p. 96 | Review and Herald, Vol. 10, No. 12. (7/23/1857)

Earlier text: THE LAW OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH

Opening the Heart to the Saviour

By Elsy Hough

From Sister Hough.

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: When Brn. Holt and Cornell came here they found us in a lukewarm state; but they came laden with many precious truths. It was cheering to the soul, and I can say their preaching was not in vain; for it has put new courage in my heart to travel on. I think there are many more that can say the same. My prayer is that we all may arise and come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with me."

O brethren and sisters, let us clear away the rubbish from the door of our hearts, and let the Saviour in; for he is knocking for the last time. O what a solemn thought. Since we have tried to open the door of our hearts we can truly say it is good for us to be at the house of prayer, it is good for us to wait on the Lord. It is my meat and drink to do my Master's will. Our Saviour says, Return unto me and I will return unto you, and heal all your backslidings. O what precious promises God has left for his children in these last days. Are they not worth living for? I think they are. I am willing for one to forsake all for my God; for when all our friends forsake us, God will protect us.

It is nearly three years since my companion and myself commenced keeping the Lord's Sabbath, and we can truly say we are not sorry. I think it is the best of all the seven. As I read God's word it shows me that our Saviour's work is almost done, and the seven last plagues will be poured out on this ungodly world; and who shall be able to stand? Those that have clean hands and a pure heart. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. O may we have our work done and well done. May we have our lamps trimmed and burning, that when our Saviour comes we can look up and say, "This is our God, we have waited for him;" he has come to wipe away with his soft hand the last tear from our eyes, and take his exiles home. Do not let us be discouraged; for we are just in sight of the prize. Those that hold out faithful to the end will obtain it. Wake up brother, wake up sister, and let us put on the whole armor of God, for now is the time. Let us call on him while it is to-day for we have no promise of to-morrow. It is my prayer that I may be one of that number that will stand on Mt. Zion.

"Farewell, farewell, to all below, My Jesus calls and I must go; I launch my boat upon the sea, This land is not the land for me." ELSY HOUGH. Rochester, Mich., July 8th, 1857.

JOSEPH NORTH

By Joseph North

From Bro. North.

BRO. SMITH : Your little sheet is a welcome messenger. I esteem it above all other papers combined. I still remain a believer in the movements of 1843-4, and I am with you in all the present truths. But I feel that there is much for me to overcome to be like the pattern. I want to heed the true Witness and buy gold tried in the fire, and white raiment that I may be clothed, and anoint my eyes that I may see myself as the Lord sees me. O that the Lord would help me to repent of my lukewarmness that the Saviour may come in and sup with me and I with him. By the help of the Lord I will strive in my feeble way to gain that inheritance that is prepared for the people of God: an everlasting possession that is undefiled, and that fadeth not away—the kingdom under the whole heavens. O what riches! what riches! I praise the Lord for truth! How important it is in this time of peril to understand the position we occupy.

"We want the truth on every point, We want it too to practice by; Do thou, O Lord, our eyes anoint, With a fresh unction from on high."

I am aware that the great day of the Lord is near, that it hasteth greatly. I want to be prepared to enter in at the door of the sheep-fold, which is by the way of the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.

Dear brother, be not weary in well doing. The Lord will reward you for your labors of love.

Yours in the blessed hope.

JOSEPH NORTH

Middletown, Ct., July 5th, 1857.

LETTERS.

By R. M. Thurston

"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another"

From Sister Thurston.

BRO. SMITH : Pardon me while I bear testimony to the present truth, through your most worthy organ of religious instruction and encouragement. My husband has taken your paper for many years, and prized it next to his Bible.

How often, the Lord only knows, has its humble teaching reproved my own unfaithfulness. I have had line upon line until my heart had well nigh become an adamant. Reluctantly I accompanied my devoted companion to the Tent-meeting at Mackford; trembling the while, lest I should be obliged to yield to former convictions on the Sabbath question. Truly the evidences presented by Bro. Loughborough, were so irresistibly convincing, that a still small voice beseechingly whispered, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."

How forcibly, how reprovingly, that simple injunction, "Follow me," sank into the deep recesses of my heart. Will my long-neglected Saviour give me henceforth apostolic faith and submission? Though my neighbors may call me a Jewess, and my friends think me deluded, I mean in the strength of Israel's God to search for light, as for hid treasures, also to walk therein, that I stumble not, neither become a block of offense in the way of him with whom I journey through life, hoping, hand in hand, to meet our dear Saviour in triumph.

R. M. THURSTON.

Marquette, Wis.

The Message Rising

Bro. J. S. Wager writes from Orangeport, N. Y.: "It cheers my poor heart from time to time to see the Review so full of communications from the little flock of God. It makes my heart rejoice to know that the message is rising. I believe it will soon go with a loud voice."

See Here.

