Earlier text: TEACHING OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS CONCERNING THE NATURE OF MAN“AS THE TWIG IS BENT, THE TREE INCLINES.”
By Mrs. H. W. Beecher
Parents often blight or destroy the young lives committed to their care, either by injudicious indulgence or a selfish reluctance to accept the trouble, the restraints, and the cares which inevitably come with helpless infancy. Often, through excessive fondness, they yield implicitly to the unreasonable exactions of beings too young to understand what they need. If, in such cases, wiser friends remonstrate with the parents, in the vain attempt to show them the folly of their indulgence, they are thought unkind or hard-hearted. “Such a darling! How can its mother deny it anything?” But by such an extravagant indulgence you are injuring the child you profess to love so tenderly. You are laying the foundation for a most selfish and disagreeable character, which, sooner than you imagine, will outgrow your control and become your tyrant, causing years of trouble and unhappiness. “Why, this is but a baby! and I think our little ones should have all the liberty and enjoyment possible. It will be time enough to tighten the reins and exercise authority when the child is old enough to discern good and evil.” Ah! that time comes much earlier than parents are willing to believe. It requires but a few weeks for a baby, tiny and undeveloped as it appears to the doting parents, to understand that by persistent crying and violent demonstrations of anger, it will receive all the care and immediate attention it was demanding by these natural signs. Having conquered, the infant becomes sweet and quiet, and soon falls asleep. How long will it be before that little babe will learn that passionate crying will compel the mother to rock it to sleep regularly? That will soon become too monotonous, perhaps, and the incipient tyrant decides that to be walked with is preferable to rocking. A good cry, with kicking and struggling plentifully interspersed, will soon bring the mother to her feet, or the nurse will be called upon to take up the line of march. It will require but two or three such victories before walking will be the only way to coax the child to sleep or into a good-humored condition. If sleep comes at last to relieve the wearied nurse, how softly she creeps to the crib, how stealthily she manages to put the child from her arms on to the well-warmed pillow! That “twig” is rapidly bending in the wrong direction. As the babe grows out of the nurse’s arms, its will, which has never been wisely controlled, is manifested in almost every act; but its little dainty, imperious ways are pronounced “So charming! too ‘cunning’ for anything!” And doubtless they are so, if one looks only to the present, with no foreshadowing of whereunto these “cunning” ways may lead in after-life. It may be laughable, just for once, to see this small specimen of humanity stamp with its small foot, or strike with its pretty, dimpled hand, when denied some article of food, or deprived of something unsafe for it to handle. In a few months the little child enters another stage of child life. That which at twelve months or two years was “so cute!” “so smart!” that the mother had not the heart to check it, was but the beginning of insubordination to parental control, or to trespasses and infringements on the comfort of others, and will fast become intolerable, even in the partial eyes of the parents. Now let them attempt to tighten the reins or exercise proper authority. Will it prove an easy task? Will they succeed in straightening the “twig” which their own folly or neglect has permitted to “bend” so far beyond their reach? Where lies the blame? The mother, who suffered herself to be conquered by an infant’s puny resistance, must answer. The parents, who, later, saw without rebuke or prevention, the small child abuse or tear choice books, destroy valuable articles of furniture, or strike the nurse, or torture menials, without one resolute effort to subdue or teach it better, must appeal to their own consciences to decide this question. They who winked at the child’s youthful misdeeds, proud of its “smartness,” will suffer the most for this wicked indulgence when they see what the little one, so loved and indulged, is fast becoming—ungovernable, insubordinate, impertinent, yielding to no authority that is not brought to bear on it through punishment or force. The “twig,” twisted and bent by over-indulgence or neglect, has become a branch or limb, distorted, unsymmetrical, a disfigurement, not a thing of beauty that should have been a joy forever. A child indulged in every caprice, whose wrong-doings are a source of merriment, and openly repeated as something wonderfully brilliant in the presence of the culprit, must be but little lower than the angels if it does not in a few years bring its parents to grief, and become the torment of the whole household and a nuisance to the neighborhood. We have only space to speak of the great wrong done children by over-fondness and unregulated indulgence; but quite as much harm, of which we have not now time to speak, springs from the heartless neglect of those parents, and particularly the mothers, who, for the pleasures of fashionable life, and their own selfish enjoyments, leave their children to the unsafe guidance and imperfect judgment of hirelings, while they look only to their own ease and pleasure. Such mothers ignore any responsibility, every duty, until at last they are roused to the knowledge that their neglected children are now utterly ungovernable and vicious, going in ways that have every promise of bringing their parents’ gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.—Mrs. H. W. Beecher, in Christian Union. The New York Tribune speaks thus, than which we can say nothing better or more pointed:— “ ‘Style,’ that most vulgar of words and things, has done as much to corrupt the women of America as liquor has. Not only is it the cause of financial downfall, but modesty, honesty, decency, are sacrificed to it. Fashion now publishes even the rules for ‘first communion dresses,’ and sets forth the pipings and coiffures in which an innocent girl may properly approach her God. There is nothing so holy that it is not made subservient to it. It is not the wealthy mother alone who vitiates her child’s mind by this worship of folly, but the mechanic’s wife, the poor seamstress whose aim is to ‘push her daughter on in society,’ to give her stylish dresses instead of a modest heart, a clean mind, and a God-fearing soul. The moral training which such mothers neglect is supplied by hot-pressed sensational juvenile literature, and the reports of foul scandals in the daily newspapers.”
