James White
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. XXV. BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, DECEMBER 6, 1864. No. 2.
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is published weekly, by
The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association.
ELD. JAMES WHITE, PRESIDENT
TERMS —Two Dollars a year in advance. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.1
Address Elder JAMES WHITE, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.2
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Think’st thou ‘mid flowery fields it lies,
The path thine eager spirit tries;
Where faith and hope have striven?
Think’st thou the skies are always clear,
That love and joy are always near
The path that leads to Heaven; ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.3
And sweetly, in that narrow way,
Must dear ones greet thee day by day?
Ah, no! by tempests driven,
The storm-cloud hovers o’er thy path,
Which seems to thee the way of wrath,
The path that leads to Heaven. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.4
And graves are there, and sighs and tears,
And sickness with its train of fears,
And hearts with anguish riven;
And martyrs’ blood and dying groans,
And dark with woes the world disowns,
The path that lead to Heaven. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.5
Yes, ‘tis the way, the way to God,
The way by ancient worthies trod,
Where they have fought and striven,
The way Christ opened when he died;
And shall we fear the path he tried-
The path that leads to Heaven? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.6
No, weary pilgrim, hasten on;
The day of toil is almost gone:
Yen western clouds are given,
With gold and purple on their breast,
As emblems of the morrow’s rest-
That calm, sweet rest in Heaven.
m a w c-in Am. Messenger. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.7
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“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5, 6. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.8
Here is a promise, that before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and when he is about to smite the earth with a curse, the Lord will send Elijah the prophet to do a certain work in the earth. We do not suppose that Elijah himself will come personally, but that it will be a person, or persons, in similar circumstances, doing a like work, by like means. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.9
Some may think that John the Baptist fulfilled all this prophecy, but I do not think so, for the following reasons: 1 John himself said that he was not Elijah. “And they asked him, What then, art thou? Elias (Elijah)? And he said, I am not.” John 1:21. 2. When asked who he was, he said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John 1:23. The angel said of him, “He shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.” Luke 1:23. 3. Elijah was to come and prepare the people for the great day of the Lord. But that day did not come in the time of John the Baptist; therefore he did not do that work. 4. He had but few of the prominent characteristic of Elijah; therefore he could not, and did not, fully accomplish the prophecy of Malachi 4:5, 6. So we must look for a more complete fulfillment of this scripture just before the coming of the great day of the Lord. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.10
In order that we may know when this prophecy is fulfilled, it will be necessary for us to understand the character and work of Elijah. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.11
1. By reading 1 Kings 18, we learn that he lived at a time when all the people had turned away from the true God, and were breaking the first commandment by worshiping Baal. They acknowledged the authority of the commandment, but taught that Baal was the God whom it required them to worship. Chap 18:21. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.12
2. While those who taught the popular religion were four hundred and fifty men, Elijah only had the courage to advocate an unpopular religion, and worship God according to the commandment. Verse 22. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.13
3. He tried to turn the people back to keeping the law of God which they had forsaken. Verses 18, 36-39. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.14
4. For this he was accused of being a “troubler of Israel,” one who makes divisions, and confusion in the community. Verses 17, 18. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.15
5. And because he persisted in so doing, the authorities finally took it up, and sought to slay him; but the Lord delivered him. Chap 19:1-5. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.16
6. In 1 Kings 17, we read that he prophesied that there should be no rain for three years. This happened according to his word. In chap 18:22, he said, “I only remain a prophet of the Lord.” Hence, together with his other characteristics, Elijah was also a prophet. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.17
7. After he had suffered, and done the will of God, in reproving and condemning an apostate church, the Lord translated him to Heaven without tasting death. 2 Kings 2:11. Thus ended his mission. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.18
Now, do the Scriptures teach that a class of people, occupying a like position, and doing a similar work, will come in the last days to prepare the war for the second advent? We think that they do, and that we have a pledge of it in our text, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” etc. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.19
That that day is now at hand, we need not stop to argue. We now find a state of things similar to what existed in Elijah’s time. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.20
1. The professed church of God have departed from the Bible (2 Timothy 3:1-5), and “have heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they have turned away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:1-4. They recognize (generally) the authority of the ten commandments, the fourth of which says that the seventh day is the Sabbath and must be kept holy. But they say that the first day the Sabbath, and must be kept holy. Thus they virtually make void the commandment of God by their tradition. So it was in the time of Elijah, only then it was the first commandment, and now it is the fourth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.21
2. Those who teach this popular fable are indeed “four hundred and fifty men,” while there is only once in a while one here and there who dares to lift up his voice against it, and keep all the commandments of God. Just so it was with Elijah. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.22
3. These few who “tremble at the word of the Lord,” and “have respect unto all his commandments,” are trying to turn the people back to the law of God which they have forsaken. So did Elijah. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.23
4. Because it breaks up old customs, and crosses the path of ease and pleasure, professors cry out that they are making disturbance in community, confusion in society, division in families, etc. This is the main argument against them. But so Ahab said to Elijah: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Mark the answer. “I have not troubled Israel: but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” So it is to-day. A popular church proclaims these men of God to be “troublers of Israel,” while the real “trouble” is in themselves, because they “have forsaken the commandments of the Lord” and will not return to them. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.24
5. Already churchmen begin to threaten to enact laws and use force against these bigots (?) who work on the Christian (?) Sabbath. From Revelation 13:14-17, it is evident that they will ultimately carry these threats into execution. They did the same to Elijah. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.25
6. Elijah was a prophet, and the promise says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet,” etc. Hence, in fulfillment of this promise, there must come in the last days a class of people doing the work of Elijah, and having the gift of prophecy among them. But we have direct testimony on this point in Revelation 12:17. “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 testimony of Jesus Christ.” We also offer this text as evidence on all the points that we have made before. Now notice, 1. Here is the woman representing the church. See verses 1-6:2. The remnant are the last end; hence we have here a description of the last generation of the church, or those who are alive when the Lord comes. Now mark their peculiarities: 1. They are described as those “which keep the commandments of God,” the fourth not excepted. 2. “And have the testimony of Jesus.” In chap 19:10, the angel says to John, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Then, truly, the remnant church will be like Elijah in keeping all the commandments of God, and having the gift of prophecy. Compare 1 Kings 18:17, 18, 22, with Revelation 12:17. Will our opponents please think on these points? But for this, the dragon makes war with them. Revelation 12:17. So Jezebel sought Elijah’s life for the same reason. 1 Kings 19:1-5. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.26
7. After warning a fallen church and a godless world of the wrath to come, the “remnant” will be translated without tasting death. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. So was Elijah. This will complete their likeness to him. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.27
In conclusion, we can but exclaim, What a striking and beautiful likeness there is between “Elijah the prophet,” and the “remnant” who are now preparing for translation into God’s everlasting kingdom! ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.28
D. M. Canright.
Battle Creek, Mich.
We live by dying to ourselves, and die by living to ourselves. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 9.29
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With peculiar appropriateness it has been said, that “opinions have their affinities, as strong and irresistible almost, as the chemical: elements and we need only to look about us with an observant eye, to see constant illustrations of it. And no sentiment perhaps, has always found a readier acquiescence from the heart of fallen man, than that which the Arch-Deceiver, first in the ear of Eve ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.1
“Spoke through a reptile with a voice like man’s,
As now he speaks through man to reptile turned,“
“Thou shalt not surely die.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.2
While in my youth, many years ago, I was returning from a funeral in company with one who had long been a disciple of Jesus. Silently we walked for some time, when my friend remarked sadly, “I have been thinking how much Elder S. lacked of preaching a Universalist funeral sermon!” I have often pondered upon that thought, as in maturer years I have observed how quietly a place of punishment is ignored, even by those who “knowing the terrors of the Lord” should “persuade men;” how quietly and coolly it is assumed that everybody is going to Heaven; that each deceased friend is going to be greeted by those gone before to the spirit-land How many, alas, ignoring altogether the resurrection, thus: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.3
“Years have passed and that dear mother
Long has mouldered ‘neath the sod,
And I trust her sainted spirit
Revels in the home of God.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.4
But little better is the following, though it recognizes the resurrection where one, in speaking of our fallen brave ones buried at Atlanta, says without discrimination “There they shall rest till the resurrection morn shall wake them to glory again.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.5
Every one who is in the least observant, is well aware that this has come to be the common manner of speaking of the dead, even by those holding the doctrines of rewards and punishments as taught by the Bible. That it has “unawares crept in,” we are willing to grant. It is pleasant to speak agreeable words, especially to sorrowing ones. And who has not learned in this world of ours, that whatever disturbs a man’s self-complacency is received with disfavor, and so there is a strong temptation to reflect back the demands of those about us. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.6
Paul in his day, found occasion to ask his brethren to “pray for him that he might speak boldly, as he ought to speak.” Jeremiah and Micaiah in their time, each received definite instructions to pander to the common demand for “smooth things.” With threatenings they came to Jeremiah, saying, “Prophesy no more in the name of the Lord, else thou die at our hand.” But to Micaiah, they came not with bold defiance; but with obsequious blandishments, the messengers from the king say, “Behold the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent, let thy words therefore be like one of theirs and speak thou good.” 2 Chronicles 18:12. So now-a-day, the people have a sufficiently significant manner of evincing their preferences for pleasant theories, and not always have our teachers the moral courage of the prophet, who replied, “As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.” Verse 13. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.7
When Jesus, the Great Teacher was among men, so long as only “gracious words proceeded out of his mouth,” multitudes flocked to hear him, and “his fame went through all the region round about, being glorified of all.” Luke 4:14. But when he began to intimate, that all were not gliding safely and surely to the haven of eternal rest, how quickly their praise is turned to malediction, and “filled with wrath, they rose up and thrust him out of the city.” Verses 28, 29. Nor has human nature changed since then. Personal violence need not he feared; but demolish pleasant fancies, or let favorite theories be thwarted, and the lion-roar and tiger-growl is heard. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.8
Would our religious teachers regardless of the favor or frowns of man, adopt for themselves the rule of one eminent servant of God, to throw into every sermon he preached enough of the plan of salvation, that if one heard it having never before heard the gospel, and should never again hear another sermon, he would from that one, know how to come to God and be saved. Were this the custom, we need never fall back on our question, Who are Universalists? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.9
M. W. Howard.
Malone, N. Y.
