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Review and Herald, Vol. 24, No. 12.

Sabbath Meditations. No. 5.

Review and Herald

Aug 16, 1864

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 16, 1864

Sabbath Meditations. No. 5.

By Jos. Clarke

THE necessity of well-ordered meditations, and regulated thoughts is apparent; as a man thinks in his heart, so he is: the act is but the ripe fruit, of which the inward frame of mind, the daily meditation, was the blossom.
He who meditates well has business for all times and seasons; he has entered upon a study which is not barren of joys, nor stinted in its extent. He has entered upon a study which will enlarge upon his hands, and while it will require his constant care, will be less and less burdensome the more he carries it out in practice. But if he fails to carry out his good intentions, his good thoughts will quietly forsake him, and his heart will become neglected more and more, untilthorns and thistles cover its choice fields, and its walls of defense are broken down.
The man who meditates as he should, whose heart is well kept, has within him an impartial court, at the bar of which, every evil thought, every evil desire, is summoned, and condemned, and banished. Every besetment is outlawed, and every active force of the mind is mustered to keep guard, and every avenue of the soul is closed at which the enemy might gain admittance.
The keeping of the heart implies the power to think, to arrange; to not only hold in check the evil, but to so command the mind that evil shall depart, while the mind dwells upon good and holy and pure thoughts, which thing cannot be tolerated where Satan reigns, who, with his myriads of evil agencies, is continually at work to disturb the contemplative mind, to pollute the purity of holy thoughts, and to confuse and disarrange the well-connected train of ideas, especially if these tend toward reform.
Many, especially those whose advantages of education have been limited, are almost strangers to mental discipline, and hardly have an idea of the powers and mechanism of the mind. Such, perhaps, in many instances, hardly know what is meant by a well-connected train of thoughts; and often the wildest flights of excitement and fanaticism arise from a neglected but powerful intellect, and an uncultivated and ignorant mind. While on the other hand, many a ripe scholar is just as neglectful of the keeping of the heart, although his mental faculties are kept in working order.
Ignorance is no bar to the keeping of the heart, if the individual is disposed to enter upon the work, although he may have to learn many things to him formerly neglected. Neither will the mental culture of the ripe scholar warrant to him a well-kept heart, unless he bends his energies fully to the work.
Mental culture will facilitate this heart work, if it is heartily applied; and the most ignorant may learn, if he will, how to guide his thoughts, and restrain his wayward mind. As the horseman curbs his often willful and restive steed to the track, and in his efforts always resolves upon the victory, how persistently he piles rein and whip and spur, until his beast (bent, perhaps, on mischief,) obeys not only with precision, but with evident pleasure. So the Christian, the overcomer, says within himself, There is no retreat in this work; conquer I will. Soon his mind yields cheerful obedience, and the acts follow in the train. Willing hands and willing feet obey the dictates of the well-trained mind, and as he presses on, he spontaneously cries out, I delight to do thy will, O God.
He who thus keeps his heart is no longer wholly ignorant; he has the key of knowledge, and has entered upon an education, which will go on step by step until the brighter day will unfold to him such realities of wisdom and knowledge, such advantages as all the learning of earth could not afford.
