Earlier text: General ArticlesThe Sovereign Pontiff, and the Church of Rome.
By Gaussen
They Vindicate the Truth by Fulfilling the Prophecies.
A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY PROF. GAUSSEN, AT THE RE-OPENING OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT GENEVA, OCTOBER 3, 1843. Eleventh mark. ITS BLASPHEMIES. Daniel says (verse 25): He shall utter blasphemies against the Most High. But where is there anything more blasphemous than the pretensions of the Roman pontiff? To call himself "the Holy Father!" "the most Holy Father!" "the Church's spouse!" "the head of the Universal Church!" (the incommunicable name of the only Son of God!) To call himself "His Holiness!" "the vicar of Jesus Christ, God's vicegerent, God on earth!" To declare himself infallible, to dare to put his decrees above even the word of God; to pretend to release men from the commands of their Creator! To maintain that he alone creates priests, who alone in their turn create their God in a bit of bread, by three Latin words, that he may be eaten by the people! to pardon sins committed against the Lord of lords! to open to men at his pleasure the gates of heaven! Are these blasphemies enough, on the part of a worm of the dust? Was there ever under heaven any power which, in this respect, is comparable to the pope? Do you find anything like it in the history of the folly and pride of man? And to assume these prerogatives, when it is known (and all the world agrees) that the priests capable of this audacity were, for the most part, for many generations, the scandal of the universe, by their luxury, their dissoluteness and their cruelties! Twelfth mark. HIS HOMICIDAL HATRED and his persecution of TRUE CHRISTIANS. Daniel tells us (verse 21): I considered that this little horn made war against the saints and overcame them: and he adds (verse 25): He shall destroy the saints of the Most High! Alas! here the voice of history responds loudly to that of prophecy. All its pages, even to the last century, when it speaks of the popes, shows you them persecuting men who would live according to the word of God, and putting them to death like sheep for the slaughter. Who may tell what passed for six hundred years in all the dungeons and autodafes of the "Holy Inquisition" that horrid tribunal, whose acts for these six hundred years were directed and regulated by the bulls of the Court of Rome? Other earthly governments have caused men to die by thousands (for the natural man has feet swift to shed blood); but the pontiff of Rome has put to death the saints. His decrees cursed and condemned to the flames every man caught reading his Bible in the vulgar tongue. And remark here that it would serve nothing to weaken the testimony of history in this designation of the Roman pontiffs to allege the cruelties committed elsewhere for the cause of religion. These cruelties are disavowed, they are condemned, they are detested now, in all other communions; but it cannot be so in that of the pope; for they are not only narrated in history, they are part of the doctrines of popery! The duty of putting heretics to death is among the infallible and irrevocable decrees of its general councils, like those of the Mass and Purgatory; and when Luther dared to say that "it was against the will of the Holy Spirit, to burn with fire men convicted of error," the court of Rome, in its bull Exsurge, placed his opinion among the number of the forty-one propositions for which it condemned Luther, and ordered, under severe penalties, that he should be seized and sent to the pope. Thirteenth mark. HIS AUDACIOUS HERESIES. This perhaps is the most striking mark of all, and in which the Roman pontiff has never had his equal. Daniel says of the little horn: a king diverse from the other ten, shall think to change times and laws. This denotes the unparalleled attempt which the pope has made upon the laws of his God; pretended to change the law in its sovereignty, in its sanction, in the extent of its promulgation, in its contents, in its morals, and in its doctrine. I say in its sovereignty; he alone on earth, proclaiming himself infallible, has dared to put his decrees and his traditions on a level and above the Scriptures. I say in its sanction; he alone on earth, has pretended to pardon the sins which the law condemns and to dispense from the duties which the law commands. I say in the extent of its promulgation; he alone on earth, for six hundred and fourteen years, (I mean to say, since the council of Trent in 1229), has forbidden the people of God to read the holy books. Never was anything like it seen in Christendom. The churches of the East, corrupt as they are, have enthroned the Scriptures in all their councils; the pope is the only priest who has dared publicly to withhold from man the law of his Judge and his God. I say in its contents; he alone on earth has added to the oracles of the Old Testament, (for example, the Maccabees, regarded as human compositions in the time of Jesus Christ). I say in its morals; read what the Jesuits propagate; read the directions given, this very year, to the confessors at Friburg, Grenoble, Strasburg, and in all popish countries; read the three hundred and twenty-six authors of the society of Jesuits, which were condemned in the last century by the tribunals of all Europe as encouraging every sort of crime, and which the parliament of Paris caused to be burnt in 1762 by the public executioner. All these