p. 76 | Review and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 10. (3/2/1869)

OBJECTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS.

By R. F. Cottrell

SKEPTICS think they find contradictions in the Bible. But upon examination it is found that one-half of the contradictions are in their own head and the other half only in the Bible; i. e., they have certain notions fixed in their minds as Bible teaching, and find something in the Bible which contradicts these preconceived and false ideas, and they come at once to the conclusion that the Bible teaches two opposing and irreconcilable doctrines.

Professed skeptics and open infidels are not the only ones who find difficulties in believing clearly revealed Bible truths. Christians have their unfounded notions established in their minds as revealed truth, which stand right in the way of their believing the most plain and demonstrated truths of revelation.

I have greatly wondered how it was that when we teach the change in the ministration of our High Priest from the holy to the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary, that is, to blot out the sins of his people, thus judging them worthy of eternal life and deciding to give them a part in the first resurrection, I say, I have wondered how it was that we were represented as teaching that probation closed in 1844; especially as we always exhort the people to close with the offers of mercy while we have a Priest in the sanctuary, before he shall finish his intercessions at the mercy-seat, and come to reward men according as their works shall be.

But the objection has just come to me clothed in such language as to give me the clue. The objector said he could not believe that Jesus had already left the mediatorial seat and come to judgment. Ah! that is an expression I have often heard—“I left the mediatorial seat and come to judgment”—but what does it mean? and who is the author of it? It is a human phrase, and we may attach a scriptural or an unscriptural idea to it. If we mean that Christ leaves his mediatorial office when he comes to execute the judgment by giving to every man according as his work shall be, our views are in harmony with the Scriptures. But if we mean that he leaves his mediatorial office and comes to sit in judgment, bringing before his tribunal those whose sins were blotted out while he was a Priest, (and at no other time can their sins be blotted out,) the idea is not only unscriptural, but unreasonable and absurd.

And this is the way men are prepared to object to, and reject truth. It does not harmonize with some notion they have imbibed, which, though unscriptural and unreasonable, is as sacred to them as law and gospel; and instead of correcting their thoughts and bringing them to harmonize with reason and revealed truth, they reject the truth.

Judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, and then the time comes that they possess the kingdom. Dan. vii, 22. The saints are rewarded with immortality, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the coming of Christ, the last trump, and their resurrection from the grave. Therefore they have been judged worthy of eternal life before this event. And when was this? When Jesus, as their mediator, finished the work of the atonement in their behalf by blotting out their sins and confessing their names before his Father in the temple of God in Heaven, their names, their sins, their repentance, their faith, and the righteous acts of their lives, were brought in review before God, and they were acquitted. Their sins were forever removed, never to be remembered against them. Do not talk of judging them after that. Nothing remains but to give them their reward.

But from their own false ideas men infer that we teach that Christ has left the mediatorial office, consequently that probation is closed, and they are so filled with this that they cannot hear us when we plead with them to come to Christ for pardon and reconciliation while he still pleads for all that come to God through him, and before the irrevocable decree shall go forth, He that is filthy let him be filthy still. So it is; but, thank God, some will hear.

R. F. COTTRELL.

QUESTIONS.

By John Nevins Andrews

DEAR BROTHER: I should feel greatly obliged if you would inform me through the REVIEW at your earliest convenience.

1. Whether the Christians of the Greek Church in Russia keep the seventh-day Sabbath or the first-day; also the Armenian churches of Asia?

2. What certainty is there that the true Anno Domini 1843, has come yet? Or what evidence have we that our present Anno Domini is any where near correct since it was not till 527 A. D. that computation by A. U. C. terminated, and that by A. D. commenced?

3. Ought not the ensuing year to be 1873, according to Usher's Chronology of the Bible?

Yours faithfully, INER LAMB.

