Earlier text: CLOSING THE GATESThe Angel’s Record
By S. M. Spicer
Would fain drag down to his vile dust.
Unhappy he whose humble name
Attracts the poisonous arrow's touch,
Or feels the scorching, withering flame
Of slander's breath, envy’s first kin.
Should fallen nature ever fail,
Make but a slip, a sad misstep,
What earthly legions, born of hell,
All ready stand to help him fall. Record of shame to fallen man!
Delight to see a brother fall!
“Away with him! away with him!”
Never-forgiving malice cries;
“The law is right, the trespass wrong,
The guilty sinner ought to die.”
The holy angel blushed to write
That guilty man cannot forgive;
While Jesus said from his pure heart,
“Go sin no more,” and thou may’st live;
“Forgive as thou wouldst be forgiven.”
And prejudice—dire foe of truth—
Of rumor born, yet ever strong
To blind the eye and seal the heart
To all except accusing wrong. Thank God! in Heaven that galling yoke
Ne’er binds the struggling sufferer down;
Though failing once—there yet is hope
To win and wear the highest crown.
How many lives of usefulness,
Disheartened, crushed, to earth are lost!
How many bleeding hearts attest
The wrongs this world’s injustice costs!
And all the pity of God’s love
Does wronged and suffering virtue need.
Be patient still; Jesus above
The judge will be—not man, nor creed.
Take cheer, ye sorrowing ones below,
Through trials now—the waters deep
Shall wash your robes as white as snow,
And God’s own book the record keeps.
When earth’s account with time shall fail,
The angel’s record ALL shall see;
And truth, eternal truth, shall tell
Thy just rewards, eternity.” S. M. SPICER.
Battle Creek, Mich. Hastings, Mich
By M. B. Miller
smite his fellow-servant and to eat and drink with the drunken [become engaged in works of wickedness]; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of [he is suddenly overtaken], and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” They will be wholly engulfed by the wrath of God. But three steps are here given from the light of truth to the portion of the lost: 1. “My Lord delayeth his coming.” 2. To begin “to smite his fellow-servants.” 3. “Appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.” Lest some should take advantage of these warnings against extra care and make them an excuse for negligence, we would call attention to such scriptures as 1 Tim. 5:8; Rom. 12:17; Luke 12:19, 20. The danger generally is in the direction of hurry and care, the gratification of carnal desires, to the detriment of our spiritual welfare. We fear many will find at last that they have acted the same part that the Antediluvians did, burying deep the sweet message of the Lord in the vain things of this life. But here is the preventive. The Saviour has prescribed it: “Watch ye therefore and pray always.” Let us heed the faithful admonition, that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. M. B. MILLER. We live in an age of great light, yet it is an age of great spiritual darkness. It is an age of Bibles and good books, yet the bad books outnumber the good a hundredfold. Numerous learned and talented men are devoted to the study of the Bible, yet few of them apply its teachings, as they should, directly to our times. Religious teachers abound, and churches are built in all localities. Every Sunday joyful crowds are called to the worship of God by the musical chimes of silvery pealing bells, which send their sweet tones abroad, over hill and valley and plain. Answering to the call, the young and the old, the sober and the gay, the rich and the poor, assemble, when the weather is fine, and the Bible is explained to them, often in such a manner as to captivate and to please. Schools and institutions of learning of the highest order are open to all, and the best opportunities are offered to such as wish to improve their minds. The rail-road, the post-office, the telegraph, improved methods of carrying on business operations by means of utilizing steam power, and many useful inventions, are all combining to render this an age of wonderful progress. And our own nation, which has experienced much of the benefit of modern improvements, has grown so rapidly that it seems sometimes, like Jonah's gourd, or like a mushroom, the product of a day and a night. But with all this dazzling display of talent, learning, and wealth, what do we behold? An age of corruption, an age of blasphemy, and of covetousness such as puts to the blush the worst ages of Greece or Rome. This, the very age for humility and gratitude to God, is one of pride and ingratitude. This time of prosperity and peace is spent in extravagance and luxury, and in preparation for war. This age, rich in its commentaries on Scripture, its fulfillments of prophecy, is an age abounding in scoffers, who say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Now, just as the world is ready to cast out its dead, the living are preparing for a long and permanent possession