James White
THE ADVENT REVIEW,
AND SABBATH HERALD.
“Here is the Patience of the Saints; Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.”
VOL. VI. - ROCHESTER, N.Y., THIRD-DAY, DECEMBER 19, 1854. - NO. 18.
No Authorcode
IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY
At South St. Paul -st., Stone’s Block.
TERMS.-One Dollar a Year, in Advance.
J. N. ANDREWS, R. F. COTTRELL, URIAH SMITH,
Publishing Committee.
JAMES WHITE, Editor.
All communications, orders, and remittances should be addressed to JAMES WHITE Rochester, N. Y. 109 Monroe Street, (post-paid.)
JWe
The Bible, and the Bible alone, the rule of faith and duty.
The Law of God, as taught in the Old and New Testaments, unchangeable.
The Personal Advent of Christ and the Resurrection of the Just, before the Millennium.
The Earth restored to its Eden perfection and glory, the final Inheritance of the Saints.
Immortality alone through Christ, to be given to the Saints at the Resurrection. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.1
JWe
My God, my Father, while I stray
Far from my home on life’s rough way,
O, teach me from my heart to say,
“Thy will, my God, be done.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.2
Though dark my path, and sad my lot,
Let me be still and murmur not;
And breathe the prayer divinely taught,
“Thy will, my God, be done.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.3
What though in lonely grief I sigh,
For friends beloved no longer nigh,
Submissive still would I reply,
“Thy will, my God, be done.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.4
If thou should’st call me to resign,
What most I prize, it ne’er was mine,
I only yield thee what was thine.
“Thy will, my God, be done.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.5
Should pining sickness waste away,
My life in premature decay -
In life or death, teach me to say,
“Thy will, my God, be done.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.6
Renew my will from day to day,
Blend it with thine and take away
Whate’er now makes it hard to say,
“Thy will, my God, be done.” [Selected. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.7
JWe
BY D. P. HALL
[Continued.] ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.8
JWe
When immortal-soulism cannot sustain itself without an appeal is made to those scriptures which are supposed to teach an eternity of misery to the wicked, all who urge objections from this point, reason something like this: The wicked are threatened with eternal life in misery, i.e., eternal conscious existence in torments, either mental or physical as the case may be; therefore the wicked in the present life have immortal souls. Immortal soul arguments are remarkably convenient, they can run round in a circle just to suit the occasion. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.9
The soul is immortal; therefore the wicked will be tormented forever and ever. The wicked will be tormented forever and ever; therefore the soul is immortal: first make an assumption and then deduct a conclusion as proved; then assume again, and prove the first assumption, and so on. How very convenient and easy. The first assumption is proved by making another. I can hardly refrain from treating this matter as it seems to deserve; i.e., ridiculously. I hardly know how far a serious Christian may go, and have the approbation of God, in treating upon such frivolous objections. I will however try my very best to treat all objections candidly. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.10
And now to the objections drawn from those scriptures which threaten punishment to the wicked. The positions which we lay down as scriptural in this investigation are these: All men righteous and wicked in the present life are mortal. The righteous only will be made immortal. The immortal-soul advocates undertake to meet these positions something like this: ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.11
In popular theology the wicked are represented as living forever in misery. This is affirmed as their final doom for impenitence. In order to this it is urged, they must have immortal souls. I cannot see that this must necessarily follow. All may be mortal in the present life, the righteous and the wicked, and all, both wicked and righteous, may be made immortal at the resurrection. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.12
The one class live forever in bliss, and the other class live forever in misery; and all this pertains to the entire, organized man, or being, and not to an abstract ghost, or disembodied soul. I repeat it, that I cannot see that it must necessarily follow that because the wicked are represented as living forever in misery, they must therefore have immortal souls. But our immortal-soul friends seem almost universally to admit by their modes of argumentation, that if they cannot sustain the immortality of the soul, all must go by the board, their Hell of eternal misery and all. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.13
I would not be misunderstood at this point. I say all this might be, but the man who asserts it, must at the same time take upon himself the labor of proving it from the Bible. I will at this point in the investigation, present and examine those texts which are relied upon as proving the soul immortal from the consideration that the wicked are threatened with eternal misery as the penalty for sin. It might be stated something in this form: The wicked will live forever in misery; therefore they have immortal souls. If the premise is proved untrue, the conclusion must of course be unsound. I cannot see any necessary connection as I have before remarked, between this premise and conclusion; but I will be content to show the premise untrue from the word of God. I will select those scriptures which are most frequently quoted, and most firmly relied upon as proving eternal misery, and thereby, in the estimation of many, proving the immortality of the soul. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.14
The first one presented for examination is the threatening of Jesus, recorded, Matthew 25:46. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.15
It is urged by the objector that eternal misery is as clearly proved from the threatening of “eternal punishment,” as eternal happiness is by the promise of “eternal life.” Let me humbly submit to such an one that neither the one nor the other is asserted at all by our Saviour. “Eternal punishment” is placed over against “eternal life.” (Not eternal misery over against eternal happiness.) But it may be asserted, that although it is not so said, it so means. The Bible then in this instance stands corrected by such an one. This is taking higher ground than I care about. Humility, such as becoming a christian, requires that we humbly inquire after the sayings of the great Teacher, and try to ascertain the sense which attaches to them, by a careful comparison of one with another, rather than substituting our own peculiar notions in their place. Why not let the matter stand just as the great Teacher has left it, and believe it just as it stands? The wicked shall have an everlasting (eternal) punishment: the righteous shall have an everlasting (eternal) life. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.16
Now it is urged by the objector that just as certainly as the righteous will have eternal bliss or happiness, the wicked will have eternal misery. Why continue to substitute happiness for life, and misery for punishment? Unless this is done, the whole force of the objection is lost. For punishment is penalty without any reference to its nature: it may be torture, fine, imprisonment, deprivation or death, or any other thing awarded in vengeance of crime. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.17
Now let me respectfully submit to one and all, that when it is proved that the wicked will be punished with an everlasting punishment, nothing whatever is determined with reference to its nature. The question touching the nature of the punishment is still an open one. Our Saviour promised the righteous eternal life. This becomes the basis of all other things promised them in the Scriptures. Unless they have this, all other things promised would be of no account. He threatened the wicked with an everlasting (or eternal) punishment, without naming the nature of the penalty at all. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.18
Now to ascertain its nature, we must consult other scriptures. Where in the Book is future punishment declared to be torture to all eternity? It is not future limited torture, but never-ending torture. Where? I ask again. But it is very dogmatically affirmed by those who assert this as teaching eternal misery, that the penalty threatened the wicked is placed precisely over against the promised reward of the righteous. Now what is precisely the opposite of eternal life? Is it not eternal death, or eternal deprivation of life? Most certainly. Is eternal life in misery precisely the opposite of eternal life? Who will thus contend after looking the matter fairly in the face? No one, I would charitably believe. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.19
If the position almost unanimously and universally taken touching this text by immortal-soulists, be faithfully carried out, it will deprive them of their eternal misery, and consequently of their immortal souls for the wicked. I repeat it, the nature of punishment is not determined by this text. All that can be proved from this, is the eternity of the punishment, not the nature. Other texts by hundreds, come in to aid us in determining this part of the question. Death, destroy, perish, consume, and every other conceivable variety of expression of which the English language is capable, is used in determining the nature; and instead of being an eternal life of misery, mental or physical, it is eternal destruction, or deprivation of life. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.20
The apostle Paul, speaking upon this same theme, uses the very self-same expressions of the Saviour, with an additional one, which determines the punishment, the duration and the nature of it. See 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9. “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with (what? eternal misery? eternal preservation in a miserable life? no!) everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.21
Here then we have the punishment the duration, (everlasting) and the nature, (destruction.) This harmonizes with hundreds of plain texts, such as death, consume, be as though they had not been, and so forth. In concluding upon this, one of the very strongest cases upon record in the Scriptures, allow me to say that eternal misery cannot be proved from this declaration by any fair interpretation. But if some still insist that punishment cannot be eternal, unless the process of punishing is eternally going on, will they please explain how the Judgment can be eternal, unless the process of judging is eternally going on. Hebrews 6:2. “Of the doctrine of baptisms, and laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 137.22
Allow me to say that punishment is eternal, precisely in the same way the judgment is: that which makes one eternal, does the other; and neither are eternal in the sense of the process’ being eternally going on. So of redemption. See Hebrews 9:12. “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Other instances of this same kind could be adduced, but these are sufficient to lead the honest searcher after truth to examine further for himself. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.1
We leave this theme reluctantly, seeing it is one of the very clearest texts in the Book when properly apprehended. The grand error of those who use this in proof of eternal misery, I believe to be this; viz., understanding punishment and pain to be synonymous. If this were corrected, all the objectionable features would vanish. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.2
We pass from this to notice another scripture from which an attempt is made to draw an objection; viz., The worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. See Mark 9:43-48. “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into LIFE maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, (Gehenna,) into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell (Gehenna,) into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.3
The expressions seized upon in this discourse, as containing the proof of eternal misery, and as a consequence, the present immortality of the soul, are, first, the casting into hell; and second, the worm’s dying not, and the fire’s not being quenched. These taken together are supposed to teach a hell of eternal torture for the final incorrigible. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.4
First, hell is named as the place or locality where this shall be done; and second, the worm and fire denote the torture; and third, the worm’s not dying, and the fire’s not being quenched, show the duration to be eternal, or never-ending. Put all this together and the proposition is most triumphantly proved in the estimation of an advocate of eternal misery. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.5
