1. By whom was Jacob met, as he went on his way from Mount Gilead? Gen. 32:1.
2. What did Jacob say when he saw the angels? Verse 2.
3. Why, do you think, was he permitted to see the angels?
4. What did Jacob now begin to fear?
5. What precaution did he take? Verses 3-5.
6. What word did the messengers bring, when they returned?
7. How did this news affect Jacob?
8. What steps did he take?
9. What did he urge, as he pleaded with God for protection?
10. What did Jacob do to appease the wrath of Esau?
11. How did he dispose the droves that he sent forward?
12. What did he tell the servants that followed each drove to say to Esau when he met them?
13. What did he do with his wives and children?
14. Where did he himself remain?
15. How did Jacob spend the night?
16. When the angel saw that he prevailed not against Jacob, what did he do?
17. What proof did Jacob give of his courage and faith?
18. What is supposed to have made this a night of terrible anguish to Jacob?
19. For what did he wrestle all that night?
20. How did Esau meet Jacob the next day? Gen. 33:1-5.
21. What do you suppose caused this change in his feelings?
22. What did Esau offer to do?
23. Did Jacob accept the offer?
24. How was he protected?
SYNOPSIS.
As Jacob went on his way from Mount Gilead, a company of angels met him at Mahanaim. And Jacob said, “This is God's host.” The appearance of the angels must have been to assure Jacob of the presence and protection of God.
Jacob now began to fear that Esau would come out against him, and take his life. So he sent messengers forward to Esau, who dwelt in the land of Seir, or Edom. When the messengers returned, they said that Esau was coming with four hundred men.
Jacob was now much afraid. He divided his company into two bands, thinking that if one should be taken, the other might escape. He then pleaded with the Lord most earnestly, that he would deliver him from his brother Esau, urging the promises that the Lord had made him.
After this, he made up a very rich present of goats, sheep, camels, and cattle, and dividing them into several droves, he sent his servants forward with them, instructing them to put the droves quite a distance apart, and as Esau met each drove, that the servants following it should tell him that it was a present from Jacob, who was coming in the rear. In this way he hoped to appease Esau's anger.
Then he sent his wives and children across the brook Jabbok to a place of safety, but he himself remained alone. And there came a man, or rather an angel, and wrestled with him all night. When the angel saw that he prevailed not against Jacob, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and put his thigh out of joint. But Jacob would not let the angel go till he had obtained a blessing.
This is supposed to have been a night of terrible anguish to Jacob,—a night in which the sins of his past life, and especially those against Esau, came up before him in all their enormity, and seemed to stand between him and God. All night he wrestled with God for pardon, and the assurance of his favor and protection. What an example is here afforded us of prevailing prayer.
The next day, when Jacob met Esau, the Lord had so worked upon his heart that he embraced Jacob and kissed him. He was unwilling to accept the presents that Jacob had sent him, and offered to protect Jacob on his journey. Jacob then went on to Canaan in safety; for the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them.
THE APPEARANCE OF EVIL.
In 1 Thess. 5:22, we are exhorted to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” My attention is called to this passage by certain expressions in the reports of a number of our ministers, such as the following: “Many of the best people in town attend our lectures;” “our audiences are largely composed of the wealthiest families in the community.” If such expressions were left out altogether, I do not see that the cause of present truth would suffer by it; whereas in using them they convey to the minds of many readers the impression that we value wealth and intelligence because they give us popularity with the world; and I fear that in some cases this is more than half true.
I understand that, other things being equal, the more intelligence, wealth, or education a convert to the truth may possess, the more is gained for the truth, simply because all these qualities, when properly used, help to extend the message. But when we court the wealthy and intelligent in order to gain popularity, we add sand to the cargo which will only help sink the ship.
May the Lord deliver us from committing the fatal blunder that has proved the ruin of nearly all Christendom. *
On Cultivating Contentment and Small Pleasures
An anxious, restless temper, that runs to meet care on its way, that regrets lost opportunities too much, and that is over-painstaking in contrivances for happiness, is foolish and should not be indulged in. If you cannot be happy in one way, be happy in another; and this facility of disposition wants but little aid from philosophy, for health and good-humour are almost the whole affair. Many run about after felicity like an absent man hunting for his hat while it is on his head or in his hand. Though sometimes small evils, like invisible insects, inflict great pain, and a single hair may stop a vast machine, yet the chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering trifles to vex one, and in prudently cultivating an undergrowth of small pleasures, since very few great ones, alas! are let on long leases.
