THE Quarterly Meeting at Washington, N. H., was one of interest, and, I trust, profit. The brethren seemed to feel the importance of putting forth a greater effort to overcome. A good representation was present from South Lancaster, Mass., New Ipswich, Blakeville, and Amherst, N. H., also the isolated ones in that section.
We were much cheered by the presence of Bro. Cornell, and by his preaching. He had ordered a tent to be made in Boston, to cost about $500.00, and was waiting for it. A subscription paper, with $220.00 already pledged, was presented by him, and $17.50 was pledged and partly paid, at this meeting. Since then I have also received pledges for $47.20 more. There is a mind to work among the brethren in Southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts. They stand ready to pay their own expenses, run a tent if thought best, and have an interest in every department of this work.
Besides the above, I have received in pledges, a portion of which is paid, on the Foreign Mission fund about $100.00.
At this meeting I was chosen treasurer of the tent fund. Brethren wishing to pay their pledges, or others wishing to subscribe on the tent, can direct to me at South Lancaster, Mass. In due time the money received will all be credited in the REVIEW.
I now go to Rhode Island. S. N. HASKELL.
July 11, 1869.
MARY J. SHATTUCK
By Mary J. Shattuck
From Br. Shattuck.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: To-day is my birthday, and I am determined, the Lord being my helper, to live in that way and manner the coming year, that the angels shall have better things to write in the book above, than last year. I am weak, but He is strong, and I feel this morning to put my trust in him, and follow him through evil as well as good report. My resolutions were never stronger than they are this morning to go through to Mount Zion with those that travel in the straight and narrow way. I love the commandments, I love the holy Sabbath day, and believe it is the seal of the living God. I believe if we truly love the Saviour we will do the Father's commandments, and I do not see how he can bless us unless we do.
Yours trying to overcome.
MARY J. SHATTUCK
Encouragement to Seek the Lord
By Wm. V. Field
From Bro. Field.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: The love of Christ constrains me to pen a few lines to you, hoping if possible to encourage you to seek the Lord more fully. I am trying to live the truth before a wicked and perverse generation; to walk with God, and receive this testimony, that my ways please him. This I realize takes great self-denial and consecration, but by God's grace I am sufficient for the task.
Nine years have passed away since I embraced the message, and still I love the truth that has made us near by the blood of Christ. I am endeavoring to gain an experience that will sustain me in the hour of temptation. It has been a long time since I have heard from many of you. I love to hear of your welfare and your experience in the truth. I may never see many of you in this our pilgrimage, but for this am I laboring, that I may meet you when the Saviour comes, to forever enjoy the fruit of our labor.
Wm. V. Field.
Anamosa, July 10, 1869.
S. O. JAMES
By S. O. James
From Bro. James.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: Allow me to give my testimony in favor of Jesus, and the present truth. It has been two months since I commenced trying to keep the commandments. I have many temptations and a very wicked heart to contend with. But I still feel like trying to be an overcomer. When I think how our dear Saviour was tempted and sorely tried, I feel like taking fresh courage.
I write from Sigourney, because I am attending meeting at this place. My home is near Indianola, in this State. I have attended nine meetings since I came; they were very interesting indeed. There has been no meeting the last two evenings on account of heavy rains.
I am trying to obtain true wisdom which alone will fit us for usefulness here and happiness hereafter. The only method of obtaining this wisdom is by becoming unreservedly submissive to the will of God who is the author of our being and the source from which all our blessings are derived. He should be the Man of our counsel at all times and in all places. He is always willing to impart divine aid, to enlighten the understanding of those who are his true servants, and who are devoting their lives to his service by improving their talents, and by availing themselves of all lawful means in their power for the furtherance of the gospel. For our rule of faith and practice we are commanded to take his holy word, which is all-sufficient and lacks not anything wherewith we may become true followers of Christ. The all-important end is to be willing to abide by what it teaches; to bring ourselves into subjection to its precepts and requirements. This can be done only by sincerely invoking the aid of his Holy Spirit, and then by making every possible effort on our part to carry out the same. If we fall back, or depend upon any theory or system of our own understanding, that moment we become an easy prey to the enemy of souls.
