p. 403 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 34. (9/8/1881)

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.

By John Nevins Andrews

WHEREIN does the second commandment differ from the first? And why are not the Romanists correct who teach that it is only an appendix to that precept, and not another commandment?

The first commandment forbids men to have other gods before the Lord. This precept cuts off the worship of any other being besides the one living and true God. It cuts off the worship of every false god, whether Baal, or Moloch, or Dagon, or Jupiter, or the sun, the fire, the ocean, the river Nile, the river Ganges, or any being or thing which men have worshiped. Now if the second commandment, instead of being a prohibition of the making of images to worship, is (1) a prohibition of all acts of copying existing objects though done without any reference to worship, and (2) is a prohibition of the worship of the things copied, rather than of the copies or images that are made, the second of the two is only a repetition of the first commandment; while the first of the two prohibits no moral wrong which our minds are capable of discerning, and certainly has not the slightest connection with the other things embodied in the first table of the law.

The case then stands thus: The first commandment forbids all false gods. The second commandment forbids the making of any representations or copies of any thing; and also forbids the worship of false gods. So that all there is to the second commandment not found in the first is this prohibition of making anything like any other already existing object. Such an interpretation of the law of God will never do.

But it may be asked, If we concede that the two parts of the second commandment are inseparably connected, and that they constitute but one precept, the substance of which is that we should not make an image, or representation of any object in Heaven or earth for adoration, is not this the proper relation of the two commandments: The first commandment forbids all false gods; and the second one forbids such gods as men make with their own hands? But if this be the true view of the case, we should be compelled to say that the second commandment was wholly included in the first precept, and was in no wise to be considered as a separate commandment. For the prohibition of a certain kind of false gods, viz., such as are made with men's hands, must come under the first precept which has no limitation and which forbids all false gods whatsoever.

What then is the proper distinction between the first commandment and the second? for we have no doubt that they are two distinct precepts, each having its own field and each holding that field in its own right, and in undisputed possession. The following statements present, as we think, the proper distinction between the two commandments:—

The first commandment forbids the worship of every false god of every kind in the universe.

The second commandment forbids all representations of that God which we are commanded alone to worship in the first precept.

These two fields are wholly distinct from each other; and each is in the highest degree necessary to be guarded. The first commandment sweeps away all false gods.

But if there were no second commandment, what could hinder any one who chose to do so from making a representation of the one living and true God, and showing it respect out of regard to the God of Heaven who was represented by it? We could not clearly convict such a man under the first commandment. He could say in his defense: “I have no God but the great Creator. But out of respect to him I have formed a statue to represent him, the most fitting in its kind of which I can conceive, and, though I show it some degree of adoration, it is only out of respect to the one true God which it was made to represent.”

That this is the true sense of the second commandment, is manifest from Deut. 4:12, 15, 16: “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only ye heard a voice. . . . Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,” etc.

What does the man of God assign as a reason why the people did not see any manner of similitude on the occasion that the ten commandments were spoken? It was lest they should do the very thing which the second commandment forbids; that is, lest they should under some kind of figure make a representation of the One who spoke this law to them.

If we refer to the events of Jewish history, we shall find the distinction between the sins forbidden in the first and second commandments, very plainly marked. We read in 1 Kings 11 and 12 how that the ten tribes were sent out of the house of Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. And the prophet told him that if he would walk before God as did David, that the Lord would do for him as he had promised to do for David. But Jeroboam, when he had taken the throne of Israel, said that if the people continued to go up to the temple at Jerusalem, they would slay him and return to their allegiance to the house of David. “Whereupon the king took counsel and made two

calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.” 1 Kings 12: 28–30.