REPLIES.—1. The Greek church in Russia does not observe the Sabbath. In fact the Greek Catholic church is not essentially unlike the Roman Catholic church. The schism between the two great bodies was not fully accomplished till about the middle of the

eleventh century. The Greek church rejects the authority of the Pope, but cherishes nearly all the errors of the Romanists. There are, however, numerous bodies of dissenters in Russia, several of whom are said to expect the speedy advent of Christ. There is one sect called Seleznevtschini who observe the seventh day. “There are many of them about Yula, on the river Kuma, and in other provinces, and they are very numerous in Poland and Turkey.” But the historian declares that they have left the Christian faith and united with the Jews in rejecting the Messiah and the gospel. If this very charge were not so often made against ourselves, I should have more faith that it is correct. I suspect it to be a slander caused by their observance of the Bible Sabbath. I hope to gain further information respecting this body of people. My statement is drawn from a work entitled, The Present State of the Greek Church, by Robert Pinkerton.

2. There is no dispute relative to the birth of Christ involving more than six years. Rather it may be said that writers on chronology are agreed that Christ was born four years before the commencement of our A. D. The question of the age of the world at the birth of Christ is the subject of much dispute. But there is no dispute relative to the reckoning of time since Christ. The birth of Christ being fixed at four years before the year which is termed A. D. 1, no confusion is occasioned in the chronology. For the years designated B. C. and A. D. are adjusted to each other by means of what is called the Julian Period. This is a period of 7980 years. The year which we call A. D. 1, is ascertained beyond all dispute to be the year of the Julian Period 4714. Though Christ was born four years earlier, yet the year from which we have so long reckoned being clearly determined by the Julian Period, all confusion and inaccuracy is avoided.

Relative to the determination of chronology, Sylvester Bliss, author of the “Analysis of Sacred Chronology,” thus speaks:

“The Bible gives the data for a complete system of chronology, extending from the creation to the birth of Cyrus, a clearly ascertained date. From this period downward we have the undisputed Canon of Ptolemy, and the undoubted era of Nabonassar extending below our vulgar era. At the point where inspired chronology leaves us, this Canon of undoubted accuracy commences. And thus the whole arch is spanned. It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period of 70 weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year B. C. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses.”

It is not difficult to adjust the years of the Christian era to the years of the era A. U. C., i. e., the years of the age of Rome. See Bliss's Sacred Chronology.

3. The chronology of Usher does not differ from that of other learned men relative to the Christian era. They are agreed that this is the year 1869 from the year fixed as A. D. 1. They are also substantially agreed that Christ was born about four years before the year designated as A. D. 1.

J. N. ANDREWS.

S. D. BAPTIST PASTORS.

EDITOR ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD, Dear Sir: R. F. Cottrell, in your issue of Feb. 9, in an article under the heading “Sacred Nations, No. 2,” says:

“I venture the opinion, however, that S. D. Baptists, who have stood one commandment in advance of others, have erred less in restricting their communion to Sabbath-keepers, than they have in their ministers’ taking the pastoral charge of Sabbath-breaking churches, where their lips were sealed, year in and year out, to the preaching of the claims of God’s moral law.”

In the above statement I cannot but think Bro. C. is mistaken in the material fact named, as in a church connection with the people named of over forty years’ continuance, more than thirty-five years of which have been spent in the ministry, and a personal acquaintance extending over almost the entire denomination, I have never known an instance in which one of our ministers has taken the “pastoral charge” of a “Sabbath-breaking church.” If instances of this kind have occurred, they certainly have been few indeed.

Fraternally yours. N. V. HULL.

Alfred Center, N. Y., Feb. 12, 1869.

