Earlier text: THE TWO COVENANTSGeneral Meeting for Southern Kansas.
By J. H. Cook
This meeting will be held in Sherman City, Cherokee county, about ten miles north-east of Oswego, Labette county, Oct. 31 to Nov. 5. The objects of this meeting are, 1. To reach all in this district, many of whom have not had the privilege of attending a meeting of this kind held by our people; 2. To afford an opportunity to gain the special blessing of God, which we all need. Here, then, we will seclude ourselves from the world for a few days, and seek the Lord, who has said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Many of you have made commendable progress during the past year, both in personal advancement and in learning how to work for others. But much yet remains to be done, and much to learn. This will be just the place for you to gain spiritual strength, and to receive the instruction you need. By no means least among the inducements to attend this meeting is this, we confidently expect Bro. Haskell, of Battle Creek, Mich. He is the president of the General Tract and Missionary Society, and the originator of the present system of T. and M. work among us as a people. No one could come who is better qualified to give practical instruction in this work. This item of news, I know, will be joyfully received by many of the T. and M. workers in this district. Many of you want to do more in the future than you have done in the past; or you want to know how to labor so that you may reap the largest possible returns from the outlay of time and means. Just that kind of instruction Bro. Haskell, from his long experience and observation in this branch of the work of God, will be prepared to give us. Bro. J. N. Ayers, president of the Kansas Conference, Bro. Lamont and Santee, and myself, expect to be in attendance. We cordially invite any other Seventh-day Adventists, ministers or brethren from South-western Missouri, as well as brethren from other portions of Kansas. We shall gladly welcome all who come with a mind to work. Now, brethren, whether this meeting is successful or not will depend largely on the interest manifested by you. We would suggest that you commence immediately to get ready. Settle it in your minds that, if the Lord will, you are going to camp-meeting; then work and pray to the point. You must be there for the good that you, individually, may gain; and for the same reason your wife must be there. This reason applies even more urgently to your children, some of whom are not converted. This is just the place for them. Yourself and family should be there to cheer and encourage others. Some of you have husbands, and probably some of you have wives, who might be fully settled in the truth by attending this meeting. Many of you have friends who might be won to the truth if they could have the benefit of such a meeting as we expect, by the blessing of God, this may be. We hope every family in this district especially will be in attendance, and be there on the very first day of the meeting prepared to stay till the last. Our fifty-foot tent will be pitched on the ground. Hay, corn, and provisions can be obtained at reasonable rates. A good supply of bedding will be one of the indispensables, as the nights, at least, will then be cool. J. P. HENDERSON
By J. P. Henderson
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: The time of year for making renewed efforts for the advancement of the cause is approaching. The year has been a fruitful one, and we should testify our gratitude to the Giver of these blessings by earnest and united labors in the harvest of the Lord. In many places in our district the people are anxiously inquiring for the truth, as the result of past labor. Shall we not help them? “He that goeth forth with weeping,
Bearing precious seeds of love,
Never tiring, never sleeping,
Findeth mercy from above.” We propose to hold a general tract society meeting in connection with the church quarterly meeting at North Bloomfield, Elk county, Oct. 5 and 6. Let all attend. LESSON XVI.—THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM.