Often people find it difficult to call up their thoughts when they desire so to do. Thoughts spring up within, but when they attempt to lay hold of them and retain them, lo, they are flown like flocks of birds which alight near you, so near that you fancy you may capture them, when the slightest motion in that direction frightens them, and they are gone. So with many people's thoughts.
The pursuits of Christianity furnish the best possible means for the highest moral and intellectual culture. "Watch and pray" is the motto of those who seek for holiness of heart and life, and this is the best and most perfect method of mental culture, as it brings the mind into subjection, and as Satan has great difficulty in knowing the thoughts of a good man, this gives a great advantage to such a person. While the bad and evil person is at any moment in danger of having his mind thrown into disorder from unseen agencies; and even the good man, if he lays down his armor, is in the same danger; so that devotion to God is the only safeguard to Mansoul, as Bunyan graphically surnames the city, in his incomparable allegory, called "The Holy War." From such considerations those who think to be Christians without mental labor, must see their error.
This preparation fits the mind for intellectual pursuits, where such pursuits are desired, and breaks up and deepens the soil. Thus we see in all ages the great majority of successful teachers of schools and universities, leaders in reform, pioneers in learning, are from the ranks of the people of God. True, here and there an Atheist or an Infidel soars high, but these are exceptions. The greatest stars which have shone in the world have been men of God, whose works do most withstand the teeth of time, as Moses, Solomon, Ezra, Daniel, and Paul, and we must not pass over Abraham, who was the greatest man of his age. Let scoffers smile at this array of talent; it is all they can do.
Where did Egypt get her love of learning? Was not the first lesson upon astronomy given to the Egyptians by Abraham? and did it not pass thence and leaven the empire of Babylon? How does it happen that the Greeks surpassed all the neighboring nations? Was it not in consequence of their proximity to the land of Palestine, from whence rays of light emanated with power and glory? We are in error if we suppose the Israelite of the age of Solomon was the sordid wretch which the Jew of the nineteenth century develops. And Rome! Is it not patent to all, that the subjugation of Greece by that power, caused a revolution in the Roman manners, from the rough cast of the ancient Romans to the refined manners of the Periclean age?
Thus the captive Greek conquered his conqueror. And was not this one design of Jehovah while he purged his own peculiar people by banishing them to other lands, that they, while in affliction and sorrow manifesting the graces of God's people, thereby completely refined the manners of their conquerors, and being scattered from time to time among the leading nations of the earth, served a two-fold purpose: First, that of chastening to themselves, and second, the refining and enlightening of the nations by whom they were captured.
Look at Joseph in the court of Pharaoh, preceded by Abraham, and followed by Moses. Probably these three persons had more to do with the elevation of Egypt in science, refinement, and art, than all other agencies combined. Not less Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, each in turn leavened by the power of noble captives taught of God.
Such considerations as these lead us to appreciate Christ's words, "Ye are the salt of the earth."
Rise, then, O captive in an enemy's land, gird on thine armor, and shine as in the ancient days.
JOS. CLARKE.