EVENING THOUGHTS
By Eliza H. Morton
'Tis the hour of twilight, and the setting sun.
With its deep'ning shadows, speaks of labor done. Soft and mellow gleamings tinge the far-off sky,
Like a gate of glory opening on high. Crimson hues of sunlight, fading soon away,
Fleecy clouds of beauty, mark the closing day. Hill, and vale, and woodland glow with golden light,
Soon to lose their splendor in the coming night. Toils of day are over, weary limbs find rest,
Symbol of the refuge that awaits the blest. Angel hands are writing in the books above
Many an act of kindness, many a deed of love. Unseen forms are present at this holy hour,
And the soul is softened by a gentle power. Loving anthems ringing, sounding in the ear,
Echo and re-echo, floating far and near. Mind and heart are lifted to the “King of kings;”
Sounds of nature mingle, like the rush of wings. Soon dark shades will gather o’er the aching head;
Soon fair forms will molder with the ghastly dead; Soon heart-strings will quiver, weary spirits fail,
Eyes grow dim with weeping, wild, sad voices wail. In the great Hereafter, earthly things will seem
Like a shadow spectral, or a troubled dream. Twilight is the gleaming of a land afar,
Glory ever beaming like a radiant star. Morning cometh quickly, day of jubilee,
When the earth-bound prisoners will be ever free. Shout for joy, ye ransomed; Christ will ope the grave,
He alone has power fallen man to save. ELIZA H. MORTON.
Allen's Corner, Me. Once upon a time there lived an old gentleman in a large house. He had servants and everything he wanted; and yet he was not happy, and when things did not go as he wished, he was very cross. At last his servants left him. Quite out of temper, he went to a neighbor with the story of his distresses. “It seems to me,” said the neighbor, sagaciously, “’twould be well for you to oil yourself a little.” “Yes; and I will explain. Sometime ago, one of the doors in my house creaked. Nobody, therefore, liked to go in or out of it. One day I oiled its hinges, and it has been constantly used by everybody ever since.” “Then you think I am like a creaking door,” cried the old gentleman. “How do you want me to oil myself?” “That’s an easy matter,” said the neighbor. “Go home and engage a servant, and when he does right, praise him. If, on the contrary, he does something amiss, do not be cross; oil your voice and your words with the oil of love.” The old gentleman went home, and no harsh or ugly words were ever heard in the house afterward. Everybody should have a supply of this precious oil, for every family is liable to have a creaking hinge in the shape of a fretful disposition, a cross temper, a harsh tone, or a fault finding spirit.—Sel. SELF-DENIAL AN ORNAMENT.
