Your ShelfYour Projects

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 6

CULTIVATION OF THE VOICE

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald

Thursday, February 5, 1880

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 5, 1880

CULTIVATION OF THE VOICE.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
Some of our most talented ministers are doing themselves great injury by their defective manner of speaking. They are intelligent men, and should know that they are not pursuing a course which God can approve. Ministers should stand erect, and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, letting the voice go down deep, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence, and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles. The chest will thus become broader, and by educating the voice, the speaker need seldom become hoarse, even by constant speaking. Instead of our ministers’ becoming consumptives through speaking, they may, by proper care, overcome all tendency to that disease.
Ministers should stop to consider whether they are performing their life-work in such a manner as to accomplish the best and greatest results, or whether they are cutting their lives short by spasmodic efforts, without regard to the laws of health. God is pleased with men who do not think that they have attained perfection, but who are constantly trying to improve. He would have us come into connection with him, and increase in understanding, and reform our habits, ever rising higher, and approaching nearer the standard of perfection.
The minister of Christ should continue to search the Scriptures. He will never know so much of Bible truth that he need not search for more. A true Bible Christian will not find anything in the word of God justifying him in disregarding the laws of life and health. The Saviour of the world would have his co-laborers represent him; and the more closely a man walks with God, the more faultless will be his manner of address, his deportment, his attitude, and his gestures. Coarse and uncouth manners were never seen in our Pattern, Christ Jesus. He was a representative of Heaven, and his followers must be like him. We are to make daily improvement; our ways and manners are to become more like the ways and manners of the holy angels. Every uncouth gesture and coarse and uncultivated expression, should be put far away. Every imperfection may be overcome if we learn of Jesus and closely follow his example.
The manner in which the truth is presented often has much to do in determining whether it will be accepted or rejected. All who labor in the great cause of reform should study to become efficient workmen, that they may accomplish the greatest possible amount of good, and not detract from the force of the truth by their own deficiencies. All the vigor of a cultivated intellect and a well-developed body is called for to do justice to the work of God. Men of narrow minds, who feel no necessity of becoming efficient workmen, need to have this truth impressed upon them.
Ministers and teachers should discipline themselves to clear and distinct articulation, giving every word its full sound. Those who talk rapidly, from the throat, and who jumble their words together and raise their voices to an unnaturally high pitch, soon become hoarse, and the words spoken lose half the force which they would have if spoken slowly, distinctly, and not so loud. The sympathies of the hearers are awakened for the speaker, for they fear he is doing violence to himself, and they constantly expect him to break down. It is no evidence that a man is having a zeal for God because he works himself up into a frenzy of excitement and gesticulation. “Bodily exercise,” says the apostle, “profiteth little.”
Speakers and writers need much physical exercise, and abundance of pure air. The lungs need food as much as the body. The sleeping-rooms should be thoroughly ventilated, that the lungs may not be starved. This is very important to speakers, teachers, and students, and should not be neglected. Ministers should bring intelligent reason and common sense to bear upon these matters. If they will ponder upon them as they should, they will know what to do for themselves to preserve life. No minister can speak to the glory of God while he knowingly disregards the laws of life. Some do not realize the injury they are doing themselves until it is too late; then come sorrow, regret and repentance. But repentance cannot repair the broken-down lungs or the abused throat. Right habits adopted, even at the eleventh hour, will improve many cases, although persons must still suffer for the past transgressions of nature’s laws.
Frequently a young man is sent out to labor with a more experienced minister; and if he is defective in his manner of speaking, the young man is very apt to copy his defects. Therefore, it is important that ministers who have been long in the field should reform, though it cost them much painstaking and the exercise of much patience, that their defects may not be reproduced in young and inexperienced laborers. The young preacher should copy only the admirable traits of character possessed by the more experienced laborer, while at the same time he should see and avoid his errors. When some attempt to speak calmly, without excitement and excessive gesticulation, they become embarrassed, and feel a lack of freedom, because they are restraining themselves from following their old habits. But let all such feelings, which are mere excitement, go to the four winds. That freedom of feeling that would result in your committing suicide is not sanctified.
Some reason that the Lord will qualify a man by his Spirit to speak as he would have him; but the Lord does not propose to do the work which he has given man to do. He has given us reasoning powers, and opportunities to educate the mind and manners. And after we have done all we can for ourselves, making the best use of the advantages within our reach, then we may look to God with earnest prayer to do by his Spirit that which we cannot do for ourselves.

