The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 61, No. 48
THE TEMPLE IN HEAVENPage 1
Earlier text: THE THEATERA REMARKABLE SUNDAY SERMON.
By Editor
The Boston Daily Advertiser, of Nov. 10, 1884, contains a report of a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Savage, of the Mt. Pleasant Congregational church, Roxbury district, which must have fallen somewhat like a wet blanket on the enthusiasm of Sunday advocates. Our readers will be interested with a few extracts. His subject was “The People’s Sunday,” and he knocked away every divine prop for the institution in the following introduction:— “The attitude of Christendom on the Sunday question is perplexing and contradictory in the extreme. At the very outset we find there is no agreement, even as to the name by which the day shall be called. Shall we say Sabbath, or Sunday, or Lord’s day, or first day of the week? Neither is the day itself fixed upon with any degree of unanimity; for the Adventists, the Seventh-day Baptists, and many others are very strenuous in their opinion that only those who keep Saturday are obedient to the divine commands. And on Biblical grounds their position is certainly impregnable.” Mr. Savage could not have made an admission more to our mind. We are content to stand in the position to which he has assigned us. There are no grounds on the Sabbath question worth anything except “Biblical grounds;” and on these grounds he admits that our position is impregnable. Of the difficulties which beset the question of how to observe the day, according to the popular view, he thus speaks:—761 “Then, when the day is fixed upon, there is no sort of agreement as to what shall be done with it. Shall we have the Jewish Sabbath, the Continental Sunday, the Puritan Lord’s day, a secular holiday, or shall we blot out all distinctions between that and the other days of the week? And even within the circle of our liberal churches there are many unsolved parochial problems, troubles of conscience and questions of casuistry. Would it be wrong for the ladies to sew on Sunday? Shall the reading be the same as on other days, or shall a difference be made? What of recreations for good people?” Had people not departed from the “Biblical grounds,” there would be no trouble over questions like these. A few words from the Lord through the prophet Isaiah points out the way to every observer of the Bible Sabbath. Isa. 58: 13, 14. Another paragraph shows how unaccountably in the public mind the questions of the Sabbath and Sunday are confused. It is this:— “When I say, then, that the Jewish Sabbath began simply as abstinence from all labor on the seventh day; that it grew to be a burden of petty and oppressive restrictions, and that at last it was abolished, so far as the Christian world was concerned, I have summed up all that need be said of Sunday in the Bible.” But what, in the name of reason, has the abolition of the ancient Sabbath, even if it has been abolished, to do with the Sunday question? Now Mr. S. comes to speak of the Sunday in the church; and on this point he talks more intelligently. Read his words, and wonder, as you read, that these are the utterances, not of a Sabbath-keeper, but of one who believes in “the people’s Sunday.” Have the people no better institution than this? He says:— “We are all aware that throughout Christendom for 1500 years it is not the seventh day of the week—the day of the fourth commandment—but the first day that has been observed. And it is popularly supposed that at some special time and place a divinely authoritative transfer was made. But this supposition is entirely without foundation in fact. The first law ever issued to regulate the use of the first day of the week is the famous edict of Constantine, promulgated in the year 321 A. D. That is, for over 300 years the church said not a word about it, and it was not until 528 A. D. that all labor was prohibited on Sunday. The teaching of the church from the beginning clear down to the date of the Reformation has been substantially uniform. Sunday has been neither more nor less holy than any or all the other sacred or festival days. It existed by church appointment and custom. As some day was expedient for holding religious services and teaching the people, and as some day was wanted for rest, so this has been chosen and kept on account of the sacred memories gathering about it.” Consistently enough with his previously stated positions, Mr. Savage finally winds up with advocating For what he proposes does not differ materially from the manner in which the day is observed in those European churches which are sunk in the depths of superstition, formality, and worldliness. They attend religious worship, such as it is, in the morning, and then devote the afternoon and evening to every kind of indulgence and pleasure. And for the same course here Mr. S. pleads as follows:— “What would I do for the people on Sunday? In the first place I would have all the dramshops hermetically sealed; and then, at however great a cost, I would have cheap Sunday afternoon trains to the country on every road leading out of the city. I would have cheap steamers down the harbor. I would have all the art galleries and reading-rooms wide open and free. I would have just as many active oppositions to