Earlier text: Sabbath Meditations. No. 5.THINK of Paul's description of the man of sin, how he should sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God, and even more than this, exalting himself above all that is called God; and then mark how strikingly this is fulfilled in the papacy; as shown in the following testimony from a work by M. Gaume. This work was approved by nine bishops and archbishops, and by pope Gregory xvi; and as a token of his appreciation of the said work, the pontiff sent him the cross of the order of St. Sylvester. The extract from the book reads as follows: "What human tongue can describe the dignity of the priesthood, and the greatness of the priest. The first man was great, who established as the king of the universe, commanded all the inhabitants of his vast dominion, who obeyed him. Moses was great, who by a word divided the waters of the sea, and caused the entire people to pass dry shod between its suspended masses. Joshua was great who said to the sun, 'stand still,' and the sun obeying, stood still at the voice of a mortal. The kings of the earth are mighty, who command armies, and shake the world by the sound of their names. But behold! There is a man still greater; there is a man who daily, when it pleases him, opens the gates of heaven, addresses himself to the Son of the Eternal, to the Monarch of worlds, and says, 'Come down from your throne, come.' Obedient to the voice of this man, the word of God by whom all things were made, leaves instantly the abode of glory, incarnates himself in the hands of this man, more mighty than kings, than angels, than the august Mary: and this man says to him, 'You are my son, this day I have begotten you; you are my victim,' and he allows this man to immolate him, to place him wherever he wishes, and he gives him to whomsoever he chooses. This man is the priest! The priest is not only almighty in heaven, and over the body of the God-man, but he is also almighty upon earth and over the mystical body of Jesus Christ. Behold a man is fallen into the hands of the Devil; what power will be able to deliver him? Call to the assistance of this unhappy man the angels and arch-angels, only Michael himself, chief of the heavenly host, conqueror of Satan and his revolted legions, they never will be able to sever the chains of the sinner who has placed his confidence in the wicked one; . . . the priest can do it. "Much more. Suppose that the Redeemer visibly descends in person to his church, and stations himself in the confessional to administer the sacrament of penance, while a priest occupies another. The Son of God says, I absolve you, and the priest says also, I absolve you, and the penitent finds himself absolved just as much by one as by the other." "Thus the priest, mighty like God, can instantly snatch the sinner from hell, render him worthy of paradise, and a slave of the Devil make a son of Abraham, AND GOD HIMSELF IS OBLIGED TO SUBMIT TO THE JUDGMENT OF THE PRIEST, to grant or refuse his pardon according as the priest may grant or refuse absolution. THE SENTENCE OF THE PRIEST PRECEDES, GOD SUBMITS TO IT. Can any one conceive of a greater power?" "Above all that is called God, or that is worshiped?" How better could Paul have described the pretentions of the man who puts forth the audacious claims here uttered. Could blasphemy go further than to represent a man as saying "to the Son of the Eternal, to the monarch of worlds, Come down from your throne, come!" and then affirming that he who made all things, instantly leaves the abodes of glory, &c., that God himself is obliged to submit to the judgment of the priest; and that the sentence of the priest precedes, God submits to it? Let us be thankful that this man of sin, this son of perdition, this arrogant usurper, this blasphemer of God, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, and this persecutor and destroyer of the saints of the Most High, is soon to be destroyed with the spirit of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming. In the Voice of the West, of Aug. 6, 1864, Elder Himes says, "Our work with others is that of a missionary—symbolized by an angel flying in the midst of heaven,—crying with a loud voice, 'The hour of his judgment is come.' Rev. xiv, 6." The angel here referred to is one of a series. Two others follow. It is familiarly known to the readers of the Review as the first angel's message. Another angel follows declaring that Babylon is fallen; and a third follows them warning against the worship of the beast, and proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then follows one like the Son of man, upon a white cloud, representing beyond a doubt the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven. There can be no question but that these messages are fulfilled before the coming of the Son of man, and are the last proclamations of truth and warning that precede that event. Eld. H. places the coming of the Lord in 1867-8. And as he has taken his stand so positively on the first message, that he with others, is now fulfilling that message, the query at once arises, where he will locate the other two messages, or in what he will make their fulfillment to consist. There is but a short time, a little more than three years at most, according to his theory, remaining for the accomplishment of these messages. What then will fulfill the message, Babylon is fallen? and what the other message, if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark, &c; here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? In connection with these messages other questions come up for consideration and settlement, as they are a component part of those proclamations, namely, What constitutes Babylon? What is its fall? What is the object of that message? What is the beast mentioned in the third message? What is his image? What is his mark? What is meant by the commandments of God? and what by the faith of Jesus? Many who will canvass Eld. H.'s title to the claim that he is now giving the first angel's message, will doubtless inquire, as they certainly have a right to, where and how these things are to be located and fulfilled, in the three years that intervene between this and 1867. S. D. Adventists have for some time fancied that they were able, on these points, to give a reason of the hope or belief that is in them. If there is a better, we are not the ones who wish to remain ignorant of it. Desiring More Than Bare Grace
HE that is contented with just grace enough to get to Heaven and escape hell, and desires no more, may be sure he hath none at all, and is far from being a partaker of the Divine nature. “DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COUNTERFEIT AND TRUE PROPHETS
By M. E. Cornell
Interesting Extracts. No. 8.
“DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COUNTERFEIT AND TRUE PROPHETS
Voltaire, “Many nations, the Greek, the Egyptians, &c., had also their oracles, their prophets, their nabim, their seers.” Jews' reply:—“Yes, sir, but does it follow, that because other nations had false prophets, therefore the Jews had no true ones? We think that counterfeit coin is not an evidence that sterling money never existed. It rather proves the contrary. Could you show in any one of those nations a body of prophecies so clear, so precise, so wisely written as ours? Could you vindicate their authority, and show the accomplishment of them as we do? Why are the pretended prophecies of other nations fallen into oblivion? Why were they despised even by those persons to whom they promised such prosperity and conquests? Why have ours been preserved for so many ages, and revered at this day, not only by the Jews, but by the most enlightened people of the universe? Is it not because the former have been convicted of falsehood, absurdity, and imposition, and that the truth of the latter has been demonstrated by an incontestable chain of events, which all the prudence of man could not foresee. . . . Alas, what relation can there be between the sublime doctrine, the pure morality, the noble generosity of the latter, and the ambition, avarice and blind fanaticism of the former? Do you see the Jewish prophets announcing to their people absurd and barbarous divinities? prescribing impure rites? requiring innocent blood? and ordering unfortunate children to be sacrificed by those very persons who gave them birth?” Letters to Voltaire pp. 277—279. Martin Luther says: The allegorical sense is commonly uncertain and by no means safe to build our faith upon: for it usually depends on human opinion and conjecture only. . . . Therefore Origen, Jerome, and similar of the fathers are to be avoided with the whole of that Alexandrian School, which formerly abounded in this species of interpretation. For later writers unhappily following their too much praised and prevailing example, it has come to pass that men make just what they please of the scriptures, until some accommodate the word of God to the most extravagant absurdities. Annotations on Deut. cap 1, Fol. 55. William Tyndale says: “No man dare abide the literal sense of the text, but under a protestation, if it please the Pope. Thou shalt understand, therefore that the scripture hath but one sense and that is the literal sense. . . . The greatest cause of which captivity and decay of faith, and this blindness wherein we are now, sprang first from allegories; for Origen, and the doctors of his time, drew all the scriptures into allegory, insomuch as that twenty doctors expounded one text twenty different ways. . . . Yea they are come into such blindness that they not only say the literal sense profiteth not, but also that it is hurtful, and killeth the soul.” Works, Vol. 1. p. 307. “Words, which admit of different senses, should be taken in their most common and obvious meaning unless such a construction lead to absurd consequences, or be inconsistent with the known intention of the writer.” Hedge's Logic. Answer of a Good Conscience.
