December 18, 1856

RH VOL. IX. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., FIFTH-DAY, - NO. 7

Uriah Smith

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. IX. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., FIFTH-DAY, DECEMBER 18, 1856. - NO. 7.

THE REVIEW AND HERALD

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IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY
AT BATTLE CREEK, MICH.
BY J. P. KELLOGG, CYRENIUS SMITH AND D. R. PALMER,
Publishing Committee.
URIAH SMITH, Resident Editor
J. N. ANDREWS, JAMES WHITE, J. H. WAGGONER, R. F. COTTRELL, and STEPHEN PIERCE, Corresponding Editors

Terms.-ONE DOLLAR IN ADVANCE FOR A VOLUME OF 26 NOS. All communications, orders and remittances for the REVIEW AND HERALD should be addressed to URIAH SMITH, Battle Creek, Mich.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.1

A LITTLE WHILE

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A little while!” so spake our gracious Lord
To the sad band around that sacred board,
Where his long burdened heart
Already felt the smart
Of his own Father’s sin-avenging sword.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.2

Take thou the message, weeping, weary one!
Are not all things around thee hastening on?
Thy Father’s hand ordains
All these thy griefs and pains;
“A little while,” they, too, are passed and gone.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.3

Have all the lights of love quite died away?
Does the last star withdraw its cheering ray?
Till the long night wears past,
Weeping and prayer must last.
But joy approaches with the dawning day.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.4

Do friends misunderstand or mock thy pain?
Hast thou too fondly trusted, loved in vain?
The faithful One and true
Can blighted hopes renew,
And hearts long severed, re-unite again.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.5

A little while” - the fetters hold no more -
The spirit long enthralled is free to soar,
And take its joyous flight,
On radiant wings of light,
To the blest mansions of the heavenly shore.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.6

There end the longings of the weary breast;
The good sought after here is there possessed.
Ride o’er the stormy sea
Poor bark! Soon shalt thou be
In the calm haven of eternal rest.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.7

A little while,” look upward and hope on!
Soon shall the troubled dreams of night be gone,
The shadows pass away
Before the abiding day -
The Saviour comes to save and bless his own!ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.8

ON KEEPING THE HEART. No. 9

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Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. - Proverbs 4:23.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.9

VIII. THE next season in which special exertion is necessary to keep the heart, is when we meet with great trials. In such cases the heart is apt to be suddenly transported with pride, impatience, or other sinful passions. Many good people are guilty of hasty and very sinful conduct in such instances; and all have need to use diligently the following means to keep their hearts submissive and patient under great trials.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.10

1. Get humble and abasing thoughts of yourself. The humble is ever the patient man. Pride is the source of irregular and sinful passions. A lofty, will be an unyielding and peevish spirit. When we overrate ourselves, we think that we are treated unworthily, that our trials are too severe; thus we cavil and repine. Christian, you should have such thoughts of yourself as would put a stop to these murmurings. You should have lower and more humiliating views of yourself than any other one can have of you. Get humility, and you will have peace whatever be your trial.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.11

2. Cultivate a habit of communion with God. This will prepare you for whatever may take place. This will so sweeten your temper and calm your mind as to secure you against surprisals. This will produce that inward peace which will make you superior to your trials. Habitual communion with God will afford you enjoyment, which you can never be willing to interrupt by sinful feeling. When a Christian is calm and submissive under his afflictions, probably he derives support and comfort in this way; but he who is discomposed, impatient, or fretful, shows that all is not right within - he cannot be supposed to practice communion with God.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.12

3. Let your mind be deeply impressed with an apprehension of the evil nature and effects of an unsubmissive and restless temper. It grieves the Spirit of God, and induces his departure. His gracious presence and influence are enjoyed only where peace and quiet submission prevail. The indulgence of such a temper gives the adversary an advantage. Satan is an angry and discontented spirit. He finds no rest but in restless hearts. He bestirs himself when the spirits are in commotion; sometimes he fills the heart with ungrateful and rebellious thoughts; sometimes he inflames the tongue with indecent language. Again, such a temper brings great guilt upon the conscience, unfits the soul for any duty, and dishonors the Christian name. O keep your heart, and let the power and excellence of your religion be chiefly manifested when you are brought into the greatest straits.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.13

4. Consider how desirable it is for a Christian to overcome his evil propensities. How much more present happiness it affords; how much better it is in every respect to mortify and subdue unholy feelings, than to give way to them. When upon your death-bed you come calmly to review your life, how comfortable will it be to reflect on the conquest which you have made over the depraved feelings of your heart. It was a memorable saying of Valentinian the emperor, when he was about to die, “Amongst all my conquests, there is but one that now comforts me.” Being asked what that was, he answered, “I have overcome my worst enemy, my own sinful heart!”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.14

5. Shame yourself, by contemplating the character of those who have been most eminent for meekness and submission. Above all, compare your temper with the Spirit of Christ. “Learn of me,” saith he, “for I am meek and lowly.” It is said of Calvin and Ursin, though both choleric natures, that they had so imbibed and cultivated the meekness of Christ as not to utter an unbecoming word under the greatest provocations. And even many of the heathens have manifested great moderation and forbearance under their severest afflictions. Is it not a shame and a reproach that you should be outdone by them?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.15

6. Avoid every thing which is calculated to irritate your feelings. It is true spiritual valor to keep as far as we can out of sin’s way. If you can but avoid the excitements to impetuous and rebellious feelings, or check them in their first beginnings, you will have but little to fear. The first workings of common sins are comparatively weak, they gain their strength by degrees; but in times of trial the motions of sin are strongest at first, the unsubdued temper breaks out suddenly and violently. But if you resolutely withstand it at first, it will yield and give you the victory. - Flavel.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.16

From the Bibliotheca Sacra and American Biblical Repository.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.17

THE SCRIPTURE AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION OF THE SABBATH EXAMINED

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BY REV. W. M. O’HANLON, BURNLEY, LANCASHIRE

(Continued.)ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.18

PURSUING our inquiries, we must not overlook here, the efforts which have been made to set aside the authority of the primeval Sabbath, by means of certain hypotheses as to the origin of septenary institutions. We have been accustomed to regard these as supplying at least some collateral evidence on behalf of a weekly rest. And the portions of Scripture to which we have appealed, are held by us to denote the existence of an economy of this order among those whose history is given in the volume of inspiration; while the records of other nations, and in some instances even their architectural remains, attest the extended empire of the idea. “The period of seven days, by far the most permanent division of time, and the most ancient monument of astronomical knowledge, was used in India by the Brahmins with the same denominations employed by us, and was alike found in the calendars of the Jews, Egyptians, Arabs, and Assyrians; it has survived the fall of empires, and has existed among all successive generations, a proof of their common origin.” Such is the testimony of Mr. Somerville in the “Connection of Physical Sciences;” and it is corroborated by various distinguished writers who have explored the antiquities of nations.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.19

A recent writer, however, has insisted that, because this septenary division of time has not been universally observed throughout all the nations of the earth, it cannot supply any argument on behalf of the Divine primeval institution of the Sabbath. ^{1An inquiry into the Origin of Septenary Institutions and the Authority for a Sabbatical Observance of the Modern Sunday. Republished from the Westminister Review.} “From a passage in Genesis, in which the first reference to a Sabbath occurs, the inference has been drawn (an inference not warranted by the text) that the first parents of the human race were taught by God himself to divide time into weeks, and to set apart a seventh portion as a day of rest and for religious purposes. If so, it would of course follow that this institution, or some traces of it, would be found among all nations; and the impression, therefore, on the minds of a large class of persons, is very natural, that however much a Sabbath may have fallen into disuse or be now disregarded, the week of seven days has been kept by all generations of mankind from the days of the creation, and continues to be observed in every part of the world.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 49.20