1. What subjects are discussed in the seventeenth chapter of Genesis? 2. About this time, as Abraham was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day, who appeared to him? 4. What did he do when he saw them? 5. What did he ask them to do? 6. What hospitality did he offer them? 7. While eating dinner, what assurance did they give him? 8. What did Sarah think of this? 9. What did the angels give her to understand? 10. As Abraham accompanied them on their way, what did they reveal to him? Gen. 18:17–22. 11. What plea did Abraham make for Sodom? 12. With what success did he meet? Verse 32. 13. How did Lot receive the angels when they arrived at Sodom? Gen. 19:1–3. 14. Give an account of the manner in which the Sodomites treated the strangers that night. 15. How was Lot preserved from the cruelty of the men of Sodom? Verse 10. 16. How did the angels put an end to the riot? Verse 11. 17. What message did the angels give Lot for his children that dwelt in the city? 18. How did they receive the message? Verse 14. 19. What was the fate of the city? Verses 24, 25. 20. How were Lot and his family saved? Verses 15, 16. 21. What charge did the angels give them? Verse 17. 22. What brief history is given of Lot's wife? Verse 26. 23. What sad sight met Abraham's gaze, as he looked toward Sodom the next morning? Verses 27, 28. 24. What first induced Lot to choose the plain of Jordan and pitch his tent toward Sodom? Gen. 13:10. 25. What was the character of the people that dwelt in Sodom at that time? Gen. 13:13. 27. Do you think that any of his family were saved? 28. What do you think, then, of the wisdom of his choice in selecting such a place for his home? 29. Do people ever make such mistakes now? 30. What comparison does our Lord make between the days of Lot and the days of the Son of man when he shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven? Luke 17:28, 30. 31. What similar comparison is made between the days just before the flood and those just before the coming of our Lord? Luke 17:26, 27. 32. Were the people warned of coming destruction in the days of Noah and Lot? 33. Then will the world be warned of the coming of Christ? 34. Would the wicked heed the warning then? 35. Will they heed it now? 36. Did the people in those days continue their wicked practices to the end? 37. Will the wicked people of this time go on in their evil ways till the Lord comes? The seventeenth chapter of Genesis tells how the Lord appeared to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old, renewed his covenant with him, and changed his name and the name of his wife; how he gave him the rite of circumcision as a token of that covenant, and how Abraham and all the males of his family were circumcised. About this time, as Abraham was sitting in his tent door in the heat of the day, the Lord appeared to him; and looking up he saw three men. He ran to meet them, and bowing himself to the ground before them, begged them to stop, and wash and rest themselves, and take some food. While they were eating dinner, they assured Abraham that the promise which God had made in regard to Isaac should certainly be fulfilled. Sarah thought this impossible, but the angel gave her to understand that nothing is too hard for God. As Abraham accompanied them a short distance on their way, they told him that, on account of the great wickedness of the people of Sodom, the Lord had sent them to destroy that city. Abraham pleaded with the Lord to spare the city, and finally received the promise that if ten righteous men could be found in it, his request should be granted. When the angels came to the city of Sodom, there were only two of them; and Lot, who was sitting in the gate of the city, rose up and bowed to them, and persuaded them to go home with him. That night the wicked Sodomites gathered around Lot's house, and demanded that the strangers should be brought out to them. Lot went out and tried to pacify them, but they pressed so hard upon him that, to save him from the most cruel treatment, the angels reached out and drew him into the house. They then smote the men with blindness, so that they could not find the door. After this, the angels instructed Lot to go and warn his married children and their families, and bring them out of that place; for God had sent them to destroy it. These wicked children would not heed what Lot said, for he seemed to them as one that mocked. Early the next morning the angels hurried Lot and his family out of the city, telling them to make haste and flee to the mountain, and not to look behind them. As soon as Lot had departed, the Lord rained brimstone and fire upon the cities of the plain, and destroyed them. But Lot's wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. When Abraham gave Lot his choice in the land, Lot chose the plain of Jordan, because it was so beautiful and fertile, although the people of that country were exceedingly wicked at that time. As a consequence of this unwise choice, Lot was continually vexed with the wickedness of the people of Sodom, and barely escaped with his life at last. It is altogether probable that he was the only one of his family that will be saved. The Scriptures tell us that, as it was in the days of Lot, and in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days when the Son of man shall come. As the people of those times would not heed the warnings given them, but continued their wicked practices till the very day that destruction came upon them; so will the people that are living upon the earth when our Lord shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven. This is made plain by our Lord's interpretation of the parable of the tares. Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43. This leaves no room for a temporal millennium, and shows that doctrine to be untrue. FIRMNESS