By R. F. Cottrell
“The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter iii, 21. We hear one say, “I was sprinkled in infancy, and that answers my conscience,” and another, “I was baptized by affusion, and that answers my conscience.” It may perhaps be well to inquire how you know that you have a good conscience, for we read of some whose “mind and conscience is defiled;” also we read of an “evil conscience,” which needs to be “purged from dead works,” in order to serve the living God; and we are exhorted to hold “faith and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck;” and we are warned of some who have their “conscience seared with a hot iron.” Then the conscience needs to be brought to some test; and what is a better test by which to try it than the word of God? Some disobey the word, because they can do so and their conscience not condemn them. These test the word by their conscience. It were better for such not to have the word. It is of no use to them; and, besides that, it will condemn them in the last day. But when we are willing to do our duty just as it is revealed in the word, then we may trust, with an apostle, that “we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” But what do you understand by the answer of a good conscience? You say sprinkling answers your conscience; and, from this form of expression, I take your meaning to be that it satisfied the demand of your conscience, i. e., your conscience asks no more. But it is possible that the phrase, “answer of a good conscience,” in the text may not refer to what our conscience requires or demands, but to the answer, the response, or the reply that our conscience makes to what the Lord requires. Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh—not the washing of our bodies from dust and filth—but it is the reply of a good conscience to the Lord’s requirement. To illustrate the answer of a good conscience I quote a passage from David: “When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” The text calls baptism a “figure,” and says that it “saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” As a figure, then, it seems necessary that it should represent his resurrection and exhibit our faith in that great fact of the gospel. Hence Paul says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Baptism is an emblem of the burial and resurrection of Christ. The sinner, by repentance, becomes dead to sins, to live no longer in them; he is buried or planted in the likeness of his death, and raised up again from the watery grave, as a sign of his faith that Christ died and rose again, and that his saints shall be raised in like manner at his coming. Does the putting of a drop of water on the forehead of an infant or an adult bear any resemblance to a burial and a resurrection? Is it being planted or buried in the likeness of his death? This is what the Lord Jesus, in the gospel, requires; and he set us the example by being buried in the waters of Jordan, as is generally admitted. The answer of a good conscience to this requirement is, “Amen; I will do it; I will be buried as my Lord was; and thus show my faith in the great facts and promises of the gospel.” A good conscience answers thus; and does not seek for some substitute, that will, as they say, “answer my conscience.”
R. F. COTTRELL. Infidelity is Infidelity Still.
By R. F. Cottrell
MAN without the Bible is like a mariner upon a vast ocean without chart or compass, whose point of destination is utterly unknown to him, and, consequently, having no port to gain and no means of finding it if he had, he is the sport of every wind until he is wrecked in some storm or sinks to the bottom from a leak. And yet proud man, fancying himself immortal while he rejects his only hope of immortality, that which is brought to light through the gospel and offered to him through a crucified Redeemer, endeavors to philosophize away the dread reality of death, transform it into a friend—a most benignant arrangement to break the monotony of earth-life, and afford them a delightful transition to a higher life on the peaceful shores of immateriality, where pleasures never cloy and where the freed spirit, which is now puffed up nigh to bursting with pride, may expand to all eternity without danger of ever coming in contact with any thing else! While Satan has been persevering in his efforts to persuade men that the first lie he ever uttered to our race, namely, "Ye shall not surely die," is the truth, he has been equally laborious, and successful too, in inflating the mind with the other idea advanced at the same time: "Ye shall be as gods." Pride, self-exaltation, is the natural attendant of the doctrine of natural immortality; and this is a chief reason why men are unwilling to hear the Bible on this question. Their self-conceit makes them unwilling to learn the fact that they are "but men," but "dust and ashes," whose "days are as grass," whose life is "a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away." They think they are degraded—brought down to a level of the brutes,—when they are told that they have no immortality out of Christ: and this fact, appearing more and more apparent to the Bible student, furnishes a new pretext for discarding that sacred Book. Infidelity, which was wont, in time past, to deny the existence of God and consign man, at death, to blank nothingness, denying a future life altogether, has, in these last days, seized upon the popular fable of the natural immortality of the soul, and is battling against the Bible and its Divine Author, with all the assurance and audacity of conscious immortality independent of Christ and the resurrection. Instead of denying the existence of God, now everything is God, or there is a certain something or nothing called immateriality, which pervades every part of the universe, and this is their God—everywhere in general and nowhere in particular—a thing of naught—nonentity. It amounts to the doctrine of no God. But they themselves, in their fancied immortality, are the greatest gods they know of or care for; and they bid defiance to every power that would bring them to an account. Such is the full-ripe fruit of the doctrine of the natural immortality of man. Christian, pause and consider whether you are sustaining the foundation of this last phase of infidelity. All these Things are Against Me.