REMARKS. As Bro. Cottrell specified no locality to which his statements applied, he may have had reference to S. D. Baptist pastors in England, with whom, in years past, the evil of which he speaks was notoriously conspicuous. But the same mail which brought Bro. Hull’s communication, brought the Sabbath Recorder of Feb. 18, 1869, in which is an article very nearly, at least, sustaining Bro. Cottrell in his statements. A correspondent writing concerning religious matters in Hopkinton City, R. I., says:—

“Within the limits of the city proper, there are two churches—a First-day and a Seventh-day Baptist church—the former, according to its last annual associational minutes, numbering seventy-five members, and the latter, one hundred and thirty-eight members. The first-day church was constituted in 1834, and the Seventh-day church in 1835. The most friendly Christian relation now exists between the two churches. The pastor of the Seventh-day church supplies the pulpit of the first-day church, which arrangement is expected to continue the ensuing year. This arrangement tends much to promote the Christian union which ever ought to exist between all Christian churches.”

THE LAW TILL JOHN.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“The Law and the Prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Luke xvi, 16.

This passage is often quoted by those who say the law is abolished. They claim that it supports their position. The law was until John; then of course, say they, it ceased there. Since that time we have the gospel. But let us look at this a little more closely.

Not only the law, but also the prophets are mentioned as being until John. If the law ceased at John then the prophets also ceased there by the same rule;—the law and the prophets were until John. If this position be true then there should be no prophets after John. But there were prophets this side of John. He was beheaded by Herod long before the crucifixion of Christ; so Christ lived after the time of John. But Jesus was a prophet. Luke xxiv, 19; Acts iii, 22. When Jesus “ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists,” &c. Paul again says, that God has set prophets in the church, 1 Cor. xii, 28. Here we find prophets set in the church by the express appointment of God, not only after the time of John, but after the ascension of Jesus. Here in A. D. 41–44, we find the prophets exercising their gift in the church, Acts xi, 27, 28. “And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar.” So we might refer to others who were prophets after John. So it is certain that it does not mean that the prophets were to cease at John. Nor can it mean that the prophecies were to cease at John; for the prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, &c., are yet fulfilling and to be fulfilled. No one will claim that the prophecies ceased at John. They are still as good as ever. Now we will look at the term law. Did it cease at John? Then it certainly was not abolished at the cross, for John was killed long before Jesus died. Those who claim the law abolished always point to the cross as the time when, and the place where, it was done. But then it could not have ceased at John. Here our friends again get into difficulty. So we conclude that their position is not a correct one.

Then what is the meaning of the passage? The parallel one in Matt. xi, 13, may help us to get the meaning of this one. It reads thus: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” Here we get the idea,—they prophesied or taught till John. They were the only means of teaching the people till John came; “since that time,” says Jesus in our text, “the kingdom of God is preached.” That is, the law and the prophets were preached then, but now we have all the light of the gospel. This appears to be the meaning. It will be noticed in the text that the word “were” is a supplied word. The connection plainly shows that the words, were preached, are the ones that should be supplied instead of the simple word “were.” Then it would read thus: “The law and the prophets were preached until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached.”

This relieves the text of all difficulty, and makes the meaning plain. In no case can it be fairly made to teach the abolition of the law at John.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

SUNDAY-KEEPING CONFIRMS MEN IN INFIDELITY.

By A. H. Lewis

The Radical for January, 1869, has another article in which the inconsistencies of Sunday-keeping and infant baptism are most clearly and pointedly set forth. Whatever aim the Radical may have in thus holding up the weaknesses of “orthodoxy,” its criticisms are just, and we repeat them, that those who are thus professing one thing and doing another may be led to see how untruthful and harmful their position is, and be led to accept the whole truth. There can be no doubt but that such glaring inconsistencies are provocative of infidelity, and stand in the way of true reform. The Radical says:

“In theory, the organs of orthodoxy deny the validity of tradition as an authoritative rule, and insist that Scripture is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, for the guidance of life, and that all Scripture is alike inspired. What we have now to inquire is, Does the practice of these professors correspond with their theory? Do they always obey the teaching of inspiration? Do they never follow tradition in preference? I ask, then, Are the creeds and customs of the orthodox church taken wholly from the Bible? Do they fairly represent that book, and represent it without addition, or diminution, or variation?” . . . .

