Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 22.

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL
Earlier text: THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

COUNT THE COST.

By Jno. Hackett

A MAN who intends to start in business, if he is wise, will first look around and conclude where would be a good location for his particular employment and whether it would pay a good dividend on the money and labor expended. He will next ascertain whether he has sufficient capital to carry on the business. So should any one who intends to live a Christian life count the cost and see whether it will pay. This is the truth that Jesus intended to teach in his instruction relative to the building of a tower and in the case of a king going to battle. Luke 14: 28, 31.
It is evident that unless a person be able to finish the work that he commences, it will profit him nothing. Jesus says, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved;” and, “No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of Heaven.” The reason so many professed Christians backslide is, that when they heard the word they received it gladly, but did not reckon the trials they would have to bear,—did not count the cost,—and so when tribulations come for the word’s sake, they are offended; whereas had they counted the cost they would have been prepared.
The Christian has joys and sorrows in this life; so also has the worldling. The common impression is that the Christian has more of the latter and less of the former than the worldling. Granting such to be the case, let it be borne in mind that the Christian looks beyond this life for his reward; but all the hope the worldling has is in this world. Now let us take an inventory of the resources and liabilities, or helps and hinderances, of the Christian and worldling, and balance the accounts of their losses and gains, and see how they compare.

CHRISTIAN.

RESOURCES OR HELPS. LIABILITIES OR HINDERANCES.
1. A God-given intellect, and power to choose between right and wrong. 2. The Holy Spirit and the grace of God to help in every time of need. 3. The Bible, pointing out duty and presenting precious promises of reward to the faithful. 1. Our own evil natures. 2. The enemy of all righteousness. 3. The allurements of the world and its pleasures. 4. Often the ties of natural affection.
LOSS. GAIN.
1. A few fleeting, fancied, or imaginary pleasures. 2. The friendship of the world. 1. Eternal life. 2. The approbation of God. 3. Eternal pleasures. 4. Peace of mind, and a conscience void of offense.

WORLDLING.

RESOURCES OR HELPS. LIABILITIES OR HINDERANCES.
1. Our own evil disposition. 2. The enemy of all righteousness. 3. Companions in the same way. There are not many hinderances. The way he travels is a downward road. Occasionally there is a warning voice, and a light that shows the danger ahead.
LOSS. GAIN.
1. Eternal life. 2. The approval of all the good. 3. Peace of mind. 4. All hope of Heaven. 1. Eternal death. 2. Punishment for all evil deeds done. 3. A few worldly pleasures that generally leave a sting behind.
These items cannot be expressed in dollars and cents; but they are as true as though demonstrated with mathematical precision. Reader, please balance these accounts in your own mind and apply the results to your own case, and decide which you will choose. On one side is God, eternal life, and happiness forever; on the other is the devil, punishment, darkness, and eternal death.
If you are young and have life before you, pause and consider well which road you take. Count the cost. Ask yourself the question, “Will it pay?” If you have not started on the Christian’s journey, consider whether the road you are traveling leads. Count the cost. Look at the inevitable final result. What real advantages do you have over the Christian in this life? He can enjoy some things in life as well as you, besides he has joys the world knows not of. If you have sorrows, you must bear them alone. The Christian can cast his care upon One who careth for him, and can go to a “friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” If the Christian’s religion be not true, he loses nothing of very great value; if it is, he gains everything, and the worldling loses everything. Balance the account and see which will pay. Count the cost! Count the cost!
If you have started in the good way, and begin to feel discouraged and almost ready to turn back on account of the roughness of the way, pause, and ask yourself the questions, Will it pay? What will I gain? What will I lose? Count the cost.
There are but two roads. You must take one or the other. Consider well what is at the terminus of each. Remember what help you may have in the upward way, and what you would have in the downward way.
The promise of salvation is only to those who endure to the end. Keep your eye fixed upon the mark of the prize, and have respect unto the recompense of reward. Prove faithful to the end, and you will have an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord. Jno. Hackett.
Wells, Minn.

WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT.

