough to stop, even though he should not feel much wearied. Under the excitement of speaking, we do not generally realize how weary we are. It is after we are through, or on the next day, that we feel it the most. It is the last half hour which wears on the speaker. To add from twenty to thirty minutes after he has labored a full hour, is the heaviest tax he can impose on his strength. Sooner or later he will feel this, and regret it. The machinery will give out somewhere, and then he will either be entirely laid up, or crippled with some chronic weakness the remainder of his life.
The most effective sermon is the one that closes up the best, as it leaves the best impression on the minds of the audience. A sermon which grows dryer and weaker to the close is always a failure; hence a speaker should close while he has energy and strength to do it with fire and animation. But any one will find it hard to do this at the close of a long discourse, when both himself and audience are tired out. But when you have so many important things to say that you cannot crowd them into an hour, what will you do? You can say in one hour all any audience can remember, so stop short, and give them the rest next time. But I know by experience that it is all a mistake to think that you cannot condense your discourse into an hour. The longer you allow yourself to speak, the longer you may, till even two hours will be too short for you. If a man must talk till he has told all he can say on a given subject, then no limits will suffice. Lay out your subject and rigidly confine yourself to one hour. Lay your watch before you and stop when the time is up, whether you are through or not. You will find in a short time that one hour is all you want, and your congregations will rise up and bless you for the relief.
It is a very bad thing to keep promising to “close soon,” a long time before you really get through. Sometimes a preacher, when he has spoken about as long as he ought, says, “Well, I must close soon.” Then he speaks a quarter of an hour longer, and says again, “One more point, and I am done.” After a long time he again remarks, “One more text, and I will relieve your patience,” etc. Of all the expedients to bore and tire an audience, this is about the surest, but it is right down mean, if not dishonest. They feel a great deal worse than they would if you said nothing about closing. Do not make such a promise unless you are ready to do just what you say.
Brethren, let us live and learn. If I had carried out the above suggestions in years past, I should not now be losing a whole summer to get well. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Rollinsville, Colo., July 27.
THE COLORADO TENT.
By James White
Elder Canright and the writer have visited the Colorado tent now pitched at Boulder City, a city of three or four thousand inhabitants. The tent is pitched on the public square in the center of the city. The congregation the evening of the second numbered about one hundred, who gave the best of attention to the word spoken by Elder Cornell.
Bro. I. A. Olmstead has now joined him as tent master and missionary laborer. His experience in the latter in the State of Michigan will doubtless make him of great service at this meeting.
Elder Canright has received a letter from a sister in Georgetown, Colorado, in which she states that there are three who observe the Sabbath of the fourth commandment in that place. She speaks of a meeting of twelve who were all united in inviting a preacher to come to that place with the tent. If not convenient to bring the tent, a meeting-house could be obtained for a course of lectures. She also stated that doors were open for the entertainment of the one or the ones the Lord might send.
This is a most encouraging feature of the work in this new field, and gives assurance that Colorado may soon be ranked among those States where we have prosperous Conferences.
J. W.
THE MISSION TO ENGLAND.
By George I. Butler
Nothing has occurred for many years in connection with our cause which has afforded me more satisfaction than the expected mission to England. For years I have been waiting with much interest for the development of God's providence to indicate that the right time had come. I believe we have reached it at last. Bro. White's recent article concerning this mission and the plans for making it a success seems to me to be excellent.
I cannot refrain from expressing my great joy at the prospect of the establishment of the English mission. For years it has seemed strange indeed that while we have been making earnest efforts to plant the truth among those of other tongues, and have sent leading men among them, who had to go through the long and tedious process of learning strange languages and becoming acquainted with the customs of the people, we should have neglected to send men to England, where they could commence at once to preach and scatter publications in our own language. Yet this is doubtless all consistent with the providence of God. Had the opposite course been pursued, the English mission would now be far advanced, while there would have to be a delay of years before we could do much in the French, German, and Italian languages. Now our brethren there are fairly prepared to work in these languages just as the English mission is to be entered upon with vigor, and thus both can be nearly on an equality in closing up the great work for the world.
This mission is another grand step in this great work. Firmly believing God is in it, and that he will abundantly sustain his servants who shall go there to labor, and not doubting the readiness of our people to fully equip this mission, as Bro. White has suggested, let us all do our part, as individuals, in establishing and sustaining it, and be faithful in our stewardship. May God abundantly bless the English mission. GEO. I. BUTLER.