p. 262 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 33. (6/24/1875)

Earlier text: The Gilroy “Advocate” and Second Adventism

What God Foreknows May not Come to Pass.

By John Nevins Andrews

PERHAPS the reader may be surprised that such an assertion should be made by one who reverences that infinite Being, whom the Scriptures call God. While that feeling of surprise remains upon the mind, let me speak of a certain kind of folly which arises from mistaken ideas of the effect of God's foreknowledge. Such is the aversion which many persons feel toward the service of God, the denial of self, the bearing of the cross, and the daily dying to the world, which the Christian religion requires, that they seem willing to play into the hands of Satan in almost any way, in order to prevent the Spirit of God from operating upon their hearts. They will resort to excuses for continuing in sin, which their own judgment must cause them to regard as utterly futile and deceptive. How many persons excuse themselves by saying, "God knows whether I shall be saved or not. If he knows I shall be saved, then I am sure of Heaven. If he knows that I shall be lost, then I never can gain Heaven. What is the use for me to try? Do you not believe that it will be just as God foreknows it?"

It is vain to tell such persons that God foreknows that those who bear the cross, deny self, cleanse their hands, purify their hearts, walk with him in humility, and endure to the end, shall be saved, and that he offers each of us grace to enable us to do this very thing; and also that he foreknows that those who neglect this gracious offer, and attend not to this work, will be damned; and moreover, that he foreknows that it will be solely their own fault, because they might have been saved if they would have used the grace offered them. The infatuation still remains upon the mind of this class, and they waste their time in speculation upon foreknowledge, as if God in the day of Judgment was to determine the destiny of men by his foreknowledge of them, and not by what their conduct has actually been.

Now let us illustrate the folly of such reasoning as that whereby men quiet their own minds in the service of the devil, under the vain impression that they have shifted the responsibility of their disobedience from their own shoulders to the foreknowledge of God. Here is a case in which what God foresaw did not come to pass. And it does not furnish the smallest chance for an infidel to assail the foreknowledge of God, unless also he does violence to his own reason and sense of justice.

David had rescued the city of Keilah from the Philistines. 1 Sam. 23. When David was at Keilah, Saul thought it an excellent opportunity to take him, and prepared to do it. And thus we read:—

"Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake; Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up." Verses 10-12.

David had now the benefit of God's foreknowledge. He could now act as multitudes at the present day, and say, "God foreknows just how it will be, and all my efforts will not change the foreknowledge of God." Happily, David, who at this time truly feared God, did also possess a good share of practical common sense. He knew very well that the foreknowledge of God did not bind him hand and foot, and confine him in Keilah. So the record tells us what David did:—

"Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go." Verse 13.

Certainly that was the very thing that David ought to do. It was just what the Lord intended that he should do. And now what about Saul's coming to Keilah? The record adds:—

"And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth." Verse 13.

Had David remained in Keilah, as he no doubt would have gladly done, and as he certainly might have done, Saul would have come down against him to Keilah, and the men of Keilah would have delivered him up into the hands of Saul. The foreknowledge of God did not make a mere machine of David, nor does it of ourselves. It was in David's power to remain in Keilah or not, as he chose, and the coming of Saul depended on that very thing. So it is in our power to accept and use the grace of God so freely offered to us, and our salvation or damnation will turn upon this one thing, whether we have, or have not, done this.

J. N. A.

The Cause on the Pacific Coast.

By Joseph Clarke

THERE is an air of romance in the rapid growth of the empire west of the Rocky Mountains. Only a few years ago, the territory on the Pacific Shore was a vast wilderness; a home for the savage Indian; his ample hunting-ground, where wild beasts held undisputed possession; and roamed abroad in undisturbed freedom, hardly interrupted by the Indian hunter who then had plenty of game, and hardly suspected the greed of the white race which even then pressed upon his borders.

Then we old men were boys in school, studying the geographies of those days, when we looked upon the unnamed territory from Arkansaw to the Pacific as an unexplored country never to be wholly known to man. But lo, the change brought about in fifty years! the rapid increase of population by foreign immigration, and the natural growth of the country, has accomplished wonders. It seems a miracle of power, a romantic vision of some enthusiast, that this vast territory is not only taken up by an enterprising people, but opened to commerce by iron roads, upon which is transported by steam power the wealth of the country. Time and distance seem almost annihilated by the rapidity of transit; and by it distant realms are brought within a few days of pleasant travel; and what is more wonderful, news is carried on the wings of the swift lightning.

