Earlier text: THE THREE ANGELS OF"LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE."
By A. S. Hutchins
WHILE in a world of sorrow, surrounded by the pall of misery and death, and amidst sinners and proud and worldly-minded professors of religion, who deny the immediate coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and scorn the thought that his humble followers are to know when this glorious event is "near, even at the doors," it is a matter of lively gratitude, a source of the deepest consolation to my heart, to be identified with the children of God, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Of this blessed hope I am not, I can not be ashamed. We hail with joy and gladness the evidences sure and unmistakable, daily unfolding and passing in swift succession before us, that we live in the last fleeting moments of time. Upon the astonished vision of the sinner and the ungodly, will quickly burst the sad and awful realities connected with the closing scenes of this world's history. While those who are watching and waiting for the coming of the Saviour, will realize the sweet fruition of the blessed hope. With this soul-cheering hope in view, we will patiently urge our passage on till glory completes what grace has begun. But few however, are found who give place in their hearts to the refining, saving truths of the last message of mercy, which are now published for the salvation of poor wretched fallen man, from the impending wrath of the Almighty. The multitude rush almost thoughtlessly on, hurrying with rapidity to the vortex of destruction. With their eyes closed and their ears shut against the warning notes of present truth. O solemn thought! O chilling reflection! But, saith the Saviour, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be." The instruction gathered from the Sacred Scriptures, from beginning to end, is that but few will know and rejoice in the truths relating to the great and glorious plan of man's redemption. The above reference to the teachings of our Saviour, demonstrates the same fact respecting the infidelity and skepticism of the last generation of mankind relative to his second advent. Though signs portend that his coming is near, even at the doors, as clearly as the budding fig-tree denotes the near approach of Summer, yet the multitude will not believe. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Says the Apostle, in speaking of the coming of Christ and the events connected therewith, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of the day." "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light unto my path." "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos iii, 7. The Saviour in speaking of certain signs immediately to precede his coming, says, "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt. xxiv, 32, 33. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Be ye also patient: stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." If, as modern divines tell us, we cannot know whether the second advent of the Saviour is one hundred or one thousand years in the future, how unmeaning and superfluous are the repeated admonitions of Christ and the apostles, to the Church, when the signs and evidences of this glorious event shall thicken and gather around them, to "watch," and be ready for it! A position so unscriptural as the above, affords a very convenient opening for the false and delusive theory of the temporal millennium. But examine this theory in the light of the Sacred Scriptures, and the sandy foundation upon which it rests, is discovered at once, and the fact brought to light, that it is one of the "fables" of the last days. If we contrast the hope of the Christian with the hope of the hypocrite and the ungodly, we see that the former is as "an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast," while the latter perishes and dies in the hour of trial and tribulation. "So are the paths of all that forget God: and the hypocrite's hope shall perish." "Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's webb." Job viii, 13, 14. "But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." But the blessed hope of the righteous shines brighter and brighter, and buoys the spirits of its possessor up in the time of trial and trouble. "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel iii, 16. This blessed hope embraces the resurrection of the sleeping saints at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and also "to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality," the gift of "eternal life." Says Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." But ere we enter upon the full fruition of this buoyant and blessed hope, ere mingling our voices with the redeemed, in the sweet and triumphant song of redemption, before inheriting the earth restored to its Eden beauty, and deluged with the glory of God, we must pass through the time of trouble, to which we are approximating with great rapidity. "The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man will cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wastness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness." Zeph. i, 14, 15. Dear reader, are you prepared for the tempestuous storm of the great and dreadful day of the Lord? If not, O prepare immediately for the solemn events of the future! The warning notes of the last message of mercy, are now sounding; soon they will die away and be heard no more. Then mercy, sweet mercy, will have gone forever. Upon obedience to all of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, our hope must be based, if we would be "delivered" from destruction in that coming day. Then shall we have unshaken confidence in the protecting care of our heavenly Parent, and feel the force of the sentiment expressed in the following lines:173 "Can aught against my hope prevail?
Can it withstand the day,
When wrath's tempestuous, stormy gale
Shall sweep along the way?
Ah! yes—'twill rear its lovely form,
The raging gale to mock;
'Twill stand amid the awful storm—
A Temple on the Rock." THE COMING OF CHRIST AT DEATH.
