p. 4 | Review and Herald, Vol. 41, No. 1. (12/17/1872)

Earlier text: The First Advent of Christ

Secret Societies.

By George I. Butler

It is surprising to a person who has given the subject but little investigation, to learn the number of secret societies existing in the country, and the amount of their membership, the wealth and influence which they possess. Not only in our large cities, but in our small villages and hamlets, scattered all over our broad land, are there representatives of these different secret organizations. As we go traveling from place to place in the towns, we have a very good chance to see the influence they possess. Often our meetings will be well attended night after night, when, all at once, from no perceptible cause, there is a wonderful falling off in the number of the audience. Anxious to know the cause, and learn the drift of public sentiment, inquiry is made, and it is ascertained that it was merely lodge night of the Masons or Odd Fellows, or some other secret society. It is not to say that a large proportion of the ministers, doctors, lawyers, and men of influence in every community, are members of secret societies. And people evidently think a connection with them a great assistance in getting on in the world. And no doubt this is so. In fact, this is the reason why individuals unite with them. They hope to make more money, gain a greater influence, or stand more respectably in the eyes of their fellow-men, by having the assistance of the membership of the lodge.

It is well known that the influence of our denomination is opposed to these secret societies. The two will not unite. And it becomes very soon evident when an individual joins himself to the S. D. Adventists who has affiliated with these secret societies, that he will soon give up his church or his lodge. And although we do not make this a test question directly, it may be questioned if we do not get more to leave these societies by the course we pursue than we should to follow the course of some other churches in refusing to receive any one who had any interest in them. The fact is, the spirit connected with these worldly societies is so antagonistic to the spirit of the present truth that the two will not work in harmony. Their secrecy and exclusiveness are contrary to the genius of the religion we profess. Their grips and passwords, gotten up for the accomplishment of the same purpose, which seem like a fragment of the dark ages of popery and monkish cunning, when it seemed necessary to cover up one's real sentiments and purposes—all are out of place in the religion of Him whose acts were ever plainly visible, and whose principle of action was ever to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Their oaths and penalties, which are either a tissue of unmeaning nonsense, designed to frighten the simple, and, as such, unworthy of sensible Christian men, or else containing threatenings which would be criminal alike against the laws of God or man to inflict, are, in either case, out of place and inconsistent for those to engage in who are looking for the coming of Jesus.

In these lodges, assemble from time to time all sorts of men to carry out the purposes of the organization. Here many a professed minister of the Prince of Peace may be found, who are supposed to be the special representatives of the Christian religion. In the same lodge, the leading infidel of the village also finds a home and a brotherhood; and it is a notorious fact, which I know to be a fact, that many a person of licentious character, and of no worth only the dollars and cents which he happens to possess, becomes a member also. Here, professed Christians, men of the world, unbelievers, profane persons, and in some cases, infidels and profligates, unite and form a close brotherhood, bound together by solemn oaths, and pledged to have a special care for each other, and each other's families. How can this be in harmony with the word which calls upon the followers of Christ to “come out from among them [the world] and be separate.” “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” * 2 Cor. 6:11-17.

It would be difficult to find a “yoke together” more closely than persons are in these organizations. What sort of an influence religiously will be cast by these weekly meetings of the lodge, where persons meet for worldly objects alone, and the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is a forbidden theme? Would it have a tendency to exalt one's spiritual aspirations, and make one love the appearing of the Lord more? It must have the contrary effect; and those who receive the present truth in the love of it, very soon find that the lodge is no place for them.

And, as I said, they either give up the lodge, or go with it and soon separate from the truth. The spirit of the two are opposite.

Of course, these societies profess to have very worthy and benevolent objects in view. They have a great interest, and care professedly, for the widows and orphans of their own members. But how about others? Does this distinction imply that they do not recognize the obligation to care for others in distress? If so, it is contrary to our holy religion; for that requires us to “do good to all men.” If they do also recognize this universal obligation, what is the use of all this lodge machinery to profess special care for its own members? We believe it may be easily demonstrated that the money spent in maintaining these institutions, would alleviate ten times the actual distress it does now, were it directly applied to purposes of charity, instead of going through all this lodge machinery, with its oaths, grips, passwords, and other paraphernalia. The noble principles of our religion embrace all the good there is in the professions of these societies, and infinitely more, and stand on a plane immensely higher. Why should the child of God come down to this low ground, connected as it is with so many undesirable concomitants?