abominations are allowed, recommended, sanctioned by the Roman pontiff; by his formal restoration of the order of Jesuits in 1814; by Pius VII's beatification of the Jesuit Liguori, the great advocate of the immoralities of probabilism, and by his more recent pompous canonization under the reigning pope, who thus canonized the detestable maxims exposed in vain by Pascal, two hundred years ago, and burnt in vain by the executioner of Paris, eighty years ago (on "mental reservation," on "probabilism" and on "philosophical sins"). I say, lastly, in its doctrine; since he avows, by his plenary authority, heresies most opposite to the word of God, respecting image worship, exaltation of the priests, compulsory celibacy, auricular confession, an ecclesiastical priesthood, and a sacrifice in the mass; respecting prayers to the dead, the use of an unknown tongue in worship, the adoration of Mary, relics, purgatory, the universal dominion of the pope; but especially (mark this well) by his professing precisely the four doctrines which Paul points out as the mark of the Man of Sin; 1. lying wonders; 2. the worship of demi-gods, or deified dead men, which were worshiped by the Romans and Greeks under the name of demons; 3. the doctrine of ecclesiastical celibacy; 4. the prohibition of meats. Read the words of Paul (1 Tim. 4:1, 3): "The spirit speaketh expressly (he refers to Daniel) that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." Fourteenth and last mark. THE EXACT DURATION of his persecutions against the people of God. Daniel and John declare several times that it shall be "until a time, times and a dividing of time," or twelve hundred and sixty prophetic days, which are taken, with strong reason, for so many years. Who would have believed beforehand that a priest-king so violent, so proud, so cruel, so blasphemous, so contrary to the Scriptures and so well described by them, so outrageous against nations and kings, would last twelve years? and the Holy Spirit tells us that it shall twelve hundred and sixty! and this is seen to be so! I will not attempt gentlemen, to tell you any of the calculations which have been made upon the beginning and end of this period; but I will ask you to admire this fourteenth prophetic mark of the Roman pontiff, as all the rest ought to be admired. Lastly, gentlemen, the same prophecies have also foretold its judgment and its overthrow. I do not mean to go into this subject; but I like to call it to your minds in conclusion, for your encouragement. Read the words of Daniel: "The judgment shall sit, and they take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Gentlemen, this sketch of the single seventh chapter of Daniel will suffice, I trust, to let you see with what abundant evidence the Scriptures establish the doctrine which I desire to bring before you. Still brighter light beams from the prophecies of Paul and John on the same subject. I will return to them another day. But what is the conclusion from the whole? 1. That our fathers were right, when they inserted this doctrine in the confession of faith. 2. That you ought, in your turn, to study it carefully, in order to be able to preach it. 3. That it is not only a weapon of controversy, but that it contains for the pious mind great consolation. The pope here preaches Christ to us; since at the end of the reign of the Man of Sin, the Scriptures always point us to that of our Redeemer, his glorious coming, our gathering together unto him (2 Thess. 2:1), the blessed millennium and the reign of the saints. 4. That nothing is so mighty as this doctrine for directly combating Rome. Just as we lose time, if in preaching Jesus, we content ourselves with describing his virtues instead of saying: He is the Christ! So we lose much time, if in refuting the pope, we content ourselves with showing his heresies and his crimes, instead of saying, He is the Man of Sin! 5. That the preaching of this truth becomes very useful for establishing of Christians in the faith. Ordinarily, in the popish controversy, you do nothing but demolish; you overthrow, it is true, the mass, purgatory, indulgences; this is well, but this is all. Here, we preach the divinity of the Bible; for, in pointing to the pope, we point to a miracle, which calls upon us to believe the Bible! Considered in this view, the obduracy of the Romanists, like the obduracy of the Jews, wonderfully instructs the church, because it has been foretold; and thus it is that this doctrine transforms for us the scandals of Rome into an eloquent argument. The sovereign pontiff and the Romish hierarchy become, in their way admirable supports of the truth. 6. That this is doctrine suited to awaken savingly men's consciences. How many men in our day, while witnessing the abominations of Rome seek to compound with this impure system, and remain quietly in Babylon, keeping free from its heresies, and spiritualizing its idolatrous rites. This doctrine calls to them: "Break, break, all the covenant with iniquity." "Come out of Babylon, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 17:4. 