The man who has not backbone enough to keep his expenses within his income is too pusillanimous to merit success. He is bankrupt before he starts in business. If you cannot save something out of a small salary you cannot out of a large one. The habit of saving must be formed before any increase of salary can do you any good. If you cannot live within your means on a small salary, a large one will only prove a curse to you. You think, perhaps if you do not dine at the Maison Doree, if you refrain from cigars, billiards, theatres and operas, you are a pattern of economy. You may be very far from it. You may be a spendthrift without any of these. If your income is small, true economy will lop off many things that seem necessaries. As a nation we spend too much money. It is time for us all to get back to the simpler habits of twenty years ago. Then two men that we have now in mind, rich and successful, began as errand boys at $2.50 a week for the first year, with a small annual increase, that after seven years of faithful apprenticeship barely brought their wages up to $7 a week. A millionaire of Chicago, and not long since the great dry goods merchant of Lake street, began loaning his employer small sums saved from just such a pittance as this. At that time white beaver hats were in vogue among gentlemen. He and his brother managed to make one such hat do for both. Of course when one went to church, or an evening party, the other did not. Two other successful business men of this city were about the same time preparing for college. They roomed together, and in order to live within their means boarded themselves. They bought milk, butter, meat, corn meal and vegetables at low prices in those days, and cooked them in their room to suit their taste, and lived well. How much do you think it cost them? Just thirty-seven and a half-cents a week each. Think of that, you young men who feel that you have cheated your epigastrum if you dine once or twice on that sum!—“No young man of spirit will pinch himself in that way,” you exclaim, “It’s unmanly.” Not a bit of it. It is unmanly to live beyond your means. If bare floors and the simplest necessities are all your means will allow, to accept the situation cheerfully will be evidence of the highest type of manliness, and to do otherwise is to be either a beggar or a scoundrel. We advocate no stingy, narrow, sordid or miserly views, but if you wish to succeed in business, and maintain your self-respect, then we say first, last, and all the time, live within your means.—Exchange.
CONVERSATIONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. NO. 4.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Min. Good evening, brethren. Now we will resume our conversation. I think of nothing special myself, but if any one has anything on his mind, speak on.
Bro. D. Has sister White ever had a testimony for you, personally?
Min. She has not, though I am acquainted with many individuals for whom she has had testimonies. Many of them have been very striking indeed. I have been in this section some time, and have become pretty well acquainted with individuals and things. When sister White came she had testimonies for different individuals. She bore these testimonies without asking questions of any one, whether the things she was about to say were correct or not. She has invariably told facts in the case plainer than any one else who was familiar with the person and circumstances could have told them. This has not been once or twice. She has repeatedly had testimonies and delivered them to persons in public meetings the first time she ever saw them, and even before she knew their names.
Bro. D. But has she never made any mistake? Has she never applied to one individual what belonged to another?
Min. No; for if she had, this would be one great evidence that her testimonies were not of the Lord. Think of it a moment. She has had visions for twenty years, or more, and has borne her testimonies in public and in private, by word and by writing to hundreds and even to thousands of individuals, all through the Northern States. She has reproved public sins and secret sins. She has had these testimonies for friends and foes; yet in all these times and numberless testimonies no one has ever convicted her of making a wrong statement. We must suppose her to be a wonderful person indeed, to do all this without the help of the Lord.
Bro. D. Yes, I have thought of this, and it has had a good deal of weight on my mind.
Sr. G. Sister White had a testimony for me, which I bear witness is every word of it truth; yet she had no opportunity of knowing with regard to it. I have the strongest faith that her testimonies are from the Lord. She has reproved me for wrongs, and her reproof has done me good, and drawn me nearer to God, and made me a better Christian. I ask, brethren, if Satan would do this kind of work? Would not Satan rather rejoice to see us go on in wrong? Does he reprove people for doing wrong? Does he not rather speak smooth things, and cover up errors?
