Earlier text: INCREASING FORETOKENS OF THE ENDThe New York Legislature.
By Editor
THE political corruption which alarms thoughtful men is receiving painful illustration at Albany. The Democratic party had a majority of one in the legislature, which was obtained by an unjust and tyrannical count of the election returns from the VIIth district of New York. With this majority they undertook to pass certain bills of the most obnoxious character, affecting the cities of Buffalo and New York. We have not space to describe these bills. It is enough to say that one of them proposed to put the whole taxation of the city of New York into the hands of four men, of whom the notorious Wm. M. Tweed was to be one, who were to have sole power of distributing the vast revenues of the metropolis among such purposes as they thought proper, it being only provided that the total tax receipts for the next two years should not exceed twenty-two millions of dollars per annum. In an indiscreet hour, James Irving, a Democratic Assemblyman, committed a personal assault on a fellow-member, for which it was necessary he should resign to avoid expulsion. This destroyed the party majority. The Republicans, in caucus, whipped in the weak-kneed of their party to promise united resistance to the above measures, and, to clinch the matter, published the resolutions of the caucus, with the signature of all the Republican members. And now the Tribune correspondent, under date of yesterday, says: “No grown person of sound mind in either party, at all familiar with what is going on in Albany, doubts that ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty thousand dollars are ready for the Republican who is willing to fill Jim Irving’s place. This is no beggarly affair of thirty pieces of silver.” “Conversation in the hotels to-night runs chiefly on one subject, the desperate effort which Tammany is making to bribe some Republican to vote for Tweed’s four bills. From a dozen different sources, your correspondent has heard that $75,000 were offered one man for his vote. Another report which receives credit is, that $50,000 and a sinecure birth in New York, were the inducements held out to another.” The party papers are jubilant over the firmness of the Republicans. The correspondent above quoted remarks: “Is it not to the credit of the Republican party, and of those principles which animate its ranks, that no one has been found to accept a fortune from Wm. M. Tweed?” And if the party holds together, and, by this providential equalization of forces, is enabled to defeat these bills, hundreds of men will toss up their hats, and will feel that the country has been saved. But look at the facts. One half of the legislature of the mightiest State of the Union stands ready to accomplish its measures by shameful, unblushing bribery. The compact, unbroken resistance of the other half, is secured only by the unsparing use of the party whip. The most stringent caucus measures are necessary to insure the rejection of the bribes with which its members are plied. And even in the face of these resolutions it is stated that the leader of the Tammany forces vows that he’ll “show the Republicans what stuff they are made of;” that he has unbounded faith still in the potency of the almighty dollar and the predominance of the baser qualities of human nature. Such faith can rest only on repeated experience, and would not be seriously shaken by a single failure. We have but a single purpose in referring to these things. Our voice is not heard in these places. The language of rebuke and denunciation belongs to journals which have access to these workers of iniquity. Some of these discharge their duty courageously, but with small effect. Our hope is that revelations such as these will inspire the friends of the National-Reform movement with a purpose, immovable as the granite hills, to labor, by every means and at every sacrifice, for that thorough fundamental reformation which alone can save our country. The dark days of Sumter and Bull Run did not more demand our anxieties, our labor, our sacrifices and prayers, than do these days which are upon us. We shall continue to lay facts like these before our readers as they arise, and to cry aloud and spare not, that no nation, above all, no republic, can long exist, in which political corruption riots as it does now in our own. France to-day is a bleeding, suffering witness to this unchanging truth. We hope America may not be added to the list of illustrations. It will not, if the friends of truth and of their country are faithful to their duty and their opportunity. It is in our power to-day to turn back the tide of national degeneration, not suddenly, but surely, with time, truth, and the power of God, for our allies. Our first efforts have been crowned with auspicious success. We believe they will be continued, and we are sure they will triumph. Since the foregoing was in type, the needful man has been found by Wm. M. Tweed. Orange S. Winans, Republican member from Chautauqua County, after voting steadily for two days in obedience to the caucus resolutions, rose and declared that the resolutions had been passed in caucus during his absence, that he had signed them without understanding their import, and that, believing that the Democrats had a constitutional majority in the legislature, he would vote with them to the end of the session on all party measures. This restores the ascendancy, we will not say of the Democratic party, but of the few scoundrels who rule New York City and now rule the State. There are, we are glad to say, journals which will denounce this infamous procedure in fitting terms; but it is sad to think how little their indignation will accomplish. And the question forces itself on the mind, How long will the people sustain at vast expense a government whose chief function seems to be to tax the public and divide the spoils? And what reason have we to hope that popular suffrage will elevate to office any better class of men, until a thorough revolution has been effected in the popular conceptions of government? The people must be taught the fear of the Lord; must be awed by the authority of his law and the fear of his judgments; must learn that government is his ordinance for the suppression of wickedness and the promotion of morality and religion, and that his swift and certain punishment follows its prostitution. The secular theory of government diminishes, in all who have anything to do with it, the sense of responsibility to God. The present corruption of our politics is attributable in part to the prevalence of that theory. Our work, which at present consists wholly in the advocacy before the American people of the relation of civil government to the divine government, is in the direct and only path to national recovery and preservation.—Christian Statesman. The Bible Free in Spain.
