THERE is a depth of meaning in the conversation which occurred between Elijah and the widow of Zarephath which many Christians have not yet sounded. There was one request which the prophet made, startling to her faith, but on the granting of which rested the continuance of her own life and that of her son. The poor woman, brought to the verge of despair, looks into the barrel of meal and finds but one handful, and at the cruse whose oil is almost spent. We can hear her say to the loved son, “My boy, we must prepare to die; but one more cake can be made. We will eat it and be gathered to your father's side.” Proceeding with the preparation, the prophet approaches and asks for water. She will not deny that he is a prophet, who asks and may bring a blessing, and water is at hand, but she is stopped by the added request, “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.” She is eager to declare her inability to grant this request. Willingly would she give to a prophet of the Lord above all others, but, “As the Lord liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Surely, she thinks, he will not push his request, will go to the next dwelling to satisfy his hunger, will not ask even to share in so small a portion, of which two are already to partake; and she is therefore startled when, after this explanation, he makes a more selfish request, apparently, than before. “Go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first.” Had he understood that there was but little, hardly enough for one cake—surely not for two—and shall he have the first, the only one, and the household perish? He is a prophet of the Lord; he speaks to her with a “Thus saith the Lord” of a continuance of the little supply till rain and plenty shall come. Can she trust his word,—make for him the cake first? Here is the point of all her trust centered upon this word “first.” She would gladly give what was left, and even eat less herself, that he might have a little to remove hunger, but to make a cake first. She hesitates but to obey, and the barrel of meal does not waste, the cruse of oil holds on, and richer and more abundant blessings fall upon the widow's home. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” were the words of Jesus, and throughout the Scriptures is the emphasized call to place God first in all our plans, in all our offerings, in all our thoughts. Each one is called, out of his abundance, or out of his want, to make for his Lord a cake first—a good, generous cake. Here is the test of trust, and here the key to the prosperous lives of many who from weakness have risen to strength, from poverty have arrived at plenty—they made God first, and God did not suffer them to be last. Write it on the heart, God first—the way to prosperity. Engrave it where it can be seen in the moment of want. When hunger pinches, when the waves are boisterous, and the soul knows not where to turn, consult God first; when making plans for a year's work, for a year's donations, for the final distribution of property, fail not to put God first, and when sin overwhelms, and its burden is more than can be borne, oh! then remember, of all times, to look to God first, to ask of God first, to roll the burden upon God first.—S. H. VIRGIN, in Christian at Work.
THE GREAT WONDER.
By Sel.
A grave-bound soul without concern
Though well he knows his crumbling clay
May feed another summer’s worm,
While waiting for the fearful day!
A truth-taught soul without concern,
On whom all words of grace are lost,
When truth shall curse the heedless one
Mid woes his heedlessness has cost!
A woe-doomed soul without concern,
Who reads “eternal” on his fate,
And sees his lot with those who turn
Their eyes in pain to hell’s grim gate!
A sinful soul without concern,
Beneath the glance of that pure eye,
Which kindles hot with wrath divine
At sign of sin in farthest sky!
A prayerless soul without concern
Since God has said, “I will be sought
And found by those who praying come
To me”—as all creation ought!
A Christless soul without concern
When Christ by all may now be found,
And at one sinner’s sure return
God’s throne itself with joy resound!
The earth may rear her wonders seven
By skill of man most strangely done,
But stranger far to wiser Heaven
This seven-sided wonder, one!
—Sel.
Fashion in the Church.
THERE is a dress question in which all Christian congregations have a common interest, and with regard to which we wish they might all unite to effect a reform. It has reference to the ordinary apparel—female apparel, especially—proper to wear at church. There was a time when good taste demanded the use of the plainest clothes in the sanctuary, when the wealthiest were distinguished for the conspicuous absence of personal adornment, and sartorial display was a mark of vulgarity at such time and places. But now-a-days in the congregation on the Sabbath, rich and poor alike seem on a desperate strain, the one to make some faint approximation to the other in point of extravagant display, and the other to demonstrate the utter hopelessness of the attempt. It would almost appear as if, whatever might be thought of the propriety of a modest garb in other places, the proper costume for the house of God, where, theoretically, we all go to be reminded of our common origin and destiny, were an agglomeration of all the jewelry, and all the chignons, and all the panniers, and all the feathers and furbelows in one’s wardrobe. The wearer is to carry all this piled agony to the sanctuary as to a fair—as if her errand were not so much to praise as to be appraised—and there employ the sacred time in envious comparison of her own mountain of millinery with the Himalaya triumphs of her neighbor. Shall we ever get back to the standard of good taste and unobtrusive piety in this? Will not all good Christian people—especially those whose wealth and refinement make them the proper and only efficient leaders in such a reform—will not the pulpit of every church and of every sect unite in the effort to effect it?