The Sabbath.

[Bro. White : The following I clip from the Christian Times of May 28, 1862, published by the Baptists at Chicago. I send it 1st. Because of the many truths contained in it; and 2nd. To show the position of the Baptists on this subject a few years ago compared with what it is now. Just let the Sabbath question be presented to the Baptists where they have never heard our position, and they will very soon either deny the many truths contained in this piece, or come out and keep the Sabbath of the Lord. A Baptist minister once said in this place, "that nothing but a brazen-faced fiend would say that the Sabbath was instituted in Paradise." The Editor of the Times says, "It antedates the introduction of sin into our world." Who knows best? How much this piece sounds like the writings of the Seventh-day Adventists, leaving out the man-made expressions,—Jewish Sabbath and Christian Sabbath. Let the Editor of the Times read over the solemn truths in this article, and then take heed to the last clause in it: "Woe to him who in this respect perverts the right way of the Lord."
M. B. Smith.]
Marion Iowa.
The institution of the Sabbath antedates the introduction of sin into our world. It reaches back to the morning of creation. On the seventh day God ended his work and rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. How instructive is this fragment of Bible history. God rested not as one fatigued with labor, but as one viewing with infinite delight the productions of his hand. May it not have been out of regard to human weakness and want that God rested?—as an example to enforce upon his creatures the duties and obligations of the Sabbath. The Divine precept is equally clear and unmistakable: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor the stranger within thy gates; for in six days God made the heavens and the earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy is a divine command, and the precept is enforced by divine example. No institution in the world can claim a more remote antiquity—nor is there one that rests upon higher authority—nor is there one whose obligations are enforced by holier sanctions.
The law of the Sabbath must not be regarded as arbitrary, or as a fetter upon human freedom. Or as imposing irksome restraints; but its ends are wise and beneficent. The necessity of the Sabbath is found in the constitution and economy of human nature. The rest of the seventh day is needed to repair the waste of the six days' toil. It has been demonstrated that man and beast will perform more work by resting on the seventh day, than by continual drudgery all the year through. Nature thus, when her wants become known, independent of any positive command, enforces the obligations of the Sabbath with arguments that cannot be resisted. The farmer, the merchant, the laborer, the teacher, the student, in short, men in every condition need the rest of the Sabbath as really as they need the repose of the night, after the toils of the day. It is a physical necessity. The Sabbath may be regarded especially as the poor man's inheritance. Without it, life to him would be an unbroken series of wasting toil. The rule is work, work, work—from this there would be no furlough, did not the Sabbath return at regular intervals, as a golden border, defining the period of rest. Every poor man, as he beholds the Sabbath light, ought to sing with devout gratitude
"Welcome delightful morn, Sweet day of sacred rest."
The Sabbath, all along its pathway, dispenses blessings to the poor with a munificence truly divine.
So far we have spoken of the Sabbath as demanded by the physical condition of man, but its chief blessing pertains to his higher nature. It is not rest alone, but religious instruction and devout worship that insures the full blessings of the Sabbath. It is a holy rest, hence the injunction "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The right observance of the Sabbath supposes not merely the laying aside of work, and traffic, and pleasure, but a hearty engaging in religious services—a devout waiting upon God in the use of the appointed means of grace.
The Jewish code enforced the strictest observance of the Sabbath. How scrupulously the Sabbath was kept, at least its outward forms, may be inferred from the fact that in Jerusalem at the time of Christ's advent there were nearly five hundred synagogues. In these Sanctuaries the Scriptures of the Old Testament were read, praises sung, prayers offered, and usually a religious address delivered by some one competent to instruct and edify those who waited upon the service. Our Lord frequented these places of worship, and here the Apostles first preached Christ crucified. All through the Roman Empire where the Jews had obtained a footing, synagogues were open for public worship.
The Christian Sabbath contemplates the same general ends as the Jewish Sabbath. It is a day not for work, or pleasure, or business, or visiting, or gossip, or journeyings, but a day consecrated to the highest and noblest of ends, to the service of the Lord. A right observance of the Christian Sabbath will prove a security against vice, will be a pledge of tranquility in this world and a foretaste of everlasting blessedness in the world to come. There are six days for work and one for worship, and woe to him who in this respect perverts the right way of the Lord.

The King in his Beauty.

By R. F. Cottrell

THE King in his beauty is coming, ere long, Prepare ye, prepare ye to meet him! To share in his glory, and sing the "new song"— Who, who will thus joyously greet him? Then wake thee! and haste to arise, Already the day-star is beaming! Let slumber depart from thine eyes— No time now for indolent dreaming. O, get ready! The King in his beauty to see!
He comes not an infant in Bethlehem born, He comes not to lie in a manger; He comes not again to be treated with scorn, He comes not a shelterless stranger; He comes not to Gethsemane, To weep and sweat blood in the garden; He comes not to die on the tree, To purchase for rebels a pardon. Oh, no! glory, Bright glory environs him now!
With chariots celestial behold him descend, With glory ineffable beaming! And all the blest angels around him attend, In Heaven's bright panoply gleaming. The trumpet of God sounds, Arise! • They wake from their short, dreamless slumber, And straightway mount up to the skies, A multitude no man can number. Shouts of Glory! And Victory! now fill the air.
And now, safely standing upon the glass sea, They form the triumphal procession; To celebrate duly the grand jubilee, Of captives now freed from oppression. Then, Lift up your heads, O, ye gates! The King in his glory will enter; His army victorious waits, Fair Zion's redeemed to present her. Ope, ye portals! The King in his glory comes in!
Earth's captives now rescued will sorrow no more, Nor hunger nor thirst shall annoy them; No pain shall afflict them, their sufferings are o'er, No sickness nor death shall destroy them. But freed from mortality's woes, Eternity opens before them; Its pleasures are never to close— God's glory forever beams o'er them. Glory! Glory! The King in his beauty is there! R. F. COTTRELL.