I have made the foregoing remarks for the purpose of noticing some of these principles which seem plain and undeniable, not because I suppose the readers of the REVIEW are in special danger of joining the Masons or Odd Fellows. These great societies, especially the former, are the parents of many lesser ones which start up here and there with some professedly good object in view. These lesser bodies take their cue from these larger ones, so far as grips, passwords, and favoritism to members and secrecy are concerned. All over our broad land the different trades and professions are forming these secret combinations to help forward their supposed pecuniary interests. And it is well known that the great strikes in our large cities within the last few years have been caused by these societies, such as the Crispins among the shoemakers. The Trades Unions, and others, who combine together, and refuse to work, and hinder all others from work whom they can frighten or influence, unless they can get certain wages, or are permitted to call eight hours a day's work. This course, on their part, results in a combination of employers who unite to resist what they call exorbitant demands; and in many cases these causes have produced great distress among laborers, and unsettled some of the most important industries in the land. The tendency of society seems to be to thus combine, and contend, and engender passion, and in some cases mobs result, and lives are destroyed. Possibly this will continue till the tares are all bound in bundles, ready to burn. We do not believe those who are looking for the coming of Christ have any business in this work.

All through the West, a society called the “Grange, or Patrons of Husbandry,” is forming its lodges. Its professed object is to help the farming community, and protect its members from being obliged to pay such high prices for farming implements, and other things that farmers must have, and enable its members to sell its products higher than otherwise.

Its sole object, so far as discernible to the outside crowd, is a pecuniary one. It has its grips, passwords, and closed doors, where all kinds of men and women, such as form the agricultural community generally, meet to look out for the ways and means by which the members can make dollars and cents. Religion and politics are excluded themes, as these would have a tendency to mar the special union that is supposed to exist among this brotherhood and sisterhood, composed of professors of the religion of Christ, infidels, men of the world, profane persons, moralists, Republicans, Democrats, and Liberals. So far as I can see, then, there must be one place, at least, where Christians consent not to speak of that religion which should be higher than any other object in the world, for the sake of this brotherhood, composed of the above-mentioned classes, and for the sublime object of saving a few dollars in buying and selling. If this is not making the world first and Christ second, at least during the sitting of the “Grange,” I should hardly see how it could be done.

I think it would not be difficult to show that even in this one object of money-making, there is no certainty of the accomplishment of the object they have in view, any more than there is in the success of the Crispins among the shoemakers, or the Trades Unions, or the other societies in their peculiar vocations. All these classes are not going to get rich by banding together, seeing they are mutually dependent upon one another. If the shoemakers, for instance, should be enabled to command a high price for shoes and boots, and the farmers for their products, because of each class banding together, it would not be clear how this was going to benefit either class; and it is clear it would make it much harder for the poor who were not admitted to either society. It seems very certain to me that if the principle is carried out it must result in throwing immense power into the hands of a few leading spirits, who always control these secret bodies by means of the secret machinery placed in their hands. These rarely fail to line their own pockets, and use their power for their own aggrandizement.

But even if the hopes of the members of the “Grange” were to be realized, and they could make money faster, I still think that it is no place for those who are looking for the Lord. And I confess to some surprise, that so many of our old, experienced brethren, in different places, have felt clear to unite with this society. I feel certain they will meet with a spiritual loss in so doing. For my part, I should feel just as clear to join the Odd Fellows as the Grange. The nominal object of the one is even higher than the other. The former professes to have a special care for the widows and orphans of its members. The latter simply combine for dollars and cents. The former society is every way as respectable as the latter; and for aught I can see, its influence would be as favorable to religion as the latter. The influence of the Grange must be to increase the spirit of worldliness and money-making that exists now to such an alarming extent that I fear it will prove the eternal ruin of a large number of our members. It is this spirit alone that calls our people into it. And it should be a cause of great alarm with many that this spirit should lead them to associate together, under the protection of grips, passwords, and secrecy, merely for this purpose. Does any one believe a spirit of piety and devotion will be built up by such associations? Would not the influence and love of God in the heart, aroused by a good spiritual meeting, be chilled by the atmosphere of such an assemblage as I have previously mentioned, gathered for such a purpose? Have any of us so much spirituality that we can afford to run such risks? Let us remember that God's people are a separate and peculiar people; that they have renounced the hidden things of darkness, and are children of the light and the day. Being “yoked together” in bonds and oaths with all classes of worldly men for worldly purposes, does not look to me like the best course for those to pursue who are looking for the dawn of that day which must soon burst upon the world.