By Eliza H. Morton
There is, perhaps, no quality of mind more needed by the last church than firmness. We are living in an age of the world when irresolution marks the acts of men. To-day individuals may seem as immovable as the “everlasting hills” in regard to duty, and to-morrow they may pursue a course directly contrary to their convictions of right. This is the work of a wily foe, who, with untiring zeal, seeks to undermine every principle of stability. It is useless for mortal man to say, “I cannot be swerved.” Every heart is subject to Satan’s power, and more than human strength is needed to stand steadfast and unwavering. The world, from pole to pole, is steeped in iniquity. Sin, clothed in white garments, walks the earth, and deeds of Satanic darkness are done in “high places.” Glittering bribes are held out, smooth words are uttered, and gold is offered for honor. Unbelief rears its hideous head wherever man is found, and earth seems shaken to its center with the hilarity of the “lovers of pleasure.” Is it strange that “heart and flesh” fail before such a combination of evil? Amid this bewildering maze there is a Star of glory and an Arm of strength. The chain that connects earth with Heaven is firm, and those who cling to its glittering links can never be moved. The cries of God’s people keep the “gates ajar;” and soon, very soon, those portals will unclose, and the open beauty of high Heaven be shed over all the earth. Firmness will meet its reward, and those whose feet are planted on the “Rock of Ages” will find refuge evermore. FINISH THE WORK.
By J. G. Saunders
I THINK some of our tent companies would accomplish more, if they would follow up the interest they awaken. If, after the truth has been presented, and an investigating spirit has been aroused, the work is left, it will probably die out, but if earnest appeals are made, much may be accomplished. The truth sometimes affects minds that we would think least likely to receive it. Would it not be well for the tent companies to stay in a place till the truth has done its work, and is thoroughly established? Such a course will give it character and power, and nothing will be lost. But if a number of stands are made, and the interest is left when it is at its height, the cause will suffer loss, and the same degree of interest can seldom be aroused again. J. G. SAUNDERS. LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.
By G. H. Bell
LESSON XVI.—THE 2300 DAYS.
1. What are we trying to learn in our present investigations? 2. What part of the subject has been considered? 3. What must next claim our attention? 4. What do we learn in reading from Dan. 8:15 onward? 5. What did Gabriel accordingly do? 6. How long did he continue his explanations? 7. Under what circumstances did Gabriel again appear to Daniel? Dan. 9:20, 21. 8. What did he say to him? Verses 22, 23. 9. What did he request him to do? 10. What part of the vision had Gabriel explained in his former visit? Dan. 8:20–26. 11. What point had he reached when Daniel fainted? 12. Where did he begin his explanation in this second interview? 13. What were his first words? 14. What is the literal meaning of the word here rendered determined? 15. What authorities can you give? 16. What must the angel mean by the expression “Seventy weeks are determined”? 17. How do we know that they were to be cut off from the 2300 days? 18. Of what must the seventy weeks be a part? 19. To what, then, is the statement of the angel equivalent? 20. What does the angel then go on to tell? 21. What was the first thing mentioned? 22. What do we understand this to mean? 23. What scriptures throw light upon this subject? 24. What was the second point mentioned? 25. What does this probably mean? 26. What scriptures seem to refer to the same thing? 27. What was the third point enumerated? 28. What is meant by this “everlasting righteousness”? 29. What was the fourth point? 30. What must be the meaning of “to seal” in this expression? 31. Explain its application in this passage. 32. What was the fifth point? 