Meanwhile, fertile, inventive genius has brought to our hands wonderful labor-saving machinery, and now brute force or steam facilitates all the heavy work in the shop and on the farm, and the press furnishes us with the latest news from all the world almost as fresh as if it were all at our very doors.

But what is more wonderful than all this, within the last fifty years great revolutions in church and State have taken place. Europe has been remapped many times; and many a nation has been reduced to dependence and servitude, while others have risen to power. Romanism has lost its supremacy, and retires like a hunted leopard to some sequestered den, where she may hunt as before for the souls of men. And as the time for her fall approaches, the prophecies speak out in trumpet tones in the three messages of Rev. 14, throwing a bright light upon all the prophetic scriptures; and calling who fear God to a high and holy, though humble, work.

It seems wonderful to look back to those early days when little was known of the prophecies, and Adventism was only a common word; when our good fathers and mothers really believed that Sunday was a God-ordained institution, and that infant baptism was a time-honored relic of apostolic practices. They were honest in their way; and God will require of them only for the light they enjoyed.

But upon us, in our advanced years, has beamed a great and clear, a heavenly light. The sanctuary in Heaven is opened, and there is seen the ark of God's testimony; the nations are angry; and the time of the dead to be judged is already here. Oh! what events have been crowded into the last fifty years.

Within this time, a generation has passed from the stage of action. Our fathers and mothers are slumbering in the grave, waiting the sound of the final trump, and we their children stand up to fill their places. Shall we do the work assigned us?

A great responsibility rests upon us who survive. Upon us who inhabit the vast territory, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, rests the responsibility of warning the world. Other countries are also joining in the work, but this land of light stands responsible for the burden of the work. Shall we be behind the times? Shall we faint beneath our burdens? Shall it be necessary for the Lord to set any of us aside, because we are dilatory or willful?

It is thrilling to hear of the progress of the truth on the Pacific Coast, and that it has so taken shape that a publishing house is being built, and a periodical is already in circulation. Brethren, let us all come up to the work, with all our offerings, and all our prayers.

Then the work in Europe, and the strange work in China; strange because so wonderful, so unexpected. God has many glad surprises for his people in the last days. Shall we not thank God that we have lived to see such wonderful predictions accomplished, and such light upon events just in the future.

Success to the cause in the West, and in the East; success to the cause North and South. Let it ring upon the ears of a slumbering world, to prepare them for the voice of God which shall shake the universe at no distant day. Dear reader, where will you and I be then? Let our works decide this question favorably for us. JOSEPH CLARKE.

Salvation and Its Conditions.

By A. S. Hutchins

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Matt. 3:16.

The death of the Son of God sets before all men an open door of hope. But salvation is suspended upon conditions. Faith must be accompanied by obedience. For we read of Christ: "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."

He who devised the plan of salvation could alone reveal the conditions on which fallen and lost man can be saved, and by which he may develop a character whereby he may stand in the Judgment and secure to himself the gift of life eternal.

Without a knowledge of the will of God, no one can understandingly serve him. Ignorance and unbelief may dress up and cherish popular and time-honored error, and adhere to it with the most ardent devotion, but this falls as far short of consistently worshiping the true and living God, as did the superstitious worship of the Athenians in the days of Paul.

Again, it is necessary to have the spirit of submission and obedience to God. The submission and obedience required in the plan of salvation test the loyalty of man to his Creator; which must be proved before the Author of salvation can confer upon him the priceless gift of immortality and life eternal.

Wisdom, personified, declares, "I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures." And again; "He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death." Prov. 8:20, 21, 36.

Here inspiration draws the strongest possible contrast between the results of obedience and disobedience, between a life of righteousness and a life of sin. The testimony of the apostle accords with this: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

Obedience to the revealed will of God, as set forth in his holy law, indicates to the angels of Heaven, who watch the development of character, and to our fellow-men, over whom we are constantly exerting a savory or an unsavory influence (felt here, and to be fully realized in the Judgment of the great day), that we love God. "For," says John, "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." It indicates a prudent choice, a choice between the broad, open road to death, and the narrow way to life; a choice dictated by unerring wisdom. "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

Those who ever find themselves ready to walk in the light shining forth from the word of God, and to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, are constantly developing Christian characters. They are the "salt of the earth," "the light of the world." "They go on from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." They ascend the ladder of Christian graces, so vividly described by Peter in the first chapter of his second epistle, whereby we may attain Christian perfection, and gain the prize which is ever beckoning us onward and upward.