“The Bible, in commanding the observance of a weekly Sabbath, expressly specifies the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as the time for that observance, and rest from all labor as the manner of it.” . . . .

“Our orthodox people lay great stress on the keeping of a Sabbath, but they choose a different day for it from that which their inspired Bible commands. On Saturday, the only day specified in that book for a weekly Sabbath, they follow, without scruple, their accustomed labor and business, not ‘remembering that day for the appointed duty of rest,’ not hallowing it, not regarding it at all. The tradition of their church (an authority which they vehemently deprecate in the Romish church) has taken the liberty to substitute another day (Sunday) for the commanded one, and they take the liberty to observe this substitute in a manner materially different from that scripturally enjoined in the ‘fourth commandment.’” . . . .

“Take another instance: If any scriptural direction respecting water baptism is plain, it is that believers, and only believers, are the proper subjects of it. But our orthodox ministers and people insist upon applying this rite to infants, regardless of the fact that they do not believe, and that they are incapable of belief. They thus disregard one of the express stipulations of their infallibly inspired Scriptures.”

Such deviations from plain scriptural teachings are worthy of severe criticism, even though made by good men. Indeed, the evil is greater in proportion to the positions occupied by the transgressors. It is true, that many of the people who practice these things are thoroughly honest, and follow their leaders with implicit confidence. But the leaders are not, or ought not to be, ignorant as to what is truth. That they are not ignorant, is shown by the ingenious sophistries and untiring efforts which they put forth in trying to evade the truth, and sustain their cherished positions. Self-interest, in many ways, urges them to hold on to the popular practices and theories; this they do, and drown the warnings of truth in new efforts to uphold error; or, which is perhaps more common, seek to compromise the case with God by doing something else. Thus they trample on his law one day, and then eloquently plead with sinners to obey it the next. Many times these same leaders see and feel the force of their inconsistencies, and shut out all light, “lest their deeds be reproved.” Few of the orthodox churches will allow any one to present the claims of the Bible Sabbath in their houses of worship. They fear the effect of the agitation. The leaders are afraid, if the light comes to the people. I suppose such leaders mean to be good men. They are good men in many respects, and so are the “New England Infidels” and “German Rationalists,” whose no-Sabbathism, orthodox men so loudly decry. The truth is, no-Sabbathism is the fruitage of the popular theories. Rome planted it, and modern orthodoxy, led by Puritanism, sought to uphold the evil by the false theory of a change of the day. This theory is threadbare, and shows the old warp of evil; and now the church is appealing to the civil arm to take away its dire effects, while they still cling to the fabric. It is like a frightened boy running from his own shadow, which leaps when he leaps, and stares at him when he stops. Sunday-keepers are frightened at their own child, nevertheless, it will not leave their door.

Brethren, we pray you accept God’s law in its plain statements, and get upon the rock of truth—“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” There can be no true Sabbath reform on any other platform. The Anglo-American Sabbath is an ecclesiastico-civil institution, man-made, and almost powerless for good. It grows weaker every day. It must fail, if there be any truth in the logic of events, or the warnings of history. Brethren, give it up before it sinks you, and the best interests of the church. The truth will triumph, but not upon false pleas, nor by the power of legislators and rulers. Victory comes at last to the right, not to the many.—A. H. LEWIS, in Sabbath Recorder.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

“THERE shall be earthquakes in divers places.” Matt. xxiv, 7.

“The sea and the waves roaring.” Luke xxi, 25.

“Fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” Luke xxi, 11.