Peace

PEACE.—Peace is better than joy. Joy is an uneasy guest and always on tip-toe to depart. It tires and wears us out, and yet koeps us ever fearing that the next moment it will be gone. Peace is not so—it comes more quietly and stays more contentedly, and it never exhausts our strength, nor gives us one anxious forecasting thought. Therefore let us pray for peace. It is the gift of God—promised to all his children; and if we have it in our hearts we shall not pine for joy, though its bright wings never touch us while we tarry in the world.

A Sign of the Times.

The following warning words are from the Chicago Journal; a careful, reliable paper, in no wise given to sensational articles. It tells a few plain facts which anybody can see who will carefully consider the present condition of the country. But here is the trouble. As it was of old, so now—"My people will not consider;"] and so they rush blindly to ruin. Railroad speed in everything, is the order of the day; and the man who engages in business has got to put a double watch over himself, or he will soon become engrossed in worldly affairs, and leave religion, the prayer-meeting, the Sabbath-school and attendance upon the ordinances of God's house, to those who have the time to spend. Take care brethren! The thorns which choke the word, never grew so rank as now. Take care! Lest that day come upon you unawares and find you engrossed in the cares of this life.—Voice of the West.

THE MANIA FOR SPECULATION.

"There is one sign of the times that oppresses the heart of every wise and pure patriot. It is the speculation mania. It has taken hold of our people with unprecedented tenacity and unexampled prevalence. It holds on to them like a scar in the flesh, or a hereditary disease. It converts the mild man into wild men; civilized men into savages. It abolishes composure and gravity, and puts into their places a furious extravagance both of conduct and imagination, and enthrones the god Greed on the market stall, the store-counter and the wharf. Speculation is the love of money in rabidest expression. It is the love of money ripened into a madness for money. Now, it requires no prophet's clear sight to foresee and to foretell the consequences of this wild, fierce, furious, and insane itching of the palms of the hands of our people after that, the mere love of which, according to the Scriptures, is the root of all evil. Why, it would be an argument for atheism if this thing went on perpetually without the abrupt arrestment of it in frightful disaster. As for us, we cannot look upon this spectacle of enormous and abnormal avarice, cupidity, and lust for money, without coming to the melancholy conclusion that this war will have to reach this quarter of the country in some frightful shape or other before it accomplishes its errand of reformatory chastisement, which is declared by our moralists to be its errand to the whole nation. Warnings are uttered by preacher and by press to no purpose, and nothing but a universal and unexampled financial crash will bring our people to their right mind; and that may grind out of them the all-devouring greed for gain which can be gotten out of them by no other means. Such is our fear."

Intemperance.