But Peter describes another class—a class who have not grown in grace and in the knowledge of God; and of Jesus our Lord. "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." They have lost a sense of the depth of sin, and of the guilt attached to a life of disobedience, and of their obligation to their Maker. "They have made them crooked paths;"; they "stumble at noonday as in the night."

The first house of Israel, once honored as the chosen people of the Most High, separated from all the nations of the world by distinguishing marks of his divine favor and approval, through superstitious unbelief and disobedience to him, so far relapsed into a state of sin and stubborn rejection of the Saviour of the world, that Jesus, as he wept over their city, where so many gracious answers to their prayers had been received, and so many wonderful manifestations of God's love and care for them had been experienced, exclaimed, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace! but now are they hid from thine eyes."

How many occupy at present a similar position with respect to the blessings promised to the second house of Israel. How many will fail to secure the reward awaiting the well-developed Christian, and go down to the grave cherishing a false hope.

As I write, I am reminded of a remark made by a very intelligent gentleman some years since, who is a writer and public speaker and a professed Christian. He had received light on Bible truth by reading the publications of the Seventh-day Adventists. In contrasting this with the errors of his denomination, said "I do not see how I can be a well developed Christian and remain where I am." Yet there he remains, thereby sanctioning error, and robbing himself of peace and happiness, and the world of the good he might do if he were a well developed Christian. Is there not a possibility that to such the scripture may apply, "If ye were blind ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth"? —A. S. Hutchins in Review and Herald.

San Jose, Cal.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

WE have just closed a two days' meeting at this place. I had not been here since we left Santa Clara nine months ago. All the labor they have had during that time was two sermons by Bro. Loughborough. I am satisfied that on the start it is not right to leave our young churches so long without help. I shall make strong efforts to avoid it in the future.

But I was much rejoiced to find them doing so well. They have kept up their regular meetings, have done considerable missionary work, have kept up their s. b. promptly, and most of them have grown much in the knowledge and love of the present truth. They have hired and neatly fitted up a small hall in which our meetings were held.

The case of Bro. Dumont illustrates how God blesses those who obey him. This brother is totally blind, and has a wife and two children. He makes his living by weaving carpets. When he and his wife were convinced of their duty to keep the Sabbath, they feared that they could not do it and make a living. But the truth was so plain that they decided finally to obey God and trust in him for help. This was nearly one year ago. He says that since that time he has had all the work he wanted, and has accomplished more than he did before with a hired man. He has given about $80.00 to the cause, has bought a cow, a sewing machine for his wife, and has more ahead otherwise than when he began to keep the Sabbath.

Such cases as this, many of which our brethren are familiar with, ought to encourage halting ones to move out and obey the Lord. True, all are not prospered in so marked a manner as this; but yet the cases are very rare where persons have been left any length of time to suffer pecuniary loss by obeying the Lord.

Our meetings were all pleasant and I enjoyed good freedom in speaking. Over $26.00 was pledged to the T. and M. Society. We celebrated the ordinances, and two were baptized. Bro. Swinnerton of Santa Clara, speaks here every Sunday. This helps them and they appreciate it. We expect to visit them again soon.

The interest in the tent meeting at Gilroy is still good. A half dozen or more had decided to keep the Sabbath, and Bro. Waggoner was to hold the first Sabbath meeting yesterday.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

June 20.

The True Men of Leisure

The true men of leisure—they that work to obtain it.

News from the East.

By Editor

BRO. S. H. LANE gives a very encouraging report of labor among several churches in Indiana, from which we take the following:—

“May 7–10, met with the friends in Salem Center, Steuben Co. In our Sabbath meeting we enjoyed much of the blessing of the Lord, and all present seemed very much encouraged. This church is seldom visited on account of the many calls from different parts of the State, and the few who labor; yet the members are united, and do much to aid the cause in new fields.

“May 14–12, visited the church at Rochester, Fulton Co. The meetings from the first were well attended. The brethren engaged a hall in which we gave three discourses to those not of our faith. Of late, some have become interested, and have embraced the truth. Sunday, the 16th, five willing souls were buried with Christ in baptism and added to the church.