Jeroboam was a believer in the true God. The use of the term, “thy gods,” is no proof that he believed in more gods than one; for the Hebrew word for God is often plural in form, and, as in Gen. 1:1; 3:5, is sometimes rendered God and sometimes gods. Jeroboam did not design to turn away Israel from the true God; but he did mean to obviate the necessity of their going up to Jerusalem to the temple to worship. And so he formed a representation of the true God, and bade the people worship before that. This was the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that is so many times mentioned in the books of Kings. It was of the same kind as that of Aaron and the people who made the golden calf in the wilderness. Ex. 32:4, 5, 8. All the subsequent kings of Israel cleaved to this sin of Jeroboam for the very same reasons that caused him to enter upon this course of transgression at the first. He did not mean to turn Israel away from that God which brought them up out of Egypt, and to introduce another god. Far from this; but he did mean that they should not go up to Jerusalem to worship, and so he called their attention to a very costly representation of the true God.

But when Ahab came to the throne, he thought the sin of Jeroboam a small matter. And instead of merely violating the second commandment by professing to worship the true God under the representation of a graven image, he boldly set the first commandment at defiance, by substituting Baal for Jehovah. 1 Kings 16:31–33.

When the time came that God's indignation could no longer withhold the merited punishment, he raised up Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab. 2 Kings 9. And when he had done this, he proceeded to root out the worship of Baal from the nation. 1 Kings 10. Yet he did not depart from the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. But because of what he had done respecting Baal, the Lord promised that his family should hold the throne for four generations. It is manifest, therefore, that while the sin of Ahab did openly set aside the true God by giving his place to Baal in contemptuous defiance of the first commandment, the sin of Jeroboam was that of breaking the second by introducing images to represent the true God.

In the cases of Jeroboam and of Ahab, we may see how that the violation of the second commandment prepares the way for that of the first. Such was undoubtedly the origin of false gods: first, representations of the true God, which of itself was an insult to his majesty; and then these representations were taken for gods themselves, so that Jehovah was in the end wholly forsaken. Such is the teaching of Paul in Rom. 1:21–25, respecting the origin of heathenism, and such the purport of the solemn warning in the second commandment respecting the sins of the parents being visited upon the children. The nations now worshiping as real gods their idols of wood and stone, do it because that many generations in the past their ancestors willfully departed from God in making representations of his form as something to be used in his worship.

J. N. A.

SUNDAY FOURTH COMMANDMENT BREAKING.

By Uriah Smith

IN a "Short Sermon on the Decalogue" which we find in an exchange, we read this statement respecting the fourth commandment:—

"We break the fourth commandment by Sunday visiting and worldly talk."

The writer should have told us why. When we are warned that a certain course is in violation of a commandment so important as the fourth, and so generally transgressed, that warning should be backed up by facts so clear that they can but convince the judgment, and arouse the conscience. Shall we attempt to supply the lack?

"We break the fourth commandment by Sunday visiting." Why? Is it because the fourth commandment says nothing about Sunday that we violate that commandment by visiting on that day? Is this the way to break a law, to do those things about which the law says nothing?

Is it because the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week, and Sunday is the first day of the week, that we break the commandment by Sunday visiting?

Is it because God worked on the first day of the week that we should rest on it?

Is it because God rested on the seventh day that we should rest on the first?

Is it because the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day as a memorial of God's rest at creation, that we violate that commandment by visiting on the day he commenced to work?

Is it because God never blessed the first day above any of the laboring days that we sin by visiting on it?

Is it because he never sanctified the first day, which means to set it apart to a sacred or religious use, that we should not visit upon it?

Is it because the fourth commandment cannot be so changed as to enjoin the first day without stating a falsehood that we ought not to visit on that day?

Is it because Paul, by apostolic example as in Acts 20:11, has given us license to perform our journeys on that day that we should not visit upon it?

Is it because by apostolic precept he has enjoined secular business on that day, as in 1 Cor. 16:2, that we should not visit upon that day, and that by visiting on that day we break the fourth commandment?

How is this? By the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom. 3:20. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4. Where no law is there is no transgression. Rom. 4:15. What law do we transgress by visiting on the first day of the week? Sin is not imputed when there is no law. Rom. 5:13. In what respect, then, do we commit sin by visiting on that day?