Sr. P. I can heartily endorse all that Sr. G. has said. Sr. White had a very cutting reproof for me, yet I now thank God for it, and believe that it has done me more good than anything else could have done.
Bro. L. I can bear the same testimony with these sisters. Her testimonies have been of great value to me. Not because they have flattered me, and led me to be self-exalted, but on the contrary, have pointed out to me my wrongs, and by the grace of God enabling me, I mean to put them away.
Bro. R. Now brethren, it is very evident to us all that Satan does not do this kind of work. What, but a love of the truth and the fear of God could lead sister White to reprove and rebuke her best friends as she often does at the risk of making them her enemies. False prophets always flatter and praise their followers so as to get influence; but those who are sent from God have an opposite work to do.
Bro. R. I have also thought of this idea, namely, that from the very beginning sister White has written out and published, and scattered abroad to friends and foes, her visions and testimonies. If she had been a designing woman, then if she had made up these testimonies herself she would not have dared to do this; for it would have been dangerous to commit her visions to print, for then there soon would have been contradictions between different testimonies, and her enemies would have readily discovered it. But she manifestly has no fears in this respect. This is not the way imposters do.
Min. Well brethren and sisters, we have had a pretty free talk about this matter, and I have felt a deep interest in it. For my part I am satisfied that they cannot be separated from the work of God in these last days. Whoever has attempted it has invariably lost the love of the truth out of their hearts. My experience has been, that when I had the most confidence in the visions then I had the most confidence in the work, and enjoyed most of the blessing of God. Thus others testify. I hope, therefore, that all will consider this thing carefully and prayerfully, and move in the fear of God. If this is a part of the work of God we want to know it. If it is it will not do for us to fight against it.
Bro. J. I should like to ask some questions with regard to the health reform.
Min. Very well, we will have a short intermission and then will consider that subject.
THE POWER OF TRADITION
By H. C. Miller
To influence men, even after they have received of the Holy Spirit's enlightenment in some respects, is well attested by the lives of those now commonly believed to have been persons of deep and fervent piety. And not only they, but even we ourselves can testify to its power when we remember how our own eyes have been blinded to the plain meaning of Scripture by the errors that have been instilled into our minds by tradition. Such being the case, we see the foolishness of the question so often asked by people, as an objection to present truth, “If this be so, why did not Watts, and Wesley, and Luther, and others, find it out?” Such little comprehend the darkness and error that made drunken the people of their day, or the gross superstition of their times.
But this leads me to another idea. I was much pleased to see that it failed to be shown awhile ago that Dr. Watts was the writer of that horrible verse teaching that
“Hell is crammed with infants damned,
Without a day of grace.”
But in looking over an old copy of “Watts' and Select Hymns,” I came across the following, which is quite as barbarous and unscriptural, and shows the views then held of a merciful judgment by the Lord upon sinners. I quote it not to weaken any one's love or respect for the religious character of the Doctor, but to show how drunken the most enlightened of his day still were with the wine of the “Mother of Harlots.” It is in all of the later editions. The one I copy from bears the date of 1823. It is on page 400, and reads thus:
“With holy fear, and humble song,
The dreadful God our souls adore;
Rev'rence and awe become the tongue
That speaks the terrors of his pow'r.
“For in the deep, where darkness dwells,
The land of horror and despair,—
Justice has built a dismal hell,
And laid her stores of vengeance there.
“Eternal plagues and heavy chains,
Tormenting racks and fiery coals,—
And darts t'inflict immortal pains,
Dyed in the blood of damned souls:
“There Satan, the first sinner, lies,
And roars, and bites his iron bands;
In vain the rebel strives to rise,
Crush'd with the weight of both thy hands.
“There guilty ghosts of Adam's race
Shriek out, and howl beneath thy rod;
Once they could scorn a Saviour's grace,
But they incens'd a dreadful God.
“Tremble, my soul, and kiss the Son:
Sinner, obey thy Saviour's call;
Else your damnation hastens on,
And hell gapes wide to wait your fall.”
