If you are grieved because your neighbors or friends are doing wrong to their own hurt, if they are overtaken in fault, follow the Bible rule: “Tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” As you go to the one you suppose to be in error, see that you speak in a meek and lowly spirit; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The erring can in no other way be restored than in the spirit of meekness and gentleness, and tender love. Be careful in your manner. Avoid any thing in look or gesture, word or tone of voice, that savors of pride or self-sufficiency. Guard yourself against a word or look that would exalt yourself, or place your goodness and righteousness in contrast with their failings. Beware of the most distant approach to disdain, or contempt, or an overbearing spirit. With care avoid every appearance of anger; and though you use plainness of speech, yet let there be no reproach, no railing accusation, no token of warmth but that of earnest love.
Above all, let there be no shadow of hate or ill-will, no bitterness nor sourness of expression. Nothing but kindness and gentleness can flow from a heart of love. Yet all these precious fruits need not hinder your speaking in the most serious, solemn manner, as though angels were directing their eyes upon you, and you acting in reference to the coming Judgment. Bear in mind that the success of reproof depends greatly upon the spirit in which it is given. Do not neglect earnest prayer that you may possess a lowly mind, and that angels of God may work upon the hearts you are trying to reach, before you, and so soften them by heavenly impressions, that your efforts may avail. If any good is accomplished, take no credit to yourself. God alone should be exalted. God alone hath done it all.
You excuse yourself for speaking evil of your brother or sister or neighbor, to others before going to him and taking the steps God has absolutely commanded you. “Why! I did not speak to any one until I was so burdened that I could not refrain.” What burdened you? Was it a plain neglect of your own duty, a thus saith the Lord? You were under the guilt of sin, because you did not go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If you did not do this, if you disobeyed God, how should you be otherwise than burdened, unless your heart was hardened while you were trampling the command of God under foot, and hating your brother or neighbor in your heart? And what way have you found to unburden yourself? God reproves you for a sin of omission, not telling your brother his fault; and you excuse and comfort yourself under his censure by a sin of commission, by telling your brother’s faults to another person! Is this the right way to purchase ease, by committing sin?
All your efforts to save the erring may be unavailing. They may repay you evil for good. They may be enraged rather than convinced. What if they hear to no good purpose, and pursue the evil course they have begun? This will frequently occur. Sometimes the mildest and tenderest reproof will have no good effect. In that case, the blessing you wanted another to receive by pursuing a course of righteousness, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well, will return into your own bosom. If the erring persist in sin, treat them kindly and leave them with your Heavenly Father. You have delivered your soul. Their sin no longer rests upon you. You are not now partaker of their sin. But if they perish, their blood is upon their own head.—Testimony No. 15, pp. 40 and 41.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
By Eliza H. Morton
In the morning of life everything seems beautiful. Fancy paints the future with glowing colors; and the world seems a pleasant abiding-place forever. But in the course of time the child-heart becomes chilled by disappointments; and even the face of nature seems changed. The youth is buoyant, full of life and animal spirits, and thinks it easy to win a laurel wreath, secure the praise of his fellow-men, and become of great consequence in the world; but he soon finds that he occupies but a very small space in the world, and that his likes and dislikes, and his opinions and desires, are of but little consequence to other people. Sooner or later he sees the frown and the sneer, hears the jeer and the laugh, and is made to feel most keenly that the world is cold and unsympathizing.
Children who have been petted and indulged at home, find themselves, when they leave the parental roof, poorly prepared to meet the disappointments of life. The world is full of people, all of whom have by nature hearts filled with envy, jealousy, strife, and selfishness; and as a natural consequence we see much crowding and pushing, and but little attention is paid to aught except number one. When children leave their home, and enter life for themselves among strangers, then they are snubbed and crossed and made to feel most sensibly their own littleness and unimportance. The hardest lesson they have to learn is, that they are nobody. I mean by that, that their interests are, in one sense, of no interest to the world at large, and that even their presence in the world is as a drop of water in a river.
We see the rich and influential man die, hear the rumble of the carriage wheels that bear him to his last resting-place; and we observe that business goes on the same as before, and none appear to miss him. It comes home to our hearts as a startling reality, that our death would not cause even a ripple upon the great sea of human life.