HEART QUESTIONS.

Would I follow thee, my Saviour, If the way led through the deep? If the dark waves of affliction Should dash about my feet?
If upon my cheerless pathway Not one ray of light should shine, Would I cling the closer to thee? Would I claim the promise mine?
Would my faith be firm, unwavering, If all worldly friends should leave? If they should despise, forsake me, Would I still thy word believe?
Would my soul, possessed in patience, Bless the hand that holds the rod, Knowing that each heartfelt sorrow Draws me nearer unto God?
—Selected.

OBJECTIONS TO THE PERIOD-DAY THEORY.

A BROTHER has had the kindness to copy for the REVIEW, from a late English work of high authority, the following good thoughts on the days of Gen. 1, exposing the period dodge. The last paragraph is unanswerable.
The fact of the alternations of light and darkness being distinctly defined as day and night in Gen. 1:5, is, in my mind, a strong argument in favor of natural days, and against periods. For what is the primary meaning of day and night?—and surely the primary and currently-used meaning must be designed here, where they are given as definitions. Any other meaning (such as in John 9:4: “I must work . . . while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”) is secondary and figurative, and derived from the primary one.
The use assigned to the sun and moon and stars,—which were made to shine upon the earth on the fourth day; viz., to be “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years” (Gen. 1:14),—seems clearly intended for the advantage of God’s intellectual creature, man. But on the period system of interpretation, he was not created to enjoy this benefit for myriads of years after it was prepared for him, all the animal existences on the earth—the work of the fifth and sixth days—intervening before man’s appearance. There is something incongruous in this.
The visible appearance of the sun on the fourth day, in the midst of the week, furnishes a conclusive argument for natural days, if the term “and evening was,” “and morning was”—which occurs six times—is to be interpreted consistently throughout. For it may be fairly assumed that the heavenly bodies began at once to fulfill the functions assigned to them, viz., “the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Gen. 1:16); and therefore the fifth and sixth days, at least, must have been ordinary days of twenty-four hours each; and as they were of sufficient length for the works belonging to them, the first, second, third, and fourth may well have been sufficient for their respective works. The description “evening was, and morning was,” being the same, the day must be homogeneous.
Mr. Birks well remarks, that ordinal numbers never occur, either in the Bible or elsewhere, when words of time are used as indefinite periods. And he adds, that the reason is plain: two, three, four indefinite periods make only one indefinite period. The simple fact that the days are numbered from the first to the sixth, is thus a clear proof that definite periods, or days, are meant.—Pratt.

Riches and Heaven: Where Our Aims Lead

NEVER was a saint a millionaire. Never was a millionaire a saint. Men who get rich aim at getting rich. They live for that. To this one purpose their thoughts and their energies are directed. They make their tastes, their friendships, their pleasures, all yield to this one engrossing object of pursuit. Men who get to Heaven aim at getting to Heaven. To this great object they deliberately consecrate their lives. The highest earthly interest must yield to this.

THE MILLENNIUM.

