Review and Herald, Vol. 29, No. 24.
OUR PRESENT POSITION, In the Waiting, Tarrying TimePage 1
Earlier text: BUSINESS PROCEEDINGSTHE MICHIGAN STATE CONFERENCE.
By John Norton Loughborough; I. D. Van Horn
Its Seventh Annual Session.
Pursuant to the call of the Committee through the Review, this Conference assembled in session at Battle Creek, Mich., Wednesday, May 15, 1867, at 9 A. M. Opened with prayer by Elder Joseph Bates. The delegates to the Conference were then called and their credentials examined. The number of delegates present duly authorized was forty-four, representing thirty churches. Twelve churches were represented by letter, leaving four that did not report. On motion the church at Tuscola, Tuscola Co., Mich., was admitted into the Conference. It was moved that the resolution recommended by the General Conference, admitting lay members to participate in the discussion of all business, but not to vote, be adopted. Carried. The minutes of the last Conference were then read and approved. Written reports of the labors of ministers were called for and the following brethren present responded: Joseph Bates, James White, M. E. Cornell, R. J. Lawrence, J. H. Waggoner, J. N. Loughborough, John Byington, D. M. Canright and I. D. Van Horn. The following resolution was then offered and adopted: Resolved, That the church of Tompkins be permitted to disband and unite with the church at Jackson; and that the Conference Committee be requested to assist them in making this change. The request of the church at Watson to be allowed to disband and unite with other churches was read, and by a vote of the Conference they were permitted to do so. The request of the church at Tyrone to be allowed to change the name of the church to Holly, was read, and approved by the Conference by a unanimous vote. The Conference then proceeded to amend the Constitution of the Mich. State Conference as follows, viz.: Amendment to Art. III, Sec. 2. Add the words, “When a member takes a letter of commendation from a church, he still remains a member of that church; and he should pay his s. B. accordingly, giving due notice when he joins the church in another place.” Add to Art. IV the following, calling it sections 3 and 4. SEC. 3. The expulsion of members from church fellowship should never be effected by less than a two-thirds vote of the entire membership of the church in question; and such action should not take place without previous faithful labor with the erring member, and also due notice of the trial. The only circumstances under which these regulations should be departed from at all are in the case of outrageous crime in which the guilt is manifest; in which case, at the discretion of the church this previous labor may be dispensed with. SEC. 4. In the case of church trials involving the expulsion of members, our brethren, if possible, should secure the aid of some experienced preacher; if this is not consistent they should make application to the State Conference Committee for the aid of some experienced and judicious lay-brethren to aid by their counsel and advice, excepting such cases only as are excepted in the preceding section. Add to Art. VII the following, as Sec. 3: “This Conference may, at its discretion, invite all persons present, who are members of our churches in good standing, to take part in the discussion of business, but not to participate in voting.” The Treasurer’s report was then called for, read, and approved, showing the following result. Amount of funds on hand at the time of last report, $2190.18
Amount received during the year, 4813.53
$7003.71
Amount paid out to sundry persons during the year, $3569.81
Bal. in the Treasury May 1, 1867, 3433.90
$7003.71 GEO. W. AMADON, Treasurer. Moved and voted that a committee of three be appointed to nominate officers for the coming year; whereupon brethren R. J. Lawrence, J. H. Waggoner, and John Byington were appointed as said committee. Moved and voted that a committee of six be appointed to audit and settle the accounts of ministers for the past year. Brethren James Harvey, E. H. Root, John S. Day, Wm. S. Higley, Francis Nelson, and Cyrenius Smith, were named as said committee. The wants of churches in regard to labor was considered, to which several responded. Referred to the Conference Committee. Adjourned till 2:30 P. M. Committee on nominations reported, naming the following persons for officers for the ensuing year, viz.: For President, J. N. Loughborough; Secretary, I. D. Van Horn; Treasurer, G. W. Amadon; Conference Committee, J. N. Loughborough, Uriah Smith, and J. M. Aldrich. On motion it was voted that the election of these officers nominated be acted upon as a whole; whereupon they were thus unanimously elected. The following resolutions were then taken up and unanimously adopted. Resolved, That this Conference appropriate $700.00 of its funds now on hand, toward the cost of the meeting house in Battle Creek. Resolved, That this Conference appropriate $1000.00 of its funds now on hand, to the General Conference Missionary funds. Resolutions on the following points passed by the General Conference were unanimously adopted, (See report of Gen. Conf.) viz: Health Reform, Health Institute, Dress, Ordinances, Patent Rights, Persons traveling about without license, Better to live out the truth than to be constantly contending about it, and Members moving without good cause. Also resolutions on War, and Ministers leaving their fields of labor too soon, and Letters of Commendation. Adjourned to the call of the Chair. Conference called in session again Thursday P. M. The renewing of minister’s credentials was brought before the Conference, and the following ministers were granted credentials for the ensuing year, viz.: James White, Joseph Bates, J. N. Loughborough, R. J. Lawrence, J. H. Waggoner, John