By Percy T. OdeKirk

While ye have the light, walk in the light. Present privileges are for present improvement; but we are very prone to neglect the present while thinking of the future or of the past. We look backward with sorrow as we remember our failures and neglects. We look forward with hope, and dream of better days and more extended usefulness; but on the present, the only time which is ours, and which enwraps within itself all our opportunities, we look with comparative indifference.
To-day the light of revelation, of providence, of the Holy Spirit, the light of life, are shining on our path. Now, while we have the light, let us walk in it. Now, while we have the opportunity, let us improve it. Now, while the commands of God are laid upon us, let us obey them from the heart.
How suddenly our circumstances may change! The light which we neglected may be taken from us. Sickness, poverty, adversity, may come. Pain may prostrate, and death strike home to the heart, and all our opportunities be past. Now, affords us every privilege, but the hereafter may be as barren as Sahara.
The antediluvians refused to walk in the light when they had the light, but when the flood came, how glad would they have been could they have shared the privileges that Noah enjoyed.
The Sodomites had light, but refused to walk in it, and were destroyed with fire from heaven. The chosen people of God neglected the light that was given them, wandered in darkness, and stumbled upon the dark mountains, and while they looked for light, it became gross darkness, and was turned into the shadow of death.
The world to-day are rejecting Christ who is the light and life of men. They have the light, but refuse it; they see it, but will not walk in it. What a day shall come when God shall call men to account for the light which they have received, but rejected and refused. May God help us now, in the living present, to walk faithfully and steadfastly in the light we have received, and bring us at last to dwell with Christ who is the light and life of men.
PERCY T. ODEKIRK.

Our Gospel.

“A little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds.” Gen. 43:11.
The surest way to be deceived is to think yourself more clever and cunning than anybody else.
To keep moths out of old clothing, it is recommended to give the clothing to the poor.
Man is an animal that cannot long be left in safety without an occupation; the growth of his fallow nature is apt to run to seed.
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” were solemn words, making the difference between almost and altogether.
The celebrated Lord Nelson said he owed much of his success in life to being ready for every duty a quarter of an hour beforehand.
A heart-memory is better than a head-memory. It is better to carry away a little of the life of God in our souls than to be able to repeat every word of every sermon we have ever heard.
Many a one is worn out in body, embarrassed financially, and discouraged in spirit, because he thought he could find another path than that which he felt persuaded the Lord wished him to take.
The Value of Littles.—A chain with all its links sound, except one, is not to be trusted. A pest-house, with all its rooms disinfected, except one, is not a safe place to stay in. A payment which lacks one dollar of the amount owed, is not a payment in full. He who sinks within one inch of the rope which is thrown him, perishes as surely as though he were in mid-ocean.
Be wide in your sympathies. If people have faults, failings, and weaknesses, try to overlook them. A good deal of self-righteousness gets in at times between us and our opinions of others. If half the world could see themselves as the other half see them, there would be a universal compromise on the basis of common faults, and everybody would be shaking hands with everybody else.
If you are a Christian painter, fill in the nail-holes with putty; if a carpenter, don’t leave the board unplaned because you think it won’t be seen; if a grocer, don’t sell ground Rio for Java; if a farmer, don’t sell mash-fed pork for corn-fed; if a tailor, don’t sell American cloths as fine French goods; in brief, whatever you do, remember that honesty, thorough and complete, is a prime essential to any religion whatever.
Professor Dana, the foremost of living geologists, packs a whole volume of argument into two sentences, in holding that if the first chapter of Genesis is proved to be the right and natural account of creation, then it must have been written by Inspiration. “Examining it as a geologist,” adds Professor Dana, “I find it to be in perfect accord with known science; therefore, as a Christian, I assert that the Bible narrative must be inspired.”

THE CAUSE IN TEXAS.