H. C. MILLER.
GOD'S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE.
In the days of the Reformation there lived a learned divine in Germany, Brentius of Wurtemburg. His godly zeal had at last aroused his enemies, who one day sent a band of soldiers to seize him when he might be off his guard. The soldiers entered the town, but Brentius got time to flee, not however, without their perceiving him; and so they chased him down several streets. He was enabled to outstrip them a little; and then turning quickly into a lane he found his way up a stairs, at the top of which was a sort of rickety ladder leading up to a hay loft. He was soon up among the hay, concealed and still. The soldiers, on the other hand, scoured the street; and, on coming to this stair, sought for him, even poking up the points of their bayonets through the seamy boards of the hay-loft to see if any one moved. Brentius kept still, only shrinking back to escape the touch of the bayonets; till the soldiers turned away, concluding that no one was there. Well, so far this was a good hiding-place; but how was he to live, if he continued here? The same Lord who had guided his servant to this retreat, sent him food: for every morning, during fourteen days, a hen came to the hay-loft, and laid an egg in the hay, which furnished Brentius with sustenance sufficient to keep him in life. After the fourteenth day, the supply failed, by which circumstance he thought the Lord was sending him an invitation to leave this shelter, and accordingly he cautiously descended into the street. He found that the soldiers had just left the town, so that his friends had now full time and opportunity to get him conveyed away safely to another spot. See how the Lord can protect his own, till the calamity be overpast.
Leisure Hours
LEISURE HOURS.—It was a beautiful observation of the late William Hazlitt, that “there is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science into it. If we pass no day without a line—visit no place without the company of books—we may with ease fill libraries or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.”
TIME TO COMMENCE THE SABBATH.
By James White
It is generally known to most of the readers of the Review that for several years in the early history of Seventh-day Adventists, believers adopted six o’clock P. M. as the time for the Sabbath to commence and close. It is also known that in the autumn of 1855, the Review taught that sunset was the Bible time to commence the Sabbath, and that our people generally changed from six o’clock to sunset. Some of the circumstances connected with this change I wish here to state:
1. The six o’clock time was called in question by a portion of believers as early as 1847, some maintaining that the Sabbath commenced at sun-rise, while others claimed Bible evidence in favor of sunset.
2. Eld. Joseph Bates, who was the first to teach the Sabbath in its importance, and faithfully labor to bring out a people from among the Adventists to observe it, was very decided upon the six o’clock time. His decided stand upon the question, and respect for his years, and his godly life, might have been among the reasons why this point was not sooner investigated as thoroughly as some other points.
3. In the autumn of 1855 Eld. J. N. Andrews called on me at Battle Creek, on his way to Iowa, and set before me the scriptural reasons for commencing the Sabbath at sunset. He had written a clear article upon the subject which he left with me, and which appeared in the Review for Dec. 4, 1855. This article, however, before it appeared in the Review was read at the Conference at Battle Creek about that time, and the subject was discussed resulting in settling the minds of the brethren on the sunset-time, with the exception of Bro. Bates, and a few others. Since that time there has been general agreement among us upon the subject.
But there are persons who seek to injure us as a people—and this class we hope to help by this article—who report and publish to the world that Mrs. White did profess to be shown that the time to commence the Sabbath was six o’clock, and that at a later period she was shown that sunset was the true time. It is also stated that in vision she saw the dial-plate of a clock with one hand pointing to vi, the other to xii, showing that six o’clock was the commencement and close of the Sabbath.
A simple statement of the facts in the case are sufficient to show these reports false. Hence, we give the following statements which we are ready to prove by most competent witnesses.
