p. 127 | Review and Herald, Vol. 26, No. 16. (9/19/1865)

Earlier text: Select Paragraphs from Bush's Notes

Governing the Tongue

THE Editor of the Earnest Christian in an article on "Governing the Tongue," has the following pertinent remarks on evil speaking. It may help some who hope hereafter to be found "without guile in their mouths." G.

"Evil speaking is a crying sin. Professing saints are not free from it. You meet with it everywhere. There is your blunt slanderer. He is open in his accusations. Everybody knows what he thinks of his acquaintances. He seeks to quiet his convictions that he is doing wrong, by quoting that maxim of the devil first uttered in hell, "you may as well say it as think it." Then there is your accomplished, sanctimonious slanderer. His manners are easy, and his words unctuous. He deals chiefly in insinuations. They are so artfully framed and accompanied with so many expressions of regret, that before you are aware of it the virus of jealousy, and distrust is rankling in your veins. His words are smoother than oil, but sharper than a drawn sword. Ye accusers of the brethren, do not ye know that God hath said, SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN. Is it not one characteristic of the man who shall gain Heaven, that he taketh not up a reproach against his neighbor? He may find this reproach going the rounds. Some one may leave it at his very door; but he will not take it up. It may lie there till it perishes, but he will not touch it."

Then let this evil speaking forever cease among those who call themselves the disciples of Christ. Do permit us to have confidence in good men. It is better to be deceived a dozen times a day, than to look upon everybody with suspicion. When you detect yourself about to say anything to the injury of another, hold in your tongue with bit and bridle. Keep it in subjection. Our words have quite as great an effect upon our own feelings as upon those of others. Talk wrong, even in sport, and you will soon feel wrong.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

A Son’s Regret

"WHAT would I give," said Charles Lamb, "to call my mother back to earth for one day, to ask her pardon upon my knees for all those acts by which I gave her gentle spirit pain."

Christian Benevolence.

By T. B. Upham

LUKE V, 36, 37.

Who is my brother ? 'tis not merely he, Who hung upon the same loved mother's breast, But every one, whoever he may be, On whom the image of a man's impressed,

True Christian sympathy was ne'er designed To be shut up within a narrow bound; But sweeps abroad, and in its search to find Objects of mercy, goes the whole world round.

'Tis like the sun, rejoicing east and west, Or beautiful rainbow, bright from south to north, It has an angel's pinion, mounting forth O'er rocks, and hills, and seas, to make men blest.

No matter what their color, name or place, It blesses all alike; the universal race. —T. B. Upham.

Short Prayers.

Much is lost in prayer for want of brevity. If brevity is "the soul of wit," it is no less the life of prayer. Christians are not always heard for their much speaking, neither does the value or efficiency of a remark increase with the length thereof. Length should be secondary to depth. Let us pray for what we need, do our errands at the throne of grace with as much dispatch as is consistent with propriety, talk to the point, and stop when our duty is done. Volunteer service is sometimes not only ineffectual, but positively injurious. Much may be gained by due observance of the miller's creed: "Always shut the gate when the grist is out."

Black Literacy Since the Rebellion

FORTY thousand negroes have learned to read and write since the rebellion broke out.

Obituary Notices.

DIED, at Knoxville, Iowa, June 25, 1865, sister Sylvia McPheter, in the 40th year of her age. Sister McPheter embraced the truth about six years ago when Bro. Cornell was in Knoxville with the tent. Although in poor health for some years, her last sickness was only about one week. A discourse was given by the writer to relatives and friends on first-day afternoon, Aug. 20.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

DIED, at Kickapoo, Wis., July 26, 1865, Bro. Palmer Kellogg, aged 56 years. He embraced present truth in 1860, lived an acceptable member of our church; and died peacefully, without a struggle, in full assurance of a glorious immortality at the resurrection of the just.

“He lived, his Saviour to adore, And meekly all his sufferings bore. He loved, and all resigned to God; Nor murmured at his chastening rod.”

THOMAS DENMAN.

DIED in West Fairlee, Vt., Sept. 1, 1865, Mary, wife of Amasa Hutchins, in the 66th year of her age. The deceased was my stepmother.

By this affliction my dear father is left lonely and sad. Though he does not profess religion, he has ever treated my views on the Bible Sabbath, and the immediate coming of the Lord, with great respect, and has often wept freely as we talked and prayed with him.

A. S. HUTCHINS.

DIED, Sept. 6, 1865, of dysentery, Otis Archer, youngest child of Bro. Calvin and Sr. Annie Kelsey, of Waterford, Minn., aged one year and six months. Funeral services by the writer. JNO. BOSTWICK.

Western Hygean-Home. St. Anthony, Minn. Sept. 10, 1856.