By Uriah Smith
It is a notable fact that every false theory leads to a perversion of many plain scriptures in order to make them correspond. The popular view of the present day, that man has an immortal soul which leaves the body at death and flies away to dwell in the presence of its God in realms of bliss, furnishes many illustrations of this fact. One instance we here notice. Jesus said to his sorrowing disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." What is the hope here held out to the disciples? It is this: that Christ would prepare a place for them and come again and receive them unto himself, that where he was there they might be also. All is here made to turn on the coming of Christ. When he came he would receive them and they would be with him; and not before. Says popular theology, The soul of the christian departs at death to dwell with Christ in realms of glory. To preserve the integrity of the words of Christ, with such a view as this, it must of necessity follow that the coming of Christ takes place at death. This we say is the only legitimate conclusion which will harmonize with the above view. The soul departs to be with Christ at death; but Christ must come before he takes his people to himself according to his promise; therefore Christ has come at death—a false premise, and an absurd conclusion. Surely one would think that a person must be impelled by strong necessity to endeavor to support a view so unscriptural as that the second coming of Christ takes place at death; and here we have it. Admit that the coming of Christ is what the Scriptures teach—a literal coming in the clouds of heaven, and the words of Christ, above quoted, strike a fatal blow at the very root of the view that the soul is conscious and departs at death to dwell with its Redeemer. When it can be proved that the coming of Christ "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," "with the holy angels," "with a great sound of a trumpet," "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God," is some spiritual operation that takes place at death, unseen and unheard, then may the advocates of the conscious state of the dead congratulate themselves that they have one less of those formidable texts to dispose of, which throw themselves like impassable barriers across their pathway. Apology for Delayed Correspondence
By Editor
Our time has been so occupied with other matters, day and (a large portion of) night, that we have not been able to write anything for this number. It is impossible for us to answer letters from brethren who request it, only those on business, and that briefly. THE CHURCH NOT IN DARKNESS.
By H. L. Hastings
These are the facts of the past, and they are "written for our learning." The deluged world—the wave-covered plain of Jordan—the scathed and desolate heaps that mark the place of Babel's past and punished pride and glory—the ruined temple of Jerusalem, and the scattered remnant of her ancient people—all these are eloquent teachers of mankind. From them we learn such lessons as these: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." "The wise shall understand, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand." Centuries have passed away since these examples have been recorded for our admonition and instruction. But while the great facts stand blazoned on the historic page, the mighty morals, the important lessons which these examples were to teach, have almost faded from the mind and memory of mankind. The world has grown old, and careless, and proud, and lustful, and covetous, and cruel, and oppressive, and impious, and defiant, and secure. Sodom and Egypt may be regarded as the appropriate types of perverted humanity as it appears at present. Sodom's pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, cruelty to the poor, and unbridled licentiousness; and Egypt's infidelity, unbelief, oppression, and impiety; these are marked characteristics of human character at the present day. These were long since predicted by the prophets of God and by the Saviour himself. There are the same "perils" that were to mark the "perilous times" that should be "in the last days." There is the same powerless "form of godliness;" there is the same turning "their ears from the truth;" there is the same turning "unto fables;" there are the same "seducers" waxing "worse and worse;" there are the same resisters of the truth, like "Jannes and Jambres" of old; there is the same abundance of iniquity; there is the same waxing cold of love; there are the same lustful "scoffers;" there is the same taunting denial of the coming of Christ; there is the same "evil servant," saying "in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming;" there is the same "smiting of fellow-servants;" there is the same "eating and drinking with the drunken;" there is the same slumbering and sleeping; there is the same saying "peace and safety" that was to mark the concluding period of earth's sinful course. So also in the political world. There is the same corruption, the same laxity of principles, the same unscrupulous ambition, the same warlike spirit and preparation, the same political upheaving, the same wide-spread national "distress," the same "perplexity," the same waking up of "mighty men," the same gathering of Israel's enemies and Satan's friends, the same thickening struggle of mighty powers, the same war of principles, religious, and races, the same stupendous preparations for the coming "battle of the great day of God Almighty" that we are warranted in anticipating, in connection with the approach of the day of the Lord. In the natural world, too, pestilential diseases, earthquakes, signs "in heaven above and earth beneath," "the sea and the waves