Byington, M. E. Cornell, I. D. Van Horn, and D. M. Canright. The case of Eld. J. B. Frisbie, with reference to credentials was called up and considered. He responded by making a few remarks. By motion his case was referred to the Mich. Conference Committee. Adjourned to the call of the Committee. Fourth Session. Conference called together by the Committee, Friday P. M., May 17. The financial condition and standing of the Conference was read before the meeting for the consideration of all concerned. Blanks, to aid churches in making their reports to the Conference, were distributed among the delegates. Adjourned. Another short session was held evening after the Sabbath, May 18, in which the following resolutions were passed: Resolved, That this Conference request the churches composing it to arrange their s. B. figures each year at the first of May, and have our fiscal year and our quarterly reports reckon from that time. It was moved and voted that the license of Bro. Philip Strong be renewed for the ensuing year. The Committee to audit and settle accounts with ministers was read, and approved. Moved and voted that the minutes of the proceedings of this Conference be published in the Review. Adjourned to the call of the Committee. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH, President. I. D. VAN HORN, Secretary. The South not Restored.
By Editor
OUR Government has committed the serious blunder of releasing Jefferson Davis from confinement, before the restoration of civil order in the Southern States. Without the pressure of any serious demand from the people for his release, it has yielded to the clamor of a few radical humanitarians and the appeals of some Southern sympathizers who have been unceasing in their exertions in behalf of the guilty President of the late Confederacy. As long as our Government held Jefferson Davis286 firmly in its grasp, it had in him a hostage for the good behaviour of the Southern people. Instead of keeping only one of the instigators of the rebellion in confinement, others, equally guilty of treason, should have been imprisoned with him. The determination of their cases could then have been governed by the temper manifested in the Southern States. Upon the re-establishment of civil authority in such a form as to secure the control of the States to the loyal, they might safely have been set free. For the South is by no means reconstructed. The problem whether a loyal government can be established in the late rebellious States is still far from solution. The elections of the coming summer can alone show us whether, even under the terms of the reconstruction act, the loyal can obtain and hold the control of those States. It may be necessary yet for our government to apply to the South rigorously repressive measures. Even now Southern society is kept from outbreaks of disorder only by the application of military force. The removal of Mayor Monroe by General Sheridan, the suppression of Governor Jenkins by General Pope, the order of General Sickles compelling the firemen of Charleston to salute the National Flag, are indications of the measures still necessary to secure good order in the Southern States. Simultaneously with the announcement of the release of Davis, the intelligence reaches the press of the murder of a colored Methodist preacher, Lymas McCloud, in South Carolina. John R. Tamblyn, another minister of our church in that State, was assaulted, at the same time, with a bludgeon, and but for the protection given him by five or six negroes, would have been murdered too. True, murder is committed in the North as well as in the South, but in the Southern States it is next to impossible to punish the murderers of loyal men by civil process. The murderer of Lymas McCloud is still at large, and “no one moves to arrest him.” Events have shown already that the conduct of the Southern people is solely governed by the temper which they suppose to prevail among the citizens of the loyal States. When they believed that Mr. Johnson was wholly committed to them, and was master of the political situation, they broke out into violence on every side. The Union men of New Orleans were murdered; a reign of terror, which promised a repetition of the dreadful cruelties practiced upon Southern loyalists during the prevalence of the rebellion, was re-established. Only the firmness of the people and of Congress saved us from the loss of all the precious fruits of the war. Upon the passage of the Reconstruction bill, the chief argument made by the Southern press for its acceptance was, that, unless accepted, worse would come upon the Southern States. Convinced, at last, that the loyal people were determined to make their victory good, and that they were ready for confiscation, if nothing less would serve, the Southern population had just begun to appreciate the situation and to adapt themselves fully thereto. The release of Davis at this juncture seems to be a piece of stupidity, for it does away the salutary impression created by the legislation of Congress. The South is shrewd enough to take advantage of any appearance of wavering on the part of the Government. It is an old Southern tradition that the Northern people are easily fooled, and that the Southerner is the born ruler of this country. Only the teaching of a severity not incompatible with humanity can eradicate this tradition. Our sole guarantee of the peacefulness of Southern society is the ingraining of the conviction in the minds of its people that it is useless for them to struggle against the free States, either with the weapons of war or of political management.—The Methodist. The birds have returned and are singing,
And flowers are blooming again,
And Spring's, putting forth now so lovely,
How pleasant 'tis here to remain.