Although we may be forced to learn life's lessons with tears, heart-aches, and sorrow, yet let us not be discouraged. The thought, that God cares for even the “sparrows of the field,” is enough to buoy our spirits up. His blessing is more comforting than the praise of the whole world.
Let us, then, keep our hearts happy, drive gloomy looks from our faces, cultivate cheerfulness, live lives of sobriety and usefulness, bear patiently whatever God sees fit to send, regard this world as simply a place in which to perfect character, and make it the great object of life to gain that eternal home where disappointments never come. ELIZA H. MORTON.
Allen's Corner, Me.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
By Lilla D. Avery
A CENTENNIAL HYMN.
One hundred years ago, a few brave heroes
Battled for freedom, ’mid the cannon’s roar,
And bravely bore aloft their glorious banner,
And spilled their blood upon Columbia’s shore.
Where cities stand that are the nation’s pride,
Her patriot sons have nobly bled and died.
One hundred times our swift-revolving planet
Her circuit round the fiery sun has told,
One hundred times the snowy frost of winter
Has spread its mantle o’er her bosom cold,
Since the brave sexton, with his locks of snow,
Rung Freedom’s bell a hundred years ago.
One hundred years ago, the hardy hunter
Launched his canoe upon the silent stream,
And with his bow and arrow strode the forest,
Which only echoed to the panther’s scream.
Where wigwams stood a hundred years ago,
Our lightning chariots hasten to and fro.
One hundred years ago, the stealthy savage,
With scalping knife and arrow lay concealed;
And hostile warriors sprung with fiendish madness
From thicket dark, or bloody battle-field.
The deafening war-whoop in the dead of night,
Startled the slumbering men in dread affright.
One hundred years ago, the broad prairie
Stretched undisturbed beneath the western sky;
And flowery meadows bloomed in peaceful verdure
Where now broad fields in cultivation lie;
And on the soil where waving cornfields grow,
The bison roamed a hundred years ago.
Beneath their lowly roof, our noble mothers
Prepared with cheerful song their humble fare;
And from their loyal hearts for home and country
Ascended oft the voice of earnest prayer.
Their willing hands could spin, and weave, and sew,
With patient toil, a hundred years ago.
One hundred years ago, our mighty nation
Was but an infant, helpless, weak, and small;
Only a few who gathered ’neath her banners,—
Only a few brave, noble hearts were all!
But God in Heaven who governs all below
Watched o’er our land a hundred years ago.
And now she stands a giant ’mong the nations;
In every zone her banner is unfurled,
Her sails are spread on every sea and ocean,
Her mighty arm encircles half the world.
O patriot fathers! little did ye know
What power was born a hundred years ago!
One hundred years ago, had human wisdom
Foretold events that now are in the past,
That prophet voice had startled all the nations!
With doubting wonder men had stood aghast;
Yet God in Heaven revealed to favored seers
The mighty progress of a hundred years.
Where were the thousand startling inventions?
Did air and water slumber in the deep,
Had wind and wave no power of locomotion,
Was steam, unconscious of its strength, asleep,
When men pursued, with weary step and slow,
Their tedious way a hundred years ago?
Our land in power and knowledge is increasing,
And art and science hasten onward still,
Till puny man the elements has conquered,
And made the fiery lightning do his will!
Wonder, O Earth! that power has e’er been given
To mortal man to chain the bolts of heaven!
But vice abounds, and wickedness increases,
And evil men are waxing worse and worse;
The growth of crime is daily more appalling,
And weary earth is groaning ’neath the curse;
The hearts of men are failing them for fear,
And signs portend some awful crisis near.
And will our God be thus forever silent?
And will he hide his burning wrath for aye?
Shall falsehood reign, and sin forever triumph,
And error hold its devastating sway?
Our God will come! in vengeance soon appear,
And usher in the grand millennial year.
LILLA D. AVERY.
Locke, Ingham Co., Mich., Oct. 7, 1876.
DON'T SCOLD.
For the sake of your children, don't do it. It is a great misfortune to have children reared in the presence of a scold. The effect of the everlasting complaining and fault-finding of such persons is to make the young who hear it unamiable, malicious, and callous-hearted; and they often take pleasure in doing the very things for which they receive such tongue lashings. As they are always getting the blame of wrong-doing, whether they deserve it or not, they think they might as well do wrong as right. They lose all ambition to strive for the favorable opinion of the fault-finder, since they see they always strive in vain. Thus a scold is not only a nuisance, but a destroyer of the morals of children.—Sel.