roaring," all these speak the concluding groans and throes of that whole creation, which "groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now, waiting for" the final and eternal deliverance from the vanity and sorrow of a cursed and mortal state. Here then we stand, and while beset by ignorant scoffers, while listening to the deceitful declaration of "peace and safety," we hear a voice coming down above the storms, the tempests of eighteen hundred years, and ringing in our ears like the clarion blast that wakes a slumbering army, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." Can it be possible, then, that the church of Christ in this world, are to remain in utter ignorance of the approach of that tremendous day? Such a supposition is entirely at war with the whole character of God as exemplified in his dealings with the human race in ages past. Would God forewarn the antediluvians, the Sodomites, the Babylonians, the Jews, yea, every nation upon whom his wrath has fallen, of their approaching doom, and afford them opportunity to repent, and escape—and shall the last world-wide catastrophe, come unheralded, unpredicted? Shall guilty cities and kingdoms, be the objects of God's care and compassion, and receive admonitions and warnings from his mouth, and shall he at last permit all the kingdoms of the world to fall beneath his exterminating ire, unadmonished and unwarned? Impossible! "Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." Upon this point the teachings of His Word are equally explicit. The duty of watchfulness is enjoined. The necessary preparation is only found in expecting the approach of that day, and in the most strict and constant obedience to the commands of God. God is ever merciful, and in all the manifestations of his judgments in days gone by, the disobedient have been the willful victims of their own inattention to the commands of God. They have not known his approaching judgment, not because they could not, but because they would not know. So it shall be at the end. Men are willingly ignorant and willfully impenitent. They do not discern the signs of the times because they are resolute in their determination to sin on in security, and to close their eyes against every heaven-sent warning that God in mercy gives them. Let us watch lest coming suddenly he find us sleeping. When we recollect that, "The Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets;" that "The things that are revealed belong to us and to our children;" that the Jews were condemned as hypocrites because they would not "discern the signs of the times;" that their house was left desolate because they "knew not the time of their visitation;" that Jesus has commanded us to lift up our heads, "knowing that our redemption draweth nigh;" that we are commanded to "know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand—even at the door;" that to be ignorant is to be guilty, when light is given and when the word of prophecy as a light "shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn;" when we recollect all these things, the conclusion is inevitably forced upon our minds, that it is the stern and solemn duty of the church of God and every individual Christian to be searching the word of God, discerning the signs of the times, giving heed to the sure word of prophecy, and waiting for the Son of God from heaven. We have reasoned from analogy. We have drawn our conclusions from the known facts in history, and from known principles of divine government. But, though this reasoning is clearly conclusive in itself, we intend to make it far more conclusive still. When we read the record of antediluvian sin, and reproof, and disregard, and destruction, we are not left to a mere supposition that earth's approaching catastrophe will transpire under similar circumstances. No! Lips that cannot lie, have uttered the solemn truth, that "as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and destroyed them all, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be." Thus inspiration positively teaches us that as in the days of Noah the people of God knew the danger, as the wicked were warned of it, as the people of God were saved and the wicked destroyed, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. So also in the case of the cities of the plain. Reasoning from analogy, we are led to think that as God is unchangeable in his principles of impartial justice, he will punish this world, delivering the just, as in the case of Sodom. But the Saviour tells us that this which we might infer is really and truly so. The concluding days of the gospel dispensation shall be like the days of Sodom. Then they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded—they shall do so at the end. Then Lot was warned, and also warned others—it shall be so at the end. Then, they disregarded and despised the warning—it shall be so at the end. Then "the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." No language can be more explicit. There will be such circumstances developed in connection with the close of this dispensation, and it is left to us to choose the position which we will occupy. Warnings have been given. While the godless world and a slothful church are gazing forward to scenes of worldly prosperity, aggrandizement and peace—while many are putting away indefinitely that evil day because they wish it far off—while others strangely regard the declaration, "no man knoweth the day and hour," as precluding the possibility of knowing "when it is nigh, even at the door"—while the world sleep on and dream on, the day breaketh, the morning cometh. The foretold tokens of redemption at hand, are before our gaze, and the weary eyes of the anxious watcher on Zion's