But suppose we inquire, in the first place, after the Hell, or locality. The Hell named here is none other than the Gehenna, or Tophet, of the Old Testament, and was not a place where people were cast for the purpose of being eternally tortured, but for the purpose of terminating their existence; for the purpose of destruction, or death. See Jeremiah 7:31-33. “And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold the days come saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place.” See also Jeremiah 19:11-15; Isaiah 30:33. We see from these quotations that the locality is not the locality of the orthodox Hell. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.6
Let us note next in order, the nature of the punishment inflicted. As our objectors are so fond of placing the punishment of the wicked in opposition to the reward of the righteous, suppose we try it in this case. What is to be entered if faithful? LIFE! This is twice named, and in the third instance, the kingdom of God. Now what is the opposite precisely of life? Life in misery, or miserable life? No! DEATH! Death, then, stands out in opposition to the life twice promised, and being deprived of the kingdom of God, is the same as being threatened with death; for no one can live forever, who does not enter the kingdom: seeing eternal life is an attribute of the kingdom, and of that only. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.7
Let us look at the case still further. The worm and fire - these are the means or instrumentalities by which this torture is carried on. Now how plain! exclaims the objector to the doctrine of death for sin: the worm does not die; the worm therefore must be immortal; and the fire is not quenched; so you see we have immortal worms and fire, as well as immortal souls. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.8
But what does the immortal worm prey upon, and the unquenchably devouring fire consume, during the unknown and untold cycles of eternity? Why, something, to be sure. What? A dead carcass? Oh no: an immortal soul. But where did you get your soul to put into this Hell for worms to feed upon, and the fire to burn? This we have guessed at; for it is the man bodily, and not the immortal, disembodied soul which is the subject of this discourse. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.9
But to let you go on, suppose the body is made immortal, and then cast into this hell for immortal worms, and unquenchable fire to prey upon; what would the result be? let me ask in all candor. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.10
Suppose we present it something in this form: Devouring fire and consuming worms, are brought in contact with an immortal or inconsumable body or soul: what would the consequence be? Very much the same that would follow, were an irresistible force brought in contact with an immovable body. Here is a query for philosophers. But some one is heard saying, This is highly figurative. If so, what would such a figure teach? Suppose a devouring fire, and consuming worm, prey upon men living or dead, what would the result be? If alive, they must soon kill them, and if dead, they must soon consume their carcasses. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.11
This figure, here used, is in fact borrowed from old times. See Isaiah 66:24. “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses (not immortal souls) of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.12
But perhaps some one will still insist that an unquenchable fire is one that burns to all eternity; and as there can be no use in keeping up a fire when there is nothing to burn, there must therefore, be immortal souls, or bodies, or something else, to burn. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.13
But it is not quite so certain that an unquenchable fire is one that never goes out. To quench a fire is to put it out, before it consumes the object upon which it is preying. A fire is not quenched, or put out, if it continues to burn until it consumes the material or object upon which it is preying. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.14
An unquenchable fire may, and does go out, when it has done its office-work, when it has accomplished the purpose for which it was kindled. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.15
See several instances: Isaiah 34:10, and context. The land of Idumea. Who supposes, for one moment, that the unquenchable fire or burning, is going on now, and will continue to go on to all eternity? See Jeremiah 7:20, also Jeremiah 17:27. Here Jerusalem is threatened with the kindling of a fire in her gates, that should devour the palaces and should not be quenched. See also Ezekiel 20:47, 48. See John the Baptist’s testimony concerning Christ. Matthew 3:12. “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.16
Unquenchable fire burns up or devours every thing upon which it kindles. This so far from proving eternal burning, or eternal torture to the impenitent, and, as a consequence, immortality, proves just precisely the reverse. The same can be said in truth of eternal fire. See Jude 7. “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” But those who insist upon these texts as teaching eternal pain or torture, and especially this one, are very careful to emphasize the word or phrase which has the suffering in it, and the eternal: all other parts are overlooked. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.17
The above named text is quoted as though it read, Are suffering in eternal fire; whereas it reads quite differently. Note: Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Now in the name of reason and revelation what is the vengeance of fire? What does fire by its vengeance, accomplish? Ans. The complete destruction of every thing upon which it preys. Are the gates of Jerusalem now burning? Is the land of Idumea, or Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them now suffering in the flames? If the waters of the Dead Sea can extinguish the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah, I should certainly think the burning must have ceased ere this; for its waves now roll over the site where once these cities stood. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.18
The truth is that the worm and fire prove the complete destruction of the whole man or being, instead of its eternal preservation, or immortality. What would a Jew understand by being threatened with Gehenna punishment? They were perfectly familiar with this matter, and would laugh you in the face if you should suggest the idea of being thrown into Gehenna, for the purpose of being eternally preserved. What would the inhabitants of our country understand by being threatened with the punishment of the gallows? Certainly not the preservation of life, but DEATH. So of the Jews, when threatened with Gehenna punishment: they understood the signification of Gehenna, as perfectly as we do the gallows. Why try to press life eternal out of these texts, when it is so plain that they teach precisely the opposite? ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.19
We pass from this to notice another text from which a vain attempt is made to prove eternal misery; viz., Romans 2:6-10. “Who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by a patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality; eternal life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness: indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil: of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.20
The objection, if there be any in this, must be found in the threatening of indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish. It is freely admitted that the wicked will have a miserable, and painful destruction. Now let me ask the objector, Where lies the proof that this tribulation and anguish will never terminate? It is one thing to prove that tribulation and anguish is connected with the punishment of the wicked, and quite another thing to prove that this will never terminate. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.21
In order for this text to be of any service to immortal-soulists or those believing in eternal misery, it is not only necessary to prove that pain and misery are connected with their doom, (which I will not deny, but believe as firmly as any one,) but that this pain and misery will continue to all eternity. Do, we pray you, look at the labor which devolves upon you in urging this as an objection. It is freely admitted, that there is tribulation and anguish connected with their doom; but who can prove from the Bible that this will never terminate in their final destruction and death? Hundreds of plain texts come to the aid of the man who will undertake to show that all this tribulation and anguish, however much it may be, or however intense it may be, will terminate in their complete and literal destruction. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.22
But if the favorite mode of argumentation with immortal-soulists be pressed home upon them at this point, it will not aid them much. What is the opposite of glory, honor, immortality and eternal life? for this is so frequently urged, by the objector, that we cannot refrain from reminding him frequently of his own favorite mode of conducting this discourse. Certainly immortality is not the opposite of immortality: eternal life is not the opposite of itself. This may appear strange indeed; but so it is, if popular theology is truthful upon this point. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.23
What, let me ask, is the opposite of immortality and eternal life? Mortality and eternal death. Mortality is life manifested through a corruptible body: immortality is life manifested through an incorruptible body: the one life must terminate; the other never can. Are the wicked any where in the Bible promised immortality? Hear Paul: “For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:8. But if the objector is not fully satisfied, let him consult the context. Notice verse 12. For as many as have sinned without law, shall also PERISH without law. This text then instead of proving eternal torture, or immortality of the soul, proves just precisely the opposite; viz., a miserable destruction, or perishing. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 138.24
We pass from this to notice one more text and must then close upon this branch of this important and interesting theme. Revelation 14:9-13. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.1
This text perhaps as much as any other in the Bible, is relied upon as proving a positive eternity of woe to the sinner, or one who does not worship God. The persons named in this scripture are those who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand: the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. They are to be tormented with fire and brimstone. This torment is to be in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. It is not said that they are tormented forever and ever, but that the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. They are to have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, etc. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.2
The only feature of this message which it is important for me to investigate in this place, is the eternity of this torment. The only expression in the whole discourse from which an inference even in favor of eternal misery can be drawn, is, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. Now let the issue in this examination be distinctly stated. It is not denied that torment is connected with the future doom of these beast-worshipers. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.3
Our eternal misery friends appear to think the work all done when they produce a text which has torment or pain in it, and would like to have the issue turn upon this point; but this is not the issue; and let me remind them that their work is not even begun, when it is proved that pain and torment is connected with the doom of the wicked of any or all classes; (which is not denied in these remarks, but as firmly believed and as fully advocated as by any.) I repeat it, the work is now fairly before you. I do not deny that pain and torment will be connected with the final doom of these unhappy victims of beast-worship, whenever or wherever they may have their final fate administered; but where is the proof that this is positively eternal? Why, in the expression, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.” Now will you build an eternity of woe upon this lean, and highly figurative expression. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.4
But let us look more closely at it. The fire may torment, and finally burn up a person, and the smoke go on and on: there is no proof even in this when closely examined. But this torment is to be in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. Now, if this torment is to be positively eternal, how can Paul’s declaration in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, be true? “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from (not in) the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.5
Can any one believe, without good and plain evidence, that the beast-worshipers will live and writhe and weep and be tormented, and all this in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, and that to all eternity? A man must have strong credulity to believe such a monstrosity as this upon such testimony as is here adduced, and that too in the face of thousands of plain texts to the contrary. But look again: they are to have no rest day nor night; so that this torment is connected with day and night. How can those who believe the wicked, of all classes, will be tormented in eternity, harmonize these two notions. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.6