U. S.

VERMONT CAMP-MEETING.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THIS meeting was held at Morrisville, where it had been held the three previous years. This was because it was very central for our people and because the grounds were most excellent. Unavoidably it came at the same time with the Methodist camp-meeting, which was held about half a mile from ours; yet quite a number of the citizens attended all our meetings, and on Sunday our audience numbered about six hundred. As usual, we had the best of order.

There were about two hundred and fifty of our people camped on the ground, and the most of them remained to the close of the meeting, as all should do. Elders Hutchins, Owen, Kellogg, Stone, Bordeau, Butler, Haskell, and the writer were present. The last three being from abroad, did the preaching while the others took an active part in all the other meetings. The sermons were largely practical, except on Sunday, when the Sabbath question was fully canvassed. Some there determined to keep it.

On the Sabbath after a close, practical sermon by Eld. Butler, about fifty came forward for prayers. Many of them spoke with feeling. On Monday, nine of these were baptized. Our social meetings were very good, though not as spirited as some we have seen. At eight each morning the whole camp was gathered into five tents, each company led by a minister. These were the best meetings we had, as all could, and did, take part. It is much better than to have only family prayer in each tent.

The speaker's stand was draped in mourning in memory of the death of Bro. White. He spoke from the same desk last year. All mourned his death. Appropriate resolutions upon the subject were passed by the Conference.

The business of the Conference is kept in good shape by the President and officers. Its financial condition is excellent; and there appears to be no special discouragement in the Conference. Some new ones are embracing the truth. Their great need is more laborers to enter new fields. The Sabbath-school, the T. and M. work, and the temperance cause all received proper attention.

On the whole we had a pleasant, good, encouraging meeting, though not as stirring and decisive as in some cases where circumstances are different. All returned home feeling much encouraged. With the blessing of God, we think good will result from this meeting.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

PSALM 46 PROPHETIC.

By R. F. Cottrell

BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.

JESUS said that all that was written of him in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, must be fulfilled; thus recognizing as a fact that the Psalms contain prophecies. And the New Testament records the fulfillment of some of them, the second being named, and the sixteenth referred to in Acts: 13, 33, 35.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." When Christ shall begin his reign, there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation (Dan. 12:1); and in that day of wrath the voice of God shall shake the heavens and the earth, and the mountains and islands will be moved out of their places. Rev. 6:14, and 16:17, 18, 20. But those who have made God their refuge will have no cause to fear, for they shall be delivered, their names being written in the Lamb's book of life. Dan. 12:1. "Though the waters" of earth "roar," and men's hearts fail for fear (Luke 21: 25, 26), the people of God will be secure. They are about to go to dwell in "the city of God"; and "there is a river" that will make glad the inhabitants of that city, the "river of water of life." Rev. 22:1. "God is in the midst of her," the city, "she shall not be moved."

"The heathen raged," "the nations were angry," Rev. 11:18, "the kingdoms were moved"; the wrath of God shall come upon them, "thy wrath is come." "He uttered his voice, the earth melted." In the day of the Lord the earth and elements shall melt with fervent heat. 2 Peter 3:10.

"Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire."

The time will come in the day of the Lord when the earth shall be "emptied, and utterly spoiled." Isa. 24:1-3; Jer. 25:29-33; Zeph. 2:18, and 3:6. What a scene of desolation will it then present! Wars will verily cease to the end of the earth. How? All the nations will be broken with the iron scepter of the King, the Son of God, and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel. Ps. 2:6–9. Wars shall cease by the destruction of his enemies with their chariots and implements of war. Thus God "will be exalted in the earth." The Lord of hosts is with his people; the God of Jacob is their refuge. "God himself shall be with them, and be their God," and shall wipe away their tears by removing sickness, sorrow, pain, and death, in short, every cause of grief.

BLIND GUIDES.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

BY E. J. WAGGONER.