walls, are greeted by the lustre of the ascending daystar, that portends the speedy rising of the King of Light. Signs of this description thicken on every hand. They cloud the heavens, they fill the earth, and we are bound to heed them. If we do it, it is our safety; if we neglect them, it is at our peril. We are to look, then, and wait for the Son of God. We are not to be in "darkness." We are to anticipate and prepare for that day. Ere we are aware it shall come upon us. Like the stealthy thief prowling in the midnight darkness, like the travail of a woman with child, like the sudden snare, entrapping the unwary feet, yea, like the brilliant lightning as it rends the cloud and gleams athwart the midnight sky, so sudden, so unexpected, so startling, shall the coming of the Son of man be. Hence the necessity of diligence that we "may be found of him in peace." Reader, are you saying peace and safety? Are you fancying that your Lord delayeth his coming? Are you saying in mockery and incredulity, Where is the promise of his coming? Oh, friend, remember where you are. Heed the word of God. Heed the revelations of his holy prophets. Heed the prophetic warning of his Son who died for thee. Forget not the sayings of holy men of old. Study God's word. Discern the signs of the times, and prepare to meet thy God. While all the elements of strife are let loose, while the whirlwind speeds from land to land, while the tempest sweeps wildly along and will soon burst heavily upon the earth, while nations are in their death struggles, and while others are hastening toward the outer circles of the awful whirlpool which shall speedily engulf them in destruction and perdition, while the notes of pleading entreaty and solemn warning fall upon thine ear, while mercy yet lingers to call you, and waits to receive you, I pray you flee from the impending storm. A little while, and it may be too late. "Sudden destruction cometh," and the unprepared shall not escape. Heed then the voice of God. Repent! Why live on in sin? Why court ruin and wrath? Why earn death? Why crucify afresh the Son of God? Why despise his outpoured blood? Why rush madly on to perdition? Why grieve the heart of him who died for thee? Why repel a salvation that is free and boundless as the unmeasured love of God? WHY WILL YOU DIE? Reader, are you a Christian? a watchful observer and discerner of the signs of the times? Then you are not in darkness. But are you where, and what you should be? Are you serving God with all your heart? Are you laying up treasures in heaven?174 Are you taking heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged, and that day come upon you as a thief? Are you faithful to God? to yourself? to the world? to the church of Christ? to sinners around you? Do you confess Christ? Do you bear his cross? Do you obey his commands? Are you alive or dead? Are you in Christ Jesus, or out? Are you hot or cold? Are you lukewarm? Are you watchful? Are you prayerful and laborious? Are you pure from the blood of all men? Take time to consider these questions. Ponder them; you had better settle them now than at the judgment-seat of Christ. Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. Your duty is before you. Will you do it? WILL YOU DO IT? Spirit of the living God, fasten this question on the reader's heart? Christian pilgrim, rejoice! Lift up thy head. Lo! heaven is radiant with the promise of the hastening day. You "are not in darkness," why need you be in tears? The morning cometh—the morning that shall end thy woes. The morning that shall chase away thy sorrows, that shall waken with its rising glory thy loved ones that sleep in Jesus, and that shall throw the vigor of immortality throughout thy wan and weary form. Ah, yes, in the nearing distance gleam the crystal towers and the glittering palaces of the city of God. A little while, and the swelling anthem of the redeemed shall burst sublimely on thy ravished ear, the crown of glory shall sparkle fair upon thy brow; the palm of triumph shall wave above thy head, the spotless raiment of the blest shall be thy adorning covering, the angels of God shall be thy joyful company, the marriage supper of the Lamb shall be thy feast, the voice of Jesus shall pronounce thy blessed welcome, the peaceful paradise of God shall be thine everlasting home, and thou shalt be for ever with the Lord. An Interesting Epistle
By Editor
NOTE.—This epistle possesses peculiar interest to us; though we have no remembrance of greeting the writer as he states. But thank God for it all, and that he remembers us at this time, since he has found beauty in Christ and the Word of Life. We send $3.00 worth of Books and the REVIEW. May the blessing of Heaven go with them, and may they give light to others in that distant State. Ed. Death of B. B. Brigham
By H. Flower
It is with sorrow that I announce the death of Bro. B. B. Brigham, of North Plains, Mich., who fell asleep Jan. 2d, aged 57 years. His disease was appoplexy. He has left a wife and five children to mourn his loss; but they sorrow not as those who have no hope. His loss is much felt here by believers in present truth, as they are few and scattered. We hope to meet him again in the resurrection of the just. Bro. Brigham was formerly a preacher in the Calvinist Baptist denomination. He afterwards preached the first and second angels' messages; and for about three year's past has been a firm believer in the third angel's message; and was ever found bold to defend the truth which lay so near his heart; and it may well be said of him that he has fought a good fight, and has kept the faith, and will doubtless receive a crown of righteousness at the day of Christ's appearing. Ronald, Mich., Jan. 18th, 1855. COMMUNICATIONS.