here. Now, as the world is trembling beneath its load of sin, as it is ready to fall, to be turned upside down, and its inhabitants to be destroyed—just at this time all are lulled into a feeling of security by the song of peace and safety. Just now the ministers of ten thousand pulpits, who should utter truths startling, sublime, and solemn, truths which would awaken and alarm the lukewarm, and cause the land to tremble with repentance for its crimes, are all silent upon the most prominent Bible truths and prophecies. Silent, I said; would it were no worse than that, but the truth compels me to say that many, and indeed most, of them scoff at the message for our time. No Pharisee called more loudly for his people to crucify their Messiah than do these ministers for the crucifixion of the prophecies and the truths connected with them. Last-day reforms and last-day revivals are in bad odor with the popular churches; while spiritualism, the modern form of witchcraft, is often embraced, as an aid to the “peace-and-safety” cry. Great religious movements of the most doubtful nature are hailed as the harbingers of the golden age, while the truths of fulfilled prophecy, and the solemn warnings of the prophetic word, are treated with neglect, or with open opposition or contempt. Is there not a call for prayer, faith, and labor now? Shall we compose ourselves to rest, while the world is asleep? Is this a time to acquire wealth, or to hoard earthly treasure? Shall the cause of truth languish now? Who believes the prophecies, yet withholds his hoarded store from the cause of God? If we believe this work is of God, let us unloose the strings of our purses, and give while it will do some good. Let not the rich leave the work to be done by the poor, and by those in moderate circumstances. No; the work is vast. Let the rich give like princes, and like kings. It will not be lost. Open your hearts and your iron safes, and send on your fortunes beforehand. Do you believe the third angel's message? No doubt you do; but do you practically believe it? There are men who are worth from twenty to fifty thousand dollars, or even more, in this faith; now who would suspect it from the list of donations? Not long ago, the farmers and others of this county pledged twenty thousand dollars in a few hours to sustain a county-seat case. What was that suit to this cause? A very nothing. Can you not invest in the Lord's work? Do not fear. Our General Conference Committee will be careful of the means put into their hands, and use it to the best advantage, without per cent to agents. God will have it entered upon your cash account in Heaven; and you will be ten times as likely to follow your cash, as your cash will be to follow you. Dr. Babb writes to the Herald and Presbyter:— “In California there are mountains covered with cactus—thousands of acres that even the goats avoid, so dense are these vegetable porcupines. The cactus deserts have been regarded as worthless. But we are learning not to judge hastily that any thing is worthless that God has made. Capt. Walker, of Soledad, has just started a ninety horse-power engine, crushing cactus into pulp for making paper. He sends twenty tons of this prepared fiber every week to George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, the publisher of the Daily Ledger in that city. Mr. Childs has a paper mill of his own, and will use the cactus pulp from the deserts of the Pacific slope instead of straw. Hitherto, California has imported nearly all of its paper from the East. But this discovery will lead to the erection of paper mills here, and the production of paper so cheaply that it will bear shipment to the Atlantic Coast. The supply of cactus in our mountains is almost unlimited, and probably its use may even reduce the price of paper in the markets of the world.” “Such facts are interesting in themselves. The idea that the wild, almost untrodden slopes of the Pacific are to furnish the material on which books and newspapers are to be printed—that intelligence, genius and learning are to depend for their diffusion upon the desert thistles which are regarded as a pest, is startling. But it suggests the question—What next?” “DEAR MOTHER,” said a delicate little girl, “I have broken your china vase!” “Well, you are a naughty, careless, troublesome little thing, always in mischief—go up stairs until I send for you.” And this was a Christian mother’s answer to the tearful little culprit, who had struggled with and conquered the temptation to tell a falsehood to screen a fault. With a disappointed, disheartened look, the child obeyed; and in that moment was crushed in her little heart the sweet flower of truth, perhaps never to be revived to life! Oh, what were a thousand vases in comparison! The Danger of Slight Deviation
One of the most fatal temptations to the weak is a slight deviation from the exact truth, for the sake of apparent good. HARD TIMES.