evil as possible. I would do all I could to break up the weary monotony of drudgery and commonplace. I would make trees, and flowers, and light, and air so attractive and easy of access, that people would leave the attics and cellars, the slums and the warm streets, to seek them with a simple and hearty relish. This for the afternoon. On Sunday morning I would have everybody, so far as possible, go to church. To everybody, no matter what their occupations during the week, an earnest religious service on Sunday morning—a service that lifts the imagination and brings them into wider sympathetic relations with the larger life of the world, that touches and quickens the sense of duty, that thrills with elevated thoughts of worship, that awes and chastens as in the presence of the divine—such a service ought to rest both body and brain, and fill the whole life with a stronger life. Sunday evenings should be given to the home, in the company of wife and children and friends. Let it be a time of all joy and freedom and simple festivity; a time in which all the week-day burdens of life should roll off and be forgotten.” It is very easy to advocate innocent amusements, and cultured and elevating associations and occupations. But all experience testifies that this feature is theoretical only. Give human nature the reins, and the practical is a different thing altogether. Keep the day that God enjoins, and keep it as he enjoins; for in this way only can the true blessings of the Sabbath be secured. THE truth is working its way surely among the people. One after another is falling into the ranks of its adherents. Persons of intelligence and candor, after examining all the efforts of its enemies to overthrow it, are compelled by the force of evidence to embrace it. They examine for instance the Sabbath question; and the more they investigate the arguments of its opponents, the more they see the weakness of those arguments, and the more they are convinced of the truth. Such is the case with a minister in Minnesota who has just written to us. May God bless him, and lead him into all truth. From his letter we give the following extract:— “I have been reading your publications with considerable interest. By investigating the subject I have come to the conclusion that the ten commandments are still binding on the race. I was educated to believe that Sunday is the Sabbath. I read in confirmation of this doctrine ‘The First-Day Sabbath’ by T. M. Preble. But I must confess that after considering all the evidences advanced to establish the theory, I still remained skeptical as to the correctness of it. I was troubled with the identity of the old or first covenant with the ten commandments, until I read your little tract called ‘The Two Covenants.’ That seemed to remove the difficulty. I do rejoice in ‘present truth,’ and feel that this is among the truths to be given to this generation. I do earnestly solicit an interest in your prayers that God will by his Spirit lead me into more truth, and anoint my eyes with the eye-salve, till I am fully sanctified by a belief in the same. John 17:17.” “I have preached the gospel as I understand it with the exception of the seventh-day Sabbath. I taught, as far as I knew, that Sunday is the Sabbath, but I can do so no longer, conscientiously; and so my preaching and teaching must become, as a matter of course, very unpopular. But I care not for this. I want to know the truth of God’s word which is able to make me wise unto salvation.” How strong is the desire in the natural heart of man to be independent of God. Men do not like to acknowledge such a Creator and Ruler as the Scriptures reveal to us. They are willing to worship if they can have a deity of their own choosing, and fashion him after their own standard. But to acknowledge a God who has made them, and who has therefore a right to require them to bow to a standard of his own erection, who in his sphere is the sum of all perfection, and who can accept of his creatures nothing less than perfection in their sphere; namely, the cultivation of all holy tempers and the crucifixion of all unholy ones, the full surrender of every rebellious emotion, and freedom from every debasing thought and act—such obligation they chafe to throw off. As proof of this, listen to the jubilant assertions of modern Spiritualists, that there is no higher judgment for any man than his own conscience, and that no man needs any other redeemer than himself! He summons science to his aid, and bids her testify that man can get along without a God: and science, so-called, meekly acknowledges that away back at some unknown point of time, on some unknown rock, in some unknown region, projected into a universe not of its own creating, there might have been seen, if a microscope could have been produced powerful enough to detect it, an infinitesimal mass of vivified jelly, from which all things have since evolved themselves; and that original protoplasm may perhaps have been the direct work of God. And this much of God men seem willing to acknowledge; and they seem able to contemplate him with a degree of equanimity, if they can crowd him back over this infinite chasm, and reduce him to these infinitesimal proportions. The same spirit, if we correctly interpret the action, crops out anew in