By James White

God says, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." But the advocates of the seventh-part-of-time theory think differently. They would have the commandment of God read. Remember a Sabbath-day, &c. A seventh day is the Sabbath. They do not understand the term Sabbath-day, to refer to any particular day, but to any day you please—a seventh part of time.

But did Christ so understand it when teaching his disciples in regard to their flight out of Jerusalem? If he did, then the term, "a seventh part of time," may be used in Matt. xxiv, 20, instead of "the Sabbath-day." We will try it.

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a seventh part of time. If such a prayer had been answered, then they never could have left Jerusalem, and would have perished in its destruction. It would have been a prayer for their own destruction. What will our seventh-part-of-time men do with this?

J. W.

On the Re-building of Jerusalem.

By Editor

DEAR SIR: I want to know whether the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem could be completed before the 20th year of Artaxerxes the king, as Ezra's commission was in the 7th year to restore, and Nehemiah asks for authority in the 20th year of the reign of the king to go forth to build Jerusalem, which is 13 years after? As it is a clue to the seventy weeks, will not the difference in the beginning, make the same difference in the conclusion?

I. WALLACE.

Washington, D. C.

ANS.—The work Ezra was commissioned to do was not completed till the 20th year of Artaxerxes; but it was commenced in the 7th. Nehemiah did not ask for authority to complete, but for permission to go up and finish what Ezra had begun. As the 70 weeks were to date from the issuing of the decree for the accomplishment of the work, and not from the completion of the work, it follows that the period during which the work was being done, can have no effect on the ending of the 70 weeks. And that it did not affect their ending, is demonstrated by the epoch of the crucifixion, which was in the midst of the last one of the 70 weeks, according to the prediction, reckoning from the date of the decree given to Ezra.

[Ad. Herald.

Battle Creek Tent Meeting

By Editor

PROVIDENCE permitting, there will be a Tent Meeting at Battle Creek, July 25th and 26th.

Evening Lectures will probably commence in the Tent early in the week, and continue as long as may be thought best. Bro. Ingraham, Hutchins and Sperry are expected at this meeting.

J. P. KELLOGG, C. SMITH, J. R. LEWIS, D. R. PALMER, C. S. GLOVER. Tent Committee.

Tent Meeting in Ills.

By J. N. Loughborough, E. Everts,; J. Hart

PROVIDENCE permitting, we will commence Tent meetings in Genesee Grove, Whiteside Co. Ills. July 25th, and continue as long as may be thought best.

This meeting will be about ten miles north of Round Grove.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. E. EVERTS. J. HART.

P. S. Brn. who wish Tent meetings in Ills., Wis., or Iowa may send in requests to us at Round Grove Ills.

J. N. L. E. E. J. H.

Meeting House in Battle Creek.

By James White

We need a plain, comfortable house of worship very much, and shall doubtless have it completed this season. Our present place of worship is too small for our regular Sabbath congregation, which forbids extending invitations to our brethren in other towns and counties, to come and meet with us. The brethren in this place are generally poor, but ready to do their duty in the cause, at home or abroad.

We are credibly informed that Bro. Loughborough has to meet a report in Wisconsin that Sabbath-keepers are building a meeting-house in Battle Creek, at the cost of $3000. This the disaffected ones use as evidence that we are becoming like the churches. Poor souls. Somebody made up the story, and they love to report it. Now the truth is, that the brethren have only talked of building a place of worship, and have had no higher hopes than (by the aid of free-will offerings of brethren in the State) to erect a plain house which might cost $500. Such a house we need, we must have it, and have no doubts but it will be completed this Fall.

J. W.

TENT MEETING IN COLON MICH.

By J. H. Waggoner; Joseph Bates

WE commenced our meetings in Colon St. Joseph Co., on the 26th of June, and continued them over July 12th. One evening the weather was too cold and wet to meet in the Tent, but the Baptist House was opened for our use.

First a strong prejudice was excited against us, as it was very generally reported and believed that we were Mormons; but after a few meetings this was removed, and a feeling favorable to the truth succeeded.

On Sabbath, July 4th, a number of the believers from Burlington, about twenty miles distant, were with us, and remained till after the second discourse on First-day, anxious to meet again in the Tent, and hear more on those truths which have so rejoiced their hearts.

There were nineteen public lectures given at Colon, beside the Sabbath meetings, and beside four evenings occupied in the discussion of "Modern Spiritualism." A Mr. Hobart, who claims to have been one of the first converts to Spiritualism in this state, and who is a kind of evangelist and Missionary of that faith, has had, as we were informed, a standing challenge to all the ministers of that section of country. At the close of a discourse on Spiritualism we were challenged to discuss the following resolution:

"Resolved, That modern Spiritualism is sustained by the Bible."