By James White

BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.
TEXT: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Rev. 20:4, 5.
The terms employed in the text must be so understood as to harmonize with all parts of the text, and with the Holy Scriptures generally.
1. Thrones. These are thrones of judgment. This is evident from the fact that it is said of those who sat upon them that judgment was given unto them. Compare Matt. 19:28. “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
2. Souls. The persons of the righteous when they shall be raised to immortal life. It is said of them that they lived. As man, formed of the dust, after receiving the principle of natural life from his Creator, was a living soul, Gen. 2:7, or a living person, so the worthy characters named in the text, after receiving the principle of immortal life from the Redeemer, and being seated with him on thrones of judgment, may be designated as the souls, or persons, of those who had lived righteously, had died, and been raised from the dead. Eight souls, meaning eight persons, were saved in Noah’s ark from the waters of the flood. 1 Pet. 3:20.
3. Lived, simply means that they will be raised to a condition of life from a state of death. This appears evident from what is said of those who do not live at that time: “But the rest of the dead lived not again [were not raised from death] until the thousand years were finished.”
The word millennium signifies a thousand years. The millennium of Rev. 20 is to open with the revelation of the Son of God from Heaven, the destruction of the living wicked, the resurrection of the just, and the change of the living righteous to immortal life. It is a period in which Christ will reign with the just of all ages who have suffered with him. This period is bounded at each end with a resurrection. Christ declares that “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. And Paul testifies “that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15. But it is left to the Revelator to place these two resurrections one thousand years apart, one at each end of the millennium.
The popular view of this subject is that the gospel of Jesus Christ will so far control the minds and hearts of men that the whole world will finally be converted, and become holy by its influence; that this happy state will continue one thousand years; and that during this time Christ will reign with his people spiritually. And while some hold that he will come at the close of the millennium, when the Judgment will take place, others reject this doctrine plainly stated by our Lord and his apostles, that he will appear the second time to raise the righteous dead. These, accepting as divine truth the sentiment found in orthodox creeds, that the souls of the just go to God at death, where in his presence there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand pleasures for evermore; see no reason why our Lord should return to this world to raise the body once polluted with sin, now returned to dust; and as the result of such teachings, thousands in all the popular churches are giving up the Scriptural doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
From the very nature of the case, the conversion of the world is an impossibility. God is the same during all time. He deals with men and nations impartially. Satan is the same, excepting that the experience of six thousand years has made him more artful in seducing men and women into sin. The fallen race is the same, only that each succeeding generation degenerates physically, mentally, and morally; hence sinners are more easily held by him in their rebellion against God, and in their sins. This state of things will increase till the world becomes fully ripe for her final doom. This is seen in the metallic image of the second chapter of Daniel. Here five universal kingdoms are the subject of prophecy. Four of these pertain to the mortal state, one to the immortal. The four earthly monarchies, Babylon, Persia, Grecia, and Rome, are severally represented by gold, silver, brass, and iron. We not only see in the symbol the depreciation of value from gold to silver, to brass, and to iron, but we also see the last divided condition of earthly governments, just before the opening glories of the immortal kingdom, represented by iron mixed with miry clay. A careful examination will convince the intelligent Bible student that the Sacred Scriptures do not teach that at any period of time all men will be converted to God. There were but few righteous men from Adam to Moses. And the numbers of the just in the Jewish age, compared with the multitudes of the unbelieving, were very small. Neither does God’s plan in the Christian age embrace the conversion of all men. The gospel is preached to all nations, and thus God visits “the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” Acts 15:14. Among the finally saved will not be found all of any one generation, or all of any one nation; but some of every age and every tongue will join in the song of the Lamb: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Rev. 5:9.
The dealings of the great God of love, mercy, and justice with his people of all ages, are equal. The charge of rebellious Israel that His ways were not equal, and the Lord’s interrogative defense, are given in these words: “Saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal?” Eze. 18:29. God tests all his created intelligences impartially. He has no favorite men, no favorite nation, and no favorite age. Adam had a wise and prudent test, both in Eden, before the fall, and out of Eden, after the fall. Had he lost moral power by the fall, and had his posterity become the lawful prey of Satan? He had the experience of the temptation, fall, and his expulsion from Eden, as a lamp to guide his feet in the path of obedience and faith. And has the race gradually sunken in physical, mental, and moral power all along the way of the ages? In like ratio has the light and power of the gospel of God’s dear Son increased from the fall, in the Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian ages.