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Lovely Jesus, blessed One,
Chiefest of ten thousand joys,
Thou my wayward soul didst gain,
To a wise and noble choice.
When in childhood days I turned
From the world to follow thee,
In thy sacred word I learned
Thou didst ask my heart of me. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.10
And my carnal nature sighed
That my passions might be free;
But the willing spirit cried,
I will yield my heart to thee.
Hard but short the struggle then,
The decision quickly made,
Great the victory I did gain,
By thy blessing, and thy aid. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.11
Yet in after life I found,
Like a soldier of thy host
I must fight to keep the ground,
Or my victory would be lost.
When a child I gave to thee
All I had or hoped to have,
Yet my life has not been free,
Struggles come and trials grieve. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.12
And I still keep yielding up,
Thought it wring like tears of blood,
Some new idol, some new hope,
On the altar of my God.
Even now a blighting shade,
O’er my spirit creeps apace;
What I cherish most must fade,
Leaving but a vacant place. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.13
This thou dost require of me,
Hardest struggle I have passed;
But I know that it must be,
I must yield it up at last.
For there’s naught of earth shall part,
Though the tears of sadness flow,
Me from thee, thee from my heart;
This I purposed long ago. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.14
I would not with fondness cling,
But I wait for strength from thee,
With a willing heart to brings,
What thou dost require of me.
Future trials not a few,
Will in heavy measure come;
But I hope to struggle through
To the joy and rest of home.
E. W. Darling. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.15
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by eld. m. e. cornell
“Let us, for another thing, beware of despising the law of the ten commandments. Let us not suppose for a moment that it is set aside by the gospel, or that Christians have nothing to do with it. The coming of Christ did not alter the position of the ten commandments one hair’s breadth. If anything, it exalted and raised their authority. Romans 3:31. The law of the ten commands is God’s eternal measure of right and wrong. By it is the knowledge of sin. By it the Spirit shows men their need of Christ, and drives them to him. To it Christ refers his people as their rule and guide for holy living. In its right place it is just as important as “the glorious gospel.” It cannot save us. We cannot be justified by it. But never, never let us despise it. It is a symptom of an ignorant and unhealthy state of religion when the law is lightly esteemed. The true Christian delights in the law of God. Romans 7:22.—Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matt. p. 38. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.16
“The plain truth is, that our Lord did not abolish the law of the weekly Sabbath. He only freed it from incoherent interpretations, and purified it from man made additions. He did not tear out of the decalogue the fourth commandment. He only stripped off the miserable traditions with which the Pharisees had incrusted the day, and by which they had made it not a blessing but a burden. He left the fourth commandment where he found it, a part of the eternal law of God, of which no jot or title was ever to pass away. May we never forget this.”—Id. p. 122. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.17
On Matthew 24:20, Ryle says: “We live in times when the obligation of the Sabbath upon Christians is frequently denied by good men. They tell us that it is no more binding on us than the ceremonial law. It is difficult to see how such a view can be reconciled with our Lord’s words on this solemn occasion. He seems intentionally to mention the Sabbath when he is foretelling the final destruction of the temple and the Mosaic ceremonies, as if to mark the day with honor. He seems to hint that, although his people would be absolved from the yoke of sacrifices and ordinances, there would yet remain the keeping of the Sabbath for them.”—Id. p. 319. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.18
Dr. A. Barnes says:“There can be no permanent worship of God, and no permanent religion on earth, without a Sabbath; and hence it was, that while the observance of the feasts of tabernacles, and of the passover, and of the new moons, made a part of the ceremonial law, the law respecting the Sabbath was incorporated with the ten commandments as a moral and perpetual obligation.”—Notes on Isaiah 66:23. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.19
“Hooks or long knives for trimming vines. The word here, however, means anything employed in reaping or mowing, a sickle, or a scythe.”—Barnes’ Notes on Isaiah 2. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.20
Note. “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.” Joel 3:10. I learn that in many places they have worked up the old fashioned steel plowshares into implements of war, and at Springfield, Mass., they have worked up several car loads of scythes, and several scythe establishments are now changed into manufactories of swords and sabers for war. Thus we have a fulfillment of this scripture. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 10.21
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The religion that the world is dying for, is not a treasure, valued and cherished, indeed, but cherished under a glass case in the beat room, carefully dusted, and visible only on days of high festival. We want a religion that is an atmosphere, wrapping us about, above, and below; going down into the lungs in deep-drawn inspiration, to purify and energize; filtering into the blood, to tint and quicken; spreading out in the skin, to protect and adorn; piercing noisome cellars, to dispel the noxious, death-dealing vapors; mounting into the parlors, and bedrooms, and kitchens, to keep them sweet and healthful; permeating and interpenetrating all things: a savor of life unto life. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.1
We want a religion that softens the step, and tones the voice to melody, and fills the eye with sunshine, and checks the impatient exclamation and the harsh rebuke; a religion that is polite, deferential to superiors, courteous to inferiors, and considerate to friends; a religion that goes into the family, and keeps the husband from being spiteful when the dinner is late, and keeps the dinner from being late-keeps the wife from fretting when the husband tracks the newly-washed floor with his muddy boots, and makes the husband mindful of the scraper and the door-mat-keeps the mother patient when the baby is cross, and keeps the baby pleasant-amuses the children as well as instructs them-wins as well as governs-cares for the servants, besides paying them promptly-projects the honeymoon into the harvest-moon, and makes the happy home like the Eastern fig-tree, bearing in its bosom at once the beauty of the tender blossom and the glory of the ripened fruit; a religion that looks after the apprentice in the shop, and the clerk behind the counter, and the student in the office, with a fatherly care and a motherly love-setting the solitary in families, introducing them to pleasant and wholesome society, that their lonely feet may not be led into temptation, forgiving occasional lapses while striving to prevent them, and to supply, so far as may be, the place of the natural guardians by a vigilance that attracts without annoying. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.2
We want a religion that shall interpose continually between the ruts, and gullies, and rocks of the highway of life, and the sensitive souls that are traveling over them. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.3
We want a religion that bears heavily, not only on the “exceeding sinfulness of sin,” but on the exceeding rascality of lying and stealing—a religion that banishes short measures from the counters, small baskets from the stalls, pebbles from the cotton bags, clay from paper, sand from sugar, chiccory from coffee, otter from butter, flour from cream of tartar, beet-juice from vinegar, alum from bread, strychnine from wine, water from milk-cans, and buttons from the contribution-box. The religion that is to save the world will not put all the big strawberries at the top, and all the bad ones at the bottom. It will sell raisins on stems, instead of stems without raisins. It will not offer more baskets of foreign wines than the vineyards ever produced bottles, and more barrels of Genesee flour than all the wheat-fields of New York grow and all her mills grind. It will not make one half of a pair of shoes of good leather, and the other of poor leather, so that the first shall redound to the maker’s credit, and the second to his cash; nor, if the shoes have been promised on Thursday morning, will it let Thursday morning spin out till Saturday night. It will not put Jovin’s stamp on Jenkin’s kid gloves; nor make Paris bonnets in the back-room of a Boston milliner’s shop; nor let a piece of velvet, that professes to measure twelve yards, come to an untimely end in the tenth; or a spool of sewing silk, that vouches for twenty yards, be nipped in the bud at fourteen and a half; nor the cotton thread spool break, to the yard-stick, fifty of the two hundred yards of promise that was given to the eye; nor yard-wide cloth measure less than thirty-six inches from selvage to selvage; nor all wool delaines and all linen handkerchiefs be amalgamated with clandestine cotton; nor water-proof cloaks be soaked through in an hour; nor coats made of old woolen rags pressed together be sold to an unsuspecting public for legal broadcloth. It does not put bricks at five dollars per thousand into chimneys which it contracted to build of seven-dollar materials; nor smuggle white pine into floors that have paid for hard pine; nor leave yawning cracks in closets where boards ought to join; nor daub ceilings that ought to be smoothly plastered; nor make window blinds with slats that cannot stand the wind, and paint that cannot stand the sun, and fastenings that may be looked at, but are on no account to be touched. It does not send the little boy, who has come for the daily quart of milk, into the barnyard to see the calf, and seize the opportunity to skim off the cream; nor does it surround stale butter with fresh, and sell the whole for good: nor pass off the slack-baked bread upon the stable-boy; nor dust the pepper; nor “deacon” the apples. It does not put cotton gathering threads into the skirt, to succumb on the slightest provocation; nor content itself with fastening seams at the beginning and the end, trusting to Providence for the security of the intermediate stages.—Gail Hamilton. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.4
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A sigh! you all know it well, this sigh of sadness, this sigh of expectation. Not a breast that has not heaved it; no lips from which it has not often risen to Heaven. We are ill at ease. All of us, whether we be happy or unhappy, have a burden to bear, the burden of human woes. There is no escape from our deep consciousness, intensified perhaps by the breathless hurry of our age,—that of the short duration of all earthly things. The best are soonest over, but all pass in exceeding haste, and we ourselves seem as though a mighty and resistless wind were sweeping us away. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.5
Formerly, tidings, whether good or bad, were slow of step; we hardly knew what was going on at the other side of the globe till a year after the event. If blood had been spilled, the earth had had time to drink it up; if tears had flowed, the sun had had time to dry them. The griefs that spoke to us from afar, left the heart comparatively unmoved. Things are changed now. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has bent its branches more within our reach, and each moment our greedy hands are raised to gather its fruit. And the result is not only an anxious restlessness, but a fund of bitter melancholy. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.6
Formerly, the general tone was one of gaiety. The note that an attentive observer would have heard prevailing over all others, was a crystalline serene note, echoing from the cottage to the palace. The note that echoes over our earth at this present hour, in the village, town, or quiet country, is a wailing note, akin to tears,—an immense sigh. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.7
As for me, from my heart there ever rises an unutterable groan. The world as it now is, does not satisfy me; still less do I satisfy myself. Creation suffers and laments with me. St. Paul expresses this mighty woe in one strong word,—“travaileth in pain.” ... ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.8
What is it that creation hopes for? For its deliverance. For what does it sigh? For its restoration. What does it wait for? For Jesus, the King! He will come again! This cry echoes throughout the Scriptures. He will come again. He who publishes liberty to the captives, and crushes death beneath His foot-He will come again. With Him will come purity, love, the era of perfect blessedness foretold by the prophets. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.9