7. That by meditating upon the truth you will strengthen yourselves for your task; you will prepare yourselves for the perilous times which are at hand; you will hear the prophetic trumpet which sounds to encourage the sacred host of God; you will arm yourselves against persecution, if necessary, for martyrdom! No ordinary struggle is this of the evangelical Christian against the power to which the Scriptures have pointed for so many ages, and which his Master will destroy by the brightness of his coming! It is related that this thought gave strength to our reformers. It sustained the courage of Wickliff; it gave boldness to Luther; and the great Knox (as well as Hamilton, his young and noble predecessor), had it always before his eyes; it rendered him intrepid, it hardened his face like a flint before the angry looks of kings, and before the wrath of the people. 8. Lastly. By preaching this doctrine, you will rejoice the people of God; you will prepare them for the coming of their Redeemer; and you will call their attention to the scenes which are at hand; for Christians are described by these expressions. "They wait for Jesus Christ;" they "love his appearing;" they say to him, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;" "ye come behind in no gift (says Paul the Corinthians, 1. Epist. 1:7, 8); waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Possessive Pronouns of Christianity
By John Charles Ryle
"The life of Christianity," said Luther, "Consists in possessive pronouns." It is one thing to say, "Christ is a Saviour;" it is quite another thing to say, "He is my Saviour and my Lord." The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second.—J. C. Ryle. It is an easy matter to sit at ease and let the ship go with the wind and tide to leeward, but hard to suffer the fate that awaits her on the lee-shore. So it is an easy matter to float with the multitude down the broad road to ruin; but a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The Sabbath-School.
By Ellen G. White
THE Saviour of the world, as a divine Conqueror, was about to ascend to his Father's throne. He selected the Mount of Olives as the scene of this last display of his glory. Accompanied by the eleven, he made his way to the mountain. The disciples were not aware that this was to be their last season with their Master. He employed the time in sacred converse with them, reiterating his former instructions. As they passed through the gates of Jerusalem, many wondering eyes looked upon the little company, led by one whom a few weeks before the priests and rulers had condemned and crucified. They crossed the Kedron, and approached Gethsemane. Here Jesus paused that his disciples might call to mind the lessons he had given them while on his way to the garden on the night of his great agony. He looked again upon the vine which he had then used as a symbol to represent the union of his church with himself and his Father; and he refreshed the memory of his followers by repeating the impressive truths which he had then illustrated to them. Reminders of the unrequited love of Jesus were all around him; even the disciples walking by his side, who were so dear to his heart, had, in the hour of his humiliation, when he most needed their sympathy and comfort, reproached and forsaken him. Christ had sojourned in the world for thirty-three years; he had endured its scorn, insult, and mockery; he had been rejected and crucified. Now, when about to ascend to his throne of glory—as he reviews the ingratitude of the people he came to save—will he not withdraw his sympathy and love from them? Will not his affections be centered on that world where he is appreciated, and where sinless angels adore him, and wait to do his bidding? No; his promise to those loved ones whom he leaves on earth is "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Before his conflict he had prayed the Father that they might not be taken out of the world, but should be kept from the evil which is in the world. At length the little company reach the Mount of Olives. This place had been peculiarly hallowed by the presence of Jesus while he bore the nature of man. It was consecrated by his prayers and tears. When he had ridden into Jerusalem just prior to his trial, the steeps of Olivet had echoed the joyous shouts of the triumphant multitude. On its sloping descent was Bethany, where he had often found repose at the house of Lazarus. At the foot of the mount was the garden of Gethsemane, where he had agonized alone, and moistened the sod with his blood. Jesus led the way across the summit, to the vicinity of Bethany. He then paused, and they all gathered about him. Beams of light seemed to radiate from his countenance, as he looked with deep love upon his disciples. He upbraided them not for their faults and failures; but words of unutterable tenderness were the last which fell upon their ears from the lips of their Lord. With hands outstretched in blessing them, and as if in assurance of his protecting care, he slowly ascended from among them, drawn heavenward by a power stronger than any earthly attraction. As he passed upward, the awe-struck disciples looked with straining eyes for the last glimpse of their ascending Lord. A cloud of glory received him out of their sight, and at the same moment there floated down to their charmed senses the sweetest and most joyous music from the angel choir. While their gaze was still riveted upward, voices addressed them which sounded like the music which had just charmed them. They turned, and saw two beings in the form of men; yet their heavenly character was immediately discerned by the disciples, whom they addressed in comforting accents, saying, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven." These angels were of the company that had been waiting in a shining cloud to escort Jesus