And as I thus sit idly musing,
My thoughts to futurity turn,
To the earth when renewed in its splendor,
When glory its face will adorn. I thought, if at times 'tis so pleasant,
Where the curse does so heavily rest,
Where friends are so often seen parting,
And trouble at times racks the breast,
Oh! what will it be when with beauty,
The glorified earth will abound,
When Jesus and angels attending,
Shed glory and pleasure around. When praise all our hearts will enrapture,
And sorrow, no, never, can come,
When those whom we love here most dearly,
We'll meet there, forever at home.
And as I contemplate this glory,
And think 'tis not mixed with alloy,
How small are earth's vanishing pleasures,
How great those the saints will enjoy. The Doctrines of the Gospel.
A GRANITE monument, like that of Bunker Hill, that will defy the storm of ages, and outlast the wear and tear of centuries, can not be made of loose sand or sun-dried brick; and a heroic Christian life, which will extort the praise of skeptics like Hume, can not be constructed from the easy creeds out of which the vital doctrines of the gospel have been eliminated. —The English and Americans are inclined to close their sections of the Paris Exhibition, but the petition sent from America, that the whole building be closed on the Sabbath, only excites guffaws of laughter. Why, say the Parisians, that is the best day of all. The South. Governor Orr, of South Carolina, reports a terrible extent of suffering and starvation in various parts of his State. In the meantime, ex-Governor Perry is writing letters against the acceptance of the Reconstruction law by that State. Mexico. New York, May 22. The Herald says: “By the arrival of a gentleman who left Queretaro in the beginning of March, some facts are gleaned relative to the inside situation there. At that time the Imperialists were short of ammunition, and there were provision enough to last until about the 1st of May. Maximilian had with him Marquess, Miramon, Mejia and other generals, who seemed to consider Queretaro as their last ditch.” “At Vera Cruz the mortality from yellow fever alone was fifty per day.” —Liquor selling was never carried on to so great an extent at Boston as now, despite prohibitory laws and State constables. Besides the regular bars at hotels and saloons, which are in full blast, fashionable club houses are plenty as blackberries, and people from the surrounding towns, where the law is more rigidly enforced, flock into Boston by hundreds to procure their supplies. —The question of running cars on Sunday has been submitted to the people of Baltimore, with the result of 11,039 votes in favor, and 9,056 against. “SUNDAY KEEPING.”—Most of the clergymen in Norwich, Ct., have signed a circular protesting against the practice of having funerals on the Sabbath, believing that it is an evil, inasmuch as it involves much servile work, and, therefore, when not necessary, it is a clear violation of the Fourth Commandment, keeping from the house of God those who might otherwise attend.—Toledo Blade. Starvation in the South—A Terrible Story.