But this reasoning is most inconsequential. For, on what principle can it be shown, that the Sabbath tradition and observance must have been universally diffused and universally preserved, in order to the authentication of the divine, primitive origin of the institution. It would appear to us that the fact of its very general extension and perpetuation, even supposing it not to be absolutely universal, is a circumstance so remarkable as to warrant the inference drawn from it. That it should have existed and prevailed throughout the Eastern world, and that it should have found its way among Western nations who had no connection with the Jewish people, and most of whom would have scorned to adopt any custom derived from such a quarter; that it should have penetrated, not only the regions of civilization, but into the very centre of Africa - as we learn from Oldendorf - and been at home among the aboriginal Saxons of Europe and Peruvians of America; and, finally, that it should have been preserved and continued for so many ages, and amidst the social changes, the rise and fall of institutions and dynasties, upon so wide a theatre; - this is a fact, or rather congeries of facts, which has to be satisfactorily explained, even if we admit that some tribes and nations of the earth have been found wanting in regard to it. Significant allusions to the week of seven days, and even to the sacredness of the seventh day, are observable both in Grecian and Roman writers; and the symbolic use of the number seven is familiar to every reader of the ancient classics. And yet we are told that “the week was unknown to the Greeks of the classical ages, and also to the Romans, till it was gradually adopted, along with Christianity, under the late emperors. ^{2Vide Dwight’s Theology, Lect. 107, and Grotius on “The Truth of the Christian Religion.”} We place, side by side with this statement, the following testimonies, bearing upon not only the assertion quoted, but upon the broader question at issue. Philo says, speaking of the seventh day, “It is a festival celebrated not only in one city or country, but throughout the whole world.” Hesiod, in his “Days,” observes, that the “seventh day is holy.” Homer and Callimachus speak in the same strain. Lucian observes, in his Paralogist, that “boys were used to play on the seventh day.” And the same historian writes: “Almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy.” Clemens Alexandrinus represents the “Greeks as well as the Hebrews” observing “the seventh day as holy.” And Josephus declares, “No city of Greeks or barbarians can be found, which does not acknowledge a seventh-day’s rest from labor.” These quotations are sufficient to demonstrate the wide diffusion of the Sabbath tradition. Nor is it possible to derive the whole, or even the greater part, of the knowledge implied in these testimonies, from a Jewish origin. We must go farther up the stream of time for the rise and spread of this distinction, so extensively known and practiced, in relation to the seventh day, among communities so widely separated, both by geographical limits and by the more formidable boundaries of natural customs, laws, civilization and manners. ^{3Vide Article “Sabbath,” Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature.}ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.1

But with all this, we repeat, it is not necessary to establish the universality of the knowledge of either the week or of a sacred day. We can easily understand how the tradition might be lost among some portions of the human family, in the progress and revolutions of ages; but we cannot see how it could be so widely diffused, and thus perpetuated, without looking for its origin in some event beyond and above the era of human dispersion, and an event invested with the highest authority and sanction, such as that to which the advocates of a primeval Sabbatic ordinance are wont to trace it.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.2

Attempts have been made to account for this septenary arrangement on other grounds. The lunar month has been referred to as the basis of the whole; and its division into four parts has been regarded as yielding the measure of time required for the verification of this hypothesis. But who can examine the detail and development of this notion, without perceiving its futility? “The recurrence of the lunar period is about twenty-nine and a half days.” Is it not wholly unnatural and improbable, that men should fix upon the number seven, which constitutes no aliquot part of this period; and do so, not in one land, but in so many lands, and among tribes and nations in all stages of civilization? And why should such an unsatisfactory approximation to a fourth of this lunar revolution be adopted, instead of any other fractional portion of it? and wherefore any division whatever of the period of a lunation? The ancient Greeks had their decade; and the Romans had their nundinoe ^{4The word in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, does not occur again in the New Testament; but it is found in the septuagint version of Job 7:2, where the patriarch says, “As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as a hireling looketh for [the reward of] his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed me.”} occurring every ninth day; and the Mexicans had a period of five days.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.3

It may be naturally inquired, Why did not one or more of these chronological systems spread and establish itself among distant nations, instead of being limited within such narrow bounds? The more we reflect upon the subject, the more are we compelled to reject this method of solving the historic problem under consideration.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.4

And the scheme patronized by Baron Humboldt and by Acosta, is equally wanting in soundness. They have endeavored to trace the origin of the septenary institution to the number and names of the primary planetary bodies, as arranged under the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. But while this may throw light upon the origin of the names given to the days of the week, in certain parts of the world, (a thing of comparatively little importance in this discussion,) it utterly fails to solve the enigma of the existence of this method of computing time, in regions where that system of astronomy was unknown, or where the designations of the days were altogether different from those which are supposed to have originated in this manner. Above all, it is utterly at fault, when we come to mark the presence of this method in the astronomy, for example, of the Hindus; which, however we may reduce its pretensions as to antiquity, can never be brought within the limits of an argument founded upon the system of Ptolemy. This sage flourished about 140, B. C. The Hindoo astronomy was in existence many centuries before. It is probably the most ancient of all such systems. But it presents, everywhere marks of this septenary division of time, and the number seven is in constant use in the Hindoo legends.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.5

The failure, then, of all these attempts, throws us back, with stronger confidence, upon the only satisfactory solution of the whole matter. Here is a hebdomadal arrangement of time observed from the beginning, perpetuated through ages, found in the records of the antediluvian and postdiluvian worlds, and found not only among the peoples whose annals are placed in the inspired volume, but likewise among most if not all the nations of antiquity, wherever we follow their early migrations, or mark their settlement. An effect so almost if not altogether universal, so continuous, so unvaried, so early manifest, and so deeply wrought into the customs of the generations of the world, must have had a corresponding and adequate cause. And it is in vain we look into the constitution of human nature or abroad upon the mechanism and laws of the external universe, into the heights above or the depths beneath, for any principle or fact which might give birth to such an economy. It is evidently the offspring of the pure, sovereign, revealed will of Jehovah. The ordinance, in the early pages of Genesis, meets and satisfies, and this alone can, all the conditions of the problem. And to reject this, which constitutes a sufficient and the only sufficient solution of the question at issue, is to discard all the established and rational principles of historical evidence and deduction.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.6

The Church’s Expectation. BY GEORGE DUKE OF MANCHESTER.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.7

IN a former chapter I stated what appeared to be certain characteristic features of this dispensation. I proceed now to point out what I conceive should be the longing anticipation of the Church with regard to the future.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.8

The grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth us, “that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” If now, a man denied worldly lusts, and lived soberly and righteously, but yet was not godly - if he fulfilled all the duties of the second table, yet neglected the duties of the first - we should not hesitate to say that such a man was not taught by that grace of God which bringeth salvation: a man truly under the teaching of the Spirit cultivates both godliness and righteousness. But is this all that the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, teacheth? No; it also teaches us to be “expecting ... the glorious appearance of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,” and, apparently, the text implies, that this expectation is as certainly and as universally taught, as is the denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts; there seems no difference; the hope respecting Christ’s advent appears quite as prominently brought forward as the characteristic life and conduct of the believer - indeed, I should say more so, for the one is introduced as the end at which the child of grace is aiming; the others are the means towards the attainment.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.9

We may lay it down as a proposition, that only those who deny ungodliness can be expecting Messiah’s advent; for if men cast not off the works of darkness, they continue in a state of darkness; they know not that the night is far spent, and that the day is at hand; for the service of God, and the waiting for Christ, St. Paul gives us as the two great characteristics of true conversion:- “How ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” But in this waiting, an anxious wish for the event is implied, as well as the belief in the probability of its immediate occurrence. ^{5“The compound word here used in the original denotes intensity. We not only await Him, expect Him, and are persuaded that He will come, but stay patiently and eagerly for his coming; we endure, because we look for it, and are sure that we shall not be disappointed.” Vaughan Church’s Expectation, p.11.}ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.10