1. Mrs. W. has in two visions been shown something in regard to the time of the commencement of the Sabbath. The first was as early as 1847, at Topsham, Me. In that vision she was shown that to commence the Sabbath at sun-rise was wrong. She then heard an angel repeat these words, “From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbaths.” Bro. Bates was present, and succeeded in satisfying all present that “even” was six o’clock. Mark this: The vision at Topsham did not teach the six o’clock time. It only corrected sunrise time. I never received the idea that the six o’clock time was sustained by the visions, hence the following which I copy from a statement I made in the Review upon this subject, Dec. 4, 1855, as follows:
“We have never been fully satisfied with the testimony presented in favor of six o’clock, while the various communications received for a few years past advocating both sunrise and sunset time, have been almost destitute of argument, and the spirit of humility and candor. The subject has troubled us, yet we have never found time to thoroughly investigate it.
“In June, 1854 we urged Eld. D. P. Hall to prepare an article on the subject for the Review. When with him in Penn. last winter we repeated the request. When in Maine last summer we stated our feelings on this subject to Bro. Andrews, and have fears of division unless the question could be settled by good testimony. He decided to devote his time to the subject till he ascertained what the Bible taught in regard to it, and his article in this number is the result of his investigation. Some have the impression that six o’clock time has been taught among us by the direct manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is a mistake. “From even unto even” was the teaching for which six o’clock time has been inferred.”
2. In regard to the clock face, twenty competent witnesses are ready to testify that neither Mrs. W. nor her visions had anything to do with it whatever. When at Rocky Hill, Conn., in 1849, at a meeting on the Sabbath at the house of Bro. Albert Belden, the time to commence the Sabbath was agitated. A brother present in whose spiritual exercises there was great confidence, seemed to be very powerfully exercised, and, amid groans and tears, he called for the chalk, and marked out upon the floor the figure of a clock face, the hands pointing out six o’clock. A general impression prevailed that this was the work of the Spirit of God; but Mrs. W. had nothing to do with it whatever.
3. At the close of the conference at Battle Creek referred to above, the ministers and others, especially interested in the cause had a special season of prayer for the prosperity of the cause, and in that meeting Mrs. W. had a vision, one item of which was that sunset time was correct. This settled the matter with Bro. Bates and others, and general harmony has since prevailed among us upon this point.
But the question naturally arises, If the visions are given to correct the erring, why did she not sooner see the error of the six o’clock time? For one I have ever been thankful that God corrected the error in his own good time, and did not suffer an unhappy division to exist among us upon the point. But, dear reader, the work of the Lord upon this point is in perfect harmony with his manifestations to us on others, and in harmony with the correct position upon spiritual gifts. It does not appear to be the desire of the Lord to teach his people by the gifts of the Spirit on the Bible questions until his servants have diligently searched his word. When this was done upon the subject of time to commence the Sabbath, and most were established, and some were in danger of being out of harmony with the body on this subject, then, yes, then, was the very time for God to magnify his goodness in the manifestation of the gift of his Spirit in the accomplishment of its proper work. The sacred Scriptures are given us as the rule of faith and duty, and we are commanded to search them. If we fail to understand and fully obey the truths in consequence of not searching the Scriptures as we should, or a want of consecration and spiritual discernment, and God in mercy in his own time corrects us by some manifestation of the gifts of his Holy Spirit, instead of murmuring that he did not do it before, let us humbly acknowledge his mercy, and praise him for his infinite goodness in condescending to correct us at all. Let the gifts have their proper place in the church. God has never set them in the very front, and commanded us to look to them to lead us in the path of truth, and the way to Heaven. His word he has magnified. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are man’s lamp to light up his path to the kingdom. Follow that. But if you err from Bible truth, and are in danger of being lost, it may be that God will in the time of his choice correct you, and bring you back to the Bible, and save you. And would it become you in such a case to murmur and say, “Lord, why didst thou not do this before?” Take care! “Be still, and know that I am God.” Our necessity is his opportunity to teach us by the gifts of his Holy Spirit.
JAMES WHITE.
THE WICKED TURNED INTO HELL.
By John Nevins Andrews
“THE wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Ps. ix, 17.