LESSONS FOR BIBLE CLASSES.
By G. H. Bell
LESSON XXI.—THE SERVICES ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.
QUESTIONS.
1. What scriptures show that it became necessary to cleanse the sanctuary?
2. Why did it become necessary to do this?
3. How had the sanctuary become polluted by the uncleanness of the people?
26. What work did the priest perform after he went out of the most holy place?
27. How was this work performed?
SYNOPSIS.
By reading Lev. 16:16, 19 it will be seen that it became necessary to cleanse the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. This cleansing, called the work of atonement, was performed once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month. Lev. 16:29. The ceremonies of this day completed the yearly round of services.
The services described in our last lesson were performed in the first apartment of the sanctuary, and at the altar of burnt-offerings in the court. Only once a year was the priest allowed to enter the most holy place, and this was on the day of atonement.
Before entering this sacred apartment, he filled the golden censer with live coals taken from off the altar. On these coals he sprinkled incense, so that as he entered the most holy place, a cloud would rise before him; for the glory of the Lord which rested upon the mercy-seat was so dazzling that no man could approach it and live.
While engaged in these solemn services, the high priest wore a plain linen suit instead of the rich garments in which he usually ministered.
The animals required for the services of this day were a bullock and a kid for sin-offerings, a kid for the scape-goat, and two rams for burnt-offerings.
The high priest first offered the bullock as a sin-offering for himself and his family. After killing the bullock, he took some of the blood and entered the most holy place. There he sprinkled the blood upon the mercy-seat eastward, and before the mercy-seat seven times.
The priest then presented the young goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle, and there cast lots upon them; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scape-goat. He then killed the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and did with its blood as he had done with the blood of the bullock. This was to make an atonement for the sins of the people.
In a figure, the sins of the people were laid upon the goat—their sin-offering; and so the goat had to suffer the penalty that the people deserved to suffer for having broken the law of God. The blood, which represents the life, was sprinkled on the mercy-seat to show that the law, written on the tables of stone deposited beneath it, demanded the life of those who had broken that law.
Then the priest went out, and made an atonement for the first apartment, called here the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar of incense, to cleanse it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. “And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” Lev. 16:18, 19. G. H. Bell.
HOW LONG THE VISION?
The question which Daniel heard one saint asking another, is one of intense interest to the people of God: “How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice [desolation], and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” Dan. 8:13. Then the angel, with a tender regard for the wants of Daniel and the people of God in the then future ages, turns to him and says: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Verse 14.
How far this answered the question has been with many a matter of some study; and the connection between the question and the answer has seemed to some not very apparent. But we think the answer was given with direct reference to the question, and that there is a more intimate connection between them than would at first sight appear.
We say that the 2300 days ended in 1844, and that the cleansing of the sanctuary commenced at that time. Then, says the objector, if that has anything to do with the end of the period of treading under foot the sanctuary and the host, what change has taken place since that time? Have they not been trodden under foot just as much since as before? We think we can safely say, Not as much; and shall now endeavor to show wherein.
We first inquire in what respects the sanctuary and the host have been trodden under foot by the daily, paganism, and the transgression of desolation, the papacy. The answer is, They have suffered 1st, Civil oppression by earthly powers; 2d, Spiritual oppression, by the errors and superstitions under which the minds of men, and many of those who were really children of God, have been held in subjection. For one of the ways in which “the transgression of desolation” was to accomplish its work of treading down, was to “cast down the truth to the ground.”
The church from Daniel’s day to the present has been under the dominion of the wicked governments of the earth; and the sanctuary of God has all the way along been confronted with the rival sanctuaries of Satan. In the days of Samuel, when the sanctuary was in Shiloh, there was, in opposition, the temple of Dagon, in which the Philistines worshiped. To oppose the glorious temple of Solomon, Jeroboam erected a rival sanctuary at Bethel, and drew away ten of the twelve tribes. In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, Satan’s rival sanctuary was the temple of old Belus in Babylon. Later still there rose amid the idolaters of pagan Rome, the Pantheon, or “temple of all the gods.” And when the “transgression of desolation,” the papacy, took the place of the daily desolation, paganism, as the great system of organized oppression against the church, and the sanctuary of God on earth had given place to the sanctuary of the new covenant in Heaven, it was not difficult to baptize the old Roman temple of all the gods, and call it the sanctuary of all the saints. Thenceforward there was a “temple of God” in Rome, and in that temple one who claimed to be above all that is called God, and who has been characterized as the blasphemer of God’s tabernacle in Heaven. Rev. 13:6. By this means he has trodden under foot the sanctuary, even as the Son of God himself, the minister of the sanctuary, is trodden under foot by the same means. Heb. 10:29.