The messengers of the Lord in all times speak to us of a sanctified world, singing praises to God; we only know a sinful world, hurling complaints and blasphemies against Him. Happiness overflows the earth of which they speak. Our earth is the seat of desolation. They tell us of “times of refreshing;” our times are times of exhaustion. Peace, love, exceeding great joy here on earth, both with God and our fellow creatures; these are promised; and behold, wars ravage, tears inundate our world; sorrow for the dead draws her dark veil round it; the angels as they pass it in their heavenward flight hear a murmur of plaintive cries, angry voices, and mad laughter, sadder still than tears. From age to age generations or believers have been laid in the grave, their faces turned to the east; and each, in dying, has left behind the sublime watchword, “Thy kingdom come!” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.10
Yea, Lord, Thy kingdom come! Scoffers, indeed, may laugh. “Where is the promise of His coming?” They say. “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things have gone on as they were.” We have nothing to answer, and nothing to ask, but simply, Thy kingdom come! ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.11
Thy kingdom come! It is at once a prayer and a pledge. He who told us thus to pray is He who will surely come. If hearts big with love, hands clasped,—if, with strong crying and tears, the whole earth were to raise this burning aspiration to the skies,—oh, I believe that the Lord would hear, I believe, indeed, that the Lord would come. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”—Gasparin’s Heavenly Horizons. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.12
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“Go, ye who deal out the drunkard’s dram for paltry gain, go where night is the blackest, and poor weary hearts, are slowly breaking under their weight of woe, tell them you have joyous news. Tell them that, for all this bitter desolation, your palm is filled with gold. Tell the smitten victims of the household, that out of their mouths, off their backs, and from their blighted fields, you have gathered a harvest of gold. Tell the pale, wasting wife and mother that you have a paltry percentage of all that was noble in the husband or kind in the father in yellow gold. Tell the drunkard, as he dreams perchance that he can yet beat back the red billows which toss and consume him, that for his poor body’s and soul’s death you have gold. Stand at the threshold of the poorhouse and taunt the squalid, the deformed, and the idiotic, with the news that, out of all their ruin, you gathered gold. Tell the murderer that you made him a murderer for gold. Stand by the new graves of the last twelve months in our land, and whisper to the fifty thousand sleepers—victims of your ‘regulated’ traffic—that you slew them for gold. Enter the vestibule of perdition, and with Bible in hand, read that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of God, and as uncounted thousands charge you with their damnation, comfort them with the assurance that you did it for gold. Follow your slaughtered host to the judgment, and when He who called the first fratricide to account, shall call for your brother, answer that you slew him for gold.—T. W. Brown, on a death by delirium tremens. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.13
The Christian Ministry.—The Christian ministry is the worst of all trades, but the best of all professions. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.14
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Some years ago a vase, closely sealed, was found in a mummy pit in Egypt, by the English traveler, Wilkinson, who sent it to the British museum. The librarian having unfortunately broken it, discovered in it a few peas-old, wrinkled, and as hard as a stone. The peas were planted carefully under a glass, on the 4th of June, 1844, and at the end of thirty days, these seeds were seen to spring up into new life. They had been buried, probably, about three thousand years ago, perhaps in the time of Moses, and had slept all that time apparently dead, yet still living in the dust of the tomb.—Gaussen. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.15
What this writer has told us about seeds, should remind us that God is just as able to raise our dead bodies from the grave, and give them new life. For why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead? “For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”—Christian Witness. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.16
At one time, when Mr. John Wesley was traveling in Ireland, his carriage became fixed in the mire and the harness broke. While he and his companion were laboring to extricate it, a poor man passed in great distress. Mr. Wesley called to him and inquired the cause of his distress. He said that he had been unable through misfortune, to pay his rent of twenty shillings, and his family were just being turned out of doors. “Is that all you need?” said Mr. Wesley, handing him the amount—“here go and be happy.” Then, turning to his companion, he said, pleasantly, “You see now why our carriage stopped here in the mud.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.17
UrSe
Books which dispute the meaning of God’s word, shun them as you would the coil of a deadly serpent. Not long since, a friend brought me a book, with a request that I would read it. Thinking he would be displeased at a refusal, I half assented. It was ably written, the logic was clear, and the argument very plausible. I read for a while, interested in the startling views and questions proposed; but when the authority of the word of God was disputed, even set at nought, and human doctrine substituted, it was enough. I saw my danger, and closed the book, never again to be opened. How many souls, precious in the sight of God, have been launched into that broad way whose end is eternal death by infidel writers, seeking for their own popularity the overthrow of the gospel. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.18
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The Opinion Nationale of a recent date gives this dismal picture of the present belligerent condition of the world: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.19
“If there be a dead calm in politics as well as business amongst us, it is the same in all parts of the little planet we inhabit. Three-quarters of humanity, in fact, are living in the barbarious state of war. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.20
“There is war in Poland. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.21
“War in Algeria. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.22
“War in Tunis. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.23
“War in Mexico. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.24
“War in the United States. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.25
“War in Peru. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.26
“War in New Zealand. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.27
“War in China and Kachgar. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.28
“War in Japan. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.29
“War in Afghanistan. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.30
“War in twenty countries in Africa. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.31
“This is, unfortunately, enough to discourage the friends of universal peace; and who can say they will not meet with still greater disappointment next year? Italy, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and the Slavonian population of Turkey, are not, it must be confessed, in the most pacific humor; and to those who study the general situation of our continent, it is quite evident that the general situation, instead of getting better goes on from day to day getting more and more complicated.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.32
Jewels have value, but the price
Can ne’er be found of good advice. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 11.33
No Authorcode
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, DECEMBER 6, 1864.
URIAH SMITH, EDITOR.
UrSe
The great period of 2300 days is beyond controversy the most important, if not the most prominent, prophetic period brought to view in the Scriptures. This period has been a source of infinite perplexity to those who have shut their eyes to the daylight of the 1844 movement, and are endeavoring to make their way through these speculative days of error in the light of the sparks of then own kindling. This period must by some means be adjusted. No Advent theory could so much as claim to be looked at, it so important an item as this was ignored, or even did not occupy a prominent place therein. Hence the scores of conjectures, and the incessant tinkering over this period since 1844. The subject is of course up again in connection with the new time movement of 1868. And what do you imagine, reader, is their starting-point this time, and the reasons they give for it? We will state it as recently advocated through the Voice of the West, by Wm. Sheldon, and argued at length by the editor of the World’s Crisis, in a late issue of the latter sheet. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.1
In the language of the Crisis it is stated thus: “As the 2300 days cover the entire length of the vision, till we arrive to the point where it may be said, ‘the sanctuary’ is ‘cleansed,’ it follows, of course, that the period dates from the first event in the vision. The vision begins with the work of ‘the ram;’ and his first and principal act is expressed in the following language: I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward,” etc. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.2
Here, then, a point is found in the vision of Daniel 8, for the commencement of the 2300 days. Eld. Grant well argues that it was the subject of time which Daniel did not understand in his eighth chapter; that it was to explain this point that Gabriel was sent to him as recorded in chapter nine; that the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days, and that the two periods commence together. But here the matter ends; for Eld. G. holds that the sixty-two weeks, the seven weeks, etc., are no part of the seventy weeks, but different periods entirely. Hence Daniel 9 contains no intimation of the commencement of the seventy weeks, and none, consequently, of the commencement of the 2300 days, for that is determined by the seventy weeks: and so it follows that Gabriel, after all, did not give to Daniel the information which he came to give, namely, concerning the 2300 days; and we are compelled, according to this theory, to fall back into the eighth chapter to find the starting-point for that period. This is a little bad, as it assumes that we are able to ascertain the point in question from premises on which Daniel could not, thus making us wiser than Daniel; and it is also rather hard on the angel Gabriel, by virtually representing that he utterly filled in the ninth chapter to give Daniel the information which he was sent to give him. And further, if all needed information is given in the eighth chapter, Gabriel, on his second visit, instead of introducing seventy weeks, and dropping them before giving either commencement or end, and then introducing three other periods that had nothing to do with the subject, should have told Daniel that he need not have been astonished at the vision, nor so void of understanding on the time; for he should know and understand that the days were to commence from the pushing of the ram west, north, and south. But the angel said no such thing, which is to us good presumptive evidence that the pushing of the ram has no connection with the commencement of the days. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.3
But what does this new theory make out the pushing of the ram to be? Is it an act that took place at some specific point of time, so as to furnish a definite commencement for a great prophetic period? Yes, we are told, this pushing was against the children of the Lord, the Jews, scattered through the Persian empire, and took place when the decree went out at the instigation of Haman that all the Jews should perish in one day. Esther 3:13. And the reason given for applying the pushing to this decree against the Jews, is because “it is not found that the Medo-Persian empire was ever ‘pushing westward, northward, and southward’ at any one time, so that no government could stand before it.” But does the prophecy say that the pushing of the ram was all done at one time? We find no such idea there. Comic writers, to be sure, have indulged in the hyperbolical expression of a man’s running seven ways at once; but we very much doubt whether the prophet saw the ram pushing three ways at once! ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.4
But let us read the prophecy, Daniel 8:4: “I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and BECAME GREAT” If this language does not describe the march of a nation up to the hight of universal empire, there is none in the sacred record which does. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.5