Persecutions and Blessings.
REV. T. D. TALMAGE being requested, by letter, to explain why persecutions are in the list of blessings which Christ promised in Mark. 10:30, replies, in part, as follows:
In answering the letter in my hand, I say that persecution may be a blessing by testing our earnestness. A man may think himself in earnest when it is a mere hobby he is riding; and when the hobby balks, he gets off and goes home. Let a man start out, and find those who promised to help proving tricky and his motives maligned, he will give it up unless he be in earnest. It is easy to be a soldier in time of peace. We had many brave captains and colonels and majors before the war began; but at Big Bethel, when the battle opened, how the fellows did run! If men are not in earnest in Christian conflict, they may make a good show for a while; but, attacked and pursued, they show the white flag, and surrender.
Persecution, if sanctified, makes one humble. Success has a tendency to brag; and so God lets it be jeered at. The man says: “I endowed that college! I started that school! I built that church! Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” And God turns Nebuchadnezzar out to eat grass like an ox. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven!”
Another advantage in persecution is, it lets us know how much of the bad is still left in us. What a mild Christian he was when everybody praised him! Now he runs against the sharp edge of sarcasm and opposition, and he is full of fight. He feels more like swearing than praying. He runs about in great excitement, talking over all the mean things he knows about those who oppose him—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, scorn for scorn, personality for personality; and the demons of malice and revenge and hate, with racket and explosion, keep Fourth of July in his heart. After a while he wakes up, and finds he is all wrong; and he cools down, and has a long list of hard speeches and unjust deeds to repent of, and learns as never before, his weakness before God.
Persecution brings us into sympathy with Christ. What deed or word of his life was not misrepresented? They said that he was a sot, a traitor, a blasphemer, a disturber of the peace. They got up a sham trial, and kept on until matters culminated in his death. He answered not. Struck, he struck not back. The reason you don’t demolish your enemy is because you can’t. He had all power in Heaven and on earth, yet was as a sheep before her shearers. Oh! thou despised One of the Cross, show us how to bear the scoffs and criticisms of the world!
If Christ will answer that prayer, then we will be able to know why in the 10th chapter of Mark he announced persecution as the very climax of all the blessings we can possibly receive on earth for Christian work and self-denial.
Though it be a crown of fire, the first breath of Heaven will put out the flame, and leave nothing but the gold, and that all the brighter for the heat. Pearls are found in the shell in the deep sea; but the shell is opened by the knife of the pearl-diver, and the pearl drops out. The richest blessings are hidden and inclosed, and it sometimes takes the sharp knife of persecution to bring out the pearl of great price. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven!
The Nobility of Courageous Fortitude
He is no man who has no fortitude. It is noble to bear courageously in the midst of difficulties; it is cowardly to be driven from your good purposes by them.
Our English version of the Bible says that the law of Moses was written in a book and placed “IN the side of the ark of the covenant.” The learned Dr. Horne has these remarks on this passage:
“Previously to the building of Solomon’s Temple, the Pentateuch was deposited BY the side of the ark of the covenant (Deut. 31: 24–26), to be consulted by the Israelites; and after37the erection of that sacred edifice, it was deposited in the treasury.
On the phrase “by the side of the ark” he has the following foot note:
“So it should be rendered;—not IN the side of the ark. See Dr. Kennicott’s Diss. 2, p. 298.” The emphasis in both cases is his. Horne’s Introduction, vol. i, part i, chap. ii, p. 200. This still more forcibly shows the distinction between the law of God and the law of Moses—one was put in the ark, the other by the side of the ark.
D. M. CANRIGHT
The Conference.