S. O. JAMES
The Tongue.
THERE are but ten precepts of the law of God, says Leighton, and two of them, so far as concerns the outward organ and vent of the sins there forbidden, are bestowed on the tongue, (one in the first table, and the other in the second,) as though it were ready to fly out both against God and man if not thus bridled.
Pythagoras used to say that a wound from the tongue is worse than a wound from a sword; for the latter affects only the body, the former the spirit—the soul.
It was a remark of Anacharsis, that the tongue was at the same time the best part of man, and the worst; that with good government, none is more useful, and without it, none more mischievous.
Boerhaave, says Dr. Johnson, was never soured by calumny and detraction, nor ever thought it necessary to confute them; “For,” said he, “they are sparks which, if you do not blow them, will go out of themselves.”
We cannot, says Cato, control the evil tongues of others, but a good life enables us to despise them.
Slander, says Lacon, cannot make the subjects of it either better or worse. It may represent us in a false light, or place a likeness of us in a bad one. But we are the same. Not so the slanderer; the slander that he utters makes him worse, the slandered never.
No one, says Jerome, loves to tell a tale of scandal except to him who loves to hear it. Learn then to rebuke and check the detracting tongue, by showing that you do not listen to it with pleasure.
No man sees the wallet on his own back, says the old proverb, alluding to the fable of the traveler with two packs; the one before stuffed with the faults of his neighbors—the one behind with his own.
It was a maxim of Euripides either to keep silence, or to speak something better than silence.
St. James says, the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Obituary Notices.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.
DIED, in Manlius, Onondaga Co., N. Y., May 17, 1869, widow Abigail E. Gridley, aged 89 years. Sr. G., with her companion, was among the early settlers of the town of Manlius, she having resided in that town sixty-nine years. She professed religion in early life, and embraced the present truth about nineteen years since. She was an ardent lover of the Sabbath of the Lord, and of the doctrine of immortality alone through Christ. She was a consistent Christian, and the blessed hope sustained her in her declining years. FREDERICK WHEELER.
DIED, in Odessa, Ionia Co., Mich., July 11, 1869, of typhoid fever, after an illness of 24 days, Anna L., youngest child of John and Lucinda Lunger, aged 7 years, 11 months and 4 days.
May this affliction, which has fallen so heavily upon the parents and two sisters, be sanctified to their eternal welfare. Prayers were offered and a few remarks made on the occasion of the funeral by Bro. F. Howe, of Orange. S. C. PERRY.
DIED, July 14, at the house of Bro. S. B. Craig, in Hamlin, Monroe Co., N. Y., sister Sarah Jane Seaman, aged 41 years, and 11 months. Sister Seaman has been an Adventist since 1844, and a Sabbath-keeper since 1852. Her painful disease, the dropsy, was endured without murmuring, and she died in hope of a part in the first resurrection. Funeral at her old home in Pittsford. Discourse by the writer from Rev. xiv, 13. E. B. SAUNDERS.
DIED, in Ingham, Mich., May 10, 1869, of disease of the heart and brain, my beloved husband, Alfred W. Powelson, aged 49 years. He died in hope of having a part in the first resurrection. MARY POWELSON.
LAURA M. ALEXANDER
By Laura M. Alexander
From Br. Alexander.
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I feel thankful that my life has been spared to see the days I now see, when everything foretells the coming of Him who has gone to prepare mansions for all who love his appearing. It is my daily prayer that I may be one of the happy subjects, that, when my Lord shall come, shall hear the welcome, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.
My pen cannot tell the feeling of gratitude I owe to God in opening the eyes of my understanding to know my duty; and by his grace I desire to keep his holy commandments. It is my delight to observe his holy Sabbath, although deprived of the privilege of meeting with those of like faith.
I am a firm believer in the third angel's message. I believe it to be the last message of mercy to the world. I feel a hope within, while I write, which buoys my mind above earth's transitory things. I feel this is not my abode; but when this earth is made new, I hope then, with all the saints in light, to range the blissful fields of the new earth and see my Saviour as he is.