But suppose we try to apply this to the decree against the Jews, above referred to. At that time king Ahasuerus ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. Esther 1:1. We conclude there had already been some “pushing,” on the part of the Medo-Persian empire, else these hundred and twenty seven provinces extending as far westward as Ethiopia, would not have been brought under its jurisdiction. At this time the Jews were a company of trembling captives scattered through all the provinces of the empire. A decree goes forth for their destruction. Was this the pushing of the ram? Daniel represents as the result of that pushing that none could stand before him, none could deliver out of his hand, he did according to his will, and became great. How was it in case of the Jews? Ans. Through the exertions of Mordecar and Esther, the Jews were given permission to defend themselves. And when the day for the execution of the decree arrived, they did defend themselves, and instead of the Persians’ accomplishing their desire upon the Jews, the Jews overcame them with a great triumph! ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.6
To get over this point, we are told that the king did do according to his “will;” that his will was revered; and hence the triumph of the Jews over their Persian enemies was the ram doing according to his will! What a subterfuge is this! The laws of the Mede and Persians could not be “reversed.” We are assured that they changed not. All that could be done was to let that decree stand, and issue a counter one, permitting the Jews to defend themselves. But the “will” of the empire still stood in the decree for their extermination. And when the day arrived, their enemies “hoped” to have power over them. Esther 9:1. But God wrought for the Jews. The fear of them fell upon the people. The fear of Mordecar so fell upon the rulers of the provinces, the lieutenants and deputies, that they helped the Jews, and they obtained a complete victory over their Persian enemies, slaying three hundred men at Shushan, the palace, and seventy and five thousand throughout the empire. Chap 9:2, 3, 15, 16. And this, according to the new theory, was in fulfillment of the prophecy that no one could stand before the ram! that no one could deliver out of his hand! This was his doing according to his will! and becoming great!! And this is the commencement of the 2300 days! and-perhaps Heaven knows what next! If anything can exceed the folly of such interpretation, we have yet to see it. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.7
UrSe
In 538 a. d. we say. In 533 says the new-time theory. This point, it seems to us, can be settled without spending much time, or wasting many words. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.8
What are the prophecies respecting the period of papal supremacy, or, which is the same thing, the 1260 years? We find the first in Daniel 7:25. Speaking of the papal horn, the prophet says: “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.9
In the book of Revelation we find the same period several times brought to view. Twice it marks the time during which the woman, or the church, should dwell in the wilderness, and once it is given to denote the continuance of the seven headed and ten horned beast of Revelation 13. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.10
Now what facts of history have we from which any one can argue the commencement of this period of 1260 years? Answer. In 533 a. d. Justinian issued a decree constituting the pope the head of all the churches. In 538 he was enabled to remove the obstacles that stood in the way of the carrying out of that decree, and place the man of sin upon the pontifical throne. From which of these events shall we date the period in question? Shall we date it from the time when Justinian formed the purpose of making the bishop of Rome the head of the churches? or from the time when he was able to carry that purpose into execution? Which do the various prophecies we have quoted, demand? The language of Daniel is that the saints times and laws should be given into his hand for a certain time. When were they given into his hand? We can determine this point by one question; namely, Had Justinian never been able to put into execution his decree concerning the pope, would the saints have been given into his hand? Assuredly they would not. All must admit this. Then had the events never been accomplished which were accomplished in 538, Justinian might have decreed till the day of his death, and the saints would only have laughed at his abortive legislation, and bid defiance to the paper fulminations of the man of sin. It was the events, then, of 538, that gave the saints times and laws into the hands of the pope. But they were to be given into his hands for 1260 years. From what point then, are we to date this period? From 538 of course. There is no other point in the annals of time. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.11
Try it again. The woman, or the church, was to go into the wilderness, and be nourished there for 1260 years. What was to cause the church thus to go into the wilderness? The elevation of the man of sin. But had the decree of Justinian never been accomplished, would the church have been obliged to flee into the wilderness? By no means. But her wilderness, state was to continue 1260 years, and must beyond question, be dated from those events which drove her into that state; which were the events of 538. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.12
And what event was to mark the termination of those days? This is clearly indicated in Revelation 13:10. Speaking of the blasphemous beast, the papacy, which was to “continue” forty-two months, John says, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword.” Was this accomplished in 1793, where the 1260 years would end if commenced in 533? We answer, No. But in 1798, which was 1260 years from 538, the pope was taken prisoner, he was literally led into captivity, and died in exile. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.13
Should the present dispensation continue beyond the year 1868, and it thus become necessary for those who live on time, to fix another date, we venture to predict that the position here set forth, would, without much hesitation, be adopted, and essentially the same arguments be used to establish it; in other words that the time-ists would argue as strenuously for 538 as the commencement of the 1260 years, as they now do for 533. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.14
But what is the object of dating from 533? Answer. That is the year from which if we commence the 1335 years, they will end in 1868; and, with the new-time theory, that is apparently enough. But suppose 533 marks the commencement of papal supremacy, what authority have we for dating the 1335 days from that point? What says the prophecy? Daniel 12:11, 12: “And from the time that the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninty days. Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” We presume no one will deny that these two periods, thus introduced together, have the same starting point. And what is that starting point? The answer that is given us is, From the time that the daily shall be taken away. This daily has often been shown through the Review to be not a sacrifice but an abomination, referring to Paganism. And no Adventist will deny that the abomination that maketh desolate, spoken of in connection with it, is the papacy. Now the margin reads. From the time that the daily shall be taken away, “to set up” the abomination that maketh desolate, etc. Hence from the time that paganism is taken away, in order to the setting up of the papacy, these periods are to date. And when was paganism taken away? In 508, thirty years before the papacy was set up. But granting that the papacy was set up in 533, there is not one particle of evidence for dating the 1335 days from that point. Indeed it is directly contrary to the prophecy so to do; for that declares that they are to date from another point. Thus this theory has not coherence enough to stand, though we grant one half of its assumed foundation. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 12.15
UrSe
An army must be organized; a meeting must be organized; a school must be organized; and system is regarded as indispensable in any business transaction of any magnitude and importance. It is said, “Order is Heaven’s first law.” Order is the delight of good angels. Satan by rebelling against the organization of Heaven fell, and has since been a special enemy of good order. “God is not the author of confusion.” The Devil is. The saints on earth should be in sympathy with Heaven, and not with the author of confusion. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.1
The great objection in the minds of some against Seventh-day Adventists, is their organization. And for their benefit we now take up the subject. Now what have Seventh-day Adventists done in the line of organization? They have done only what seemed absolutely necessary. They have moved no further than the necessities of the case have driven them. They formed a Publishing Association, because they could not see any other way to successfully conduct the publishing department. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.2
In 1850 we commenced the publication of the Review and Herald on our own responsibility, because there was then no other person or persons to take hold of this work. In the same way we commenced the publication of books and tracts. But as we were without means, we did business on borrowed capital. The friends of the cause liberally donated from time to time to purchase printing material, presses, etc., but in order to reprint and keep on hand a full assortment of our publications, we had to give our notes for money which the friends of the cause put into our hands, generally without interest. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.3
In 1860 we were in debt at least $4,000. It is true that we had in our hands in printing material, presses, stock, and in books and tracts, to the amount of $10,000, of which we were the only legal owner, yet it was not ours. And in case of fire this would have been swept away, and we left $4,000 at least worse than nothing. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.4
In addition to this, we were charged with exercising the one-man power-being editor of the Review, and in reality proprietor of the publishing department-with making it a matter of peculation for personal advantages, etc.; and it was decidedly an unhappy position for any man to occupy unless he was ignorant of all justice, and unfeeling to all injuries. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.5
We resolved to stand it no longer, and called on our people to form a Publishing Association, which could annually elect its trustees, and into whose hands we could make over the property intrusted to our care. This was finally accomplished, but not without a struggle against the prejudices of many. Now editors and trustees are elected annually by the members of the Association. And all who labor in connection with the publishing department receive moderate wages, below mechanics generally, and if profits should arise from the business, they would add to the property of the Association without being the least benefit to any particular person or persons. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.6
With such a basis for our publishing department, the friends every where have been free to take stock and to donate. After we made over to the Association, property to the amount of every dollar that had been donated to the office from first to last for presses, printing material, book fund, etc., and $1,200 more for the use of this property, there was still in our hands, in books which we sold to the Association, an amount sufficient to pay our debts. Thank God for the freedom of being able to “owe no man anything.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.7
The almost unparalleled prosperity of the publishing department of the Seventh day Adventists, must be attributed mainly to the fact that it is not owned by one man, but by the body; and is not controlled by one man, but by the body. If money is wanted let the friends of the cause be apprised of the fact, and it comes freely into the treasury. The Devil knows that it would be too glaring an imposition to raise the cry of speculation under present arrangments, and as his only resort, he would inspire prejudice in the minds of those who are willing to be prejudiced against that wholesome, and reasonable organization which has so effectually stopped has mouth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.8
It is a matter worthy of notice, that the very persons who had so much to say about the one-man power, and speculation, were the first to oppose the organization of the Publishing Association, by which both the means and the control of the publishing department, were put out of our hands. Which displeased them most, having these in our hands, or putting them out of our hands, we know not. They were tempted, pettish, an faultfinding of those things of which they knew but little, and we very much doubt whether any action on our part, whatever it might have been, would have pleased them. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.9