to his throne; and in sympathy and love for those whom the Saviour had left, they came to remove all uncertainty from their minds, and to give them the assurance that he would come to earth again. All Heaven was waiting to welcome the Saviour to the celestial courts. As he ascended he led the way, and the multitude of captives whom he had raised from the dead at the time when he came forth from the tomb, followed him. The heavenly host, with songs of joy and triumph, escorted him upward. At the portals of the city of God an innumerable company of angels awaited his coming. As they approached the gates of the city, the angels who were escorting the Majesty of Heaven, in triumphant tones addressed the company at the portals: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in!" The waiting angels at the gates of the city inquire in rapturous strains, "Who is this King of Glory?" The escorting angels joyously reply in songs of triumph, "The Lord, strong and mighty! The Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in!" Again the waiting angels ask, "Who is this King of Glory?" and the escorting angels respond in melodious strains, "The Lord of hosts! He is the King of Glory!" Then the portals of the city of God are widely opened, and the heavenly train pass in amid a burst of angelic music. All the heavenly host surround their majestic Commander as he takes his position upon the throne of the Father. With the deepest adoration and joy, the hosts of angels bow before him, while the glad shout rings through the courts of Heaven: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing!" Songs of triumph mingle with music from angelic harps, till Heaven seems to overflow with delightful harmony, and inconceivable joy and praise. The Son of God has triumphed over the prince of darkness, and conquered death and the grave. Heaven rings with voices in lofty strains proclaiming: "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever!" He is seated by the side of his Father on his throne. The Saviour presents the captives he has rescued from the bonds of death, at the price of his own life. His hands place immortal crowns upon their brows; for they are the representatives, and samples, of those who shall be redeemed, by the blood of Christ, from all nations, and tongues, and people, and come forth from the dead, when he shall call the just from their graves at his second coming. Then shall they see the marks of Calvary in the glorified body of the Son of God. Their greatest joy will be found in the presence of Him who sitteth on the throne; and the enraptured saints will exclaim, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his! He is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely!" The most precious fact to the disciples in the ascension of Jesus was that he went from them into Heaven in the tangible form of their divine Teacher. The very same Jesus, who had walked; and talked, and prayed with them; who had broken bread with them; who had been with them in their boats on the lake; who had sought retirement with them in the groves; and who had that very day toiled with them up the steep ascent of Olivet,—had ascended to Heaven in the form of humanity. And the heavenly messengers had assured them that the very same Jesus whom they had seen go into Heaven, should come again in like manner as he had ascended. This assurance has ever been, and will be till the close of time, the hope and joy of all true lovers of Christ. The disciples not only saw the Lord ascend, but they had the testimony of the angels that he had gone to occupy his Father's throne in Heaven. The last remembrance that the disciples were to have of their Lord was as the sympathizing Friend, the glorified Redeemer. Moses veiled his face to hide the glory of the law which was reflected upon it, and the glory of Christ's ascension was veiled from human sight. The brightness of the heavenly escort, and the opening of the glorious gates of God to welcome him, were not to be discerned by mortal eyes. Had the track of Christ to Heaven been revealed to the disciples in all its inexpressible glory, they could not have endured the sight. Had they beheld the myriads of angels, and heard the bursts of triumph from the battlements of Heaven, as the everlasting doors were lifted up, the contrast between that glory and their own lives in a world of trial, would have been so great that they would hardly have been able to again take up the burden of their earthly lives, prepared to execute with courage and faithfulness the commission given them by the Saviour. Even the Comforter, the Holy Ghost which was sent to them, would not have been properly appreciated, nor would it have strengthened their hearts sufficiently to bear reproach, contumely, imprisonment, and death, if need be. Their senses were not to become so infatuated with the glories of Heaven that they would lose sight of the character of Christ on earth, which they were to copy in themselves. They were to keep distinctly before their minds the beauty and majesty of his life, the perfect harmony of all his attributes, and the mysterious union of the divine and human in his nature. It was better that the earthly acquaintance of the disciples with their Saviour should end in the solemn, quiet, and sublime manner in which it did. His visible ascent from the world was in harmony with the meekness and quiet of his life.—Spirit of Prophecy. Conversion of Sabbath-School Children.