Suppose we go to the very last and closing statements touching the wicked in this book, and see how this torment is terminated. Revelation 20:9. “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Compare this with others. Revelation 11:15-19, under the sounding of the seventh angel: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great: and shouldest DESTROY them which destroy (corrupt, see margin,) the earth. See another place: Revelation 20:14. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.7
Here is the terminus of their existence. Suffice it to say concerning this text, [Revelation 14:9, and onward,] that it comes infinitely short of proving a positive eternity of torture. It proves torment, this is not denied: but it does not prove an eternity of torment. Hundreds of passages show too plain to be mistaken, that the final doom of the impenitent is death, destruction, perishing, ceasing to be, etc. I will give samples under several heads. first, ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.8
Death. Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:4, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26; 33:8, 9, 13, 14, 18; Matthew 10:39; 16:25; John 3:36; 6:53, 54; 12:25; 2 Corinthians 2:16; 1 John 5:12. See Romans 2:29-32. In this place Paul has enumerated the very worst vices conceivable, and closes up by saying that those which commit such things are worthy of DEATH. If Paul had believed in eternal misery, this would have been an excellent occasion for him to have made it known; but the very worst thing he said is, they are worthy of death, not eternal misery. See a number of texts which speak of the wicked’s being burned up. Malachi 4:1-3; Isaiah 24:6; Matthew 3:10, 12; 13:30. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.9
Consumed. Psalm 37:20; 59:13; 104:25. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.10
Devour. Psalm 21:9; Hebrews 10:27; Revelation 20:9. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.11
Perish. Psalm 49:12, 20; 2:12; 68:2; Luke 13:3; Acts 8:20; 13:41; Romans 2:12; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Peter 2:12; 3:9. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.12
Destroy. 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 10:28; Acts 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Psalm 145:20; Proverbs 10:29; 29:1. Obadiah in speaking of the heathen says, “They shall be as though they had not been.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.13
Let me make a very plain statement in conclusion: All the plain literal statements of holy Scripture are in favor of the doctrine of destruction or death, as the penalty for sin: all the figures when properly examined are found to teach the same doctrine. Eternal misery, and the immortal soul, are not found in that blessed volume, the Bible, and must flow to us from another fountain. The soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. All are now mortal completely: immortality is the gift of God to those who obey the gospel. No wicked or disobedient one will ever be made immortal: they shall perish. I have noticed some of the most important objections, drawn from the intermediate state and the nature of future punishment, and I cannot see any proof whatever, for present immortality to any, or future immortality to the disobedient. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.14
(Concluded next week.) ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.15
JWe
THE Church of God on earth is not what she seems; nay, is what she seems not. It was so with her Lord while here. He was not what men thought him; he was what they thought him not. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.16
It is in this way that the world is put to shame, its thoughts confounded, its greatness abased before God. And it is in this way that Divine wisdom gets large space over which to spread itself, step by step, and to open out its infinite resources slowly and with care, (like one exhibiting his treasures,) that no part, no turn in all its windings may be left unobserved. It is not the result only that God desires that we should see and wonder at, but the process by which it is reached, so unlikely to effect it, yet so steadily moving forward to its end, and so strangely successful in bringing about that end. The planting of the “trees of God” in Eden, in full strength and fruitfulness at once, was not such an exhibition of wisdom as that which we ourselves see in yearly process before us, when God out of a small, shapeless seed brings a stately pine or palm. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.17
In truth, this is the law of our world. It might not be so at first in Eden, when only the result was given to view; but it has been so since, and is so now, for God is showing us most minutely how “fearfully and wonderfully” all things are made, and we among the rest, in soul and body, in our first birth and in our second, in our natural and in our spiritual growth. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.18
The tree, in winter, is not what it appears - dead; nay, it is what it appears not - alive; full in every part, root, stem, and branch, of vigorous though hidden vitality, a vitality which frosts and storms are but maturing, not quenching. All summer-life is there; all autumn fruitfulness is there; though neither visible. It wraps up within itself the germs of future verdure, and awaits the coming spring. So is it with the church, in this age of wintry night; for it is both night and winter with her. Her present condition ill accords with her prospects. No one, in looking at her, could guess what she either is or is to be; could conceive what God has in store for her. For eye has nothing to do with the seeing of it, nor ear with the hearing of it. No one, in observing her garb or her deportment, or the treatment she meets with at the hands of men, or the sharp, heavy discipline through which she is passing, could take the measure of her hopes. Faith finds difficulty in realizing her prospects, and she can hardly at times credit the greatness of her heritage, when thinking of what she is and remembering what she has been. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.19
It often seems strange to us, and it must seem much more so to unfallen beings, that saints should be found at all in such a world, - a world without God, a world of atheists, - a world that from the days of Cain has been the rejecter of his Son, both as the sacrifice for sin and as the heir of all things. It is not on such a spot that we should naturally expect to find sons of God. Next to hell, it is the unlikeliest place for a soul that loves God to dwell in, even for a day: and if a stranger, traversing the universe in search of God’s little flock, his chosen ones, were to put to us the question, “Where are they to be found,” certainly he would be astonished when told that they were in that very world where Satan reigned, and from which God had been cast out! Would he not say, “Either this is a mistake and a chance, or else it is the very depth of unfathomable wisdom.” For we do not go to the crater’s slope for verdure; nor for flowers to the desert. Yet it is so with the church. It is strange perhaps to find a Joseph in Egypt, or a Rahab in Jericho, or an Obadiah in the house of Ahab; but it is more amazing to find saints in the world at all. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.20
Yet they are here. In spite of every thing ungenial in soil and air, they are here. They never seem to become acclimatized, yet they do not die out, but are ever renewed. The enemy labors to uproot them, but they are ineradicable. Nay, they thrive and bear fruit. It is a miracle; but yet so it is. Here the great Husbandman is rearing his plants from generation to generation. Here the great Potter fashions his vessels. Here the great Master-builder hews and polishes the stones for his eternal temple. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.21
Thus, then, one characteristic of the church is, the unlikeness of her present to her future condition. It is this that marks her out, that isolates her, as a gem in the heart of a rock, as a vein of gold in a mine. Originally she belonged to the mass, but she was drawn apart from it, or it fell from off her and left her alone, like a pillar among ruins. Outwardly she retains much of her former self; but inwardly she has undergone a change that has assimilated her to “the world to come.” Thus her affinities and her sympathies are all with the better world. Her dwelling is still here, and in external appearance she is much as she used to be; but the internal transformation has made her feel that this is not her home, and filled her with anticipations of the city and the kingdom to come, of which she has been made the heir. Her kindred according to the flesh are here, but she is now allied to Jehovah by the ties of blood, and this draws her soul upwards. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 139.22
Cut off from a home and a heritage here, yet assured of both hereafter, she of necessity lives a life of anticipation. Giving credit to the message of grace, and resting on the blood of Him through whose cross that grace came down to her, she anticipates her acquittal at the judgment. Realizing her oneness with the risen and ascended Christ, she feels as if already seated with him in heavenly places. Looking forward to the arrival of the King, she anticipates the kingdom. In darkness she anticipates the light; in sorrow she anticipates the joy; in the night she anticipates the morning; in shame she anticipates the glory. “All are mine,” she says, “whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come; all are mine; for I am Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” In these anticipations she lives. They make up a large portion of her daily being. They cheer her onward in spite of the rough wastes she has to pass through. They comfort her; or when they do not quite succeed in this, they at least calm and soothe her. They do not turn midnight into noon, but they make it less oppressive, and take off “the night side of nature.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.1
“I am not what I seem,” she says to herself; “and this is joy. I am not the beggared outcast that the world takes me for. I am richer far than they. They have their riches now, but mine are coming when theirs are gone. They have their joys now; but mine are coming when theirs have ended. I live in the future; my treasure is in heaven, and my heart has gone up to be where my treasure is. I shall soon be seen to be what I now seem not. My kingdom is at hand; my sun is about to rise; I shall soon see the King in his beauty; I shall soon be keeping festival, and the joy of my promised morning will make me forget that I ever wept.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.2
Thus she lives in the morning, ere the morning has come. She takes a wide sweep of vision, round and round, without a limit; for faith has no horizon; it looks beyond life, and earth, and the ages, into eternity. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.3
Beyond the death-bed and beyond the grave, she sees resurrection. Beyond the broken hearts and severed bands of time, she realizes and clasps the eternal love-links; beyond the troubles of the hour, and beyond the storm that is to wreck the world, she casts her eye, and feels as if transported into the kingdom that cannot be moved, as if already she had taken up her abode in the New Salem, the city of peace and righteousness. Beyond the region of the falling leaf she passes on to the green pastures, and sits down under the branches of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Losing sight of the bitterness of absence from the beloved of her heart, she enters the bridal-chamber and tastes the bridal joy; keeping festival even in the desert, and enjoying the sabbath rest amid the tumults of a stormy world. - [H. Bonar. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.4
Christ’s Agony. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.5
OH, what a melting consideration is this! that out of Christ’s agony comes our victory; out of his condemnation, our justification; out of his pain, our ease; out of his stripes, our healing; out of his gall and vinegar, our honey; out of his curse, our blessing; out of his crown of thorns, our crown of glory; out of his death, our life; if he could not be released, it was that we might. If Pilate gave sentence against him, it was that the great God might never give sentence against us. If he yielded that it should be with Christ as they required, it was that it might be with our souls as well as we can desire. Little sins are the natural sins of man’s life - that do of themselves tend hell-ward; but when greater, grosser sins join with them, they hurry the soul with swift and rampant motion down to hell. - Hopkins. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.6
JWe
“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
ROCHESTER, THIRD-DAY, DEC. 19, 1854.