But it is objected that the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association was instituted according to law, and that the property is held lawfully. To us, this is one of its highest recommendations. Do the Scriptures anywhere forbid the people of God right of legal business transaction? If they do, then to hold real estate legally is a sin. Away, then, with your deeds of farms and building lots, and all this care and expense in securing good title. But in order that publishing for Seventh-day Adventists may be carried on and they cannot dispense with this powerful means of spreading the truth, somebody must hold the deed of the ground where the publishing house stands. And we ask, wherein is it worse for several brethren to associate themselves together according to law, and hold it in their incorporated name, and transact business in that name, than for one of them to hold it, and transact business legally in his own name? The laws of Michigan provide for both. Is one wrong? then both are wrong, and law and order are a mistake. Such a position will do for the savage and the shattered fanatic; but sober reason and pure religion may inquire, What principle taught in the sacred Scriptures is violated by either? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.10
When we commenced publishing fifteen years since, we had no idea of the extent of the work, and that it would ever be necessary to employ a capital of $25,000 in the publishing department of the cause of present truth. Then there were but a handful of Sabbath keepers, and we saw no need of that organization which has since become necessary. This by some, is referred to as proof that we have backslidden. They say, You are doing business on a different scale from that on which you first started. True; then the entire business amounted to only $377, for the first eight months. During the last eight months, the business of the association has not been less than $18,000. A different scale, indeed We affirm again, as we leave this point, that we have urged organization only where it was absolutely demanded by the necessities of the case, and then we have recommended the simplest form possible that would answer the purpose. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.11
Fifteen years since, we had no meeting-houses. We had no use for them, as our small assemblies could be convened as well in private dwellings. We then saw no need of legally organizing religious societies to hold houses of worship, for we had none to hold. But as the message has gathered its thousands to the Sabbath, besides Tents, or the “Cotton Churches,” as they are sometimes called, houses of worship, as a matter of stern necessity, have been built in most of the free states. The e houses of worship must be held legally, if held at all. Deeds must be held, either in the names of persons, or of religious societies, organized according to law. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.12
“But can you not trust some good brother to hold your place of worship for the church?” Answer. If it be wrong for a religious society to hold a place of worship-if that church is criminally leaning upon the arm of the law in such a case-it would be equally wrong, and leaning upon the arm of the law, for one brother to hold it. And who would contribute toward building houses in such a case? The chances of their being retained for the benefit of the church would depend upon the honesty, or life, of the one brother who might be selected to hold the deed. Should he backslide, he could close the house of worship. Should he die, his heirs could do the same. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.13
The Adventists of Cincinnati, Ohio, built a place of worship called the Tabernacle, on a brother’s lot. Satan tempted this brother, he yielded, got possession of the key, locked out the congregation, and the place built and consecrated for the worship of God was turned into a vinegar establishment. But soon they built a Chapel on a brother’s lot whom they could certainly trust. He played a similar trick, and the Advent people were driven to worship in a private dwelling, and the cause went down. Was God honored in this? Did holy angels rejoice? Or did this sacrifice to a blind conscientiousness, unenlightened by the word of God, cause Satan and his angels to shout with great delight over the victory gained. And in the final settlement of affairs will not the question be asked, “Who hath required this at your hand?” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.14
“But it is doing like all the churches.” When it can be shown that it is a sin for the various churches to build houses of worship, and hold them legally, then this may be considered a real objection The law provides but one way for all religious societies to hold houses of worship, and we may avail ourselves of the benefits of that, or have none, as we please. But is it wrong to do anything which the churches do? These very friends of disorder build their dwelling houses like their Methodist and Baptist neighbors, and hold their deeds just as they do. Is it not the duty of Christians to labor to do right, without desiring to be different from others, only when the pure principles of a consistent Christianity require them to differ? Do others love the world more than Christ? They should differ, and love Christ most. Do others reverence the rival Sabbath of the Papacy? They should differ so far as to keep the commandments of God. These and many like differences are commendable. But to differ, for the sake of differing and being odd, appears to us no part of the Christian religion. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.15
Seventh-day Adventists claim that their simple church organization and discipline are scriptural, and that these are entirely independent of their legally organized societies to hold church property. The civil law has no more to do with dictating their church organization, and their church discipline, than it has in directing their manner of worship Then let no one confound these which are distinct. One is a necessary conformity to the requirements of the civil law, to properly hold church property. The other is simply carrying out scriptural order and discipline in the church. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.16
We have been quite definite and lengthy on this subject, first, because some who observe the Sabbath, are laboring under mistaken views of what Seventh-day Adventists have done relative to organization; and, second, because it seems necessary to meet the influence of those who delight to misrepresent us. We want he facts to appear, and the honest undeceived. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.17
We found it reported in Maine, that as a condition of church membership, all were required to send one-tenth of their property to Battle Creek. This slander was doubtless started in consequence of our successful plan of systematic benevolence. We hope all those who may hear this scandal will have the privilege of reading the plain statements of facts relative to our system of benevolence which we have given. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.18
It was also reported that we have become so rich that our yearly taxes amounted to $1,000. This is the way the Devil likes to have things go. To meet these slanders so industriously circulated by our enemies, we will briefly state the following: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.19
1. No person is compelled to pay one cent into the benevolent treasury. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.20
2. All, with the exception of the aged, infirm, and widows who are poor, are simply invited to enter upon the system which calls for only about one per cent annually of what they are worth. For instance, if one is worth $100, it calls for $1,00 each year. If he is worth $1,000, it calls for $10,00 annually. If he is worth $10,000, it calls for only $100 annually of his wealth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 13.21
3. Each person is left to assess his own property, and act freely in the fear of God. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.1
4. We pay into the s. b. treasury of the Battle Creek church, about $40 annually; and beyond this we have no more to do with the funds of Seventh-day Adventists than Abraham Lincoln has to do with them. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.2
5. Our entire annual taxes amount to less than $25. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.3
6. The treasurer of the Michigan State Conference resides at Battle Creek; hence funds for this conference are sent to Battle Creek. Church treasurers in other States, send funds to their State treasurers wherever they may be located, to be used in their several States for the support of the cause. They are no more required to send their funds to Battle Creek, than to Jerusalem or to Mecca. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.4
And, finally, the good order, activity, and prosperity of Seventh-day Adventists are attracting the attention of the world. Some admire, others are stirred with hatred, and there is a general feeling with certain classes that the work must be stopped. One starts a falsehood, and a thousand love to repeat it. And it will be seen that the scripture phrase, “Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie,” applies to a large class. Some manufacture, others peddle the scandal, and the Devil is highly gratified. But God lives and reigns, and by his help the principles and practices of Seventh-day Adventists will be fully set before the people, that they may be able to judge righteously between them, and those who misrepresent and slander them. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.5
j. w.
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The saints will go to the Father’s house in Heaven. That they will be “caught up to meet the Lord in the air” will not be disputed by believers in the word; but some think they will go no farther in that direction than the atmosphere of our earth-that they have no promise of going to Heaven. Let us hear the word on this point. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.6
Our Saviour said to his disciples, “Great is your reward in Heaven.” Matthew 5:12. But some one will say, “They have a reward in Heaven, but it will be brought to them, when the holy city descends to earth: they will not go to it.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.7
Let us inquire. Enoch and Elijah have never died; they are living somewhere at present. Where are they? In Heaven, is the reply; the time came that “the Lord would take up Elijah into Heaven by a whirlwind,” and it was done: “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven.” 2 Kings 2:1, 11. “Enoch was translated that he should not see death;” he could not be found on earth; “for God took him.” Hebrews 11:5; Genesis 5:24. It is reasonable to infer from these examples, that all the saints, when made immortal, will enjoy the same privilege. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.8
But we have something better than inferences. We have positive testimony on this point. When the Lord Jesus was about to leave his disciples and “go to the Father,” he said to them, as he had before said to the Jews, “Whither I go, ye cannot come.” John 13:33. “Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now: but thou shalt follow me afterward.” Verse 36. Here is a positive promise to Peter that he should, at some future time, follow him to the place where he was then going; and verse 1 informs us that the time “was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.” He said himself, “I go to the Father.” Chap 14:12, 28; 16:10, 17, 28. The word whither means “to what place.” Then the question of Peter, and the Lord’s answer, are equivalent to this: Lord, to what place goest thou? To what place, or, to the place where I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me (there) afterward. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.9
Peter has the promise of following Jesus to the Father’s house; but is his case to be an exception to a general rule? Is he, in this, to be favored above the rest of the disciples? Not at all. Our Lord continues: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Chap 14:1-3. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.10
This is addressed, not to Peter alone, but to all the disciples. The Father’s house is capacious It has many mansions. There is room there for all the saints of all ages. Jesus has gone to prepare the place for their reception. He is coming to earth again. What for? to remain here with his disciples? for them to receive him to themselves? No Said he, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” Or, as Campbell renders it, I will return and “take you with me,” that where I am, ye may be also. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.11
Thus it is proved by positive testimony, not only that the saints will be caught up from earth at the second advent, but, that they will be taken to those mansions in Heaven which Jesus said were in his Father’s house, the place to which he went when he left the earth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.12
More testimony might be brought to prove this proposition, such as that of the saints’ standing on the sea of glass, which is before the throne of God in Heaven: Revelation 15:2; 4:1, 2, 6; and that of the “voice of much people in Heaven,” Revelation 19:1, rejoicing at the overthrow of Babylon recorded in the preceding chapter; etc., but the testimony adduced is amply sufficient for those who are satisfied with positive declarations of the word, and therefore I will not pursue the subject further. The saints of God leave the earth and go to Heaven, at the second advent and first resurrection; and at this point of time commences their reign with Christ a thousand years. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.13