By James White
Nobody feels the hard times more keenly than publishers, and managers of missions and charitable institutions. For as the hard times begin to close in, the people begin to economize in reading matter, and withhold their liberalities more or less. Retrenchment of expenses is almost sure to commence here, however wrong it may be, and is seldom carried out in all the expenses of life in proper proportions. But what seems to be a very great wrong is to indulge in the extravagances of life more or less, and let our publishing houses be embarrassed for want of patronage, and the prompt payment of dues, and our missions and charitable institutions suffer for the want of that very means which becoming economy and industry, and liberality on the part of those who have more than a competency, can furnish without the least embarrassment. We suggest that the cause of God and of humanity has high claims upon those Christians who are governed by the principles of supreme love to God, and love to their fellows such as they would bestow upon themselves. God has the highest claims upon our efforts and liberality, and the true Christian will guard the heart with jealous care against self-indulgence to the neglect of the good of others. And as financial matters become depressed, it is the duty of all Christian workers to guard well against commencing the retrenchment of expenses at the wrong place. Let extravagances be lopped off first. Then let little indulgencies, which in good times are quite easily construed into necessities, come next. And then let the battle of economy and industry be pressed hard, before yielding to the temptation to withhold needed support from the cause of God. Our Publishing Association is embarrassed for the want of the very means which justice demands. Let it be borne in mind that the S. D. A. Publishing Association, located at Battle Creek, Mich., is a strong institution, doing a great work, and asks no donations. It asks only for prompt payment of bills, and cheerful co-operation of our ministers and people. And, that the parties concerned may have a clear understanding of what these lines mean, bills of indebtedness will be sent to them as soon as they can be made out. 1. There are from five to ten thousand dollars due the Association for books which should be paid immediately. Those who have asked publications of the Association on trust, and have received them in this way by the kindness of the managers, and through their anxiety to spread the truth abroad, and now withhold the pay, are taking upon themselves a responsibility which they are invited to view in the light of the Judgment. God calls no man to engage in his cause in a manner to render it impossible or impracticable for him to meet just claims against him. While it is a virtue to be liberal with one's own means, it is a sin to be liberal, or to take undue license, with the means of others. We urge that each and every bill of indebtedness may be met with a prompt response of some kind. Payment in whole or in part at least will be the most acceptable. 2. The Publishing Association let the Educational Society have $10,000 and took the unpaid pledges to the College, amounting to $15,000, as security. Most of those pledges are still unpaid, leaving the Publishing Association embarrassed to nearly the amount first borrowed. Instead of the proposed Supplement this week, bills of indebtedness will be issued to delinquents, stating the sums of their delinquencies on their pledges. We ask an immediate response to the bills. Those who cannot pay the amount of their pledges at once, are asked to state their circumstances, and say when they will pay. And those who have not taken stock in our College are urged to take shares, from one to one hundred. Mrs. W. and the writer take one hundred each. These stock shares are only $10, and almost every brother and sister can take one or more. We shall go through the camp, and make a grand rally at all our camp-meetings. Because Mrs. W. and the writer objected to unqualified calls, and means from the poor, some of the more wealthy are withholding. What astonishing blindness comes over the minds of some men and women! Be it understood that we have objected to only those general, unqualified calls which greatly move the poor, and slide off from the wealthy as water from an oiled goose's back. Most of our more wealthy people can stand almost any amount of these general calls, while the poor wilt under them at once, and from their small purses begin to cash over without delay. Our plan is to go right into the camp with personal labor, and keep back the willing poor from doing too much, and carefully and faithfully see that the more wealthy do not do too little. Less than $50,000 has been paid in for our College. We have not the slightest idea of letting this matter rest short of $100,000. But what is especially urged just now is the payment of pledges by all who can raise the money easier than the Association can do without it, and that all those interested, who have no unpaid pledges, shall take stock in the school according to their ability and that, too, without further delay. Our friends have a double inducement to cash over just now, in that while they are doing their duty to our School, they are also greatly relieving our Publishing Association. 