THE ancient Pharisees were very punctilious about following the traditions of the Elders in regard to external cleanness. So fearful were they of defilement that every time they came into the house they washed their hands, fearing that they might accidentally have touched some unclean thing while without. Many of their duties had to be performed by others who were not so fearful of becoming ceremonially unclean. At the same time, however, they were teaching and practicing those things which could proceed only from a heart defiled with sin. So long as their sin remained concealed, they were complaisant.

Our Saviour very justly characterizes these Pharisees as "blind leaders of the blind." Like a blind man, they stumbled over the very obstacle they seemed anxious to avoid. Of course those who depended on them for instruction, must necessarily be in the same condition.

But the race of "blind guides" did not cease with Pharisees. There are those to-day, who are blindly rushing into that which they profess to condemn. The following item from an article in the Christian Herald seems to be a case in point. The writer is relating an incident by which his life was saved when in great danger:—

"I cannot now tell what it was, but then I did not doubt it was from God. Might it not have been the spirit of my mother who then was dead, sainted guardian of my youth, permitted to act as guardian angel of her son, then near a death of despair? God knows; but I then did not doubt, and plucked up hope."

Another religious paper contains the following similar paragraph:—

"Whatever others may say; or however they may try to account for such a remark at such a time, and under such circumstances, I have not the shadow of a doubt but that the spirit of that dear girl saw the spirit of the father, who had been dead for some years, and recognized it; and there is not philosophy enough in the world to convince me to the contrary."

In almost any religious journal similar passages may be found. At the same time they denounce Spiritualism, and express no sympathy with it whatever. They do not realize that the immortality of the soul, and the possibility of communion between the living and the dead, constitute all there is to Spiritualism proper. The immorality which characterizes many of its devotees, is only a natural out-growth of their disbelief of the Bible—the foundation of morality—and is not upheld by most Spiritualist papers. Once admit the theory of the unconditional immortality of the soul, and Spiritualism follows as a natural sequence. So-called orthodox ministers have no ground whatever on which to attack Spiritualism. We once heard a minister denounce Spiritualism in no measured terms, and in the same hour he tried to console the mourners by telling them that the spirit of their dead friend, would hover near them and minister to them. It is difficult to see why such teachers do not justly merit the appellation, "blind guides," and how they, with those who blindly follow them, can escape the natural result,—"They shall both fall into the ditch."

REPORTING.

By S. N. Haskell

BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL.

The reporting system will give life and interest to the tract and missionary meetings. If there is no labor reported, no experience related, it will be impossible to give proper instruction. In fact, the mentioning of commendable acts that result in good is following the example of Christ and the apostles. We should have had at least one book less in the New Testament, had not the Acts of the Apostles been written. The New Testament would lose much of its beauty were its writings to consist only in doctrinal instruction. No individual is exalted by thus magnifying the work of God, but God is honored inasmuch as others are provoked to love and good works. By letting our light so shine, others, seeing our good works, are led to glorify our father which is in Heaven.

Each member of the Tract Society should keep a record, and report the number of pages of reading matter distributed by him. This can easily be done in one of two ways. First, make an account of the number of pages you have on hand, then when you receive a package of tracts from the librarian, note its number of pages also. Put it all down in a little pass-book. Then, when you are furnished with a blank to fill out, subtract the number of pages you then have on hand from what you have received, and the number of pages distributed will at once appear; and thus you can fill out the blank. Or, secondly, you can keep the pass-book with you and note down the number of pages as you distribute the tracts. Also, keep the number of SIGNS, Reviews, and Instructors distributed; and also all moneys you have paid to the librarian, or director, or to any one else, that goes to the tract and missionary interest; and report the same in filling out the blank. Then, each blank report should be forwarded to the district secretary, through the librarian or director; and the district secretary will make out a report from the blanks received, to be read at the quarterly meetings. It is by these reports that he can tell how much money has gone into the different funds of the Tract Society during the quarter. The director is responsible for the money.

