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Review and Herald, Vol. 35, No. 23.

OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

Review and Herald

May 24, 1870

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 24, 1870

OUR FAITH AND HOPE;

By James White

Or, Reasons Why We Believe as We Do.
NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE—THE THIRD MESSAGE.
BY ELDER JAMES WHITE.
(Concluded.)
4. The patience of the saints. The chronology of the third message is distinctly marked as being the period of “the patience of the saints,” which follows the proclamation of the two former messages. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Verse 12. And this period of the saints’ patience is marked by a most important fact, namely, the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We have seen that the first angel’s message refers to the solemn proclamation of the immediate second advent, consequently the period of patience here brought to view must be the same as that which in many scriptures is located immediately preceding the second advent. A few texts must suffice as examples:
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience; that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10: 35–39.
“Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.” James 5: 7–10.
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3: 10, 11.
“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25: 9.
5. The commandments of God. The period of the saints’ patience is distinguished by the fact that they are keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. It should be distinctly noticed that the commandments here brought to view, are not the commandments of Christ. There may be a certain sense in which all the precepts of the Saviour may be called the commandments of God; that is, if viewed as proceeding from the sovereign authority of the Father; but when the commandments of God are spoken of in distinction from the testimony or faith of Jesus, there is but one thing to which reference can be made; namely, the commandments which God gave in person, the ten commandments. See John 15: 10: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” And thus we find the law of God which he proclaimed in person referred to in the New Testament as “the commandments of God,” or as “the commandments.”
“And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother, and Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matt. 19: 17–19.
“And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment.” Luke 23: 56.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5: 17–19.
“Honor thy father and thy mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” Eph. 6: 2, 3.
“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” Matt. 15: 3–6.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7: 7.
6. The faith of Jesus. This term is used in distinction from the commandments of God. It does not refer to a particular degree or kind of faith which the Saviour exercised in the performance of his miracles; for it appears that he wrought these by the power which he had already received from his Father. Matt. 8: 2, 3; Mark 1: 40, 41; Luke 5: 23, 24. The world itself was made by him. John 1. He had ample power, therefore, to perform every miracle which he wrought. There is but one other thing to which this term can refer, namely, the precepts and doctrines of our Lord as recorded in the New Testament. Thus “the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1: 27) must refer to the precepts and doctrines of the gospel. The faith to which a multitude of the priests were obedient (Acts 6: 7), which was resisted by Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13: 8), which was committed to the apostles for the obedience of all nations (Rom. 1: 5), which Paul testifies that he had kept (2 Tim. 4: 7), and which is to be earnestly maintained, as once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), must refer, we think, to the precepts and doctrines of the everlasting gospel. That the faith of Jesus is used in this sense in Rev. 2: 13, we think cannot be denied. “Thou holdest fast my name,” says Jesus, “and hast not denied my faith.” That this is the sense in which it is used in Rev. 14: 12, is further evident from the fact that it is spoken of as kept in the same manner that the commandments of God are kept.
“Here are they that keep the commandments of God [the Father], and the faith of Jesus [the Son].” This excludes alike the blind Jew, who makes his boast in the law and rejects Jesus, and also the Christian who professes faith in Christ while he breaks the commandments of God. It embraces Christian commandment-keepers only.
7. The penalty threatened. The fearful penalty connected with the warning of the third angel consists of two things: (1) The wine of the wrath of God, poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. (2) The torment with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and of the Lamb. Let us carefully consider each in order.
What is the wine of the wrath of God? The next chapter clearly explains this point. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever.” Rev. 15: 1, 7. It follows therefore that the wine of the wrath of God is the seven last plagues. This fact will be further apparent as we proceed to show that these plagues are future. That the plagues pertain to the future, we think can be established beyond controversy.
