LET us look at the charges brought against the Bible. 1. To prove that the Bible is impure, its enemies read portions of Scripture which they say are unfit for the eye and ear of the family circle. They read Solomon’s Song, and put upon it their own interpretations, and then fling down the book, denouncing it as a polluted volume. Is the Bible impure? I lay it down as a principle that an impure book will have impure results. No man will deny that proposition. Now of all your friends, how many have had their purity of soul stained, tarnished, or despoiled by Bible-reading!
Two hundred million copies of an impure book scattered through Christendom! There must be a great many victims. Show me a thousand victims. Show me five hundred victims. Show me a hundred. Show me fifty. Show me ten. Show me one victim. Is that exorbitant? I do not care what the specimen is, whether man, woman, or child; white, black, or copper-colored; American, European, Asiatic, or African. Two hundred millions of books, in each of which skeptics say there is the leprosy of impurity!
Show me one victim. I do not confine you to our own times. Range through all the four thousand years that have passed, and show me one soul whose chastity and purity have been despoiled and ruined by Bible perusal. I challenge all earth and hell for one victim. Your charge collapses and dies in the presence of every frank-minded man. So far from the Bible being an impure book, you know very well that it is only where the Bible reigns that the family institution is regarded.
The only difference between Sodom, and Constantinople, and Pekin, and Madras, on the one side, and our American cities on the other, in regard to the status of purity and impurity, is the difference between Bible and no Bible. If the Bible be an impure book, I am only asking of you a fair thing when I ask that after two hundred million copies have been doing their work you show me one victim.
2. Charge the second: The Bible is cruel. To prove this, the enemies of the Bible give us the stories of the ancient wars, passages in the story of David and Joshua, and the extermination of the Canaanites, and then declare that the Bible approves of laceration and man-slaughter. You have known a great many people who had this “cruel” book in their hands. Was the effect of this “cruel” book upon them to send them toward vivisection, toward maltreatment, toward mauling? Did your friends come out and practically say, “I have been reading about the extermination of the Canaanites, and now mean to cut, stab, bruise, and beat to pieces everybody I meet?”
As your children have studied the Bible, have they had more and more of a tendency to pull off the wings of flies, and to pin grass-hoppers, and to rob birds’ nests? If the Bible is cruel, why does it not show its cruelty in that direction? So far from its being true, all the asylums and institutions of mercy in this country have been founded by Bible believers.
When did this bloody book, so called by some, implant cruelty in the heart of George Peabody, of Miss Dix, of Florence Nightingale, of John Howard, of John Frederick Oberlin, of Abbott Lawrence?
Look at those twenty Christian women in a hospital. They are washing wounds, they are administering cordials, they are taking the last message of the expiring. Those Christian women have been reading this book all their lives, and now they are reading it to the sick and the dying. At what point does the cruelty of this book crop out in the life of that ministering angel of the hospital? Do you find it in the gentleness of her step, or in the soft cadence of her voice, or in her prayer for the dying, “Lord Jesus, receive his spirit”?
When you can make a rose leaf pierce like a bayonet, when you can make icicles out of the south wind, when you can poison the tongue with honey made from blossoming buckwheat—then you can find people practicing cruelty learned from the Bible.—Talmage.
FALSEHOODS
The habit of false speaking is easily formed, and, when formed, does incalculable mischief. Who can tell the mischief done to individual families and communities by fraud? But to a great extent frauds are perpetuated by false speaking. Who can repair the injury done to character by slander? But slander is one form of false speaking. As a general thing, this pernicious habit of lying grows out of slight deviations from the truth, especially in the form of prevarication; and no watchful parents should fail to check such a propensity on the part of their children, whether in the shape of embellishment and exaggeration, or in the more serious form of prevarication, to say nothing of direct and palpable falsehood, calling for the rod of correction. So important is truth, strict truth, that Dr. Johnson, the great moralist, says: “If a child says a thing happened at one window, when it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly correct him; you do not know where deviation from the truth will end. Without truth, there can be no friendship among men, no mutual co-operation, no transactions of any kind. Truth is the very corner-stone of society, and by all persons should be valued.”—New Age.
GLEANINGS
By Adelaide de Yarmond
WIND will extinguish a small fire, but increase a large one. Opposition will stop the influence of a slight effort, but increase the influence of a firm effort.
Our conversation is often as though we believed our words to be the seed that falls on stony ground, where it would have no depth of root; but if we could know the “depth of root” which our words do take, we surely would guard our conversation more closely. I had quoted to me, a few days ago, words which I had spoken a year before, and which had taken deep root in fertile soil; but I had spoken lightly, without a thought of the words after they were uttered.
What seems a cross will prove a crown.