By J. P. Thompson
The story of the Bible in Spain within recent times has almost the interest of romance. Indeed Borrow threw around it so much of the charm of romance as, in the opinion of many, to discredit his narrative, though it had a substantial basis of truth. The later experiences of Matamoras and his friends, the devices for smuggling the Bible across the frontier, the covert printing of the New Testament in a cellar at Malaga by night, the condemnation of Bible readers to prison and the galleys, imparted an almost tragic tone to the story that Borrow had so enlivened with his picturesque sketches. The latest chapter of this wonderful story is now to be told. It has been taken for granted that the proclamation of religious liberty by the Cortes, directly after the revolution of 1868, fully opened Spain to the Bible; but though removal of restrictions from the press left it free to the friends of a pure Christianity to print the Bible within the boundaries of Spain—which in their poverty, they could not undertake—there remained upon the statute books very stringent restrictions upon the importation of books printed in Spanish, amounting almost to prohibition; and these were applied to the exclusion of the Bible, by government officials who were influenced by the priests. All imported books must be approved by a council of the hierarchy. Mr. Henry C. Hall, of this city, when in Spain two years ago, succeeded in obtaining from the government at Madrid the free admission of large invoices of Bibles and other religious books sent out by the Bible and Tract Societies, and also permits for future importations. But as soon as he left the country, the subordinates in the Customs, prompted by the priesthood, interposed so many quibbles and difficulties that these permits were practically of no value. Mr. Hall then addressed himself to our government at Washington, and Mr. Secretary Fish kindly interposed his good offices through Mr. Sickles at Madrid. The result has been the abolition of these odious restrictions upon the ground of free trade in literature; and every port and depot of Spain is now fully open to the admission of the Bible and other religious books in the Spanish tongue. The abolition of the decree was placed by the Regency upon grounds of political economy; but in addressing our government, the Minister Echegaray pronounced the principle of the old law absurd—“a powerful arm for reactionary governments, which, through the instinct of self-defense, through fear of ideas, through love of darkness, and in order to crush every germ of intellectual progress in Spain, were gradually isolating her from Europe. . . . Now that liberty is the rule, and the principle of free trade has been proclaimed, it would be absurd to maintain such a literary prohibition. On the contrary, if a new life is about to commence for science and learning, it is important to open our frontiers in order that all the intellectual movements of Europe may flow in upon our country.”—J. P. Thompson, D. D. The Chinese, it is said, have a peculiar, and yet effective, way of dwarfing trees. They are very successful in growing miniature pines and oaks, which they keep in pots, as we do flowering plants. They of course commence with the tree or shoot when it is young and pliable, when it is easy of manipulation, and can be readily trained to their will. The first operation is to cut off the principal or tap-root just as soon as it has enough of the smaller roots to insure its life. This removed, the process of trimming off the sources of vitality and growth continues. The embryo tree is given but a scanty supply of the poorest earth, as well as of water, air, heat, and light; and thus, instead of reaching its normal condition—instead of displaying a vigorous growth and abundance of luxuriant foliage, it exhibits a stunted and dwarfish exterior—a shrub where it should be a tree. But oaks, and pines, and cedars, are not the only things which are dwarfed in this world. Minds, consciences, religious experiences, and Christian life, may be dwarfed by processes similar to those employed by the Chinese; with this difference, that the influences which produce these results usually come from within instead of from without. Take the young convert; he is as the cutting or seedling transplanted into the church, and it depends largely upon himself whether he in the future shall be a dwarf, put away in a corner, useless, and doing no good to himself or others; or whether he shall be as a giant tree, whose branches shall cast a shade broadly upon the land, blessing thousands who shall repose beneath it. He may starve his soul by denying it work for Christ, until it shall become shriveled and dried up; or he may enter upon a course of growth, which shall have no ending in this world at least. To do this, the roots of his faith must strike down into the rich soil of an active Christian life—he must have that vitality which comes of prayer, of going out into the highways and byways, and bidding the stranger and the wayfarer to come in to the feast of the Master. There is nothing that so dwarfs the soul as idleness in the work appointed to God's people. It is denying it food, and air, and light—cutting off the roots which connect it with the sources of life and growth.