By Uriah Smith
The pressure of business and other matters that accumulated during Conference week, has scarcely yet left an opportunity to take a calm survey of the field since the meeting, and to look at the significance of the transactions of the Conference. We had hoped that others would have opportunity to speak more at length in reference to the meeting; but all, who from their connection with the Conference are prepared to report, have still their heads and hands full of other pressing duties; and we therefore omit other matter to say an additional word respecting the meeting.
Probably at no time in the history of this message, have the extent and wants of the wide harvest field been so clearly seen, and the great scarcity of laborers been so keenly felt, as at this meeting. Call after call comes up from destitute fields all over the land; and still there are other fields in almost interminable numbers where even the sound of the truth has not yet sufficiently penetrated to lead the people to call for more light. To go into a famine-stricken district and to be met on every hand with importunities for bread from the starving multitude, and yet have absolutely none to give them, would be indeed a very distressing experience. If seen in its true light, it would be none the less so, to hear souls pleading for light and for the truth, and yet have no one to send to make it known to them. Such is largely our condition at the present time. It is not an uncalled for, and needless act, which the Lord exhorts us to, when he says, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” The appointment of days of fasting and prayer in reference to this object, is therefore timely and important. Let all prepare their hearts to keep “an acceptable fast unto the Lord,” and so to prevail with him.
We call the attention of the reader to some of the resolutions adopted by the Conference. The resolutions touching the signs of the times, the grand divisions of our faith, the tokens of imminent conflict between Russia and Turkey, the fearful calamities by sea and land of the past few months, all of them signs of the near approach of the great day, and all of them calling in thunder tones upon the people of God to consecrate themselves to the work as never before—these resolutions expressed the feelings that seemed to rest with weight upon all present. These things are so. Truth is about to vindicate itself before the eyes of all the world. The days of probation are almost expired. We, knowing these things, shall be held to a strict account for the manner in which we labor to save our fellow-men. May the heavenly anointing enable us to see this matter as it is, and heavenly aid enable us to act accordingly.
The facts and figures presented in relation to the financial workings of the General Conference, the Publishing Association, the Health Institute, &c., showed that so far as means is concerned, their prosperity is all that could be asked. Liberally have brethren come up to the work. Material is on hand. Facilities are provided for furnishing publications to an almost unlimited extent. What is now wanted is, enlarged fields of operation, and laborers to go in and fill them. What is wanted is men of sufficient powers and cultivation of mind, and sufficient consecration of heart, to interpret the living truths of God’s word in a manner to reach the masses. Remember the appointed fast. And let not any think of slacking their hands in their liberalities; for all that has been furnished, and all that will be, will be needed, and can be used to advantage in making known to dying men the way of life and salvation.
The twelfth resolution, embodying a recommendation that ten thousand dollars be raised as a thank-offering for the benefits received from the health reform, to be used in the issuing of health publications, shows that that reform is highly valued among this people; and that the interest in it is destined to be largely increased.
A remark on resolution fourteen, may be necessary to guard against a wrong impression. While the Conference deemed it duty to tender to Bro. White the value of the property made over by him to the Association at the time of its incorporation, it is proper to say that he declined to receive anything therefor.
This year, as last, a pleasant feature of the occasion, was the visit of the S. D. Baptist delegate. From some incidents that have transpired the past year, and the remarks that were made upon this occasion, it is evident that the two bodies, who each maintain as a distinguishing characteristic, the observance of the law of God in its completeness, are coming to a better understanding of each other. On however many minor points there may be difference of opinion, we believe that, as respects Jehovah’s law, which the Man of Sin has tried to change, and God’s eternal Sabbath, which all the rest of Christendom are trampling beneath their feet, and so far as it respects the promulgation of the Sabbath reform among the people, there should be, and will be, between these two bodies, sympathy, union, cordiality and co-operation.
The dedication of the new Office building, Jan. 1, 1872, was an occasion of much interest. The central room on the second floor, occupying the entire body of the main building, was closely seated and filled to its utmost capacity. The exercises were opened with singing and prayer. Bro. White gave a brief sketch of the rise of the publishing department of this work from its commencement in feebleness and obscurity, to its present extended and prosperous condition. Interesting remarks were also made by Elds. Andrews, Waggoner and others. With a closing hymn and prayer the exercises concluded. Thus another building is dedicated to the work of sending forth the light of truth among the people. The Office is finished in a neat and substantial manner. The workmen have done their duty faithfully and conscientiously. It elicits the unqualified praise of all who behold it.