Then a report of all moneys received, with the entire proceedings at the quarterly meeting, is made by the district secretary to the State Tract Society secretary. The director will pay the money received into the hands of the State treasurer. Then at the general quarterly meeting, the report of the State secretary will agree with the treasurer's report. If they do not agree, the error can be detected at once. This system is simple and plain, and will keep the financial matters of the Tract Society straight. We again appeal to our brethren and sisters to fill out the blank reports sent to them at the close of each quarter, and return them to the church librarian or district secretary.

There are many friends who have not seen the utility of reporting. They will scatter our publications, manifest an interest in the missionary work, donate freely to it, and would do nothing to retard the tract and missionary enterprise for their right hand; and yet these very individuals are really impeding the work by not reporting. Their influence would add very much to the up-building of the cause, could they see the utility of reporting. If we have adopted a right system as far as we have gone, and the results clearly indicate that we have, then we should heartily and cheerfully support it. If we can amend it, we shall do so. But there is no individual member of the Tract Society who sees and feels the importance of this work, who would raise a hand to abolish the reporting system. A united effort is what gives strength to any system.

Our field of operation is the world. And there are companies of believers, to our certain knowledge, in many of the different nations of Europe, also in nearly all the States and Territories of this country. Publications in the principal languages of the civilized world are about being furnished. Then there are men and woman of these same languages in connection with our Tract Societies. There is no reason, therefore, why the strength of our system should not be felt in every civilized nation on the globe. We should never forget the great fact that there is a world lying in wickedness. And if God has committed to us a truth by which it is to be warned, we are made responsible, to a certain extent, for the accomplishment of this work. We have financial strength, if it is brought into use, sufficient to warn the world. We have a system by which it can be done, if properly carried out. We, as a people, have the ability to accomplish this, if it be consecrated to the work of God. And shall we individually act our part, and work in the sphere God assigns us?

If, in the fear of God, we act faithfully our part, no matter how small and insignificant that work may appear to be, in the end it will prove that that very work was important, and by it we were up-building the cause of Christ. Do we say that we rejoice in its prosperity, and at the same time, refrain from putting forth that individual effort that is necessary for its accomplishment? If so, we shall meet with an irreparable loss.

Now is the time to secure to ourselves the applaud it, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." These are golden moments lent to us for the accomplishment of a certain work. If they pass by without being faithfully improved, they are lost forever. If they have been rightly used, they will yield us a golden harvest throughout eternal ages.

A SAFE INVESTMENT.

By W. F. Smith

Money put into the Lord's cause is well invested. It is not only safe, but those who speak from experience can often give testimony to God's faithfulness in repaying with abundant interest what has thus been lent to him.

Meeting recently with a "beloved physician," who is also a laborer in the "gospel of God," we listened with much interest to his account of an incident in his own experience which we record with the hope that it may be of blessing to other hearts.

Called in the providence of God to labor with a little band of believers who had no place of worship which they could call their own, it was laid upon Dr. H—'s heart, that the Lord would have them build a house to his name. From a human stand-point this seemed almost like a hopeless undertaking. The land and materials were to be paid for, and the people were few and feeble. But Dr. H— believed the Lord called to this service; so, consecrating his own means, and going forth in faith and zeal, he soon saw other hearts engaged, other hands extended to help, and other pocket-books consecrated.

God's blessing attended the work undertaken for his glory. Land was obtained and paid for; materials were procured; helpers presented themselves; and ere long a pleasant and commodious house was erected, where the Lord's children could assemble for his public worship.

When all was finished Dr. H— found that he had invested of his own means seven hundred dollars.

But this was not the end. In a distant city a noted gambler had lived and sinned and grown rich and died, leaving his ill-gotten millions to his heirs. Among these heirs was a lady who, about this time, visited the city which was the scene of Dr. H—'s labors. Attending religious worship one evening in the new church, she listened to a sermon which, she remarked to a friend, was "worth a hundred dollars" to her. Meeting the doctor soon afterwards, she made a similar remark to him, and gave him a hundred-dollar bank-note.