Geo. I. Butler.

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Dec. 3, 1872.

The New Volume.

By Editor

THIS volume of the REVIEW is offered to those who wish to send it to their friends on trial at an unprecedentedly low figure. Fifty cents pays for twenty-six numbers. The paper, containing no advertisements, is filled with new reading matter every week. The volume will equal over ten thousand of our large book pages. Such an amount of matter cannot be obtained for that price in any other way.

A special effort is to be made in this way to secure a larger circulation for the REVIEW, and spread an explanation of our views before thousands who are now ignorant of them. Of course in this enterprise the Publishing Association will expect the co-operation of all its friends, promptness in paying arrearages, promptness in renewing subscriptions, and interest in sending the REVIEW to their friends.

And we want the help of all who can aid with their pens. It should not be left with one or two, or any small number, to supply the REVIEW with matter. Correspondents have done well in times past. Shall we now have a little extra effort?

And, finally, after taking the paper, and paying for it for yourself and friends, and helping to make it better by writing for it with your soul filled with the spirit and fire of present truth, then pray for it.

The Error of Preachers.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

That the modern preachers are fast losing their influence and their hold on the people, is manifest to every observing mind. A leading religious paper starts off on this subject as follows:—

“It is a common saying, that the influence of the Christian ministry upon the community is less than it used to be. Undoubtedly this is a fact.”

Now what is the cause of this? The article goes on to state some reasons for it. Here is one which is well stated. It stands more in the way of the truth than any other one cause:—

“Further, a radical difficulty in much of our theological teaching lies here: the object proposed at the outset is to fortify the pupil in a particular mode of belief, rather than to make him a student and lover of truth wherever it exists. What would be thought of a school of medicine in which the professors aimed to convince the student that the existing modes of treatment admitted of no improvement? or a school of natural science, which treated the discovery of new facts as a fault? But theology—in its proper nature, the noblest and most universal of the sciences, the child of liberty, the lover of all truth, the leader of the human race,—theology has been manacled and guarded; and the first and last injunction to its votaries has been to stand still!”

That is it exactly. Young ministers are trained up to think that their fathers knew all the truth, and that what they put into their creeds is to be received as infallible; and what they did not believe and practice is to be condemned. Such will stand still and fight the truth, while God’s providence moves on and leaves them perishing in the dark.

But here follow some truths worthy of the attention of us all:—

“The trouble begins when in the theological seminary the student is principally taught in subjects which, to the mind of this age, have ceased to be living matters. The controversies of past generations last longer within the walls of theological schools than they do anywhere else. What, to the living mind of our time, is the controversy between Calvinism and Arminianism? or between the Substitution and Governmental theories of the Atonement? or the discussion concerning Original Sin? or Edward’s theory of the Will? or the Metaphysics of the Trinity? We do not say that such subjects should be ignored. They should be studied attentively, as phases in the mental life of the church in times past, and with a considerable influence on the present. But to make them the chief subjects of study, to equip and drill students with main reference to these, is like dressing soldiers in a mediæval armor who has got to face rifled cannon.

“Modern thought is handling with great vigor and boldness religious questions far more central than these.”

Why is it that uneducated, undisciplined, and inexperienced men, from the farm and the shop, will go out and move men, and do more for them than highly educated and well drilled men? It is not because they have more power in themselves, nor because ignorance is mightier than knowledge; nor because education cannot make a man more useful. No; it is because these simple men have hold of living, present truths, for which the age is ripe; while the others are dreaming over the dead issues of the past. Life is too short, and one man’s brains too small, to learn everything. Let us learn where God is at work now, what are the living truths of our own day, and then study them with all the might we have; get full of them, and then pour them out on the people everywhere. The more we study, the more we know; so much the more useful we shall be if we are only made alive by the energy of the living, present truth.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

“Wonders in Heaven Above.”

By D. T. T.

“I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke, . . . before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”—Joel 2:30, 31; Acts 2:19, 20.