R. F. Cottrell.
UrSe
When my last report was made, Bro Cornell and myself were holding a tent meeting at Brunswick, Me., with large congregations, and good interest. The sickness of Bro. Cornell and his companion, greatly crippled our force, so that our effort there was not as thorough as it otherwise would have been. A few, however, have come out on the truth, and others are investigating. But we cannot expect the masses to embrace an unpopular truth in a popular village, especially if many of those whose attention is arrested by the truth, study to know how to please their popular friends, instead of learning the lesson of entire submission to God, let the consequences be as they may. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.14
Since the close of the tent season, I have accompanied Bro. and sister White in their appointments in Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. I can say for myself, that I have been greatly benefited in this trip, not only by their instructions in spiritual things, but also by the excellent information they imparted on health, diet, etc. I am satisfied their visit, though made under somewhat discouraging circumstances, has told for the advancment of the cause of truth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.15
And here I would say, that the instruction I have received on health, I am trying to practice. For the short time I have been striving to live strictly in accordance with the laws of life, I have been greatly benefited. It is, however, about one year since I commenced a reform in relation to meat-eating. As I had been in the habit of using meat three times a day when I could get it, for the first two months in reform I ate meat only once a day. Then for a couple of months I only ate meat twice a week. Then for a month once a week. Then for three months once a month. And for the last four months no meat has passed my lips. And for the last two months I have eaten but two meals a day. Never was sleep sweeter, or health better, or my mind more cheerful, since I first started in the service of God at the age of 17 years, than for the last two months. With the short experience I have had, I would not, for any consideration, go back to the meat spice, pepper, sweet cake pickles, mustard, headache, stomach-ache and gloom, and give up the good wholesome fruit, grain, and vegetable diet, with pure cold water as a drink, no headaches, cheerfulness, happiness, vigor and health. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.16
But I do not urge these things upon others, or judge them about their meat. But I do esteem it a privilege to tell them what a temporal blessing I have found in this direction. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.17
Since Bro. White’s return to Michigan, I spent Sabbath, Nov. 12th, at Portland, where I preached twice. The little church there are much encouraged of late, from the tokens of good they see in their midst. May all the honest souls there that wish to serve God in sincerity, be gathered into one body. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.18
Wednesday evening, Nov. 16, I spoke to a few at Bro. Howland’s, in Topsham. I was glad to learn that some have come out decided on the truth since the Brunswick tent-meeting. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.19
Last Sabbath and first-day I spent here. Spoke once on the Sabbath to a little company of Sabbath keepers. I spoke twice yesterday at Bryant’s pond, and after the second meeting we repaired to a beautiful pond near the meeting house, where a son of Bro. Davis, who has of late come out to serve the Lord, was buried with Christ in baptism. A few months since, this young man was brought very near the grave by the power of disease. During his sickness, his mind was greatly distressed concerning his condition. His desire was not to get well, but to find acceptance with the Lord. I learned his condition by a letter from his parents, and tried to write words of encouragment to him. I was made glad to see him at the depot on my arrival in this place, recovered from his sickness and happy in he Lord. Since his recovery he has not forgotten his vows, but desires to walk carefully before the Lord. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.20
I expect to have a meeting here Wednesday evening to complete the organization of the church, and then go on to North Jay. J. N. Loughborough. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.21
Woodstock, Me., Nov. 21st, 1864.
UrSe
Hundreds of years since, when intellectual and moral science was a wilderness an assembly of divines, as they are called, affecting to cast off popery undertook to stereotype the theology of the church and to think for all future generations. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.22
Every uninspired attempt to frame for the church an authoritative standard of opinion which shall be regarded as an unquestionable exposition of the word of God, is not only impious in itself, but it is also a tacit assumption of the fundamental dogma of the papacy. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.23
The assembly of divines did more than to assume the necessity of a pope to give law to the opinions of men; they assumed to create an immortal one or rather to embalm their own creed and preserve it as the pope of all generations without change or alteration. To reform the church of Rome is hopeless; but it would be better for them to have a living than a dead pope. A living dog is better than a dead lion; so a living pope is better than a dead and stereotyped confession of faith and unalterable dogmas. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.24
Jesse Hiestand.
UrSe
Bro. White: Our meetings in this place closed yesterday. We have been here nearly six weeks and have given forty-eight lectures. The interest steadily increased till the last days of our meetings, when the house was crowded as full as it could be. Fifteen have commenced to “keep the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” We have obtained twelve subscribers for the Review, and sold over $40, worth of books. We feel that the Lord has been in this work. To him be all praise. In the adjoining district, the people offered to furnish us wood, lights, board, etc., if we would give them a course of lectures. But circumstances would not permit us to do so. May these brethren and sisters live out the truth and honor God. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.25
D. M. Canright.
Jackson, Ind.
UrSe
Fredericik the II. of Prussia, received a petition from one of his districts praying that a certain clergy man be suspended from preaching, because he held that the punishment of the wicked would come to an end. The King took his pen and wrote the following: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.26
I have considered the above petition, and do hereby give my royal permission to all my loyal subjects to be damned to all eternity if they choose it. But I do positively forbid their quarreling with their neighbors who are not willing to keep their company so long. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 14.27
UrSe
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 15.1
This department of the paper is designed for the brethren and sisters to freely and fully communicate with each other respecting their hopes and determinations, conflicts and victories, attainments and desires, in the heavenly journey. Seek first a living experience and then record it, carefully and prayerfully, for the comfort and encouragement of the other members of the household of faith. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 15.2
Bro. White: I was called on to give two discourses on the death of two soldiers, about three weeks ago, in the town of Leslie. I also attended a funeral in the village of Leslie on the death of Bro. Hulet’s oldest daughter, about thirteen years old, whose mother died last summer, and whose father was drafted and has gone to the war. The only mourner of the family left there, was a little sister about eleven years old. It was an affecting scene. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 15.3
I have been lecturing at Scovel’s Corners. It was just before the Presidential election, so the excitement ran mostly in that direction. It was also dark and rainy most of the time, which made the interest rather small. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 15.4
At the Crary school-house, since election, the interest has been better, but quite an amount of prejudice to meet. On the whole, the meetings were profitable, and some prejudice removed. We stayed as long as we could. Before we left, we called for an expression to hear further, a goodly number voted to hear more. But the calls are in different directions to hear, so that we have been hardly able to decide which way to go first. We conclude to go to Salem, Washtenaw Co., next. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 15.5
J. B. Frisbie.
Chelsea, Mich.
Bro. White: I would say that I continue to read the Review and Herald, and I am interested from week to week. I like to read the reports of God’s faithful servants who are proclaiming the last message of mercy to this wicked generation. May God bless them all abundantly is my prayer. I also like to read the heart cheering epistles from the dear brethren and sisters. May the Lord enable them still to write good matter for the paper, that the remnant church may be edified. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.1
I realize, in some degree, that we are doing up our last work. May we have it well and faithfully done. We must have the Review, if paper is high. The most of us can do something toward purchasing paper. God loves the cheerful giver; and what we do must be done quickly. A home in glory will be worth more than ten thousand worlds like this. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.2
We have had many good meetings the past summer at West Wilton and Peterborough. May we all be prepared to participate in that great meeting at the marriage supper of the Lamb. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.3
Yours in hope. Lewis Martin.
Bennington, N. H.
Bro. White: I would say to the scattered ones that I am still trying to walk in the narrow way and mean by the grace of God to continue therein until I reach the end of the Christian’s race. Although sometimes the way looks dark, and earth in its present condition seems like a dreary place, I can look joyfully to the glorious future, when the curse shall be removed forever, and earth no longer groan under the wrongs and oppressions of tyrants and usurpers. I for one, love to contemplate the Saviour near. The glories of the heavenly kingdom I hope to share at his appearing. And when the saints “possess the kingdom.” and the new earth in all its loveliness, is their eternal home, I hope for a place with the redeemed, then. How can a single follower of the Lord be weak and faltering with such great inducements to urge him on, when Zion, the glorious city of our God is just in sight? when in a little while, the pearly gates will open and the “righteous nation, that keepeth the truth shall enter in?” As I contemplate that heavenly place. I can but exclaim with David, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King;” and, “God is known in her palaces, for a refuge,“ ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.4
Dear brethren and sisters, may we all be ready for a happy entrance through those gates. I mean to try more than ever for the perfect victory over sin, and be more diligent and persevering in the way, for as I see the signs of Jesus’ coming so fast fulfilling, I feel the necessity of stepping fast knowing that the time is short. May God help me to improve it to his glory. I am truly thankful for the privilege of the weekly perusal of such an excellent paper as the Review. Oh, how much I prize it. I too can say with others, that next to the Bible, in my estimation, stands the Review. I do love its teachings, and every truth it advocates. I humbly trust that I may receive lasting benefit from that worthy article, “The Soul Neglected” found in No. 22, last volume. May God bless the Review and its conductors, that the true light may continue to shine, till every honest soul shall be gathered into the fold. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.5
In hope of life only through Christ. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.6
M. S. Avery.
Locke, Mich., 1864.
