JOHN CALVIN said, respecting the origin of the Sunday festival:—
"However, the ancients have not without sufficient reason substituted what we call the Lord's day in the room of the Sabbath. For since the resurrection of the Lord is the end and consummation of that true rest, which was adumbrated by the ancient Sabbath; the same day which puts an end to the shadows, admonishes Christians not to adhere to a shadowy ceremony. Yet I do not lay so much stress on the septenary number that I would oblige the church to an invariable adherence to it; nor will I condemn those churches, which have other solemn days for their assemblies, provided they keep at a distance from superstition."
It is worthy of notice that Calvin does not assign to Christ and his disciples the establishment of Sunday in the place of the Sabbath. He says this was done by the "ancients," or as another translates it, "the old fathers." Nor does he say "the day which John called the Lord's day," but "the day which we call the Lord's day." And what is worthy of particular notice he did not insist that the day which should be appropriated to worship should be one day in every seven; for he was not tied to "the septenary number." The day might come once in six days, or once in eight. And this proves conclusively that he did not regard Sunday as a divine institution in the proper sense of the word; for if he had, he would most assuredly have felt that the festival must be septenary, that is, weekly, and that he must urge "the church to an invariable adherence to it." But Calvin does not leave the matter here. He condemns as "false prophets" those who attempt to enforce the Sunday festival by means of the fourth commandment; and who to this, say that the ceremonial part, which requires the observance of the definite seventh day, is abolished, while the moral part, which simply commands the observance of one day in seven, still remains in force. Here are his words:—
"Thus vanish all the dreams of false prophets, who in past ages have infected the people with a Jewish notion, affirming that nothing but the ceremonial part of the commandment, which according to them is the appointment of the seventh day, has been abrogated, but that the moral part of it, that is the observance of one day in seven, still remains. But this is only changing the day in contempt of the Jews, while they retain the same opinion of the holiness of a day."
Yet these very "dreams of false prophets," to use the words of Calvin, constitute the foundation of the modern doctrine of the change of the Sabbath. For whatever may be said of first-day sacredness in the New Testament, the fourth commandment can only be made to recognize that day by means of this very doctrine of one day in seven which Calvin so sharply denounces. Now I state another important fact. Calvin's commentaries on the New Testament cover all the books from which quotations are made in behalf of Sunday except the book of Revelation. What does Calvin say concerning the change of the Sabbath in the record of Christ's resurrection? Not one word. He does not even hint at any sacredness in the day, nor any commemoration of the day. Does he say that the meeting "after eight days" was upon Sunday? He does not say what day it was. What does he say of Sunday in treating of the day of Pentecost? Nothing. He does not so much as say that this festival was on the first day of the week. What does he say of the breaking of bread at Troas? He thinks it took place upon the ancient Sabbath! He says:—
"Either he doth mean the first day of the week, which was next after the Sabbath, or else some certain Sabbath. Which latter thing would seem to me more probable; for this cause, because that day was more fit for an assemble, according to custom."
Calvin did not believe that Christ changed the Sabbath to Sunday to commemorate his resurrection; for he says that the resurrection abolished the Sabbath, (Institutes, book ii, chap. viii, sect. 34) and yet he believes that the Sabbath was the sacred day of the Christians to the entire exclusion of Sunday as late as the year 60. Nor could he believe that the apostles set apart Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Christ, for he thinks that they did not make choice of that day till after the year 60, and even then they did it merely because constrained so to do by the superstition of the Jews!
Dr. Hessey illustrates Calvin's ideas of Sunday observance by the following incident:—
"Knox was the intimate friend of Calvin—visited Calvin, and, it is said, on one occasion found him enjoying the recreation of bowls on Sunday."
Without doubt Calvin was acting in exact harmony with his ideas of the nature of the Sunday festival. But the famous case of Michael Servetus furnishes us a still more pointed illustration of his views of the sacredness of that day. Servetus was arrested in Geneva on the personal application of John Calvin to the magistrates of that city. Such is the statement of Theodore Beza, the lifelong friend of Calvin. Beza's translator adds to this fact the following remarkable statement:—
"Promptness induced him to have this heresiarch arrested on a Sunday."