By A SISTER
“I AM not satisfied with my spring hat, for there is no self-denial on it.” These words fell from the lips of a young lady, as she held up her new hat to my view. It certainly was plain, guiltless of plume, flower, or buckle; but the abundant rich trimmings made it still lacking in self denial. Now, my dear sisters, let us not have this cause for an unsatisfied conscience; but let us strive this spring to have, not only our hats, but all our apparel, so adorned with self-denial that we shall be able to have just one more mite to put into the precious cause of God at this time when so much means is needed. May the Lord help us to make a covenant with him by sacrifice, that we may be among the saints gathered unto him in the great day. A SISTER. In the “Compendium of the History of the Catholic Church,” by Noethen (revised edition), I find these words: “The form of the sacrament of penance, in which principally consists its virtue and efficacy, is contained in the words of absolution pronounced by the priest; the dispositions of the penitent, which are contrition, confession, and satisfaction, being the substance of the sacrament; and the reconciliation of the sinner with God is the effect.”—Pages 444, 445. According to the above, there is no efficacy in repentance, as Protestants pretend. I also learn from the same book that the United States was placed under the special protection of the “Mother of God” by a “solemn decree of the council held in 1846.”—Pages 548, 549. M. S. S. God give us men. A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready
hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue,
And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions, and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps. A USELESS life is a life-long death. TIME enough always proves little enough. WRITE injuries in dust, benefits in marble. SHUN bad gains; they are losses in disguise. SHUN bad gains; they are losses in disguise. He that will not be counseled cannot be helped. WHAT is serving God?—'Tis doing good to man. Let Not Thy Tongue Say What Thy Heart Denies
LET not thy tongue say what thy heart denies. A Mercy in Separation from Sin
It is a mercy to have that taken from us which leads us from God.—Fleming. The church that does most for the child will have most influence with the family.— Joseph Cook. It is easier to get salvation from Christ than presents from our friends, love they ever so dearly. Loving Neighbors as Ourselves
By M. Laurin
If men would but hate themselves as they do their neighbors, it would be one step toward loving their neighbors as they do themselves.—M. Laurin. Looking Down With Contempt
It is not the height to which men are advanced that makes them giddy; it is the looking down with contempt upon those beneath. No matter how pious men are, the moment they place policy before principle they become incapable of doing right, and are transformed into the most odious tools of despotism. The introduction of points, or stops, to mark the sense, is a gradual improvement, commenced by Jerome in the fourth century, and continued and improved by succeeding critics.—Horne's Introduction, p. 81. Ans. There does not seem to be any sufficient ground to question the genuineness of those readings, according to Adam Clarke, whom we consider as good authority as can be consulted in such matters. He does not raise any question on the passage referred to in Mark. On the quotation from John he introduces an explanatory note from Bishop Pearce, which we deem it worth while to transcribe here:— “It would have been strange if Jesus, when he was not a magistrate, and had not the witnesses before him to examine them, and when she [the woman taken in adultery] had not been tried and condemned by the law and legal judges, should have taken upon him to condemn her. This being the case, it appears why Jesus avoided giving an answer to the question of the scribes and Pharisees, and also how little reason there is to conclude from hence that Christ seems in this case not enough to have discouraged adultery, though he called it a sin. And yet this opinion took place so early among the Christians that the reading of this story was industriously avoided in the lessons recited out of the gospel in the public service of the churches; as if Jesus’ saying, I do not condemn thee, had given too much countenance to women guilty of that crime. In consequence of this, as it was never read in the churches, and is not now to be found in any of the Evangelistaria, and as it was probably marked in the MSS. as a portion not to be read there, this whole story from verse 1 to verse 11, inclusive came, in length of time, to be left out in some MSS., though in the greater part it is still remaining.”
Dr. Clarke adds respecting his own opinion that the evidence in its favor, after weighing it all, does not appear striking; though he says he would by no means have it expunged, as all the doubt and uncertainty concerning it may be accounted for on the ground above suggested by Bishop Pearce. Does the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25), ending with the midnight cry, properly belong in the past? or is it an announcement, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh,” to be proclaimed in connection with the immediate coming of the Bridegroom Christ? If in the past, have not the foolish virgins had ample time to buy, and return, and stand ready to go in, while some of the wise virgins have wasted all their oil, and their lamps are gone out?