So construct your sentences that the removal of any word would either destroy the meaning, or make the sentence inelegant. This would do away with full one-half the number of words, and give your remarks power, durability, and pleasantness,—all attributes of conciseness. Good thoughts are gladly received; but words are too common that even their fluent use should give a speaker power. The writings which have lasted for centuries are of only the words necessary to convey the thoughts. “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”
“A magnet does not lose power by inducing magnetism: it rather gains strength by the reflex action of the new magnet.” It is as true that we lose no strength by giving aid to others; no wisdom, by imparting instruction; no joy, by imparting pleasure; no courage, by giving encouragement to those dispirited: but, instead, as others have received of us, they impart the same again to us, doubling our portion but not diminishing their own. The exercise of any power is necessary to the enjoyment of that power.
Get good books, and you will not be troubled by borrowers.
We forget the labor, in thinking of the object for which we are laboring; and the pleasure we have in our work depends upon the nobleness of the object.
Have we ever neglected a duty, until it has been given to willing hands to do, while we were left without the labor, and without the blessed reward which the Master continually gives to those who serve him? “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.”
All that is true in science or in nature is true in life.
To the idle the time seems long; to the active it seems short.
Formal or commonplace conversation bears the same resemblance to real, earnest talk, that wax or wooden imitations bear to the real, ripe fruit.
“Are we steering or drifting?”
Pearls do not float on the surface; and, in the Word of Truth, if we would find the treasures, we must seek deep.
It was in answer to prayer that Solomon obtained his wisdom.
ADELAIDE DE YARMOND.
A CONTRAST.
“HE who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can give it.”—Von Krebel.
Superior minds are always teachable. They are ready to hear from everybody, and from everything around them. They thirst for knowledge, and will glean it from every available source. They can take advice from inferiors, and be docile as childhood itself. Even the sarcasms and backbitings of their enemies are not lost upon them. Ill-natured criticisms, though the offspring of mere spleen, and envy, and malice, will be so taken as to afford many a useful hint for their improvement. The intended poison becomes only a wholesome medicine to them.
Inferior minds—minds which are molded in a narrow and limited pattern—are prone to be opinionated and dogmatical. “Doubtless they are the men, and wisdom shall die with them.” Their statements must not be questioned. Their decisions must have the force of law. Their education is finished. Their mental acquirements are all gathered in and stereotyped. Nothing remains to be added. They can teach and advise, but have nothing more to learn. They have no patience with those who oppose them. Sarcasms and backbiting are unendurable. Ill-will only begets anger and recrimination.
To which of these two classes will our readers choose to belong?—Selected.
To Owe Is Human, To Pay Divine
“THINK truly, and thy thought
Shall be a fruitful seed.”
To owe is human; to pay up, divine.
Those Thoroughly in Earnest Misunderstood
They who are thoroughly in earnest are sure to be misunderstood.
On Resolving to Shut One’s Eyes
WHEN people have resolved to shut their eyes, or to look only on one side, it is of little consequence how good their eyes may be. —Archbishop Whately.
—*Archbishop Whately
—Archbishop Whately.
A CONTEMPLATIVE life has more the appearance of a life of piety than any other; but it is the divine plan to bring faith into activity and exercise.—Cecil.
A Heavy Hand on the Tiller
WHEN I see a man with a serene countenance, it looks like a great leisure that he enjoys, but in reality he sails on no summer's sea. This steady sailing comes of a heavy hand on the tiller.—Thoreau.
After the Storm
By R. W. Gilder
THEN shall thy still unbroken spirit grow
Strong in its suffering and more tender-wise;
And as the drenched and thunder-shaken skies
Pass into golden sunset, thou shalt know
An end of calm, when evening breezes blow,
And looking on thy life with vision fine,
Shall seek the shadow of a hand divine.
—R. W. Gilder.
Why Not Give Now?
“MANY of our readers intend to leave a part or all of their property to our denominational enterprises. Why not do it now?”—Examiner and Chronicle. Sure enough—why not now? The dead never give; they only relinquish. Reader, which will you do?—Christian at Work.
The Source of Happiness
If happiness be not in the heart, it exists nowhere. You cannot manufacture it, and if you go hunting for it, it eludes your search. It comes, when it comes, like white-winged angels, on noiseless feet. How many about us are seen with the appearance of happiness to whom it is only a sort of moral toilet, which they lay aside as soon as they reach home.
The Czar Is Young Yet
THERE is a story told of a patriotic Russian which shows how far the worship of the powers that be can go. He was boasting in the presence of an Englishman of the excellence of the Czar. He proved beyond a doubt that he possessed more gifts and virtues than all the other crowned heads of Europe put together. The Englishman naturally rebelled, and said at last in tones of superb sarcasm, “Well, my friend, you will at least acknowledge that the Czar is not equal to the Almighty.” The Russian, unwilling to admit even that, replied evasively: “Perhaps not; but you know the Czar is young yet.” And do those who prefer to take charge of themselves and guide their affairs without God’s help feel much differently!