The same fact is stated by Robinson:—
"While he waited for a boat to cross the lake in his way to Zurich, by some means Calvin got intelligence of his arrival; and although it was on a Sunday, yet he prevailed upon the chief syndic to arrest and imprison him. On that day by the laws of Geneva no person could be arrested except for a capital crime; but this difficulty was easily removed, for John Calvin pretended that Servetus was a heretic, and that heresy was a capital crime."
"The doctor was arrested and imprisoned on Sunday the thirteenth of August [A. D. 1553]. That very day he was brought into court."—Eccl. Researches, chap. x, p. 338.
Calvin's own words respecting the arrest are these:—
"I will not deny but that he was made prisoner upon my application."
The warmest friends of first-day sacredness will not deny that the least sinful part of this transaction was that it occurred on Sunday. Nevertheless the fact that Calvin caused the arrest of Servetus on that day shows that he had no conviction that the day possessed any inherent sacredness.
John Barclay, a learned man of Scotch descent, and a moderate Roman Catholic, who was born soon after the death of Calvin, and whose early life was spent in eastern France, not very remote from Geneva, published the statement that Calvin and his friends at Geneva
"Debated whether the reformed, for the purpose of estranging themselves more completely from the Romish church, should not adopt Thursday as the Christian Sabbath."
Another reason assigned by Calvin for this proposed change was,
"That it would be a proper instance of Christian liberty."
This statement has been credited by many learned protestants, some of whom must be acknowledged as men of candor and judgment. But Dr. Twisse discredits Barclay because he did not name the individuals with whom Calvin consulted, and produce them as witnesses; and because that King James I. of England at one time suspected Barclay of treachery toward him.
But no such crime was ever proved, nor does it appear that the church continued always to hold him in that light. His veracity has never been impeached. The statement of Barclay may possibly be incorrect, but it is not inconsistent with Calvin's doctrine that the church is not tied to a festival that should come once in seven days, even as Tyndale said that the Sabbath into Monday or could "make every tenth day holy day, only if we see cause why," and is in perfect harmony with Calvin's idea of Sunday sacredness as shown in his acts already noticed. Like the other reformers, Calvin is not always consistent with himself in his statements. Nevertheless we have his judgment concerning the several texts which are used to prove the change of the Sabbath, and also respecting the theory that the commandment may be used to enforce, not the seventh day, but one day in seven, and it is fatal to the modern first-day doctrine.—History of the Sabbath, by J. N. Andrews.
When the Bible was Written.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
From the Council of Nice we go back ten years, to A. D. 315, which brings us to the world-renowned Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, an intimate friend of the Emperor Constantine. Eusebius was a man of extraordinary learning, diligence, and judgment, and singularly studious in the Scriptures. His invaluable Ecclesiastical History, written at that date, is a volume of over four hundred pages, containing a particular account of Jesus Christ, his twelve apostles, the early rise and wonderful progress of Christianity in the world. He gives a minute account of each book of the New Testament, calling each by its name, telling who wrote it, how sacred it was held by the whole church, etc. Chapter twenty-five of Book III. he devotes particularly to a catalogue of these books. His list is exactly the same as that which we now have. Here, then, is another nail in a sure place.
We will now push our inquiry about fifty years farther back, bringing us to A. D. 260, or to the middle of the third century, to the testimony of Victorinus, bishop of Pettau in Germany. 'Victorinus wrote commentaries on different books of the Old Testament, an exposition of some passages of St. Matthew's gospel, a commentary on the Apocalypse, and various controversial treatises against the heretics of the day; in which we have valuable and most explicit testimonies to almost every book of the New Testament.' Horne's Introduction, vol. I, p. 80. No doubt, then, about the old Bible thus far.
Going back to a still more remote period, we come to the great and learned Origen. Of all the fathers who flourished in the third century, he is unquestionably the most learned and renowned. He was born A. D. 184, and died about A. D. 253. Thus it will be seen that he lived within a hundred years of the death of St. John, and was therefore so near the time of the publication of the books of the New Testament that he could hardly avoid obtaining the most accurate knowledge of their origin and authors. So great was the esteem in which this man was held, even by the heathen, that their philosophers dedicated their writings to him. He traveled all over the Eastern world, collecting different manuscripts and versions of the Bible. He compiled a Bible called the Hexapla. It contained six columns to a page, one in Hebrew, one in Hebrew with Greek characters, and the other four the versions of the Bible by Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotian.