By A. P. Lawton
Thus spake Jacob, and thus many have felt and spoken since, who if their eyes were not holden would have seen, as he afterward saw, that God's ways are not our ways, and that he was doing the best thing for us. Who among us have not felt that our trials were peculiar? Whose sorrows are like my sorrows? We seem to forget that it is through much tribulation that we are to enter into the kingdom; and, like the children of Israel, we are finding fault with the way. How long will God's people refuse cheerfully to be led in his own appointed way? Why so slow to submit? Well may we apply the language of the prophet to ourselves: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." It is time we were one thing or the other, that the church may know her strength. We must be awake to the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the great contrast between the kingdom of darkness and that of light; and the fearful consequences of a spirit of rebellion, if things do not move in our own channel. This half-hearted, fault-finding, forcing of things to our terms, is displeasing to God; and Jesus and good angels turn from us. If we, like good children, learn to take things as they are, patiently submit and endure those which we cannot control, when God sees that we are taught the lessons he designed, he will either remove them, or make them tolerable. We cannot force God to our terms. He remains a perpetual fountain of goodness and purity; and when we, through cheerful obedience and faith, draw near to him, we may partake of that goodness and purity. Oh, how desirable! Comfort in God’s Faithfulness
THIS is the Christian's comfort, that though he have a faithless and unruly heart, yet he hath a faithful God, who hath the ruling of it. God suffers a Christian to be wronged, that he may exercise his patience, and commands a Christian to forgive the wrong, that he may exercise his charity; so that a wrong done him, may do him a double courtesy. Thus evil works for good. Christian Consistency.
By Jesse Hiestand
Our minds, unless they are stupefied by prejudice, must advance in knowledge. The discovery of new truth will modify old views and opinions. True Christian consistency consists, not in stereotyping our opinions and views and in refusing to make any improvement in truth or knowledge, lest we should be guilty of change; but it consists in holding our minds open to receive the rays of truth from every quarter, and in changing our views and language and practice as often and as fast as we can obtain further information. I call this Christian consistency because this course alone accords with a Christian profession. A Christian profession implies the profession of candor and of a disposition to know and obey all truth. It must follow that Christian consistency implies continued investigation and change of views and practice corresponding with increasing knowledge. No Christian therefore should be afraid to change his views in conformity with increasing light on truth.95Every Christian should inquire, Lord what is truth? and then follow where it may lead. Yours for truth.
JESSE HIESTAND. Blessed Hope.
By A. Lanphear
"LOOKING for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Among the multitude of professors of religion, how few there are, who are in reality looking for that blessed hope. Some tell us the Lord will not come in millions of years yet. Others tell us that he came at the destruction of Jerusalem, and yet others tell us that he never will come, only as he comes spiritually. But he is spiritually with us all the time. Oh, then where is our hope of future life? Paul says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." The resurrection from the dead is immediately connected with, and is dependent on, the coming of the Lord. If the Lord does not come, then there will be no resurrection from the dead, "and if no resurrection from the dead then those that have fallen asleep in Christ are perished." "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits: afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." At his coming then, those that have died in hope will be made alive. Paul says again, "Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. When? When the trumpet sounds. When does it sound? When the Lord descends from Heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel. Jesus says, "If I go away I will come again." I believe it. I rejoice in it. I thank the Lord for these comforting words, "I will come again," and can say with the poet, "Roll on ye wheels of time, and bring the welcome day." Looking for that blessed hope. Yes, blessed hope! glorious hope! Jesus is coming, and the saints will see him and be like him. There are a few that will ere long enjoy the full fruition of this hope. Who are they? They are those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, the class that Peter speaks of when he says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation a peculiar people." If we are denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and are living soberly and righteously and godly, and have been redeemed from all iniquity and been purified unto Christ a peculiar people, and are zealous of good works, then we may look with confidence for that blessed hope. We may have a good theory of the truth, and be very zealous in advocating it, talk long and loud about the beauties and glories which cluster around this hope, and yet fail at last for not being zealous in good works. The apostle says, "This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works." We must "be purified unto Christ." "Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure." We must be pure. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Be ye holy even as I am holy." "Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Oh, let us all "walk in the light, as he is in the light, and have fellowship one with another, that the blood of Jesus Christ may cleanse us from all sin, so that we may with confidence look for that blessed hope.
A. LANPHEAR.
Nile, Allegany Co, N. Y. Report of the Committee for the Month of July.
By E. S. W.