A. M. B. Ans. We do not understand the parable to end with the midnight cry, as the above question supposes. There is, after this cry, the going in of some into the marriage, the shutting of the door, and the coming of the foolish virgins, seeking an entrance. The parable undoubtedly illustrates the experience of that people to whom the general term Adventist will apply, in connection with the agitation of the question of Christ’s second coming. The points we make to which the illustration applies are as follows:— 1. The virgins are introduced as understanding the fact that the bridegroom is about to come, and going forth to meet him. So Adventists, in the great movement of 1840 to 1843, arose to make preparation for the immediate coming of Christ. If this part of their experience did not fulfill the opening of the parable, it would seem impossible for anything to fulfill it. 2. The bridegroom tarried. This denotes the passing of the time at which the bridegroom was expected. There could be no tarrying without this. This was the experience of Adventists when the year 1843, at or before the close of which Christ was expected, passed away, and he did not appear. 3. They all slumbered and slept. So the faith of Adventists was greatly shaken, and the interest of many in the work waned. Spiritual slumber came over them. 4. At midnight the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh,” sounded forth. So midway between the passing of the specified time when Christ was expected, and the point when he was to come in the sense of the parable, a most powerful cry, in these very terms, broke forth simultaneously in different parts of the land, in the ranks of Adventists, and swept everything before it. What was this? If it was not that which answered to the cry in the parable, what was it? There was not a feature lacking to make it a fulfillment. And if this was not a fulfillment, what would constitute one? On this supposition a false fulfillment was suffered to take place before the true, and yet possessing every feature which the true will possess when it does come. Then who can decide between them? God does not suffer his work to be thus confused. And there were two classes developed by this movement, as distinct from each other as Judas and John, Ananias and Peter. One class lacked the evident gifts and graces of the other, and their appeals for help were answered by the admonition, Seek God for an experience for yourselves. 5. The bridegroom came. As applied to Christ, the coming which this part of the parable illustrates, is that brought to view in Dan. 7:13, 14. It is his coming to the marriage, not his coming to the earth. To this the parable itself confines us. But Dan. 7:13, 14, can be fulfilled only by Christ’s going into the most holy place of the sanctuary on high to finish his work as mediator, and then receive his kingdom. There is no other time, place, or occasion for this movement on the part of Christ. 6. They that were ready went in with him to the marriage. Here is where we think our friends are misled in the application of the parable. It is assumed that the going in to the marriage and the shutting of the door is an almost instantaneous event; whereas we think this occupies quite a long space of time, like the other features of the parable. How long a time? From the going in until the consummation of the marriage. The Bridegroom went in to the marriage when he was brought before the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom and dominion (Dan. 7:13); in other words, when he went into the most holy place of the sanctuary preparatory to the reception of his office as king. The marriage is consummated when he takes his kingdom. Then his work as priest is done, and probation ends. Up to this time all have the opportunity of going in with him to the marriage. The parable, regarding the scene as all past, from that standpoint simply says, “And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage.” As we view it, we are now in this portion of the parable. The guests are still going in, and will do so till probation ends. Our correspondent asks, “Have not the foolish virgins had ample time to buy and return?” This question anticipates; for it is not yet determined who are wise and who are foolish; that is, the final and absolute decision is not reached, nor can it be till probation ends. We see some, to be sure, who are now acting very foolishly, and who, unless they change their course, will certainly have their portion among the foolish virgins at last. But it is in their power now to change their course and their destiny; for no cases are yet decided. And, on the other hand, some whom we may all along have thought to be wise, will be found at last among the foolish. It is when probation ends that these startling revelations are to be made. It is then that the “King comes in to see the guests,” Matt. 22:11, and they who are found without the wedding garment are cast out speechless; then it is that the Master rises up and shuts to the door, Luke 13:25; then unfaithful professors are awakened to the fact that they have not secured that which their false hopes led them to expect, and they begin to knock, as they stand without, and say, “Lord, Lord, open unto us!” These are the foolish virgins who have neglected all the means of grace during the day of grace, rejecting truth and letting opportunities pass, who now come too late for admittance. This will be a sad and solemn time. Heart-rending scenes will then be witnessed. Let us not deceive ourselves by thinking we are not so far along in this parable as we are. The next thing before us is not a midnight cry to arouse us, but the coming in of the King to see the guests, and the shutting of the door against all those who are unworthy. Was Jephthah’s daughter sacrificed as a burnt-offering?