By S. B. Warren
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I wish to say for the encouragement of all God's true commandment-keepers, that the little church in this place are holding fast to the present truth, and God is truly with us. Our meetings on the Sabbath, and our weekly prayer-meetings, are deeply interesting. Never did the light of present truth shine so brilliantly among us as at the present time. We are trying to keep down in the vale of humility at the foot of the cross. There seems to be that spirit of love and union among us which is not to be found only among those whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in the keeping of all his commandments. We believe that the message of the third angel is slowly but surely rising. There seems to be a steady and increasing interest among those who are fully resolved, come what will, to hold on their way. It certainly is true that we have enemies, and bitter ones; "but if the Lord be for us who shall be against us?" If we have the spirit of Christ, we shall love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. This is the true spirit of the gospel of the meek and lowly Jesus, who we believe is soon coming to redeem his pledge, and take his weary and tried ones home. But we sometimes feel to say in the language of David, "Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood." Ps. cxiv, 11. That day will most assuredly come when all those who love and practice the truth will safely anchor in the harbor of eternal repose: "there the wicked cease from troubling; and the weary are at rest." Job. iii, 17. The brethren and sisters here came together on the last evening of the old year to celebrate the ordinances of the Lord's house, and it was truly a heart-cementing time; a time which we shall long remember. O who would not be among such a people as this, even though the floods of persecution are poured in upon us a thousand times more severe than ever. But ah, our persecutions! what are they? they are nothing worth mentioning compared with the persecutions of God's little flock in bygone ages. But we are looking forward to a time when the dragon's wrath will be stirred up, and when he will go forth to make a more severe war upon the remnant than he has ever yet made. O brethren and sisters, who of us shall stand at our post when that time comes? We have now entered upon a new year, and, I ask, who among my dear brethren and sisters are willing with me to renew their covenant, and dedicate themselves anew to the service of God? Have we not spoken many words during the past year which have displeased the Lord? Have we not had many vain thoughts during the past year? Have our actions at all times corresponded with our profession? I fear that we are none of us what we should be. O let us arise and bestir ourselves and work for God while the day lasts. We have one year less to work in the vineyard. We are one year nearer the port of endless rest. The signs are thickening all around us, and on every hand, which proclaim that the coming of the Lord is near. A proud, haughty, popular church, with false teachers and leaders at their head, is just now in the condition that the Scriptures teach it would be in, when our Lord comes. We have only to look around us in this day of false revivals and reformations, and we shall at once see the state and condition of Zion. The Lord says to his true ministers by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, "Cry aloud spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins." The professed ministers of Jesus Christ in this day, even in these last days, dare not to do it. They have become so proud, so popular, so much in love with the world and an applauding community, that they dare not expose the multiplied sins of the present day, or even those of which some of the members of their churches are verily guilty. Among the numerous sins of which church members are awfully guilty in the sight of God at this175 present day, take for instance the sin of pride. Who are these who train along our side-walks on a Sunday morning at the sound of their bell, clothed in such costly array? Are they going to hear a pure gospel proclaimed? Nay verily he dare not preach to them the truth. Suppose he were to preach to them the truth of the Bible, and point out their sins with as much plainness of speech as St. Paul did. He would tell them to go home and take off their artificials, those curls, those ear-rings, those finger-rings, and all those needless ornaments which are not becoming to the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. But so it is with fallen Babylon in these last days of apostasy. Sunday after Sunday do they appear in the house of worship, and by their pastor are never reproved or rebuked for their sins. Well may they go on and think they are making rapid strides towards heaven, while they are being fed by such ministers as these. They are truly blind leaders of the blind. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so, and what will ye do in the end thereof? Jer. v, 30, 31. Our feelings should be those of pity and sympathy for those who are resolved to reject the light of truth which so intimately concerns us in these last days. But, dear brethren and sisters, let us every one try and live before an ungodly world of sinners and fallen, corrupt church members in such a way that we shall not give the lie to our profession. Yours looking for Jesus. S. B. WARREN. Battle Creek, Mich., Jan. 12th, 1855. How the first Christians Lived.