Taken conversely, the proposition is equally true. Those who are expecting Messiah’s advent do deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; the expectation has a purifying efficacy: “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and [or but] it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” We are now in possession of this most exalted privilege, although the present is not the season when the sons of God are manifested: the world now knows them not, any more than when He was on earth it knew Him. “But,” says St. John, “we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” I understand the last clause not as assigning the cause, but affirming the proof, of our resemblance; it is not the transforming power of the beatific vision, but the discerning power of the beatified spirit. To see him as he is, to know him even as we are known, argues an exaltation of our nature commensurate with the glorified humanity of the Son of God; “and every man that hath this hope in him, [i.e., in Christ,] purifieth himself even as he is pure.” Every one who has this exalting, exhilarating hope of being made like unto Christ at his glorious appearing, does now strive after, and in some measure attain unto, that purity which is in Christ himself. Hence St. Paul urges it, as the great motive to mortification: “When Christ our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.11

The passage which I have quoted from St. John’s epistle, seems to refer rather to the expansion of the intellectual and spiritual capacity of the glorified believer; but there must also be a spiritual body - a body capable of being actuated immediately by the glorified spirit - a body of glory suitable for the perfected spirit. Such was St. Paul’s expectation; and in setting forth his walk as an example, in opposition to that which ends in destruction, he implies that this desire of Christ’s appearing, and of the consequent transformation into his likeness, was a great impelling motive to heavenly conduct, “for our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform our bodies of humiliation, in order that they may be fashioned like unto his body of glory.” To attain to the hope, and to live in the expectation of the advent, is, in short, that which characterizes those who are not deficient in any spiritual gift. “I thank my God ... for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by Him ... so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.12

St. James speaks of patience as being the crowning and completing grace of the Christian, so that however perfect he might be, were he not placed in such circumstances as would elicit and call into exercise the grace of patience, he would be wanting in something; and so great would be the want, that the believer should joyfully exchange a state of peace for one of manifold trials, in order that he might have the opportunity of exercising this grace. “But,” adds he, “let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” What, however, can fortify the believer, and enable him to endure in the exercise of this perfecting grace, but the expectation of the Lord’s speedy return? The same apostle says, “Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord: behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” St. Paul holds out precisely the same motive in support of the same grace: “Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise; for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” In both these passages the consideration of the Lord’s speedy advent to put an end to suffering and trial, is held out as the support of patience. And in neither of them is there a hint of a period of spiritual peace and triumph prior to the advent.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 50.13

Precisely the same thought is held out for the consolation of those under bereavement: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope; for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive [and] remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” To me it appears evident that the special ground of comfort here urged, is the prospect of speedy re-union with the departed brethren; and that, not by our being absent from the body, and so present with the Lord, but by the return of Christ together with those who sleep in Jesus. Here, then, evidently, the whole consolation consists in the probability of Messiah’s speedy return.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.1

This language of the Apostle seems to have taken such hold of the Thessalonians, that their desire for the Lord’s return amounted to an error in the way of excess rather than of defect; for in his second epistle, St. Paul prays that the Lord would direct their hearts into “the patient waiting for Christ.” Such, apparently, was their ardent desire for his advent, that it almost trenched upon the grace of patience. How very different is the condition of the Church now from what it was then! the Apostle having to rein in their ardor; whereas our sluggishness needs much goading. But with those who have the assurance of hope, and are living in the sense of God’s favor, the Thessalonian would be the more likely state of the two; they would be hoping “for the grace which is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” those whose conversation is in heaven are looking from thence “for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; and in all holy conversation and godliness, not looking for, but “hastening on, the coming of the day of God.” ...ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.2

It is distinctly said that the crown of righteousness “is laid up for ... all those that love his appearing,” and not only so, but apparently it is only for those, for it is, “unto them that look for him,” that he will appear unto salvation. In that day the Church will say, “Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is Jehovah, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” The iteration seems to mark that the waiting was an evidence that his appearing would be to their joy.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.3

I have now stated what I apprehend should be the expectation of the Church, and the blessed effects of that expectation upon the disposition and conduct of the believer. I will now show some of the evil consequences upon the character of those who profess to be followers of the Lord, but yet who do not live in this attitude of expectation.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.4

In the perilous times of the last days, covetousness will be a leading feature among men who have the form of godliness while denying the power, but such men cannot be living upon the contemplation of Christ’s speedy return, for nothing can be so effectual against the snare of covetousness as the expectation of Messiah’s advent, for it is the thought which enables one to sit loose to the world, and which frees from all anxiety. “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.5

Our Lord also intimates that some of his servants will be fostering a spirit of persecution, and indulging fleshly lusts, just because they say in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth his coming;” upon which he urges watchfulness; for those only who watch and pray always will be accounted worthy to escape; so our Lord says again, “Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” And those who do watch for his advent are blessed: “Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth.” The whole point and force would be taken away from the exhortation to watchfulness, if we admitted that there was to be a spiritual millennium intervening before the second advent; the idea intended to be conveyed seems to be the possibility, if not the probability, of Messiah’s return within the period of a natural life. “The end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.6

A similar exhortation, “Let us watch and be sober,” is grounded just upon the fact of light or darkness upon this point being the distinguishing mark of the believer: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief:” the “but” here is a particle of opposition by which St. Paul distinguishes the brethren from others. The son of Jonas in like manner makes wilful ignorance the characteristic of the wicked scoffers in the last days, attributing to them this inquiry, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Hence he expressly warns the beloved not to fall into this error of the wicked.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.7

The expectation of the Lord’s advent has always been the aspect of the true Church: it was so in the apostolic days; it was so with the fathers for the first three centuries; and it was so with the Reformers. Our Church, therefore, teaches us to say, “I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” We do not merely state our belief that there will be a resurrection of the dead some time or other - a thousand years hence, or even a year hence; but we declare that we are in the attitude of hope and expectation: “I look for it” - I know neither the day nor the hour.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.8

The notion of a spiritual millennium which originated apparently by the oscillation into the opposite extreme, from the excesses of the German Ana-baptists and English Fifth Monarchy Men, has since been fostered by the expectations raised from the efforts of religious societies, till it has become the deliberate creed of many. Thus we are enabled to understand how it can be used by our Lord and St. Peter as a prophetical feature and sign of the last days. I do not mean to imply that carelessness or indifference alone, upon the subject of the Lord’s return, could be considered a prophetic sign - for that, I fear, has been the melancholy feature in most ages of the Church - but the deliberate maintenance of a doctrine which virtually says “My Lord delayeth his coming,” is a prognostic of the speedy approach of Messiah. Now, we before observed, that a man who holds the spiritual millennium cannot be expecting the advent of the Lord: is he not, then, saying in his heart, “My Lord delayeth his coming?” And of what is such a belief the forerunner?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.9

Shortly, then, to recapitulate this chapter. We may be confident, that an expectation - which is taught by the grace of God, which is a sign of true conversion - which is purifying in the highest degree - which shows itself in all holy conversation and godliness - which is a mark of the highest spiritual knowledge - which therefore characterizes those for whom the crown is laid up, ... is holy in its tendency - is in accordance with the divine Mind, and is a point of great practical importance. On the other hand, that ignorance upon this subject - which is wilful - which betokens a child of darkness - which encourages a covetous disposition - which fosters a persecuting spirit - which unbridles the animal desires - and which will end in sudden destruction - is to be reprobated and carefully avoided.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.10

My second conclusion, therefore, is, that the Church ought, according to the Scripture, to be “looking for the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour,” which conclusion being inconsistent with the belief of an antecedent spiritual millennium, confirms our former inference, drawn from the character of the present dispensation.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.11

I have shown, that during this present dispensation, the enemies of Christ and his Church are in the ascendant; and that the Church is, or ought to be, looking for the return of the Lord.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.12

Our Present Condition.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.13

BRO. SMITH:- I feel that we have abundant reason for gratitude, for the clear light that now shines to the remnant upon almost every subject.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.14

Truly we are a favored people, having the greatest array of truth that has in any age of the church been brought to bear against error.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.15

Yet with this great defense it is powerless without the spirit and power of the truth to set it home upon the heart.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.16