The Independent, in a recent number, speaks of the need of a revival of legitimate church work, that of gaining converts, and mentions the Sabbath-school as an important aid. Of the children attending the Sabbath-school, it says:— “The church greatly fails if these children are not converted in their early youth. Teachers fail, parents fail, superintendents fail just here. They do not appreciate as they should that definite results may be looked for. The child should be talked with personally and alone, and kindly led to the Saviour. The reason why in some churches they are not converted is because their conversion is not especially sought. The teacher is content with teaching the lesson and does not try to teach the child the greatest lesson of all. As sure as day follows sunrise, the presentation of the motives of Christianity to the youth of a church will bring them into its membership.” The most successful Sunday-schools we have ever known were such as made but few changes in their officers, especially in the superintendent. If you have a poor superintendent, and cannot improve him, find a better one and make the change. If you have a good one help him all you can to make him still better; but do not by any means make a change simply for the sake of change, or because somebody else would like to enjoy the honor of the office.—Our Bible Teacher. NEW MUSIC! THE LAST IS THE BEST!
By Geo. D. Russell, 126 Tremont Street, Boston, a new book of Music, entitled, The music and words of this book are mostly entirely new, and well adapted to the Sabbath-school and social circle. It is receiving the most unqualified praise from all who have examined it. The music is of a high order throughout, and yet not at all difficult. 160 pp. Per copy, 35 cents; $3.60 per dozen. Bound, 50 cents; $5.00 per dozen. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR.
By Editor
AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY PAPER FOR YOUTH AND CHILDREN, DEVOTED TO MORAL, MENTAL, AND RELIGIOUS CULTURE. This paper is not devoted to insipid stories and religious fiction, but is filled with a great variety of that kind of reading which tends to the healthful development of the youthful mind. Its pages are made bright by the choicest illustrative pictures, and its columns are always full of useful information. As a Sabbath-school and Lesson paper, it is suited to the wants of scholars and teachers, and is calculated to increase the interest of all who read it, in thorough Bible study. The Sabbath-school Department contains two series of lessons, one for children and one for youth. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, 75 CENTS A YEAR. All new subscribers paying the above price will receive the "Child's Poems" as a premium without extra charge. TERMS TO CLUBS, PAID IN ADVANCE. Price per Copy, Post-paid.
5 to 10 copies...............................60 cents a year.
10 copies and upward.........................50 cents a year. Subscription for 5 to 10 copies will be taken for six months. Larger clubs may be paid for quarterly. Address YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR, Battle Creek, Mich.
Or, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal. That "Same Identical Time."
By Editor
ALL our readers must have heard the remark, that because the earth is round, which renders it impossible to keep "the same identical time" in all parts of the world, therefore we cannot keep the seventh-day Sabbath. This has been asserted so many times that some have, no doubt, worked themselves into the belief that it is true—that there is a real difficulty in the way of keeping "the Sabbath day according to the commandment." And, notwithstanding the many times which the fallacy has been exposed, the editor of the California Christian Advocate recently put it forth as if it were a new and unanswerable argument. We are not surprised at this, for reasons which we do not now care to state. For the benefit of him and of others who persist in being troubled over this matter of the "identical seventh day," we will relate the following Taking the train at Oakland, Cal., we were informed by our Gazetteer that "East of Deming trains run on Jefferson City time, which is two hours faster than San Francisco time." Arriving at Deming, New Mexico, we stepped into the Railroad Station and there saw a clock having two hour hands, one of which stood at 10 o'clock, the other at 12 o'clock. Our watch indicated 10 o'clock. Wishing to be on time with the next train we were to take, we set our watch forward to 12 o'clock. We thus passed from 10 to 12 o'clock in our reckoning in the time which it took to change the hands of our watch from the figures 10 to 12. Thus two hours were elided from the day, and we had a day of twenty-two hours. This we call an every-day incident, because it is the daily experience of different individuals who travel across the continent. A day of twenty-two hours! This seems like a sad inroad upon the common reckoning of time. Our no-Sabbath, or anti-Sabbath, or seventh-part-of-time Sabbath friends can now take courage, and talk out their difficulties with great confidence. But our experience was not ended. We were going east of Jefferson City; in fact, "from shore to shore." And we found that, on our arrival in Chicago, we had to throw off eighteen minutes more. And east of Buffalo we dropped fifty-five minutes more, making altogether a loss of three hours and thirteen minutes in going from San Francisco to New York. "Now," says our friend of the Advocate, "how are you going to keep the seventh day after this? Will you give it up?" Not quite ready for that yet, Mr. Editor. There are some other points in this case which we wish to present. 