The word hell in this text is from the Hebrew word Sheol, the only word rendered hell in the Old Testament. It is exactly equivalent to the Hades of the New Testament. It signifies the place of the dead, whether they are righteous or wicked. Jacob expected to go down to it. Gen. xlii, 38. Job prayed to be hid in it. Job xiv. Christ was brought out of it by his resurrection. Ps. xvi; Acts ii. The righteous triumph over it at the resurrection. 1 Cor. xv. The wicked are silent in it. Ps. xxxi. The word grave in each of these texts is Sheol or Hades in the original.
Such being the case that Sheol is the common receptacle of all mankind in death, whether they are righteous or wicked, how is it that the wicked are threatened with being turned into Sheol as though it were something peculiar to themselves? Sheol or Hades is not their punishment; for when the time comes of the end of the thousand years for the wicked to be punished in the lake of fire, “Death and hell, i. e. Hades or Sheol, delivered up the dead which were in them.” Rev. xx. Sheol is the invisible world or place of the dead. When this gives them up, they are brought out to view, and are no longer invisible. Death also gives up the dead, so that they are no longer dead men but living ones. Then each man who has lived in sin is to be cast alive into the furnace or lake of fire, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. When the wicked are thus destroyed, death and Sheol or Hades both cease forever to have an existence.
Sheol, then, is not the place where the wicked are punished; for they come forth out of it in order to meet their just retribution. What then is the idea of the Psalmist that the wicked shall be turned into hell? If we read the connection with care we shall find that the Psalmist is treating of the final deliverance of the righteous. Thus we read:
“The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. . . . For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Verses 16, 18, 19.
When the righteous are thus delivered and their hope realized, they shall every one come forth from Sheol to immortal life, 1 Cor. xv. “The rest of the dead,” i. e. the wicked, shall remain in the congregation of the dead for the period of one thousand years. At the same time that the righteous are delivered, all the living wicked are cut off from the face of the earth and turned into Sheol to remain there till the time when death and hell give up the wicked dead.
May it not be true, then, that the Psalmist has reference to the fact that at the very time when the righteous all leave Sheol to receive immortal life, all the living wicked are consigned to this dark receptacle, there to remain with the wicked dead of all previous ages, for the one thousand years?
Certainly it is worthy of notice that the time shall come when not one righteous man shall remain in that dark abode, and at that time every wicked person shall be found therein, to remain till the resurrection of the unjust.
J. N. ANDREWS.
A LESSON FOR FRETTERS.
By J. H. Waggoner
PEOPLE who fret, always imagine that they have an unusual amount of trouble, which causes them to fret. This is not the case. The difficulty is in their disposition. Fretting always makes trouble; and aside from this, which is their own fault, they have no more trouble than other people. I will relate two cases, among the many which I have noticed, showing that it is not position but disposition that makes fretters.
I was once called to preach at the funeral of a person who had been sorely afflicted with rheumatism many years. For a long time he had been perfectly helpless, not able to rise from his bed alone, or even feed himself much of the time. If there was ever occasion for fretting, surely here it was. But as the friends viewed the person for the last time, a sister exclaimed, “How we shall miss him; in all our troubles he was our comforter.” Oh! thought I, what a lesson for grumblers! who possessed of health and strength, and generally of the ordinary bounties of life, sometimes of abundance of this world’s goods, are yet ever ungrateful, ever complaining, a curse to themselves and to all who are compelled to live under their unhallowed influence.
I knew a woman who was all her lifetime a cripple; unable to leave the house except as she was carried;169always lifted to or from a wagon and conveyed to her place as a little child. Yet she was a mother to the motherless household; ever busy to do some good, and be useful. Ever cheerful, kind and sympathetic, love and peace reigned in her presence. It is to be regretted that such instances of resignation and patience in affliction are so rare, yet these are enough to stand as a strong rebuke to the spirit of complaint so often indulged in.