The attention of the world is being forced to the contemplation of very startling phenomena, of late, in the shape of earthquakes, tidal waves, etc. Disturbances of the earth, and of the tides of the sea, and of the course of nature, on an unprecedented scale, have been the subject of excited tidings from all quarters of the globe. Editors and scientific men have been led to pronounce upon them as among the most remarkable and extensive of which there is any written record. They have been experienced at short intervals during the past two years, and especially the last four or five months. It is also believed, by those most

knowing on the subject, that the last of this cluster of gigantic commotions has not yet been felt. Later and fuller details are continually increasing, and command an unusual degree of interest among scientific men.

A secular paper remarks:

“In both hemispheres, but especially on this continent, and among the adjacent islands, these visitations of tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes, with their tidal waves, and fissures emitting gas, fire, smoke, steam, and boiling water, are becoming alarmingly frequent. Last autumn they had them all in high revelry at St. Thomas and the neighboring islands, and such terrific hurricanes of rattling hail along the southern frontier of Texas as was never known there before, back to the first occupation of the country by the Spaniards. This year the line of operations of these celestial and subterranean phenomena appears to be (with the recurrence of the meteors) along the Pacific side of the continent, and may be traced to the late disastrous convulsions of the dry land and the sea along the western coast of South America. Violent storms follow in the track of earthquakes, and such storms doubtless result from the derangement of the atmospheric equilibrium by the disturbing gases and electrical forces arising from subterranean outbreaks.”

The first of this great, and most recent, series of convulsions, so far as our intelligence now extends, occurred in the Sandwich Island, eleven days before the terrible disaster in Peru. Violent shocks were felt in different parts of the group from the 2d to the 9th of August, accompanied with heavy storms of thunder and lightning. The western coast of South America was devastated by awful earthquakes from the 10th to the 15th of August, and at the same time the shocks were felt again in the Sandwich Island, though less severely than before. On the 17th there were shocks in New Zealand. About the middle of September shocks were felt by vessels in the Eastern Pacific. On or about the 1st of October they were experienced again in the Sandwich Islands. In California they were felt from the 21st to the 25th, with considerable severity, and were repeated slightly up to the 6th of November. On the 23d of October we hear of earthquakes in Ireland. On the 6th of November there was one at Vancouver Island.

The shocks have followed no particular direction, and been confined to no particular quarter of the earth. Beginning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they seem to have affected all its eastern shores and its southern and western islands, and, skipping the whole breadth of the North American Continent and the Atlantic Ocean, to have broken out in Ireland. We may yet learn that the remoter countries of Asia have likewise been shaken.

The tidal waves, which have accompanied all the most serious of these convulsions, are peculiarly interesting subjects of study. It has been remarked, as an evidence of the rapidity with which they travel, that they reached the California coast as early as the morning of the 14th of August, having moved over the distance of four thousand miles in a little more than fourteen hours. But it now appears that their speed is even greater than this, for they were felt in the Sandwich Islands, nearly an equal distance, on the evening of the 13th, only four hours after the earthquake in Peru, lasting through the night, and obtaining their greater force the next morning, almost simultaneously with their appearance on the opposite California coast. This would give them the velocity of about a thousand miles an hour.

A great tidal wave fell upon Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, on the 15th of October, destroying a great many houses and other property.

Some of the terribleness of these tidal disturbances may be better understood from the letters of eyewitnesses and sufferers. The British Vice-Consul at Arica, exclaims:

“Gracious God, what a sight! I saw all the vessels in the bay carried out irresistibly to sea (anchors and chains were as packthread), probably with a speed of ten miles an hour. In a few minutes the great outward current stopped, stemmed by a mighty rising wave, I should judge about fifty feet high, which came in with an awful rush, carrying all before it in its terrible majesty, bringing the whole of the shipping with it, sometimes turning in circles, as if striving to elude their fate.”

A writer from Lima, says:

“I saw the whole surface of the sea rise, as if a mountain side, actually standing up. Another shock, accompanied with a fearful roar, now took place. I called to my companions to run for their lives on to the Pampa. Too late! With a horrid crash the sea was on us, and at one sweep—one terrible sweep—dashed what was Iquique on to the Pampa. I lost my companions, and in an instant was fighting with the dark water. The mighty wave surged, and roared, and leaped. The cries of human beings and animals were dreadful.”