There is indeed a great want of spiritual life among those who profess the Commandments of God and Faith of Jesus. And I think there is a peculiar fitness and force to the Message to the Laodicean church when applied to us.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.17

Without the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, we are indeed wretched, miserable, blind and naked, and in need of all things.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.18

While I have felt an increasing love for plain truth, contrasted with mystical error, I have, in some degree, viewed my own poverty, and I long for a higher, purer position, where I can be less affected by the influence of the world, and have a more close communion with God.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.19

I rejoice to hear any truth that will arouse us from our stupidity. I hope it will settle deep into our hearts. “He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the church of Laodicea.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.20

The message is to those that are lukewarm. This cannot be the case with the churches or nominal Adventists, for they are cold and dead. But with how much force should it come home to us who profess the Third Angel’s Message, the last message of mercy to this world, when our efforts are so faint and feeble, and our lives so illy comport with this faith.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.21

With almost a perfect theory, we have a perfect rule of life. The Commandments of God and precepts of Jesus. These shine out to us, under the Third Message, with more clearness than ever before. Do we realize that while we are not keeping the precepts of our Saviour we are breaking the ten commandments of God? Christ’s teaching is but the ministration of his Father’s law.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.22

I believe the sifting time has come, and those who do not repent of the sins that bar Jesus from their hearts, and heed the exhortation to buy gold tried in the fire, (get pure love,) white raiment, (be clothed with the righteousness of Christ,) eye-salve, (receive the anointing of the Spirit,) will soon be spued out of God’s mouth. Shall we like ancient Israel, prove indifferent to our sad condition, and the blessings offered by continuing in sin? God forbid. “He that hath an ear to hear let him hear.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.23

The prophet speaks to us in these words, “All ye meek of the earth seek meekness, seek righteousness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.24

The day of God’s wrath is near and hasteth greatly. Soon we shall need a shelter beneath the wing of the Almighty.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.25

Those who heed the message to the Laodicean church have the high and exalted position of communing with the blessed Son of God. He represents himself a humble suppliant at the door of our hearts. Shall we, can we, refuse him admittance? Those who welcome him in will be made like unto his lovely image, and will forever reign with him.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 51.26

F. M. BRAGG.
Lake Mills, Wis., Dec. 2nd, 1856.

THE REVIEW AND HERALD

No Authorcode

“Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., DEC. 18, 1856

Is the Silence in Heaven During the Cleansing of the Sanctuary?

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As John was shown in vision things which must shortly come to pass, he was carried forward to an event which he describes as follows: “There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Revelation 8:1. Is this the time during which the Sanctuary in heaven is being cleansed? We answer. It is not, and will proceed to offer our proof, simply premising at first that we are called to the subject by the following from a correspondent:ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.1

“I think your views (in the main) relative to the Sanctuary are correct; but I do not believe that our great High Priest has yet entered the Most Holy of the heavenly Sanctuary. When he enters there, I believe there will be silence in heaven about the space of half an hour - then the Son of man will be revealed.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.2

We can assign no grounds on which a man can entertain such a view as this, only a want of attention to the order in which events are brought to view in the book of Revelation. We are well aware that all events from first to last in that book are not presented in their chronological order; but there are certain series presented which can in no wise be disarranged, but must take place one after the other in regular succession. Such are the seven seals of chapters 6 - 8. The seven trumpets, commencing with chapter 8, the three angels of chapter 14, and the seven angels with the plagues of chapter 16. Such series of events as these, we say, cannot take place in any other than their regular order. This all will admit.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.3

We will now look more particularly at some of the events transpiring in order under the seven seals; for with these seals our subject is connected. We read, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” This silence as far as we have any account, occupies the whole of the seventh seal, and is the only event to transpire under it. But the seventh seal cannot be opened before the sixth; and the events of the sixth cannot take place before the fifth; but they must come in their order: the fifth, then the sixth; and after the events of the sixth have all transpired, the seventh, is opened which brings silence in heaven.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.4

Fixing this fact in our mind, we will go back a little and see what took place under the sixth seal: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind: and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places: and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:12-17.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.5

No one can be at a loss to understand the events here brought to view. If we are not here carried to the end of this present state, and the coming of the Son of man, we know of no scriptures carrying us to those events. It must be evident to any one, therefore, that when the great men of the earth shall call for the rocks and mountains to hide them from the presence of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, Christ will have left his mediatorial position, and the cleansing of the Sanctuary will have been finished. But it is not till after these events that the seventh seal is opened, and there is silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. Therefore it is fixed beyond the least shadow of a possibility of contradiction that the silence in heaven has nothing to do with the cleansing of the Sanctuary; for this cleansing is all finished under the sixth seal; before the seventh seal is opened, under which the silence occurs; and this objection therefore to the view that our great High Priest is now doing up his last work for the salvation of mankind, vanishes into thin air.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.6

MAN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS BELIEF

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[There are very many apparently good and honest people, who appear to be most sincere in their belief, who yet differ from what is manifestly taught in the Bible. To rank these with unbelievers who can have no part in the kingdom of God, seems to many to be severe, uncharitable, and bigoted. But the question of man’s responsibility for his belief, and consequent guiltiness, if he does not come to the light, is well treated in the following lines. A willful rejection of the light when it is seen, or a neglect to come where the light may be seen, are there shown to be alike criminal.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.7

That there are many honest souls who are yet in darkness, and have thus far incurred no guilt by being so, is doubtless true. But no man passes through life, without his opportunities; and for these he becomes responsible. If there are any who, like us, have had in times past, perplexing queries arise in their own minds concerning this matter, we think they will not find a perusal of the article unprofitable. - ED. REVIEW.]ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.8

THE lurking, specious, soul-destroying error, “No matter what a man believes, if he is only sincere,” is ably exposed by Dr. Chalmers in a letter to a female friend:ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.9

“Lord Byron’s assertion, that ‘man is not responsible for his belief,’ seems to have proceeded from the imagination that belief is in no case voluntary. Now, it is very true that we are only responsible for what is voluntary; and it is also true that we cannot believe without evidence. But then it is a very possible thing that a doctrine may possess the most abundant evidence, and yet not be believed, because we choose to shut our eyes against it; and our unbelief in this case is owing, not to the want of evidence, but of the evidence not being attended to. Grant enough for the refutation of Lord Byron’s principle, if attention be a voluntary act. One attends to a subject because he chooses; or he does not attend because he so chooses. It is the fact of the attention being given or withheld, which forms the thing that is to be morally reckoned with. And if the attention has been withheld when it ought to have been given, for this we are the subjects of a rightful condemnation.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.10

“It is enough to make unbelief a thing of choice, and a thing of affection, that we have power over the direction of our noticing and investigating faculties. You are not to blame if you have not found some valuable article that you have in an apartment of the thickest darkness; but you are to blame if you might have opened the shutters, or lighted a candle so as to have admitted enough of light for the discovery. Neither are you to blame if you find not the hidden treasure of the gospel, provided it is beyond the reach of all your strenuousness, and of every expedient that can be used for its discovery; but you are to blame if you have not gone in quest of it, or if you have willfully and determinedly shut your eyes against it, or if you have not stirred up those powers of your mind over which the mind has a voluntary control, to the inquiring after it. The Discerner of the heart will see where the lurking prejudice lies, and make it manifest of all who remain in darkness - of all who have not come to Christ, that they were not willing to come.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.11

“Christianity lays no unreasonable service on men - and far less, that service which were most unreasonable of all, the homage of your belief, without affording such evidence, as, if attended to, will constrain the belief. Our religion has its proofs, and it has also its probabilities. Its proofs can only be gotten at by patient and laborious inquiry; and when they are so gotten at, they carry the belief along with them. Its probabilities, again, may, some of them, be seen at first sight; and though not enough to compel our belief, yet they form a sufficient claim upon our attention. They form that sort of recognition which entitles Christianity at least to a fair and full trial; and if not worthy all at once of a place in our creed, it is worthy of a further hearing. Now, all I want is, that hearing shall be given; that the evidence of Christianity shall be studied; that the Bible shall be read with patience, and prayer, and moral earnestness; and on the principle that he who seeketh findeth. I have no apprehension of such a course not terminating in a full and steadfast conviction that the Bible is an authentic messenger from heaven to earth, and contains in it the record of God’s will for man’s salvation.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.12