IN consequence of ill health we shall leave the Office for a few weeks, and design visiting the brethren as the way may open. But little, however, can be expected of us at present in the line of public speaking. We now design spending Sabbath, December 30th, with Bro. Hall in Pennsylvania. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.7
JWe
THE relation of church membership is not, now, generally, regarded as it was in the primitive church, but has deteriorated in proportion as the pure fountains of truth have been perverted; and the laxity and superstition of successive ages have weakened its significance, until we have scarcely any of its original genius left. Love, which was the magnet of union among the early disciples, has degenerated into almost sheer selfishness in the churches of the nineteenth century. Most of the professors of the religion of the Cross, carry too much of the repulsive coldness of the world into their high and holy calling, instead of a warm and glowing heart, expanding with love to God and enkindling a burning zeal for the constant exercise of kind offices towards each other, and think that they have done all, when they have related their “experience,” submitted to the initiatory ordinances, and had their names enrolled on the church books. We are too apt to look upon our religious profession as a mere personal affair, without understanding or rightly appreciating the mystical union of the individual members to each other, and all with Christ, the head of the church. When we, upon a slight exercise of faith and repentance, imagine that offended Deity looks propitiously upon us in the face of Jesus, we rejoice for a season and then settle down in listlessness, and think all is right, all secure; and should we experience in our hearts, in the faintest degree, that we love the Lord with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our strength, and all our mind, we fancy that we have the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits, that we are accepted of God, and we have no other concern in the matter. It was not so with those of old “hewn from the rock,” and those “digged out of the hole of the pit,” when their hearts were touched with fire from off the altar, and upon whose lips was put the “new song,” they slumbered not, neither kept they silence, but were found “with one accord,” walking and working together, “heirs with God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.8
Identity among believers is one of the binding laws of the kingdom of Christ. “This is my commandment,” says our divine Master, “that ye love one another as I have loved you.” And in another place he says, “A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another.” “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” “This injunction,” says J. A. James, “is denominated the new commandment of the Christian economy; not that love was no duty before the coming of Christ; but it is now placed more pre-eminently amongst the duties of believers; it is urged on fresh grounds, enforced by a more perfect example, and constrained by stronger motives. The dispensation of Jesus Christ is a system of most wonderful, most mysterious grace; it is a manifestation, commendation, and perfection of divine love. It originated in the love of the Father, and is accomplished by the love of the Son. Jesus Christ was an incarnation of love in our world. He was love, living, breathing, speaking, acting amongst men. His birth was the nativity of love, his sermons the words of love, his miracles the wonders of love, his tears the meltings of love, his crucifixion the agonies of love, his resurrection the triumph of love. Hence it was natural that love should be the cardinal virtue in the character of his saints, and that it should be the law which regulates their conduct towards each other. And it is worthy of remark, that he has made his love to us, not only the motive, but the pattern of our love to each other. ‘This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.’ The Apostles echoed the language of their Master, and continually enjoined the churches which they had planted, to love one another, and to let brotherly love abound and increase. It is a grace so important that, like holiness no measure of it is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of the Word of God. It is the basis, and cement, and beauty of the Christian union. The church where it is wanting, whatever may be the number or gifts of its members, is nothing better than a heap of stones, which, however polished, want the coherence and similitude of a palace.” 1Church Member’s Guide ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.9
Our blessed Saviour illustrates this intimate union between himself and his disciples, by the beautiful and endearing simile of the vine and its branches, of which “the Father is the husbandman;” and Paul represents the believers as the “body of Christ and members in particular;” in reference to which he says, “There should be no schism in the body; but the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.10
From the whole tenor of the Scriptures, it is manifest that they design to inculcate and enjoin the cultivation of an affectionate solicitude for each other far above mere human sympathy. A very excellent writer, Miss Caroline Fry, correctly remarks: “Surely, if Christians, re-united to one stem, planted together in the likeness of one life and death, are only just, only benevolent, and in intention kind, it may well be said to them, ‘What do ye more than others; do not the Scribes and Pharisees the same?’ The word that requires us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, says also, ‘Weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that do rejoice.’” Jesus the Righteous, dwells particularly upon this subject in all his teachings; and it is enforced by all the divinely inspired amanuenses of the Holy Spirit. John says, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.11
What a wide departure from this love, this holy confraternity, which the church was designed to be, is seen, on every hand, in the present day, and in all sects of Christendom. We are too easily satisfied with the fancied evidences of our own safety, and manifest too little concern for the advancement of piety and the welfare of the brotherhood. We take a name and sit down and fold our hands in almost perfect indifference in regard to the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom, and caring less about “bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfilling the law as we are commanded.” This was not the case in the early ages of Christianity. When the disciples entered the ranks of the “Captain of our salvation,” they entered for the whole war - they rallied round the standard with their whole heart, and left the world entirely behind. Impelled by an all-absorbing love, they knew nothing, nor cared for anything, but love to God and love to man. They enjoyed all things “with singleness of heart;” lived as one family, and strengthened each other’s hands in doing good and in glorifying God their Maker. “All that believed were together, and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted to all men as every man had need. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart, and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common.” Acts 2:44, 45; 4:32. This was prompted by the spontaneous feelings of the disciples - their voluntary act, springing from love toward each other, and not from any requirement. When dedicating themselves to the Lord, by a public profession of his name, they regarded themselves as a family - the Lord’s children, the household of faith. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.12
[Sab. Recorder.] ARSH December 19, 1854, page 140.13
JWe
BY H. L. HASTINGS
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that DAY should overtake you as a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:4. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.1
A deep sense of the vast responsibilities resting upon a servant of God, prompts me to express the thoughts that stir my inmost soul. A fearful prospect lies before me - a world slumbering on perdition’s fiery brink, - a church drowsily proclaiming, “My Lord delayeth his coming” - clouds, darker than ever have mantled earth’s sky since the first beaming of Bethlehem’s star, gathering along the horizon, pent-up surges of desolation, fire, and blood, pressing against their yielding barriers - and beyond all the rest, the day of God, the mighty judgment, the awful destruction that awaits the ungodly, and the triumphant deliverance of the ransomed of the Lord. These are the scenes that rise before me - the visions that crowd my path in the busy whirl of human activity, or in the place of privacy and of prayer. These are the coming events that cast their shadows o’er my path, and the premonition of whose approach I read in the book of providence and in the Book of God, ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.2
The sword cometh - How can I hold my peace? The Judge standeth before the door - How can I be silent? ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.3
The Day alluded to in this passage is more definitely named in the preceding verses. For the consolation of those of the Thessalonians whose hearts were bleeding with bereavement, the Apostle undertakes to dispel their anguish by dispelling their ignorance, “concerning those who are asleep” in Jesus. Looking downward and pointing to earth’s world-wide charnel house, he sees and traces from the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a single brilliant ray of light and hope. Here was a torch for the hand of faith and a light for the eye of hope. If God had brought Christ from the dead, then those who are “in Christ” must also be brought. The living shall have no pre-eminence at last over those who in former ages had lived and died in the Lord. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven - a mighty shout shall proclaim his victorious power and majesty - the awful voice of the Archangel, and swelling echoes of the far-resounding trump of God, shall proclaim alike perdition to the sinner and deliverance to the saint. What a scene ensues! - forth from their graves burst the unnumbered saints of God - earth and ocean teem with an immortal host - each living saint feels a sudden thrill, - it is “the power of an endless life” - and lo! this mortal puts on immortality. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.4
And now they ascend. Slowly, calmly they rise! - earth sinks and recedes from their view - the deep despairing wail of the ruined world sounds fainter and fainter in the distance - while around them and above them burst on their ears the enrapturing harmonies of Cherubim and Seraphim. Still they ascend - the vast and radiant cloud of glory unfolds a gorgeous portal, and attendant angels escort them within it. Still they come, an innumerable company from every land and clime - from prisons, dens, and deserts, from valleys and from hills. Oh, how beauteous are their glittering ranks! And now the last one has arrived. The shout of joy goes up - the Saviour’s smile is seen, the Saviour’s greeting heard - the pierced hand wipes away the lingering tear - the dead and the living are together once more - the prophets and the apostles meet - martyrs behold their martyred Lord. Sinners saved gaze upon their Saviour, and so are they for ever “with the Lord.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.5
Calmly and kindly does the Apostle turn and place this glowing page before the mourners’ weeping eye, bidding them to “comfort one another with these words.” Blessed words, - consoling thoughts. They have been the “oil of joy” to mourning hearts for eighteen hundred years, and still they “hush the low complaining sigh,” - still they “dry the flowing tear,” - still they make the place of weeping a place of joy, and bind about the tomb the flowers of never fading hope. Still they illuminate the path that lies along the dark valley. Still they strengthen those who stand beside the dying. Still they comfort those who weep above the dead. Never shall the Christian’s eye cease to contemplate the picture; never shall his heart cease to thrill with the anticipation - never shall his hope cease to embrace the promise, until the rent heavens disclose the majestic form of the descending King - the quaking earth deliver up its sleeping captives at his call, and the saints from every age and clime, unite in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.6
“Far from a world of grief and sin,
With God eternally shut in.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.7
Concerning the “times and seasons” when these sublime anticipations should be realized, there then existed no present necessity for further communications. They were perfectly acquainted, however, with the fact, that the day of the Lord in its coming would resemble a thief in the night. When the whisper of ‘peace’ and the careless thoughts of ‘safety’ should possess the minds of a slumbering, dreaming, and besotted world - then destruction, unparalleled for suddenness and exterminating fury, shall burst upon them. Vainly they flee from its devastating influence - vainly they pour their piteous prayer for refuge to towering mountains and to craggy rocks. Vainly their mighty wail reaches from sea to sea - overspreading continents - echoing from the islands and comprehending “all the tribes of the earth.” Vainly are ten thousand stubborn hearts broken - ten thousand blasphemous lips employed in supplication - ten thousand brazen foreheads bowed in sorrow, and ten thousand knees bent before God that never bowed before! Alas, it is too late. “Sudden destruction” has come, and from the faithful word peals forth the dread announcement. “They shall not escape.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.8
It was this “day” which stood full in the view of the inspired Apostle, and the expectant church - this day of resurrection, of triumph, of glory, of re-union, of deliverance of immortality to the righteous, and of destruction and despair to the impenitent - it was this day to which he alluded when he declared, “But YE brethren, are NOT in darkness that that day should overtake YOU as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night nor of darkness.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.9