'Besides these, which in themselves form a decisive testimony to the authenticity of the Scriptures, he wrote a threefold exposition of all the books of the Scripture; viz., scholia, or short notes; tomes, or extensive commentaries, in which he employed all his learning, critical, sacred, and profane; and a variety of homilies and tracts for the people. Although a small portion only of his works has come down to us, yet in them he uniformly bears testimony to the authenticity of the New Testament, as we now have it; and he is the first writer who has given us a perfect catalogue of those books which Christians unanimously, or at least the greater part of them, have considered as the genuine and divinely inspired writings of the apostles.' Horne's Introduction, p. 81. What more abundant testimony to the existence of the Scriptures at that time could any Christian ask?
From this we proceed to the second century. Here we find Tertullian, of the city of Carthage. He lived within fifty years of the last of the apostles, and was a vigorous writer in defense of Christianity. His work abounds in quotations and long extracts from the books of the New Testament. It is said that 'his quotations occupy nearly thirty folio pages.' Lardner says, 'There are more and larger quotations of the small volume of the New Testament in this one Christian author, than of all the works of Cicero in the writers of all characters for several ages.' Irenæus and Clement both lived in this century. They often quote from the apostolic writings; but our limits forbid giving quotations from these and others of this century.
Tertullian says, in his Apology to the Roman Presidents, 'Look into the words of God, our Scriptures, which we ourselves do not conceal, and many accidents bring into the way of those who are not of our religion.' Does not this appeal to the heathen rulers to read 'the words of God,' show that these writings were then in circulation? In the time of Tertullian it is believed that the original manuscripts were still in existence. He says: 'Well, if you be willing to exercise your curiosity profitably in the business of your salvation, visit the apostolic churches, in which the very chairs of the apostles still preside, in which their truly authentic letters are recited, sounding forth the voice and representing the countenance of each one of them. Is Achaia near you? you have Corinth If you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have Thessalonica. If you can visit Asia, you have Ephesus; and if you are near Italy, you have Rome, from whence also you may be easily satisfied.'—De Præscriptione, cxxxvi, p. 245.
'If Tertullian did not mean that the original manuscript, but only authentic copies of the epistles to the Corinthians, Philippians, etc., were to be seen by application, why send inquirers thither? Could an authentic copy of the epistle to the Philippians be seen nowhere but at Philippi? or of that to the Corinthians nowhere but at Corinth?'—Alexander on the Canon, p. 142.
One step farther back and we are in the generation immediately succeeding the apostles. Here we find Justin Martyr, born ten years before John was banished. 'After becoming a Christian, he occupied a high stand in learned writing and holy living. His remaining works contain numerous quotations from, as well as allusions to, the four gospels, which he uniformly represents as containing 'the genuine and authentic accounts of Jesus Christ and his doctrine.' The same is true in relation to the Acts of the Apostles, and the greater part of the epistles. The book of Revelation is expressly said by Justin to have been written by 'John, one of the apostles of Christ.' Having lived before the death of that apostle, he had the best opportunity of knowing.'—M'Ilwaine's Evidences, p. 72.
'Further, in his (Justin Martyr's) first apology he tells us that the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets were read and expounded in the Christian assemblies for public worship; whence it is evident that the gospels were at that time well known in the world, and not designedly concealed from any one.'—Horne's Introduction, p. 85.
'We finish the second century with Papias, bishop of Hieropolis in Asia, whom Irenæus speaks of as a hearer of John, and a disciple of Polycarp, a pupil of John the apostle. How he obtained his information will appear from the only fragment of his writings remaining. It is found in Eusebius. 'If at any time I met with one who had conversed with the elders, I inquired after the sayings of the elders; what Andrew or what Peter said; or what Philip, Thomas, or James had said; what John or Matthew, or what any other of the disciples of the Lord were wont to say.' Thus we have a witness who lived near enough to the beginning to inquire of those who had conversed with the apostles, if not to listen to St. John himself. Too little remains of his writings to furnish many testimonies, especially as he had it not in view to confirm the authenticity of any part of the scripture; but still he gives a very valuable testimony to the gospels of Matthew and Mark, and the first epistles of Peter and John. He alludes to the Acts and the book of Revelation.