THE people of this country are making rapid strides in intemperance. The quantity of spirituous liquors drank the past year, is probably fifty per cent. greater that was ever before consumed in this land in twelve consecutive months. Men drink everywhere; and seem to glory in their shame. Gentlemen, and even ladies, traveling, take their bottle of brandy with them on the cars, and unthinkingly partake before whoever may be present, of the waters of damnation.
When the emperor of China was compelled, by British arms, to admit opium into the Empire, to the great injury of the people he was advised to collect duties upon it, and thus increase his revenue. The emphatic reply of this heathen monarch, was:
'It is true, I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes. But nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people.'
Noble words! Could not our professedly Christian government, with profit to themselves and the country, take lessons of morality from this idolatrous emperor? Our government scruples not to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of the people. It is esteemed patriotic to drink. What does it matter, though the once kind husband and father is transformed, by strong drink, into a demon incarnate, who kills his wife by tortures more exquisite than the inquisition ever inflicted, and brings his children to beggary and shame. The wretch who sold him the liquor pays the State for his license, and every glass of poison drank, puts a trifle into the distended pocket of some unscrupulous government official. And so the damning traffic is tolerated and encouraged. What has the country gained for its lavish expenditure of treasure and blood in dethroning King Cotton, if, in its place, we are to have a bloody reign of King Alcohol? No plantation driver ever plied the instruments of torment so mercilessly as he! . . . Officers, maddened by strong drink, cruelly treat our brave soldiers, and often expose them to unnecessary slaughter; and reckless surgeons inflamed by brandy, make cripples for life, or send to an untimely grave those whom sober skill might have restored to soundness of body.
Christian men! you must rouse yourselves from your lethargy and grapple with this terrible monster. Already some of your own number have fallen by his cruel power. Even ministers of the Gospel are yielding to the terrible influence. Some belonging to the same Conference with which we were once connected, secretly, as they suppose, take delight in the intoxicating cup, and others have openly bartered their hopes of heaven for the maddening bowl. Your children, if not yourselves, may fall under the influence of this ruinous fascination. Every motive of the Gospel and of humanity calls upon you to exert all the influence you possess to check the progress of the tide of woe which is mounting higher and higher, threatening to sweep away everything that is lovely in its blighting progress.—Earnest Christian.

Immortality Dependent on God

RICHARD WATSON, in his "Institutes" says, "that the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by Scripture, which makes our immortality dependent on the will of God."

Passages of Life.

By M. W. H.

A COLONEL in our army had fallen! In a recent fight of the present “On-to-Richmond” campaign, he had been shot dead! A telegram anounces to aching hearts at home the message. “Killed in the fight, and buried on the field.” Then the magnetic wire speeds back the order, “Let him be disinterred, and forwarded immediately home.” The mandate will be promptly obeyed; for it is backed by wealth. Meanwhile the family wait in sadness. The father too is absent, where he may not be reached by electric messages. So they can only wait till the day arrives when both the absent ones, the living and the dead, are expected. It is supposed that each will reach the intersecting point at the same time so that the same train will bear both to their destination. Shall the father all unwarned be suffered to let his eyes fall on the strange freight directed to himself? To avert this, a cherished friend goes on the outward train, to greet him at the place of intersection, and divert him from the fatal spot, and gently break to him the crushing news.
What kind consideration! Yet in life’s journey, how many are rushing on unwarned; unwarned, too, when there are those who realize the consternation and hopeless agony, that awaits them at the terminus of the journey, which all are pursuing. And why is this indifference manifest? Surely not that the transient sorrows of earth outweigh the keener sorrows of a future existence.
Not long ago I was journeying, homeward bound. For convenience I had been directed to leave the cars at a way station, and a friend would be there to meet me. A glance showed me that no one was awaiting me there, and I stood alone, with none to care for me. And I thought, if it sends such a thrill of sadness over one to reach the close of a day’s journey and greet no welcoming smile, how heart sickening must it be, to end life’s long weary journey, and have no loving friend to meet us? And this too, when there is a friend who is never tardy, but who is ever-present in time of need if we will obey and love him. I know my earthly friend would come though late; but alas! thought I, how many are there who so confidently expect that glistening angels will waft their spirits upward as they reach the portal of the grave, who must experience a far sadder recoil of feeling when they reach the final station, death, and find they had cherished a delusive hope, because it was not founded upon a rock, the true revelation of God. M. W. H. Malone, N. Y.

Wasted Lives.