In these respects, and by these means, have the sanctuary and host been trodden under foot. We now inquire, What would be the natural order of events when this work is brought to a close? We know that the church is delivered from the civil dominion of earthly governments when Christ comes, or a little before, at the close of probation. But to be prepared for this, it is necessary first to become free from error, and spiritually right in his sight. God seeks such to worship him, especially the last church, as can worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24.
The first work is therefore to be a reform from error, a return to the pure and simple teachings of the word of God, in contrast with the superstitions and mysticisms of the papacy. This power has so beclouded the Christian world in respect to their belief concerning things in Heaven, that scarcely any one has any definite conception of the position and work of our Lord on high, or the place where he fulfills his office as mediator for us; and God and Christ, and Heaven itself, have become in the popular mind mysterious and shapeless nonentities.
And perhaps worse than this, the same papal power has taken the seal from the law of God, and inserted its own mark in its place, in the form of a human or antichristian Sabbath.
But when that auspicious moment arrived when the prophecy, “Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” was changed to a reality, a new era of truth dawned upon the church. Then, like the rays of the sun suddenly shining forth from behind the dark cloud, the light re-appeared on the subject of the sanctuary,—light so early obscured in the Christian church that Paul had scarcely set forth the truth upon it in the book of Hebrews before it was buried from sight by the mystery of iniquity even then at work.
And further, at the end of those days an aggressive reform at once commenced touching the law of God, and undoing the work of the papacy in this respect. Thus as never before the work of the papacy stands exposed, and the remnant church is ridding herself, to the last item, of the trappings of the mother of harlots.
Thus it is seen that the answer was directed to the very point embraced in the question, “How long the vision, . . . to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall begin the first division of that work which is to free the church forever from all oppressive powers; then shall begin the spiritual deliverance which is to be followed by the physical, the undoing, so far as the church is concerned, of the work of those powers which have first cast down the truth to the ground, then restrained the liberties of those who would obey them.
And how could a more comprehensive, direct, and definite answer have been given? It must be an answer which would bring to view the ultimate work, and not overlook the preliminary. And such it is. For the cleansing of the sanctuary embraces the latter, and is the most important work to which the minds of men can be directed. And when that is accomplished, the people of God will be glorified.
The time appointed was long. But we may now rejoice that the slow-revolving ages have rolled away. The days have ended. The predicted work has already for years been in progress. Truth has had a marvelous resurrection. A great movement has been going forward, and is still to go forward, with a power which is not of man, till it shall reach its triumphant issue. The great jubilee is now at hand; and soon those who have been faithful servants of the Most High shall no longer be trodden under foot, but enter into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
DEDICATION AT SPRING ARBOR.
According to appointment, we met with the church at Spring Arbor, Mich., Nov. 9, 10. A little less than two years ago Bro. E. P. Daniels commenced labor here, there being then only two Sabbath-keepers in the vicinity; and through his faithful efforts, as much from house to house as in the desk, the nucleus of a good church was formed. From that time to this, he has rendered them occasional assistance, and there has been a steady growth, till now they have fifty-two names on their church book.
A well-organized Sabbath-school enrolls sixty-nine scholars. And though all are in humble circumstances, their S. B. amounts to about $200 a year.
A house of worship being greatly needed, by the advice of the president of the Michigan Conference, a neat and commodious structure, 28x40, was commenced in April last. Through the liberal subscriptions and donations of the brethren and sisters, the good management of the building committee, and labors of Bro. Russell Hoag, the builder, the house has gone steadily forward to completion. The inception of the enterprise was greeted with incredulity by those not of our faith in that vicinity; and its completion is to them an astonishment. Of the $920.56 which it has cost, only $215.96 remain unprovided for, and arrangements to cancel this can easily be made within a year. This surprises the people more than all else. No help was solicited at the dedication.