'Thus we have ascended to the apostolic age. But we may reach still higher. We have in our possession the well-authenticated writings of four individuals and fathers in the primitive church, who, because they were contemporary with the apostles, are called apostolical fathers. Two of them, Clement and Hermas, are mentioned by name in the New Testament; the third, Polycarp, was an immediate disciple of St. John; the fourth, Ignatius, enjoyed the privilege of frequent intercourse with the apostles. There is scarcely a book of the New Testament, which one or another of these writers has not either quoted or alluded to. Though what is extant of their works is very little, it contains more than two hundred and twenty quotations, or allusions to the writings of our sacred volume, in which they are uniformly treated with the reverence belonging to inspired books, and entitled, 'The Sacred Scriptures,' 'The Oracles of the Lord.''
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Sabbath Hymn.
By William Henry Black
Written about 1850 for the Mill Yard Sabbath-School, by the late Rev. W. H. Black, F. S. A.
WHAT thanks do we owe the Source of all good,
For gifts to our bodies, of raiment and food;
For safety by night, for the sun's cheering ray,
For all the week's mercies, and this Sabbath day!
No heart can conceive, and no tongue can declare,
The thankfulness due for our God's tender care;
His providence freely bestows what is best,
And waits to be gracious on this day of rest.
Then let us our privilege wisely enjoy;
In acts of religion each moment employ;
With praise and thanksgiving past mercies review,
And pray that our Father his gifts may renew.
Thus week after week shall fresh happiness bring,
And inspire with fresh music the songs that we sing;
While we hallow the day that Jehovah hath given,
Till it fit us at last for the Sabbath of heaven.
-- Sabbath Memorial.
The Rewards of Self-Denial
By Doctor Guthrie
It is they who glorify, who shall enjoy, Him; they who deny themselves, who shall not be denied; they who labor on earth, who shall rest in heaven; they who bear the cross, who shall wear the crown; they who seek to bless others, who shall be blessed.—Doctor Guthrie.
The Signs of the Times.
By James White
VOLUME five of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES will commence with the year 1879. Plans have been laid to make the coming volume better in every respect than past volumes have been. Without casting the least shade of reflection upon Sisters Hall and Frisbie, who have faithfully and ably acted the part of local editors in the past we would here state that the General Conference has sent Elder J. H. Waggoner to California, whose first duty is the local editorship of the SIGNS. His experience as a writer and editor will make him of great service to the paper. While the labor of no one is called from our pioneer paper, new and valuable help is secured to make it in every respect just what the cause demands.
The Tract and Missionary Societies are ready to put it in the field to the ends of the earth, wherever the English language is read; and the publishers offer the SIGNS to these societies at lower prices than ever before. In addition to offers already made, we are prepared to say that this sheet will be sent to foreign lands, everywhere, and everywhere post paid, for $2.00 a year. We hope that, while the General Conference opens a mission to Great Britain, those of our brethren in this country who were born in the Queen's Dominions will remember their friends they left behind in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and who are elsewhere in her Majesty's Dominions. We learn by letter from Elder Loughborough that he and his wife were to sail for England December 16, at 2 P. M. May that Hand guide and uphold our beloved Brother Loughborough, which has been with him the past ten years in his successful labors on the Pacific slope.
The time will come when a paper and a press will be established in England; but not until our pioneer sheet shall have thousands of patrons across the great deep. Those who have had experience in publishing know that it requires no small amount of labor and means to conduct and publish a paper. We have papers enough for the present. Before another Publishing House shall be located, either in Europe or America, those at Battle Creek, Mich., Oakland, Cal., and Bale, Switzerland, should be better patronized and sustained, and raised above all embarrassment.
The Tract and Missionary Societies, and those still more personally and especially interested for their friends in other lands, need just such a paper, as by the grace of God, the SIGNS should be, can be, and shall be; and the Oakland Publishing House needs the support. Be it known to the patrons of the SIGNS, that your board, spread with good things to constitute your weekly feast, is not gotten up as the housewife gets up dinner on washing day, hastily and without forethought. No, indeed. The yearly round of forty-eight of these feasts must be planned before hand.