The consequences of fretting are deplorable. I can notice but briefly.
1. It makes confusion in a household. Fretters often ignorantly claim that they love order. It is impossible. No fretter can govern a family; they cannot even govern their own spirits, and the best efforts to govern, however skillfully put forth, will fail if there is a fretter in the house. Peace and quiet flee from their presence.
2. Fretting makes hypocrites of children. No matter how truthful and frank a child may be in its nature, it soon learns to conceal when it finds its confessions are not met with love and sympathy, but with fretfulness and scolding. Many a fretful mother has lamented that she had not the confidence of her children, and had lost control over them, and blamed them for waywardness, when the cause was in her own disposition, by which she had repulsed them, and driven them to make confidants of those who would show them pity and kindness in their trials. Many a child has been driven to evil associations and ruined by a grumbling parent.
3. It divides families. No one loves to hear fretting, even though addicted to it themselves. It is a habit so odious, that, unlike all other evils, indulgence in it does not reconcile us to it. A husband will conceal unpleasant news from a fretting wife, and a wife from a fretting husband; and thus, instead of being sources of comfort and encouragement to one another, and bearing one another’s burdens, they learn to distrust, and avoid one another when in trouble. When this takes place, as it surely must when fretfulness prevails, farewell to peace and happiness in the household. They may live together, but there is no longer a union of hearts: their marriage vows are no more than a solemn farce, and the heart aches in secret, mourning over blighted hopes.
4. It tends to vulgarity. It is always attended with a vulgar disposition, but this is not all; it lowers and vulgarizes all under its influence. Refinement and fretfulness can no more exist together, than light and darkness. Fretters are not fit to go into refined society. Their minds are too low and groveling. And as the old adage is true, that “like begets like,” so fretters sink their households to their own level. Few children can conduct themselves amongst strangers with a modest and genteel bearing, who are accustomed to hear fretting daily. “Evil communications corrupt good manners.”
5. It is a prolific source of evil habits, especially of drunkenness. Many a man sleeps in a drunkard’s grave, who was driven to the bar-room to drown his trouble, and to avoid the words of a fretful or scolding wife. And many more, having too much principle to indulge in such habits, have left their homes and families, to seek peace and quiet in other lands, while their wives complain of being so cruelly neglected and deserted, not once looking to the true cause of their sorrows, namely, that “world of iniquity,” the tongues.
6. Fretfulness so deranges the nervous system as to hinder digestion. So authors on physiology inform us. Of course, a fretful person cannot enjoy good health. A cheerful, contented spirit has a beneficial influence on the physical system. Says the proverb, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Fretters shall not fret in vain; their habit brings sickness and sorrow, and by long indulgence they will find enough to fret over. But let them not complain or look for pity. Their misery is their fault. “Verily, they have their reward.”
And this evil, so vile in itself and so fruitful of others, is a very common one, often indulged in by professors of religion, who have not learned that “tribulation worketh patience,” and whose experience under affliction is that of the worldling, not of the Christian. To a Christian, chastisement or affliction “yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.” It is a habit very difficult to overcome, and should therefore be carefully shunned. “Here is the patience of the saints.” “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
J. H. WAGGONER.
MEETINGS IN VERMONT.
By A. C. BOURDEAU
According to the arrangement as stated in my last in the Review, Sabbath, Jan. 18, while my brother attended a Quarterly Meeting with the church at Johnson, Vt., I met with the church at home. Sabbath evening our social meeting was quite interesting. We felt that the interest in the things of God which had been revived in us when Bro. and Sr. White and Bro. Andrews were among us, had not all abated. I spoke about forty minutes, enforcing the importance of our being awake, active, and diligent in fulfilling the duties incumbent upon us while engaged in the service of God; and showed that it is a notable fact that our tendencies in this direction are usually indicated by the readiness we manifest in the performance of our religious duties in meetings.