Who has not watched with awe and wonder the shooting, shifting splendors that so frequently illuminate our northern skies, and sometimes overspread the heavens? Who has not been reminded by them of those glowing prophecies of ancient time, which predict and describe such strange celestial phenomena as the forerunners of the great day of God.

It may not be known to many that these appearances are almost peculiar to the present age. The ancients saw them but rarely, if ever; and there is scarcely any record of them in the middle ages. All our knowledge of them, previous to the Reformation, is vague and uncertain. In 1560, they suddenly burst forth in the sky, and became visible at London. It was their first appearance, and the alarm and terror they excited was very great. From this date onward, for a period of one hundred and fifty-six years, they were not seen more than ten times in England or elsewhere. Then in 1716, they flashed out again; but the oldest inhabitant of London had never seen or heard of the like, so seldom had they appeared for a century before. In this country, they were first seen about the year 1720. From this time on, they increased in frequency and brilliancy. Why this is so, science itself cannot tell. But we know that constant changes in the solar system are transpiring, and that all things do not continue as they were, despite the scoffer’s assertion. Consequently, the causes which produce this strange phenomenon could not have existed in the ages gone by, or they would have produced like results, and the aurora would have been witnessed by the Hebrew church. And as science now admits that the auroral flames result from solar action, and are most striking at times when the largest sun-spots are visible, the alarming inference is drawn that immense changes—how vast none can tell—are now going on in the organic structure and nature of that luminary. For more than three hundred years the northern lights have been a mystery and a marvel to the nations. Granted they are electric exhibitions incited by the sun, still the laws that govern their action are a mystery. A “wonder,” a marvel, is something not apprehended easily or naturally. The latest scientific authorities assert that men do not fully understand the aurora. God sees fit to shroud his prodigy in the unknown. He shows “signs in the sun,” and “wonders in heaven above,” before the coming of “that great and notable day of the Lord.” Wise men cannot explain these mysteries, and the world is left to wonder at the works of God.

Four hundred years ago, then, men never recorded the aurora as appearing at any time. Luther never saw them—never named them. Now the Encyclopedia informs us that “no period has furnished more brilliant displays of the aurora than the last hundred years.” We are also told that while at Havana, Cuba, only six have been recorded in a century; and at latitude 40° N., only ten are seen annually; yet at 42° the average number is twenty a year, at about 45° it is forty a year, at 50° there are eighty displays every year, while from this to 62° the auroras are witnessed almost every night. Thus it is shown that they are seen in their rarest beauty in those countries where the most civilized and Christian nations reside. The years of their grandest display in these latitudes were 1827, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1839, 1841, 1859, and 1870. That of 1837, on the night of the 25th of January, was the most alarming I ever beheld. Up toward a coronal at the zenith, clouds of red fire rolled and tumbled, until the entire space of the sky, north, south, east, and west, resembled a sheet of flame. I know of Christian ministers and churches who unhesitatingly pronounced it a sign of the day of God. The display of November 14, the same year, tinged all the heavens with blood and flame, creating a false alarm of fire in the city of New Haven, and in other places; and fire-companies, with engines, paraded the streets in much consternation. Sep. 5, 1839, at London, they were seen to assume all the appearance of a tremendous conflagration, putting on a hue of intense brightness, or clothed with crimson, with fiery clouds rolling over and over, and accompanied by myriads of falling stars. All London saw the terrible sight, and the people imagined there was a great fire in the city. Every engine in the vast metropolis was horsed and galloped to the supposed scene of destruction, followed by great mobs frantic with excitement.

The exhibition of Oct. 20, 1844, was very wonderful to behold. On that night I saw the knees of terror smite together, and the scoffer seek at once the place of prayer, on viewing with amazement God’s wonders written on the trembling sky. Aug. 28, 1859, they were seen from California east to Russia, and from the West Indies north to unknown regions in British America. Five days later, September 2, the aurora was visible all over the northern hemisphere, in America, Europe, and Asia, being witnessed by millions of people.