And first, the table must be spread with a proper variety. There must be sermons, editorials, experiences, reports of progress, expositions and reports of the signs of the times in the political, scientific, moral and religious world, items of religious and secular news, reading adapted to the home circle, and sound instruction touching, physical, mental, moral and spiritual culture.
The volume for 1879 should cover the ground, as far as possible, of the reasons of our faith and hope. Tracts are good; but the weekly visits of a paper containing a variety is not only better, but much cheaper. In order that the foregoing plans be carried out we make the following suggestions:—
That there be order in regard to the several subjects to be presented. And in order to secure this, it seems necessary that, as a general thing, one writer should become responsible for a given subject, and that all others of the leading writers leave this field to him. If this be understood beforehand in season, the several writers can give the necessary attention to their field of thought, and better arrange the matter to be presented by them during the year. While it may not be our duty to direct in this matter, it may be our privilege to suggest the following, subject to changes, which may be matters of correspondence with the writer.
And, we suggest that the field of prophecy, especially that of Daniel and John, be explored by Elder Uriah Smith.
Elder D. M. Canright present the Immortality question, including its history.
Elder James White, the Second Advent, Kingdom, and Signs of the Times.
Elder G. I. Butler, The Perpetuity, Design, and Practical Importance of Spiritual Gifts.
Elder J. N. Andrews, The Sanctuary of the Bible and the Messages of Revelation 14.
Elders Haskell, White and Loughborough, The Tract and Missionary Work. All general articles upon this important subject, which do not demand immediate publication, should, after being carefully copied, be forwarded to box P, Denison, Texas, at present, before they are put in print.
Mrs. E. G. White, The Life of the Apostles; also Bible Sanctification.
J. H. Kellogg, M. D., The Harmony of Science and the Bible, and the Resurrection of the Just from a Bible and scientific stand-point—the Bible wrested from the hands of infidels.
Elders White, Smith, and Andrews, The Sabbath, and the Nature and Perpetuity of the Moral Code. To save confusion, correspondence in relation to this matter is necessary immediately. Other persons and subjects can be announced when necessary.
Mrs. L. M. Hall will conduct the department, The Home Circle.
But one very important feature of our pioneer paper will be the reports of progress from Switzerland, France, England, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, and Egypt. The correspondence of Elders Andrews, Loughborough, Matteson, Ertzenberger, Dr. Ribton, and others, will be read with the most earnest interest.
And lastly, but not the least, we mention brief reports from all our live ministers, and officers of the T. and M. work throughout the world. These should be directly to the point, and necessarily brief. If they are lengthy because of rambling to points of no real interest, the editor will either reduce them, or throw them to the moles and bats. Save him the trouble, by spending ten minutes in arranging in your mind what you wish to say on paper before you take up your pen.
We hope to give an article on the signs of the times in the first number of volume five, and hope that other subjects and other pens will be also represented in that number. And we need not here call attention to the importance of all beginning their subscription with the first number of the volume, or as soon thereafter as possible. Clubs should be made up at once, and those who wish to furnish this volume should forward names and addresses as soon as possible. For your friends to commence in February, March, or April, would be like giving them a book with a twelfth, twenty-fourth, or thirty-sixth of the first part of it torn off.
Not less than ten thousand extra copies of the first number will be printed. Send in your orders, with the cash if possible. Let none delay for want of ready cash, if that article can follow the very next week, when the name and address will be entered upon our lists permanently.
J. W.
Prospect of the Religious World.
THE custom has so long prevailed of giving only favorable accounts of the spread of Christianity in the world, and of the evidences, which many affect to see, of the approach of the millennium, that it has been considered quite out of order to invite those who hold such ideas to examine into the real facts on the subject. Some cheering news has of late come to us from a few places in heathen lands, of converts being baptized into the faith of Christ; a few out of the hundreds of millions of benighted pagans coming to the light of life. But this prospect of good, which we would not undervalue because it is small, is set against a dark background of sad truths concerning our own land and other nations popularly styled “Christian.”