The teaching, then, of the Apostle was clearly this:- First, That the people of God at that period needed no special information concerning “the times and seasons” of the Saviour’s second advent. Second, they were informed that the coming of that day would be sudden and unanticipated by the world. Third, That, still further, at its coming the wicked would be denying the very possibility of its approach, and dreaming of perfect safety. Fourth. That at that time of profoundest carelessness, the sudden and unavoidable destruction from the Almighty should fall with resistless fury upon their heads. Fifth. That the people of God were not in darkness, but were “of the day.” Sixth. That therefore, that day can not overtake them as a thief, but by watchfulness and sobriety they might discern its proximity, observe its precursors, and escape its terrors, while they participated in its joys. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.10
Concerning this “great and terrible day of the Lord,” we are not left destitute of further information. Information, too, that is amply sufficient to stir the deep and swelling surges of emotion within every pious soul. Strangely hardened must be the heart that can behold unmoved the approach of the tremendous scene, and strangely perverted must be that Christianity that can view without the intensest awe and solemnity, the coming of that day of clouds and darkness, of judgment and of wrath - or that can anticipate without delight that day of deliverance, of triumph, of joy, of songs and of crowns, for “all that love His appearing.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.11
The events of that great day are most graphically sketched by the apostle Peter, in the concluding chapter of his last epistle. Carrying the lustful scoffers of the last day backward on the track of time, to the antediluvian world, he, by that awful example, reproves their impious mockery. He teaches us that the same God who condemned that world, condemns this, and “the same word” that overwhelmed that with water, shall desolate this by fire. Notwithstanding the patience and compassion of God - notwithstanding his “long-suffering to us ward” - notwithstanding his unwillingness that one guilty rebel “should perish” - notwithstanding his mercy holds open the door of refuge, and his love bids and entreats sinners to enter therein - notwithstanding all this, yet, “the day of the Lord” must and “will come as a thief in the night;” wickedness must find a shore to its foaming wave; impiety must be smitten on its brazen front; oppression must be punished; blasphemy must be hushed; and righteousness, so long abased and abused, must triumph at last. Hence “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” And in that day the ascending fires of wrath shall reach the very heavens - awful thunderings shall tell their dissolution and departure: the elements shall melt like wax within the glowing furnace: earth, too, shall be molten before the presence of her God, and shall roll, an orb of fire within a sky of flame, while the works that are therein, the products of human pride, and power, and cruelty, shall perish with the enemies of the Most High, amid those all-devouring flames. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.12
But beyond all this, a vision of purity and peace rises in brightness before the prophet’s eye. God’s curse hath devoured the earth, his blessing shall restore it. No longer groaning beneath the burden of sin; no longer charred and molten by the fires of wrath, her desolateness is exchanged for the verdure of Eden; perfection blooms where barrenness reigned; Carmel and Lebanon are faint types of its blushing beauty and unfading green: the glory of God floods it with one sea of radiant splendor, and peace waves her olive branch from shore to shore. Righteousness, too, is there - not as a visitant, merely - not as a contrasting spot amid surrounding corruption - not as exemplified in the character of a single “Man of sorrows” but as the prevailing principle, the constant disposition, the ruling thought of an innumerable, peaceful and adoring throng. There on a throne “established in righteousness,” reigns a righteous king over all the earth. There the people are all righteous, they inherit the land forever. There the righteous flourish. There the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. There the pilgrim finds his home, the Christian his rest, the martyr his crown, and the mourner his joy, in that “new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.13
This, then, is a brief, a faint and an imperfect sketch of those tremendous scenes that go to fill up and add grandeur and importance to the great and terrible day of the Lord. It is this day, concerning which the church of God “are not in darkness.” It is this day that shall not come upon them as a thief. It is this day that shall be put far off by a dreaming world, and which, coming suddenly, shall find them sleeping, and overwhelm them with consternation and despair. It is this day for which the church of God are to look - it is this day for which the children of Satan will not look. It is this day for which the church of God should watch - it is this day for which the children of Satan will not watch. It is this day for which the church of God seek to prepare - it is this day for which the wicked will not prepare. This day will bring deliverance to the saint, and perdition to the sinner. What will it bring to you? ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.14
Seriousness. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.15
NOTHING IS SO CONTRARY TO GODLINESS AS LEVITY. - Seriousness consists in the matter of what is spoken, the manner of speaking, in dignity of behaviour, and in weighty, not trifling actions. Some people are serious by nature, some by policy and for selfish ends, and some by grace and from a sense of duty. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 141.16
Jesting and raillery, lightness of behaviour, useless occupations, joy without trembling and awe of God, an affectation of vivacity and sprightliness, are all contrary to the Spirit of God. A fool laughs loud, saith Solomon, but a wise man scarce smiles a little. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.1
Levity is contrary to contrition and self knowledge - to watching and prayer - frequently to charity - and to common sense when death is at our heels. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.2
Levity is destructive to all devotion in our own hearts, and in that of others, by unfitting the company for receiving good, and bringing a suspicion of hypocrisy upon all. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.3
Seriousness is useful to prevent the foregoing miscarriages - to keep grace - to recommend piety and a sense of God’s presence - to leave room for the Spirit to work - and to check levity and sin in others. And have we not motives sufficient to seriousness? Are we not walking in the presence of God? on the verge of the grave? and in sight of eternity? All who walk with God are serious, taking their Lord for their example, and walking by Scripture precepts and warnings. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.4
Are we to be dull and melancholy? Seriousness and solid happiness are inseparable. Is there not a time for all things? There is no time for sin and folly. - Selected. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.5
JWe
I HAVE read your additional remarks on the “consciousness of the dead.” Your arguments were all founded on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. I am not disposed to deny that in that parable the rich man, Lazarus, and Abraham are all made to speak like men in the flesh, and of such punishments as belong to the flesh, such as “I am tormented in this flame,” “send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue.” If this parable will prove “the consciousness of the dead,” before the resurrection, it will also prove as clearly that they have bodies, and that their bodies are punished in fire. I have heard men quote this parable to prove that men went directly to heaven or hell as soon as the breath left their bodies, or rather that their spirits went to heaven or hell then, and their bodies not till after the resurrection. You are aware, that parables are not acknowledged as good witnesses to prove every thing by me. If I can ascertain the design of the speaker who uttered the parable, then I admit it as proof of the position he was aiming to establish. But I do not feel bound to admit that all who have died, went directly to heaven or hell, before the resurrection or the judgment, merely because it is said the rich man was tormented, and the poor man was comforted. Suffice it to say that from what is said in the parable, we could not learn in what part of God’s creation “Hades” was situated, nor could we tell whether it was a whole world or only a part of one. We should be as likely to suppose that both heaven and hell were situated in it as any where else from the reading of the parable only. And we should certainly conclude that its inhabitants were really men, and not spirits, for there is not a hint that spirits were alluded to, or that they had been the topic of conversation. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.6
[Primitive Christian, 1838. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.7
Extracts. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.8
“We have no dispute about the existence of abstract spirits, nor of abstract bodies. The dispute is about the consciousness of abstract spirits. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.9
You aim to prove their consciousness by Parables, and Prophetic visions. Whereas we know “that God speaks of things (in this way) that are not; as though they were” and that to consider them as literal is to deceive ourselves. The main point in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, was to show that wealth was not that which entitled men to happiness in a future state. This parable was spoken because of what was said by the Pharisees. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.10
“The Pharisees who were covetous heard all these things, [preceding parables] and derided him.” And to rebut their derision, the Lord uttered the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.11
“Now we must consider the inhabitants of Hades, as being either dead or alive. If dead, then they are the proper subjects of the resurrection, but if alive I don’t know how to apply the resurrection to them. I read of the dead’s being raised, not the living. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.12
“And I also read that Hades shall deliver up the dead that is in it, but there is not a word said about the living. Then if it be inhabited by abstract spirits they must be dead ones. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.13
“‘Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it.’ This passage very clearly proves a separation of the body and spirit at death, which every body believes, but goes farther and almost, if not quite, proves the annihilation of identity. When the body mingles again with the earth, and the spirit returns to the source from whence it came, the idea of identity is lost - and were it not for the promise of a re-instatement of our identity, at the appearance of the Lord, the faith and hope of the Christian would be useless. I might reason thus, and say that I existed in the earth and in God from the beginning, but what consolation would this afford, seeing that I was not conscious of my existence - and if I were returned to the source from whence I came and were not conscious of my existence - I would make but little difference between that state of existence, and total annihilation. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.14
“We are naturally prone to speculation and show a fondness for the marvelous. Hence we are delighted with the theme of abstract spirits’ enjoying the blessings of Heaven, and undergoing the torments of Hell. We muster up in our imaginations identity without form or substance. This is a sublime mystery in which we delight, because we cannot begin to explain or understand the existence of form without substance - and it is form that gives identity. We know nothing of individuality apart from form. But in this sublime and mysterious doctrine of Heaven and Hell inhabited by abstract spirits, with susceptibility of pain or pleasure, we do away the necessity of a resurrection, or of a future Judgment, or at least, we put it out of our power to show a necessity for a resurrection or a Judgment, having already given to naked or abstract spirits, all the properties we can possibly conceive of, as belonging to resurrected bodies when re-inhabited by their spirits. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.15
But why do I speak of spirits as belonging to bodies, when it is proved that spirits exist independent of bodies - and that these abstract spirits are the spirits of men. In fact, it is said that these spirits are the men themselves, and that they can be known when separate from the bodies which they once inhabited. These things being so, it is hard to show the use of bodies - and we might be led to suppose that the spirits of men existed before their bodies, and come to the conclusion that as many men existed before the creation of man as there have since. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.16
But if we stagger into this sublime and mysterious doctrine, we are then driven into the vulgar notion that the bodies and spirits of men come into existence at the same time, and that they grow together, the spirits as well as the bodies, and that there are imperfect spirits of men, such as are not full grown, thus we suppose that spirits can be improved as well as bodies. But whether they are improved when they are separated from the body or not, is a matter of nice argument, if they are, they can perform deeds without the body, and must be judged for the deeds done out of the body, as well as for the deeds done in the body. But as we have no information of the accountability of abstract spirits - we might be led to doubt their power of action, and if they are destitute of that power, I know what our decision would be if they were bodies instead of spirits, we should say they were dead.” - Prim. Christian. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.17
The two Tills of Matthew 5:18. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.18