A Seventh-day Invalid Party Seeks Rest

By Editor

Journeyed, from this city, Thursday, the 14th inst., in quest of rest and health, a Seventh-day invalid party consisting of the following named persons: Eld. James White and wife, Eld. J. N. Loughborough, Sr. M. F. Maxson, and the Editor of the Advent Review. They were accompanied by Dr. H. S. Lay, recently by request from Dansville, N. Y., to which place they now direct their course. We have not heard as yet from the company, how Bro. White stood the journey, but trust the good hand of God will give them favor all the way. We hope also these over-worked and over-burdened servants of the Lord will share largely in the prayers of the faithful, while they are obeying that very important, but much-neglected, command of Christ, to "rest awhile." Mark vi, 31. G.

New York and Pennsylvania State Conference.

THE New York and Pennsylvania State Conference will hold its fourth annual session at Nile, Alleghany Co., N. Y., sixth-day, Oct. 13, 1865, at 9 o'clock A. M.

All the churches belonging to this Conference, and those wishing to unite with it, are requested to represent themselves by delegates or letter. Delegates are to be chosen according to the following ratio: Each church to the number of twenty members or under, one delegate, and one delegate for every additional fifteen members. Delegates will bring letters showing their appointment. Churches will be careful to send a written report of their standing, their losses and additions of membership during the year, and also the amount of S. B. fund.

Ministers belonging to this Conference will come prepared to present written reports of each week's labor, and expenses and receipts. These reports must state the number of meetings held, and where they were held, each week.

Brethren, in view of the solemn time in which we are living, and the awful scenes that are before us, and the magnitude of the work to be done to prepare a people to escape the wrath to come, and to stand before the Son of man at his appearing, let us come up to this meeting full of the Spirit and power of religion, having purified ourselves by obeying the truth, and being sanctified by the Spirit, be prepared to work in unison with God's people in the great duties connected with the closing work of probation. A general invitation is extended to all the brethren and sisters to attend this meeting. A special invitation is extended to Bro. and sister White to attend.

Delegates will please come prepared to settle up the pledges of the churches to the end of the Conference year, Oct. 1, that the Conference may be able to meet the demands against it.

A. LANPHEAR, J. N. ANDREWS, C. O. TAYLOR, } N. Y. Conf. Com.

P. S. As there are but few here to entertain the Conference, it is expected that all who can, will come prepared to take care of themselves as far as possible, by bringing bedclothes, buffalo robes, provisions, &c., for themselves and others. Our houses are generally small, but our barns will make up the deficiency.

Brethren coming to this place will stop at Friendship Station, on the N. Y. & E. R. R., eighty miles east of Dunkirk, and thirty-eight west of Hornellsville. As the meeting will be two and a half miles from the depot, teams will meet the trains on the 12th of Oct. to convey passengers to the meeting. A. L.

Note from Bro. Cornell.

By M. E. Cornell

Bro. White: The interest is still increasing in this place. About three hundred voted that they believed we had preached the truth, and about sixty decided to keep the Sabbath. We now have obtained one hundred and seven subscribers for the Review, and eight for the Instructor. One Freewill Baptist preacher and his wife have come out strong on the Sabbath. The friends here are about taking steps toward building a meeting-house. We stay here another week.

M. E. Cornell.

Norridgewock, Me., Sept. 16, 1865.

How to Preach.

By G.

ThE Rev. John Wesley, in a letter to a friend, bearing date London, Dec. 20, 1751, gives the following hints on what to preach:

“I think the right method of preaching is this: at our first beginning to preach at any place, after a general declaration of the love of God to sinners, and his willingness that they should be saved, to preach the law, in the strongest, the closest, the most searching manner possible; only intermixing the gospel here and there, and showing it, as it were, afar off.”

What a blessed thing for the world, if modern Methodists would remember and practice what their father said. G.

Soul.

By G.

The Hebrew word for soul is neh-phesh, and in the Old Testament has the following diversity of renderings:

It is translated, any—appetite—beast—body—breath—creature—dead—deadly—desire—discontented—fish—ghost—greedy—hath life—he—heart—hearty—her—herself—himself—life in jeopardy—jeopardy of life—life—lust—man—me—mind—mortally—myself—one—own—person—pleasure—self—slay—soul—tablet—themselves—they—thing—thyself—will—she will—would have it—yourselves.

Neh-phesh occurs eight hundred and seventy-three times, and is translated by every possible variety of terms except IMMORTAL SOUL OR DEATHLESS SPIRIT.

What do you think of this, gentle reader? Does it argue anything in your mind for the scriptural view latterly advocated? G.

Note from Bro. Hutchins.

By A. S. Hutchins

BRO. WHITE: Since our last State Conference, I have spent several Sabbaths with the Irasburgh and Charleston church. Most of our meetings have been encouraging, manifesting a growing union among the brethren. Our Quarterly Meeting on the 24th of June, was a profitable season. S. B. was renewed and entered upon with an encouraging increase of figures.

The first Sabbath and first-day in July, I spent with Bro. S. Pierce in Roxbury. On first-day, the meeting was held in the school-house in the district where Bro. Kendall lived; a good interest was manifested; the truth was spoken with freedom, and the brethren were greatly encouraged.