A LETTER to the Southern Relief Commission, dated Woodstock, Tuscaloosa county, Alabama, April 12, says: “In our deplorable situation, being almost destitute of food and clothing, without any hope of relief by a providential combination of circumstances, the news of your benevolent organization came to us, whereupon we called a meeting of our citizens and organized our society, called the Hepzibah Relief Society, in the county, thirty miles from the city of Tuscaloosa, consisting of about two hundred and seventy-five heads of families, averaging five to each family, equal to one thousand three hundred and seventy-five souls, to make application to you for help to keep us from starvation; and we hereby humbly appeal to your Christian generosity for help. “Our language is not sufficient to describe to you the thousandth part of our suffering—our children without clothing or bread, or the means of education, in which situation we implore you not to let us remain. Help us speedily for mercy and humanity’s sake, and God will bless you for so doing. If our leading politicians did precipitate us into an unholy and unnatural war, it was not our fault. If you knew how many of us struggled against that measure, you could not cherish an unkind feeling against us. Our sons, brothers, husbands and fathers, were hunted down like beasts, and dragged in chains to the field of deadly conflict; and many for refusing to go were shot down like dogs and left to feed the vultures of the air. “Gentlemen this is no fancy picture. The war devastated our country, and in addition thereto a failure of a crop last year leaves us in an awful condition, and can you, or will you, refuse us relief? I write as the representative of 1,375 starving poor. Be so kind as to send us bread, meat, shoes, hats, clothing, or anything you can spare.” The Case of Jefferson Davis.
It is reported that a writ of habeas corpus has been granted in the case of Jefferson Davis, and that the United States Government have ordered the commanding General at Fortress Monroe to deliver him to the civil officers. It will appear upon the investigation that he is held by the military authority of the United States upon a charge of complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, preferred by the President. If the Court decides not to release him he will, of course, be imprisoned, and in quarters less agreeable than Fortress Monroe. If it inclines to a different decision, how can it release upon bail a man so accused and of such a crime? The charge must be established or withdrawn. As for treason, is it necessary again to invoke a court to decide a question which the war has settled? Suppose Jefferson Davis were tried for treason and the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty. What is the consequence? Simply that if he were not guilty the United States Government was. Is it not exquisitely absurd to run the risk of such a result? The moment it was clear that he could not wisely be tried, Davis, like Stephens, should have been released upon his parole.—Harper's Weekly. The same paper of May 25, says:—when Jefferson Davis was caught running away in his wife's petticoats, if he had been summarily tried, convicted, and executed as a rebel in arms against the Government, the public opinion of the country and of mankind would probably have justified the act. We are glad that such was not his fate, although it very soon became clear that nothing remained but to allow him to go at large untouched. That result is now reached. After the most undignified delay upon the part of the Government he has been surrendered to the civil authorities, and by them arrested for high treason and bailed in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, precisely the amount of the reward offered by the President for his capture as an accessory in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. Maintaining a consistency of folly the Government not only has not formally withdrawn the charge of assassination, but after two years of preparation announces that it is not ready to proceed to the trial for treason; and the prisoner is released with the most perfect understanding upon all sides that he is not to be tried at all. When the Government saw that it could not sustain the charge of complicity in the assassination, and had decided that Davis could not wisely be tried for treason, it should have released him upon his parole as it had released Alexander Stephens. Before these lines are read Jefferson Davis will probably have arrived in New York, and the same feeling which lifted the hats of many in the crowd at Richmond will offer him respectful homage here. But while we rejoice in the strength and nobility of a popular government which can properly do an act so unprecedented as the virtually unconditional release of such an offender, let no American citizen forget for a moment, or fail to teach his children, how wicked the crime was, and how enormous the moral guilt of the criminal. It was a crime measured by which the offences for which every day men are sent to prison and hung are trivial and unimportant; a causeless and cruel crime, for which hundreds of thousands of hearths are desolate and countless hearts are broken. Jefferson Davis and his associates, to gratify a fierce political ambition, sought to destroy a mild Government which they had always controlled, not because it threatened their liberty or property, but because they feared it might prevent their destroying the liberty and stealing the property of other men. They attempted this work by fire and sword, and untold and unimaginable tortures. For four years they waged bloody war against a government which they did not allege had ever injured or was then trying to injure them. The flower of brave and noble youth was cut down. Like Rachel the land mourned her darlings because they were not, because they lay dead upon the field or starving and mad in the pens of Andersonville and Salisbury. For