Bro. White: It is the love I feel for present truth and an interest for its advancement that I venture to adress a few lines to the Review. We rejoice that the light has been so abundantly bestowed on us. We feel that we want others to share the same precious truths with us. We are sinful by nature. Our minds are dark until illuminated by his quickening and enlivening grace. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.7
A little company of us here are striving to keep the commandments, and endeavoring to walk in the light. The crosses we near, and the persecutions we receive, we hope will serve to further us on in the cause of him who when on earth had not where to lay his head. Here we have no abiding place, but are seeking one to come, whose builder and maker is God. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.8
We are often led to exclaim, in the language of the poet, ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.9
“Oh what are all our sufferings here,
If thou but count us meet
With that enraptured host to appear
And worship at thy feet.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.10
Some of the brethren and sisters from St. Charles visited us last Sabbath, and we were made to rejoice while we listened to words of consolation and good cheer from them. Pray for them and us that we remain steadfast unto the coming of our Lord. We are about making in effort to build a convenient place of worship and hope by continuance in well doing that we may accomplish our object. I have been led to rejoice in view of the precious light received from reading Spiritual Gifts and hope the time is not distant when we shall hear and see some of the brethren in the ministry in these parts and especially yourself and sister White. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.11
Mrs. F. Jeffery.
Ithaca, Gratiot Co. Mich.
UrSe
Bro. W. H. Riley writes from Harrison, Ills.: I wish to add my testimony in favor of the third angel’s message. I have been a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church at Rockton, Ills., for about one year. During this time I have been striving to keep all God’s commandments with the faith of Jesus. I think I can say that I have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, and have been led to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Hence I can say, like Naomi of old, Thy God shall be my God, and thy people shall be my people. I prize the weekly visits of the Review with its instructions, and the encouraging testimonies of the brethren and sisters. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.12
Sister E. Carmichael writes from Middlesex, Pa.: One of my dear sons (Albert) was killed, and another (John) was wounded in the battle of the Shenandoah Valley on the 9th of last September. On the 1st of Nov. I started from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to go to the hospital at Winchester, Va., to visit the surviving one, and try to soothe his sorrows, and if possible to relieve his sufferings. But when I got to Martinsburgh, Va., within twenty miles of my loved one, I learned that he had died on the 30th of Oct. All tender mothers can know something of my feelings and anguish of heart but: the Lord has wonderfully supported me. On his strong arm have I leaned through all the dangers and troubles he has called me to pass through. I feel that he knows best what is for us and ours, and that these light afflictions are but for a moment, and that they will work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.13
I still desire the prayers of my brethren and sisters that I may be strong in the Lord, and be prepared to stand with them all on mount Zion. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.14
UrSe
Along with the compassion that is excited by listening to a tale of want, there is apt to arise, at that time, a feeling of astonishment that such a thing should be in a land like this. Perhaps however, the true wonder is that want is not universal. One half of the race die before they have contributed an iota to the world’s sustenance or their own. One half of those who survive the period of childhood are women, who do not, as a general thing, contribute directly to the production of wealth. Of the men, many are sick, many are old, many are lazy, many are idle, many are wasteful, many are parasites. Those who do work, and live to the age of three score years and ten, spend one third of their lives in bed, one twentieth at the table, one sixth in recreation. Much of their time is wasted in mistakes. Much of what they succeed in producing is swept away thy fire and flood. During half of the year nature sleeps. One harvest in five produces a failure. Only a fraction of the earth’s surface is capable of cultivation. A large part of the general labor is absorbed in the production of luxuries, in repairing the damages of war, in preparing for future conflicts, in the transportation of produce, and in journeys. Probably not more than one-tenth of the whole amount of human force is expended in earning the world’s daily bread. The standing marvel, therefore, of society is, not that any should suffer want, but that there should be any who do not. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.15
UrSe
Over the beauty of the plum and the apricot there grows a bloom and beauty more exquisite than the fruit itself-a soft, delicate flush over spreads its blushing cheek. Now, lf you strike your hand over that, it is gone. The flower that hangs in the morning, impearled with dew, arrayed as no queenly woman ever was arrayed with jewels, once shake it so that the beads roll off, and you may sprinkle water over it as you please, yet it can never be again what it was when the dew fell silently on it from Heaven. On a frosty morning you may see panes of glass covered with landscape-mountains, lakes, trees, blended in a beautiful fantastic picture. Now lay your hand upon the glass, and by a scratch of your finger, or by the warmth of your palm, all the delicate tracery will be obliterated. So there is in youth a beauty and purity of character, which, when once touched and defiled, can never be restored; a fringe more dilicate than frost work, and which when torn and broken, will never be re-embroidered. He who has spotted and soiled his garmets in youth, though he may seek to make them white again, can never wholly do it, even were he to wash them with his tears. When a young man leaves his father’s house with the blessings of a mother’s tears still wet upon his brow, if he once lose the early purity of character, it is a loss that he can never make whole again. Such is the consequence of crime. Its effect cannot be eradicated; it can only be forgiven. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.16
UrSe
Died, Oct 5, 1864, at Ft. Gains on Dauphin Island, of sunstroke and malaria, Lieut. James M. Edmunds, son of Loring and Maria M. Edmunds, aged 27 years, 9 months and 2 days. Aug. 26, he bade his affectionate parents, loving brothers and sisters farewell, to engage in his country’s service. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.17
Brother, thou art gone to rest.
While troub’lous scenes of life.
Are deep’ning fast and faster still;
Thou’rt hid from this world’s strife;
Brother, thou’rt hid from this world’s strife.
Ellen S. Edmunds.
Ann Arbor, Mich., Nov. 27 1864. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.18
Died in Sturgis, Mich., Oct. 6th, 1864, Ellsworth Myron, only son of Edward P., and Louise P. Smith, aged three years, eight months and nine days. His death was caused by a kick from a horse. His sufferings were great, but they are past. His father was absent at the time, and only returned in season to attend the funeral. I hope to meet him in the morning of the resurrection. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.19
Sleep on, dear son, in quiet rest,
Till all earth’s mournful scenes are o’er,
Then wake to life among the blest,
To dwell with Christ forever more.
I’ll meet thee then, yes, meet again,
Thy smiling face immortal fair,
Thy wounds and woes and cruel pain,
As here, will ne’er be suffered there. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.20
Rest thou in peace, not long to stay,
Within the grave’s dark chill abode;
Our King soon comes to bear away
To realms above each child of God.
Come, Saviour, King, down from on high,
Thy saints to change and end their strife,
Bare us from earth above the sky.
Where we shall share eternal life.
Louise P. Smith. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.21
Died in Reedsburg. Sauk Co., Wis., Nov. 26, 1864, after an illness of eight days, of putrid sore throat, our youngest daughter, Ada Aulena, aged one year, five months, and fourteen days. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.22
J. & E. F. Hunter.
God doeth all things well.
UrSe
Our articles on Organization and Systematic Benevolence are put into a neat Tract of 16 pages. Price $2,00 per 100. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.23
j. w.
Wanted.—The Voice of the West, all the numbers from July 30, 1864, to the present time. Any one who will obtain them, and send them to this Office, will confer a favor. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.24
j. w.
UrSe
Bro. B. F. Bradbury writes from Green Lake, Wis.: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.25
Inclosed are three dollars to renew my subscription for the Review. I have been a subscriber for the paper for two years, but embraced the truth only about four weeks ago. I thought that two dollars a year for such a small paper was a great price; but since I have embraced the truth, I have changed my mind in regard to the paper. I feel as if I could not be deprived of it at any price. It cheers my heart to read from week to week the encouraging letters from the brethren and sisters in different parts of the country of like faith. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.26
The paper is a light to my path. I consider that three dollars is cheap; enough, and if the time comes that it will require more to get it, I for one, feel willing to pay whatever it may cost. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.27
I have been rather bitter in regard to the Visions and Testimonies to the church; but since I have embraced the truth, I can see the sanctifying effect that they have in bringing God’s people into the unity of the faith. I thank God for the straight testimony It will have a tendency to sift the church from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and purify unto God a peculiar people, zealous of good works. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.28
We take the liberty to make the following extract from a letter written by Bro. Rust to a brother in this office. He speaks in reference to the Democratic party, and takes a stand which we commend as an example to all who have in the least degree, feelings of affiliation with tint party. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.29
“The great excitement attendant upon election in this city (Chicago) is over. No riots, no mobs, or disturbances. And the returns are fast coming in to show an overwhelming majority for Mr. Lincoln. The Lord has been gradually working a great change in my mind for the better I trust; and I feel to praise his great name that the scales have fallen from my eyes. For some time past, and particularly since I came to Chicago I have seen and heard things from the leaders of that party which I had clung to with such tenacity in former years, that I was compelled to denounce and condemn them as co-workers with Satan. I have forever made an end of justifying or apologizing for that party whose very life is in the perpetuation of that accursed institution of slavery. I now fully believe it. It has been, as you know, a source of great trial to me; but I thank God that I am now free. There are those who have been instrumental in my conversion on this point, but I feel to give God all the praise.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.30
Bro. Rust would be happy to have brethren living in, or passing through, Chicago, call on him at his boarding place, 230 Madison street. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.31
UrSe
A. Good morning Bro. B. Have you read that little work on the Sabbath? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.32
B. I have. But still it really seems to me that the seventh day was the Jewish Sabbath, and that the first day is the Christian Sabbath. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.33
A. Does the Bible furnish us any proof to this effect? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.34
B. I know of none; perhaps it is nothing but tradition that makes it seem so to me. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.35
A. But you know the Sabbath dates back to the creation for its origin, and that it was given to man as a grand and standing memorial of the Creator’s works. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.36
B. Certainly. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.37
A. And do we not now, as much as ever, need this memorial? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.38
B. Certainly. Well, I acknowledge that I am halting on this point. One thing troubles me. Once I did not love God. I used to work on Sunday. Ill luck attended me I was reduced to poverty. I resolved to lead a different life. Since then I have kept Sunday, and been prospered in all that I have put my hand to; and now I stand in doubt about breaking it. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.39
A. But you have seen very wicked men who prospered in worldly affairs. David speaks of those who bring “wicked devices” to pass, as prospering in their way. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.40
B. Very true. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.41
A. But your reform did not consist alone in Sunday-keeping? ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.42
B. Oh, no, from that time I have endeavored to live the life of a Christian. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.43
A. If, then, the Lord has really blessed you with temporal and spiritual blessings for striving to render obedience to him, should not this fact lead you to lore him still, and to continue to walk in the light as it shines upon your pathway, rather than to reject it and fall back upon your past experience? God requires his people to move forward as the light shines. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.44
B. Well, I will give this subject further consideration. I had not looked at it just in that light before. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.45
A. S. Hutchins.
UrSe
I design to hold meetings as follows: ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.46
Topsham, Maine, Wednesday evening, Dec. 21. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.47
Portland, Thursday evening, Dec. 22. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.48
Haverhill, Mass., Sabbath, Dec. 24. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.49
Manchester, N. H., Tuesday evening, Dec. 27. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.50
Boston, Mass., Sabbath. Dec. 31. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.51
Dartmouth, Mass, Sabbath, Jan. 7, 1865. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.52
South Kingston, R. I., Bro. Tucker’s neighborhood, Wednesday evening, Jan. 11. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.53
Block Island, R. I., Sabbath Jan. 14. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.54
J. N. Loughborough.
P. S. I except Bro. Rodman to be with me at Kingston and Block Island. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.55
j. n. l.