Pittsburg, Pa. A brother sends us a copy of the Pittsburg Dispatch of Nov. 21, 1884, which contains a report of a meeting of the “National Humane Society” just held in that city. The first meeting having been opened with prayer, a Mrs. Collins, of Pittsburg, made a motion that each meeting be opened with prayer. To this a Mr. Brown, of Chicago, who nevertheless claimed to be a praying man, objected on the ground that it is “unwise to be continually teasing God with what we want.” That is to say, We have endured one prayer to God, and now let us go on with our business and forget him the remainder of the time. How different this from that sense of continual dependence on God, which it becomes us to cherish,—that feeling so beautifully expressed in the hymn that we need him “every hour,” and that instruction given us by Christ himself that we ought always to pray and not to faint. The motion was discussed by several prominent members of the convention, all speaking against it, until at the request of the chairman and another gentleman, Mrs. Collins withdrew, though under protest, the motion she had made. We cannot help thinking that this society would be much more apt to be “humane” toward the objects its organization is designed to benefit, if it were more willing to acknowledge its own dependence on God. Living the Life of the Righteous
—Many people want to die the death of the righteous, but they will not be apt to unless they begin to live the life of the righteous. AFTER the angel of Revelation 10 has uttered his solemn oath that “time shall be no longer,” meaning prophetic time and bringing us to the close of all prophetic periods, all efforts to set definite time then are outside the Scriptures, and are simply time and labor wasted. The position of S. D. Adventists is that we are far this side the utterance of that message. At the close of the longest and latest prophetic period, the 2300 days, in 1844, we believe the announcement of that mighty symbolic angel was made, and that we have no definite prophetic periods to be computed now, and no data from which to determine a definite period for any of the closing events of time. Under these circumstances, it is not a little surprising to find some laboring under a seemingly resistless desire to fix some definite time for something. For instance, we have just received from a correspondent the following:— “As in the yearly round of service in the earthly sanctuary one 360th part of that service was in the most holy, would it not appear reasonable that one 360th part of Christ’s ministration would be in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary?” As our readers are well aware, this is not the first time this hypothesis has been suggested. But if the writer had thought a little further, he would have seen that that theory broke down of itself years ago. Thus, allowing that Christ commenced his ministry in the holy place at his ascension in A. D. 31, and entered the most holy at the close of the 2300 days in 1844, we have 1813 years for his ministry in the holy place. Now according to the theory suggested this was 359 parts of the 360 of which Christ’s entire ministry is to be composed. Dividing 1813 by 359 would therefore give us the remaining part, or the time for Christ to minister in the most holy place. But how much time does that give us?—A trifle over five years. According to this, therefore, Christ should have finished his work in the sanctuary above, before the year 1850. There is another flaw in this argument. The actual work of atonement in the type did not occupy the entire tenth day of the seventh month. What proportion of the day it did occupy we do not know. Therefore, while we may say that Christ is now doing the antitypical work of atonement, there is no antitypical “day” to be assigned to it, and hence no data for any definite time in connection with this work. SOME seem still to conceive that there is a difficulty in identifying the Sabbath day the world around. How can all keep the same day, they ask, since it is night throughout one half, of the world while it is day in the other. The whole difficulty lies in the conception that men in all parts of the world are to keep the same absolute time, whereas all that is required is that they should observe the same relative time. Every part of the globe has its succession of definite days established by the very operations of nature which God ordained in the beginning. Every spot on the globe has its seventh day in the weekly cycle. But the hours which constitute the seventh day here are not the same absolute hours which constitute the seventh day one hundred and eighty degrees of longitude from here. But it is the seventh day there just as definitely as it is here. As the earth revolves upon its axis, the days in one grand and never-ending procession sweep around the globe. Every day in its turn comes to all the earth, and men in all the earth ought to keep the seventh day when it comes to them. The sun was divinely appointed to rule the day. That determines the seventh day to the dwellers in every quarter of the globe. See this subject fully discussed in the little tract published at this Office called “The Definite Seventh Day.” VOLUME FOUR OF “THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN.”