33. To what is this anointing supposed to refer? It must be remembered that we are trying to learn what is meant by the statement made in Dan. 8:14. We have briefly considered the sanctuary, and next we are to consider the time,—the two thousand and three hundred days. By reading from the fifteenth verse onward, we see that the angel Gabriel was commissioned to make Daniel understand the vision. Accordingly, Gabriel went on to explain the vision, taking up each part in order, till Daniel fainted. Some time after this, as Daniel was praying, and confessing his sins and the sins of his people, Gabriel appeared to him again, saying, “I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding;” “I am come to show thee, . . . therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.” Dan. 9:20–23. Daniel was requested to consider the vision; that is, to recall both the vision and the explanations that had been given him. In his former visit, Gabriel had explained every part of the vision except that pertaining to the sanctuary and the 2300 days. He had just reached this point when Daniel fainted, so in this second interview he begins just where he left off in the first. His first words are these:— “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,” etc. Verse 24. The literal meaning of the word here rendered determined, is cut off, as will be seen by consulting the Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance, or Gesenius in Hebrew Lexicon. Whiting, in his translation, renders it cut off. The angel must mean that the seventy weeks were cut off from the 2300 days, for there is nothing else given in the vision from which weeks of time could be taken. The seventy weeks must, therefore, be a part of the 2300 days, and the statement of the angel is equivalent to saying, that the first seventy weeks of the 2300 days were to be given in an especial manner to the Jewish people. The angel then goes on to tell what should be accomplished during the seventy weeks. 1. The transgression was to be finished. This we understand to mean that, “The Jewish people were to fill up the measure of their iniquity by rejecting and crucifying the Messiah, and were no longer to be his people, or host.” Read Matt. 21:38–43; 23:32–38; 27:25. 2. Next we find the expression, to make an end of sin. This probably means to make an end of sin-offerings, which were to be abolished by the death of Christ. See Dan. 9:27 (cause sacrifice and oblation to cease); read also Heb. 9:10. 3. Everlasting righteousness was to be brought in; that is, the righteousness of Christ. 4. The vision and the prophecy were to be sealed up. To seal sometimes means to fulfill, to establish; see Webster. During the seventy weeks, a part of the vision was exactly fulfilled, and this establishes and makes sure the fulfillment of the whole. 5. The most holy was to be anointed. This is supposed to refer to the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary, preparatory to the commencement of the services there. THE COLORADO TENT.
By James White
September 14 and 15 we were at the Colorado tent at Georgetown. Elder Cornell had been speaking to the people about two weeks. The congregations were good until the severe cold with snow storm suddenly came upon them, when the congregation fell off considerably. And as Bro. Cornell took a severe cold, making it almost impossible for him to speak, the situation looked discouraging. On the 13th we left Rollinsville, accompanied by J. E. White and wife, and Mary K. White, for Georgetown. We spoke to a good and very attentive audience on the evening of the 14th, on the Sabbath in the New Testament. J. E. White introduced his new book entitled, “the Song Anchor,” and was assisted in singing, not only by those of our party, but by several first-class singers residing in the place. Most of the pieces sung are in print for the first time, and are the finest we ever heard. The singing, accompanied by a good organ, attracted large audiences to the tent. Sunday, at 10:30, we spoke on the Sabbath question, inviting questions from those who had objections to the positions taken; this resulted in a sort of irregular Bible-class which was both interesting and profitable. In the evening we gave a discourse on the reasons of our faith and hope. The congregation was large and very attentive. The service closed with singing the new piece from the Song Anchor, entitled, “Good Night.” Both the words and the music are charming, while the occasion, it being our last service with that people, closing at nearly ten in the evening, gave it double force. We felt that our visit to the Colorado tent was timely, and as we returned to Rollinsville, the general expression of our company was that we had enjoyed it very much. And yet we doubt the propriety of moving the tent to any place as it was taken to Georgetown. Those who labor with our tents should know for themselves that the way is open, either by a personal survey of the ground or by information from the most reliable sources, before shipping a tent to a place. Letters came from Georgetown to Elder Canright and the writer, representing that the way was open, that homes for laborers were plenty, and urging that the tent should be moved to that place. We should have gone to Georgetown or requested Bro. Cornell to first survey the field; but the statements in the letters received had such a show of liberality that we were thrown off our guard, and had the tent shipped without further