Two hundred new subscribers have been added to our list during the month of July as the result of the labors of our committee. The following list shows the names of the members reporting, and the number sent in by each, viz: One each. D. W. Johnson, C. A. Osgood, P. S. Thurston, N. D. Richmond, D. Hildreth, S. H. Hinsey, J. B. Frisbie, E. Ireland, J. C. Brown, S. M. Holly, Mrs. K. Bressler, C. C. Bodley, J. H. Rogers, J. P. Flemming, E. L. Bascom, J. Park, A. S. Hutchins, L. A. Pinkerton, T. Paton, E. Inman, Mrs. L. B. Webber, S. A. Mc Pherson, G. P. Cushman, M. H. Collins, S. B. Craig, Z. Brooks, J. R. Goodenough, Mary Churchill, H. Hoag, P. C. Rodman, A. R. Morton, N. Fuller, G. G. Rogers, C. R. Ogden, A. Hunt, A. Harmon, Josephine House, Esther Doty, Sister Gould, T. M. Steward, M. Lane, S. Conery, W. H. Snook, A. Mc Allaster, G. Cruzan, Lovisa Urquhart, A. Graham, S. Sellers, J. M. Santee, M. J. Babcock, M. E. Reynolds, C. Penoyer, J. Hiestand, A. A. Dodge, Betsey Landon, J. A. Wilcox, S. Robinson, G. W. States, L. Shellhouse, C. Jones, J. R. Ginley, J. N. Wilkerson, Mary F. Maxson, B. Armitage, A. Olson, L. Sheldon, H. L. Richmond, Eliza Nelson, L. Lathrop, and Eli Wick. Two each. J. W. Landes, Mary R. Tahor, Lucy Seymour, John Clarke, A. A. Marks, C. O. Taylor, W. T. Hinton, M. W. Stockwell, B. F. Snook, H. Kenyon, Harriet Hicks, J. N. Andrews, and R. B. Delap. Three each. W. S. Higley, Jr., A. Caldwell, A. A. Fairfield and L. M. Jones. Four each. H. Howe, J. L. Kilgore, P. Wilson and F. A. Dayton. Five each. S. O. Winslow and L. G. Bostwick. Thirty-three. M. E. Cornell. We congratulate our committee on their faithfulness and perseverance in the laudable enterprise in which they are engaged. Although we have not yet accomplished the object for which we were organized, the result of the labors of the past month show an increase over that of the two preceding months, which is an indication that the committee is yet alive, and that its members still have a mind and will to work. When we first entered on our duties, we supposed that we would have raised our list to the five thousand before this time; but we have met with unforeseen difficulties and losses which we have had to make good. Obtaining subscribers is something like enlisting men for the army. While recruiting is going on, the enemy is at work reducing the number on hand, so that enlistments have to be made, not only to supply the want at the time of the call; but to make good all losses in the mean time. Could we have retained what we had when we commenced our mission, we should now have very nearly the designated number; but through natural causes and in the several skirmishes which we have had in the "wilderness" of delinquency up to the close of July, we lost about four hundred subscribers, and last week on the same unfavorable ground we had what might be termed a battle in which we lost in killed, wounded and missing about the same number. Many of the wounded will probably recover and the missing return with "spoil" (Greenbacks) and again take their place in our ranks. By a masterly "strategic" movement nearly all our present forces are now securely entrenched within the impregnable walls of Fort Pay-in-advance, so that our mortality hereafter will be but slight; and with new recruits, together with accessions, by the recovery of our wounded, and the return of the missing, our decimated ranks will soon again be filled and we shall then be prepared for another "forward movement." A MAN'S most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions. CHIDE mildly the erring—
Kind language endears,
Grief follows the sinful—
Add not to their tears ;
Avoid with reproaches
Fresh pain to bestow ;
The heart that is stricken
Needs never a blow. Chide mildly the erring ;
Jeer not at their fall ;
If strength were but human,
How weak were we all !
What marvel that footsteps
Should wander astray,
When tempests so shadow
Life's wearisome way. Chide mildly the erring ;
Entreat them with care ;
Their natures are mortal—
They need not despair ;
We all have some frailty,
We all are unwise,
And the grace, which redeems us
Must shine from the skies. The Christian's Earnest Life.