By James White

Texas is a large State, and since the war, northern people have poured into it, increasing its population, and changing public sentiment. But southern people move slowly. Elder R. M. Kilgore has labored hard, and with a good degree of success. There is good material with which to build a strong Conference in Texas; but in getting it out, an immense amount of moral filth must be handled.
Texas is almost wholly given to whisky and tobacco. Men and women of all classes, with very few exceptions, are tobacco inebriates. It is a common thing to see a fashionably dressed and gloved lady driving fine horses and carriage through the streets of Texas cities with a lighted cigar in her mouth, puffing the smoke, and removing the ashes from the consuming cigar with all the grace of movement seen in the dandy. Men chew and smoke tobacco at a terrible rate, and most of the women are “snuff-dippers.” They are seen at their homes and in the streets, walking or riding, apparently chewing sticks. With these they dip snuff, keeping a certain amount of the precious dust in their mouths, by often repeating the dose.
The habits and tastes of the people of the almost God-forsaken South are terribly unnatural. Appetite and passion seem to overrule reason, and, consequently, the moral sensibilities of such people nearly slumber. To bring out and to bring up to the Bible standard of purity a people ready for the coming of Christ seems too great a work for an age.
And, yet, God has a people in Texas. There are many precious jewels to be dug out of the dust and filth of this great State, and polished by the present truth.
Texas is a large State, and is one of the best for missionary labor. The people travel in all directions with covered wagons. We have distributed many papers and tracts. The hunger for religious reading exceeds anything I have witnessed elsewhere. But the people have not now any money to pay for such reading. The Texas Conference is young, small, and comparatively poor. We have not received one dime from the Conference or from individuals during our stay of nearly seven months; but have helped the poor to the amount of several hundreds of dollars from our purse. We have labored to build up the Texas Conference, to free it from debt, and place it on a self-sustaining basis. We sent for Elder Corliss to visit the State and labor with Elder Kilgore; but as the financial condition of the Conference will not warrant his laboring in the State, he goes with us to labor in Colorado, under the supervision of the General Conference Committee.
Tent labor commenced in Texas about the tenth of March. Elder Corliss rendered good help in the city of Denison. Tent labor will commence in Colorado, probably in the city of Denver, about the tenth of June. The spring season in Texas is fully three months earlier than in Colorado, and tent season in Colorado is not half so long as in Texas.
Northern people make a terrible mistake in going to Texas to settle. Our health has been good during our sojourn in the least sickly season, and had it not been for the poverty and sickness of those we have been with, and their want of good religion, we could have accomplished much in the way of writing.
The course pursued by those professed Sabbath-keepers who first visited Texas, and the results of their miserable conduct, brought reproach upon the cause, and has made the work hard for Elder Kilgore and others. Their mistakes may be summed up as follows:—
1. In giving, through the Review, over-drawn descriptions of the climate, soil, and people, of Texas. Similar mistakes have been made, since the great American war, relative to Missouri, and other new States. Such calls always move the fickle and vacillating, those generally who have little or no influence at home. It is a shame to have every new field pre-occupied by brethren of this stamp.
There are, however, some persons of moral value who are deceived by these over-colored statements. Several families, confiding in these calls, moved from Michigan and Wisconsin to Texas. Those have lost their property and health, and are reduced to a state of wretchedness. Under a similar movement to Missouri, a few years since; some became reduced in property, and discouraged, and yielded their faith and hope. General Conference has passed resolution after resolution to check the great evil of brethren’s recklessly moving from place to place, excited by high-colored statements concerning this or that new State or Territory.
Land speculators and railroad companies who have had lands for sale, have issued their circulars filled with exciting and descriptive statements. These have called eastern people, to be disappointed and financially ruined. Thousands of families are leaving their new homes, and literally begging their way back again.
2. Those who are ready to drift here or there, are generally those who have not formed characters as burden-bearers and care-takers, and are the last persons who should first occupy new fields. And, when gathered from different points, they constitute a church of babes, without judgment, and without the principles of true religion to govern their daily conduct. Thus we found things in Dallas and Denison, Texas, with very few exceptions.
We should have taken our help with us to Texas,—a kitchen girl and two copyists; and we should have shut ourselves up to ourselves and our work. For more than a quarter of a century, we have labored beyond our strength for the spiritual, physical, and financial help of those who have really needed help. The time has fully come for us to shut ourselves up to the work God has given us to do.
We now go to Colorado to speak to the people as the way opens, and duty seems to demand. We shall labor for the spiritual good of the people, and shall expect help from them, rather than to give them financial assistance.
A great work is yet to be done in Texas. While many are returning from Texas under great discouragements, more are on their way to Texas.
Men will be raised up, and means will be furnished to carry forward the work in that great State. But we still recommend that labor and means be expended where they will accomplish the most immediate good. This will apply to all parts of the great American field. The cause in the North should not be left to suffer for the want of those laborers sent to the less promising field in the South. Much must be done in the South by our publications, and by ministers raised up in the South. J. W.