“May 21–24, labored with the church at Bourbon, Marshall Co. Brethren and sisters came in from Rochester and North Liberty, and the meetings from the first proved a success. The turnout on the part of those not of our faith was quite large. First day, the 23d, six were baptized and united with the church.

“Celebrated the ordinances for the first time in this young church, which proved a season of profit to all present. Bro. Sharp was present and rendered valuable services in the meetings.

“Evening after the Sabbath, May 29, commenced labor in the tent at Ligonier, Noble Co. Bro. H. M. Kenyon joins me in labor the present tent season. Have given thus far four discourses. The congregations have ranged from one to four hundred. We hope for good results.”

May 1, Bro. R. M. Kilgore, in connection with Bro. Boyd, held a two days’ meeting at Hooper, Neb. At this meeting three were baptized, and it not being thought best to organize a church in that place at present, they united with the Decatur church. They also held meetings at Stromsburg and Pleasant Home, May 12–19. As these places were only seven miles apart, the brethren united together and now form the Pleasant Home church, numbering nineteen members. Eleven of these were baptized, and twelve others are keeping the Sabbath, and have signed the covenant.

At Smithland, Iowa, a church of eleven members was organized, and several others are keeping the Sabbath. May 21–23, at Victor six were baptized and added to the church, and systematic benevolence was raised from the $111.00 to $188.00.

Bro. D. Downer, who has been engaged in a short discussion of the Sabbath question with Eld. Haggard (Disciple) reports that by the blessing of the Lord the truth was victorious, and thus it always will be when advocated with humility and prayer.

Trial Subscribers Again.

By John Norton Loughborough

We hope all will continue their efforts in obtaining subscribers to the SIGNS. We do not wish any to slack their efforts in inducing candid persons to receive and read the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. What we have said relative to unpaid subscribers has been for the purpose of stirring up our T. and M. workers to make inquiries into the cases of those who have been receiving the paper for a year or less, and who have paid nothing nor reported as to whether they were interested or not.

There has been some misunderstanding, or a failure to carry out the plan proposed in obtaining trial subscribers. 1. It was stated that those who obtained names for the SIGNS on trial should keep a list, and at the end of three months see the persons and learn whether they are interested and wished to become permanent subscribers, or whether they wished to donate anything towards the support of the SIGNS. 2. It was stated that the consent of the parties must be obtained to receive the paper, to take it from the office, and to pay postage, in order to be considered bona fide subscribers.

Now perhaps all have acted in obtaining subscribers according to their understanding, and will be glad to learn the better mode of procedure. 1. One mistake has been that persons have been induced to give their names for the paper, being told they could have it a whole year by paying postage. In such cases, of course no blame is attached to those who gave their names. 2. There was a mistake in not looking after these names in such cases, at the end of three months from the time of sending them. Pursuing such a course, as already suggested, gives opportunity for conversation on the truth a second time, or correspondence with them as the case may be. 3. A third and great mistake would now be made in a wholesale striking off of names without calling upon the parties to learn their interest in the SIGNS, or giving them any opportunity to donate for the papers they have had if they wish to do so. 4. We will take advantage of, and learn by, our mistakes, remembering the true saying, that "Success in life does not consist in never making any mistakes, but in not making the same mistake a second time."

Let all persons interest themselves to get as many as they can to take the SIGNS either paid or on trial, but remember the rules, look after them, and report on them at the end of three months. J. N. L.

Questions.

By John Norton Loughborough

G. W. M., of Dist. No. 2, inquires: "Are business agents expected to collect on vol. 1 of SIGNS, or for vol. 2?". Ans.: On both. First, let business agents obtain all they can from those whose figures are less than the present date, 1-32, and if any wish to pay in advance it will be most thankfully received. It will take sixteen numbers more, however, to carry us to the end of this volume of forty-eight numbers, and $2.00 will carry the 1-1s to 2-1.

J. D. P., of Dist. No. 1, asks: "How does the SIGNS come when the T. and M. Society pays for it? Can it be sent the same as the Review at half price?" Reply: Every number of the SIGNS actually costs $2.00 per year. All papers taken by the T. and M. Society, whether back numbers to distribute or whether sent to names of individuals, are, in cases of subscribers, $2.00 a year or four cents for single papers.