THE DEDICATION.
According to appointment, the Tabernacle was dedicated Sunday afternoon, April 20. We were hardly prepared to have it prove insufficient in respect to size at the very first large gathering, but such was the case Sunday afternoon. Hundreds went away, being unable to obtain even standing room.
The day was one of nature’s best, and long before the hour of service the people were pouring in from every direction. They soon filled the entire floor below, filled the gallery, filled all the extra seats which were brought in and put into every available space, filled the aisles, filled the porches, perched all along the stairs which ascend from the pulpit to the gallery, and ran over into the basement. Yet large numbers went away unable to find an entrance. The house had been estimated to hold thirty-two hundred people, but thirty-six hundred and forty-nine were counted as they left the house at the close of the services.
The order of exercises was as follows: 1. Anthem: “Hear our Prayer;” 2. Invocation by Eld. A. S. Hutchins; 3. Hymn: “Waiting and Watching;” 4. Scripture reading, selection from Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple, Prof. S. Brownsberger; 5. Brief History of the denominational work of S. D. Adventists in Battle Creek, U. Smith; 6. Report of the Building Committee, through the chairman, H. W. Kellogg, and the acceptance of it and of the house by S. N. Haskell, in behalf of the church in Battle Creek and the General Conference; 7. Hymn, “To the Giver of all Blessings;” 8. Dedicatory Sermon by Eld. J. N. Andrews; 9. Renewal of covenant by the church to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, thus first dedicating themselves anew to the Lord, manifested by rising; 10. Hymn: No. 503 of Spiritual Songs; 11. Dedicatory Prayer by Eld. Geo. I. Butler; 12. Anthem: “The Earth is the Lord’s;” 13. Benediction by Eld. D. M. Canright.
The exercises all passed off satisfactorily. We have only time here to say a word concerning the sermon by Bro. Andrews. This was one of his strong efforts. He took his text from the mottoes on the window in the rear of the pulpit; on the left hand being the text, Rom. 3 : 24: “Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;” in the center, the ark and cherubim, with the ten commandments in full; on the right, Rev. 14 : 12: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
These mottoes show the law and the gospel in their holy and inseparable connection, and the prophetic union of the two in the people who proclaim the third message just before the coming of Christ. This gave Bro. A. occasion to speak of our position on the law, our position on the gospel of Christ, and our position in prophecy. It would seem impossible to condense more of the distinguishing features of the S. D. Adventist faith into one short sermon than were clearly and concisely brought out on this occasion.
The house receives only commendations from those who see it. If there are any feelings of dissatisfaction abroad concerning it, it must be on the part of those who have by some means obtained wrong ideas in reference to it. The spire is not anywhere near as tall as that of Trinity Church, New York (!), though we learn that one man was informed that it was. It is but 108 feet from ground to finial. The clock was first suggested by the citizens of Battle Creek, they also suggesting that they would pay for it. This pledge they have redeemed almost twice, having subscribed toward the building $1,003.05, while the clock cost only $600; and the difference in the subscription above what it would have been had the clock not been put in, is more than the cost of the clock. There is, therefore, no extravagance nor debt upon the cause for this. And so of many other things that might be mentioned.
But the best testimony on this point is the course of those who are here to see for themselves. In large numbers our brethren have come from other places to the dedication. Many had never seen the house, and some had heard unfavorable reports. But being here, seeing it as it is, hearing the explanations on all points, and learning with what economy and care the enterprise has been managed, they came forward nobly with their means to help it through. At a meeting held in the Tabernacle, evening after the Sabbath, April 19, to see what could be done toward removing the debt, payments and pledges were made to the amount of $6,184.50. No better testimonial than this could be given to show the favor with which this enterprise is received by those who understand it.
The report of the building committee showed the total cost of the building alone to be $25,475.17. Grading and clock bring it up $800, to $26,275.17. To meet this $22,956.68 is provided for. Leaving still unprovided for, only $3,318.49. This is a most encouraging showing; and if the brethren abroad felt some of the enthusiasm of those who are here, this amount would be liquidated at once.
A praise service was held in the evening, which was an occasion of much interest. Many encouraging testimonies were borne. The singing was excellent.
The day throughout was one of success. The brethren seem to be of the best courage. The house is one which was needed. It meets the want. It has stood the test well. Rarely will such a demand be made upon it as was made by the crowd at the dedication. The erection of this house without accident, its successful dedication to the Lord, the free-will offerings which have so nearly met the debt, all constitute an achievement in behalf of the cause for which we have reason to be grateful.