By L. E. Dibble
Do the majority of us who are young, realize how earnest that life must be, to secure us an entrance into God's holy city? It is not sufficient to make a high profession of Christianity and self-denial, but we must be living embodiments of that profession. We must preach a sermon by our consistent course every day of our lives, to unbelievers around us, such a sermon as shall condemn their ways, and exalt the name of Jesus. Neither can we join with worldlings in their seeming innocent recreations. God has "chosen us out of the world" and these things are only a trick of Satan to lead us blindfolded into his snare, almost beyond reclaim. This dallying with forbidden pleasure, is dangerous, if not fatal folly, as many a ship-wrecked soul could testify. If we have taken up the cross of Jesus, let us bear it bravely and cheerfully to the end. The Master of the great vineyard will permit no shirks among his laborers. Oh! the great reward is far more than we can merit, work we ever so faithfully in his cause! It will seem a terrible thing to us if among the lost, to come up to the Judgment, and then look back and see for what foolish, unsatisfying trifles we gave up our crown and harp. Why can we not let go these earthly allurements and put all on board the good ship Zion? Too many of us have made some reserve, retaining some idol that we hope to smuggle into the kingdom with us; but "Be not deceived God is not mocked," and though we may deceive those around us and cause them to believe us far more holy than we are, yet God's all-seeing eye searches our hearts, and one day the secrets of each will be made known, and how we shall long to turn our guilty eyes away from the record, if our thoughts and motives have not been pure. Let us be wise in time and meditate much more upon our sins, and how to remedy them, than be studying upon just how few good deeds will serve for a passport into the gates of Heaven; that we may be among those who at the coming of the Saviour can say, "Father the pearly gates unfold,
The sapphire walls, the streets of gold,
Are bursting on my sight.
The angel bands come singing down,
And one has got my starry crown,
And one my robe of white." Reports from Michigan Churches
By J. B. Frisbie
BRO. WHITE: I visited the Sabbath-keepers in Winfield, and found the most of them holding on. Two or three had fallen off, and some five or six others have commenced keeping the Sabbath since. They have some good meetings. So many go out to harvest, and the hurry was so great, that we only stayed a week there. I returned to Greenville, where I met Bro. Strong, and found the people right in the midst of harvest, help scarce, and wages high. We therefore thought it not best to hold meetings till after the hurry, and went to work on the Orleans meeting-house, lathing and shingling. Last week we went to Bushnell and visited, and held two meetings, where I was two years ago. Found the people in the midst of haying and hurried; but we took an expression of the people, and they voted to have us come back after the hurry and lecture. I found one keeping the Sabbath. We are now holding meetings on Wolverton Plains, west of Greenville about four miles. The congregations are not very large, but they give good attention, and appear to be interested, and we have good liberty in presenting the truth. J. B. FRISBIE. Greenville, Mich., Aug. 1, 1864. Bro. A. Wattles writes from Troy, Mich. : I fell in love with the Bible doctrine of the second appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, twenty years ago; and never did I love the thoughts of his near coming more than now. I am all alone as to any who sympathize or even look favorably at this subject. No one seems to want to read a word about it. About one year ago, being at Memphis, I heard for the first time the Sabbath subject brought before the public and I turned my mind to searching the Scriptures and soon became satisfied that the seventh-day of the week was the Sabbath of the Lord my God; and since that time I have endeavored to observe it according to the direction given by its Author, I am disposed, thank God, to do his will as fast as I may know and properly understand it. I trust you will be disposed to overlook the errors of this communication from an aged trembling disciple, in hopes of putting on immortality soon. Sister M. E. Steward writes from Tully, N. Y. : I feel that God is with his truth in all its departments and interests. I am trying to live before unbelievers in such a way that I may bring no dishonor upon this blessed cause. How thankful I am for a knowledge of the Bible as it is; for a truth in which I have perfect confidence, and now my one great desire is, to be sanctified through the truth. Oh for a living and abiding faith that will lift me and stay me up at the feet of my dear Saviour. Though entirely unworthy and often cast down, I feel that I am not destroyed. Praise God! Jesus is worthy and God is able through him to land even the weakest of us safely in his everlasting kingdom. I mean by his assisting grace to go through. Sister E. S. Tenney writes from Alto, Wis. : Last Sabbath myself and family met with the church in Mackford in quarterly meeting, and truly had a refreshing from the presence of the Lord, such living testimonies as were given by the goodly number that attended, and such heart-felt rejoicing as seemed to run from heart to heart, while we partook of the ordinances which our blessed Saviour has left for us until he comes, I think I never witnessed before. May the heavenly flame spread until Christ's church shall become a perfect church, is the prayer of your unworthy sister. Bro. J. V. Weeks writes from Tabor : I have been receiving the