By George I. Butler
The last volume of this remarkable series is now before the public. We rejoice to welcome its appearance, as we have for years greatly desired to peruse it. We have just had the privilege of reading it through, and take pleasure in giving our impressions of it to the readers of the Review. It is a high commendation, in view of the excellence of the three preceding volumes of the series, to say that Volume IV. equals them. But we can say without hesitation that it far excels them in interest to us. They relate to the past whose history is largely given in the Bible and other books. Much of this relates to the future. Commencing at the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 70, it briefly relates the varying fortunes of God’s people in the pagan and papal persecutions, and clearly delineates the progress of apostasy from apostolic purity to Catholic corruption till the religion of Jesus was almost lost from the earth. Then it sets before us the first dawnings of reformation under Huss, Wycliffe, and others, relates the experience of the Waldenses and others who proved true while the masses were almost gone back to heathenism, then brings out in bold relief the prominent facts in the great Reformation under Luther and his fellow-laborers, and comes as rapidly forward to our own time, giving the prominent characteristics of religious life in each age. These features are not presented in the form of a dry historical record; but they are all glowing with celestial light, and contain the most precious spiritual lessons, warning us against the most subtle temptations of the great enemy. The experiences of the past are made to teach the most important principles of spiritual instruction for our use in the evil days of the present. But when we reach the present generation, when the advent messages began to be proclaimed, then the interest becomes still more intense. The work of Father Miller is set before us in a new light, and more clearly than ever before. The disappointment is clearly explained, the most interesting and striking circumstances are portrayed, the experiences of the pioneers in the third angel’s message are set before us, and the progress of the work given, reaching to the present period in our message. From this point the future experience of God’s people is most graphically described. The forces of evil which Satan is arraying against the last warning message are most clearly delineated, and his cunning schemes are opened before us. Our dangers are pointed out. The conditions of success are made plain, and needed warnings are given. Step by step the mind is carried forward to the great culmination of all earthly history. The work of Spiritualism, and its connection with the popular religion of the day and with popery, is brought to view, and the steps already taken in this direction are made clear. The work of our government in this country and of Catholicism in the old world, in their preparation for the last great conflict, are given, together with the struggles of God’s people, in the pervading darkness, with all forms of error, and the final triumph of those who love and obey the truth. The closing events of the world’s history are depicted in the most powerful manner. We have never seen anything which would equal these descriptions outside of the Bible. They stir one’s soul with powerful emotions, bringing eternal things very near, and giving the mind a most vivid conception of the closing events of the great controversy between good and evil. The series form a most valuable commentary upon the prophetic word, grouping together into one connected view the scattered expressions of Holy Writ relating to the end of all earthly things. There are single chapters in this book which are invaluable. The one upon the origin of evil, the rebellion of Satan in heaven, and the dealings of God with him, is one of these. Here is a problem which has been unfathomable to the greatest minds. In a few pages such light is shed upon the subject that we are led to admire the wisdom of God, and clearly discern the character of evil and the importance of the plan of salvation. The nature of sin, the importance and necessity of God’s law, the mercy of God, and the greatness of Christ’s love, are set before us in words of truth and soberness, of clearness and great power. It seems to me no one could read this volume without being made better by it. It is a volume no person could write without special help from God. Its value is not to be measured by dollars and cents. We earnestly advise all our own people to procure it. We urge them also to circulate it everywhere. We would gladly have it read by the most intelligent and highly educated in the land. It will exalt the truth and the importance of the work. Let it be circulated everywhere. It can be obtained for $1.00 at the Signs Office, Oakland, Cal., and from the depositories of all our Tract Societies. THE OTSEGO MEETING.
By Ellen G. White
OUR General Conference over, we left Battle Creek Nov. 21, to attend a three days’ meeting at Otsego. We rode on the cars to Kalamazoo in company with Eld. Daniels and his wife and Sister McOmber. Bro. Leighton met us there, and took us in his carriage to Otsego, sixteen miles. As we entered the village, we heard the evening bells ringing for meeting, and we were told that there was an appointment for Sister White to speak. I hurried to Bro. Leighton’s house, and back to the church, thinking that if I relied upon my own strength and wisdom I could make excuses and decline; but looking to Jesus for help I opened my Bible, and spoke with great freedom and clearness from Eph. 3:14–21. The brethren and sisters had come together from different churches, and the house of worship was crowded. The gallery was full, seats were placed in the aisles, and quite a number could obtain no seats. My own soul was strengthened and refreshed in dwelling upon the gracious promises of God. In watering others, my own soul was watered. Sabbath morning, at eight o’clock, we met for a762 social meeting, in which I considered it a privilege