EARLY RECORDS OF A PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
AMONG the many interesting relics in the possession of Dea. S. H. Dominy, of Beekmantown, are the first records of the Presbyterian church of that place, which we have been permitted to peruse, and from which we take some extracts on the subject of church discipline. In the records of 1834, we find the following resolutions unanimously set forth as the sense of the church concerning certain common practices:—
Resolved, That dancing and frolicking shall be considered a disreputable offense in the church.
Resolved, That playing ball is an unprofitable waste of time, and one that ought to be reproved.
Resolved, That horse-racing shall be a disreputable offense.
Resolved, That we shall consider that person guilty of slander, who reports unchristian conduct about a member of the church in any other manner than is pointed out in the gospel.—Sel.
Living With Purpose Rather Than Weariness
THEY who are most weary of life, and yet are most unwilling to die, are such as have lived to no purpose—who have breathed to no purpose.—Clarendon.
A DISAPPOINTMENT, BUT NOT A FAILURE.
By George I. Butler
Such was our general quarterly meeting held at Victor, Iowa, last Sabbath and Sunday. The call had been put forth, with urgent pleading for a general rally to this meeting, to start up the T. and M. work in the Conference for the fall and winter campaign, and to lay plans for future labor. We felt very anxious to see a general turnout from surrounding churches and a good representation of the officers of the Society. This was called for by the circumstances and the occasion, and would have had an inspiring effect.
Those who ministered in the word came with a mind to work. But it was very depressing to find that the secretary, the treasurer, and eight of the fourteen directors, were absent, and that only a handful of the brethren and sisters from other churches were present. It took a great effort to keep from being discouraged in feeling to see this manifest lack of interest on the part123of many. But we tried to look to God in faith, and he granted us a good victory. My own soul has not been so blessed for a long time. He gave power in speaking his truth, and the hearts of the people were much encouraged.
Our tract and missionary meeting was in some respects very encouraging, not specially because of any great amount of labor performed the past summer; for this has been lamentably small; but those directors who were present, had the spirit of the work in their hearts; and as some of them were telling interesting incidents in their experience, the good Spirit was catching. I could but sit and weep with joy when thinking of what might be done if all our people would get the real spirit of labor in their hearts, which was manifested in some at our meeting. How the truth would spread! What joy we should find in working for Jesus!
An interesting incident was mentioned in the experience of one of our most energetic directors, showing what a tract will do when dropped in the right place. A tract on the Sabbath question happened to be left in a store in a town where a course of lectures had been given. A Baptist man chanced to pick it up, and he took it home and read it. He became convinced that the seventh day was the Sabbath, but did not keep it. He kept the tract, however, till our brother called upon him at a time when his mind was awakened upon religious subjects. He spoke about this tract, and Bro. C. wanted to read it, as his interest was aroused. He did so, and as the result became a Sabbath-keeper. And now his delight is to see the tracts go; and as a director he has the privilege of helping forward this important branch of the work. Who can estimate the effect of that tract? Eternity alone can tell it. It is like the pebble dropped into the smooth lake; the circles extend in all directions to the shore. A tract may lead a soul to the truth, and those thus affected may reach others; and these, still others, till time shall close.
In the Tract Society we have the mighty engine all prepared with which a great work may be done; but like the locomotive, the steam must be put into it. If we can get our brethren to feel the importance of saving precious souls, they will then see the importance of the Tract Society. Our brethren suffered a loss in not being present at this good meeting. “The blessing of the Lord maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Our meeting at Victor was a very encouraging one. Trials which had threatened the existence of the church, seemed to be settled up, and the good Spirit of the Lord witnessed to it. We expect to keep to work till we shall see our people manifest more of a zeal than they have been showing. If we can’t see this interest created in one month we will labor two; if not in two, then we will try longer. There is great danger that the hearts of those long in the truth, will in the abundance of light shining around them “wax gross,” as the hearts of the Jews did at the Lord’s first coming. We cling to the world, and the more blessings we have, the more danger there is of our forgetting God, becoming selfish, and feeling that we cannot leave our work and homes to go to meeting; and so we lose our warmth and zeal.