Sabbath morning, I spoke to the church on putting on the whole armor of God. Text, Eph. vi, 11. Showed, 1. What constitutes the Christian armor. 2. The means that Satan uses, and the manner in which he makes his attacks upon the Christian, especially the young convert. 3. The course to be pursued by the Christian in the warfare, and the use that he should make of the different parts of the armor in order to withstand, and successfully defeat the enemy. 4. The necessity of our seeking every opportunity to secure to ourselves every part of the armor, and to become fully drilled and fitted up for the time of trouble which is just before us, that we may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
I would here say to the young, and to the desponding, who are apt to dwell upon their own lacks and wrong-doings, and to be discouraged: Never give up to the idea, suggested so often by the enemy, that you are mortally wounded, until you have examined yourselves and seen what strength you have in you, and applied to the Great Physician who is able to heal all your wounds. Look to the attainments that you have made since you enlisted in the service of your Heavenly Master, and believe that as you have been enabled to overcome on some points, you may yet have strength to overcome on others.
The testimonies which were given in quick succession at this meeting, evinced that these remarks were appreciated by the brethren and sisters present.
My brother and I had intended after this meeting to go and visit old friends in Canada, and a few French families in Northern New York. Although my children were all quite sick with the measles, and owing to my wife being at the Health Institute in Battle Creek, Mich., for the purpose of recovering her health, were deprived of the presence of a kind mother to care for them, and minister to their wants; yet on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 22, we attempted this journey, drove thirty-two miles, till we came near Alburg Springs. But on account of having a severe storm and high, blustering winds, we felt that it would not be prudent for us to attempt to cross on the ice over the lake. Our way being thus hedged up, the limited time that we had before us in which to perform the journey, and the great anxiety that we had about the sick ones at home, led us to conclude that it was right for us to turn about and head toward home.
We will try not to forget the friends where we intended to visit when we started on this trip, and will endeavor to call on them at our earliest convenience.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, my children had recovered measurably from their sickness, but our hired girl was coming down and having quite a siege with the measles. Leaving them in the care of my brother's wife, in company with Bro. N. Orcutt, I started on a tour in the southern part of the State. As we passed through the village at Jericho Corners I noticed a sign bearing, I. Roscoe, Carriage Maker. I drove up to the shop at once, entered the door and found Bro. R., who gave me a warm and friendly greeting. This brother is a French Sabbath-keeper. Sixteen years ago he was a student at the Grand Ligne Mission in Canada East. About five years ago my brother and I visited him in Canada and left with him works on the Sabbath, and exposition of Dan. ii and vii, in French. He soon embraced the Sabbath, then moved to Jericho Corners, Vt., and established a carriage shop. For four years he has had a sign on the door of his shop reading, No work or business done here on the Seventh-day Sabbath. During this time Bro. R. has not seen a Sabbath-keeper; has encountered opposition on the part of some; works have been thrown in his hands by first-day Adventists; and though he has not seen the Review, and has not had access to many of our works, he still proves firm on the Sabbath.
A. C. BOURDEAU.
GOOD TESTIMONY FOR THE SABBATH.
By M. E. CORNELL
PROF. E. O. HAVEN, D. D., LL. D., President of the University of Michigan, in his series of sermons on the Decalogue, entitled “The Pillars of Truth,” affords us some good testimony against the false positions of those who are trying to put down the Bible Sabbath. On the perpetuity of the Sabbath he says:
“Now our belief is that the whole of the Decalogue is binding upon all men, and that, in the words of Christ, “The Sabbath was made for MAN;” not for the Hebrews, but for all men.
“Now that Christ and his apostles assumed to nullify a commandment in the Decalogue no man of sound judgment could believe. Repeatedly Christ acknowledged, and asserted the divine authority of the Decalogue. To repeal it would have been to set himself in direct contradiction to what he pronounced the law of God. Such a repeal, if conceivable, must have been open, direct, and formal, or it would not be believed. The facts seem to be, that the Sabbath is an institution founded upon man’s nature and God’s will, and therefore absolutely irrepealable.” pp. 88, 91.