THE perpetuity of every jot and tittle of God’s law is supported by the use of two tills. 1. Till heaven and earth pass. This is quite strong, and carries the mind to a period of time which is still in the future. On this, I think there can be no disagreement. 2. Till all be fulfilled. Here is the disputed ground. We are told that this reaches only to the crucifixion. That Christ fulfilled all the law, and nailed it to his cross. But I should think it most natural to reserve the stronger expression for the final one. Let us read the text to suit the views of our opponents. According to their interpretation, the Lord wished to assure his hearers that no part of the law would pass, till the crucifixion, which was nearly three years and a half in the future. Then it would stand like this. After cautioning the people not to think he had come to destroy the law or the prophets, he would say, For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till three years and a half. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.19
It has often been shown, that to fulfill a law is to obey it, not to abolish it. But leaving this point, I remark that the subject of discourse includes something besides the law, namely, the prophets. He says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” He came in fulfillment of the prophecies. But have all the prophecies been fulfilled? Nay verily. Heaven and earth must not only pass, but new heavens and earth must be created before all is fulfilled. The prophet Isaiah says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord.” This must be fulfilled before even the fourth commandment of the law can pass. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.20
I conclude, then, that the second till is the stronger of the two. The first reaches to the passing of the present heavens and earth; the second, not only to the making of the new heavens and earth, but to the unlimited extent of their duration. R. F. C. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.21
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[THE following extract from an article with the above heading, from the Wisconsin Home is forwarded to us by E. S. Sheffield, with his remarks upon the same, as contained in a note to the Editor of that paper.] ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.22
“The Ten Commandments form its true basis. They form a foundation broad and strong enough for all creation to rest upon with perfect safety. Yet how few do we find thereon. Over 600 flimsy platforms, or side issues, are propped up around it by as many different sects, and each one tries to get as many as possible on its own, to secure popularity; and declares hostility against all who do not give heed to its importunities. Who can wonder that so many fall and are lost, or that thousands turn away in disgust when the ridiculousness of the farce becomes apparent. Meanwhile, firm and ample stands the great REAL platform, ready to receive all who can over-ride their pre-conceived prejudices, and cast aside selfishness, bigotry and superstition.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.23
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “WISCONSIN HOME” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.24
Mr. Editor, Sir: ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.25
HAVING seen some of your articles relating to your position, I have read them with interest, and am glad to find some who are willing to own that the ten commandments are the only true basis of Religion, the foundation laid by the great Author of our existence, and this great platform still stands firm, ready to receive all who can over-ride their pre-conceived prejudices, and cast aside selfishness, bigotry and superstition - broad enough for all creation to rest upon with perfect safety. This I firmly believe to be truth; says the wise man, Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. But as you say, how few do we find thereon. The Bible represents them as a remnant: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the faith of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. You say over 600 flimsy platforms are propped up, by as many different sects. Revelation says, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three-score and six.” Revelation 13:18. I understand this man to be the man of sin, who should think to change times and laws. These times and laws, I believe to be the times and laws instituted by God. Roman time, or the day, begins at midnight: God’s time, or day, begins in the evening. Roman and Papal tradition says, The first day of the week is the Sabbath, the memorial of Redemption: God’s word says, The seventh day is the Sabbath, the memorial of Creation - For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore (or for this reason) the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. I know not but you observe the Sabbath according to the commandment, if you do not, you do not stand wholly upon the firm and broad platform; namely, The Law of God; for he who shall offend in one point, is guilty of all: he is become a transgressor of the law. If we keep the Sabbath and break one of the other commandments, we are transgressors of the law, and the same if we keep all the rest and not the Sabbath. But perhaps you may say as many do in the present day, that you keep the Christian Sabbath; for the Jewish Sabbath was nailed to the cross. I answer that a Jewish or Christian Sabbath is not once named in the Bible; but the Sabbath was made for man, not one word is said about his being either a Jew or Christian, neither is there one word to be found between the lids of the Bible about the blessing’s being transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, or about keeping the Sabbath to remember the work of redemption, but it always reads, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and rested on the seventh. E. S. SHEFFIELD. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 142.26
Koskonong, Wis. Nov. 1854. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.1
Seeing Jesus. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.2
“We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.3
In expounding from the pulpit this striking passage, it is said the late Dr. John M. Mason was accustomed to illustrate the meaning of the Apostle by the family resemblance observable between children and their parents, derived in part at least from the affectionate and earnest contemplation of the parents’ countenance, which is so observable in young persons; thus moulding the very outline of the features into likeness to that of father and mother. So the redeemed soul “shall see the King in his beauty,” and feel the transforming power of the adoring contemplation. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.4
But how do we love him whom we have not seen? This, too, admits of a familiar explanation. How is it that Washington is an object of profound admiration to millions in this and other countries who never saw him? How is it that this veneration and respect, gratitude and admiration, instead of diminishing with the distance, rather becomes more profoundly intense in the breasts of all true patriots? As one has well remarked: “We sometimes form a very strong attachment to earthly friends whom we have never seen. We hear of their works; we catch their spirit; we see numerous and most expressive manifestations of it; and our interest in them is scarcely less than if we had seen them with these eyes. There are multitudes of holy men, living and dead, for whom we cherish the deepest affection and regard. How many precious spirits among the patriarchs, prophets and apostles do we admire and love; for our souls have been trained and turned to gratitude, submission, adoration, and praise, by the sweet words in which their hearts once gushed and poured forth their devotions. Hence we feel as if we knew them. In fact, we are scarcely less acquainted with them than if we had seen them.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.5
Yet while we know them much, we have known Jesus more. The streams have been good, the fountain incomparably better. We have gone to them for instruction. Their example has been valuable; that of Jesus has been priceless. Their sympathy - but we cannot begin to put it in comparison with that of Him who can be touched with the feeling of all our infirmities, and who was tempted in all points like as we are - whose infinite heart goes to the bottom of the deepest sorrows of every one of his countless children of every nation down through all ages. And to crown all, Jesus gave himself for us by a death, a self-sacrifice and agony. He took our place before and underneath the sword of justice. We have not seen him; but we have seen and felt the proofs of his unutterable love for us. We see such grace and such unsurpassed moral excellence - we cannot but admire, love, and adore him. No matter whether we have seen him - we can love him and adore him, as if there were nothing else to be loved or adored on earth or in heaven. - Presbyterian Advocate. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.6
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DEAR BRO. WHITE:- As I am writing, I would say for the encouragement of the saints scattered abroad, that the Lord is still very merciful to his children in Vermont. I have been holding meetings (a part of the time in company with Bro. Sperry) for several weeks past, in different parts of the State. There is evidently an increasing interest to hear the evidences of our position. Some have recently become obedient to the faith; and new fields are opening for the spread of the last message of mercy. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.7
The Tent-meetings held here in the Summer and Fall, it is quite certain, did very much to break down and remove prejudice against the truth. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.8
The Review and the books and tracts vindicating the cause of present truth, circulated by the brethren and friends of the cause, are evidently doing a good work. By reading the arguments in defense of our faith, the mind of the reader has been opened to conviction; and thus the way has been prepared for the preaching of the last solemn message of mercy to this world. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.9
I am deeply anxious that the friends of this blessed, cheering message, should do all in their power to spread these publications where they can benefit the anxious inquirer for truth. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.10
Our meeting of two days in this place has just closed. We feel encouraged and strengthened from this interview enjoyed together. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.11
Yours in hope,
A. S. HUTCHINS.
Johnson, Vt., Dec. 11th, 1854.
P.S. The Review and Herald I have read with deep interest from the very first day after embracing the message of the third angel; and I expect to feel no less interest in reading and circulating it, than at present, as long as it continues to publish the truths that it now does. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.12
I would further add, that if the publishers of the so-called “Messenger of Truth” flatter themselves that they are giving “meat in due season” to the Lord’s household, that I think they are sadly mistaken; for the matter in that paper, in my humble opinion, is “like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.13
A. S. H.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- It is through the goodness of God that I am permitted to address a few lines to you. I have now kept a few Sabbaths, and by the blessing of God, I am determined to keep clear of the mark of the beast and keep all of the commandments of God, that I may be hid in the day of his indignation. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.14
When my companion ordered our paper to be sent to Saratoga, I was not in the truth; but I had vowed to the Lord that if the way was open for me to keep the Sabbath I would do it. I could not do it without leaving the place where I was at work. I was satisfied that it was my duty to keep all of the commandments, and left my work; and I bless God for the light that he has given me. There are a few in this place who are striving to be ready when the Lord shall come. Pray for us that we may keep our eyes on the word of God. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.15
J. H. GRANDY.
Dec. 10th, 1854.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- Believing the readers of the Review will be interested in hearing of the rise and progress of present truth in Crawford Co. Penn., I have concluded to send you for publication a brief statement of the facts in the case as they have occurred. I was a member of the Seventh-day Baptist Church in this place, and always had believed them in possession of more truth than any other professing Christian people. One year ago last August I listened to a lecture on man’s mortality, in which the speaker defied his audience to find the phrases, immortal soul, deathless spirit, and such like, in the Bible; and I was perfectly astonished at the amount of scripture adduced to sustain his position. The impressions received upon this occasion, however, were not lasting. Last Spring I commenced reading a work entitled, “The Bible vs. Tradition,” in order to prepare myself to meet the views of those holding man’s complete mortality, and very soon became perfectly convinced that I was the one in error; and that man is a unit being, wholly mortal, and made alive by the power of God. Since that time I have been emerging from the cell of tradition. The Bible to me is most emphatically a new book; its teachings now appear to be most reasonable and harmonious. The doctrine of man’s complete mortality, the resurrection of the righteous to immortality at the second appearing of Jesus, the earth restored to its Eden state as the everlasting abode of the faithful, are now to me, real and tangible, and furnish something substantial for hope to take hold of. Blessed be God for the light of these present truths. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.16
The Lord be praised that the scales have been removed from my eyes, “that whereas I was blind now I see.” How thankful I feel for the privilege of correcting my vain delusions - how precious the gospel to those who believe and obey it. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.17
More next week.