Come, brethren, let us renew our hopes and zeal in the work of God. Turn out when those to whom you have entrusted important responsibilities come within your reach, earnestly desiring the privilege of imparting truth to you and speaking words of encouragement and hope. You suffer a loss when you deprive yourselves of such blessings, and stay at home. Come, let us act as though Heaven, eternal life, and everlasting glory, were of some consequence. This world is not everything. Oh! the days will soon come when it will be seen to be dust and ashes. Many are laboring for a shadow. The substance is over on the other shore, brethren. When God’s rich blessings come within your reach, make a little effort to grasp them. Some of you suffered a loss in not being at Victor. God is good, and his cause is precious. Praise his holy name. GEO. I. BUTLER.
Oct. 5, 1876.
THE SANCTUARY.
By Uriah Smith
Thirty-seventh Paper.—The Tenth Day of the Seventh Month.
We have seen that the closing work in the sanctuary is the work of atonement. In the type, one day out of the year was allotted to this work, called the day of atonement. This was the tenth day of the seventh month.
It will be noticed that in the fulfillment of the types, scrupulous exactness is observed in reference to the time; that is, the fulfillment occurs in the same month of the year, and on the same day of the month, as that on which the type was set forth. The fulfillment of the types of the spring is recorded in the New Testament, so that we have a divine exposition of this part of the typical system.
Thus, the passover was killed on the fourteenth day of the first month. Ex. 12:6; Lev. 23:5. Christ is our passover; and he was sacrificed for us in the same month and on the same day, the fourteenth day of the first month. 1 Cor. 5:7; Mark 14:12; John 18:39, 40; 19. The sheaf of firstfruits was waved on the sixteenth day of the first month. This met its antitype in the resurrection of our Lord, the first fruits of them that slept, the sixteenth of the first month. 1 Cor. 15:20; Luke 24:21. The feast of weeks, or Pentecost, occurred on the fiftieth day from the offering of the first fruits. The antitype of this feast, the Pentecost of Acts 2, was fulfilled on that very day, fifty days from the resurrection of Christ, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.
The fulfillment of these types shows us these facts: That the great events for which the passover, the day of first fruits, and the Pentecost were respectively noted, met their antitype on the very days of the types. Applying the same principle to the work on the tenth day of the seventh month, we are led to expect the antitype of the great work which characterized that day of atonement, namely, the cleansing of the sanctuary, on the tenth day of the seventh month of that year in which the 2300 days ended, as it was at that point that the sanctuary was to be cleansed.
As those days ended in 1844, an effort was made to find the tenth day of the seventh month, Jewish time, of that year; and it was found to fall on the 22d of October. The historical and numerical arguments on the 2300 days have shown that those days terminated in the autumn of that year; and the argument from the types would confine us to that month and that day. This is why that day was set for the coming of Christ. While it is marvelous that so critical an examination of the types should not have revealed to the Adventists of that time the fact that the cleansing of the sanctuary was not the coming of Christ, nevertheless, their eyes being so holden that they did not perceive this point, and supposing that the cleansing of the sanctuary was inseparably connected with the coming of Christ, they were left no other alternative but to fix that day for his appearing.
In the light of the preceding argument, it is unnecessary to add that all any one had a warrant to conclude was that on that day the great work in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary would commence.
Another point should be borne in mind relative to typical fulfillment; namely, that the antitype commences upon the day of the type, but may extend forward a great distance. We are still partaking of Christ our passover, as the church has been for the past eighteen centuries. We are still keeping the feast of unleavened bread. And the Holy Spirit which came down on the day of Pentecost, as the antitype of the feast on that day, still abides with the church of Christ. Read carefully 1 Cor. 5:7, 8; John 14:16. So with the work in the holiest on the day of atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month. Its antitype must commence at that time, and of course must occupy a space of time corresponding to its magnitude and importance.
But right here some set up the claim that the 2300 days do not extend to the cleansing of the sanctuary, but only to the antitypical day of atonement; and that as there were preliminary offerings to be made on that day, before the real work of cleansing the sanctuary, so now, although the 2300 days have ended, we are yet only in that preliminary work, and the cleansing of the sanctuary has not yet commenced.