—Sel. It is wonderful to see the immense amount of cheap jewelry which is displayed in our city stores; and now, indeed, we can hardly find a store in a country village, which has not some small case in a conspicuous place, filled with fifty-cent breast-pins, twenty-five-cent ear-rings, and bracelets, necklaces, and studs, at the same low prices. No wonder that these paltry ornaments become great temptations to simple-minded shop-girls, and to all the young misses of our seminaries and boarding-schools, and the girls in our kitchens. My attention was called to the subject of “cheap jewelry,” by a short conversation I overheard between two school-girls the other day, about twelve years of age. One of them was dressed very fashionably, with ruffles and trimmings enough for a lady, long pendants hanging from her ears, and her collar ornamented with a highly colored brooch; the other child was simply dressed, her only ornament a bow of plain ribbon under her chin. “Why don’t you wear jewelry, Lizzie?” said the most gayly dressed of the two. “You would look very pretty with ear-rings, and I never saw you even with a breast-pin on.” “My mother says she does not like to see little girls wear jewelry; and she would not be willing to allow me to waste money in buying it either,” answered Lizzie. “Nonsense! they don’t cost much. I have seven sets; and some of them were only two shillings a set; and half the people would not know but that they were real. I think we ought to look as pretty as we can.” “Mother says,” answered Lizzie quietly, “that it is ‘acting a lie’ to wear ‘make-believe things;’ and I do not think you would like to have any of your seven sets spoken of by their right names, ‘brass and glass’—for they are nothing else.” I heard no more, but I felt that these two children unconsciously had laid bare the root of the evil. This wearing of much jewelry leads to a love of display and fondness for dress, and is one of the great temptations of the day. The fatal love of adornment has led many a fair and innocent young girl, step by step, down the broad road that leads to utter ruin both of body and soul. An immense amount of money is wasted in this cheap jewelry traffic, hard-earned money, too, which might be laid aside against a dark day, or given to those in need. And then does not this love of display divert one’s mind from seeking for the “hidden treasure,” “the pearl of great price”? While adorning ourselves with these frail and worthless trinkets, are we seeking for “goodly pearls,” the glorious gospel which will make us wise unto salvation?—Am. Messenger. The Voices of Free Grace
By Hoge
It is marvelous and beautiful to observe how various are the voices of free grace. “I am thirsty,” says one. “Come to the waters,” she cries. “I am hungry,” says another. “Then eat ye that which is good,” she says, “and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” “But I am poor, and have nothing to buy with.” “Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” “We are weary,” sigh the laborers in the sun-beaten fields. “Come unto me,” breathes her answer like a breeze from the waters, “and I will give you rest.” “Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain thee,” she whispers to the pilgrim ready to faint. “Behold the fountain,” she cries to the guilty; “the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.” To the lost she cries, “I am the way;” to the ignorant, “I am the truth;” to the dying, “I am the life.”—Hoge. Contentment in Humble Ministry for Young Preachers
The young minister who is not happy in preaching Christ to a hundred settlers in a frontier cabin, or to a hundred poor children in a mission-room, is not fit for the pulpit of a church. If he is not satisfied to be where God puts him, let him be assured that his Master will soon “promote” him several pegs lower still. Good Breeding Insures Love and Affection
GREAT talent renders a man famous; great merit, respect; great learning, esteem; but good breeding alone insures love and affection. WITH what startling distinctness prophetic features are developed in the age in which we live. As an illustration look at Heb. 10: 29: “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace.” From a hasty reading, this passage might appear to be only a terrible denunciation against a Heaven-daring crime; but we believe it is also a prophecy, which is to be fulfilled at a certain and specified time. Let us consider first what acts will answer to the crimes described in this passage, then notice the time of its fulfillment. To tread under foot the Son of God, is evidently to occupy a position of hostility to him; to deny his divine nature and divine mission; to regard him as only a man, and his works as only