Yours in hope of eternal life.
LAURA M. ALEXANDER
Lamoille Co., Vt.
Worthy of Notice.
The following from the Detroit Post of July 1, is commended to the attention of those who think they cannot get along without the flesh of dead animals for food. If they have no pity for the poor suffering creatures that are subjected to such brutal treatment as this article describes, they should have some regard for their own health, and some sense of danger to themselves from the use of such diseased flesh as food. If the readers of the REVIEW desire to escape sharing in such occurrences, let them use as food those things which “GOD HATH CREATED TO BE RECEIVED WITH THANKSGIVING,” which are fully set forth in the record of the creation. Gen. i, 29. But here is the article from the Post:
“It is reported that an entire car load of calves and sheep, transported over the Morris & Essex railroad, in New Jersey, were discovered to be dead of suffocation and thirst, upon the arrival of the train at Newark. This is horrible, whether viewed as cruelty to animals or to men; for, if these poor beasts had not quite expired, they would have been butchered and their flesh sold to consumers, hot with fever and thirst. Indeed, no doubt much of the meat sold and consumed in large cities dependent upon railroads for their supplies, is the flesh of animals which have undergone the pangs of thirst, hunger, suffocation, and innumerable bruises, while being transported to market. The laws and courts should inflict severe penalties upon half a dozen or more railroads offending in this inhuman manner, if not for the sake of the tortured brutes, at least for the benefit of the men and women who are to eat their flesh. Recently we were told of a whole train-load of cattle, which had been allowed to travel sixty hours over a certain railroad without either food or water. Such incidents are a disgrace to our civilization, and a dishonor to the State which allows them to go unpunished when occurring within its jurisdiction.”
Unconscious Selfishness.
By Henry Ward Beecher
THERE is not a little unconscious selfishness in the matter of politeness. Although there is on the froth of what is called politeness a great deal that is foolish; yet politeness, in its true signification, is only another name for Christianity socially applied; and good sense and etiquette are, in point of fact, Christian equity and kindness. In the code of politeness there are many things forbidden, and many things enjoined, which men who do not consider themselves to be disciples of the school of politeness need to have told them. We that stand in favored positions of society, often judge those that have no position, as if they could act as we act. We do not consider that their circumstances make it hard, if not impossible, for them to do things that we can do easily. The position a man is in makes a difference in little things. A robust man that is healthy in every bone and muscle, must take care as to what he requires of those that are sick and weak. If a man's nerves are like whip-cords, what contempt he has for a nervous and hysterical person. And yet, I take it that persons who are hysterical and nervous are not so because they like it, but because they cannot help it. A blind man is not so well off as if he could see; but if he is blind, what are you going to do about it? It is a fact that a man who has no skin over his nerves, has no skin over his nerves, and that he suffers; and you that wear rhinoceros hides are not to despise him because he cannot bear as much as you can.
There is unconscious selfishness, likewise, in the use of language. The pain inflicted by the tongue is far greater, I think, than the pleasure imparted by it. Rudeness of every kind in language is liable to produce great and unnecessary pain. All the good there is in decisiveness, directness, or brevity, is perfectly compatible with being essentially kind. But persons who do wrong from ignorance and inexperience are often censured. Many a word drops a seed from us and grows up a thorn-bush in the soul on which it falls.—Henry Ward Beecher in Herald of Health.
Watch unto Prayer.
If we would but watch, we should find the most urgent necessity for prayer. If our eyes were attent upon the dangers of our situation to really take them in, how should we wrestle with God for help. Could we but take a partial view of our own lack of heavenly grace, and our great unlikeness to the pattern which we must imitate, we certainly should call on God in such a manner as we are not accustomed to do. Our case is really of the most urgent character. Our danger is imminent and appalling. We have but a brief moment in which to seek God. How many of us, like Jonah, spend it asleep? And how forcible in our cases are the words of the shipmaster addressed to him: “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God.”
The Oath of the Angel.