But few words are needed in reply to this proposition. We do not read anywhere in the Bible of such a period as the antitypical day of atonement. It may be proper enough to apply this expression to the time actually covered by the work of the antitypical cleansing of the sanctuary. We may speak of this as the “antitypical day of atonement,” confining it to the time while the sanctuary is being cleansed; but as the Bible nowhere uses the expression, so it nowhere countenances the idea of any antitypical day of atonement, extending outside of that work.
To say that the 2300 days do not extend to the cleansing of the sanctuary is to squarely contradict Dan. 8:13, 14, which says that at that time the sanctuary shall be cleansed. It is only by corrupting the words of the text and making it read, “Then shall the antitypical day of atonement commence,” instead of, “Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” that any one is able to insert any time between the ending of the days and the commencement of the work of the cleansing of the sanctuary. But who knows that the extra offerings of the day of atonement, as mentioned in Num. 29, were to transpire before the high priest entered the most holy place? Who knows but they were made after the high priest came out of the holiest, at the time mentioned in Lev. 16:23, 24? All this has to be assumed; because the Bible is silent upon it.
But if it could be proved that these offerings were made prior to the work in the most holy place, no such conclusion as is set forth could then be drawn from it; for in some of the types of the spring, to which reference has already been made, as, for instance, the day of first fruits, and the feast of weeks, or the Pentecost, there was the same work of burnt offerings, &c., as on the day of atonement. Lev. 23:10–21; Num. 28:16–31. Yet, in the fulfillment, no allowance of time was made for these; but the antitype commenced on the very day of the type.
From these considerations, it follows that if we are to have a long preliminary work preceding the cleansing of the sanctuary, that work must transpire before the 2300 days end. If these days ended in 1844, then this supposed preliminary work had transpired prior to that time. But if the preliminary work is now going on, the 2300 days have not yet ended. But the evidence that the 2300 days have ended is unanswerable. Therefore, the cleansing of the sanctuary must now be transpiring.
U. S.
TO THE FRIENDS OF THE REVIEW.
By C. W. Stone
As I find myself seated in the editorial chair of the Review as local editor of that noble paper which, laden with words of instruction and good cheer, has so long made its weekly visits to the scattered lovers of truth, I feel that a responsibility is placed upon me that demands watchfulness, prayerfulness, energy, and consecration, on my part, and that calls for the assistance and counsels of those who are older in experience, and the prayers of the readers of the Review, everywhere, that I may be enabled to fulfill the duties of my humble sphere in a manner acceptable in the sight of Heaven.
Very different are the circumstances under which I commence my labors with this paper from those surrounding its founders in the issue of the first number twenty-six years ago this November, at Paris, Maine. That number was printed on a sheet about two-thirds as large as this, and the whole edition, after its devoted authors had knelt around it and implored the blessing of God to attend it, was carried to the post-office in a satchel. Through poverty it struggled on, when its friends were few and scattered, the pioneers in this cause bravely bearing up under discouragements and opposition. The first volume of twelve numbers was published at Paris, from Nov., 1850, to June 1851. The first number of the second volume was published Aug. 5, 1851, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., where the twelfth and last of that volume was printed March 23, 1852.
The first number of volume three was issued from Rochester, N. Y., May 6, 1852. The paper had thus far been sent to its readers gratis, depending for its support upon the hard-earned means of its publishers, and the donations of its friends. From that number we quote the following:—
“We shall have 2000 copies of the present number struck off, and as many of future numbers as can be circulated where there is any prospect of doing good.” “We do not wish to send the paper where it is not read with profit; yet we had rather send it to five such, than to have one poor saint deprived of it.” “The brethren have provided means to sustain the paper beyond our expectation, and although our expenses in moving from Saratoga Springs, and commencing the paper in this city, have been considerable, yet we are free from debt.”
The paper was printed in Rochester until November, 1855, when it was moved to its present location. It is not my intention to give a history of the rise and progress of this paper, but simply to glance at its early prospects in comparison with some of its present privileges. Through the skillful management of Eld. James White and the blessing of God, the publishing of this paper began and has progressed; and the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, which has had the publishing of the Review since 1861, now issues 5000 copies of its paper weekly, besides five monthlies in English, Danish, and Swedish, and books, pamphlets, and tracts, in immense numbers.
In the prosperity that has attended this cause until the earth is well-nigh encircled by its works, large steam presses in California, Michigan, and Switzerland turning out volumes of precious reading matter conveying to the world in simple, yet clear and forcible, language the last warning message of mercy, we see and acknowledge the hand of God.