(1) The wrath of God, as threatened by the third angel, is poured out in the seven last plagues; for the first plague is inflicted on the very close that the third angel threatens. Compare Rev. 14: 9, 10; 16: 1, 2. This fact proves that the plagues must be future when the third angel’s message is given; and it also proves the identity of the wrath of God without mixture, and the seven last plagues.
(2) We have shown that the plagues and the wrath of God without mixture are the same. And wrath without mixture must be wrath with nothing else; that is, wrath without mercy. God has not yet visited the earth with unmixed wrath; nor can he while our great High Priest ministers in the heavenly sanctuary, and stays the wrath of God by his intercession for sinful men.When the plagues are poured out, mercy has given place to vengeance.
(3) Hence it is that the seven angels are represented as receiving the vials of the wrath of God, the seven last plagues, after the opening of the temple of God in Heaven. If we turn to Rev. 11: 15–19, we shall find that the opening of the temple in Heaven is an event that transpires under the sounding of the seventh angel. And that account concludes with a brief statement of the events of the seventh vial or last plague. Now if we turn to chapters 15: 5–8; 16: 1–21, we shall read an expanded view of the facts stated in chapter 11: 15–19, and shall find that the two accounts conclude in the same manner, namely, with the events of the last plague. These scriptures show that the seven angels do not receive the vials of the wrath of God to pour out upon the earth until the temple in Heaven is opened. That temple is opened under the voice of the seventh angel. The third woe is by reason of the voice of the seventh angel. Chaps. 8: 13; 9: 12; 11: 14. The seven plagues are poured out under the sounding of that angel, hence the plagues are future, and constitute the third woe.
The foregoing reasons establish the fact that the plagues are future. We see no reason why they will not be similar in character to those poured out on Egypt, while their consequences will be far more terrific and dreadful. May God count us worthy to escape the things coming on the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man. The seven last plagues are poured out on the living wicked; but the second part of the penalty affixed to the warning of the third angel, is not inflicted until the end of the thousand years, when all the wicked are raised and suffer it together. This part of the penalty I will now consider.
“He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever,” &c. The final perdition of ungodly men, in the lake of fire, is, without doubt, the subject of these awful words. That we may rightly understand this text, we call attention to several important facts.
(1) The punishment of the wicked will be inflicted upon them on this earth; for the final conflagration of our globe is to constitute the lake of fire in which they are rewarded, each according to his works.
“Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth; much more the wicked and the sinner.” Prov. 11: 31.
“But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Pet. 3: 7.
“But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Rev. 21: 8.
“For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Mal. 4: 1.
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.” Rev. 20: 7–9.
(2) The prophet Isaiah (chapter 34) describes the final conflagration of our globe in language which is a complete parallel to that of the third angel in describing the punishment of the wicked. Those who contend that Isaiah refers only to ancient Idumea, must admit that the period of time described in this strong language, must finally come to an end. And those who admit that Isaiah, in the language we are about to quote, refers to the conflagration of our earth, will find in what follows ample proof that that scene will finally close.
“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.” Chap. 34: 8–10.
(3) But this terrific scene of final conflagration is not to last throughout unlimited duration. For the earth having been burned, and all its elements melted, new heavens and new earth are to follow, as the present earth succeeded to that which was destroyed by water. And in the earth thus made new the righteous are to be recompensed.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also; and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Pet. 3: 10–13. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Rev. 21: 1.
(4) Thus, however dreadful and long-continued the punishment of the wicked will be (for each is to be punished according to his deserts), that punishment will finally result in the utter destruction of all transgressors. All the wicked will God destroy. Ps. 145: 20. They shall die the second death. Rev. 21: 8; Rom. 6: 23; Eze. 18: 4, 20. They shall perish, being consumed into smoke. Ps. 37: 10, 20, 38. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction, being burned up in unquenchable fire. 2 Thess. 1: 9; Matt. 3: 12. And thus having been consumed, root and branch, they shall be as though they had not been. Mal. 4: 1; Obadiah 16.