The next Sabbath and first-day, we were in Weybridge. In this section we found a few who love the truth, and are in sympathy with the people of God, and hope and pray for the time when order will be established in their midst.

On the Sabbath Eld Kenison, a Methodist minister, met with us. He spoke and prayed in the meeting, and manifested love and good will to us. He was much pleased with the law chart, and spoke of sending for one soon.

On first-day, by request of Eld. K., we spoke to his congregation. I spoke in the forenoon, and Bro. Pierce in the afternoon. The silent tear told the interest of some, as Bro. P. spoke on the signs of the times. Our interview with Eld. Kenison here, was very agreeable. We loved and admired the good spirit he manifested. A. S. HUTCHINS.

American Bibles.

By Editor

WE have just received a good assortment of American Bibles which we will sell at the following reduced prices, or send by mail at the same price, postage added.

Price, Postage. Diamond. Marg. Ref., Morocco, Gilt, $1,62 12 Pearl, " " " " Tuck, 1,55 20 Diamond, " " " " " 1,20 12 Pearl, " " " " Roan, Clasp, 1,20 20 ", " " " " Gilt, 1,05 20 ", " " " " Embossed, 0,95 20 Diamond, " " " " Gilt, 0,80 12

Appointments.

THE next Quarterly Meeting of the Mackford church, will be held the 21st of October. Members living at a distance will please take notice of the following resolution, passed at our last Quarterly Meeting:

“Resolved, That we as a church, request all of our members to be present at our Quarterly Meetings, if convenient; if not, to send in their written testimonies to the clerk, in time to be read at each Quarterly Meeting.”

By order of the church, THOS. HAMILTON, Clerk. Sept. 6, 1865.

I DESIGN to attend the N. Y. Conference appointed in this week’s Review. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Business Department.

By Editor

RECEIPTS.

For Review and Herald.

Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the REVIEW & HERALD to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should then be given.

A B Huntley 27-14, J Cady 27-1, J Ellis 28-1, M Rood 27-14, N M Sherburne 27-1, T H Hubbard 27-1, J Robarge 29-17, H McClenathan 28-1, A friend, for E H Kimmel 28-1. Each $1,00.

M M Nelson 28-5, M H Brown 28-16, R Stansberry 27-1, O Hastings 28-1, J W Landes 28-1, D V Winne 27-18, H Bunce 28-11, S N Smith 28-1, W N Brown 28-6, G Penfield 29-1. Each $2,00.

Mrs L E Huse 27-16, W Nichols 27-16, T P Fletcher 27-16, E Rackliff 27-16, S W Chapman 27-16, J Oliver 27-16, S Robbins 27-16, A Strickland 27-16, E. Veasey 27-16, W F Witham 27-16, W H Cummings 27-16, E H Churchill 27-16. Each 50cts.

A C Morton $4,50, 30-1, M Veasy $1,70, 26-16.

Subscriptions at the Rate of $3,00 per year J G Whipple $3,00, 29-1.

Books Sent By Mail.

G Kellogg 15c, M H Brown $3,00, A S Gillet 37c, J E Titus 37c, J H Sparks 37c, D R Palmer 37c, J P Hunt 37c, A M Gravel 37c, A M Crary 37c, B Auten 37c, E S Faxon 37c, A H Clymer 37c, M G Kellogg 37c, L Lathrop 37c, R Packard $1,25, A E Tallman $2,50, E J Bowman $1,25, A B McReynolds 28c, L H Winslow 25c, A E Stutzman $3,00, O D Washburne 50c, A Gleason $1,62.

Books sent by Express.

D M Canright, Vassar, Mich., $36,93. J W Landes, Mount Pleasant, Henry Co., Iowa, $5,25.

Cash Received on Account.

J W Landes $5,00, C O Taylor $2,00.

General Conference Missionary Fund.

Church at N Berwick, Me., $13,00. Church at Hartland, Me., $16,05. Church at Eddington, Me., $17,00. Church at Washington, N. H., $30,00.

Michigan Conference Fund.

Church at Vergennes. 0$2,00.

The Error of Guardian Spirits

By G.

The last issue of the “Family Guardian,” under the caption Sweet Thoughts, contains the following unscriptural, and therefore, reprehensible, sentiment: “Whenever we find our temper ruffled toward a parent in the family circle, a sister or brother, we should pause and think, that in some few months or years they will be in the SPIRIT-LAND, WATCHING OVER US, or perhaps we shall be there WATCHING OVER THEM.”

What a pity that the Christian world have so derogated from the path of truth as to be fed and comforted with doctrines which have no foundation in the word of God! And what a silent, but all-potent influence orthodoxy is thus exerting in favor of that execrable heresy, Modern Spiritualism. Whence all this jerking, and rapping, and tipping, and twitching, and thumping, and knocking, and peeping, and muttering, of a thousand and one half-demented mediums, but from this devil-taught doctrine, that at death we become guardian spirits. It is simply Satan’s first-begotten lie. G.