And now, when the truth is going forth with increasing power, when traveling facilities and means of communication are so wonderfully favorable to its rapid dissemination, when we expect soon to see the earth lightened with the glory of the closing message,—now, in this favorable time, I am permitted to contribute my humble strength to the assistance of those who have so long borne the burdens and braved the storms. I here dedicate myself to the work. May the Lord accept the offering.
The old corps of editors still have the paper in charge, and it shall be my endeavor to so unite my efforts with theirs that the Review shall continue to be a welcome visitor to your firesides.
C. W. STONE.
MISSIONARY WORK.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
What is it to possess a missionary spirit? and what is it to perform missionary labor? These questions are of vital importance to the members of the Tract and Missionary Societies. To hear some talk of missionary work, one might infer that it was all comprehended in going to some far-off land and laboring among the heathen, or in sending a few periodicals to some remote region; while others think if they go from house to house and promiscuously leave tracts, they have done a great work. The devil would be pleased with any idea that would put far from us that daily, self-denying, wearing labor, which has an immediate effect upon the salvation of those with whom we daily associate.
The natural heart is inclined to evade anything that requires a crucifixion of itself, and reaches out for some high-sounding work. There are thousands of imaginary missionaries; they are found throughout all the country. There are some among Seventh-day Adventists, who are like some would-be ministers that have failed in every other calling, and that have the reputation of being shiftless among those who know them best, and, as a last resort, have a call to preach. I have seen some so burdened with missionary work that they thought they never could be free until their whole time was devoted to traveling as colporteurs, or something of that kind; but their past life was such that those who were best acquainted with them had but little or no confidence in them. They could have no influence for good over those in their immediate neighborhood. The church where they live, if there be any, would wither and die under their influence; and it would be a relief to it were they to leave it.
Such men are mistaken in their calling. The mother that can so bind her household to her own heart, and by a living connection with Heaven connect them to the Lamb of God with grace divine, possesses a true missionary spirit. It is this spirit alone which can benefit our fellow-men. That brother whose influence has encouraged his brethren, helped the desponding, reclaimed the back-slidden, visited and relieved the distressed and afflicted, can be safely encouraged to extend his influence in other communities and fields. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” The same spirit that actuated him at home at his own fireside, in his church, will actuate him abroad.
Christ exemplified the true missionary spirit. It was not a step to exaltation that brought him to this earth, but humility. “He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” and “made himself of no reputation.” The great apostle to the Gentiles, in speaking of himself and his former position and advantages, says, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” He further states, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” Paul did not feel that others were under obligation to him, but that he was a “debtor to the Greek, and to the Barbarian; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” His personal interest was lost in laboring for the salvation of those for whom Christ died.
The true missionary spirit does not seek for display, but to quietly labor for others. It will covet wearing labor, if by it others can be benefited. It burns upon the altar of the human heart, and those who are nearest related will feel most of its sacred flame.
The tract work should be carried out with this missionary spirit. Without this it becomes a form. It will show itself in a thousand ways, reaching out beyond its own limits, while the work in its own immediate vicinity is sadly neglected. Our tract workers should commence at home, and the influence should extend out as the ripple around a stone thrown into the smooth surface of water. If our home influence is not productive of good, it is safe to conclude that something is wrong in us.
A large field is open before us. Our cities should be canvassed, and reading matter judiciously distributed. Seaport cities present additional advantages. No vessel should leave our ports without a supply of our reading matter. It is surprising to see the eagerness with which seamen often take our publications. Individuals following the seas have been known to embrace the Sabbath. A short time since, two sea captains arrived in Providence observing the seventh day. Some one had furnished them with publications. Probably there is no Conference of its size, which presents greater advantages in this respect than New England. Such cities as Boston and Providence could thus use thousands of our old REVIEWS, REFORMERS, and SIGNS OF THE TIMES. This work in many instances is sadly neglected. There are homes and libraries for seamen that would gratefully accept our reading matter. In such places, if a proper interest was taken in the missionary work, there would be a market for all of our old denominational papers. The REVIEW Office has cart loads of such papers, which it is furnishing to new fields like Virginia; and with which it is ready to help in the missionary work wherever needed.
When out at sea, hundreds and perhaps thousands of miles from home, sailors are not very particular if the paper is not the latest issue. Many a wayward son has been reclaimed by reading under such circumstances.