But the doctrine of the temporal millennium, that gives to the church of Jesus Christ a sinless period of one thousand years, in which Satan will be bound, virtually charges God with inequality in his dealings with the children of men. Of the cloud of witnesses, the worthy patriarchs and prophets, Paul says:—
“And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11:36–40. In the name of reason and revelation we inquire, Why should God in his providence allow these to “wade through bloody seas,” and millions of the holy martyrs of Jesus to suffer tortures and death by all the cruel means that wicked men and devils could invent, and then chain up Satan and pour a flood of light and glory upon the world, that will pass unborn millions up to Heaven “on flowery beds of ease?”
God’s plan to convert sinners, and to save all who would obey him and believe in Jesus, has been in operation about six thousand years. A crucified and risen Saviour has been preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven for more than eighteen centuries; yet the world has not been converted. And the prospects of its conversion to Bible holiness never looked darker than at the present time. In the forcible words of another, we would inquire:—
“And what are the present prospects of a church that has set out in all confidence to convert the world? How may those now putting on the harness boast of greater expected success than is warranted by the experience of those who have put it off after having fought the good fight? The prophets could not convert the world; are we mightier than they? The apostles could not convert the world; are we stronger than they? The martyrs could not convert the world; can we do more than they? The church for eighteen hundred years could not convert the world; can we do it? They have preached the gospel of Christ; so can we. They have gone to earth’s remotest bounds; so can we. They have saved ‘some;’ so can we.”
“They have wept as so few believed their report; so can we. They have finished their course with joy, and the ministry they have received to testify of the gospel of the grace of God; we can do the same. Can we reasonably hope to do more? ‘It would take to all eternity to bring the millennium at the rate that modern revivals progress,’ said the venerable Dr. Lyman Beecher, before a ministerial convention, held close by old Plymouth rock. And what hope is there that they will progress more rapidly? Is it in the word of God? Glad would we be to find it there. Sadly we read that ‘evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.’”
“Has God a mightier Saviour—a more powerful Spirit? Has he another gospel which will save the world? Where is it? Is there any way to the kingdom other than that which leads through much tribulation? Is there another way to the crown besides the way of crosses? Can we reign with Him unless we first suffer in his cause?”
“No doubt the world might be converted if they desired to know the Lord. And so, had all who heard received with gladness the word of God, the world might have been converted within twenty years of the day of Pentecost. If each Christian had brought one single soul to God with each successive year, the calm splendors of the millennial era might have shone upon the declining years of the apostles of Jesus Christ. But instead of this, ages of darkness came on. The world did not repent, but the church apostatized. If the gospel were to convert the world, we should have seen tokens of it ere this. But where are such omens to be found? Shall we look at Judson, who labored ten years before one sinner yielded to the claims of the gospel? Shall we look to the dense darkness of the heathen world? Shall we look at the formalism of the professed church? Shall we look at the wide extension of infidelity? Shall we look at the abounding of iniquity and the waxing cold of love? Shall we look at a world where eighteen hundred years of toil and tears have not brought one-twentieth part of mankind even to a profession of true Christianity, and where not more than one-fifth claim for themselves the dubious title of Christian nations? Shall we look over a world in which we cannot find one nation of Christians, nor one tribe of Christians, nor one city of Christians, nor one town of Christians, nor one village of Christians, nor one hamlet of Christians, save here and there where a questionable faith has led a few, with hypocrites even in their midst, to withdraw themselves from the world, and cherish the untried virtues of secluded life? Surely, after eighteen hundred years of experiment with that system which was to convert the world, men might point to some country, to some province, to some nation, and say, Behold the commencement of a converted world.”
“But will not the gospel then prove a failure? That depends upon what is to be expected of it. If the gospel was to effect the eternal salvation of all mankind, then failing to accomplish that work is a failure of the gospel. If the gospel was to convert the world, then, if it is not done, it will prove a failure. But if the gospel was preached ‘to take out of the Gentiles a people for His name,’ then it is not a failure. If it was given that God might in infinite mercy and love ‘save some,’ then it is not a failure. If it was given that every repentant sinner might have eternal life, and that every good soldier might receive a crown of glory, then it is not a failure. If it was given that an innumerable company might be redeemed out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue under heaven, then it is not a failure. If it was given that the vales and hills of Paradise restored might teem with a holy throng who shall be ‘equal to the angels, and be the children of God, being the children of the resurrection,’ then it is not a failure. If it was given that the elect might be brought into one great family of holy ones, then it is not a failure. And was not this its object, rather than the exaltation of a worldly church to the splendors of earthly prosperity, while beneath the theater of their easy triumph there slumber the ashes of prophets and the dust of the apostles? Are they to hold jubilee a thousand years, while the martyrs’ unceasing cry, ‘How long! O Lord,’ goes up to God? Are they to have their songs of triumph, while the whole creation groaneth for deliverance, and while that longed-for day of the redemption of our body is postponed? Nay, verily, the hope of the one body is one hope. The hope of the church stops not at death; it sweeps beyond earth’s scenes of tempest and of storm, and reposes in the calm beamings of that Sun of Righteousness which shall glow above the bosom of Paradise regained.”