to take part. Many excellent testimonies were borne. I then addressed the Sabbath-school for about twenty minutes. It is of consequence to us all to be thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures. There is in our land a general disregard of the Bible; and every believing parent among Seventh-day Adventists should make special efforts to become themselves intelligent in the Scriptures, and by precept and example to educate their children to appreciate the Sabbath-school and the precious opportunities within their reach of learning the sacred truths of God’s word. We shall all be severely tested. Persons who pretend to believe the truth will come to us and urge upon us erroneous doctrines, which will unsettle our faith in present truth if we pay heed to them. True religion alone will stand the test of the Judgment. Every teacher in the Sabbath-school should be a learner in the school of Christ. Then he himself will be profited in his efforts to teach the children under his care. Special promises are made in the Scriptures to those who shall be instrumental in turning many souls from darkness, in bringing sheep and lambs to the fold of Christ, and in converting sinners from the errors of their ways. When the Master comes to reckon with his servants, every unselfish worker will receive a reward proportionate to his labor. Let every teacher, therefore, take his class, member by member, calling them each by name, and present them before God for his blessing. Then let him try by every means in his power to win them to Jesus. This important work is greatly neglected. Should it be carried forward, a spirit of reformation would be seen in the Sabbath-schools. We should have fewer unmanageable youth; for divine power would be combined with human effort, and the Spirit of God would bring every power into subjection, into obedience to Christ. During the week, we should keep in view the Sabbath of the Lord, and labor to the end that our children shall have some time each day to study their lessons with their parents, the parents themselves showing an interest in the lessons. This will educate the children to feel that their lessons are of consequence. If on Sabbath morning parents spend hours in sleep, they lose much. They are wasting God’s time, and it cannot be recalled. If it were their own, they would not thus idle it away. If the parents arise early, they can prepare the morning meal and have family prayers without haste or confusion. Then there is time to review the lessons, and the children, with their parents, can go to the Sabbath-school without becoming hurried, and can do justice to their lessons. The ministers, who are stewards of the mysteries of God, and those who will give their lives to him without reserve, can do a good work for the Master. Lose no opportunities to help the children to become intelligent in the understanding of the Scriptures. This will do more to bar the way against Satan’s devices than we can now imagine. If they become familiar with the truths of God’s word, a barrier against ungodliness will be erected, and they will be able to meet the foe with Christ’s words, “It is written.” There is a great work to be done for youth and children; and every son and daughter of God may act a part in it, and thus be partakers of the reward that will be given to the faithful workers. Eld. Daniels spoke to the people Sabbath forenoon from Jer. 17:9, 10: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” His discourse made a good impression on the minds of all present; and in the testimonies borne by our brethren and sisters Sunday forenoon, references were made to his discourse, showing that many hearts were deeply impressed by it, and that they meant to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Sabbath afternoon, I spoke from Rev. 3:7–9. Although the house was packed, when we called for those who wished to be on the Lord’s side to separate themselves from the congregation and come forward, seat after seat had to be vacated, until nearly all the pews in the body of the house were filled with those who wished the prayers of God’s people. Seventy-five came forward. This was a precious season. How my heart rejoiced to see Bro. Canright all interest, heart and soul in the work, as he used to be years in the past! I could but exclaim, What hath the Lord wrought! “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” We knew angels of God were in the congregation. Evil angels were also there, at work with might and power to bind their chains upon souls that would otherwise yield to the entreaties and warnings of the Spirit of God. There were some in that congregation whom the Lord loved, but who had been in perplexity and doubt, and who had been loosening their hold on the pillars of our faith. How grateful I felt to the Lord that probation was not yet closed, that all who would, might come, and find mercy, and peace, and comfort in the Holy Spirit, and form characters for everlasting life! How my soul longed to help them, every one, to the path of safety,—to the path where there is light, and peace, and joy! We hope to see them free in Jesus and rejoicing in hope, standing in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. A pure and holy faith is to be gained only by a diligent searching of the Scriptures; and there is danger even in this, unless the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit shall shine into the chambers of the mind. The Bible is the most precious of books; and reading and understanding its truths, making a practical application of them to the daily life, will be of the highest benefit, elevating and ennobling the character. Very many might know more of the Bible, if they would make the best use of their time, improving the minutes by diligently searching the Scriptures, testing every doctrine of faith by the law and the testimony. “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Eld. Canright spoke to the people evening after the Sabbath, from Luke 22:29, 30, giving an impressive discourse. Sunday, our morning meeting commenced at nine o’clock. We