This new building doubles the publishing room, and in connection with the cylinder press, which it is designed to obtain soon, will give the Association three times the publishing capacity which it now possesses. With this increase of means and facilities for the work, an equal increase of consecration and zeal on the part of the people is demanded. Liberal things must be devised. We must make no other calculation for this work, except that it is to meet a rapid and wonderful increase, and close in might and power.
A new era in the work of spreading the truth to the foreign-born population of our land is marked by the commencement of the publication of the Danish monthly, the first number of which, commencing with the present year, is already issued. For many years Bro. Matteson has labored on without any means of regular communication with his people, and until within a few years with no publications in his language, and even now with but few of them. He will now be able to work to immensely greater advantage. And a wide field is open among the Danish and Norwegian people. We look for the “Advent Tidende,” the English of which is, the “Advent Tidings,” to be widespread among them.
The report from Switzerland, given last week, is of the most encouraging character. Prosperity seems now to be in store for them if they cleave fully unto the Lord. The prayers of believers on this side of the ocean will go up in their behalf.
Thus the prospect is everywhere cheering. The fields are everywhere whitening. Doors are everywhere opening. Souls are everywhere inquiring for the truth. Angels are everywhere working on hearts. Omens, startling and portentious, are everywhere heralding the approach of the impending doom. The agencies are all ready for furnishing the printed sheets to bear the light and truth all over the land. What want we more? The church wants power. The cause wants men.
Where are the hundreds who should this moment, with hearts imbued with a love of souls, and filled with zeal to do something for the Master, be laboring with all their energies to make themselves masters of the English language, masters of history, masters of the teachings of the word of God, that they may be able to portray before their fellow-men the sublime march of prophetic fulfillment down to these closing hours of time, and lead them, through the provisions of God’s wondrous plan for saving men, to prepare immediately for the great consummation? And this leads us right back to that great question in reference to which the days of fasting are appointed. We repeat: Let not that occasion pass unheeded by. Let this thought encourage us, that the harvest is his to whom our prayers go up for laborers; and he will not forsake his own inheritance. U. S.
Amendment to the National Constitution.
The following article from the Christian Press, of Jan., 1872, is a striking illustration of the change that is taking place in public opinion on the question of the constitutional amendment. Very many who were at first openly hostile to the movement, or were indifferent as to its success, and thought that, at all events, it should not be especially urged upon the people, are now prepared, like the writer of the following, to throw in all their energies to push it rapidly forward. This is significant. The article is somewhat lengthy; but we give it entire that the readers of the REVIEW may see the course of reasoning by which men suffer themselves to be led on this question.
To quiet the cry raised by the public fears, that this movement is to lead to a union of church and State, and to inaugurate a religious persecution, it is replied, “Oh, no! It will make no difference with a man’s conscience: he is not obliged to subscribe to the principles enunciated in the constitution unless he chooses to.” But people need not try to delude themselves, or, if they do, they need not try to delude us, into the idea that all this movement is a farce, having for its only object the enactment of a dead letter and a nullity. No; the design is to enforce some things by the strong arm of the law, upon the people, chief among which is the Sunday Sabbath. What is the object of the amendment, if its ultimate design is not to control actions? Some are frank enough to acknowledge its intent, and bitter enough to defiantly declare, “Give us a law, and we will show you seventh-day keepers what will become of you.” We will no longer detain the reader from the remarks of the Press. U. S.
As most of our readers know, for several years there has been in existence a National Association for procuring a more distinct acknowledgment of the authority of God, and the supremacy of his law in our National Constitution. For the furtherance of this end, its annual convention is called to meet in Cincinnati, Jan. 31, 1872.