An approved writer, in describing the religious character of the primitive Christians, observed that when they gave themselves to Christ, they counted all things lost for him and his salvation; and the surrender was an honest, whole-hearted transaction, never to be reconsidered, never to be regretted. Hence, from the hour of their conversion, they made little account of property. If it was confiscated by government, or destroyed in a mob, they "took joyfully the spoiling of their goods," assured that in heaven they had an incorruptible inheritance. When the cause required, how ready were they to lay all at the feet of the missionaries. Generally they were poor. A rich Christian! why, such a thing was hardly known. However it may be now, it was then "easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And if, as an act of special sovereignty, a man of wealth was converted, he seldom retained his riches for a long period; for such was his sympathy for the despoiled and suffering brotherhood, and such his solicitude for the conversion of the perishing, that his funds were poured forth as water. Yet poor as were the first Christians, they were liberal to a degree unsurpassed. We from our much give little. They, from their little, gave much. "Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." Baptized covetousness was the product of a later age. They understood Christ to be in earnest, when, standing but one step from the throne of the universe, he said: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." It was not, therefore, with them a matter to be considered, whether they should go or not go. The command was positive and peremptory; and how could they escape from the obligation? With us, to stay is the rule, to go is the exception.—Wonder not that they accomplished so much, wonder not that we accomplish so little. They did not wait indolently for openings, but went forth either to find them or to make them. If defeated at one point, instead of returning to Jerusalem in despondency, and writing a book on the impracticability of Christian missions, they proceeded to another and more distant field, and then to another, until they had gone over the appointed territory. Their piety was enterprising; the spirit of obedience made it such.—Selected. If the globe were one mass of the purest gold—if the stars were so many jewels of the finest order—if the moon were a diamond, and the sun a ruby—they were less than nothing, when compared with the infinite value of one soul. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? DIED at her residence in Troy, Walworth Co., Wisconsin, Dec. 30th, 1854, Sister Chatfield, aged 24 years, the daughter of Worcester and Polly Holcomb. She embraced the first angel's message in Oswego Co., in 1842. She removed with her parents to Wisconsin in 1846, where she lived a consistent Christian until 1850, when Bro. Rhodes visited Wis. She then received the third angel's message; and from that time to her death she lived consistent with her faith. She died full in the faith of soon seeing the King in his beauty. She has left a companion and two children to mourn the loss of an affectionate wife and tender mother; but they mourn not as those who have no hope. The funeral discourse was preached by a Baptist minister from Matt. v, 8. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." W. PHELPS. Letter from California.
By Daniel Eaton
DEAR BRO. WHITE:—I have been thinking for a number of months that I would write you a letter, but could hardly muster courage. This evening after I had done my day's work, I took a walk a short distance from the place of my residence, and as I had nobody but my own thoughts to consult with, it came forcibly to my mind that one year ago I think I was with the large class of the human family, but the Lord saw fit to turn me about and as I hope has added me to his church. For a number of weeks before I was converted, I felt sad and heavy-hearted, everything I cast my eyes upon seemed to wear a different aspect from what it formerly had done. I wanted to be alone, and be perusing the Bible. I had been previously to the meetings called Spirit Manifestations, which was where I had lived—a great excitement—and it seemed to set a terror on my mind. I felt assured that it was not of God, for it was mostly wicked men that practiced it; and he had forbidden necromancy in his word. I felt that judgment had first come to me, and that I was not prepared. I looked back on my past life checked with evil. I felt that I had tried to live honestly in the sight of men, but I was not honest in the sight of God. All my sins seemed to be rolled up before my mind, and were staring me in the face night and day, until at last I fell on the Rock and broke all to pieces. Nothing made me free but believing that God had forgiven me all. Some of the Advent brethren took me by the hand and I began to creep. The last year has been the happiest year of all my life. I saw you last Spring at Bro. Carpenter's in Oswego City, and you shook me by the hand. I wish you would send me those Advent papers regularly. I send you five dollars only. If it is any more than enough for one paper, send me such as you think best. I should be glad to send you more money, but at present my means are limited. I hope that I may be kept from the many delusions and spirits of devils that are now in the world, and at last meet you in your Father's house. I desire an interest in the prayers of the poor. Your unworthy brother.
DANIEL EATON.