Two evenings were occupied on each side. Though we accepted the challenge with some reluctance, as it is a manner of proceeding to which we are somewhat averse, we feel assured that good has resulted from it, as many who were before undecided in regard to the nature of that delusion, were fully satisfied by hearing the evidences presented for and against it. On three of the four evenings, the Tent could not contain the people; some we were informed, coming as far as ten miles.

The expression was very general that we had the truth, and especially in regard to the Sabbath; and but little opposition was manifested. The interest was good to the close. Four were baptized. How many have determined to keep the commandments we cannot tell, though from twenty to thirty expressed their determination. Amongst them were several members of the Baptist Church, who showed their adherence to the principles avowed by that denomination, by rejecting the Sabbath of tradition for the Sabbath of the Bible. Others who before made no profession, are now rejoicing in the "blessed hope." May the Lord help them to overcome, and obtain the reward. Rev. iii, 21.

Many procured books, expressing a desire to investigate further. Some who heard but part of the lectures we hope may be led by these to embrace the truth.

J. H. WAGGONER. JOSEPH BATES.

Hillsdale, July 14th, 1857.

Baltimore—Sunday Laws.

The Grand Jury of Baltimore, grieved by the rowdyism which disgraces this city, proposes to enforce a strict Sunday law on all classes of citizens. The press, a few papers excepted, lauds this resolve in the usual and stereotyped terms befitting such occasions. None, however, has one word to say against the injustice of forcing Sabbath-keepers to submit to the despotic will of the majority, and keep two Sabbaths a week. The many Jews of this city should not only not submit to that unjust and oppressive measure, but protest loudly and emphatically against it. Are we in a free country, or are we not? Are the constitution and laws a guarantee against oppression and injustice, or are they merely a dead letter, the milk-cow of lawyers? If the city fathers are unable to manage their affairs without doing a grievous wrong to their fellow citizens, let them resign, and let better men be elected. If the city fathers are not aware of the fact, that among those who disturb the peace of the city, there is no Jew, let them know it in plain and bold language. It is all right to be no demagogue, no office-hunter and no public crier; but it is not right to be imposed upon, and bear it with lamb-like meekness. Liberty must be guarded by vigilance, and injustice must be repulsed by sound argument.—Israelite.

Plain Truths.

By James White

THIS is the title of a Tract by H. L. Hastings, 49 Arcade, Rochester, N. Y. Price, 5 cts. single, $3, per 100. We give a good slice of the Tract in this No. We have a few copies and shall get more if wanted. J. W.

BOOKS.

By Editor

MILLER's Nineteen Lectures, and Litch's two volumes of Prophetic Expositions will be sent by mail, and postage paid for $1,00.

These are old Advent works, containing a great amount of truth; also some things which time and the light of present truth, have shown to be incorrect.

The "Sanctuary and 2300 days" by J. N. Andrews, not all sold. We were happy to find several hundred copies of this excellent work in New England not sold, which will supply calls till we can republish it.

Also we have collected a few hundred copies of "Refutation of the claims of Sunday-keeping," &c.

English Bibles. We have a few copies, and intend to get a large quantity soon, which we can send by mail, at the risk of purchasers, postage paid, for from $1,00 to $3,00. Particulars hereafter.

Review Bound in Board. Vols. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, in one Book, $3,00. Vols. 7, 8 and 9, in one Book, $2,00.

Charts.

By James White

We have recently received from Bro. Otis Nichols of Dorchester, Mass., the Publisher, a dozen Charts which we will send by mail without rollers, or by express with rollers for $2,00.

James White

M. E. Cornell's New Address

By Editor

The P. O. Address of M. E. Cornell is no longer Fremont, Ohio.

Books Sent

By Editor

BOOKS SENT.—W. Morse, M. T., G. D. Watson, Wis., L. P. Steere, N. Y., C. A. Osgood, C. W., M. L. Willard, N. Y., L. Chandler, Vt., Geo. T. Collins N. Y., E. M. Jackman, N. H., S. Howland, Me., A. J. Rawlins M. T.

Receipts.

By Editor

Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the "Review and 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.

FOR REVIEW AND HERALD.

L. M. Howland (for M. A. Sylvester) $1.00 xi,11. A. Graham 1.00,xi,1. J. F. Eastman 1.00,xi,1. S. Bliven 1.00,xi,11. H. Goble 1.00,x,9. P. Hart 2.00,xi,1. J. North 1.00,viii,1. L. Shellhous 1.00,xi,8. C. L. Palmer 1.00,xi,8. W. C. Castle 1.00,xi,8. M. H. Palmer 1.00,xi,8. D. B. Staples 1.00,xi,11. A. J. Rawlins 1.00,x,22. Dr. S. T. Finch 2.00,xii,9. S. Haskell 1.00,xi,9. M. Hutchins 1.00,xii,1 M. Borden 1.00,x,14. J. Huber 2.00,xii,9. I. D. Perry 1.00,xi,1.