S. O. J. Ans. We think not. In the record of Jephthah’s vow, Judges 11:30, 31, the margin reads, “Or I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.” The idea of the vow seems to be that if that which came forth to meet him was an object which could properly be offered as a burnt-offering, he would offer it thus; if not, he would devote it to the Lord in such way as would be proper. His only daughter came forth to meet him returning in victory. He could not offer her as a burnt-offering, for human sacrifices were not lawful; but she was devoted to the Lord by being put under the vow of perpetual virginity, according to the custom in such cases. This idea is supported by verses 37–40. The great affliction involved in this in the case of Jephthah, was that the hope was cut off that the Messiah might appear in the line of his posterity. In what sense did Adam die in the day he ate the forbidden fruit? and how could Moses appear on the mount of transfiguration?
P. P. Ans. The infliction of the penalty commenced in the very day of the transgression. See this subject, and the resurrection of Moses, fully explained in “Man’s Nature and Destiny.” In the Bible are a great many words in italics, which we are told are supplied words. Can such words be omitted?
SUBSCRIBER. Ans. The words not expressed in the original are printed in italics in the English version. Sometimes they can be omitted with great help to the sense; in other cases they are necessary to carry out the sense of the original. A NEW and enthusiastic recruit to the ranks of Sabbath keepers, writing from Onondaga Co., N. Y., thus expresses his joy over the marvelous light of present truth:— “It is with inexpressible pleasure that I now open correspondence with you. The object of my present epistle is to tell you, so far as words are able to express it, of the wonderful change that has taken place in my heart. For the past eight years I have been a strong, unflinching defender of the orthodox belief in the immortality of the soul and keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, but I never fully believed in the eternal misery of the wicked in hell-fire and brimstone. Bro. Horace Bowen, who is no doubt known to you, labored with me incessantly, when opportunity offered, and always referred me to the Scriptures. Last November I began studying for the ministry, but when I came to the question in the M. E. Discipline, ‘How can you prove that the wicked will not be annihilated?’ I said to myself, ‘I cannot prove it.’ The seed that Bro. Bowen had sown was not wasted on stony or thorny ground, and the more I investigated the word, the more fully convinced was I of my error.” “The first of March I spent the evening with Bro. and Sr. Bowen, and the conviction sank still deeper into my heart. I agreed to come and stay over night with him on the evening of the 2d of April. According to promise I came, and spent the evening in reading Eld. Canright's essay on Platonic immortal-soul theories. For the first time I saw what a base and superstitious error I had inculcated and believed all my life. I closed my eyes upon it, and turned to the law and the testimony. Last evening, as we knelt around the family altar, the light of divine truth shone wonderfully about us.” “Only those who have passed through like changes know how marvelous is the light. I write to tell you these things because I cannot keep still. My friends are already scoffing at me, but I care not. I fear the wrath of an offended God more than that of mortal man.” ENGLISH DENOMINATIONS.
By John Norton Loughborough
As it becomes necessary for the master-builder to carefully examine his material, so a minister of the gospel of Christ who wishes to act his part in constructing the spiritual temple on the foundation, Christ, must have some knowledge of the sentiments, habits, and customs of those among whom he labors. With this object in view, I am seeking to learn the doctrines and practices of the different denominations in England. Firmly believing in the near coming of our blessed Lord and Saviour, and having a desire to know how the doctrine is regarded here, and to know also the sentiments connected with it, I have ascertained the following facts. Both in the established church and out of it, the doctrine of the near coming of Christ is much more generally entertained here than in America. There is but little prejudice against it, and the people are especially interested to hear and read concerning the subject. It is true that some of the sects look for the world's conversion and a temporal millennium before the return of Christ; but their numbers are less, proportionately, than in the United States. Knowing that the late Edward Irving's influence contributed quite largely to the introduction of the subject of the literal coming and reign of Christ into England, I had some little interest to acquaint myself with his followers. I accordingly, on March 16, went to a meeting of the Irvingites in Bedford Place, Southampton. I would here state that this Mr. Irving was he who translated into English the Spanish work treating on the subject of the coming of Christ, and wrote extensively upon the doctrine, creating a great stir in this kingdom from about the years 1830 to 1844. The book he obtained and translated was written by an anonymous author styling himself “Ben Ezra.” The meeting alluded to was their usual Sunday communion service, and lasted from 10 A. M. to 12:30 P. M. To give some little idea of the almost endless form and ceremony of the occasion, it