T. H. DUNN.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I feel to praise God that I am permitted to live in this age of the world when light upon God’s word shines so clear. It is little more than a year since I commenced keeping all the commandments of God, and I can say that the Sabbath which has been trodden under foot so long is a delight, holy of the Lord. How true it is that the change of the Sabbath to the first day of the week is the work of man. I have had Catholics of learning own to me that they had no proof from the Bible for Sunday-keeping. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.18
Brethren and sisters, let us refrain from the mark of the Beast; for here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We never can enter the kingdom disobeying God. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.19
There is only one here besides myself who keeps the Sabbath. We meet together as often as we can, and claim the promises of God. I have never heard the present truth preached only through the Review, which comes to us a welcome messenger. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.20
Yours striving to overcome.
SARAH EASTMAN.
Dec. 6th, 1854.
DEAR BRO. WHITE:- I am now living amid the wilds of the West, far from any of like precious faith. In my father’s little household is no other Sabbath-keeper; and as far as I am acquainted with the inhabitants of the country, either by report or personal acquaintance, I know of no one who, like myself, is trying to keep all the commandments. But this does not discourage me. My desires are as strong, and my determinations the same, to gain an entrance into the city, that they were when I was amid the Advent friends. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.21
The soul-cheering hope of soon seeing my Saviour, buoys me up above the cares of this bitter life, and gives me courage to press onward to the prize. Truly, now if ever, I fully realize that I am but a pilgrim and a stranger on earth; but I hope soon to meet all the humble followers of Christ, where we shall feel that we have an abiding place. I realize that I am in the enemies’ land, that there are many snares to entrap the would-be-watchful, many enticements to induce the seeker after godliness to forsake his object and wander in forbidden paths; and I would ask the brethren and sisters who, Sabbath after Sabbath are permitted to meet together to pray with and for each other, not to forget to pray for one who is denied the priceless privilege. Pray that she fall not, but that God be her guardian while she sojourns on earth, and enable her to bear the cross, and at last permit her to wear the crown. May God bless the Advent friends scattered abroad throughout this dark world, and at last crown them in his kingdom, ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.22
Is the prayer of your sister.
JULIA E. GREMS.
Minnesota, Nov. 12th, 1854.
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Sister A. Barrows writes:- “Our hearts sympathize with you, and while we realize in some degree the care resting upon you, we often feel sad, and pray that God would sustain you with that grace and wisdom you need. When I reflect that those who have endured trials, and borne the burden and heat of the day, will soon share a rich and glorious reward forever in the kingdom of God, I do rejoice. All tears will then be wiped away from all faces, and they will feel richly compensated as they behold the beauties and glories of heaven. It will be cheap enough. I choose to suffer with them here, that I may share in that blessed inheritance. This sometimes seems too much for me to expect, yet I know that those who faithfully keep God’s commandments will overcome. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.23
“The precious truths of the third message are dear to my heart. I earnestly desire to so live out the truth that I may ever have the approbation of God. I see a greater fullness in Christ for me to enjoy, and higher attainments for me to acquire. I do feel resolved to press my way forward, to serve God with my whole heart, for I believe the hope of the faithful will soon be realized. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 143.24
“We feel thankful for the Instructor. I think the lessons it contains are very instructive and profitable, and I think it should be sustained. I suppose that ere this your beloved sister sleeps in Jesus. My heart was affected when I read her last exhortation to us to be faithful, and I felt that I would strive to meet her in that better land, where sickness, pain or death can never come.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.1
Sister E. M. Barrows writes:- “We have no sympathy with those who are exerting themselves so much to crush some that have long stood in the front of the battle, and labored with untiring zeal in the cause of God. We believe their career will be short. O how much better for them had they made strait paths for their feet and not tried to turn others out of the way. The Lord cares for his people, and will not suffer one of his little ones to perish. Those who fully trust in him need have no fears of consequences, knowing that these things will only be for the furtherance of the gospel. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.2
“I have not forgotten your first visit to this place, with what fervor of soul you and sister W. labored to raise the standard that had fallen in the dust on account of some who were disorderly. Neither have I forgotten the scene at the water side, how the blessing of the Lord rested upon us as you led some of us down into the water. These are bright spots in our experience. We are indeed thankful to God for the means that have been used for the advancement of his cause. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.3
“The Lord has worked for us of late. Some have been added to our numbers. My heart is encouraged to trust in the Lord. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.4
“The truth looks very excellent to me. This world is dark and dreary, but the blessed hope of reaching the saints’ happy home is indeed cheering. There tears will be wiped away. There the saint that has been borne down with trials will forever go free. O praise the Lord! I want to be there.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.5
Bro. Gould writes from Lawrenceburg, Ind.:- “We would be glad to have some of the servants of God come here and give us a course of lectures; as there are some in this place who have never had an opportunity of hearing lectures on present truth.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.6
E. J. Paine, writes from Barre, Dec. 10th, 1854:- “We are all striving to make our way home to mount Zion. The Lord is at work in this vicinity. The labors of Bro. Loughborough are being blessed. A number are very much interested. I wish he or some other lecturing brother would come this way soon.” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.7
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SINCE the terrible battle fought at Inkermann on the 5th of November, in which the allies lost nearly 4,000 men, and Russia nearly 10,000, neither party has been in a condition to renew active hostilities. On that occasion both sides claimed the victory. The Russians were the attacking force; the battle raged from dawn till afternoon, when they retired to Sympheropol, from whence they came - the allies being unable to pursue. No incident of importance has occurred since then. The report of another battle on the 13th is discredited. The urgent necessity of re-enforcements to the allies, to preserve the very existence of their army, has called forth an unwonted degree of activity in England and France, and, ere this, re-enforcements to the extent of 30,000 additional men must be in position before Sevastopol. This will enable the besiegers to resume their attack. Re-enforcements are, in like manner, augmenting the Russian strength, and it is evident another great battle, or series of battles, must be fought, before the fate of Sevastopol is decided. The diplomatists of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and the lesser Germanic States, are particularly active. England and France, have, however, taken a higher tone than they have hitherto assumed, and have notified the German Governments that the western powers no longer recognize the four points as a basis of negotiations; also, that they intend to hold the Crimea, and will, in their own time, dictate terms of peace. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.8
The English official papers continue to hold out hopes of Austria’s active support to the English people, while the partisan of Russia openly tells us, that Austria is preparing for an alliance with the Czar, and as soon as she has her forces ready, the campaign will be opened against France. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.9
The financial difficulties of Austria continue; in spite of the voluntary loan, the premium of gold has risen to 33 per cent, just as in the time when the Hungarians were victorious, and driving before them the armies of Jellachich and Windischgraatz. Still the military budget remains enormous. Comorn is to be more strongly fortified, and the army absorbs 800,000 florins a day. How can such a state of things be endured for any length of time? ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.10
The “victory” of the 5th has disabled the allies from continuing the siege works; they have had to entrench themselves, while the bombardment has slackened. We hear nothing more of an assault; but re-enforcements are expected, and the besieging army will remain on the defensive until they arrive. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.11
The sudden gale of the 14th of November has, likewise, done much mischief; about twenty-five transports have been wrecked, and the allied fleet is said to have suffered considerably. The Egyptian Admiral has been drowned, and his three-decker foundered close to Constantinople; but a great portion of the crew was saved. According to Prince Menchikoff’s dispatches nothing of importance has happened, before or in Sevastopol up to the 18th. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.12
The English correspondence from the Crimea under date of Nov. 6, says: Two hundred Russian prisoners were brought in last night, to the head-quarters camp. They were badly wounded, many of them, and several died during the night. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.13
The work of burying the dead and carrying the wounded to Balaklava, occupied the day. The Russians are quiet. We hear they have lost 10,000 men and three Generals. We must have men at once, and abundance of them. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.14
The Moniteur says the enemy, defeated at Inkermann, and having sustained losses even more considerable than were reported in Gen. Canrobert’s former account, has not interfered with the siege operations, which are continuously carried on. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.15
In the second dispatch it is stated that the Russian loss on the 5th, must have reached 15,000 men, in killed and wounded. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.16
The allies had buried 5,000 Russians left dead on the field. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.17
The English and Turkish re-enforcements had arrived on the 8th, to the number of several thousand men. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.18