The New York Sun, of November 19, expresses itself thus:

“Such a universal pother in the bowels of the planet was never known before in human experience. Wicked men of science have, it is true, been profane enough to say that the primeval hell beneath earth’s ribs was fast cooling, when it wasn’t; and this may have led to the late demonstrations, although one is sorry to attribute vindictive feelings to so august, wise, and venerable a body astronomic.

“Certain it is that a great rebellion has taken place for some cause or other, and that the earth has been shaken from center to circumference. So far from there being any decrease of vigor in the igneous energies, they are more active than ever. Ætna, and Vesuvius, and Hecla—that petty toy of the Icelanders—are henceforth to be set down as among the prettiest fireworks of the creation, and have been completely shorn of what used to be considered their grandeur and sublimity, by the tremendous rock-rendings, and oceanic fires, which have made the Pacific islands so famous and so terrible. All over the globe, as by a general conspiracy and premeditated simultaneous movement, there has been a regular Walpurgis hellabaloo, and fiery dance of destruction and death. Vesuvius and the Tahitian volcanoes roared to each other at the same moment in voices of primeval thunder, across the immeasurable brine, which writhed with a new and unheard-of agony, wreaking great ships in its wrath, and swallowing their ruins like so many grains of sand.”

On the 8th of December a fresh eruption of Ætna broke out. The mountain became enveloped in smoke, and exploded at times with deafening detonations. The streams of lava swept over the surrounding country, and the ashes from the crater were blown into the streets of Messina.

On the 12th of December, the ship Isaac Jans, from Port Townsend, when a few days out from Acapulco, encountered three fearful tidal waves, filling all aboard with consternation. If the ship had not been with her head on, she would undoubtedly have foundered. Like accounts are multiplying upon us with almost every foreign mail.

Now, it is but natural, right, and wise, for intelligent and thinking men to inquire into the meaning of all these commotions in earth, air, and sea. They furnish a vast subject for science, and also for the theologian, and Christian. There is particularly one relation of these things which no man, with the Bible in his hand, should overlook; and that is, that THEY HAVE BEEN PREDICTED by the inspired writers, and by the Lord Jesus himself, again and again, as THE FORERUNNERS OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. People may laugh and sneer as they please, but God hath spoken on the subject; spoken plainly, spoken repeatedly, and given the assurance that these are the signs by which we are to know that the end of this age is near at hand.

“Earthquakes in divers places,” “the sea and the waves roaring,” along with other marvelous coincidences, are unmistakably described in the Scriptures as God’s warnings of the nearing day of his coming to judge the earth. Nothing can well be more positive and definite than that fearful irregularities in the realm of nature are to herald the “day of the Lord;” and that Christ’s coming will transpire in a time specially marked by startling occurrences. Nor does it alter the nature of the case, to allege that there have been earthquakes, storms and commotions of the sea and sky in other ages, or that they may be accounted for on natural principles. God knew what Nature is, and by what laws she is governed, when he pointed to manifestations in her economy for indications of the fulfillment of his purposes. And when, as now, the most intelligent investigators and observers, by figures and dates of history, prove to us that “these upheavings of the earth are greatly increasing in number and violence,” and assuming a character of universality and terribleness never known to have been heretofore, there certainly is just reason to begin to conclude, that he who made these predictions knew something about them, and that the great events with which he has connected them as the harbingers, are really not far off.

The day, the month, the year, we may not know; but the signs we may know, and see, and feel. And “when these things begin to come to pass,” the commandment of the Saviour to his people is, that they draw from them certain conclusions, and “know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke xxi, 31.