those of human agency. It is no mitigation of such a sin to say, as some do, who deny his divinity, that he was a very good man, the best that ever lived; for he claimed to be the Son of God; and if he was not, he was an impostor; and to say that the best man that ever lived was a deceiver and an impostor, is not speaking very well for the race. To count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, is to count it a common thing, as the word unholy might properly here be rendered; that is, of no more value or efficacy than any other blood. Millions are to-day doing this by asserting that the blood of Christ is no more than the blood of any man, or, even, than the blood of an ox. To do despite to the Spirit of grace, is to grieve the Spirit of God, to deny its existence, its operation and its power; or to make its holy work the same as that of the prince of evil. We see, then, the characters described in the text. They are such as war upon Christianity, reject Christ, ridicule the idea of atonement through the blood of the Redeemer, and sin against the Holy Ghost. Now when are we to look for the development of such a class of persons? Verse 25 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and to exhort one another, and so much the more as we see the day approaching. In other words it plainly points out the Advent people; and the time to which we are introduced is the time of, or the time immediately following, the great Advent movement. Then we have the verses concerning those who sin willfully, and the punishment of which they are worthy for committing the sins described in verse 29; and, following this, we are again introduced to the Advent movement, Paul illustrating the spirit that would characterize it by the spirit of noble self-sacrifice with which he was treated by his Hebrew brethren; and with an exhortation to hold fast in view of the coming of Christ, the chapter closes. We now inquire, Why these verses concerning a class of willful and Heaven-daring sinners thrown in between the introduction of the great Advent movement in verse 25, and the testimony on the same subject at the close of the chapter? Inspiration does not speak at random, and this has its meaning. It is, evidently to show that during the progress of the Advent movement, after its commencement, but before its close, while the people of God are patiently waiting for Him that shall come, there will be a wonderful development of a great infidel and Antichristian class, concerning whom the apostle warns those who have received a knowledge of the truth, and against whom he utters the threatening of verses 25–31. But, it may be said, there have always been infidels; and how, then, can this mark a certain time? It cannot, unless there is at the time a more than ordinary development of infidel and Antichristian principles. Has there been any such manifestation within the time specified? There has. Not only have we had infidelity in the usual sense and form, but there has arisen a gigantic organization, or association, spreading with unprecedented rapidity, counting its disciples within a few years by millions, and attacking Christ and Christianity with unwonted virulence and malignity. This outburst from the realms of darkness, the name of which is Spiritualism, comes in at the exact time to answer to the prophecy; nor does the date of its advent answer more fitly than does its character. Spiritualists above all others, make it their business to scout the idea of the divinity and sacrificial work of Christ. Against this they utter their bitterest spite. It is apparently the supreme object of their hate. They pre-eminently tread under foot the Son of God, count the blood of the covenant an unholy or common thing, asserting that it is no better than the blood of an ox, and do despite to the Spirit of grace, denying in toto its existence and office as described in the word of God. How plain the prophecy! How clear the fulfillment! How eventful does it make the times appear in which we live! And what is the duty of the people of God in these days? The apostle tells us: Cast not away your confidence. Have patience. Let faith grow strong; for that is your life. Now the just live by faith. Draw not back; for that will result in perdition. Believe; for that will be to the saving of the soul. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” It Might Be Worse.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