By J. A. Dayton

How many thousands since first in Eden the enemy of mankind began his evil work, as they have taken a retrospective view of their threescore years and ten, have felt in bitterness of soul to mourn over the loss of a lifetime, and the language of their hearts has been, Oh that I could live it over again! And as memory brings before them the long array of blasted hopes, vain desires, and hours, weeks, and even years gone forever into eternity, bearing with them their sure record of neglect and broken resolutions, oh how gladly would they blot it from her page and leave in its stead a blank.
How many more who, ere they measure half their allotted time, wrecked upon the ocean of life, misguided from the outset, satiated with folly, disgusted with themselves and with their fellow-men, without hope and without God in the world, awake at last only to find their sands of life are almost gone and not one golden one remains.
Restless, fickle, changing as the summer cloud, has been their course, desires born of earth have lured them from the higher faith where virtue beckons steadily onward to the goal, where holy ambition is satisfied with fullness of joy.
And this is the history of thousands! Yet human nature is prone to believe that could some fairy hand renew their youth and leave the wisdom gained by experience still in their possession, they would lead a wiser, better life. It may be so, but alas! how many do we see instead of turning such experience to advantage for the future, sit supinely down, brooding over disappointed hopes and making for themselves a still more wretched lot.
Regret cannot bring back the past, but it may teach us wisdom, and enable us to use aright the brief day that is left us to prepare for the enjoyment of a life of infinitely greater value than that we mourn as wasted, and which if wasted is indeed a loss. We cannot hope for anything beyond it in which to retrieve our errors; for it is measured by the rounds of eternity. Behind us is a moment. A moment now is ours, and before us, oh stupendous thought! an eternal life of bliss.
Reader, will you leave it all untasted and linger still to feed upon the husks afforded here? Can you think of the heavenly glories of that better land, of its angelic music, of the eternal joys, of the rest, the freedom, and the peace, of the home of light, and love, and beauty, and not feel an ardent, longing desire to share in its joys? Oh, let a holy ambition chase away despair. Give it but a place within your breast, and the dark clouds of melancholy will vanish before it like dew before the morning sun. Rouse every energy to the work, and brood no longer over the useless past. Heaven is before you with its untold delight, fear not to let anticipation cheer you on the way, for a blessed realization will exceed it all; the past is no longer yours. The future will be what you make it.
“This world can never give The bliss for which we sigh. Its fairest glories shortest live, And all its pleasures die.
“Beyond this vale of tears There is a life above, Unmeasured by the flight of years, And all that life is love.”
J. A. DAYTON.
Chesaning, Mich.

Is the World Growing Better?

By Voice of the West

By favor of the Hon. Charles Upson, we have received the reports of the committees appointed by congress to investigate the Fort Pillow Massacre, and the condition of returned prisoners.
In examining them we have at times been scarcely able to realize that we were living in the boasted nineteenth century. On the battle-field amid the shock of charging squadrons, the rattle of musketry, the thunder of cannon, with the dead and dying lying around, it is no wonder that men are temporarily turned into demons. But we submit that we know of no outrages committed by uncivilized barbarians which exceed in wickedness the treatment which not only the negro prisoners, but the white have received from their Southern captors. These outrages have been committed not in a moment of excitement, but deliberately and in cold blood.
But to particularize: our Northern men have been deliberately starved to death: i. e. they have been exposed to the greatest privations, so that many have even frozen to death, while at the same time they received a quantity of food utterly insufficient to sustain life under the most favorable circumstances. A piece of bread three inches square, made of corn meal,—the cobs ground in,—and three mouthfuls of meat, were allowed for a meal. And by this treatment these men have been reduced to living skeletons, and shattered in mind and body, they have been put on board the flag of truce steamer for Annapolis many of them dying of inanition before reaching that place. A large proportion die in the hospitals, and those who live are but wrecks of men in body, and often in mind. Copies of the photographs of some of these returned prisoners, are given in this report. It is heart rending to look at them, and think how much they must have suffered.
Call to mind the recent accounts of the doings of the French soldiers in Mexico, of the Russians in Poland and Circassia, of the English in India, China and Japan, and then look at the barbarities perpetrated in our own land—and wherein should we boast over “The Dark Ages?” Should we not rather feel humbled that with all the advances made in learning, art, and science, that with all the boasted progress of the age, such deeds should now, not only be done, but be gloried in? Are men growing better as they become wiser in knowledge of this world? No! It is only by the wisdom of God that men become in any sort better, and that kind of wisdom is to the world, now more than ever before folly. We do not expect, or look for better days till Jesus comes.—Voice of the West.