A few evenings later she again met him, and, after some conversation, told him she had something which she felt the Lord would have her give him, saying, as she handed him a little roll, "This is for you." When he came to examine the roll it was found to contain three hundred dollars.

Yet again the doctor met this lady; and as they were seated near each other at a table she passed something to him under the table, which he received, and which, likewise, proved to be three hundred dollars. Here were the seven hundred dollars all returned by one individual, and she a stranger?

This was the principal, but how about the interest?

Among Dr. H—'s patrons was a destitute family whose bill for medical attendance had grown so large that he had ceased to keep any account of his services, as he never expected to receive any pecuniary return. The mother and two daughters of this family were among the heirs of the dead gambler, and when they received their fortune they asked for their physician's bill. It amounted to one hundred and fifty dollars. When the mother paid it she added a fifty-dollar bill, saying, "I make you a present of this. One of the daughters immediately stepped forward with a similar word and the same amount, and

the other daughter followed with another fifty-dollar bill—making three hundred dollars from this family, where he had never expected to receive anything.

The wise man has said, "God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather, and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God." From this gambler's hoarded wealth, the unsatisfying wages of long years of sin, had come one thousand dollars to help and bless this servant of God in his self-denying work; and to assure him how safe it is to follow divine direction, and to consecrate all to him who makes us only stewards of his bounty.

W. F. Smith, in The Christian.

ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN AT CHURCH.

By John S. Hart

The trustees of the church, or whoever have the ordering of the material arrangements, have much to do with securing the attendance of children. These little ones need a kind of church accommodation which they rarely get. They need comfortable seats. If the big people who have the ordering of such matters, could be compelled to sit for a few Sabbaths as the children-do, on seats so wide that their backs can get no support except by a painful curvature of the spine, and so high that their feet can by no possibility reach the floor, and their legs must by necessity hang dangling in the air, they would appreciate better the dislike which children often acquire against going to church. The same child who sits with pleased delight on his snug, low bench in the school-room, runs with aversion from that cruel perch to which the church people assign him. If you want children to attend church and to love so to do, you must make it comfortable for them. They must have seats in church, as they do in their homes, suited to the size of their bodies and the length of their limbs. Such of them, too, as sit by themselves, instead of being thrust afar off into some remote corner of the gallery, as far as possible from the minister, should be brought close beneath the notice of his kindling eye and his winning smile. Children, beyond all others, are moved by sympathy. Our Saviour did not place them on the outer and most remote circle of his congregations, but placed them in the midst, close to his person, and took them in his arms. A certain minister of a country church actually had small, low benches placed for the children, in the open space just in front of his pulpit, and not only so, but he let them fill the pulpit steps. The consequence was, the little ones thronged with delight to his church, and their parents followed them, and in a few months his congregation more than doubled.

But it is in vain to entice children to church unless you have something for them to hear or to do after they are there. Let any one ask himself, after attending almost any church service, certainly any five out of six, what there has been in this long session of an hour and a half or two hours, to interest the attention of a child? The singing has been either so scientific or so grum that no child, at least, could enter into it with any emotion. Seldom does he hear either a prayer for him specifically, or a prayer into which he as a child can enter. The sermons, like the rest of the services, are above his range. The minister not only never preaches specially to the children, but he never, while distributing the bread of life to the grown folks, pauses to drop a few crumbs here and there to the little ones. Why could not a clergyman sometimes break in upon this chilling routine of the sermon, and after having set forth some portion of doctrine for the benefit of the seniors, pause for a moment and say, "Children, this applies to you too, and I will now show you how?" How the young, and the old too, would wake up at such an announcement! Christian ministers, if you want your young people to cleave to you, and to love your ministrations, and not to wander off into other folds, see that you let no Sabbath pass without giving them some kindly word of recognition. Let no sermon be considered complete which does not contain at least one paragraph of warning or encouragement for the young, and so spoken as to be within the comprehension of even the youngest. Let there be no child in your audience who shall not, at some time, have occasion to feel, "The minister must have been thinking of me when he said that." All ministers have not the gift that some have, of talking to the young. But if any minister really has the young substantially and habitually in his thoughts and on his heart, he will find expression for his emotion, and the children of his congregation will feel that they have some real interest in being in the house of God.—J. S. Hart.