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH.

By James White

“LET your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” 1 Cor. 14: 34, 35.
The only safe and proper rule of Biblical interpretation is to take every passage of the Book of God as meaning what it says, word for word, excepting those cases where the text and context clearly show that a figure or parable is introduced for a more clear elucidation of the subject. In the foregoing text the apostle does not use a figure or a parable, therefore his words should be taken as meaning just what they say.
But there are many other passages from the epistles of Paul which speak as plainly of the position of woman in the home and work of God as this one does. And in order to arrive at the truth of God on this subject, a position must be found that will harmonize all the texts. The word of God is not “yea and nay,” but yea and amen, to the glory of its divine Author.
Paul, in the fourteenth chapter of his epistle to the church at Corinth, is correcting existing errors and establishing order in the church of Christ. He goes even so far as to give rules for those who, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are endowed with the gift of prophecy and of tongues. There were those women, doubtless, in the apostle’s day as well as in ours, who could prate about “Women’s Rights” as glibly, if not as filthily, as the notorious Victoria Woodhull. Hear the noble Paul on the subject in the same epistle where the foregoing text is found: “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Cor. 11: 3. Paul continues in verses 4 and 5, and the reader will see that he places men and women side by side in the position and work of teaching and praying in the church of Christ, “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head; for that is even all one as if she were shaven.”
But what does Paul mean by saying, “Let your women keep silence in the churches”? Certainly he does not mean that women should take no part in those religious services where he would have both men and women take part in prayer and in prophesying, or teaching the word of God to the people. The only view that will harmonize all that the apostle has said of the position and work of Christian women, is that he is giving directions relative to meetings of the church to consider the secular matters, which can be managed quite as well by the brethren as the sisters. We here give the following reasons:—
1. Both men and women attend the religious services of the church. Both hear all that is said. The woman understands quite as well as her husband, sometimes better, all that is said. They return home from church. Now apply Paul’s statement to this case, “If they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.” On the supposition that the husband has been out to a business meeting, may be to discuss with his brethren in reference to building a meeting-house, or hiring the minister, matters in which she has deep interest, how consistent that the wife should inquire in reference to the decisions of that meeting which she did not attend.
2. But on the supposition that they had both been out to a religious meeting, where the wife had heard all, understood all, the great apostle is charged with the ridiculous farce of both sitting down and asking and answering questions relative to matters with which they were both perfectly familiar. Consistency, thou art a jewel!
In the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, holy women held positions of responsibility and honor. The first case we will here notice is that of Miriam, mentioned in Exodus 15: 20, 21: “And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”
Compare with Micah 6: 3, 4, where the great God appeals to rebellious Israel in these words: “O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” Here we find a woman occupying a position equal to that of Moses and Aaron, God’s chosen servants to lead the millions of Israel from the house of bondage.
The next case is that of Deborah, mentioned in Judges 4: 4-10: “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun. “And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand. And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.” Notice the following particulars in the foregoing statements:—
1. Deborah was a prophetess. She received divine instruction from Heaven, and taught the people.
2. She was a judge in Israel. The people went up to her for judgment. A higher position no man has ever occupied.
The next cases of honorable mention are Ruth and Esther. The books of these two women hold places in the book of God with his holy prophets. Their position in the work of God was such as to give their history a place with the sacred writings translated into hundreds of languages and dialects, to be read by millions down to the close of probationary time.
The prophet Joel, as quoted by Peter, Acts 2: 17, 18, describes the last days thus: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants, and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” Here, too, women receive the same inspiration from God as men.
And Paul speaks of the labors of Christian women in the highest terms of commendation and regard as follows: “I commend unto you Phebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath been a succorer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.” “Greet Mary who bestowed much labor on us.” “Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis which labored much in the Lord.” Rom. 16: 1-4, 6, 12.
The prophet Simeon, and Anna the prophetess, waited for the consolation of Israel at the close of the Jewish age, and with joy embraced the infant Saviour.
The Christian age was ushered in with glory. Both men and women enjoyed the inspiration of the hallowed hour, and were teachers of the people. “Philip,” the evangelist, “had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” Acts 21: 8, 9. And the dispensation which was ushered in with glory, honored with the labors of holy women, will close with the same honors. Thus says God by his holy prophet: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Acts 2: 17. J. W.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