In regard to whether time has been lost, Prof. H. remarks:
“The Jews claim that their Sabbath, our Saturday, is that day. This claim is generally acknowledged by Christians, though there are some who maintain that it can be chronologically demonstrated that, on account of some confusion, in time of disaster, and revolution, and ignorance, the Jews are themselves mistaken, and that the genuine Sabbath is our Sunday, wrongly called “the first day of the week.”
“There is no good reason, however, for denying that the Jewish Sabbath is the true seventh day, reckoning from the creation of man, and that the Christian Sunday is the first day of the Hebrew week, or of the genuine week.” p. 89.
This testimony from a Methodist D. D., LL. D., President of so celebrated an institution as the Michigan University, will take back the Methodist clergy that have so generally adopted the new-fangled notion that Sunday is the original seventh day. Many have adopted the new idea, because they could see no other way to escape the cross of the Sabbath reform. Prof. Haven, after examining their arguments, and chronology, has deliberately decided against them. They have been trying to pull down one of the pillars of truth, but, one of their own most eminent men declares it a failure. Truly, as the apostle says, “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” “Their rock is not as our Rock, they themselves being judges!”
M. E. CORNELL.
Does God Scold?
Does God Scold?—A little girl who had witnessed the perplexity of her mother on a certain occasion, when her fortitude gave way under severe trial, said: “Mother, does God ever fret or scold?”
The query was so abrupt and startling that it arrested the mother’s attention almost with a shock.
“Why, Lizzie, what makes you ask that question?”
“Why, God is good; you know you used to call him the ‘Good Man’ when I was little; and I should like to know if he ever scolded.”
“No, child, no.”
“Well, I’m glad he don’t; for scolding always makes me feel so bad, even if it is not me in fault. I don’t think that I could love God much if he scolded.”
The mother felt rebuked before her simple child. Never had she heard so forcible a lecture on the evils of scolding. The words of Lizzie sank deep into her heart, as she turned away from the innocent face of her little one to hide the tears that gathered in her eyes.
MARY E. JOSSELYN
By Mary E. Josselyn
From Sister Josselyn.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am truly thankful that the Lord has given me a heart willing to turn from error and embrace truth. It is nearly two years since I became convinced that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the Lord. Praise be to his name. When I was willing to obey, he led me in a way I knew not; and although I have passed through some severe trials, my embracing these truths causing near and dear ones to withdraw their love and friendship from me, yet I am glad I can say to-day, Jesus is my friend, and I find his grace sufficient for all my trials, whenever I am willing to be led by him.
Yesterday, the Sabbath, a minister of the M. E. Church, who was stopping at my mother's (with whom I am living), commenced reading the Review containing that excellent sermon on Prayer. After perusing it awhile, he commenced questioning me by asking how long the Review had been published, &c. Thought there were a number of good pieces in it, but said he could not agree with us on points of doctrine171such as the Sabbath, sleep of the dead, destruction of the wicked, and a belief in visions.
He said the nominal churches are keeping the original seventh-day Sabbath; that it was changed when the children of Israel left Egypt, and then changed back again at the resurrection of our Saviour. He claimed that a part of the punishment of the wicked would be their banishment from God, but the remainder of their punishment he did not explain. He did not believe in the hell-fire once preached by our Methodist ministers. He also expressed a willingness to read our publications. My prayer to God is, that he will help such as are honest in heart to investigate the truths of the third angel's message.
But two short years ago I stood where many are now standing in the M. E. Church, so prejudiced that I had no desire to hear what I then supposed to be error; but bless the Lord, he applied the eye-salve to my eyes and I began to see. Yet as I search my heart from day to day, I find I have much to overcome, but I believe the blood of Jesus is able to cleanse us from all sin. With you dear brethren and sisters, I want eternal life. Pray for me, that I may be faithful and strive to live out all the precious truths of this message.