I love the missionary cause, and am thankful that our influence is as extensively felt as it is by efforts with our reading matter. But we must possess a home missionary spirit if we would have the prospering hand of God with us. We should study the different avenues for the truth within our individual influence. Public effort without personal, practical experience, will always be defective, and in the end will cause more harm than good. “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” S. N. HASKELL.
THIS scripture is seized by some good people and wonderfully forced out of its latitude. The text reads: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”
A few days since a lady professing the Christian religion said, in justification of keeping the first-day of the week as the Sabbath, “I am satisfied to walk in Christ Jesus as I received him.” This, in short, was saying, I was converted when I believed the first-day of the week to be the Christian Sabbath, therefore I ought to keep that day.
Now, if this premise sustains the conclusion, why would not a similar conclusion drawn from cherishing any other false sentiment at the time of conversion be equally good? I had supposed when a man was converted to God by feeling a deep and genuine conviction of sin, and true and godly contrition for it, and by full and unreserved confession of it, that he was then brought into the school of Christ to learn of him who spake as never man spake; and that his faith and practices were to be brought in harmony with the word of inspiration, wherever in his previous life he had walked contrary to it, as light from that sacred volume should shine upon his pathway.
If this be otherwise, then the experience of the Christian ends just where it begins. Not only so, but the apostle must have made a great mistake when he wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.
The above interpretation comes forward and says, “No, no; my doctrine was all right when I received Christ; and as for correction and instruction in righteousness, I am not wanting here; I was all right when Christ met me. I was a first-day keeper when I gave my heart to God, and there I must stand.” This view of the subject completely nullifies all the teachings of the Scriptures on practical piety, and on the development of the Christian graces; it extinguishes the brilliant blaze of light on the subject of growth in the knowledge of the truth.
The injunction, “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby,” is superfluous. The babe in Christ rears its infantile head and shouts above the voice of inspiration, “I have learned it all. I grasped it all at once.”
Whether the Christian lady above referred to is correct in the use of this text or not, I think all will see that the text may be driven too far. A good man who formerly lived in my native county in Vermont State, was converted while a sailor. This great and glorious change was made while wearing a pea-jacket. The good man spent the balance of his life in usefulness, loving and beloved, and died lamented. But he, too, influenced by an interpretation similar to the above, from the time of his conversion, through life, continued to wear a jacket like the one he had on when converted, because he read: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” And who dare say that his practice was not as innocent and scriptural as the observance of the first-day for the Sabbath, claiming support for it from Colossians 2:6?
A. S. HUTCHINS.
APPEAL TO THE BRETHREN IN KANSAS.
DEAR BRETHREN: We wish to call your attention to a few facts relative to the interests of the cause in this State.
Since our last camp-meeting the work has been progressing. Several new churches have been organized; and quite a number have been led to see and embrace the truths which God has given us in these last days to ripen the harvest of the earth. God is willing to work for us when we work for him. We are all called upon to make a sacrifice. While your ministers should be willing to do this by leaving their homes and families and working for very small wages, we ask you to show the same spirit by your promptness in meeting your s. B. pledges.
The prospect now is that some of your ministers will have to leave their labors in the field, and enter upon some other business, in order to meet necessary expenses and support their families, unless our brethren make greater exertions to pay their s. B. pledges when they are due. What we ask is this: Let every member who has pledged, immediately see how much he or she is behind on that pledge, and then make an extra effort to pay up at once. What you have pledged is not your own. You have made a vow that you will do so much for the support of God’s cause. Will you pay your vows?
Then there are persons scattered all over the State, who are not connected with any church, we wish to say a word to them. No doubt you are anxious for preaching, and you often make calls for help in your respective neighborhoods. This is right; and all such calls will be responded to as soon as possible; but what are you doing to help fill them? You are under just as much obligation to help sustain the cause as though you were connected with a church. If you have any interest in this truth, send on your tithes and your free-will offerings to your State treasurer, A. J. Stover, Oswego, Labette Co., Kan. If all will do this, the work will go on; otherwise, it will be very much hindered.
We ask the elders and treasurers of each of our churches to bring this matter before their people and to ask them to be prompt in meeting their pledges every quarter, that the cause in this State may not languish on account of a lack of interest on the part of its professed friends.