3. Our periodicals greatly suffer for want of liberal patronage. As stated last week, we have been greatly disappointed that our liberal offers of discount should fail to awaken corresponding liberality on the part of our people. The full-paying lists of all our periodicals have become greatly reduced in our efforts to send out as many copies in addition at half price. It is astonishing that many who have professed to work for God in his great cause have seemed to act as if what they got out of the publishing department was clear gain. In the case of our periodicals it came to this, that at a certain point we were sending out at half price of the Voice of Truth, and of the Review, about 11,000 copies, and of the Review at full price, about 4,000 copies. After adding to this the payment of postage, the financial strain upon the Office was very great. At the same time we were sending out 7,000 copies of the Health Reformer at fifty cents a year, and paying postage, and a little more than 3,000 copies at one dollar a year, postage paid. We had put $1,200 into the hands of a young man to complete his medical education, which he has done with honors, and he has paid it back to us in editing the Reformer three years. In this case the strain has not come upon the Publishing Association, but upon the writer, who being ignorant of the real facts in the case, how the lists of full-pay subscribers were being undermined, appropriated $600 the last winter from his own purse to meet the expenses of three of our young men as medical students at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the delusive expectation of profits on the Reformer. But it turned out nearly $300 loss on the Reformer alone for less than one year. Now, with these facts before us, the reader will please imagine our feelings of disgust at the course of the professed friends of health reform who seek to obtain the Reformer one year, post-paid, for fifty cents; or the person who has been benefited greatly healthwise by the teachings of the Reformer, and now graduates, and stops the Reformer to save one dollar a year; or those ministers, and other persons, who can act as agents for the Reformer without additional expenses, but ask premium of one-half. These persons are fully uninformed as to the efforts and sacrifices we have made for the Health Reformer, the Health Institute, and the Health Reformation, and of their importance; this is the only excuse we can frame for their stingy course. And now that the editing and publishing of the Reformer are off our hands we feel free to state the facts in the case in plain English. All who know anything of the Instructor, in its present size, excellent matter, able manner in which it is edited, and beauty of stock and typographical execution, will unhesitatingly pronounce it the very best youth's paper in existence. And yet for want of proper co-operation it has a circulation of only 6,000 copies, a large share at half price, and cheaper even than this to Sabbath-schools, postage-paid. There should be 5,000 subscribers each paying fifty cents. Then it could be offered to Sabbath-schools, and to Tract Societies, and to individuals to send to their friends at half-price. We recommend 1. That our ministers preach one discourse on the subject of patronizing our periodicals at full price in all our churches, showing the importance of this in order that our papers can be sent out to the unbelieving world at one-half price. 2. That these ministers to a man act as agents for our periodicals, pressing them in everywhere possible at full price, under a full sense that our periodicals and publications add to their labors in building up the cause nine-tenths; and that the more full-paying subscribers they forward, the more help the tract and missionary workers can have, from our Offices of Publication. 3. That our ministers set a good example of free labor, and care, and deep interest, in pressing our publications upon all our people at full price, to our Tract and Missionary workers who labor in the missionary field, to the expense of time, and often traveling expenses, without any pay. What if the times are hard? Then we must all, in sympathy with all branches of the work, press the battle with more energy. Hard times indeed are coming when we shall be ashamed of our present excuses for withholding our means, and of our lack of energetic action in behalf of the suffering cause of truth. And it should be borne in mind by all those connected with our institutions, and by all laborers in the gospel field, that hard times for money make cheap times for board and clothing. The existence of the hard times alone demands of them economy, and putting up with reduced wages; but when cheap times be added, the case is very clear that justice demands reduction of pay. More about this next week. THE SANCTUARY.
By Uriah Smith
Thirtieth Paper.—Between the Cherubim.
And still another attempt is made to find an objection to the view we advocate, that Christ commenced his ministry as priest in the first apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven when he ascended up on high. It is framed on this wise: God is spoken of as dwelling between the cherubim. These cherubim were on the ends of the mercy-seat which was the cover of the ark; and the ark was always in the most holy place, or second apartment of the sanctuary. This, therefore, being God's fixed location, when Christ ascended up to the right hand of the Father on high, he of necessity entered where God was, into the most holy place, and hence did not commence his ministry in the holy place. The passages which contain the expression, “Between the cherubim,” are the following: Ex. 25:22; Num. 7:89; 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; Isa. 37:16; Ps. 80:1; 99:1; Eze. 10:2, 6, 7. It will be noticed that all are from Old Testament writers. The first four refer directly to the ark of the tabernacle. Of the remaining passages, two refer to the one expression made by Hezekiah in his prayer, and two are used by David, the three being evidently borrowed from the sanctuary service. The passages from Ezekiel record what he saw when he had visions of God. Before these passages can be made available for our opponents, it must be shown, First, That God immovably fixed himself to that position between the cherubim on the ark, and did not meet or commune with his people from any other place. But this is contrary to the record; for at times he met both with Moses and the children of Israel at the door of the tabernacle. Ex. 29:42, 43; 33:9, 10. And again, was God dwelling between the cherubim of the ark when the sons of Eli rashly took it out to battle, and it fell into the hands