The doctrine of the world’s conversion and a temporal millennium being based upon false interpretations and incorrect quotations of certain portions of the Sacred Scriptures, it is proper that we should here notice those texts usually quoted to prove this doctrine, and show that they do not mean what they are said to prove:—
1. “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Ps. 2:8. To the casual reader this passage may appear to prove that the heathen will be given to Christ by conversion. But the next verse shows their destruction instead of their conversion. The Psalmist continues: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
2. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll until it becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth. All that our temporal millennium friends accomplish with this passage, they do by quoting it incorrectly. We will here give the text as it reads: “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Dan. 2:34, 35.
If these words of the prophet do not impress the mind of the reader with the idea of utter destruction, then language fails to express the thought. In this remarkable passage the following points are worthy of notice:—
1. The stone smote the image upon his feet, and brake the iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold, to pieces together. Here is destruction, not conversion.
2. They became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. Here is illustrated the final removal of all earthly governments.
3. Then the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. In this prophecy, the stone has nothing in common with the image. The image, a symbol of earthly governments and all wicked men, is first removed, and then the stone fills the whole earth. But if it be urged that the dashing of the heathen (Ps. 2:9) and the breaking of the image (Dan. 2:34) mean the conversion of the world, then Paul’s words, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” prove the conversion of Satan.
4. A nation shall be born in a day. Here is another incorrect quotation. Isa. 66:8, reads: “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” This text has no allusion to the conversion of sinners; but it evidently refers to the resurrection of the just, when the nation of the saved shall be born, or brought from their graves, in a day, or at once, at the sounding of the last trump.
5. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” Then let it be borne in mind that this prophetic declaration is to be fulfilled in connection with other events in the period covered by the woe, when it is also said, “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11:15, 18.
Here, again, destruction, and not conversion and preservation, is the burden of the word of the Lord by the prophet. Astonishing, that grave divines should find a converted world under the last woe of the Almighty, in connection with the manifestation of his wrath in the destruction of sinners.
6. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. Those who teach the world’s conversion claim that the gospel is not only to be preached to all nations, but that every individual is to hear it, believe it, obey it, and become holy by it. What then? The end? No, not until the world has enjoyed a sinless period of one thousand years. But the text does not say that every individual will even hear this gospel of the kingdom. It does not state that any one will be converted and made holy by it. And we find it far from intimating that the world will be converted, and remain sinless a thousand years.
7. “They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Jer. 31:34. These words from the Lord by the mouth of his prophet are in the promise of the new covenant, and relate, first, to the condition of each individual with whom the new covenant is made; and, secondly, to the fullness of the blessings of the gospel, when all are brought into harmony with God in the everlasting state. Both ideas are embraced in the promise. But that every individual will be converted, or that all of any generation this side of the immortal state will be brought into covenant relation with God, the Scriptures do not teach.
8. “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Micah 4:3. See also Isa. 2:4. The reader will please notice that Micah 4:1 speaks of the exalted state of the professed church of Christ in the last days. Mountains signify earthly government. The church, here represented by “the mountain of the house of the Lord,” was to be exalted above the hills. It was to be established in the tops of the mountains.
In verses 3–5 is a statement, not of what the Lord declares would take place in the last days, but what the multitudes of popular professors who are looking for the conversion of the world would say. The statement commences thus: “And many nations shall come, and say.” Verse 2. But the Lord speaks in verses 6 and 7, as follows: “In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted.” “In that day,” when many nations are prophesying peace and safety, the Lord’s remnant people are driven out and afflicted.
But we have more and very decisive testimony in regard to the state of the nations in the last days. The Lord speaks by his prophet thus: “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears.” Joel 3:9, 10. Instead of peace among the nations, or that they will not lift up the sword against each other in the last days, “evil shall go forth from nation to nation,” and “the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.” Jer. 12:12; 25:32.
This subject may appear still more clear and forcible by arranging what many nations say, and what the Lord says, side by side as follows:—