The second Quarterly Meeting of the Sand Prairie Church will be held at Richwood, Richland Co. Dec. 17 & 18, to begin with the Sabbath. Will Bro. L. G. Bostwick attend. By request of the church. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.56
C. K. Ackley.
Providence permitting. I will commence a course of lectures in the town of Salem, Washtenaw Co., in the school-house near David Botsford’s, Friday evening, Dec. 2nd. J. B. Frisble. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.57
Quarterly Meeting at Bro. J. Lamson’s, Hamlin Monroe Co., N. Y., on the second Sabbath and first day in January, 1865. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.58
R. F. Cottrell.
UrSe
Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the Review & Herald to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should then be given. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.59
W A Raymond 26-1, J Phelps 27-1, A T Phillips 26-1, W A Geer 25-18, R Graham 27-1, D Roberts 26-1, each $1. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.60
P Dickinson 27-1, A Wright 27-1, W S Bedient 27-1 R G Lockwood 26-1, J H Sparks 27-1, G Holbrook 27-1, Dr. T A White 24-8, W C Garretson 27-1, B Radabaugh 26-1, J S Wager 27-1, H Luce 25-1, J Terwilliger 26-1, R J Foster 26-1, each $2. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.61
Geo Howland 25-21, C E Austin 26-1, A Levan 26-1 S L Downer 26-1, each 50c. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.62
B B Dunn $1, 50 27-1, ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.63
S C Perry $3,00 27-1, Harriet Wescott $3, 00 26-10, L Edmunds $3,00 27-1, D B Webber $3,00 27-1, C Rifle $1,00 25 18, S Dunten $3,00 27-1, ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.64
Margaret Heligass 83c, J H Sparks $1, 00, M M Edmunds $2,00, James A Sell 25c, James Hull $2,00, M S Avery $1, 50, S J Bartholomew $1,66, S Clark 50c, James Wilson $1,34, W B F Mc Nemar $1,00, A Graham 83c. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.65
Sydney C Perry $3,00, Mary Perry $2,00, Stephen C Perry $1,00, A friend of the cause $2,00. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.66
D S E $10,00, J T Carman $10,00, James Hull $1,00, Harvey Luce $1,90, O T Smith $2,00, ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.67
J N Loughborough $23,87, R F Cottrell $10,00. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.68
M A Crary $1,00. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.69
UrSe
The law requires the pre-payment of postage on Bound Books, four cents for the first four ounces, or fractional part thereof, and an additional four cents for the next four ounces, or fractional part thereof, and so on. On Pamphlets and Tracts, two cents for each four ounces, or fractional part thereof. Orders, to secure attention, must be accompanied with the cash. Address, Elder James White, Battle Creek, Michigan. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.70
| PRICE. | WEIGHT. | ||
| cts. | oz. | ||
| The Hymn Book, 464 pages, and 122 pieces of music, | 80 | 12 | |
| “ ” “ with Sabbath Lute, | $1,00 | 12 | |
| “ ” “ Calf Binding, | 1,00 | 12 | |
| “ ” “ ” “ with Lute, | 1,25 | 12 | |
| History of the Sabbath, Sacred and Secular, | 80 | 12 | |
| “ ” ” in paper covers, | 50 | 10 | |
| Dobney on Future Punishment, | 75 | 16 | |
| Spiritual Gifts, Vol. I, or the Great Controversy between Christ & his angels, and Satan & his angels, | 50 | 8 | |
| Spiritual Gifts, Vol. II. Experience, Views & Incidents in connection with the Third Message, | 60 | 8 | |
| Spiritual Gifts, Vols. I & II, bound in one book, | $1,00 | 12 | |
| Spiritual Gifts, Vol. III, Facts of Faith, | 75 | 8 | |
| Spiritual Gifts, Vol. IV, Facts of Faith & Testimonies to the Church, Nos. 1-10, | 75 | 8 | |
| Sabbath Readings, a work of 400 pages of Moral & Religious Lessons for the Young, | 60 | 8 | |
| The same in five Pamphlets, | 55 | 8 | |
| ” ” twenty-five Tracts, | 50 | 8 | |
| Appeal to the Youth. Bound, | 60 | 8 | |
| ” ” ” Paper Covers, | 0 | 2 | |
| ” ” ” ” ” without Likeness, | 15 | 2 | |
| The Bible from Heaven. | 0 | 5 | |
| Both Sides. Review of Preble on Sabbath and Law, | 20 | 4 | |
| Three Angels of Revelation 14, and the Two-horned Beast, | 15 | 4 | |
| Sabbath Tracts, Nos. I, II, III, & IV, | 15 | 4 | |
| Hope of the Gospel, or Immortality the Gift of God, | 15 | 4 | |
| Which? Mortal or Immortal? or an Inquiry into the Present Constitution & Future Condition of Man, | 15 | 4 | |
| Modern Spiritualism: its Nature and Tendency, | 15 | 4 | |
| The Kingdom of God: a Refutation of the Doctrine called, Age to Come, | 15 | 4 | |
| Miraculous Powers, | 15 | 4 | |
| Pauline Theology, on Future Punishment, | 15 | 4 | |
| Appeal to Mothers, | 15 | 2 | |
| Review of Seymour. His Fifty Questions Answered, | 10 | 3 | |
| Prophecy of Daniel—The Sanctuary and 2300 Days, | 10 | 3 | |
| The Saints’ Inheritance in the New Earth, | 10 | 3 | |
| Signs of the Times. The Coming of Christ at the Door, | 10 | 3 | |
| Law of God. The Testimony of Both Testaments, | 10 | 3 | |
| Vindication of the True Sabbath, by J. W. Morton, | 10 | 3 | |
| Review of Springer on the Sabbath and Law of God, | 10 | 3 | |
| Facts for the Times. Extracts from Eminent Authors, | 10 | 3 | |
| Christian Baptism. Its Nature, Subjects & Design, | 10 | 3 | |
| Key to the Prophetic Chart, | 10 | 2 | |
| The Sanctuary and 2300 Days of Daniel 8:14, | 10 | 2 | |
| The Fate of the Transgressor, | 5 | 2 | |
| Matthew 24. A Brief Exposition of the Chapter, | 5 | 2 | |
| Mark of the Beast, and Seal of the Living God, | 5 | 1 | |
| Sabbatic Institution and the Two Laws, | 5 | 1 | |
| Assistant. The Bible Student’s Assistant, or a Compend of Scripture References, | 5 | 1 | |
| Truth Found. A Short Argument for the Sabbath, with an Appendix, “The Sabbath not a Type,“ | 5 | 1 | |
| An Appeal for the Restoration of the Bible Sabbath in an Address to the Baptists, | 5 | 1 | |
| Review of Fillio. A Reply to a series of Discourses delivered by him in this City against the Sabbath, | 5 | 1 | |
| Milton on the State of the Dead, | 5 | 1 | |
| Brown’s Experience. Consecration—Second Advent, | 5 | 1 | |
| Report of General Conference held in Battle Creek, June, 1859, Address on Systematic Benevolence, etc., | 5 | 1 | |
| Sabbath Poem. False Theories Exposed, | 5 | 1 | |
| Illustrated Review. A Double Number of the Review and Herald Illustrated, | 5 | 1 | |
| The Sabbath, in German, | 10 | 2 | |
| ” ” Holland, | 5 | 1 | |
| ” ” French, | 5 | 1 | |
| On Daniel II & VII, in French, | 5 | 1 |
ONE-CENT TRACTS. The Seven Seals-The Two Laws-Reasons for Sunday keeping Examined-Personality of God-Wesley on the Law-Judson on Dress-Appeal on Immortality. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.71
TWO-CENT TRACTS. Institution of the Sabbath—Sabbath by Elihu—Infidelity and Spiritualism—War and Sealing—Who Changed the Sabbath?—Preach the Word—Death and Burial—Much in Little—Truth. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.72
THREE-CENT TRACTS. Dobney on the Law-Milton on the State of the Dead-Scripture References-The Mark of the Reast and Seal of the Living God-Spiritual Gifts. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.73
| CHARTS, Prophetic and Law of God the size used by our Preachers. Vanished, a set, with Key, | $4 00 | |
| A Set on Cloth, with Key, | 3,00 | |
| On Cloth, without Rollers, by mail, post-paid, | 275 | |
Small Chart. A Pictorial Illustration of the visions of Daniel and John 20 by 25 inches Price 15 cents. On Rollers, post-paid, 15 cts. ARSH December 6, 1864, page 16.74