In England the converts to the Romish church from the Episcopal or English church form a continuous stream, not of the lower or ignorant classes, who, we might expect, would be captivated by the gaudy forms of the Romish ritual, but of the educated and titled classes; of the leaders of public opinion in both ecclesiastical and civil life. The fifth published list of recent converts, which we have examined, contains over three hundred names, most of them of eminent people; some of them wielding a powerful influence. The highest dignitaries of the established church either feel little concern over the matter, or consider themselves incapable of staying the tide; for scarcely anything whatever is done to arrest the progress of the work of perversion.
Some of these converts to Rome, who have held high places in the English church, declare that they held for years in that church on private judgment, that which they hold on a surer basis—that of authority—in the Romish church. They claim that consistency requires them to go over to Rome; which may be quite true from the ritualistic stand-point, which is now the popular side in the English church. But the outlook is not pleasing, to behold the church of one of the largest nations of the earth, and considered one of the most Christian nations of the earth, making such rapid strides towards the darkness of the darkest centuries of the perversion of Christianity.
Many have rejoiced over the prospect on the continent of Europe, because Italy has been united under a secular king to the entire overthrow of the civil power of the papacy; and Prussia, under the policy of Bismarck, has checked the ultramontane spirit of the Catholic church. We can see very little over which to rejoice in either event. The opposition which the papacy has received in Prussia is akin to that which it received from Voltaire and his associates. There is nothing seen of the spirit of Wickliffe in the overthrow of the civil power of the Romish church; no undermining of the pillars of error by the power of sacred truth. It has been a strife of error against error for the mastery; one form of despotism trying to demolish another form, with the sole object of serving its own purposes. And the only forcible opposition which despotism itself receives is from communism,—the most dangerous element in the State. This is a conflict between tyranny and anarchy; and of the two, anarchy is more to be feared and dreaded. For even oppressive order and rule of law is better than the disorder and misrule of lawlessness.
In the midst of this confusion the stoutest hearts tremble for the future. Superstition is not being corrected and reformed; there is no general inquiry for the light of truth. It would not be surprising if, in the midst of the trouble which is impending there would be reaction in favor of the rule of the pope; if the superstitious masses should attribute their disasters to their unfaithfulness to “the church,” and trust to the strength of this central power to best guide and control the conflicting elements. Looking in every direction we find that the interests of pure Christianity are in the hands of a very few as compared, not to the whole population, but to the number of those who make Christianity the instrument to aid them in their ambition for worldly gain and honors.
And what are the prospects in our own more favored land? Turning from the theatre of civil strife—from the politicians, speculators, and communists,—we inquire for the ground of hope in the prospect presented by the religious part of this nation; where there is certainly as much to be expected as in any quarter of the globe.
We have a few statistics furnished to our hand, of a suggestive nature. The Cincinnati Gazette is one of the most reliable papers in the country. Although it is a “secular” and political paper, its conductor is a member of the Presbyterian church, and takes a lively interest in everything pertaining to the moral and religious affairs of the country. It recently presented some figures which have been largely commented upon by the religious press. But we have not seen one religious paper which appears to be awake to the lesson which these figures teach.
The Gazette sent out its reporters to canvass the churches in that city, and they gave the entire attendance at all the Protestant churches on a Sunday morning. It amounted to 12,487. This in a population of nearly 300,000. But the smallness of the number compared to the whole population is not the most suggestive of the facts connected with these figures. The reporters visited the theatres open on Sunday evening and found the attendance to be 9,820; a few minor ones were not counted, which would swell the figures to over 10,000.
Forty years ago it was often cited as evidence that New Orleans was the wickedest city in the United States, that the theatres were open on Sunday. Now in the city of Cincinnati the attendance at the theatres on Sunday evening is found by actual count to be almost equal to that at all the Protestant churches including Swedenborgians, Unitarians, and Universalists, on Sunday morning.
And yet this is not all. A Cincinnati correspondent of the Christian at Work, commenting on these figures, says:—
“Seventeen of the English-speaking Methodist churches in this city, the united attendance upon which on a recent Sabbath was 2,113, claim a membership of 4,497. If this proportion is true of other denominations, we cannot doubt that at least two-thirds of the reputed church members failed to put in an appearance on that day at their respective places of worship.”