1. Not one of the changes above noticed was made on the seventh day. They are not by any means peculiar to that day. 2. It is a fact that, when we got to New York, we found people there keeping Sunday, just as you do in San Francisco, and for the same reason, too, if it be allowable to call that a reason which has no foundation in reason. 3. And, strange to tell, they were keeping Sunday exactly as the day was marked by our watch after we had made those bewildering (!) changes in our journey. 4. And, passing strange, they did not seem to realize that it was an impossible thing to keep Sunday under such circumstances. In fact, so far were they behind the enlightenment of the age, they did not perceive any difficulty in the case at all. And that is not the end of the muddle. We left California just as the Advocate and its friends had passed through a struggle in which they made a most determined effort to have things so ordered that everybody should be compelled, by the law of the State, to keep the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday. And away off on the Atlantic Coast, in the good State of New York, we find a law in which are used these very words; it is to enforce the observance of "the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday." And, not content with that, many of the people in this country have formed themselves into a National Association, with the object of securing such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States as will authorize Congress to make a law compelling all the citizens of all the States, even of the whole Nation, to keep that same "first day of the week, commonly called Sunday." We fancy we hear the editor of the Advocate say, "That is good; we hope they will succeed in thus preserving 'the very foundation of our holy religion' from threatened destruction." But hold, Mr. Editor; do you not understand that it is an utter impossibility, that you cannot keep Sunday at all, because the earth is round, and you in San Francisco are not keeping "the same identical time" for Sunday that is kept in New York? In New York, where they have remained at home during all these years of progress in light and knowledge, they cannot be expected to know much better than to keep up their vain efforts to observe a certain "definite day." But you, Mr. Advocate Editor, who have crossed the continent, and have learned so well that "the same identical time" is not and cannot be kept in New York and San Francisco,—you owe a duty to your benighted brethren in the East. Please send the information to them which you have so kindly volunteered to us, that same "first day of the week, commonly called Sunday," cannot be kept at all; that the earth is round; that you have traveled far enough from New York to ascertain that that is a fact; and that to keep "the same identical time" is an utter impossibility. Tell them that you have imparted this valuable information to the Seventh-day Adventists (who do not, however, seem to appreciate the favor), and that you cannot in conscience let them longer remain ignorant of this great and important truth. We might, indeed, tell them ourself, seeing we are now in this State, and we might give the editor of the California Christian Advocate as our authority; but we think it will have a far better effect if you will tell them yourself. You are probably better known here than we are; you are connected with a large and influential denomination, and with one of the largest publishing interests in the country, having its center in the metropolis of this State; and you have "D. D." attached to your name; they will surely listen to you. We hope you will not neglect this. For why should you show so much solicitude to enlighten the Seventh-day Adventists on this important point, and leave your own people in ignorance? Surely you must see and realize the force of our appeal. Do not spoil the effect of your valuable teaching on this subject by replying that this is a difficulty peculiar to the seventh day, and does not affect the other days of the week; for it is to be feared that your brethren, ignorant as they appear to be on the fundamentals of this subject, are not so ignorant but they will see the fallacy and folly of such an answer. No, no; lay the axe at the root of the tree at once. Tell them that "the same identical time," and of course the same identical day, cannot be kept, and that Sunday keeping, to use a worldly expression, has "gone up." We are compelled now to assure the editor of the Advocate that, strange as it may appear to him, we have heard of this difficulty before. In fact, it is known to some people in the East as well as to those in California. We will relate an incident:— Several years ago we were enjoying a social time with a knot of ministers in Boston, of different denominations, among whom were two Methodist ministers; one of them was a well-known Professor, and the other was a Mr. Smith, then located at Lynn. We state only facts—his name was Smith. As the conversation turned on the subject of the Sabbath, Mr. Smith asked us if we did not find a difficulty in observing the seventh-day Sabbath, "because," said he, "when it is Sabbath in Boston it is not Sabbath somewhere else." We replied that we had never yet discovered any difficulty in the case, for, when we kept the Sabbath in Boston we never had found it necessary at the same time to keep it somewhere else. A smile in the company seemed to disconcert him a little; and we fear we were somewhat unmerciful as we turned the question upon him thus: "Have you never realized the difficulty of keeping Sunday, because when it is Sunday in Boston or Lynn it is not Sunday somewhere else?" There was then an "audible smile" in the company, and he did not reply. Now we shall not ask pardon of our readers for this article, for as long as public teachers and religious leaders put forth such puerilities, we shall consider it necessary to notice them.