HOWEVER sad our lot is, it might be worse; and if we would only look on it in this way, it would often relieve us much, even fill us with thankfulness and joy. We all have more or less to suffer in this world; and each one is apt to think that his case is a peculiarly hard one, that he could bear anything better than just what he has to bear. A good way to get over this feeling is to look around, and see what misery there is in the world. Here is a poor woman with a large family and a miserable drunken brute for a husband. To him she is tied for life. There is no earthly hope for her. Poverty and rags, shame and disgrace, are her portion. Tears, regrets, wishes—nothing will relieve her. Once life was all hope and sunshine to her. But suddenly her sun went down, nevermore to rise. Oh! what a lot! Yet hundreds of thousands are experiencing it while I write. Dear reader, your case is not so bad as that. It might be worse. Here is a poor widow with several children dependent upon her efforts for their support, their daily bread. She must work early and late; and with all her might. She must rent the cheapest garret or cellar, and live on the poorest and scantiest food that will support life. The smallest luxury she can never indulge in. Perhaps she fails to get work, or becomes sick. Then starvation threatens herself and children. Who can imagine the anguish of that mother's heart. Are any of us in as bad a case as this? Yet there are thousands in just this condition this moment. Here is a young lady with her face all burned to a crisp. What a terrible calamity to bear all through life! Would you exchange your trouble for this? When we feel like murmuring and repining, we would do well to stop and carefully think of all the misery around us. The world is full of it. Is it strange that we are called to bear a small part of this? The trouble is, we are apt to forget the ten thousand blessings we are daily enjoying, and think only of the unpleasant things we have to bear. Then, on the other hand, we forget, or overlook, or do not know, the griefs which others have to bear, while we see and covet all the blessings they seem to have. Reader, is this your case? It has been mine; but the more I see and know of life, the more I am satisfied that there are but few contented and satisfied hearts. Each one has some grief of his own of which others know nothing. And this is often hidden under smiles, and covered by the appearance of mirth and pleasure. Truly has the wise man said, “The heart knoweth his own bitterness.” Prov. 14: 10. Rich houses will not shut it out, fine clothes will not smother it, beauty will not exclude it, nor talent drown it. There is one, and only one, effectual remedy for it. That is the hope of Heaven. Thank God! this may be equally enjoyed by all, high or low, rich or poor. Without this blessed hope, all is vanity and vexation of heart. D. M. CANRIGHT. “God Never Stultifies Himself.”
By Roswell Fenner Cottrell
The Maker of the universe is the author of all genuine revelation. This being the case, there is no inconsistency between the things made and the things revealed. It has been in vain that men of different ages have attempted to array scientific facts against the Bible. All real discoveries in natural science, in the heavens, on the earth, or within it, present nothing to conflict with this revelation; yet those who soar and range and dig for objections, something to overthrow the word of God, are still frequently and exultingly exclaiming, Eureka!—I have found it! But it is not alone the open enemies of the Bible that thus assail it. There are many professed believers who, to evade the obvious claims of the moral law of God, exert to the utmost their ingenuity to make it appear that the providence of God is out of harmony with that law as it reads, and therefore that the law cannot require that which it most positively and explicitly asserts and demands. According to revelation, God made man to inhabit the earth. The Sabbath also “was made for man.” The commandment affirms that “the seventh day is the Sabbath,” the day on which God rested from the work of creation, and that he sanctified it, that is, set it apart, or appointed it, for this reason. To this it is objected that the earth is a revolving globe; that in God’s providence the day does not begin all around at once; and for this reason it is impossible for all to observe one particular day. And hence it is concluded that the commandment does not mean what it says, “the seventh day;” but that it means what it does not say, “a seventh portion of time.” Now if God’s providence conflicts with the literal and explicit requirement of the law, we are at liberty not only to reject the day which it enjoins, and choose one for ourselves, but to reject the law itself as not proceeding from the Maker, whose rest-day it professedly commemorates, but from some other source. God never stultifies himself. If his law does not harmonize with his own arrangements, whom has he commissioned to amend it so that it will? And if all are free to amend it, it makes him the author of confusion. If he meant a seventh portion of time, he was capable of saying so. A law which we are obliged to amend before we can keep it, we would do better to reject at once. But the God of nature is the God of the Bible. The Maker of the heavens and the earth is the author of the ten commandments. He has appointed a particular day, the day on which he rested, to be observed in commemoration of that rest. And there is nothing in his arrangement which conflicts with that appointment. Men