The italics are his; and full well is the statement worthy of especial notice. His conclusion seems to be safely drawn, for we may not suppose that all who did attend were church members.
A similar estimate recently made shows that in Chicago there are over 12,000 church members who regularly absent themselves from public worship.
It was also ascertained that, in Cincinnati, the houses of worship were not nearly filled, many of the congregations being very small. Some attempt was made to apologize on account of the unfavorable state of the weather. But this was met with the reply that the weather did not prevent a large attendance at the beer gardens, and at the theatres opened; and the attendance at Catholic worship was large, every house being crowded. A similar reason was given some time since for the failure of a missionary meeting in Cleveland for want of attendance. And there also it was replied that hundreds were turned away from the doors of the theatres, on the same evening, for want of room.
A correspondent of the Christian Union also speaks on this point. He says that safely estimating the population of Cincinnati at 250,000, any computation which can be made will leave 100,000 beyond any direct Christian influence. “In some of our very largest and finest churches,” he writes, “the average evening audience is from 75 to 100 persons; while at the same time from 3,000 to 5,000 persons may frequently be found at any of our hill-top resorts, reveling in the enjoyment of music, beer, and tobacco smoke. Of these hill-top resorts we have four, and 15,000 people is a moderate estimate of the number who are sometimes gathered at these four places on Sunday evenings, not to mention the hundreds of concert halls, theatrical performances, and beer saloons in all parts of the city, and the thousands who frequent and support them.”
We have no idea that Cincinnati is worse than the average of American cities. To the contrary, we think few could present a better showing, while some would prove much worse.
It is a common custom with many to denounce as fault finders all who call in question the boasts of the progress of the age. But it is not wise to shut our eyes to the facts, especially when the facts are so ominous of coming evil as these are. The following conclusion we think is beyond the possibility of denial,—that the Protestant churches are not only losing their influence upon the world, but upon their own membership also. It is sad to contemplate that the light is becoming darkness with those who have stood as the conservators of public morals; the salt is losing its savor. The warning of Rom. 11: 20-22 falls unheeded on the ears of converts from the Gentile world.
We have ideas of the cause of this, which we cannot now state. But the facts stare us in the face, and they are truly alarming. We fear that very few who ought to rise up and sound an alarm, and call upon all to inquire into the causes of this state of things and to put them away, will be faithful to their calling as watchmen. But the Lord will never suffer the people or the nation to go down unwarned. If they who ought, by reason of their position, to lead out in a radical reform, fail in their duty, God will raise up those who will discharge that duty, and receive the crown which follows it. Rev. 3:11.
Read, Read, Read !
By James White
THE long evenings have come and we recommend that every family of our people organize a home reading school. Let the exercises be held one or two hours of each evening, excepting only those when meetings or other duties occupy the time.
We invite Prof. Brownsberger, of Battle Creek College, to give rules through the Signs, to assist the reader, or suggest some book or books which contain those rules to be observed in order to become a good reader.
And we further suggest and recommend that the reading for January, 1879, be the three volumes of The Spirit of Prophecy, and that the reading commence on the evening of New Year's or as soon after as possible. These volumes are rich in thought and are highly spiritual and practical. We urge that in every family of Seventh-day Adventists in the land, reading exercises be instituted. Let the entire family be assembled at the fireside and let different ones of the family have the benefits of the practice of good reading. And if the circumstances will admit, let neighbors and friends be invited to join. We know of no exercise better for mental and spiritual culture than reading, and no books better than the volumes named. These exercises should continue till April. The reading for February and March we will suggest in due time.
JAMES WHITE.
Testimony to the Church.
By James White
NUMBER twenty-eight of the Testimonies to the Church will be through the press before this number of the SIGNS shall reach its patrons. This work of about 200 pages will contain matter of the greatest importance to those who profess to keep the commandments of God, and who are waiting for the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven.
Ministers and people are addressed in the pages of this Testimony in the most pointed and stirring manner ; dangers are pointed out, the erring are reproved, and all are affectionately exhorted to draw nearer to God, and walk with him, and serve him in Spirit and in truth.
Price, post paid, 25 cents. As no deductions are made by the quantity, and as all our people should have the book as soon as possible, orders, accompanied by the cash, should be sent in immediately. Address Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Michigan.