Love to God.

By E. W. Darling

I FIND that my heart is prone to stronger affection for my kindred and earthly friends, than for my Heavenly Father.
And is it so, that that being should not stand first in our affections, who is the center of love and the source of affection? He created man for perfect holiness and happiness, and once tuned harmoniously as a harp, each chord that vibrates in his social nature; and when man was ruined by his degrading fall, he still yearned over him with a love we may not, cannot, comprehend; and his infinite wisdom devised a plan of salvation and pardon and sealed it with the blood of his only beloved Son; and now this pardon he offers to us, his fallen creatures, and desires, nay pleads with us to accept from him so great a favor, even remission of sins, and life everlasting, yea, and a home by himself of surpassing beauty, having an unvarying title and a blessed exemption from all encroachment of extortion, oppression or any evil.
Surely such a being can claim our supreme affection. And can it be that we are disposed to withhold our love from him? Do we imagine that we find an object more worthy of our affection? Ponder on these things. Let them sink deep into thy heart. Strive to change the channel of thy thoughts and thy affections, and let them center more on thy Creator.
What if an earthly prince should desire thee to cultivate a peculiar love and friendship for him and his, and promise in return signal favors; could you forget or disregard his desire? Would it not come to mind whenever you heard his name or saw aught of his? Would it not be the subject of pleasant thoughts through many successive hours? And will not the cultivation of love for so great, so holy a being as our Creator tend to ennoble and purify us; and as we come more to realize his greatness, the more shall we realize our own nothingness.
E. W. DARLING.

“It is All My Own.”

A MAN of wealth, living a stranger to religion and its ordinances, was walking and holding this soliloquy: “What a happy man I am! I have an ample fortune, an affectionate wife, and every thing to make me comfortable; and, what is more, I am indebted to no one for it. I have made it myself; I am independent of every one; it is all my own. Many persons are under obligation here and there, but I am not. It is all my own.” At that instant a sudden shower drove him into the nearest church. He went in, and just at that moment the minister arose and read his text: “Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price.” “What!” said he to himself, “this is a strange doctrine. But it does not apply to me; I am my own, and all I have is my own.” The course of the sermon exposed his obligations to God, and issued in totally revolutionizing his views and feelings.

Simplicity of the Bible.

“THE Bible was written for the people—the mass; and if God had not intended the Word of faith to be understood in a common-sense way, he would have prefaced the Bible with a dictionary, and have explained the nature of believing; but as there is no such explanation given, we infer that we are to understand it just as it is understood in ordinary language among men.” —Ladies’ Repository.
The foregoing commends itself to all the candid. Would that all might look thus upon the Bible. Much confusion and many fables would be removed from the minds of the people. The spiritual interpretations throw the whole Bible into a mass of jargon, that only serve to make the study of the Scriptures distasteful and unprofitable. In this way the enemy of all righteousness keeps the mass of the people in darkness.
How clearly developed is the sign of the last days, mentioned by Paul,—“They will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”—Ex.

"Is it the Best they Have?"