these crimes—which in their nature and by the means necessary to subdue them transcend the forms of human law—for these crimes, committed not in the hope that justice might be done, but with the purpose of perpetuating the most revolting injustice forever, God himself will be the Judge. And so long as Americans love liberty, and respect law, and honor manhood—so long as truth and justice are sweeter to them than cruelty and wrong, their good sense will pierce the sophisms of Davis and his associates to their foul and ghastly purpose, which was not only the overthrow of the Government but the degradation of human nature, and to accomplish which they slew our dearest and our best. Exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. Heb. 2, 25. This Department is designed to fill the same place in the paper that the Conference or Social Meeting does in the worship of God. Speak often one to another to comfort, edify and aid each other in the way of holiness and true Christian experience. Bro. Smith: I believe that I am indebted to the weekly visits of the Review for the greater share of my spiritual attainments. I never knew any one who was very far advanced in present truth who did not take the Review. I suppose the reason is, because without it they soon drift away into the dark. I know a man who gave up the Review for another paper. The result was, he was left in the dark, and he hardly knows now what he does believe. This question has often occurred to me. Do the messengers insist upon it, that those who embrace the truth, should take the Review, and endeavor to impress it upon them, that it is almost impossible for them to “keep the faith” without it? It seems to me that no one who reads our paper could be led away after any such thing as secret societies or theatrical performances. If we find ourselves inclined toward those things, it should be a warning that we are not tending toward the kingdom. Brethren take the Review. Try to induce others to take it, especially those who have not the advantage of the society of others of like precious faith. The Review is a counsellor and friend to all who have not the counsel of a living minister. Eau Clair Co., Wis., May 9, 1867. Bro. Smith: More than six months have passed away since I left Battle Creek. Although I have not the privilege of meeting with those of like precious faith, yet the Sabbath is a delight to me. I love the truth, and am thankful for the light that is shining upon the pathway of the remnant. I could not be so contented here as I am were it not for the Review. It is a great comfort and blessing to me. I am not satisfied with my present attainments, yet if I am not mistaken have made some progress in the work of overcoming. Am in union, sympathy and love, with God's commandment keeping people, and am thankful that I still have a home with them here, and hope to have a home with them in the earth made new. I am thankful to our heavenly Father that he condescends to come nigh to those who draw near to him. I have had some precious seasons here while alone. The desire of my heart is, “Nearer, my God, to thee.” I still crave an interest in the prayers of the church, that I may be kept from the power of the wicked one, and be enabled to glorify God in my body and spirit which are his. Your sister, hoping for victory. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Rev. xiv, 13. DIED near Geneva, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, April 29, 1867, of consumption, sister Melissa Hutchinson, aged 53 years. Sister H., with her husband, Eld. Wm. F. Hutchinson, was a member of the Disciple church when the tent went to Orwell. The truth found a ready place in her heart, and her conversion to the faith of the third angel’s message was thorough. In her earnestness and love of the truth, she at once became an example and a help to all who embraced the faith. A letter from Bro. Bane, acquainting me with her death, says, “She died expecting a crown of righteousness at that day, for she loved the appearing of the Lord.” Eld. Rodney Viets (Disciple) preached a funeral discourse from 1 Thess. iv, 13-18, showing by the word of the Lord that the dead are asleep, that the hope of the Christian is the resurrection, and that immortality will be bestowed upon those only who seek for it through the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. In her family and in the church she will be missed; but we do not sorrow for her as without hope. May the Lord aid us so to live as to meet her in that day. DIED, in Charleston, Vt., April 9, 1867, my mother, Lois Burroughs, wife of Joseph Burroughs, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Her disease was scrofula of which she has been a sufferer for years. Sixteen years ago last winter, at a conference meeting in Irasburg, mother embraced the third angel’s message and has lived out her faith with firmness and propriety, embracing the light of present truth as fast as she saw it, and died in hope of having part in the first resurrection. To her the Sabbath was a delight. She loved the blessed Saviour, his truth, and his people. Her godly precepts and faithful prayers were best appreciated by those who knew her best. And may we so live by the grace of God assisting us, that we may be ready to meet her when Jesus comes to take his ransomed people home. “She hath passed death’s chilling billow,
And gone to rest;
Jesus smoothed her dying pillow,
Her slumber’s blest.”
DIED in St. Charles, Mich., May 13th, 1867, of inflammation on the brain, our precious infant daughter, Ada L., aged 2 years and 4 months. She smiled upon us like a May flower then drooped her lovely head and died. Still the blessed hope sustains us. DIED, in Wolcott, Vt., April 28, 1867, of lung fever, Oliff P. Drown, aged 8 months, only child of Bro. and sister C. C. Drown. This was a sweet and lovely babe, that won the love and affection of all who knew it. Some words of comfort were spoken from 1 Thess. iv, 18.