would be safe to say that not five minutes passed during the whole two and a half hours without some change in the service, either125 in chanting, singing, praying, or offering incense, etc., of which the service principally consisted. Through the kindness of a friend, I was permitted to read a set of their standard tracts, twelve in number, in which are briefly set forth their history and principles. They call themselves the “Catholic Apostolic Church,” and claim that their church is a restored state of the church as it existed in and soon after Christ’s time. In stating their sentiments, I can do no better than to quote from their own writings. In their introductory tract they say:— “God has restored apostles to his church, to bring back to the ways of holiness, and to the realities of holy worship, all who will hear his voice through them, and to anoint them with the Holy Ghost, that so they may escape the judgments that are impending over apostate Christianity, and may stand before the Son of man. He inspires prophets also, who, speaking in his name, proclaim the speedy coming of the Lord.” In Tract No. 2 they state, “The ordinary means of regeneration, then, is the sacrament of baptism.” I suppose, however, that their baptism is sprinkling, as the baptismal font in their church was not much larger than a Roman Catholic font of holy water, too small to admit of immersion. That they recognize sprinkling as baptism is also apparent from what they state in Tract No. 4: “Christian men may call themselves members of the Greek, Roman, Anglican, or any other communion, but God regards them all as members of the one church and of the body of his Son.” Of the church, they say it is established on the fourfold ministry of Christ. We read in Tract No. 5: “The fourfold ministry was inherent in Christ, and manifest by him. So his church being an outgrowth of himself, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are in his church.” That Christ filled these four offices they prove by Heb. 3:1; Acts 7:37; Luke 4:18; John 10:11. In Tract No. 6, they state respecting the church: “The apostles are the nucleus of the church. They set over the church deacons, appoint elders (presbyters, or priests) in every city. Bishops, or angels, are set over the church by the apostles. Deacons are chosen by the people, but elders, or bishops, were called by word of prophecy. Elders, bishops, and deacons are ordained by the apostles.” In Tract No. 9 they say of the Mosaic priesthood: “The sprinkling of the blood, the daily meat and drink offerings and incense, the trimming and lighting of the lamps, and the continual service of the tabernacle, all showed forth spiritual and eternal worship and service, which the church should offer, in the Holy Ghost, day by day, before the Lord.” “But the church offers no sacrifice for the taking away of sin. She does on earth what Christ is doing in Heaven. There he presents himself to the Father as the Lamb that had been slain. Here in the holy eucharist she also brings before the Father the memorial of that body and blood once offered upon the cross, ‘once for all, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.’” As proof that it is right to have a literal altar on which to make an offering of the eucharist to God, as the priests offered the blood of beasts while the smoke of literal incense arose before the altar, they quote Heb. 13:10 and Malachi 1:11. In Tract No. 11 they say, “In the eucharist is found a summary of all the types which exhibit the atonement and sacrifice of Christ.” “The principal parts of the eucharistic service are transacted within the sanctuary, a part of the church answering to the holiest of all in the tabernacle.” “The twelve loaves of shew bread, the type of Christ, the bread of life, which remained on the table of proposition in the holy place for seven days, were consumed on the eighth day.” By the same analogy they claim that the eucharist, that remains from the consecration on one first-day is consumed on the next first-day. These people hold a service early in the morning and in the evening every day in the week, of which they say, in Tract No. 12, “The order of the morning and evening prayer, and exhortation by the evangelist, and in the evening by the pastor, corresponds to the whole action of slaying the lamb and placing it upon the altar.” In this service, “during the same, the angel (bishop) takes from the tabernacle the symbols of the body and blood of Christ, and proposes or places them on the altar, in sight of all; signifying that it is only as pleading the sacrifice of Christ that we can present to God any act of worship.” “In the evening the ministry is given by the angel and the elders, and consists of short meditations on the subject supplied by the angel in the morning; this act is antitypical to that of Aaron in lighting the lamps, and is symbolized in the church by the sevenfold lamp, burning before the altar, which is lighted by the deacon as soon as the introductory part of the service is over.” There were more than a score of robed persons engaged in the service which I witnessed. The robes were of various forms and colors. To those who seek a “splendid ritual,” this was, in some respects, an imposing sight. I quote from another tract of theirs concerning it:— “Its worship strikes the imagination of the educated beholder as the very worship celebrated by Tertullian or by Hippolytus. That venerable presbyter, those ardent young evangelists, those black-vested deacons, that ancient anthem, and still