THE mighty angel of Rev. x, 6, swears “by Him that liveth forever and ever.” “The man clothed in linen,” of Dan. xii, 7, swears “by Him that liveth forever.” This form of oath is certainly worthy of special notice. It implies that there is but one such being who of himself is capable of thus living to all eternity. He is represented in Rev. x, 6, as the one who created all things. Now we see by the use of this term that God alone has this self-existent, immortal nature. He is the one who liveth forever and ever. If others live thus, it must be by his gift. And this gift is dependent on the fitness of those who receive it, to honor him by their thus living forever. Surely immortality is the gift of God.
What God Designed, and What Satan Effected.
“FOR GOD made man to be immortal; and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the Devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.” Wisdom of Solomon ii, 23, 24.
Does not this present the truth in a nutshell?
Owosso and Otsego Camp-Meetings
By James White
Brn. Smith and Littlejohn are at Owosso with my tent, and report favorably for camp-meeting at that place. The brethren at Otsego also suggest that the camp-meeting be at that place. Why not have two camp-meetings? one at Owosso and the other at Otsego?
JAMES WHITE.
The New Hymn Book.
By James White
An effort is now being made to get this book bound well, and in sufficient quantity to furnish all at the several Camp-meetings of the season. No pains is being spared to have the work of binding well done. We have tried some half dozen binderies with small lots, charging them all to do durable work. Some have failed to do this, and, of course, we give them no more work. We shall do the best we can, and then if persons complain, we shall try to suffer it patiently. We would, however, enjoy it better, could we, when we do the best we can, have the co-operation of all, and not suffer under the results of their unreasonable faultfinding. Some persons seem to be just a pattern for that kind of business. And if they cannot be cured, they must be endured.
JAMES WHITE.
To the S. B. Treasurers of Minn.
By Henry F. Phelps
AS THE conference year is now closed, you will please send in the church and financial reports and pledges. Also the reports for the last quarter, just past.
HENRY F. PHELPS, Sec.
Pine Island, Minn.
Appointments.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
PROVIDENCE permitting, I will hold meetings at Montgomery, Vt., on the West hill, July 31 and Aug. 1, 1869; East Richford, Aug. 7 and 8; Irasburg, Aug. 14 and 15; Sutton, Aug. 18; and Compton, P. Q., Aug. 21 and 22. Brethren and sisters, come to these meetings praying that God may give us a reviving time in every place.
A. C. BOURDEAU.
THE next Monthly Meeting for Western New York, will be held at Olcott, on the second Sabbath and first-day in August, 1869.
E. B. SAUNDERS.
THE next Monthly Meeting of the Johnstown, Little Prairie, and Oakland churches, will be held at Johnstown, Wis., July 31 and Aug. 1, 1869. It seems to be very important that some minister attend this meeting.
A. B. WILLIAMS.
No Time to Waste.
By Jos. Clarke
As WE near the close of probation, how precious does the time seem to us! Every day, every hour, seems involved with new and unspeakable interest and importance.
No one who views these things aright can sleep over this subject. From the standpoint the S. D. Adventists now occupy, a flood of light is thrown upon prophecy, and shines with radiance upon our pathway. If ever a people were thoroughly warned, we are that people. For many years light has been steadily increasing, and now we realize that probation is about to close. Not many years, perhaps months, will pass before our High Priest will cease to minister before the ark.
A little time remains; a few fleeting years or months, and all is over. What is the scorn of the world to us now? What will it be then? Let me anticipate the time when mercy retires, and justice steps upon the platform. Why should we not anticipate that day? it will surely come: a day of wrath, day of grief and sorrow. The idler in seed-time is the beggar in harvest; why? because he does not anticipate. Anticipate, I say; anticipate the worst, and so realize the best. Anticipate the wrath, and so, in time, supplicate for mercy. So does the thrifty farmer inspire his children with enthusiasm for labor by telling them of the want, and hunger, and poverty, in the future of the idler. So we will look forward and realize the future, and thus nerve our hearts to perform the duties of the present. JOS. CLARKE.
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the REVIEW & HERALD to which the money receipted pays, which should correspond with the numbers on the Posters. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should then be given.