20.—1 PETER 4:1, 2.

What is the antecedent of “he,” in 1 Peter 4:1, 2? J. McM.
ANS. It is some one who has once been a sinner, but has ceased from sin; who has once lived in the flesh to the lusts of men, but does so no longer. It is not therefore Christ, but a converted sinner. The suffering in the flesh spoken of, we think refers to crucifying the carnal mind, Rom. 6:6; mortifying the deeds of the body, Rom. 8:13; mortifying the members, Col. 3:5, and other like passages, by which it is shown that we must die to the world, become dead to sin, and thus live no longer therein. He that has thus “suffered in the flesh,” or subjected his sinful, fleshly nature to a crucifixion, as Christ was literally crucified, hath ceased from sin. If he has not ceased from sin, then he has not suffered in the flesh.

21.—LUKE 11:24.

Is it the spirit or the man who walks through dry places, as described in Luke 11:24? What is the house, and who returns to it? D. B.
ANS. The spirit. The whole narrative sets forth the condition of a man who is awakened but does not persevere in the Christian life. The evil spirit finds a natural home in the evil heart of man. Being cast out, he finds no rest elsewhere. He is ever watching to regain an entrance to his old home. He finds it empty. Here is the fatal mistake of the man. He should have stored it with the graces of the Spirit, and kept constant guard over it by watchfulness and prayer. Then the evil spirit would not be able to re-enter. But as it is, it is a better and larger house for evil than before, and so he takes with him seven others worse than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man is worse than the first. He cannot so easily be aroused again to religious things. Indeed it will be about as much harder to arouse him now than it was at first, as it is harder to cast out eight unclean spirits than to cast out one.

22.—SEEKING TO PHYSICIANS.

1. We are informed in 2 Chron. 16:12, that king Asa was diseased in his feet, and sought not to the Lord but to the physicians. Was it right for him to do so? 2. Is it in accordance with the will of God now that his children apply to physicians for medical aid? M. E. B.
ANS. We do not know what kind of physicians they had in those days. At any rate, it seems that Asa did not receive much benefit from them. There may have been circumstances which rendered it manifestly improper for him to seek to physicians, instead of seeking to the Lord without the use of any outward means. We do not know. 2. In reference to the second question, the view we hold suggests an answer like this: There are certain laws of health, and laws of treatment through which we may relate ourselves to nature in such a waythat she can effect a restoration when we are sick. It is the part of the true physician to instruct and assist us in carrying out these. To such physicians as these, and to this extent, we think it right to apply. But when we have gone to the extent of our knowledge and ability, then we can cast ourselves on independent faith. We are not relying on God any the less while doing those things which are in accordance with the laws of his own instituting. But it would be inconsistent to try to exercise faith in him to do what we can and should do ourselves.