“And yet,” writes one of our correspondents, “the great mass of mankind are utterly regardless of all the solemn warnings which these upheavings of the earth are thundering into our ears. There are scoffers who mockingly exclaim, ‘Where is the promise of his coming, for all things continue as they were from the beginning?’ The church abounds with evil servants, who say in their hearts, My Lord delayeth his coming, and are smiting their fellow-servants, and are eating and drinking with the drunken. Learned doctors acknowledge the frequency and terribleness of these visitations of God, yet refer to them as capital jokes, and fit subjects for witticism. Many mockingly allude to ‘the shaky condition of the globe,’ and make light of these awfully solemn things. Though the Saviour has given it as a sign of his advent, that ‘there shall be earthquakes in divers places,’ and even secular men, caring but little for what Christ in his word has said, are being moved by what is occurring, yet there are those who call themselves Christians, who can close their eyes, and pass it all as a matter of unmeaning merriment. Alas! Alas!

“But whatever careless and worldly-minded Christians may say, and do, in regard to these mysterious doings of God, if we love the Lord Jesus Christ, and desire his coming, and believe that he has given us any sign by which to know that his coming is near, these late terrible ‘earthquakes in divers places,’ must be viewed as signs that the day is at hand. Blessed also is he that will regard them as the noise of the chariot wheels of the coming King. Our duty is, to watch and pray, knowing that soon he that has promised to come, will come, and will not tarry. For he will surely come. He has promised to come. God has said that he will come. Angels have come from Heaven to give assurance that he will come. The Holy Ghost in the hearts of prophets and apostles has taught that he will come. And everything in and around us augurs that his coming is near. Let men take warning, and be prepared to meet their God.”—Prophetic Times.

MEETINGS IN WISCONSIN.

By I. Sanborn

At the date of my last report I was on my way to the Quarterly Meeting at Sand Prairie. It was truly a great privilege to me to meet with this church, as it had been about three years since I had met with them. They have built a meeting-house since that time, which made our meetings much more pleasant than formerly. We had a good meeting. Many of the neighbors came out and seemed much interested to hear the word. In the business session first-day morning, the brethren re-organized their s. B. book, raising their figures to over $100 for the year 1869, over $50 above last year.

I continued meetings till Wednesday evening, and there seemed to be such a growing interest, that I decided to protract this meeting two weeks, and gave notice to that effect. So on Thursday, Bro. Atkerson kindly took his team and carried me twenty-five miles to the Sugar Grove appointment in Vernon county, instead of Crawford county as I supposed it was when I made the appointment. But as the snow was about

two feet and a half deep in that county and the roads not broken much, there were but few out to meeting, yet I left another appointment to commence meetings there Thursday evening, the fourth of March. The next day we came back to Sand Prairie, and have continued the meetings to this date with a growing interest. As I visit among the people I find many convicted of the truth, and standing in an undecided position. May the Lord help them to make that decision that will stand the test of the investigative Judgment. I feel greatly encouraged to labor on in the vineyard of the Lord, and try to persuade the people to obey the Lord.

I. SANBORN.

Sand Prairie, Feb. 10, 1869.

WALKING WITH CHRIST.

By M. Bean

[These few lines I selected from an old book. The author I do not recollect. I should be pleased to see them in the Review. M. Bean.]

The Christian's life is in Christ, on Christ, by Christ, to Christ, for Christ, and with Christ. Walk with Christ, and God will walk with you. It is not talking of God, but walking with God, that makes the Christian. True piety should not be a thing of fits and starts, but an even walk with God. Learn not to have one life for God, and one for the world; but let your every footstep be a walk with God. He who walks with God, is one who observes God in all, looks to God through all, goes to God with all, trusts God for all, and loves God above all. Those only are right, and safe, and happy, who make God's glory their chief end, God's word their rule, God's Spirit the guide of their affections, and God's providence the guide of their affairs. Those who walk safely and honorably in the Christian course, are they who walk close with God in secret. Those who walk most with God know him best; and those who know him best love him most. We must keep in God's way, that we may be prepared to do God's work.