Review for a term of years, and have always read its pages with interest and profit. No where else do I find the sacred truth of God's word enunciated and clearly enforced. May God speed on the glorious work, and prepare and keep us through these perilous times till the coming of our blessed Lord. Bro. F. F. Wales writes from Melbourne C. E. : I am still striving to gain eternal life. I feel to rejoice in the third angel's message. The truth looks more and more precious every week. My self and companion are determined by the grace of God to go through to mount Zion which is beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King. Yes; and there too is the river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Bro. J. Matteson writes from New Denmark, Wis. : I have commenced a course of lectures in this place. Some interest is manifested, and I hope the Lord will raise up a little flock here, who shall prepare to meet the Bridegroom. A CHRISTIAN minister was once visiting a botanic garden. As he was passing from plant to plant, he observed a very fine specimen of the pomegranate. On a closer examination, he perceived that the stem was almost cut through. He inquired of the gardener why this had been done. "Sir," said the gardener, "this tree used to shoot so strong that it bore nothing but leaves; I was therefore obliged to cut it in this manner, and when it was almost cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit." How many professing Christians are like this pomegranate before the gardener commenced the process which caused it to bear fruit! They bear the leaves of a good name, and a fair outward profession, but little or no fruit. Jesus, in his infinite love, has given them a name and a place in his garden of precious plants; but when he comes into his garden to refresh himself with his fruits, he finds only leaves on these plants. Jesus is a faithful and skillful gardener. He knows what to do with such plants. He will certainly cut the stems. He knows just how many incisions to make, and when to make them. He may cut to the heart of the stem, but he will never cut quite through. No plant in his garden was ever destroyed by an incautious use of the knife. I could bear any other trial but this, says the suffering Christian. This affliction cuts to the very heart. No doubt it does. It is the Gardener's knife cutting almost through the stem. “Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.” This department of the paper is designed for the brethren and sisters to freely and fully communicate with each other respecting their hopes and determinations, conflicts and victories, attainments and desires, in the heavenly journey. Seek first a living experience and then record it, carefully and prayerfully, for the comfort and encouragement of the other members of the household of faith. T. M. STEWARD
By T. M. Steward
BRO. WHITE: I hardly know how to report my labor this season, for it has been promiscuous. In June, I went to Columbus, and found Brn. Benedict and Hinton glad to see me, and willing to do all they could for the cause. But we did not succeed in getting a hearing in that place. I changed my location to a place in the country, where I had a fair congregation. I presented the claims of God's law and Sabbath. And one family decided to keep the Sabbath, and some others were interested, and I trust some prejudice was removed, and the way is open for a course of lectures this fall or winter. I spent one Sabbath with the church at Hundred-Mile Grove, and had a very interesting meeting. This church is advancing. Last Sabbath, I spent with the church at Oakland. This church is mostly Norwegian. They have built them a neat, respectable house of worship, a worthy monument of their faith and zeal in the third angel's message. I am now going to Dane to see what can be done there. I want to see the cause prospering. My present P. O. address is Lodi, Columbia Co., Wis. Pray for me. Yours in hope. R. J. LAWRENCE
By R. J. Lawrence
BRO. WHITE: I joined the brethren with the tent June 19, about one week after it was pitched in Ithaca. I found a good interest among the people to hear. We continued there about four weeks longer. The Lord blessed in the preaching of his word, and the interest increased to the close. Last Sabbath I met with them again. About eighty were present, old and young. Found those firm who had taken a stand on the truth; and others taking hold of the truth who had not when we left with the tent. The work is progressing there. There is a strong opposing influence exercised by the different classes of professed Christians and their ministers, which only has a tendency to open the eyes of the honest to see the spirit by which they are actuated. We have become convinced that God can take worms to thresh mountains, when the instruments will submit to be used by him. The Lord has been with us from the commencement. Bless his holy name! Pray for us. L. G. BOSTWICK
By L. G. Bostwick
BRO. WHITE: Since I last wrote I have been holding meetings at Wauzeka, Crawford county. When I commenced meetings at this place there was a great deal of prejudice against the truth, therefore I had to labor against much opposition. But soon prejudice gave away, and the people had a desire to know whether these things were so or not. I have given at this place fifteen discourses. The result I think will be good. Already some have made up their minds to obey the truth. At this place I sold about ten dollars' worth of books, and got three subscribers for the Review, and three for the Instructor. The interest is still good. I intend to hold some more meetings there as soon as I can. I receive calls almost daily to come and present these truths to the people.