Letters from Constantinople to the 20th state, that during the previous ten days at least 15,000 men, to re-enforce the allies, had sailed for the Crimea, or passed the Bosphorus on their way thither. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.19
CONSTANTINOPLE. Nov. 20. - Thirty-two English transports were lost in the hurricane on the 14th inst. The Prince and Sea Nymph foundered with all on board. Three mail steamers have been stranded. The Sanspereil was driven ashore, on fire from her machinery. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.20
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THE ATONEMENT. - This important work is now completed. The subject on which it treats is second to no other in importance; and no one who hopes for salvation through Jesus Christ should neglect to study the great plan of salvation as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. This work opens a wide field of Bible truth and will be found a valuable assistant in the study of the great theme on which it treats. We commend it to the notice of the friends of truth. Price 15 cts - postage 2cts. We can send 6 copies and pay the postage for $1. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.21
MAN NOT IMMORTAL; THE ONLY SHIELD AGAINST THE SEDUCTIONS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. - This tract is just completed. We know of no subject better calculated to correct the errors of popular theology than the one embodied in this work. If man is already in possession of immortality he certainly need not seek it as a future reward. If death is the gate by which man enters everlasting joy, then the devil “who has the power of death” is the door-keeper of heaven. Moreover, the resurrection, instead of being the promised path of life, is that event which brings the man proper, from heaven back to earth again. Death, our last great foe, is now made to take the place of the resurrection, the only hope of the church. And what ought to thoroughly arouse the attention of all to this subject, is the use which Satan is making of the popular doctrine of natural immortality. The land is darkened with legions of evil spirits, purporting to be the immortal souls of our departed friends. They are now seeking to visit all classes of men for the purpose of destroying their faith in the teachings of the Bible, and with the avowed object of convincing men of the immortality of the soul. They confirm their mission with a great variety of wonders, and seem to be the precursors of the hour of temptation. Without the great truth that man is not immortal, and that the dead know not any thing, none are prepared to stand against these wicked spirits in high places. We commend the work of Bro. Hall on the Immortality question as an able discussion of this great subject. Read it with candor, and arm yourself with the truth of God, to stand against the wiles of the Devil. Price 12 1/2 cts - postage 1 cent. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.22
“Why don’t you keep the Sabbath-day?” ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.23
A tract with the above title has been lately published at this office. We wish to call especial attention to it at this time. It consists entirely of extracts from Catholic writers in answer to the important question, “Who changed the Sabbath-day?” The tract furnishes ample evidence that the first-day Sabbath is a Catholic institution, and the reader will find it an excellent commentary on Daniel 7:25. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.24
Western Bills. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.25
OUR only way of disposing of Western Bank bills is to let them go to the Broker at a discount of from 3 to 25 per cent. This we have done for the last two months, and find it quite a tax. Our Western friends will do us a favor to obtain Eastern bills when convenient. Postage stamps are as good as money. Gold dollars may be enclosed in letters so as to come safe. But those who can obtain nothing better for us than Western bills, may send them without delay. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.26
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S. HOWLAND. The money is received and the books sent as you direct. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.27
U. COLBY. You will find your money receipted in No.12. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.28
J. M. STEPHENSON. Sent you books by express Dec. 7th, to Palmyra, Jeff. Co., Wis. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.29
J. E. KELLOGG. The $1 on the Stark Bank, enclosed in your letter is worthless. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.30
E. EVERTS. You did not give us the P. O. address of S. Dunklee; so that we are not able to credit her money on our Books. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.31
E. N. GATES. The INSTRUCTOR is sent regularly to Binghamton, Broome Co. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.32
The P. O. address of Joseph Bates, is Fairhaven, Mass. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.33
Books Sent. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.34
To F. Wheeler, Berlin, Ct., by express.
” Hutchins and Sperry, Vergennes, Vt., by express.
” Henry Lyon Battle Creek, Mich., by express. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.35
| Amount on hand Nov. 14th | $244,94 |
| Subsequent Donations | 13,19 |
| ------- | |
| Total. $258,13 |
| Books deliv’d Wm. S. Ingraham, Nov.30th, | $15,00 | |
| “ ” J. N. Loughborough, | Dec. 5th, | 10,00 |
| “ ” J. M. Stephenson, | ” 7th, | 13,00 |
| “ ” Joseph Bates, | ” 9th, | 12,00 |
| “ ” F. Wheeler, | “ 12th, | 5,00 |
| “ ” R. F. Cottrell, | “ 18th, | 5,00. |
| -------- | ||
| Total. | $60,00 | |
| -------- | ||
| Remaining in Treasury | $198,13. | |
| Amount expended above recent Donations | $12,87 | |
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Sabbath Tracts, Nos.1,2,3 & 4 - 152 pp. 12 1/2 cts. - postage 1 ct. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.36
The Law of God: Testimony of Both Testaments:- 132 pp. 10 cts - postage 1 ct. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.37
Why Don’t you Keep the Sabbath-day? Extracts from Catholic works - 36 pp - 4 cts. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.38
Perpetuity of the Royal Law - 5 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.39
THE Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days - 76 pp. - 8 cts - postage 1 cent. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.40
Review of O. R. L. Crozier - the Sabbath - 48 pp. - 5 cts ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.41
The Signs of the Times; Spirit Manifestations a sign that the day of wrath hasteth greatly - 124 pp. - 10 cts. - postage 1 ct. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.42
The Two-horned beast, the United States - 52 pp - 5 cents ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.43
Advent and Sabbath Hymns - 30 cts - postage 5 cts. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.44
Supplement to Advent and Sabbath Hymns - 5 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.45
Time and Prophecy - a Poem - 25 cents - postage 5 cents ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.46
” ” paper covers, 15 cts,” 1 ct. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.47
A Word for the Sabbath - a Poem - 5 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.48
History of the Sabbath - 40 pp - 4 cents ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.49
The 2300 days and the Sanctuary - 32 pp - 5 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.50
Christian Experience and Views - 6 cents ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.51
Supplement to Experience and Views - 6 cents.
Solemn Appeal - Speedy Coming of Christ - 32 pp. - 3cts ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.52
True Picture - state of the Churches - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.53
The Sabbath by Elihu - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.54
Both Sides - on the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.55
The Sabbath by P. Miller Jr. - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.56
First-day of the week not the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.57
Review of Objections to the Sabbath - 16 pp. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.58
Tracts of 16 pages each can be sent by mail for one half cent an ounce, in packages of not less than 8 ounces. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.59
Sabbath and Advent Miscellany - seven of the above Tracts bound with paper covers - 10 cents - postage 1 cent. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.60
Volumes I-IV of the REVIEW, bound in paper covers, Vols and II, 40 cents; Vols. III and IV, 75 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.61
Youth’s Instructor, Vol. I, in paper covers - 25 cents. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.62
No Authorcode
MAINE
| N. Lunt, | Portland |
| S. W. Flanders, | Canaan |
| Cyprian Stevens, | Paris |
| S. Howland, | Topsham |
| W. T. Hanniford, | Orrington |
| Wm. Bryant, | Wilton |
NEW HAMPSHIRE
| J. Stowell, | Washington |
| S. Bunnel, | Claremont |
MASSACHUSETTS
| O. Nichols, | Dorchester |
| O. Davis, | N. Fairhaven |
| Wm. Saxby, | Springfield |
VERMONT
| R. Loveland, | Johnson |
| H. Bingham, | Morristown |
| S. H. Peck, | Wolcott |
| Lewis Bean, | Hardwick |
| H. A. Churchill, | Stowe |
| E. P. Butler, | Waterbury |
| Josiah Hart, | Northfield |
| Jesse Barrows, | Irasburg |
| Alonzo Lee, | Derby Line |
| E. Everts, | Vergennes |
| H. Gardner, | Panton |
| S. Willey, | Wheelock |
CONNECTICUT
| E. L. H. Chamberlain, | Md’town |
| A. Belden, | Kensington |
RHODE ISLAND
| Ransom Hicks, | Providence |
NEW YORK
| J. Byinton, | Buck’s Bridge |
| A. Ross, | Caughdenoy |
| David Upson, | Moreland |
| R. F. Cottrell, | Mill Grove |
| John Wager, | Orangeport |
| L. Carpenter, | Oswego |
| A. H. Robinson, | Sandy Creek |
| E. A. Poole, | Lincklaen |
| J. A. Loughhead, | Elmira |
| John Hamilton, | Fredonia |
PENNSYLVANIA
| M. L. Dean, | Ulysses |
| J. H. Heggie, | Alleghany |
MICHIGAN
| Albert Avery, | Locke |
| Ira Gardener, | Vergennes |
| David Hewitt, | Battle Creek |
| C. S. Glover, | Sylvan |
| A. B. Pearsall, | Grand Rapids |
| A. A. Dodge, | Jackson |
| Wm. M. Smith, | Jackson |
| A. C. Morton, | Delhi |
OHIO
| J. B. Sweet, | Milan |
WISCONSIN
| E. S. Sheffield, | Koskonong |
| T. R. Sheldon, | Rosendale |
CANADA EAST
| B. Hills, | Melborne |
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| 4000 copies | $4000 |
| 3000 | $3500 |
| 2000 | $3000 |
Our present circulation costs $60 per week, or $3125, per year. Those wishing to ascertain the condition of the Office in regard to means, may compare the receipts with the above. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.63
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P. D. Lawrence, E. N. Harris, J. H. Grandy. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.64
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J. Swasey, M. A. Loveland, Dr. V. R. Stowell, C. Bailey, R. Wright, (for H. C.) D. E. Edmonds, Jno. Carter, S. Emmons, Wm. Carpenter, S. Swan, W. Whitford, L. Dickinson, J. H. Cottrell, (for Mrs. W. B. B.,) M. J. Van Schoick, N. L. Brooks, S. Eastman, R. Brainard, Sr. Stanton, Sr. Spur, J. P. Rathbun, M. A. Eaton, B. Hostler, A. Sanders, G. Sanders, each $1. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.65
H. Anderson, S. Dunklee, each $2. E. Boyers $1,25. H. B. Rathbun $0,75. S. Stillman, $0,25. - $110,48, behind on the REVIEW. ARSH December 19, 1854, page 144.66