The Review is furnished at half price on this wise, 4000 copies at $2.00 per year pays the expenses of those copies. After 4000 copies are printed at $2.00 each there is no expense on the next thousand for setting type. So the 5th, 6th, or 7th thousand will cost only $1000 dollars, or $1.00 per year for each copy. When the SIGNS' list has 4000 subscribers paying $2.00 per year, then we can furnish any amount above that at $1.00 per copy for a year and meet expenses. As it is, we say, Let those have the paper who wish to read it candidly. If they or their friends pay all or half towards it, all well. The balance of cost must be made up by donations from some source. Get what you can towards the paper, but stop none that are being read with interest and profit.

But in the matter of furnishing the paper by the T. and M. Society we must go according to our Constitution. 1. All money received by Librarians for memberships, book sales, and donations, is to be paid to the director, and passed over by him to the State T. and M. treasurer. In case papers are furnished by the T. and M. Society, it is considered by the board of directors at the State quarterly meeting. All such names should be reported upon to them. I enter the name you mention as one. If this course is pursued it will tend to save confusion in T. and M. accounts.

Art. V., Sec. 6, of our Constitution, as published in SIGNS, No. 8, reads: "General quarterly meetings shall be held under the direction of the board of directors, at which time they shall decide upon the cases of those who may be thought to have claims upon the widows and orphans' fund, or may be worthy of receiving the periodicals free ; and all other business of importance that relates to the Tract and Missionary Society." J. N. L.

Be Careful What You Say.

IN speaking of a person's faults, Pray don't forget your own; Remember, those with homes of glass Should seldom throw a stone; If we have nothing else to do But talk of those who sin, 'Tis better to commence at home, And from that point begin.

We have no right to judge a man Until he's fairly tried; Should we not like his company, We know the world is wide. Some may have faults—and who have not? The old as well as young; Perhaps we may, for aught we know, Have fifty to their one.

I'll tell you of a better plan, And one that works full well, I try my own defects to cure Before of other's tell; And though I sometimes hap to be No worse than some I know, My own short-comings bid me let The faults of others go.

Then let us all, when we commence To slander friend or foe, Think of the harm one word may do To those we little know; Remembering that our curses May sometimes rest at home, Don't speak of other's faults until We have none of our own. —Sel.

Missionary Department.

By M. W.

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Eccl. 11 : 6.

An Exalted Privilege.

Go, says our blessed Master, and preach the gospel to every creature. We find by reading the Acts of the Apostles that the primitive believers believed God, and trusted in his word. They proved themselves disciples of Christ by following the voice of the good Shepherd. They were devoted, self-sacrificing Christians. They exhibited the true missionary spirit. Their life record shows the deep anxiety manifested for perishing souls around them. There was no sacrifice too great for them to make, no burden too heavy to be borne for Christ's sake and for the sake of suffering humanity.

Although they did a noble work in their time, we have a more solemn work to perform in our day. A world is to be warned of the approaching judgments of God. The last message of mercy is to go with a loud cry to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. And as it appears to be in the order of God's providence to have this message delivered by man, how highly we ought to prize the privilege of being a co-laborer with Jesus in gathering sheaves for the heavenly garner. We are commanded in the word of God to work while it is day. Labor for that meat which perisheth not. And in one place we are called laborers together with God. 1 Cor. 3 : 9 Where is the Christian that would not avail himself of this exalted privilege of laboring in the vineyard of the Lord? But I am no preacher, says one. If I could, I would most cheerfully sound an alarm and wake the inhabitants of the earth, and show them their lost condition out of Christ and their need of a Saviour.

It is not neccessary to be preacher in order to be a worker. There are two ways in which things may be done; viz., actually and virtually. For instance, there is a house to be built. I am no mechanic, nor do I strike a stroke on the house; yet, by the blessing of God, I am enabled to furnish all the material, bear all the expense, and support all the mechanics while at work. Hence it will be said of me, and justly too, that I built the house, not actually but virtually. And so it is, dear friends in preaching the gospel. Though you may be no preacher, and even confined to a sick bed, yet by affording a part of all these secondary means which are neccessary in carrying forward the work connected with the third angel's message at home and abroad, we thus become the weak, though much-honored and happy instrument in the hands of Almighty God in preaching (that is virtually) the present truth. Oh! my brother and sister, what Christian should not exhult and praise the Lord for such a privilege.

M. W.

Cheering.