The brilliant displays of 1870, said to have been more numerous than in any preceding year, were October 14, 23, and 24, visible from ocean to ocean, and from continent to continent in all northern lands. In Italy, the people of Florence and Rome beheld their crimson flashes and said it was a token of more wars and bloodshed in Europe. In the first ten months of 1870, there were witnessed over fifty remarkable displays in our latitudes, where the usual number in the whole year is but forty. No pen or tongue can describe their endless colors, their fantastic forms, their flashing splendors, nor the crimson glories of these celestial hosts arranged in panoplies of light, and marching, and gleaming, and dancing, athwart the heavens in shapes of blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. It seemed as if the visions of Pollok had become a reality, and the celestial concave which had but a little before looked serene,

“Now glowed like an oven, with God’s displeasure hot.”

And did not science rob them of their terrors, and familiarity with the sight of these mystic flaming wonders prove their harmlessness, the whole world would bow reverently before the marvelous spectacle, and awed by their beauty and grandeur, exclaim with one voice, This is the finger of Deity!

There is no resisting the conclusion that these electric coruscations are the strict fulfilment of Joel’s prediction. And if modern science had not become practically atheistical to all divinely-revealed events, it would at once behold the hand of the Maker of the universe in these wonders, and openly acknowledge their relation to the prophetic word, and to the coming day of the Lord. But while scientific men admit their utter inability to explain these magnificent phenomena, they leave God out of the world which he has made, and ignore the working of his hand and the fulfillment of his word. And not only the scientific but the religious press, busy with trifles and occupied with worldly affairs, sees no tokens of divine power and providence, and no signs of prophetic fulfillment in these marvels which are blazoned on the nightly heavens.

Alas, the virgins are all asleep, and the midnight hour approacheth!

Ho! ye dwellers by the Golden Gate on the shores of the broad Pacific, ye denizens of all the frigid wilds of Siberia, ye who roam beneath a tropical sun, ye who toil beneath a burning southern sky, ye who live and die at Rome, and Paris, and in all the wide, wide world’s thronged haunts, or on its valleys broad; ye sorrowful, ye suffering, ye oppressed, ye dying, look up! Look up and see how beautiful, how brilliant, how sublime are the Bridegroom’s signals on all the starry midnight sky! View his flame-painting on the azure blue, the token alike of his wrath against sin and his love for his chosen in every place and nation! It is the fire-flashing of but one of his servants, the glorious orb of day; what then will be the visible splendor of his myriads of angels of light! Lo, there are the couriers of the King who rideth in chariots of fire on wheels of flame; whose flashing robes are brighter than the crimson aurora, more brilliant than the gleaming lightning, and more dazzling than the noon-day sun. Behold he cometh with clouds—a fiery stream issues and comes forth from before him—a fire devoureth at his feet! The heavens are bowed with the burden of the Godhead, and the mighty, the glorious day, the day for which all other days were made, has broke! My soul, prepare to meet the Judge!—D. T. T., in The Christian.

Nursing Troubles.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Some persons spend all their lives nursing troubles as carefully as a mother would a sick baby. I know of just such persons, always whining, complaining, fretting, over—what? some little ache or pain, or imaginary trouble. Nothing but supreme selfishness is at the bottom of it. They have no burden for others. Self occupies all their thoughts and attention. Their lives are just the opposite of Christ’s. They forget all else but self. Poor deceived souls! They live in a perfect hell here, and will fare worse still in the world to come. Of them a writer says:

“Some people are as careful of their troubles as mothers are of their babies; they cuddle them, and rock them, and hug them, and cry over them, and fly into a passion with you if you try to take them away from them; they want you to fret with them, and to help them to believe that they have been worse treated than anybody else. If they could, they would have a picture of their griefs in a golden frame, hung over the mantle-shelf for everybody to look at. And their griefs ordinarily make them selfish—they think more of their dear little trouble in the basket and in the cradle than they do of all the world besides.”

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Galesville, Wis.

By D. Downer

Since my last report, I have attended the quarterly meeting at Monroe. Our meeting there was characterized by solemnity. I believe I have never more enjoyed a quarterly meeting than I did this one with them. May the Lord help them to redeem the pledges made while there. I then attended our general meeting at Burns, Wis. We all enjoyed the meeting, and promised the Lord to live more humble lives in future. The weather being stormy, our meetings were thinly attended. We hope for better days for the little company at Burns.

I have been taking some rest for two weeks, or rather physical exercise, which is certainly improving my health.