investigation. Bro. and Sr. Cornell had the use of a sleeping room and boarded themselves, while Bro. Olmstead slept in the tent and took his meals at the hotel. We also boarded ourselves, a portion of our party lodging at the hotel. We paid nine dollars for horse-keeping at the hotel stable, and, in all, that trip cost the writer twenty-five dollars. No one but the writer should be blamed in this matter. Bro. Cornell did as he was requested. Those who send urgent requests for tent labor frequently know next to nothing of the labor and expense of a tent-meeting; and while their sympathies are sometimes more with popular ministers and popular worship than with the truth of God, and those who make great sacrifices to proclaim it, they seem to care for neither the labor nor the cost of such a meeting. We left Bro. Cornell much encouraged. The weather is fine again, and he will probably remain a week or two longer. And we confidently expect that quite a company of Sabbath-keepers will be raised up in Georgetown. We regret, however, that the tent did not go where the people are willing, and even anxious, to bear all the expenses of a good, long tent-meeting. There are open doors where the same amount of labor would have accomplished double the results without expense to the General Conference, except the expense of moving the tent, and the small amount paid the laborers. As a field of labor, much may be expected of Colorado. Here is a reading people. They seem to have but little prejudice. We are writing at a hotel in the beautiful city of Denver, Colo., on our way to the General Conference at Battle Creek, Michigan. We are much improved in health, and are very happy in hope that there is, with care, some work for the Master in us yet. May he bless and direct the future, until our work is done and the blessed hope consummated. THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
By James White
WHAT we have witnessed in the comparatively slow progress of the cause for a score of years in the past, is only preparatory to the vast and rapid work before us, which will be cut short in righteousness under the loud cry of the third angel’s message. We invite your attention to what has been accomplished. 1. Our publications, which to-day are a power in the land. These have reached the number of one hundred and eighty-three, and some of them are now read in seven languages besides the English. These cover the grounds of our faith and hope, and it has cost a vast amount of close and anxious study to bring out the harmonious chains of truth clearly and forcibly set forth in them. The writers of these works have not aimed at the popular style, but in plain, wholesome English have presented the great truths of the message in simple style. This work, thank Heaven, has been accomplished under the Guiding Hand, and now young men who enter the ministry, with willing minds and sanctified hearts, have only to take the system of truth, made ready to their hands, and go forth and repeat it in the ears of the people. A quarter of a century ago the work of editing a weekly paper was more than tenfold what it is now. Then contributors to the columns of the REVIEW AND HERALD were very few, and most of the writers were so poorly qualified, both in composition and penmanship, that not less than three-fourths of all the matter that came from their pens had to be copied and improved before it went into the compositor’s hands. Now there are writers for our periodicals whose numbers and qualifications are neither few nor mean. And, besides these, in our numerous publications are sermons, articles, and paragraphs, rich in thought, waiting to be extracted to enrich the columns of our periodicals. These are ever new to the general reader, and will bear repeating annually in our periodicals, especially in our pioneer sheet, sent out principally on new ground by the tract and missionary societies. When our beloved missionaries go across the water to old England to preach the word, and aided by the press, extend the light throughout Great Britain, and wherever in the Old World and in the islands of the seas the English language is spoken and read, they have only to take our publications along with them to reprint and put them on the wings of the wind to be carried to the tens of thousands whose hearts the Lord is opening to receive the truths they contain. And more. Those missionaries from our country who labor where other languages are spoken and read, although they labor under greater difficulties than missionaries will meet in Great Britain, have only the extra labor of translating from the pure English text of our publications, which contain a pure theology. Thank God for our publications. In them the work of a century has been crowded into a little more than a score of years. 