GET THEM TO READING

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BUT very little has ever yet been accomplished in bringing people to see the present truth by preaching alone. In order for the people to retain the reasons of our faith, they would have to be repeated many times, had they no other means to learn them than from the speaker’s lips. But as our preachers can hardly find time to repeat once the main reasons of our faith, unless they get the people to reading, their efforts in preaching the word are generally lost.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.13

Neither has much been done by circulating our publications where the Word is not preached. Something has been done with publications without the living preacher, and doubtless much is yet to be accomplished with publications alone.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.14

But much has been done, and very much can be done with both together. All who go out to teach, whether it be by public lectures, or social instruction by the fireside, should go out well supplied with all our publications. And when the attention of the people is called to Bible subjects, by lectures, or by private teachings, then they will read to profit, and store the mind with Bible arguments. In our publications all the common objections to our position are answered, so that the reader may become capable of meeting the many objections. Such can stand, while those who are not prepared to meet objections will not stand.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.15

Those preachers of the present truth who are most successful, usually spread out a quantity of all our publications upon the stand or desk before them before rising to speak. They frequently refer to the publications where subjects are fully explained, which the speaker has not time to fully explain. At the close of the discourse, the books are offered to the people at our published prices, and the importance of their being carefully read is urged upon them. By this time the people who are prepared to purchase books come forward for a supply. And we venture the assertion, that most reading persons will learn more present truth by reading one evening, than to listen to two discourses. Let the books be on the stand at every discourse, Sabbath excepted.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.16

The press is a mighty engine, let it do its work, and save the lungs; short, spirited discourses and the books will do tenfold more than long argumentative discourses which weary the people, and wear out the speaker’s lungs. Fire-side preachers can call the attention of their friends to the truth, then offer them books where they may find the reasons of our faith plainly stated, and fully defended. Brethren, you may do the people much more good, and still save your lungs and your breath, by getting them to reading.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 52.17

J. W.

MEETINGS AT THREE RIVERS, MICH

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BRO. SMITH:- Since the conference at Monterey, I have been to the village of Three Rivers, having been invited by the trustees of the Methodist Church to give a course of lectures in their house. I had given only two discourses when the pastor of the church gave notice that I could have the house no longer, and did not give the public any reason, but he privately told me he had learned that I had been up in Allegan and Hillsdale counties dividing churches, etc.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.1

The notice was given on the occasion of a sermon by the presiding elder. The sermon was a “cry of peace and safety.” He said “twenty-five years ago almost every sect in the land was at war with each other, but now all is union. Religion has done a great work for this nation. Once the land was filled with war and bloodshed, but now the nations have learned to settle up their difficulties without war; and the time is drawing near when the swords shall be beat into ploughshares, and the nations learn war no more.” The sermon was emphatically a “prophecy of smooth things.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.2

After leaving the meeting-house I gave two discourses in a school-room; but the teacher objected to a series of meetings there, and as a last resort I accepted of a Spiritualist hall. The hall was owned by a speaking medium, but he promised that I should speak out my views without interruption. He was a very mild, kind hearted man, but when I applied the scriptures in regard to Spiritualism in the last days, he was influenced and assumed the appearance of a mad man, and spoke with tongues and interpreted for about half an hour. And I must say I have never taken such a scourging before, neither do I believe it is in the power of man without foreign aid to use such language. He spoke three or four different languages. The first interpretation, as nearly as I can recollect, was as follows: “I perceive that thou art a deceiver. Art thou a believer and sayest I have a devil? then cast him out; for these signs shall follow them that believe.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.3

I immediately took up my appointment for the next evening, concluding that it was presumption to go into a room dedicated to Satan and owned by a medium, to give lectures on the Third Angel’s Message. I heard them relate some wonderful cures that had been performed by spirits there. One was that of a young man that had been deaf from infancy was cured.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.4

What I saw there confirmed me in the belief that “Babylon is fallen,” and Satan is at work with power and wonders, and caused me to feel the need of the “whole armor” to enable me to stand against the powers of darkness.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.5

On my return from Three Rivers I spent the Sabbath at Otsego. Two families of Sabbath-keepers have lately moved there. Bro. Shepherd from N. Y., and Bro. Perkins from Macomb Co., Mich. Bro. P. had never heard but one discourse on the present truth. Bro. Waggoner visited them last Spring. They seemed much encouraged and - strengthened by the word spoken. The churches in this part seem to be determined to throw off stupidity and rise with the message.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.6

M. E. CORNELL.
Allegan, Dec. 9th, 1856.

P. S. Will Bro. Waggoner give his P. O. address.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.7

THE PERFECT PATTERN. - Once, in all human history, we meet a being who never did an injury, and never resented one done to him, never uttered an untruth, never practiced a deception, and never lost an opportunity of doing good; generous in the midst of the selfish, upright in the midst of the dishonest, pure in the midst of the sensual, and wise far above the wisest of sages and prophets, loving and gentle, yet immovably resolute; his illimitable meekness and patience never once forsook him in a vexatious, ungrateful, and cruel world.- Christ in History.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.8

DISPENSATIONAL DIAGRAM

No Authorcode

BY J. H. WAGGONER

ABRAHAM HAD TWO SONS:

THE ONE BY A BONDMAID THE OTHER BY A FREEWOMAN O that Ishmael might live before thee! Ans.- I will make of him a great nation BUT My Covenant shall be with Isaac. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Ishmael - Hagar.
Children of the flesh - Old Covenant.
JEWS - OLD JERUSALEM. BONDAGE.
Cast out the Bondwoman and her son;; for the son of the Bondwoman shall not be heir.
Ye are of your father the Devil. Isaac - Sarah.
Children of Promise - New Covenant
OF FAITH - NEW JERUSALEM. FREEDOM.
Fear not Little Flock: it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
If ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s Seed.

Extract from Alleine’s Alarm

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YOU see who it is that calls you. Consider also by what instruments, and how often and how earnestly he does it.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.9

1. Every leaf of the blessed book of God has as it were a voice, and calls out, Turn, and live; turn, or thou wilt die. How canst thou open it, or read a leaf, or hear a chapter, and not perceive God bids thee turn?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.10

2. The voice of many a motion of the Spirit secretly urges thee to turn.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.11

3. The voice of conscience. Art thou not sometimes convinced that all is not well with thee? And does not thy conscience tell thee that thou must be a new man, and take a new course?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.12

4. The voice of all the works of God. For they also are God’s books, that teach thee this lesson, by showing thee his greatness, and wisdom, and goodness, and calling thee to observe them, and admire the Creator. Psalm 19:1, 2. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Every time the sun riseth upon thee, it calls thee to turn, as if it should say, “What do I travel and compass the world for, but to declare to men the glory of their Maker, and to light them to do his work? And do I still find thee doing the work of sin, and sleeping out thy life in negligence? ‘Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give the light.’”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.13

5. The voice of every mercy thou dost possess. If thou couldst but hear and understand them, they all cry unto thee, Turn. Why does the earth bear thee, but to seek and serve the Lord? Why does it afford thee its fruit, but to serve him? Why do all the creatures serve thee with their labor and their lives, but that thou mightest serve the Lord of them and thee? Why does he give thee time, health, and strength, but to serve him? Why hast thou meat, and drink, and clothes, but for his service? Hast thou anything which thou hast not received? And if thou didst receive them, it is reason that thou shouldst bethink thee, from whom, and to what end and use thou didst receive them.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.14

“WHEN a man treats the truths of the Bible as realities, and speaks and acts as if he expected to see their fulfillment, those who regard these truths as fables often think and speak of him as deranged.” - Justin Edwards.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.15