Let us one and all press on, and by our humble walk and works of kindness and love, show to a scoffing world that we believe our faith to be true; not drifting into the fashions of the world, which are ruinous to our prosperity as Christians. Let us remember that, prepared or unprepared, the terrible day of reckoning will soon come. Then who of us will be able to stand.

D. DOWNER.

Wis., Dec. 5, 1872.

True Ambition.

By A. M. Lindsley

Is it not strange that man, with the capacities for action and enjoyment with which he is endowed, should so demean himself as to sink almost to the level of the brute? Formed for a period of existence co-equal with his Creator, so organized, that using his powers as they were given to be used, he may enjoy himself here, and lay a foundation for a glorious hereafter, strange that he should grovel, satisfied to live the life of the beast, and, at the last, die his death, with no hope, or wish even, to prolong his existence. Such is the power of Satan to lull us to sleep. And should we be in a measure aroused by the voice of warning sent by the Spirit of God, how natural to again sink with drowsy slumber to inaction, and thence to indifference. God’s love to us in sending his Son to pass through sorrow and suffering for our sake, to redeem us from death, is comprehended by but few, and that few, perhaps, in but a small ratio to what they might realize should they make the efforts that Enoch, and faithful ones such as he, must have made.

Nothing but a true ambition to make life a success, to honor and glorify God, will lead us to the use of those means by which we may overcome. To do this, we must deny self all the way along, be willing to die to the petty ambitions of earth, and that honor that comes from man only, struggling against our natural depravity, with our eyes ever lifted upward, looking by faith to those things which are not seen, which are eternal.

I often think of the words of the weeping prophet, so applicable to this time. Jer. 6: 10: “To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.” How true now, when of all times the most important, that it is so hard to make an impression on hearts, because they are so imbedded in unbelief and indifference! Truly we are fallen upon perilous times. Suffering, sin, and death, make up the burden of life. Can we do aught but cry, How long, O Lord! how long? Come, Lord Jesus, O come quickly, and cut short this night of error and gloom!

A. M. Lindsley.

WHY STAND YE HERE ALL THE DAY IDLE?

By M. W.

How few are the laborers toiling for God, Yet how vast is the field, and the harvest how great; The calling so glorious, so rich the reward, Yet idlers, with talents abundant, still wait. The time is so short we have nothing to do! Though the time of trouble we've yet to pass through.

Why stand ye here all the day idle? he said, Go work in my vineyard, there's labor for all. Ye shall have what is right,—my children need bread; Then give of your substance, and help me to call Them out from the wilderness into my fold; My reward is a crown of bright jewels and gold.

If time be so short, then haste thee away. Dear brother, dear sister, go work at your post, Go sacrifice all, and your vows humbly pay, Redeeming the time you have heretofore lost. Give the Lord all you have, all you are, and be blest. Share with Christ of his sufferings, then of his rest.

M. W.

Report of Labor.

By R. F. Cottrell

In my last report I mentioned beginning a series of meetings in Farmersville, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. There were some encouraging features there, but I was obliged to leave the field for the present, for want of a place to occupy continuously for meetings. The two meeting-houses in the village were both undergoing thorough repairs, so that both the Baptists and Methodists had no place for their meetings at present but the school-house. I had the privilege of the school-house when not occupied for other meetings, religious, political, or literary, but the vacant evenings were few; therefore, after attending the T. and M. Society's meeting at East Otto, I returned to Ridgeway, N. Y. Here I have found an opening, and begun a series of lectures at Oak Orchard under circumstances as favorable, and with as good an interest, as could reasonably be expected. Have had four meetings, and intend to continue, if the interest holds good, till the present truth is fully presented. May God give success. R. F. COTTRELL.

I. SANBORN

By I. Sanborn

Wisconsin.

I have not been permitted to labor continually in the good cause since the last Conference until four weeks ago, on account of the affliction in my family. But through the mercy and goodness of God, the cause of the hindrance is so far removed that I am at liberty again, and my health is good, and I am free in the Lord. I am sure I have never labored in this good cause with so much liberty and courage as at present. I commenced meetings the fifth of November, about seven miles south-west of Albany, Green Co., and continued two weeks, which encouraged the brethren and sisters of the Albany church, as some of their neighbors decided in favor of the truth.