The Thirty-Second Psalm.

By JOS. CLARKE

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Verses 1 and 2.
David, in the beginning of this psalm, joyously describes the state of that mind which has the assurance of God's favor, and the joys of pardoned sin; the mind illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Next he gives us his experience, and how he had arrived at this blessed state.
“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drouth of summer. Selah.” Verses 3 and 4.
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” Verse 5.
In this brief account, we have his sickness, with its accompanying pains and sorrows, and its remedy. He does not have recourse to medical skill and human aid, but with childlike faith, he has recourse to the Great Physician, who understands every case. And notice the result: “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin;” as if sin lay at the foundation of his sufferings. This agrees with James 5:15.
Here is the great mystery of the Christian life and experience, in this brief account: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee; and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.” Confession unto God, humble childlike confession; no hiding of sin here, no long ingenious pleadings of innocence and self-justification, as though some one else was to blame; no excuse that some one tempted or provoked him, nothing of this; all the blame is his own; his confession is free; it is voluntary; it is not pressed out by long persuasion, or by being driven into a corner of difficulty; but it is the result of self-examination and humiliation, the work of the Spirit of God upon his heart. He makes this confession to God, not at first to man. But after peace and joy fill his heart, God is honored and glorified by this public account of it. Some would feel degraded to confess their sins to God, and then to relate the mortifying fact to man. But here was a powerful king, in the height of power, upon his knees confessing to God, then publicly relating it all to man. And all was done from choice; all voluntarily; not because he was obtuse and had no sense of shame, but the contrary; and his public exposure of his own weakness, was to magnify the grace of God, and encourage others to apply for healing to the same fountain. It is a pleasing theme. But let us look at the moral he finds, the honey he extracts from this rich experience.
“For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” Verse 6.
“For this:” that is, on account of such an experience, others shall be induced to take the same course; that is, every one that is godly, all who love and fear and obey Him. When? “In a time when thou mayest be found” (an important item), before repentance is too late. All will repent; but with many, that repentance will come when the prayer will be for rocks and mountains to cover them. (See Rev. 6:15–17.) But the godly do this kind of work, before any other. They have their minds fixed upon God, and are striving continually to know the worst of their cases. They make self-examination a common work of the mind; and repentance and confession are made to God before sin culminates in crime, before it matures and develops into acts of sin. They are constantly striving not only for this, but they stifle and cast out the first rising of the carnal heart, and their agonizing cry is to God to help them to exterminate even the carnal nature within. And they labor not in vain. Such was Enoch, and Abraham, and Moses; such were the apostles, and a host of worthies. But we cannot linger upon this delightful theme. Follow good king David still further in his psalm of praise.
“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” Verse 7.
Yes, how often had David hid in caves and in secret retreats from the venom of Saul. And others have done the same. All the way along, they have hid from the Sauls, the Ahabs, the Herods, the Cæsars, and the Popes; and perhaps there will have to be more of it yet. God can hide his people yet; he can preserve them from trouble; he can compass them about with songs of deliverance, yes, with songs of deliverance. Ah! there is power in music, when it is backed by the energy of God's Spirit; and when the saint is delivered from great trouble, how sweet is the song of gratitude. It is even now transporting to view by faith that time when the saints will be ranged in order in Heaven, and sing, as we sometimes have done with rapture,
“From deserts waste, and cities full, And dungeons dark, they've come, And now they claim their mansion fair, They've found their long-sought home. Cho.—They looked like men in uniform, They looked like men of war; They all were clad in armor bright, And conquering palms they bore.”
And if it is so sweet to sing such songs now, and by faith to see the reality, how will it be when the real scene bursts upon the view? David understood the power of music. His talent was a consecrated one; and it was devoted to sacred melody. But he goes on with a word of promise from the Spirit of God, to such as would follow him in confession and pardon;
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye.” Verse 8.
Sweet promise from God! Oh! what an instructor! What a teacher! How have we been charmed by the skill and devotion of men of learning, as they, with kindness and experience, and devotion to their business,opened to their classes the depths of human learning. How much more when God-sent men opened to us the Scriptures. How much more lovely the Spirit of God, in its influence upon the heart. But here is a warning, an “if.”
“Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come nigh unto thee.” Verse 9.
That is, David would here say to us, If you would have all these blessings here spoken of, conviction, penitence, pardon, assurance of faith, and fullness of joy, instruction and guidance, you must not be self-confident, self-wise, self-opinionated, conceited, stubborn, wayward, skeptical, unbelieving, headstrong, careless, reckless, blind or combative. But if you do thus, as he warns you not to do, you cannot expect any of the above-mentioned blessings; but on the contrary, as in the next verse,
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” Verse 10.
Sorrows here, and sorrows hereafter. The sinner does not walk in a pleasant path. Broad as the road may be, it is full of snares, pitfalls, and nets; and fatal and terrible mishaps befall them; and finally it ends in an ocean of fire. Not so the righteous; but as the sacred penman adds,
“But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” Verse 10.
Glorious promise! How different his final reward from that of the wicked. And even now his path, though a narrow and thorny one, is safe, if he only walk firmly in it. As light is to darkness, as pleasure is to pain, as wealth is to poverty, as life is to death, so is the Christian's way to the way of the sinner; and it is only blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, which hinders men from seeing the contrast. Oh! for the eyesalve, that we may clearly view the heights of salvation, the glorious and not-far-distant realities of the Christian's hope. But David cannot close his beautiful psalm, without an ascription of praise, ecstatic, and joyous.
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart.” Verse 11.
Cause for rejoicing here! It is no idle flourish of trumpets, merely for effect. The promise made by Jehovah long ages ago, is about to be fulfilled. The righteous are to be remembered in the resurrection, and will have the promise fulfilled to them. The recompense of reward for which Moses laid down a crown, for which many have endured untold horrors of persecution, is about to be realized, by all the household of faith. A glorious union is about to take place upon the heavenly hills. The mansions which Jesus went to prepare, are nearly ready. And good king David, who loved so well to praise God with the sound of harp and voice, will participate in that happy meeting.
But we cannot dwell too long upon the joy. Terrible realities are before us. Yet often we can nerve ourselves to duty, by following the sentiments expressed by the holy writers of old. JOS. CLARKE.