By John Norton Loughborough

It is cheering to those who are making efforts to reach their fellow-men, to learn that those efforts are successful, and productive of good. It can but be encouraging to those who are inducing others to read the SIGNS to see such readers brought to read the Bible, to believe it, and to seek God and to obey him. Better to try ninety-nine times and fail to reach the right one, than miss the hundredth one who might be reached and brought to the light of truth.

You have doubtless all heard of the minister who had toiled in a hard place for twenty years, and could see no substantial fruit of his labors, one day some one told him discouragingly that he had preached for twenty years and only one had been converted. He thought if one had been converted he was "good for twenty years more." If we had spent our means to put the SIGNS before twenty for a year, and let it preach, and it at last reached one soul, it surely ought to stimulate us to do the same again and again.

Read the following from one who has been reading the SIGNS for a few months, as a sample of what we learn of the success of the paper: "You wished all to report to you whether we are reading your paper with interest or not, or whether we wish it continued or not. I answer that I am very well pleased with your paper and wish to have it come, but I have not the money to send you at present, am hoping I will have soon."

"Your paper has done me a great deal of good, and if you continue to send it to me I will read it. Before I commenced to read your paper I had almost forgotten there was a God, but I have now begun to plead before his bar for the forgivness of my sins. I have found this world a very hard one, I think I shall prepare for a better world to come."

J. N. L.

North Pacific Mission.

By I. D. Van Horn

On the last day of May we took down our tent at Waitsburg. The interest was not sufficient to warrant a longer stay. Our effort there, however, was not wholly without fruit. Three declared their determination to keep the Sabbath. We sold about $36.00 worth of our publications, besides two Bibles. Many became convinced of the truth, yet they thought more of the world than of serving the Lord at present. Last Sabbath, the 5th of June, I was there and eleven came out to meeting but there was only two Sabbath-keepers among them.

On the first day of June, we moved our tent to the little village of Dayton, a place of about three hundred inhabitants, and held our first meeting on the evening of the second.

We have now held six meetings and our congregations so far have been from one hundred to two hundred and fifty. So far, a deep, solemn feeling seems to pervade the audience, and all is quiet about the tent during meeting. Last evening, while explaining the first angel's message, pointing out the facts relating to the fulfillment of the tenth chapter of Revelation; and the disappointment connected with that work, it seemed that the Lord gave the witness of his Spirit to us, and the truth was poured out to the people with convincing power.

We shall hope for good results here, and shall labor faithfully to that end..

I. D. VAN HORN.

Dayton, June 7, 1875.

The Sabbath.

By J. D. Bandy

HOW IT IS KEPT IN THE SPIRIT.

As I was riding along the road the other day I fell into conversation with a book agent, and the Sabbath question came up. He said that the Sabbath was changed at Christ's resurrection, that the seventh day was kept until that time, and that since the resurrection of Christ, by keeping the first day in the letter we keep the seventh day in the spirit.

I asked him for one passage of scripture to prove the change. He said we were safe in following the apostles, and that they were assembled together on the first day of the week to celebrate Christ's resurrection. I called upon him for a Testament, and read to him John 20:19, the text to which he referred. He said "they had the doors shut for fear of the Jews." I told him that the disciples did not then believe that Christ had risen from the dead, and why should they be celebrating his resurrection if they did not believe that he had risen? "And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not." Luke 24:11.

He next said that "redemption is greater than creation, and therefore we ought to keep the first day of the week." I asked him if the Lord's supper did not commemorate his sufferings and death, and, when a person was baptized, if they were not to rise to walk in newness of life as Christ arose from the dead.

As for the example of the apostles, I told him Paul's manner was to preach upon the Sabbath day. Acts 13:42-44. He said he sometimes preached upon Saturday. I then learned that he was a Presbyterian minister. I thought if the teachers in Israel have no better evidence than the above for their faith they are surely resting on a sandy foundation.

Instead of trusting in men let us search the Scriptures. Says Christ, "In them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." In them we read, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding have all they that do his commandments." The wise man's "conclusion of the whole matter" was, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13. May both reader and writer be found keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ, that we may enter into life.

J. D. BANDY.

Read Men, Especially Yourself

An old writer says: "Read not books alone, but men, amongst them chiefly thyself. If thou find anything questionable there use the commentary of a severe friend rather than the gloss of a sweet lip flatterer. There is more profit in a distasteful truth than deceitful sweetness."

Religious Miscellany.

—The Josephite Mormons have lost one of their ablest men in the recent death of Elder Wondell.