John Wesley on Union.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.16

“WOULD to God that all the party names and unscriptural phrases, and forms which have divided the Christian world were forgotten, and that we might all agree to sit down together, as humble, loving disciples at the feet of our common Master to hear his word, imbibe his Spirit, and to transcribe his life in our own.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.17

What a contrast between the above and the statement of a Methodist minister a short time since when speaking of the existing divisions among professed Christians. He said it was according to the will of God and a blessing to the cause of evangelical truth. Surely Babylon is fallen. M. E. C.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.18

THE Protestants are out-doing the Popes, Babylon of old, the mother of harlots, in splendid, extravagant folly in church building. Thousands on thousands are expended in gay and costly ornamentals to gratify pride, and a wicked ambition, that might and should go to redeem the perishing millions! Does the evil, the folly, and the madness of these proud, formal, fashionable worshipers stop here?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.19

These splendid monuments of popish pride, upon which millions are squandered in our cities, virtually exclude the poor, for which Christ died, and for whom he came especially to preach.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.20

There is not a vestige of proof, authority, example, or intimation in the New Testament to justify this splendid folly, not a particle.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.21

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach to the poor.” “He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker.” See also 1 Corinthians 1:26, 27.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.22

No wonder God withholds his holy influences! No marvel the heavens are brass, and the earth iron!ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.23

Go into one of these fashionable, costly, highly ornamented popular church edifices, what do you see and hear? Christ? Sinners weeping between the porch and the altar? Do you? “Wo to the crown of pride,” “Wo unto the idle shepherds,” “Wo to you ye blind guides,” “Wo unto them that are at ease in Zion,” Wo! wo! wo! - Golden Rule.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.24

PRAYER. - “He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays. He that can live in sin, and abide in the ordinary duties of prayer, never prays as he ought. A truly gracious praying frame is utterly inconsistent with the love of, and reserve for, any sin.” - Owen.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 53.25

WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?

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PROSTRATE, O Lord, in dust,
My spirit lies;
To Christ, my only trust,
I lift my eyes:
With doubt perplexed,
What course shall I pursue?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.1

O show me, gracious Lord, what thou wouldst have me do?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.2

What shall I do for thee,
My soul’s best friend -
Thou, who to die for me
Didst condescend?
What trial for thee bear,
Or cross sustain,ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.3

Who bore a cross for me, a cross of scorn and shame.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.4

My heart by love constrained,
Pants for the field,
To souls in sin enchained,
Succor to yield:
But still no open path-way
Meets my view,ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.5

O tell me, gracious Lord, what thou wouldst have me do.
[Pastor’s Journal.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.6

“Ye are the Light of the World.” - Matthew 5:14

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THESE words are a part of that memorable sermon of our Lord on the mount. They were addressed to his disciples, and those who then heard him; but the truth here taught, illustrated and enforced, in the connection, has had, and should have a practical application and influence on the church in every age of the world; and especially on those living amid the closing scenes of the gospel age. God has seen fit in his infinite wisdom, in every age to select his chosen and faithful ones, not only to commit to their care the relation of his will in general, as in the case of choosing Abraham and his descendants, to commit to them the oracles of God, and the knowledge of salvation through a coming Saviour; but has also at different periods, chosen them to bear the present truth to the age in which they lived; and to give warning to the world of approaching destruction; as in the case of Noah and the antediluvians.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.7

At the commencement or opening of the gospel dispensation, the same great principle is carried out. When Christ had finished the work of his earthly mission, he laid upon the church the responsibility of bearing the light of the gospel to all the world. The apostles and apostolic church felt the force of our Saviour’s words: “Ye are the light of the world,” and also of his command, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” They did not conceal the light that had shone into their hearts, by a conformity to the world; but they were living epistles “known and read of all men.” 2 Corinthians 11:3. As the apostles went forth proclaiming the gospel, the power of that gospel was seen in the effect it produced in the lives and characters of those who professed to believe it. Theirs was a living faith, made perfect by works. Their light shone forth and men took “knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” Their one object was to advance the cause of Christ, and save men. To this one object, their property, their lives, their all were consecrated. For this one object alone they lived.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.8

Passing down to the closing work of the gospel age we find the same order brought to view in carrying out the great plan of salvation. The gospel of the Kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. Matthew 24:6. In Revelation 14:6, 12, we have brought to view. Three Angels’ Messages through which are proclaimed the hour of his Judgment, and the preparatory work for the harvest of the world.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.9

That these Angels symbolize religious teachers acting in connection with the church, is plain from the fact that Christ committed the preaching of the gospel in all the world to men called of God; and the declaration, “Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world,” shows that this order was never to be changed.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.10

If this position be correct, how fearful the responsibility resting on the church in the closing scenes of time. With what weight should the words of Christ, “ye are the light of the world,” come home to our hearts! Has God been leading us into an understanding of the evidences of the second coming of his Son near at hand? Have we felt the power of that coming in our hearts? Have the truth’s of these Angels’ Messages shone upon us? Does the light of the Third especially now shine upon our pathway? We profess to believe in that solemn Message; and that it is now being given, we have the most positive proof. Who shall hold up the light of this Message to the world? Who shall bear it to those honest souls ready to perish for want of this light? Will those who have no faith in the work? Nay, verily. The responsibility rests on us, whose hearts have felt the power of this truth.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.11

“Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick:” in a place where it can reflect the greatest degree of light. God has not given us the light of present truth, that we should conceal that light, but that we should let it shine before our fellow men. Nor should our efforts or our means be confined to our own immediate vicinity; but wherever there is an opening to spread the truth, so far as we can, we should aid in sending the light there. Says Jesus, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. It is not by words only that we should bear witness to the truth, but by works also. Faith without works is dead being alone.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.12

It was said of John Bunyan that he preached his sermons twice: once when he delivered them from the desk, and again when he lived them out in his life. So should we in these last days. While the remnant of the Lord go forth to proclaim the last Message of mercy, and the church witness the same great truth, our lives should tell that the truths of that Message are living realities to us. But is it so? Is there not too much conformity to the world among the remnant? Is it not too often the case, that what might have been a living testimony borne by the church, loses its edge and power by their conformity to the world and worldly-mindedness? My heart is often pained by the sad reflection that the light of present truth is so much buried up. While we profess to be a people living wholly for God and his truth, and expecting soon to receive an inheritance in the earth made new, do not the dress, the conversation and the eagerness with which many engage in the business of the world, tell that to them the truth has lost its power, and instead of being lights in the world, they become causes of stumbling to honest souls on account of the indifferent manner in which they reflect the light of present truth? I speak these things in love; but it appears to me thatARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.13

“‘Tis time we all awake.”

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That a lukewarm state has come over the church, is a fact too plainly seen to be denied. The worldly spirit that is seen, the lack of consecration, and of the spirit and power that marked the early progress of the Third Angel’s Message, are too apparent, and tell that it is even so. But I rejoice that the church is beginning to feel their condition and to awake. The exhortation of the faithful and true Witness to be “zealous and repent,” is beginning to move them; and there are signs of coming up to the work of the Lord. I look forward with confidence to see a mighty move among the remnant soon, and a more perfect consecration of all to God. Hasten it on, O Lord! is my prayer.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.14

The church is compared to a city set on a hill, that cannot be hid. A city that is thus situated is gazed upon by all. If it is beautiful and prosperous, and the citizens quiet and agreeable, then it is looked upon with admiration; but if it present the opposite appearance, then it is looked upon with disdain by all.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.15