The meetings passed off pleasantly. On first-day the house was crowded. All seemed to be satisfied and pleased with the exercises. This was especially the case with the singing, which was well executed by the choir and congregation from the new book, the Song Anchor. The church is in good condition. Union and harmony prevail. Bro. Daniels occupies a large place in their hearts. May the good day in which their new house was dedicated to the service of the Lord, be the beginning with them of a new era of growth and spiritual prosperity.
MORE SUNDAY DIFFERENCES.
It seems that ministers in Maine cannot agree any better on the question as to how Sunday should be regarded, than ministers in Michigan. A correspondent sends us the abstracts of two sermons preached on the same Sunday recently, in two churches in the city of Portland.
Mr. Buck, of Park street church, took the ground that the Sunday of Christendom had nothing to do with the Jewish Sabbath; that the term Sabbath was not applied to it till the 17th century; that there is no divine command for it; that it grew up in the practice of Christians from complex reasons, in the development of a natural want; that it is not promoted by superstitions and burdensome ceremony; and that “we should seek its best and highest uses;—at church if we are persuaded in our own minds, in the Sunday-school, in social intercourse, in riding, in the fields, on the waves, or in the stillness of private meditation.”
On the other hand, Mr. Day of Chestnut street church would enforce the Sunday with all the thunders of Sinai. He said that the efforts to “modernize” the day were in violation of the “moral law,” closing with the following words:—
“We wish now to say that this whole question is a moral question which you should take home to your consciences. Here is God’s moral law. Every commandment of that law is sacred. He who breaks one of them is guilty of an immorality. Christ made no discrimination in these commandments, but taught that whoever offended in one was guilty of the whole. If it is an immorality to break the seventh, it is immoral to violate the fourth. Whoever violates the Sabbath is an immoral man. The man who goes on Sunday excursions is an immoral man. The man who drives on the street on Sunday for pleasure is an immoral man. The man who buys and reads newspapers on Sunday is an immoral man. No man can break one of God’s commands and continue in so doing and be moral.”
According to Mr. B., Mr. D. is ceremonious and superstitious. And according to Mr. D., Mr. B. is an immoral man. Until these doctors can agree, what line of action do they expect to bring the masses to?
The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
IT HAS NOT GENERALLY BEEN BELIEVED IN ANY AGE OF THE WORLD.
It is commonly asserted by the believers in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, that this doctrine has been universally believed in all ages by all people. This is regarded as a strong presumptive argument that the doctrine must be true. But granting the premises, such a conclusion is not at all necessary, as we know that the masses of the world have always been in error, while but a very small portion have had the truth. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock.” Again he said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt. 7:13, 14.
The way to life is very narrow, and few walk in it; while the way to death is wide, and many walk therein. If men had always decided a thing to be true because the majority believed it, or false because but few received it, truth would have stood but a sorry show. In the days of Noah, all the world was wrong, and but one family right. In the days of Elijah, the prophet mournfully said, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” 1 Kings 18:22. So it has ever been. The truth has generally been in the minority. The great philosopher, John Locke, once said, “An error is not the better for being common, nor truth the worse for having been neglected; and if it were put to the vote anywhere in the world, I doubt, as things are managed, whether truth would have the majority, at least, while the authority of men, and not the examination of the things, must be its measure.” The history of the world shows this to be true.
The worship of idols, the doctrine of many gods, and other confessedly false doctrines have been held by the great majority of mankind. Yet, no Christian regards this as proof that these doctrines are true. So, if it could be proved that the immortality of the soul had been held by the majority of the race, it would not prove that doctrine to be true. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls is manifestly a false doctrine; yet it has been very largely believed. It teaches that the soul lived before it came into this world, and that, when this body dies, the soul will pass into another body, and then into another, till it is finally re-absorbed, into God, from whom it came. We now all readily agree that this is an error; yet it has obtained an extensive belief among mankind. Of this fact there is an abundance of proof.
All heathens, and many Christians who have argued for the immortality of the soul, have, with it, believed in the transmigration of souls. Thus writes an eminent author: “Certain it is that those philosophers who argued for the immortality of the soul universally held its pre-existence before it animated the human body, and laid the stress of the argument for its eternal existence after its departure from the body, upon its existence from times immemorial, or even from everlasting before its entrance into it.”