$1.00 each. B H Kynett 35-1, Maria Bates 34-1, Betsey Lovett 36-1, Nelson Calkins 34-15, O G Satterlee 35-1, Mary W Thompson 36-1, Ira T Day 35-1, A Munson 34-1, Mrs Nancy Warner 36-8, Joseph Ball 35-10, C Jensen 35-1, A York 35-1, B M Hibbard 35-1, S Rouse 36-1, H O Wilkinson 36-1, Mrs R Tarwater 36-1, Wm Prothers 36-1.
$2.00 each. W S Salisbury 36-1, S H Houser 36-1, O F Brockway 36-3, Betsey Reed 36-1, A Belden 36-1, M S Burnham 35-15, M Satterlee 36-1, L H Densmore 36-1, L N Lawrence 36-1, Maggie A Stroud 34-1, M F Dibble 36-1, L Schellhous 36-4, C W Lindsay 36-1, H Lindsay 36-1, Eliza Timothy 35-1, W W Freer 36-8, Geo Bates 36-6, J A Laughhead 36-1, F Carlin 35-1, E C Rich 36-1, Hiram Witter 36-1, D C Demarest 36-1, Arba Smith 35-17.
Miscellaneous. M L Alexander 75c 36-1, Polly Leach $3.00 36-15, E Mugford $4.00 37-14, D H Sanborn $4.00 36-1, S W Herrig 50c 36-4, E I Guilford 3.00 36-18, J Pashley 5.00 37-1, W Waters 1.50 36-1, Abigail Rogers 5.00 36-7, M D Brewer 4.00 36-9, E S Brooks 50c 36-1, Mrs M Ball 50c 36-1, Miss M Brooks 50c 36-1, J M Hall 1.50 34-1, A Hamilton 3.00 36-1, J W Thorpe 50c 35-1.
Books Sent by Mail.
Lucy M Squires 20c, T Burgess $4, E Rice 25c, A Rice 25c, C Curtis 30c, B Dolley 30c, E Shell 30c, M E Crumb 20c, S H Houser $1.37, L Gardner $1.12, S Collins 72c, Mary J Shattuck $1, C C Van Doren 25c, D H Snow 25c, O F Brockway 25c, J L Wood 25c, S W Herrig 25c, J A Smith 25c, J W Snyder $1.12, C G Satterlee $1.12, N Orcutt $1, A Woodruff $1, H M Kenyon $1.25, J W Raymond 25c, A M Preston 12c, A York 38c, B M Osgood 10c, D T Evans $1, J A Laughhead $2.75, O K Farnsworth $4.87, F Carlin $1, Mrs S Lathrop $1.62, E J Hatfield 12c, N Hodges $1.44, J M Rhodes $1.12, T H Gibson $1, M Whisler 25c, L Filer 25c, A W Smith 35c.
Books Sent by Express.
Uriah Smith, Owasso, Mich., $42.29.
Cash Received on Account.
A A Fairfield $3.00, E Brackett jr $2.25, E F Cottrell 17c, W Sutliff $9.00.
Received on Book and Tract Fund.
O F Brockway $5, A Woodruff $2.00.
General Conference Missionary Fund.
A friend $6.00.
Michigan Conference Fund.
Church at Wright $100.00, South Genoa $14.55, Jackson $40.00.
Benevolent Fund.
A Woodruff $2.00.
Foreign Missionary Fund.
Julia M Rhodes $1.13, Betsey Carpenter 50c, Geo Bates 50c, B M Hibbard $1.00, M B Cyphers $5.00, J A Smith $5.00, A Rathbun 10c, A friend $5.00, F C Castle $5.00, Betsey Reed $3.00, Benj Wood $1.00, W Thompson $1.00, Erastus Elmer $1.00, Susan Elmer $1.00, C M Cottrell $5.00, J W Raymond $5.00, J G Lamson $5.00, Herman Lindsay $5.00, Wm Potter $5.00, Eliza J Potter $1.00, Sally A Hoffman $5.00, Geo Crownheart $2.50, Cornelia Stringer 50c, Jane Crownheart $2.50, C W Lindsay $5.00.
Religion in Individual Hearts
THERE is just so much religion in the world as there is in individual hearts.