The Two Deacons

The Richmond Religious Herald vouches for this: "There was serious trouble between two deacons, and the pastor preached a tender sermon for their special benefit, and the deacons were in tears. Next morning, one of them called at the shop of the other and said: 'That sermon was more than I can stand, and I have come to say this difficulty between us must be settled; and to that end we ought to be willing to make any sacrifice.' 'Very well,' said the other, 'on what terms are you willing to settle it?' 'On the same terms I proposed at first, and on no other.' Oh, the human nature there is in deacons!"

AN EXHORTATION.

By Alice Edwards

BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I do not know that I can say anything to benefit any one; but this I can do; I can confess my love for my Saviour and his blessed cause. I know that God has blessed me far more than I deserve. I feel a desire to get nearer my God, and to have a better knowledge of the truth. I fear the most of us are too much burdened with the cares of this life, and for this reason not zealous enough in the good work of the Lord. Brethren and sisters, this ought not to be. If we do not arouse, and gird on the armor anew, we shall lose our crown. Oh! may God help us to overcome, that we may have right to the tree of life, and enter through the gates into the city. I desire to get there, and I want to meet all my friends there. May the Lord give us the true missionary spirit that we may scatter the precious seeds of truth broadcast over the earth. Oh! let us strive harder, more earnestly, for eternal life than we have ever done before. I ask the prayers of all God's people. May the Lord help us to hold out faithful to the end, is the prayer of your sister striving to overcome. ALICE EDWARDS.

A CRUMB FOR THE BOYS.

A CLERGYMAN on his way to a missionary meeting overtook a boy, and asked him about the road and where he was going.

"Oh!" he said, "I'm going to the meeting to hear about the missionaries."

"Missionaries!" said the minister. "What do you know about missionaries?"

"Why," said the boy, "I'm part of the concern. I've got a missionary-box, and I always go to the missionary meeting. I belong."

Now that is what we want. Every child should feel that he is "a part of the concern," and his work is just as important as that of any one else. Linch-pins are little things; but, if they drop out, the wagon is very likely to come to a stand-still. Every pin and screw should be in working order, and every child should be able to say, "I always go to the missionary meeting. Why, I'm part of the concern!"—Ex.

Christ’s Soldiers and Watch-Tinkers

A SOLDIER who went to war took with him some of the small instruments of his craft (he was a watch-tinker) thinking to make some extra shillings now and then while in camp. He did so. He found plenty of pottering, and almost forgot that he was a soldier, so that one day, when ordered off on some duty, he exclaimed: “Why, how can I go? I’ve got ten watches to mend!” Some Christians are so absorbed in self-seeking that they are ready to say to the Master’s call, “I pray thee have me excused.”—They are nominally soldiers of Christ, but really only watch-tinkers—they keep back part of the price.—Sel.

Must Tell It

By Missionary Helper

Must Tell It.—A New-Zealand girl was brought over to England to be educated. She became a true Christian. When she was about to return, some of her playmates endeavored to dissuade her. They said: "Why do you go back to New Zealand? You are accustomed to England now. You love its shady lanes and clover-fields. It suits your health. Besides, you may be ship-wrecked on the ocean. You may be killed and eaten by your own people. Everybody will have forgotten you." "What!" she said, "do you think I could keep the good news to myself? Do you think that I could be content with having got pardon and peace, and eternal life for myself, and not go and tell my dear father and mother how they can get it too? I would go if I had to swim there!"

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