Such is the case with the church, the remnant. Our light may be obscured; but we cannot be hid. The world behold us. They know the high and holy profession we have made. They look for us to be a holy people, zealous of good works. They expect to see us live for God and the coming kingdom. O brethren and sisters, let us awake! Let us call up again in our minds the solemn Message of the Third Angel. Let our faith look into the Most Holy of the heavenly Sanctuary, see Jesus there, finishing the last work of his priestly office, and that work soon to close, and that forever. Look again at the condition of our fellow men, rushing madly on to final ruin. See the lovely angel of mercy just ready to take her flight from earth to return no more for ever! See among the mass here and there honest souls seeking after truth, and just ready to perish for want of present truth, the very truth that God has given to the remnant, and laid upon us the responsibility of carrying to them. Hear the faithful and true Witness saying, Be zealous and repent! To you, to all, he speaks. Let us heed his voice and open our hearts that he may come in and sup with us and we with him. Look at these things, I say, and let your hearts be moved! Awake, and shake off that stupidity and indifference! Gird yourselves again for the conflict!ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.16

Our own salvation, the salvation of our children, and of souls around us just ready to perish, call aloud upon us to awake and lay these things to heart; and shall they call in vain? I trust not. Let these things be felt with their proper weight, and we shall see the church fast approximating towards that state for which we profess to look; viz., a return to the primitive position, when all the gifts and graces shall again be enjoyed that adorned the apostolic church.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.17

Then would the righteousness of the church go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Then would the honest in heart come to the light, and the dishonest recoil from the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Let the church feel their present position and responsibility as they ought, and there would be no withholding of means needful to carry forward the work. No conformity to the fashions of the world in dress would foster in the heart that very pride which must be rooted out before we can enter into life. No light and trifling conversation would be heard from the lips of any professing present truth, giving countenance to any in their course of vanity and unholy mirth. No pampering of an unnatural appetite in the use of that filthy weed, tobacco, would be seen as a stain upon the church, to weaken the influence of any. No extended arrangements in worldly business would tell that the insinuation of the enemy, “My Lord delayeth his coming,” was gaining a place in any heart. No needless habits would be indulged in; no needless self-indulgence allowed. But our bodies would be presented to God a living sacrifice, and we labor to have every thought brought to the obedience of Christ. The exhortation of the Apostle, [2 Peter 3:14,] would be heeded: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of them in peace, without spot and blameless.” Paul says, [Philippians 2:14-16,] “Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye are as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.” Romans 13:12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.18

We should feel that Christ speaks to us, “Ye are the light of the world,” and walk as children of the light in deed, adorning our profession constantly by a well ordered life and a godly conversation. And may the time soon come when the church shall come up leaning on her beloved, clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.19

FREDERICK WHEELER.
North Brookfield, N. Y., Dec. 2nd, 1856.

P.S. I think of laboring for a season in this vicinity, if the Lord will. My P. O. address for the present is Hubbard’s Corners, Madison Co., N. Y.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 54.20

F. W.

COMMUNICATIONS

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“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.”

From Bro. Arnold

BRO. SMITH: I feel heartily to respond to the sentiment advanced by the brethren in the Review in reference to the Laodicean church. I have for some time believed that it applied directly to those who are at the present time professing to keep the Commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.1

I think this point must be conceded by all, when we take in view the time in which we live. Having passed from the first advent down through the clear development of all the peculiar traits of character which were to mark the six stages of the church, are we not brought to behold among us a clear and definite exhibition of all those traits which were given by the faithful and true Witness, to mark the seventh and last state of the church? I think we are. Such being the facts before us, with what fearful sanction do the denunciation and admonition of the faithful and true Witness fall on our ears: “So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.2

Dear reader, is it you, is it I, to whom this awfully solemn message applies? If so, let us with all diligence, (in view of our doom if we neglect,) thoroughly and zealously repent and reform, (Whiting’s Trans.,) lest we find ourselves “without,” among “dogs,” sorcerers, etc. O let not these things fall upon your ears like idle tales. Haste! haste! tarry not in all the plain!ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.3

Stay not, O stay not for earth’s vain allurements.
See how its glory is passing away,
Break the strong fetters the foe hath bound o’er thee,
Heir of the kingdom, turn turn, thee away.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.4

A word in reference to the “gold, white raiment and eye-salve,” and how to “open the door.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.5

I fully agree with some that have written, that gold being the most precious of all metals fitly represents charity or love, which is the greatest or crowning grace. The white raiment is fully explained in Zephaniah 3:8, in view of the fierce anger of the Lord, and the day’s passing as the chaff, says: [chap. 2:3:] “Seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid, (or clothed,) in the day of the Lord’s anger.” The eye-salve which we are required to apply, may fitly represent the turning our attention and perceptions more closely to the clear and definite truths connected with the Third Angel’s Message, praying the Holy Spirit to set them home to our understanding that we may clearly understand the duties and obligations that rest upon us in these last moments of probation.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.6

How shall we open the door, that he may come in and sup with us? This is the point, says one, I have desired much to understand. This caused me, while I have desired with strong cries, and tears, and entreaties that Christ would come in and take up his constant abode and sup with me and I with him, to inquire, Why does he not come in? Ah, it will take something more than good desires. Have you prepared the room as well as invited the guest? Is there not some guest retained there that he cannot associate or dwell with? Is your heart a fit temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in? Can he dwell with the spirit of the world, with pride or self-will, with the fumes of tobacco or whiskey, or, in short, any thing that defiles the temple of God? O what a work we have to do to buy gold tried in the fire, to obtain the white raiment, and to anoint our eyes with eye-salve, and to open the door.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.7

In view of this great work, were it not that Christ hath said, My grace is sufficient for thee, and the glorious promise of the faithful and true Witness, To him that overcometh, etc., I might faint by the way. But with these precious promises in view, I am resolved with the little church in this place, in the strength of Christ to overcome, and set down with Christ in his throne.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.8

Your brother striving for the victory.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.9

DAVID ARNOLD.
Fulton, N. Y., Dec. 1st, 1856.

From Bro. Miller

BRO. SMITH: I would say a word by way of encouragement to the readers of the Review. Though I do not endorse all that it publishes - for instance, that the 2300 days ended in A. D. 1844, and that then our great High Priest entered the Most Holy of the heavenly Sanctuary, etc. - yet the truth which it publishes concerning Israel, the admonitions relative to holiness and purity of heart, and the enlivening communications from the brethren scattered abroad, all serve to constitute the Review a much esteemed friend. My faith in our position relative to the Third Angel’s Message, remains firm and immutable as the everlasting hills. Yes the third and last angel of mercy, [Revelation 14:9,] to this fallen world, has plumed his wing, and is now on his last errand of mercy, fulfilling the last clause of the parable of the supper. Luke 14:23. “And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.10

Never did the truth have such a purifying influence on my heart as now. Never did the holy Sabbath, the token of remembrance which God in his infinite mercy and love has made known and given unto us, even us who have received the truth of the Third Angel appear more brilliant and precious than now. Like a golden chain, the more it is worn the brighter it grows.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.11

P. MILLER, jr.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.12

Laona, Chaut. Co., N. Y., Nov. 30th, 1856.

REMARKS. - We see here a firm belief expressed in the last message, now being given to the world. This is well; for the Third Angel’s Message is entitled to our utmost confidence and love. But we think we discover at the same time, in the positions taken above, a lack of confidence in the very work upon which this message is founded, and from which it took its rise.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.13

It will doubtless be conceded by all who endorse our views of the Sanctuary, that Revelation 9:19, refers to the entrance of our great High Priest into the Most Holy Place, which contains the ark of the covenant; which move the Bible locates at the termination of the 2300 days. It is also evident that the expression, “and there was seen in his temple, the ark of his testament,” must denote that a special movement was to take place among God’s people, concerning his law, the ten commandments, contained in that ark.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.14

If then the 2300 days have not ended, and that part of the temple containing the ark, is not yet opened, we must look to the future for that special movement concerning the commandments, which, it is plainly intimated, will attend these events. But we raise our eyes and behold this very work now going on before us, under the Message of the Third Angel; and it is certain that prophecy cannot be fulfilled before the time: neither can it be fulfilled but once.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.15