What will our friends say to these facts? If universal belief would prove the immortality of the soul, it would as clearly prove the transmigration of souls; for the latter has been about as generally believed as the former, as we have shown above.
A FALSE ASSUMPTION EXPOSED.
A belief in a future life does not necessarily prove a belief in the immortality of the soul.
But has the present doctrine of the immortality of the soul been the common sentiment of mankind? It has not. Very few have believed it. Of this there is an abundance of proof, of which I can present but a small part.5Which I can present but a small part.
We know that all nations have generally had some ideas and traditions of a future life of some kind; but this by no means proves that they believed the soul immortal. We firmly believe in a future life, yet we do not believe in the immortality of the soul. When heathens and barbarians are found holding some ideas and traditions of a future life, even though they be the most vague and indistinct, they are immediately claimed as orthodox believers in the soul’s immortality! This does not follow at all, as it often happens that they themselves cannot tell how they expect to obtain such a life; nay, the traditions of most of them show that they expect to live there with the same material persons that they have here, and not simply as immaterial spirits.
From the earliest ages, God has taught the human race that there is to be a life hereafter by means of a resurrection from the dead. Through patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, through all the inspired word, this doctrine has been set before the people. Also, God has said that there shall be rewards for the righteous and punishments for the wicked in the future life, after the Judgment. As all nations have descended from Adam, and from Noah, God’s servants, more or less knowledge upon this subject, through tradition from them, has been retained by all the nations of the earth.
Besides this, men’s consciences, more or less enlightened by the Spirit of God, admonish them that there shall be a future Judgment, where the wicked shall be punished and the righteous rewarded. The love of life is very great in all men, hence the strong desire and hope that there will be a future life. These facts readily account for the extensive prevalence of the idea of a future life, even among barbarous nations.
But when we go among those who have lost the light of God’s revelation, we find that their notions are exceedingly vague as to how they are to live hereafter. The idea of a future life of some kind is almost universal, but upon the manner of that life, whether it is to be through a resurrection or by being born into some other body, or by living without any body, there is utter confusion. Thus a learned advocate for the immortality of the soul is compelled to say, “We concede that the views of most rude heathen nations, both ancient and modern, respecting the state of man after death, are indeed dark and obscure, as well as their notion respecting the nature of the soul itself.” This is just the truth. Their ideas of a future life are so dark and obscure that no proof of a faith in the immortality of the soul can be drawn from them.
But God has clearly settled these things. It is by a resurrection from the dead that men are to live in the future. They are to be the same individual persons that they are in this life; and they are to live on this earth when it is renewed from the curse. Now if we will look carefully into the religious ideas of the different nations and tribes, we shall find that this very idea of a future life is what the most of them still have. They expect to be raised from the dead, and live on this earth with the same bodies which they now have. If we go back into hoary antiquity and examine the faith of the most ancient nations, we find that they looked for a future life and immortality through the preservation of the body and the resurrection of the dead. Of this there can be no question.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Bowling Green, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1878.
BEECHER ON THE SUNDAY SABBATH.
I. L., of San Francisco, Cal., writes in The Western Rural of Chicago, Nov. 2, 1878, as follows:—
“About twenty years since I went to Brooklyn to reside. I was then a great admirer of Mr. Beecher and went frequently to hear him preach. Becoming suspicious that he did not always preach his own convictions fully, I called upon him and learned from his own lips that he did not. He said it would not answer for him to do so, and used the following illustration, as I well remember: ‘Here is Lewis Tappan, a valued member of my church. He is all right on the slavery and temperance questions, which we, in Plymouth church, have made specially prominent, but, on the Sabbath question he is away back in the dark ages; and if I should come square out and preach, as I believe, that there is no divine command for observing the first day of the week in any special manner, and that the running of the street cars on Sunday, instead of being sinful, as a violation of the fourth commandment, would be a positive blessing to this community, he and others with him would go straight off and I never could get them to hear me preach again.’”