more ancient incense-burning; the homily, the hymn, the utterance, the eucharist, transport us in sacred fancy to an antiquity beyond the reach of Romish or other rites. And yet how fitting is it to all the wants of to-day. That unique confession to the sin of schism, that prayerful remembrance of the dead, that earnest recognition of a PRESENT CHRIST, that all-pervading devotion without doctrine,—does it not give shape and language to the aspirations of the soul alienated from all churches, yet quite unable to do without them? It may well be so; for this ritual is the product of many minds, trained in diverse schools, united in their belief of a divine mission, and searching, under the impression of a divine command, up and down Christendom for the scattered vessels of the sanctuary, to find and to rebuild. And the priesthood!—consisting of men of various sects and vocations, not all of them separated from those vocations—it may not exceed the priesthood of other churches in devotion to prescribed duty; but its functions certainly appear at once more comprehensive and more precise, every man having a special work, and the entire work including ministration to every want or circumstance of humanity; the daily service of the altar and the pulpit, the visitation of the sick, the relief of the distressed, and the absolution of the burdened.” Of their history I quote from Tract No. 5 of their series of twelve: “In 1830 a young man in the west of Scotland spoke with tongues. Power came upon two brothers and their sisters of another family living a few miles off. All of these persons were of noted godliness and sobriety of character.” “Rev. Edward Irving, minister of the Scotch Church, Regent Square, accepted the doctrine and work, and was shortly after ejected from his church.” They state that “utterances were made by these persons, calling attention to the symbols of the Old Testament, especially those of the tabernacle. These were explained in the light of prophetic words as shadowing forth the true spiritual worship to be observed by the church evermore.” It seems they decided that while these things signified Christ’s work, they also meant his ministers on earth; so they have taken the same position as the Mormons, although they have a different mode of carrying it out, namely, that both the Aaronic and the Melchisedec priesthood are now carried out in the ministry of the church on earth. It is due, perhaps, that I should say of this people, that, with all their forms and ceremonies, the greatest degree of reverence, dignity, and devotion, is manifest, and that they are still earnest advocates of the immediate personal coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It will be apparent, I think, to all our brethren, when this people, who had so much light on the doctrine of Christ’s coming, fell into formalism. If these were genuine movings of God’s Spirit among them, he designed to show them his sanctuary, that they might be prepared to understand Christ’s present position, and the true event to take place at the end of the twenty-three hundred days, and so stand, as the Seventh-day Adventists have, the shock of the passing of the time in 1844. But, alas! the leaders in the movement here were believers, to a great extent, in many forms and ceremonies, and mistook the voice that called attention to the great and closing work of Christ as our High Priest, for a call to establish new rites and ceremonies, and their ritualism now exceeds, in its many variations and changes, that of the churches either of England or of Rome. Some people are afraid to invest their means in the enterprises connected with the work of the Lord in the earth, as they seem to think there is a safer place of deposit. But they forget the experience of all the past and much of the present, and the probabilities of the future, that earthly bags are all exceedingly liable to be filled with holes, and some, perhaps, to contain the most which are supposed to be even water-tight. The Bank of Glasgow was supposed to be a very safe bag in which to preserve this world's treasures, so also were supposed to be Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, and the Savings Banks of Chicago; but through the holes in these three bags alone, some twenty-five millions of dollars have slipped forever from the possession of the poor people who had confidence in them. Says David Swing, in the Alliance of March 15, 1879: “Within the last twelve months, it is safe to say that the simplicity of the poor people that have lived among the Calvinists at Glasgow, and among the Catholics of Cincinnati, and among the enlightened Pagans of Chicago, has cost them at least twenty-five millions of dollars ($25,000,000). This a large sum to have been taken from fathers and mothers and children who needed every cent of it along with lawful interest.” We do not say that to any of these people the opening remark of this article would apply; but there are multitudes to whom it is applicable, and here is an instructive picture for them to contemplate. There is a way in which money can be invested so that there will be no defalcation, no embezzlement, no breaking of banks, no shrinkage of value, and no loss of interest; and that is to spend it in the support of those agencies through which divine light and truth are being disseminated in the earth, and people are being turned into ways of morality and religion. To most people, such an investment looks the least likely of any to pay, but it will be found at last to pay the best.