When this Association was formed, while we were prepared to bid it God-speed, we did not then feel that there was any pressing need for the object sought; and, as our mission was specially directed to the christianizing, enlightening and elevating the masses of the people, we have said little in our columns on the subject, being assured that if the people are right, it is easy to set the government right. The late combined efforts, however, of various classes of our citizens to exclude the Bible from our schools, repeal our Sabbath laws, and divorce our government entirely from religion, and thus make it an atheistic government—for every government must be for God or against him, and must be administered in the interests of religion and good morals, or in the interests of irreligion and immorality—have changed our mind, and we are now prepared to urge the necessity for an explicit acknowledgment in the National Constitution of the authority of God and the supremacy of his law, as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
During the early history of our country, the fact that civil government was an ordinance of God, and that his law was of supreme authority, was almost, if not universally, admitted. Hence, all our civil laws were tried as to their moral quality by the touchstone of God’s law, just as the Puritans had been accustomed to try the laws of England. Indeed, any one at all acquainted with the history of the Puritans knows that they were compelled to leave England because they would not and could not admit the authority of the laws of the land, which they believed were contrary to the laws of God. Hence their persecution and emigration to this land, where they determined to establish a government where the laws of the land should conform to the laws of God.
They accomplished their purpose; and to this very day the unwritten constitution of our land is based on this idea. Hence, the oaths in our courts, our Sabbath and our marriage laws, our penalties for polygamy, adultery, etc. Hence, also, the implied recognition of the same principle in the Federal Constitution itself, by its provision for oaths, and in the distinction between Sunday and the other days of the week which it makes.
But, notwithstanding these facts, inasmuch as there is no explicit affirmation of the supremacy of God’s law, there is a growing tendency to deny those principles which the great mass of Christians have, in every age, held dear. Indeed, in various large cities we have resolutions like the following:
Resolved, that the German-American element of Chicago regard all interference of the Temperance and Sunday-law advocates with its social privileges as citizens as unconstitutional, and as inconsistent with the spirit of our republican institutions.
We have also official acts, as in the case of the Treaty of Tripoli, where it is denied that this is a Christian nation. True, the official acts on the other side are far more numerous, and among them the late decision of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, enjoining the Board of Education from prohibiting the reading of the Bible in the common schools, in which Judge Hagans says, “The framers of the Constitution (of the State of Ohio) felt that the moral sense must necessarily be regulated and controlled by the religious belief, and that whatever was opposed to religious belief, estimated by a Christian standard, and taking into consideration the welfare of the State, would be in the highest degree opposed to the general sense, and have a direct tendency to undermine the moral support of the laws and corrupt the community.”
It was a decision which made glad the hearts of the great mass of Protestant Christians throughout the land; and yet we are satisfied it never would have been made only for the following clause in the State Constitution, viz.: “Religion, morality and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.” And if this is true, with such an amendment as we desire, we would have just such a bulwark as we need to save the Bible in our schools and our Sabbath and marriage laws from being swept away by the rising flood of infidelity and atheism, and maintain our character as a Christian nation.
On the other hand, if no effort is made in this direction, the principles we have asserted may soon be denied, and the decision of many questions vital to the religion and morality of the nation be within the control of local majorities, or of an oligarchy who may happen to be in power.
History is full of lessons on this subject. Take the struggles of the early Puritans against the persecuting edicts of Mary and Elizabeth in England and the sufferings of many of our abolitionists by the oppressive fugitive-slave law of our own land.
But it is objected that the consciences of those who do not believe in the principle advanced will be oppressed if the majority succeed in so amending the Constitution. We reply by no means; for no one is required to subscribe to these doctrines unless he believes them. The assertion of a principle is quite a different thing from a law requiring subscription to it. No citizen’s conscience is oppressed by the clause in the State Constitution of Ohio already quoted, whether he believes it or not, and just because he is not required to subscribe to it; and even in the case of his taking the official oath, he is not required to subscribe to the doctrines of the Constitution, only to carry them out as an executive officer, which, if he cannot do, of course he ought not to accept office; but in no case is his conscience oppressed. And, in point of fact, there never has been in the past any persecution under a government acknowledging these principles.
But it has also been objected that such an amendment would lead to a union of Church and State. To this we reply, the two questions are entirely distinct. The acknowledgment of the supreme authority of God’s law is certainly a very different question from the acknowledgment of some religious organization. Nor does any one propose to repeal the clause of the Constitution prohibiting Congress from passing laws respecting an Establishment of religion. Nor are we aware that such an alliance between Church and State has been formed where the principle of the supremacy of God’s law was accepted by the State.