War on Christian Principles.

By Pious Youth

One of the conditions of the treaty with Mexico, it is said, is, that any future war which may break out between the two countries shall be conducted on Christian principles. Now we all know that this is an age of progress, and that all sorts of improvements are constantly taking place in all sorts of matters; but war on Christian principles is certainly the latest, and, if it be carried out, we think it will prove the greatest of them all.
Just imagine it; we think we can see the two armies drawn out in battle array. A fair field is before them, the ranks are formed, the positions are taken, the great guns are unlimbered. Gen. Grant is just about to give the order to fire, when the aid comes up and respectfully reminds him that “the war is to be conducted on Christian principles,” and that it will not do to fire. “Very true, very true,” says the Commanding-in-Chief, “but what are they? I have read Vauban, and Scheiter, and Coehorn. I have read the lives of the old conquerors, and have studied the campaigns of the greatest soldiers, but I never happened to come across these principles in any work upon the military art. Do you know anything about it, Colonel?”
“No.”
“Nor you, Major?”
“Nor I neither.”
“I really don’t know how to begin; I suppose it would not do to shoot. Suppose we send for the Chaplain.”
The Chaplain arrives—“Do you know anything about this fighting on Christian principles?”
“Oh! yes, it is the easiest thing in the world.”
“Where are the books?”
“Here,” and the Chaplain takes out the Bible.
“Really,” says the General, “we ought to have thought of this before. It is a bad time to commence the study of tactics when the enemy is right before us; but I suppose we are bound by the treaty.”
“What is the first thing, Mr. Chaplain?”
“Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
“But these are not our neighbors. They are Mexicans.”
“The same book tells us, a little further on, that the opportunity to do good to a man makes him our neighbor.”
“Will you go on, Mr. Chaplain?”
“Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them that despitefully use you. If a man smite you on one cheek, turn to him the other.”
“But while we are praying for the Mexicans, they will be firing into us.”
“No; they are bound by the treaty also. It works both ways.”
“Then what is the use of our arms?”
“This is all provided for in the same book. Beat your swords into ploughshares and your spears into pruning-hooks.”
“Then I don’t see as there is anything for us to do here.”
“Nothing, unless you send over and ask Santa Anna if he needs anything in the way of medicines, or provisions, or clothing. I rather think the treaty requires this of us. And I don’t know but we ought to send them a few school-masters, for I understand that they are shockingly ignorant people.”
“But how do you ever know which party conquers in this fighting on Christian principles?”
“That is the great beauty of it. Both sides conquer, and there are never any killed or wounded.”—Pious Youth.

Short Sermons.

WE read with wonder of the time, long ago, when audiences enjoyed sermons two hours long, and ministers prayed an hour “to edification.” It seems hardly credible to the men of our generation. But we are certainly going to the opposite extreme, and it may be duty to resist the enervating tendencies of the age. Rev. Mr. Thwing, of Quincy, in a recently published sermon, says:
But while we frankly make these concessions, and cheerfully admit that short services, on the whole, are most effective, we believe that if God’s word and worship were really precious, we should more patiently endure lengthened services and inconvenient postures, as did the vast congregation at Jerusalem. We cannot help entering a protest against the attempts now making in this direction to circumscribe the power of the pulpit. We speak, not in the spirit of acrimony, but with grief, of the causes at work about us which are begetting a disrelish for Sabbath worship. One hour of public worship a week is all that can be afforded for the presentation of God’s claims to our homage and service.
One hour is all that most of people can allow for the public service of God, when six days, not to say nights, are oftentimes given to “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
How must God view these steady inroads upon this his holy day and worship? Not enough is it that theaters open all the week, shall be again opened and crowded on the Sabbath for concerts, secular lectures and Shakespeare reading; not enough is it that extra accommodations are furnished for excursionists who wish to ride, or sail, or visit their friends, on the Sabbath; not enough is it that the church give up its afternoon service, and but one sermon a week be preached; not enough is it that all these demands be granted, but we are told in the public prints, from time to time, that ministers ought to shorten their pulpit exercises. Yes, some whom a whole night in the ball-room can not sicken, are thoroughly prostrated by more than thirty minutes’ preaching!
But yesterday we read of a good idea. “A good idea!” What was it? This, the construction of a pulpit which should either be closed by an extinguisher above, or be emptied by a trap door below exactly at the expiration of thirty minutes after the delivery of the text. This is all the time that can be allowed, this the point of limitation beyond which forbearance is no longer a virtue. Thirty minutes a week—supposing every Sabbath to be pleasant—are all that can be relished or even tolerated for the utterance of God’s truth!
Along by this we read of a “rich treat.” What is that? Midnight revels, dances and farces, “kept up with a whirl and excitement until the hour of separation, between one and two o’clock.”