may “compass sea and land” to find objections; but none of them will stand. Facts, stubborn facts, are arrayed against them. The days and weeks have never failed to come in regular order to every nation of the whole world. The wisdom of God has laid the line which divides one day from another in the midst of the Pacific ocean; so that from eastern Asia to western America, all nations are recognizing the same definite days of the week. It is proposed that all the citizens of the United States should observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. Could it be done? Yes. And did our government control the whole world, the same regulation might be extended to Europe, Africa, and Asia. There would be no confusion, but perfect harmony throughout. The confusion is manufactured by the objectors to God’s order and arrangements as they exist. But what could be done with the Alaskans? Teach them that in crossing the Pacific they crossed the line which separates one day from another, and thus got out of harmony with all the rest of the world. It will at length be found, and to the sorrow of many cavillers, that the Creator of all things made no blunder in requiring universal man to rest from his labors on the very day in its weekly cycle on which God did from his. The time will come, the word of prophecy being true, (Isa. 66: 23,) that “all flesh” will observe the Sabbath. This never has been since Isaiah wrote; therefore it is yet to be. All will be agreed in a definite day. Which day will it be? the seventh and last day of the week, the ancient Sabbath, or the first day of the universally acknowledged week, now called the Christian Sabbath? Suppose it to be the latter. On what foundation does this first-day Sabbath rest? How is the change sustained? In the first place it is alleged from the supposed impossibility of observing a definite day in all the world, that the commandment is not intended to enforce the observance of a definite day, and therefore the day could be changed without the least change in the commandment. Next, custom decides the day to which the Sabbath is changed, and the new day is enforced from the fact that uniformity in practice is very desirable, if not absolutely necessary; (a fact that seems to have been overlooked, when the indefinite-day commandment was given;) then human legislation proposes to supply the defect and remedy the oversight, by calling for uniformity; and last of all, when the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the new earth, God accepts of the changed day, because that every one has the undoubted right to change it, and “all flesh” observe it, making it universal and necessarily definite in respect to the particular day! This is human wisdom!—Folly in the sight of God! It stultifies itself in its attempts to force the law of God to approve its innovations and continued and determined violations of the same. God never stultifies himself. No unforeseen difficulty or emergency will arise to thwart his plan and render void his law. He knew that uniformity was desirable, and therefore immovably fixed the day of the Sabbath, requiring all to rest on the day in the weekly cycle on which he rested. The seventh day, and that alone, is the Sabbath-day (rest-day) of God; because he rested on no other. And he will judge men for their abuse and perversion of the intellectual faculties he has given them, in order to justify themselves in their departures from his law, while striving in vain to render his word foolish and his law of no effect. They will see, sooner or later, that they have exhibited their own folly, while they have sought to impeach the wisdom of their Creator and thus make void his law. The ignorance of past centuries will excuse those who have served the Lord according to the best light they could get. But light has come; light too clear to be rejected with impunity by those whose mental faculties are unimpaired. Those whose faculties are so far gone as to make them incapable of appreciating the evidences of the truth that now shines, are ready to fall into the grave, and will soon be there. Then woe to those who have willfully rejected the light, trusting that their wisdom would defeat the wisdom and counsel of God and make them void. Brethren, beware of the seductions of Satan and the carnal mind. If obstacles are thrown in your way which you do not at once see how to surmount, do not distrust the wisdom of God’s plan, and play into the hands of the enemies of his truth. His counsel will not fail. His plan, as well as his law, is perfect. His foresight has provided against every objection that can be urged; and his purposes cannot be frustrated, nor his law rendered foolish and void. It is safe to trust in God and humbly obey him; but very unsafe to cast ourselves into the opposite scale of the balance. Those who do so are always sure to be found wanting. Remember my text. Though not found in the Bible, it is nevertheless true: “God never stultifies himself.” Walking with God.