Encouragement from Portland

By E. Lordell

BRO. E. LORDELL writes from Portland, Me.: The words of the prophet could never apply with more force than at the present time, that “darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people.”

I can say for myself that I never felt more established in the present truth than I do now. I feel to praise the Lord for opening my eyes to see the light on the third angel’s message. I have been a reader of the REVIEW about ten years, and my interest in the truths advocated therein are increasing instead of decreasing; and I always look forward with pleasure for the time to come when I weekly receive it. When I read the blessed truths from those who have worn out their lives, as it were, to make ready these blessed truths at our hand, I feel that my interest is with those who have “borne the burden and heat of the day.”

The little church in Portland is striving to press their way through to the kingdom. We never had any better meetings than we have now. We are few in numbers, but are all united in the truth. We have been made glad by having one, a youth, voluntarily take up the cross and confess her need of salvation. I have been circulating some of our tracts and publications. I thought that “The 2300 days of Daniel” would be the right thing to give to the Adventists, as it would explain the past and present and future, so I have given a number of them to different individuals, and so far as I have heard from them they are unanimous in saying that the subject is so deep that they cannot comprehend it. I admit that the subject is deep, and that it is a glorious one; but I sincerely believe that the part which they cannot or will not comprehend may be found recorded in the 20th chapter of Exodus, commencing at the 8th verse. If they were willing to acknowledge that blessed part of God’s word, the light would shine so gloriously that they would be able to see what a beautiful harmony there is in the Advent doctrine, “for a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” If it were not for having to come out and bear the reproach of keeping God’s holy Sabbath, there doubtless are many who could see the light on the ending of the days, and the blessed work of our Saviour in the heavenly sanctuary. I hope for one, that I shall be able to enter fully into the spirit of watching and praying, so that when the Lord cometh, he shall not find me sleeping, but that I may be found worthy to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, among that little company who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image.

MEETINGS ON NORTH RIDGE,

By J. B. Goodrich

PLYMOUTH, ME.

I COMMENCED meetings in this place, Dec. 27, 1868. It was a very hard place in consequence of the great amount of prejudice existing here on account of some individuals who had lived in this vicinity professing to be Adventists; also on account of errors that have been preached which have had a distracting influence. The congregation generally has been small. Sickness has prevented a number from attending the meetings, and the ministers and a number of the church members have been very rigid, and unwilling to hear, but a few have listened candidly and have become convinced that we have the truth; and they acknowledge that they might as well break the eighth commandment as the fourth; “for if they offend in one point they are guilty of all.” I hope to see a few brought into the truth and saved in the kingdom of God. They are slow to move; but I feel like holding on. My courage is good in the truth. The third angel’s message will go. The people must hear it; and a people will be prepared for the pouring out of the last plagues. “His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

Ps. xci, 4. J. B. GOODRICH,

Plymouth, Me., Feb. 14, 1869.

Palm Tree Christians.

By E. ENGLES

In Ps. xcii, 12, it is stated that “the righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree;” “they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.” What properties has a palm-tree which caused David to use it as the emblem of a righteous man? Perhaps the following: It stands in the desert; it has water at its roots; it gives out a refreshing shelter from its spreading top; it bears rich fruit upon its crown—fruit which increases in size and richness with the age of the tree: and, finally, it shoots up again, more beautiful than ever, when it has been cut down.

With these facts before us, how clear is the resemblance between the Christian pilgrim and the tree which is the ornament and wealth of the desert; The Christian also stands or sojourns in a wilderness; in his heart there is a living spring; John iv, 14; he is a protection and a shade to all who come under his influence; he is a fruit-bearer to the praise of his God, and the benefit of his fellows; Gal. v, 22–24; and, finally, he shall come forth from his grave on the resurrection morning, bright with the glory, and perfect in the image of God. Phil. iii, 21.

E. ENGLES.

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