MANY NATIONS SAY.

And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us all his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Micah 4:2, 3.

THE LORD SAYS.

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Joel 3:9–12.
To this agree the words of Paul: “The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” 1 Thess. 5:2, 3. How strikingly is this saying of peace and safety fulfilled in the preaching of the temporal millennium, the conversion of the world, and the prophecy of peace among the nations; while Scripture and facts combine to show that the world is sinking still lower and lower, the wicked are waxing worse and worse, and the nations are making far greater preparations for war than at any former period.
9. The glory of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea. “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Num. 14:21. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Isa. 11:9. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14. “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5. This glorious state, however, is not brought about by the conversion of all men. It is introduced by the destruction of sinful men, the restitution of the earth to its condition when it came from the hand of the Creator, and the gift of immortality to the meek of all ages. “For evil-doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Ps. 37:9–11.

NAME AND TRADE MARK.

By Jas. P. Hall

In the news items of our daily papers, we learn that a whisky firm of Kentucky sold their name and trade mark (brand) for more than $56,000.
How many names have been blasted and homes tainted to make this name so valuable (computed by dollars and cents), God alone knows. How many marks have been deepened upon tender hearts, and tender lives, and beautiful faces, that this trade mark should command a marketable value, those who have met some of the results of the work of the whisky fiend, and those who have felt his awful power, can only give a shadowy description.
Our blessed Father, in his word, shows so many incidents, in the tracing out of which such lines as resemble the one in hand are shown, leading to developments that bring the touch of his finger and the enemy's complete overthrow. At such a moment the fire searches the building, the hay and stubble are utterly consumed; aye, and in the burning the result of whisky traffic, even if it is a $56,000 name and “trade mark,” goes down in the ruin. A mistake was made in this bargain, one having paid too much, and the other selling too cheap.—Jas. P. Hall, in The Christian Woman.

Christ's Will: The Legacy of Peace

WHEN Christ was about to leave the world, he made his will. His soul he committed to his Father; his body he bequeathed to Joseph, to be decently interred; his clothes fell to the soldiers; his mother he left to the care of John; but what should he leave to his poor disciples, who had left all for him? Silver and gold he had none, but he left them that which was infinitely better,—his peace.

SABBATH-SCHOOLS AND SOCIAL MEETINGS.

By W. H. Littlejohn

BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN.
The Sabbath-school, the social meeting, and the preaching service, act an important part in the development of spiritual life in the church. They are not antagonistic to one another, but each is an important adjunct in carrying forward the work of the Master. If you give undue prominence to any one of these auxiliary methods of advancing the interests of the church, or if you attempt to ignore or belittle the value of any one of them, you do so to the damage of all concerned. Each should have its proper time, place, and attention. No member of the church should be shut up to the interest of any one of them; but every one should rather be alive to the interests of them all.
These remarks are made because it seems to us that some of our churches are in danger of swinging around from culpable indifference to Sabbath-schools as a means of grace, to an undue estimation of their relative importance.
This disposition has been manifested in several places we have visited in the practice of allowing the Sabbath-school to trespass upon the time which properly belongs to the social meeting or preaching service. The natural hour for social meeting or preaching in the forenoon, for example, is from half past ten until twelve o’clock. This is so, because an earlier hour would find the people of the community outside of the church, with the morning work on their hands, and unprepared to attend service. Again, should it be postponed until half past eleven, they would necessarily be held until half past twelve or one o’clock, and thereby be prevented from being at home at the regular hour for dining. He who does not perceive that such a condition of things would prevent them from frequently attending church, does not fully comprehend the strength of both habit and appetite in these latter days. It is in vain that we philosophize over this matter, and say that individuals ought to be willing to go without their dinner in order to attend public worship; for our philosophizing will not help the case one particle.
The simple question is, in a matter of this nature whether we will meet them where they are, and conform to the not unreasonable custom on their part of eating at noon, or whether we will doggedly insist on getting in the way of that custom, and thereby prevent them altogether from uniting with us, at least occasionally, on the Sabbath day.
The remedy for this evil is obvious. If the Sabbath-school and the social meeting are both to be held in the forenoon, let the former commence at nine o’clock and end at about twenty minutes past ten. This will allow an hour and a half—which is ample time—for the preaching or social meeting before midday.
If nine o’clock is too early for the Sabbath-school, let it be held from twelve until one o’clock P. M. By this means your neighbors will be enabled to attend that service which is really of the most importance to them, retiring at its close, if they like, without any indecorum on their part, or remaining still longer to attend the Sabbath-school if they should feel inclined thus to do.
Allegan, Mich.
Continue reading: CONSISTENT, OR INCONSISTENT?