By George I. Butler
“AND what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Micah 6:8. Having considered two of these requirements in former articles, we will now notice the last. It will be noticed that this scripture says that God requires man to walk humbly with him. It is not then a matter of indifference with the Deity whether man walks with him or not; he expects it at our hands as a duty; but above all, it should be considered an inestimable privilege. Of the three requirements presented, it seems evident to me that this is the highest: To walk with God. What a thought, for mortals to sustain such a relationship, to have such a companion! Yet the word says this is possible. It tells us of Enoch walking with him, not for one day, or month, or year, merely, but for three hundred years—three times as long as our country has had a national existence. Enoch was a man of like passions with ourselves. He lived in a corrupt age. He had the same devil to contend with. Yet he walked with God in spite of all these difficulties. Why cannot we? God is no respecter of persons. If we will do as Enoch did, he is just as ready to walk with us as with him. What is it to walk with God? The idea of walking with another seems to be, that the two pass along in agreement. Where the one goes, the other goes. It also presents the idea of delightful companionship, mutual good will, and esteem, and communion of spirit. As it is plain that God does not pass along with us personally, the beautiful relationship set forth as a duty evidently contemplates that continued intercourse of the Holy Spirit with our spirits that will enable us to know whenever we take an important step that God is well pleased with it. Yes, God designs that his children shall have light to step circumspectly, and not go blundering along, making perhaps a good hit to-day, and serving the devil’s cause to-morrow. Is not our God a mighty God, that can see in the darkness, as well as in the light? Has he not the light for us that we need at all times? Is not his Spirit the very agent by which he can enlighten us, either by the application of his holy word to our hearts when we are trying to understand it, or by impressions of duty when our hearts are tender before him? What a mighty attainment this is! I do not understand that every novice can just step right into this position with no previous preparation. The first thing that would be seen in such a case, he would be probably puffed up by the enemy, and fall in his own conceit. No. There are steps here. He must first “do justly,” as he cries to God mightily to give him a heart to abhor wrong, to love righteousness, even with “hungering and thirsting.” His first care above all others to keep his own soul from every unrighteous act that would tarnish it, his mind will see things more and more clearly, his conscience will be quick, God will bless him. And as he sees his own innate selfishness, and compares it with the tender love of Christ, he begins to love mercy because157 it is lovely, and he therefore practices upon the same principles more and more, realizing there is a higher aim to live for than self, all the time earnestly beseeching that Christ will impart this heavenly grace. A heavenly sweetness will take possession of his soul, and it will seem that Heaven comes very near. Then he will realize a preciousness in the religion of Christ, such as he never realized before. He may then walk humbly with God, or, as the margin has it, he may “humble himself to walk with God.” There is an idea connected with that which should not be lost sight of. Man cannot walk with God without being truly humble. To be humble is “to have a sense of one’s own unworthiness on account of imperfection and sinfulness.”—Webster. The man who does not feel thus cannot truly walk with God. This is really a good test of true spirituality. Fanatics are generally full of spiritual pride. It generally stirs them up to question their claims. Not so with the man who has the genuine Spirit of the Master. It will cause him to be like him, meek and lowly of heart. Most that passes for modern sanctification in some denominations, lacks this ring of the true metal. When we thus humble ourselves, we see the true relation we sustain to our Creator. We see that we are poor, weak, erring mortals, our hearts corrupt, every effort we have made has been poorly carried out, all we have accomplished was through frailty and imperfection, every motive selfish. The stains of sin have spotted us all over. We are then led to cry with Paul, “Oh! wretched man that I am!” and with Job, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” What shall we do, then, while such is our condition? Despair? Oh, no! Look to Jesus, place ourselves in his hands just as we are. Come with all our weakness to God we have offended, and cast ourselves upon his mercy. Here I am, Lord, it is all I can do. All the powers of darkness cannot keep the blessing of God from our souls; at such a time we shall realize there is a communication open between us and Heaven, just as really as there is between the vine and the branch. Sap and nourishment will flow, and that “peace that passeth all understanding” will be the result. Then we can live near to God by watchfulness, prayer, and labor in the Master’s vineyard. Then we may walk with God. Shall we find him an unpleasant companion? I think not. Heaven is a happy, a glorious, place. There is nothing gloomy about it. Fullness of joy is found there alone. If rays of light from God, shining in the face of Jesus, are reflected upon us, will it not make us cheerful, even joyful in God? Yes, I believe it. We shall find God a pleasant companion to walk with. “For thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15. Here we see the same steps set before us, first humility, then God is ready to take up his abode with us. No man can have God’s constant direction and guidance without realizing his weakness, without thoroughly sensing it. A man that does, God will bless. If he keeps fully in this position, and faithfully tries to do every duty, he can have God’s constant direction. He wants us to be in this position. Our text says, he “requires it.” Oh! that we might, by faithful living, attain to it! Then we could do good, then we could glorify God, then we could enjoy religion. How the truth would triumph if every step were ordered in him! How easily we could detect the devices of the enemy if the true Light did but shine upon us! Could a body of ministers go forth thus “walking with God,” Satan’s kingdom would tremble. It seems to me this must be seen before our work can be wrought. Who will share in it? Oh! how we need a discerning mind, a sanctified judgment, and power from above, such as cometh alone through the rich effusion of the Holy Spirit! Let us honestly try, as individuals, to live for it. Richland, Iowa, April 19, 1871.