2. Our organization. The extremes which the Adventists of 1844 ran into on the subject of church organization made the work of organizing and disciplining our churches at the commencement of our work difficult and hard. Under the first message, the coming of the Lord was brought very near. The popular ministry, and a large majority of the membership, opposed the doctrine, and believers in the second advent near were pressed to that degree that, with few exceptions, they either came out of the nominal churches, or were pushed out. And while wounded, and still smarting from the rod, the more incautious and rash took extreme views of the words, “Come out of her [Babylon], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:4. And under these feelings and views, men of ill-balanced minds were not wanting to denounce church organization, and publicly declare that organization and church discipline were means of oppression, with which they classed human creeds, branding the whole, “Cast-iron Orthodoxy.” Expecting the Lord to come very soon, they saw neither the necessity nor the propriety of organizing. And drawing the false conclusion that the unchristian treatment they had received from their former brethren resulted wholly from human creeds and human organizations, prejudice took strong hold of their minds and hearts against that organization and discipline which is clearly set forth in the New Testament. These they regarded as systems of oppression, which they held in widest contrast with the freedom of the gospel. The inevitable result was fanaticism, and the disgrace of the advent name throughout the length and breadth of the land, to that degree that when our preachers enter a new field that has been cursed by the influence of these disorderly fanatics, it requires days, and sometimes weeks, to so far remove prejudice as to obtain the open ears of the public. It was when this state of things was fully ripe, after the great disappointment and scattering in 1844, that our message took its rise, and our work began in earnest among those very Adventists on whom rested the mildew and blight of ultra comeoutism, anti-organization, and fanaticism. You undertake the task of teaching them, and they at once become your teachers. Standing upon the very pinnacle of reform in their opinion, could they be reformed? And, by the way, ardent reformers are the hardest men to reform that live. To instruct, hew, and square others, and make all the rest of the world right according to their warped standard of right, is their business exclusively. And should God send an angel from Heaven with a message to them, burning with truth and love to that degree that it would melt the rocks in the bottom of the ocean, it would not warm that Pharisaical shell that incases them, and they would order the messenger back into Heaven, after finding fault with his dress, complaining of the spirit in which he delivered his message, and charging him with speculation and getting rich. J. W. THE VERMONT CAMP-MEETING.
This meeting held at Morrisville, Vt., Sept. 11–17, was one of the most satisfactory meetings it has ever been our privilege to attend. The brethren were sorely disappointed in not having the presence and labors of Sr. White, but took hold the more earnestly to make the best of the situation. There were fifty-two tents on the ground, in which were permanently encamped three hundred and sixty of our people, according to the census taken. This was the best showing Vermont has ever made in this direction. Between thirty and forty of those who have received the truth in Vermont the past summer were present; and their zeal and love for the new-found truth added much to the interest of the meeting. On Sunday it is estimated that there were upwards of five thousand present. On this day there were distributed by the tract workers 5,832 pages of tracts; and $21.43 were taken in for books sold and periodicals subscribed for. The preaching seemed to make a powerful impression upon the crowd in attendance. We have never witnessed anything more marked in this respect than was manifest on this occasion. We believe these impressions will be lasting, and in many cases bear fruit hereafter. At the close of his discourse Sabbath afternoon, Bro. Farnsworth gave an invitation to sinners and backsliders to come forward for prayers. Sixty-three responded. Nineteen of these were for the first time starting in the service of God. The presence of the Lord was felt in a powerful manner.109 The social meeting on the Sabbath at 9 A. M. was the most remarkable in the number of those who took part of any we have ever attended. One hundred and seventy-seven intelligent and earnest testimonies were borne in less than an hour. Twenty-six were baptized by Bro. Farnsworth in the Lamoille River Monday afternoon. Following the baptism, Bro. R. S. Owen was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry. Prayer by A. S. Hutchins, charge by U. Smith, right hand of fellowship by Albert Stone. A State Sabbath-school organization was formed, and officers chosen. The T. and M. Society and the State Conference also held their annual meetings, which will be reported by the proper persons. The utmost harmony characterized the proceedings throughout. Brethren feel that there are more prosperous days in store for Vermont. The burden of the preaching at this meeting was borne by Bro. Farnsworth; and the Lord gave him great liberty in the word.