“The question of running the cars in Brooklyn on Sunday was hotly agitated at that time, and most of the clergy petitioned against them and did all they could to prevent their running. Beecher privately expressed himself to me and others in favor of their running, but would not take any public stand in his pulpit, or out, for fear of giving offense. A young clergyman of the city, and of the same denomination (now residing here), after talking the matter over with Mr. Beecher, and being encouraged by him to do so, made a speech at a great public meeting in favor of the Sunday cars. That party carried the day. The cars have run on Sunday in that city ever since, and Mr. Beecher has since spoken in his pulpit in their favor. But when this young minister was tried for heresy soon after, on the ground of his having advocated the running of the cars on Sunday, and was threatened with dismissal from his church, Mr. Beecher, who had promised to be present at his trial and speak in his defense, remained away, but sent a letter marked ‘Confidential,’ to the trustees, advising them to turn him out on account of his lack of caution and discretion. To the young minister he subsequently excused himself for absence on account of ‘providential detention,’ and expressed regret for his exclusion. Do you wonder that I never cared to hear him preach after that?”
TRUE MISSIONARIES.
By John Norton Loughborough
A true missionary is a person whose heart is so fully imbued with a desire to lead souls to Christ that he is ever on the watch for opportunities to do good. He does not wait for great things, but, realizing that great results have sometimes been accomplished by small means, he accepts the little opportunities as openings for labor, and a special demand for him to work.
Many persons have been brought to a knowledge of the truth by simply reading our papers for a few months or weeks; hence no opportunity of placing them before candid minds should be left unimproved. All lawful means and earnest entreaty must be used to induce people to subscribe for our papers. We should not tire in our efforts to place these precious truths before the people.
“Hold up thy light, thou child of God; Thou canst not tell how far a little light may shine.”
Such rare offers are now made to new subscribers on our various periodicals, with such excellent and instructive premiums, and at prices so low, that hundreds will subscribe if they are solicited thus to do.
The Way of Life, the premium offered with several of our periodicals, will ever be telling in allegory the impressive story of the fall because of transgressing God’s law; of the way of life shadowed in the typical offerings, more fully opened in the offering of the body of Christ; and of the final complete redemption of God’s people, the earth made new, and the rest that remains in the city of God. While the picture is thus speaking, the paper itself will visit the home, bearing precious truths to the subscriber and others. None can tell whose eyes will read its pages, or how many souls may thus be brought to the truth.
Sowing seeds of truth is some like sowing the natural seeds of earth. The seed must be placed in the soil before it will germinate. Children are sometimes so impatient for their planted seeds to grow that they dig them up to see if they have sprouted. We must not be children, and wait for the seed to sprout before we sow it. Our Saviour himself has given us a beautiful illustration, which should solemnly impress all our minds: “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:26–28.
Many cases have come under my own observation that illustrate the above Scripture.
A sister in Lapeer, Mich., sent some tracts and the REVIEW to a friend in Oregon. The man to whom they were sent said his niece was such a hand to read the Bible she ought to have this reading matter, so he sent it on to her. She and her companion read, and embraced the truth.
A minister in California left a package of tracts with a friend, with the request that he read them. The friend, instead of reading them, gave the tracts to a man in another township. This man read, and he and his wife embraced the truth.
A sister in Oakland, Cal., sent the SIGNS to a hotel keeper in Hollister, Cal., a former acquaintance. The hotel changed owners. The first landlord had never taken the papers out of the wrappers, but left them in the hotel. Landlord number two had a curiosity to read them. Curiosity turned to interest, and he and his wife are now keeping the Sabbath in Southern California. The same sister sent another paper to a blacksmith in the same place. The blacksmith did not read it, but one of his customers did. He obtained the papers, and his wife has since died a Sabbath-keeper. I presume the one who sowed the seed thought that it was a failure; but instead, unknown to her, it grew in a different soil.
A sister in San Francisco sent the paper one year to her brother in Northern California. Her brother was in feeble health, and put the papers, unopened, upon the pantry shelf. He died. The place was rented to another man whose curiosity was aroused to find so many unopened papers on the shelf. He read them, and with his wife, brother-in-law and wife, now rejoices in the truth.
Dear brethren, sow the seed. Improve this golden opportunity in inducing hundreds to take our periodicals. The seed may grow when and where you do not know. Eternity alone can tell.
The writer received a nice present from a person in Central Africa who had read a copy of the Saints’ Inheritance. As a token of appreciation of his kindness, I sent him the TIDENDE one year. He read the papers, and then mailed them to his mother in a distant land. She read them, and embraced the truth. So that seed sprung up where I did not anticipate. Let us be true missionaries, sowing beside all waters, and may God’s blessing follow all our efforts.