COOK, INGERSOLL, AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

By William H. Littlejohn

  • (Concluded.)*
Thus steadily and surely the movement goes forward. Associations are being organized and multitudes are being added monthly to its friends.
Right here, also, is the time when and the place where the appearance of Robert Ingersoll and Joseph Cook becomes important. The former, as we have seen, is destined to largely augment the infidel element of the country. This element, under the lead of such men as Mr. Abbot, the editor of the Index, has already found organization in a political party which swears eternal resistance to all which the Christian amendment party seek to inaugurate. The point in the issue of the latter party which they themselves say is coming to the front and every day assuming more and more importance, is the Sunday question.
It is with reference to this question, also, that the wide-spread influence of Joseph Cook is especially to be felt in the near future. That, in some respects, he is an intellectual giant, few will deny. That his adhesion when publicly given to the legalized Sunday movement will carry with it great weight, and serve to consolidate wonderfully the Christian sentiment of the country, there is no room for doubt.
Practically, therefore, all the personal influence which he has gained by his courageous defense of Christianity from a philosophical stand-point in Boston is now passed over to the account of the Sunday reform party. From this time forward he may be set down as a strong and earnest advocate of compulsory rest upon the first day of the week. In a recent Boston lecture we have the following from his lips:—
“There can be no diffusion of conscientiousness adequate to protect society from danger, under free suffrage, unless a day is set apart for the periodical moral and religious instruction of the masses. Sabbath laws are justified in a republic by the right of self-preservation. . . An important distinction exists between Sunday observance as a religious ordinance and as a civil institution. American courts, while enforcing the Sunday laws, disclaim interference with religion. They base the laws on various secular grounds, among which are the right of all classes to rest, so far as practicable, on one day in seven; the right to undisturbed worship on the day set apart for this purpose by the great majority of the people; the decent respect which should be paid to the institutions of the people; the value to the State of the weekly rest-day, as a means of that popular intelligence and morality on which free institutions depend for their maintenance.”
The supreme court of New York, in sustaining one of the Sunday laws, says:—
“The act complained of here compels no religious observance, and offenses against it are punishable not as sins against God, but as injuries to and having a malignant influence upon society. It rests upon the same foundation as a multitude of other laws upon our statute-book, such as those against gambling, lotteries, keeping disorderly houses, polygamy, horse-racing.”
“The action of the State as to Sunday laws proceeds upon the principle that the liberty of rest for each depends on a law of rest for all. . . . I hold that when our fathers on Clark Island yonder rested their first Sabbath day they were setting a good example, not only for the church, but for the factories and railways and every industrial establishment of America. Until we have enough of their spirit to enable us to keep the day of rest without any substantial infraction, we shall not be safe in this country, as our fathers were safe, without bolted doors.”
It might be said, in addition to the above, that his name is mentioned in the weekly Tribune of recent date in connection with that of many other distinguished clergymen who are expected to attend and participate in a religious convention which is to be held in Boston and Springfield, Mass., in the interest of Sunday observance.
So far as Mr. Cook’s views, as quoted above, relate to the enforcement of Sunday observance purely on the ground of rest from labor as a matter of public policy, without reference to the sanctity of the day, we have not at present the space to give it the examination which it deserves. Suffice it to say here, however, that it is not original with him, and while it might perhaps be termed “sharp,” it can hardly be said to be ingenious. It will captivate many minds and lead thousands to do a thing from a stand-point of secular policy which they would not dare to do from that of religious toleration. Nevertheless there is in it a lack of that outspoken sincerity which truly great minds always admire, and which, in the long run, furnishes the safer course of action. Mr. Cook, it seems to us, well knows, as do those before him who have used this line of argument, that it is a mere make-shift. Not one out of ten of those individuals have at heart such convictions of the necessity of a day of weekly rest from toil, as disconnected from any religious consideration, that they would be willing to expend any definite amount of labor to secure that fancied boon. Suppose, for example, that the day proposed by the law were Wednesday, instead of Sunday; who does not know that, were such the case, the persons in question would not only lose all interest in the issue, but would suddenly become its bitter opponents. It is not, therefore, when rightly understood, merely a day of rest that they want. Sunday rest is what they require. Not because Sunday is any better adapted by nature for that purpose than are Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, or, in fact, any other day of the week; but simply because it is their design to secure a partial recognition of the sacredness of the first day of the week by statutory provision. This done they hope to be able to compel, through the courts, at least a partial regard for what they claim to be the Sabbath as they could not otherwise do. The line of argument, also, which in this way they will be able to present in favor of the enactments which they desire, will carry with it a degree of plausibility which is wholly wanting in that which they make from the Bible stand-point. Thousands are disgusted with the utter failure which every man has made who has ever attempted to place the Sunday Sabbath on the basis of the fourth commandment. Even in the case of Mr. Cook himself, they cannot fail to discover there the terrible limp of the logic of a man, who, though a giant in handling other themes, appears as though shorn of the locks of his strength when he lays hold of the pillars of God’s creation Sabbatic institution.
They will readily discover that all which he has said has been answered a thousand times most successfully by men possessing not one-tenth of his real intellectual capacity. Nevertheless, lacking the moral courage to carry out their own conviction in humble obedience on the one hand, and, on the other, fearing to venture the enforcement of a legalized Sunday as holy time against those who observe the Lord’s Sabbath—lest peradventure they be found fighting against God—they will gladly accept the compromised position, and in the near future will be ranked among those who would compel regard for the definite first day of the week simply as a day of rest.
Thousands of others in the meanwhile—wooed into the snares which the great enemy of God’s law has woven for their feet in these last times by the magical oratory and the potent name of Joseph Cook on the one hand, and on the other, compelled in that direction by their fear and hatred of deistical opponents like Ingersoll and his followers—will be numbered with those who at the coming of our Lord will be found persecuting the remnant church who are keeping the commandments of God, and who have the faith of Jesus. (Rev. 14:12; 12:17). W. H. LITTLEJOHN.