did not have preaching in the forenoon, the time being given to testimonies from those assembled. We consider it a wise plan to give all an opportunity to confess Christ, and to stand in defense of the truth, that all may have the privilege of witnessing for Jesus. We are always sorry that these meetings are not made more interesting than they are, that many should talk so low that they can be heard only by a few close beside them. Many need to be educated on this point; for they might as well talk in an unknown tongue, as far as others are concerned. The brethren cannot even say “Amen” intelligently; for they have not heard more than one or two words, if any. These dear souls can talk loud enough at home, or while engaged about their work; and they ought to be so grateful to God for the great plan of salvation, and that the gift of eternal life is brought within their reach, that they will be joyful witnesses for the Master. Then none would think that they were ashamed to speak of Jesus,—ashamed to acknowledge the truth. It is not enough to live in the atmosphere of truth; the truth itself must be in our hearts, its principles being interwoven in our lives day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Then we shall have a knowledge of the truths of the Bible, and they will have an influence on all the faculties, freeing all from this backward spirit in meetings where they have the privilege of testifying for God. They will speak with a freedom from hesitancy, and their testimonies will be invigorating and refreshing. Such will be living channels of light, and their mental powers will expand as they grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. If Christ’s spirit is in them, it will not create disorder and confusion, but will rectify all these mistakes and disturbances. Then let all drink deep of the fountain of truth, that through you may flow forth the living, refreshing streams that come from the fountain of life and salvation. We listened with deep interest to remarks made by Eld. Canright at the close of the morning meeting, which were reported by Eld. Daniels. Eld. Daniels spoke Sunday afternoon from Rom. 2:11: “For there is no respect of persons with God.” We were invited to occupy the Congregationalist church Sunday evening. This kindness was appreciated by us all, as more could be accommodated there than in the Seventh-day Adventist church. Notwithstanding the stormy weather, the house was filled, extra seats having to be placed in the aisles; and all listened with interest to the words spoken. This closed our series of meetings at Otsego. We were wearied from the labors at the General Conference, and dreaded any additional labor; yet we bless God for this precious season with our brethren and sisters assembled at this meeting. Monday forenoon we visited Bro. and Sr. Russell; and Bro. and Sr. Brackett, Eld. Canright, Bro. Clemons, and Bro. J. Rumery, were present. After spending some time in profitable conversation, we bowed in prayer, and the sweet, subduing influence of the Spirit of God came into our hearts. We felt assuredly that Jesus was in our midst, and that to bless. We parted with our friends, not knowing as we should meet them all again in this life, but with a strong hope that we might again meet around the throne of God. We hope to see our Bro. Charles Russell firmly making his way to the light, rejoicing in every point of present truth, and doing work in the Master’s vineyard in bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. There is work for all to do. At Otsego we met Bro. Philip Strong, whose voice has been silent for years. We hope to see this our brother and his wife again engaged in the work, giving the trumpet a certain sound, that the people may make ready to stand in the day of the Lord. Moments are precious; we have no time to lose. We must individually do our work, and then we shall hear the “Well done” from the lips of the Master. The most of our time was spent with the family of Eld. Canright. We were made very welcome at their pleasant and comfortable home, which is conveniently furnished, yet with simplicity. It is indeed a home. All was done that could be done for our ease and comfort. We were continually grateful to God that we felt indeed at home, and that Bro. Canright had met with so great a change in his feelings, that he had been transformed by the sanctifying grace of Christ, and that peace, and hope, and faith in present truth were again cherished in his heart. My heart was filled with joy as I looked upon his wife and his children, and thought, These will follow Eld. Canright in the path of light, and peace, and faith. While he shall go forth from his family to his labors, responsibilities must rest heavily upon his companion, to educate and discipline and mold the characters of the dear ones in her charge. Mingling firmness with love and tenderness, under the sanctifying influence of the grace of God, she can be in the fullest sense a home missionary, gathering and reflecting divine light every day, cheering, encouraging, and seconding the efforts of her husband in his work of saving souls. They are a precious family, and angels of God look upon them with763 interest. Angels will minister to the mother in her efforts,—the home missionary doing her appointed work,—and to the children as they may bear their lesser responsibilities. The reward that will be given the self-sacrificing worker in the vineyard, will also be given the faithful home missionary who tarries “by the stuff.” I felt that peace rested in the plain but comfortable home of Bro. and Sr. Canright. I could but make melody to God in my heart every moment as I considered the work that had been wrought so wonderfully in this case. Eld. Canright saved to the cause! His precious family led into the ways of truth and righteousness! I said in my heart, as I looked upon them, Saved, saved from ruin! If there is joy in the presence of the angels in heaven, why should there not be joy in our hearts? I do rejoice, I do praise the Lord, that mine eyes have seen his salvation. E. G. WHITE.