Readers and Writers.

READING without purpose is sauntering, not exercise. More is got from one book on which the thought settles for a definite end in knowledge, than from libraries skimmed over by a wandering eye. A cottage flower gives honey to the bee—a king's garden none to the butterfly. Youths who are destined for active careers, or ambitious of distinction in such forms of literature as require freshness of invention, or originality of thought, should avoid the habit of intense study for many hours at a stretch. There is a point in all tension of the intellect beyond which effort is only waste of strength. Fresh ideas do not readily spring up with a weary brain; and whatever exhausts the mind, not only enfeebles its power, but narrows its scope. We often see men who have over-read at college, entering upon life as languidly as if they were about to leave it. They have not the vigor to cope with their own generation; for their own generation is young, and they have wasted the nervous energy which supplies the sinews of war to youth in its contest for fame or fortune.
Study with regularity, at settled hours. Those in the forenoon are the best, if they can be secured. The man who has acquired the habit of study, though for only one hour every day in the year, and keeps to the one thing studied till it is mastered, will be startled to see the way he has made at the end of the twelvemonth. He is seldom overworked who can contrive to be in advance of his work. If you have three weeks before you to learn something which a man of average quickness could learn in a week, learn it the first week, and not the third. Business despatched is business well done, but business hurried is business ill done. In learning what others have thought, it is well to keep in practice the power to think for one's self; when an author has added to your knowledge, pause and consider if you can add nothing to his. Be not contented to have learned a problem by heart; try to deduce from it a corollary not in the book.
Spare no pains in collecting details before you generalize, but it is only when details are generalized that a truth is grasped. The tendency to generalize is universal with all men who achieve great success, whether in art, literature, or action. The habit of generalizing, though at first gained with care and caution, secures, by practice, a comprehensiveness of judgment and a promptitude of decision, which seem to the crowd like intuitions of genius. And, indeed, nothing more distinguishes the man of genius from the mere man of talent, than the facility of generalizing the various details, each of which demands the aptitude of a special talent; but all of which can be only gathered into a whole by the grasp of a mind which may have no special aptitude for any.—Blackwood.

The Best Way to be Happy.

NEVER sit down and brood over trouble of any kind. If you are vexed with yourself or the world, this is not the way to obtain satisfaction. Find yourself employment that will keep the mind active, and, depend upon it, this will force out unwelcome thoughts.
Who are the poor? Are they the industrious? Those who labor, provided their gains are small, have generally a feeling of independence with that little, akin to the rich man's treasures.
Who are the unhappy? Are they not those who are inactive, and sit still and tell us, if fortune had thrown this and that in their way, that they should have been far happier?
It seems to me that there is a great defect in the conduct of the unfortunate. If we are deprived of ordinary resources, instead of looking around and substituting other things, are we not prone to sit down and mourn what we have lost? This deadens the energies, kills the activities of our natures, and makes us useless drones, when we should be working bees.
Besides this, indolence sets fancy at work, and presently we imagine ourselves to be in a condition that we are unfit to work. We get the habit of observing the changes of the wind, we feel our pulse, look at our tongues, and in a short time become regular dyspeptics. Industry, then, preserves health, as well as happiness.

Let Your Actions Shine

I WOULD not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. A lighthouse sounds no drum, it beats no gong, and yet far over the waters its friendly spark is seen by the mariner. So let your actions shine out religion. Let the main sermon of your life be illustrated by all your conduct, and it shall not fail to be illustrious.
Continue reading: Signs of the Times—No. 3