I have now just filled my appointment at the Chelsea meeting-house in Illinois, five miles south-west of Nora. I spoke there thirteen times, which seemed to encourage the brethren and sisters very much. And notwithstanding the horses are nearly all sick with the epizootic, a few of the neighbors attended all the week and became much interested, and one decided to keep the Sabbath, while others are almost persuaded; and as the brethren have organized a missionary society, they now have a good chance to follow up the interest of this meeting. Bro. Decker is with me as a helper, and renders me valuable assistance.

There are several splendid openings here in Jo Daviess Co., Ill., that ought to receive attention as soon as possible. I am satisfied that two good churches might be raised up within a few miles of Chelsea, in a few weeks, by faithful labor. How my soul is stirred while I see the people perishing for the bread of life. Where are the twenty licensed men of Wisconsin and Illinois? and what are they doing? I heartily indorse the decision of the Michigan Conference Committee, that six months’ time is enough for any man to prove his calling to the ministry; and this is the very best time in the year for that work. Who will prove his calling before the next camp-meeting? May the Lord direct, is my prayer.

I. SANBORN

Will they Tell the Truth?

By P. Strong

In the Grand Traverse M. E. Ministerial Association, held at Old Mission, Nov. 12, among the different subjects advertised to be preached on, were: The Sabbath, Modern Adventism, Origin of the Jewish Sabbath, and Immortality of the Soul.

After reading the above, I was led to ask myself a few questions: Will they give these subjects a fair and candid scriptural exposition before their Conference? And why such a general move against these subjects? I am quite certain that truth and fairness will not be used on all points.

In company with Bro. Milk, I came into Traverse region last summer and presented the claims of the Sabbath. A number have decided to obey, and there is a prospect of forming a small church, for which I feel very grateful to God. But these ministers appear to view obedience to God’s law as the work of the enemy. Eld. Bathrick (the one selected to preach on the Sabbath), plainly contradicted Eld. Steel (a brother preacher) last fall, and both contradicted the Bible. How then can they be expected to tell the truth before a Conference of ministers?

I will give a few of the positions Eld. Bathrick took last fall:— “We can’t tell anywhere near where God blessed the day.” “We will have to conclude by inferences.” “Reason and Scripture teach that the Sabbath was instituted on the first day of time.” “I am not willing to admit that the creation Sabbath was the Jewish, and chronology says so.” “We are no where commanded to keep the seventh day.” “Christ’s resurrection was the anniversary of creation.” “Do not ask, then, for a thus saith the Lord, to prove that redemption is greater than creation.” “It is impossible to keep the seventh day.” “I would rather go into kissing a long row of ladies than do that!—hunt for a first-day text.” “God has blessed the first day of the week.” “Shall we consent to re-instate that old institution, that by this time stinketh?”

These are only a few of the hard sayings that he used against God’s holy law, which course his own discipline condemns. Can we expect then that these subjects will have a truthful canvass before the Conference? No. But what will their preaching have a tendency to do? To those that love to have it so, it will shut their eyes and hearts against the claims of God’s law, and the advent of his Son. And when the Sabbath test is made at the polls, this class will be ready to vote for a Sunday Sabbath.

As for Modern Adventism, we confess to just what Paul did, and no more. Acts 24:14: “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets.” If they can say this in truth, and practice it toward those that are trying to obey all God’s law, and get ready to meet his Son when he comes, then we can work together in the great harvest field to build up the kingdom of grace, and prepare a people to be translated from the kingdom of grace to the kingdom of glory.

P. STRONG.

Watching Thoughts, Tempers, and Tongues

WHEN we are alone we have our thoughts to watch; in our families, our tempers; and in society, our tongues.

Dress Plainly.

SOME one has given the following reasons why people should dress plainly on Sunday. These reasons are as valid any other day in the week. Here they are:—

It would lessen the burden of many who now find it hard to maintain their places in society.
It would lessen the force of the temptations which often lead men to barter their honor and honesty for display.
If there was less strife in dress at church, people in moderate circumstances would be more inclined to attend.
Universal moderation in dress at church would improve the worship by the removal of many wandering thoughts.
It would enable all classes of people to attend church in unfavorable weather.
It would lessen, on the part of the rich, the temptations to vanity.
It would lessen, on the part of the poor, the temptation to be envious and malicious.
It would save valuable time on the Sabbath.
It would relieve our means from a serious pressure, and thus enable us to do more for good enterprises.

Continue reading: More Signs