Acting on the principle, “No Bishop, no King,” these alliances have been formed and maintained with imprisonment, scourging and death. Even in the case of the English and Scotch Establishments at the present time, the government maintains them, not on the principle that God’s law demands it, but because they are deemed a cheap police force and a valuable aid in maintaining the stability of the government.
We may rest assured that no evil results will follow obedience to God’s law. On the contrary, he has declared, and the world’s history attests its truth: “The nation and the kingdom that will not serve God shall perish; yea, all those nations shall be utterly wasted.”
Question Answered.
By J. H. W.
To J. M. G: There are three points in Rom. 10:4 to be considered. 1. Christ is the end of the law. 2. For righteousness. 3. To every one that believeth.
Now if end here means termination or cessation, then the second and third points can have no meaning. For, if he has abolished the law, it is abolished to the unbeliever as well as to the believer. If the law is abolished to one class and not to another, what shall we say of it when individuals pass from one class to the other? An idea so absurd needs no consideration.
“For righteousness.” What is righteousness? It is the opposite of unrighteousness. But unrighteousness is sin; and sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 5:17; 3:4. Therefore righteousness is the opposite of transgression of the law, that is, it is obedience to the law. And Paul says in Rom. 8:4, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. This obedience to the law is only effected through Christ, for they that are not in Christ are carnally minded, and the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. Verse 7. If Christ has released any one from obligation to obey the law of God, that action would have been unto unrighteousness; but he is not a minister of sin. Gal. 2:17. He came to “put away sin,” or transgression of the law. Not his own, for he had none to put away, but ours; which is effected in them that believe unto obedience, but not in them who make belief an excuse for disobedience. They are not in Christ, but only carnal professors.
James 5:11 says: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord.” Webster says end is the object or design, and such must be its signification in Rom. 10:4; and James 5:11. The design of the law was to restrain from evil and lead into correct action; and had man walked thus he would not have died, for, “The wages of sin is death.” Therefore for Paul’s assertion is evidently true; the law “was ordained to life.” Rom. 7:10. See Lev. 18:5, &c.; Rom. 2:13; Gal. 3:12. But he said he found it “to be unto death,” because he was a transgressor. And all transgressors of the law will yet be brought to acknowledge the same thing; if not here, in conversion, as in the case of Paul, hereafter, when “God shall bring every work into judgment.”
The meaning of the passage is plainly this: Christ accomplishes the object of the law, which is to give life; this can only be done through obedience, for no one can be saved in sin; and this object is accomplished to or in the believer in Christ. For in him only can we be reconciled to God, and restored to full obedience.
For examination of other texts related to this, see pamphlet entitled Law of God.
J. H. W.
A Silly Misrepresentation.
By James White
In a discussion to which I was challenged by Eld. Treat, in Indiana, he made the assertion that we took our doctrines from the writings of Sr. White, and that we called her writings Present Truth. In reply, I pointed out his ignorance of facts, or recklessness of statement, by informing the audience that in the early history of our work the phrase Present Truth is often used to designate a small paper published by Bro. White, bearing that title. And whenever it is used to define any system of faith or doctrine we invariably confine it to Rev. 14. I further stated that, so far from our taking our doctrines from her writings, those writings are not doctrinal, but practical. Our doctrines are entirely from the Bible; but we have doctrinal writers, and in this respect our people consulted their writings rather than hers; and that even my own writings were consulted on doctrinal points more than hers.
The editor of the Christian Record was present, and his record of that explanation is as follows:
“Elder Waggoner himself, in the debate, said that Sr. White was endorsed by the church, ‘But,’ said he, ‘the church looks up to me five times, yea, one hundred times, more than to Sr. White, humble as I am.’”
This is what I call a very silly misrepresentation. Were Eld. Mathes an ignoramus, unused to recording passing events or preparing papers for the press, it would appear more excusable. But for a long-time editor and publisher to wrest words from their connection and so completely destroy their intent, garbling sentences by inserting words that were not used, to mislead the reader, is without excuse or palliation.