—The reported communicants in the Baptist churches at the South, reach the large number of 1,212,000.

—The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions during the past year sent out to the field eight ordained missionaries, two physicians, and ten unmarried ladies. The receipts of the year were $456,718; expenditures, 495,000. There was a large falling off in contributions as compared with other years. It employs 138 missionaries, about 160 ladies; and 500 native laborers.

—A most disgraceful affair occurred the other day at a Catholic funeral in Pottsville, Pa. The priest objected to having the body buried in the cemetery. As the friends persisted in lowering the body into the grave the priest struck one of them. Thereupon weapons were drawn by both parties and curses and high words freely indulged in. At last the body was buried.

—In Italy there are over 19,000,000 of its 26,000,000 of people unable either to read or write. A striking illustration that the Papal power is not favorable to education?

—The different churches complain of a great falling off in charitable contributions the past year. The Examiner and Chronicle says: "Whatever mitigating circumstances may be found in the state of business throughout the country, and special disaster in portions of it, the grim fact confronts us—our finances have not prospered as they should. The wealth of the church nominally belongs to the Lord, but the Lord has received a meager part of it during the last twelve months. There is hardly one of our church agencies that has not dragged along with a chain on the wheel. Some of them—notably foreign missions—are sinking deeper in debt, declaring that instead of expanding, they must retrench unless the church comes more liberally to the work." A large increase in numbers but a large decrease in contributions. What does this indicate?

—Gradually the Methodists are abandoning the itinerant system. There is a strong tendency to locate their ministers more as the other churches do.

Disabilities removed.—A Mr. Ralli, a member of the Greek church, has been elected to the British Parliament, the first of that faith admitted to a seat.

—Rev. Dr. Dean, of the Baptist Mission at Bangkok, Siam, states that during the past year nearly two hundred Chinese have been brought to Christ, and admitted to the church in connection with his labors.

—The Prussian Diet has granted corporate rights to the Baptists.

—Sea-side camp-meetings for summer resorts are becoming very popular of late. The Presbyterians have just established one at Cape May. They are simply popular pleasure grounds where living is cheap and religion is easy.

—The young king of Spain is reported to have given the new papal legate private assurance that the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church will be maintained in Spain.

—The Catholics find no relief in Germany. The bill prohibiting religious orders has passed its third reading in the Lower House. The repeal of articles 15, 16, and 18 of the constitution has been agreed to. The bill, which gives the Old Catholics a share in the church property, was accepted with 202 votes against 75. The collection of funds for the priests, who have been legally punished, has been made a penal offense, and is no longer permitted.

—The new Baptist chapel in Rome, situated in Piazza San Lorenzo, and of which Rev. Mr. Wall is pastor, was opened with interesting services March 21. A large number of English and American Christians were present. The premises were bought for $60,000, part of which was converted into a place of worship to accommodate 300, the remaining portions being for a tract depot, printing-office, and infant-school.

—The report comes from Rome that the Vatican Council is to be reconvened, to discuss ecclesiastical reform:

—It is evident that the Reformed Episcopacy as a denominational movement is a failure. A few congregations here and there hold to the minister for personal reasons. But the public have no special want that this new movement is destined to supply. The strength of the new order is in Chicago. Its power is wholly personal to Mr. Cheney. The Third General Council, just held, was a very feeble gathering. The Episcopal Recorder is to be published one-half in the interest of the Protestant Episcopal, and one-half in the interest of the Reformed Episcopal Church. A feeble, unsatisfactory affair.

—The Church Journal (Episcopal) makes this startling statement: "Is it an exaggeration to say that the professed churchmen of a city like New York, the people who kneel at our chancels and communicate at our altars, spend more on their wine than on their religion? We believe that the statement is far within the truth. Their amusements cost them far more than their churches. Their luxuries receive their dollars; their charities carefully count their pennies!"

—The great Protestant Missionary Societies are not yet a hundred years old. In Great Britain the Baptist Missionary Society was organized in 1792, London. Missionary Society in 1795, Scottish Missionary Society, in 1796, Church Missionary Society 1800, Wesleyan Missionary Society 1817, Foreign Missionary Scheme, in the Church of Scotland in 1824. In the United States, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in 1840, American Baptist Missionary Union in 1814, Methodist Missionary Society in 1819, Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal church in 1835, Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church in 1837.

D. M. C.

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