By Editor

BRO. SMITH: A friend has called my attention to an editorial of yours in the Review of Aug. 2, with the above caption. On reading it, I thought it would be right in the sight of the Lord to state a fact or two, for the benefit of yourself and readers.
First, The article of Prof. Whiting, published in the Voice of the Prophets, was called for by a friend who had some difficulty on the word Sabbath, as used in the texts quoted.
Second, The re-publication, without note or comment, in the Voice, was by the request of a friend, who saw your reference to the article in the Review, in connection with your reply to Eld. Preble. This friend sent for the paper containing it, and if we could not send that, to give it in the Voice of the West. As a single copy of the paper was not at hand, my agent having care of the office in my absence published the article from the volume, of course without my knowledge.
Thirdly, I have never seen or read your criticisms on Prof. W.'s article.
With the above facts now before you, you will see that you have unwittingly placed me in a false light before your readers. I cannot think you will let this remain as it is, in view of one of the commandments hanging before you, and so I ask the insertion of this explanation, as a matter of common justice. I am yours in Christian bonds.
J. V. HIMES.
Fentonville, Tent-meeting, Aug. 6, 1864.
We cheerfully give the above note from Bro. Himes. It is a good explanation of how the article came to appear, both in the Voice of the Prophets and the Voice of the West. But shall we understand from this that had he been at home, the article would not have appeared in the Voice of the West, and that the view set forth in said article, namely, that no one is to judge us in relation to the Sabbath, because it has been blotted out and nailed to the cross, is not his view? We could wish that his note had been a little more definite on these points.

The Sabbatarian Confounded.

By Editor

Do not be alarmed, reader; for we are confounded only in the estimation of an opponent, who thinks so, simply because he himself is not thoroughly posted. The Editor of the Millennial Harbinger says:
"Another circumstance that must somewhat confound the Sabbatarians, and the lawless observers of the breaking the loaf, may be easily gathered from Luke's narrative: Paul and his company arrived at Troas either on the evening of the first day, or on Monday morning at an early hour; for he departed on Monday morning, as we term it, at an early hour; and we are positively told that he tarried just seven days at Troas. Now had the disciples been Sabbatarians, or observed the seventh day as a Sabbath, and broke the loaf on it as the Sabbatarians do, they would not have deferred their meeting till the first day, and kept Paul and his company waiting, as he was evidently in a great haste at this time. But his tarrying seven days, and his early departure on Monday morning, corroborates the evidence adduced in proof, that the first day of the week was the fixed and stated day for the disciples to meet for this purpose."
So Paul departed from Troas on Monday morning! Indeed. This would be news to Paul himself, if he were here. No one will dispute that the departure of Paul was in the day time following the night during which his meeting was held. Nor can it be doubted on any better ground, that this meeting, being in the evening of the first day of the week, was on what would, according to the present reckoning of time, be Saturday evening; for as time was then reckoned, the evening was the first part of the day, the day beginning and ending at sunset. See Kitto, under the words, Day, and Lord's Day. Thus it was not possible, at that time, to hold a meeting upon the evening of the first day of the week, except on the evening preceding the day time of that day; and therefore Paul's departure was on Sunday morning, not on Monday morning.
This is about as bad as Justin Edwards' assertion, that Pompey, the Roman general, when besieging Jerusalem, took advantage of the fact that the Jews would not, on the Sabbath, hinder any preparations he openly might make for attack, and so spent that day, the Sabbath, "in constructing his works and preparing to attack them on Monday!" See Sabbath Manual p. 216.
Again says our millennial friend, "Now had the disciples been Sabbatarians, or observed the seventh day as a Sabbath, and broke the loaf on it as the Sabbatarians do," &c. Where or how he learned the practice of Seventh-day Adventists in this respect, we do not know. For our own part, we do not know of a single instance where they follow such a custom. Here in Battle Creek we break bread, as the disciples did in Troas, if breaking bread there means the Lord's supper, upon the evening of the first-day of the week, that is, the evening following the Sabbath, not because they did, for we have no evidence that that practice was customary with them, or was designed to be an example to other Christians; nor because this ordinance should be confined to any particular day; for there is no evidence that it should be, but if it should, how much more appropriate to observe it on the day on which it was instituted, commonly supposed to be Thursday; neither do we observe it every first day; as we have no directions as to its frequency, Paul simply giving us the indefinite instruction, "as often ye do it, ye do show forth the Lord's death till he come."
Having stated our practice in this respect, we will simply add, that should our meeting from our unusual interest continue till break of day, as did the ancient meeting at Troas, then upon Sunday morning we should go off upon our business, exactly as Paul and, and his company did.
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