But it is what we must expect from them. All religious denominations in that part of the country unite in testifying that the Campbellites never represent their opponents with fairness and candor, seldom, if ever, treating them with respect. Their egotism and self-sufficiency are so unbounded that they act as if no other people could have equal rights with themselves. A thorough exposure of the fallacy of their system, of the manner in which they pervert the gospel, is all that is needed to break the pride of their power and to rescue souls from their destroying influence.
J. H. W.
The Cause in Indiana.
By J. H. Waggoner
My time has been so closely occupied that I have not found opportunity to write a word about my recent trip to Indiana.
I went to Smithville, Monroe Co., Nov. 15, where I found Bro. E. B. Lane. As he had a discussion pending with Eld. Treat, of Bloomington, of the sect commonly known as Campbellites, I relieved him by occupying all the time to the 21st, the day on which the discussion commenced. Eld. Treat is their “big gun,” in debating, having had, as I was informed, some thirty or more. He is a very vain, boastful man, strong in assumption, but loose in logic; his chief power lies in his skill in covering up his opponent’s argument without answering it. As is common with that class of preachers, he makes a great show and pretense of education, but the vail is too thin to conceal the fact that he is superficial. The contrast between him and Bro. Lane was very striking. Bro. Lane had had no experience at all in debating, having never held a discussion with any man till he met Eld. Treat. The strong points of his arguments shone out with all the more clearness, as it was evident to every one that they were not the result of skill in debate, but were plain truth, not to be controverted, or invalidated by sophistry. In the midst of their discussion, Eld. Treat challenged me to a discussion of our views of the influence of the Spirit of God, which I accepted, and we occupied one day and a half on that subject. Of this, more hereafter.
During Bro. Lane’s discussion, which took place in Gosport, I preached four evenings in the Methodist house. I went from there to Lancaster, where there are some firm believers in present truth, and our meetings there were profitable. I also held three meetings in Bowling Green, Clay Co. There was but little chance to do good there by so few meetings. Though there is a very general interest to hear, and many seem convinced, but few have the decision and self-denial necessary to make a decided stand for the truth.
Sabbath and first-day, Dec. 9, 10, I preached in a Baptist meeting-house about six miles from Gosport. Although a strong effort had been made to create prejudice against the truth, the attendance was good, and a favorable impression was left on the community. Many expressed their belief that “there is something in this!”
From the evening of the 13th I held meetings in Howard Co., over six days. The interest raised at the camp-meeting has not abated. The largest school-house near there was filled, so that there was no more standing room, full half an hour before the appointed time of meeting. I do not know of any place in any State where a meeting-house is more needed than in Howard Co., Ind. I fear the brethren there do not realize their responsibility to maintain the cause in their midst, either in the preaching or providing a place for meeting. Timber of good quality is plenty, and lumber easily obtained. A vigorous effort should be made by them this winter. And they ought to consider that if they are not willing to come up to the accepted plan of systematic beneficence, they should no longer look to the more faithful brethren in Michigan to supply them with preaching. Please read 2 Cor. 8:1-14. The action of the late General Conference, recommending that Indiana be set apart as a separate Conference, makes it necessary that their attention be called to this subject.
The 19th, I commenced meetings in Henry Co. I had never been there, and left others to make the appointment. As the tent was in Middletown before the camp-meeting, and a good interest was raised, it was thought best to have the meetings there. But other influences had been abroad, and it will take considerable labor to revive an interest there. Had the tent returned there immediately after the camp-meeting, I have no doubt a great and good work might have been done. But circumstances were unfavorable at the time I was there. It was stormy and very cold, and the meetings were held in a hall. But the chief objection, to my mind, was this: The brethren all lived at a distance, and could not attend there in such weather. It was to them I wished especially to speak. Accordingly I moved from Middletown to Sulphur Springs, holding two meetings there, and two in “White Union” meeting-house, near by. These meetings were profitable to us all, and we were all encouraged to press onward.
There is no State in which I have labored where there is more need of health reform than in Indiana. But the power of truth manifests itself everywhere the same. In every place that I visited, my testimony on this subject was well received, and the hearts of the people were tender on this subject. The early coming of the General Conference made my visit short in every place, so that I could not give more than an outline of our faith, or rather, show the principles on which we base our action.
There is a wide field, an open door in Indiana; I think it is evidently Bro. Lane’s duty to return there for a few months at least.