of the Philistines? It must be shown, Secondly, That even though God did meet and commune with his servants from between the cherubim of the ark here below, so much so that it is spoken of as his dwelling-place, it must also be so in Heaven. But this would not inevitably follow; for in his intercourse with men this might be the best mode of procedure, but not necessarily so in Heaven. It must be shown, Thirdly, That the cherubim between whom God dwells on high are the cherubim of the ark. But this cannot be shown; for it appears from Ezekiel's vision of God and his throne, in Eze., chapters 1 and 10, that the throne of God itself is a living throne, supported by the most exalted order of cherubim. And the most appropriate representation of this fact that could be given here on earth was to designate the locality between the cherubim over the ark, as his dwelling place in his ordinary intercourse with the human race. It must be shown, Fourthly, That God's throne in Heaven is immovably fixed to one place. But this cannot be shown; for in Ezekiel's vision above referred to it is represented as full of awful life and unapproachable majesty, and moving whithersoever the Spirit was to go. And as in the earthly tabernacle, so here, it sometimes stood at the door of the Lord's house. Eze. 10:18, 19. It must be shown, Fifthly, That the declaration that Christ ascended to the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the Heavens, signifies locality, rather than position in respect to exaltation and power. But this cannot be shown; for even when Christ appears coming in the clouds of heaven, he is said to be sitting on the right hand of power. Matt. 27:64. Thus the argument of our opponents fails them at every step. We have seen from Ezekiel's sublime description that God's throne is in itself a throne of life and motion. The Creator of the universe, the Upholder and Ruler of all this vast realm, is not immovably confined to any one locality. And yet he dwells between the cherubim, because his throne itself is upheld by those wonderful beings. We now have evidence to show that when Christ commenced his ministry above, on the throne of his Father, that throne was in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. 1. John says, in the 4th chapter of the Revelation, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven.” He thus introduces us, not merely into Heaven, but into some apartment in Heaven. Therein he saw the throne of God, in all its majesty and glory, and before the throne he beheld seven lamps of fire, which are, beyond question, the antitype of the candlestick with its seven lamps, which had its position in the holy place or first apartment of the sanctuary. Christ is then introduced into the scene, described both as the lion of the tribe of Judah, and as a lamb as it had been slain, signifying at once his sacrificial work as priest, and his position of exaltation and power with God; and he takes the book sealed with seven seals, and begins to break the seals and unroll the book for the benefit of his people. And the first seal opens with the first, or apostolic, church. Thus the scene opens with the commencement of Christ's ministry, and at that time the throne of God was in the first apartment of the sanctuary, where the antitype of the golden candlestick was seen. 2. This view of the matter is rendered sure by the testimony of Rev. 11:19, which declares that the temple of God where the ark is, the most holy place, was not opened till the sounding of the seventh trumpet, near the end of all earthly kingdoms. The scene of Rev. 4, where John first beheld the throne of God, was therefore certainly not in the most holy place. 3. The opening of the investigative Judgment is brought to view in Dan. 7:9, 10. And it is said that at that time “the Ancient of days did sit.” The word here rendered “did sit,” signifies both in Hebrew and in the Greek of the Septuagint, according to Gesenius and Liddell and Scott, “to sit enthroned,” or “as judges to sit in court.” Had not the Ancient of days been seated upon his throne before this? Certainly; but the language clearly indicates that he here took a new position for a new purpose. Some move is therefore made on the part of the Father when the Judgment scene opens. He then occupies a position which he did not occupy before. 4. The relation of Christ to this move on the part of the Father, is indicated in verse 13: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,” &c. This is not Christ's second coming to earth; for the Ancient of days is not here; but he came to the Ancient of days in Heaven; and came to receive dominion and a kingdom, which he will receive at the conclusion of his work as priest, but will not receive till then. This therefore brings to view a scene to transpire near, and at, the conclusion of Christ's work as priest. We have seen Christ on the throne with the Father in the holy place. But we have seen the Father changing his position and opening a new scene, a scene of Judgment. To do this he must first move to the place where this scene is to transpire. Then Christ, as the second essential actor in the scene, is escorted by a multitude of heavenly beings, surrounding him like clouds of glory, into the presence of the Ancient of days in his new position, according to Dan. 7:13. On the supposition of a change of ministration from the holy to the most holy place of the Heavenly Sanctuary near the close of Christ's work therein, all these statements and movements have their appropriate37 place and explanation; but on no other ground can they be harmonized or explained. Thus it becomes more and more apparent that the view that Christ entered the most holy place when he ascended, is at every step at war with both reason and Scripture; while every objection to the view that he commenced his ministry in the first apartment vanishes at the slightest touch; for God can dwell between the cherubim, and Christ be at his right hand, and both be, nevertheless, in the holy place.