OLD AND NEW STYLE.

[I SEND you “The Gregorian Year, and Old and New Style.” I took it from an almanac which I bought more than twenty years ago. A. S. H.]
The inquiry is often made, “What is the meaning of the expression, ‘March 7, 1738-9?’” The real date is March 7, 1739. The civil or legal year in England formerly commenced on the 25th day of March. This practice continued throughout the British dominions till the year 1752. Then the new or the Gregorian style was introduced, which makes the year commence the 1st of January. But before that period (1752), as some other nations had adopted the new style, it was usual for English writers to designate both years, if the event occurred before the 25th day of March. Thus we have Washington’s birth designated, February 11, 1731-2. That is, if the year commenced the 25th of March, it would be February 11, 1731. If the year commenced the first of January, it would be February 11, 1732, or, according to new style, February 22, 1732.
In order to make the above statements more fully clear, it is needful to remember that a year is designated to include the exact period of time which the earth takes to make one revolution around the sun. This is accomplished in 365 days and nearly six hours; but as the calendar must consist of complete days, these six hours are omitted, and in four years they make up a whole day, when one is added to the year, making what is called a leap-year. This, however, is not strictly correct, for it is ascertained by accurate calculations that a solar year is exactly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 57.7 seconds; consequently, in putting on the six hours, we add 11 minutes 12.4 seconds in four years. This, in the course of 158½ years would amount to 24 hours, or a complete day. If this were permitted to go on, the first of January would gradually fall back toward mid-summer; and in the time of Pope Gregory XIII. (1582) it was found that the vernal equinox, which A. D. 325, happened on the 21st of March, actually occurred on the 10th. The pope, for the purpose of restoring the correctness of the calendar, ordered 10 days to be dropped that year. This reformation was called “the new style,” while the former calendar was denominated “the old style.” This new style was not adopted in England until 1752, when it was found that another day had accumulated. An act of Parliament was then passed, in which it was directed that 11 days be dropped out of the calendar in 1752.
In this country the old style was not discarded in colloquial discourse until about fifty years ago. To guard against the disarrangement of the calendar in future, chronologers now omit the leap-year at the end of three or four centuries, which plan is found to balance the excess of 11 minutes, 12.4 seconds, this being added by making every fourth year leap-year, as people generally suppose. The year 1800 was not a leap-year, for one of these intercalary days had accumulated, and was dropped; and the same will have to be done in 1900. There are now, therefore, twelve days’ difference between the old and new styles; and in order to compute the date of events correctly, and not fall into blunders which even some able historians have not avoided, we should recollect to allow ten days for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, eleven for the eighteenth, and twelve for the nineteenth.
Continue reading: LIGHT ON THE PROPHECIES