But if we are to look to the future for the time when the temple shall be opened, and God’s people, by faith, behold therein, the ark of his testament, and, of course, act accordingly, the present work must cease, and make way for that distinct movement in the future. Then the very Message now being given, in which our brother professes such a commendable confidence, believing it to be that of the Third Angel, must die away, and prove to be no message, but only an ebullition of fanaticism and error. Are not these legitimate deductions from the premises taken? While we believe them to be such, and while our brother retains his love for and confidence in the work now progressing before us, we would suggest for his consideration, that it can in no way be harmonized with the teachings of the Word, only on the ground that the prophetic period which brought us to the cleansing of the Sanctuary has terminated, that then our High Priest entered the Most Holy, and that as his people follow him, by faith, to his last work, they there behold the ark of his testament, and are now acting accordingly. We are held to this conclusion by the evidence we have that until these events do take place, the time has not come for the Third Angel to fulfill his mission; and from the tenor of our brother’s epistle, we should judge that he would be the last to believe that this angel in endeavoring to act his part, had got out of place.- ED.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.16

Extracts from Letters

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Bro. L. M. Bodwell writes from Rubicon, Wis.: “I believe the faithful warnings and admonitions of the Review. The articles in relation to our present position I believe to be just what the church need; for it does appear to me that the church is at the present time lukewarm; and I hope and pray that we may all of us heed the counsel of the faithful and true Witness, and be prepared to stand in that hour of strong temptation which is coming upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the face of the earth.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.17

Bro. H. W. Lawrence writes from West Bangor, N. Y.: “BRO. SMITH, The church is rising once more in this section. Bro. Sperry has been laboring some of late among us, and Most of the brethren and sisters are repenting of their lukewarmness, and arousing to a deeper sense of the time in which we live. My heart beats in unison with the work.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.18

Sister E. Degarmo writes from Parish, N. Y.: “When I embraced the Advent doctrine, and then the Third Angel’s Message, I did not put my hand to the plough to look back, but through the merits of Jesus and by faith in him, to endure to the end that I might see and dwell with the King in his beauty. I long to be like my Lord in all things. If it was not for my Bible and the Review and the presence of that dear Friend who feels his children’s woes, and knows how to soothe and calm their sorrows, I should be most lonely; but Jesus has done all things well, and I feel to submit with cheerfulness, and say, Thy will, O God, and not mine, be done.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.19

Bro. W. C. Negus writes from Grand Ledge, Mich.: “I am striving to take heed to the counsel to the Laodiceans. I thank the Lord that he has a few faithful watchmen left to proclaim the words of life. I often wish that some of them would come this way. I have yet not been blest with the privilege of baptism.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.20

Bro. N. A. Curtis writes from West Canaan, N. Y.: “The paper is still a welcome messenger, and we rejoice in the clear light it contains on our present position. We fully believe we are in the Laodicean state of the church. This being the case, our duty is clear: to heed the counsel of the true Witness, that we be not at last found with the number that are poor and miserable, etc. May the Lord help us.”ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.21

One Secret of A Happy Life.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.22

Were I to live my life over again, I should make it a point to do a kindness to a fellow-being whenever I had the opportunity. I regret very much that my habit has been so different. It has been my way too much to let others take care of themselves, while I took care of myself.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.23

If some little trespass was committed to my rights or if I suffered some slight inconvenience from the thoughtlessness or selfishness of others, I was greatly annoyed, and sometimes used harsh and reproachful language toward the offender. I am now satisfied that my own happiness was greatly impaired by this course, and that my conduct and example contributed to the irritation and unhappiness of others. It was but the other day that I was passing along the street, and a coachman was endeavoring to draw a light carriage into the coach-house. He tried once or twice without success, and, just as I came up, the carriage occupied the whole of the side-walk, and prevented my passing.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.24

The fellow looked as if it ought not to be so, and there was something like a faint apology in his smile.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.25

It was on my tongue to say, “in with your carriage, man, and do not let it stand here blocking up the passage!” but a better spirit prevailed. I went to the rear of the carriage and said:ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.26

“Now try again, my good fellow!” while I gave a little push, and in the carriage went, and out came the pleasant “thank you, sir, much obliged.” I would not have taken a twenty-dollar bank note for the streak of sunshine that this one little act of kindness threw over the rest of my walk, to say nothing of the lighting up of the coachman’s face.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 55.27

And when I look back upon my intercourse with my fellow-men all the way along, I can confidently say that I never did a kindness to any human being without being happier for it. So that, if I were governed by merely selfish motives, and wished to live the happiest life I could, I would just simply obey the Bible precepts, to do good unto all men as I had opportunity.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.1

THE REVIEW AND HERALD

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BATTLE CREEK, FIFTH-DAY, DEC. 18, 1856

E. Miller, jr., and A. N. Seymour.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.2

THESE individuals called on the Church in this place last Sabbath, the 13th inst., and requested the privilege of presenting before us their views. Owing to the unbecoming treatment which we have heretofore received at the hands of A. N. Seymour, the Church did not feel that they could consistently open the house of worship for his use. But these objections not as yet existing against Eld. Miller, it was finally concluded to give him a hearing, in the afternoon and evening of First-day following, as they claimed to have some new points for our consideration. We attended both discourses, and having endeavored to follow the speaker carefully through all his positions, noting down some points on the occasion, we shall consider it our privilege next week to tell our readers what he believes, or perhaps we might more properly express it, what he don’t believe.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.3

Correspondents must Remember.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.4

IN writing to this Office, if the town in which they live, and the Post Office where they receive their papers go by different names, to be sure in all cases to give us the name of the Post Office. It does us no good to know the town in which a person lives if the Post Office to which we direct his papers is of a different name; and unless the Post Office is given we are unable to turn to the name on our books. Be sure furthermore to state in whose name the paper is sent. Attention to these directions will save us much perplexity and trouble.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.5

Meetings at Newark.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.6

THIS is a place near Michigan Lake Shore, where Bro. Cornell lectured Last Winter, where some ten or more professed to believe and keep the Commandments of God. I found some of them in a very barren, lukewarm state, having never assembled together for meetings of prayer and exhortation since Bro. Cornell left them. In consequence of which, part of them have turned back to their former course and given up the precious truths of the Third Angel’s Message, and most of the others had been sinking under discouragements. One of the last named died a few weeks before I came here. She was the wife of Philander Porter, aged about twenty-six years.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.7

We commenced meetings here in the school-house Nov. 28th. Those who still obey the truth resolved and were encouraged to still go forward in the Message. A few others became convinced of the truth and united with them. A great portion of the people in the place are ready to admit that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord; but manifest little or no interest to hear further. The world and its interests are their all-absorbing theme.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.8

At the close of our meetings Sr. E. companion of Jno. Henady, fell asleep after a short illness of three days, in which she was deprived of her sense of hearing and speech. I called to see her before she was taken sick. She said she believed the Sabbath of the Bible was truth, but thought she had not kept it as she was required to. She also expressed a desire to attend the meetings, but did not. She expressed a wish that her husband would be willing to take the Review. We were invited to attend her funeral at the school-house on First-day, the 7th inst., on which occasion the house was well filled once more to hear on the certainty of the near coming of Christ, and an immediate preparation to meet him at the first resurrection, by keeping all the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.9

My dear brethren and sisters scattered abroad throughout the wide harvest-field, let us wake up and no longer disregard the admonitions and repeated warnings of God our heavenly Father, and the testimony of his dear Son, who is addressing himself to the last state of the church, in the solemn language of, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent.” Revelation 3:19. See also Hebrews 12:5-7. Again, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” Shall we open the door of our hearts and let our best Friend and Saviour come in and sup with us? or shall we hesitate, wait and perish in sight of the kingdom?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.10

JOSEPH BATES.
Newark, Allegan Co., Mich., Dec. 8th, 1856.

APPOINTMENTS

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THERE will be a general Conference held at Boston, Mass., for the mutual benefit of the church and cause in the New England States, commencing Sabbath, Jan. 10th, 1857, and continuing until all business of importance, conducive to the prosperity of the cause, brought before the Conference, shall be disposed of.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.11

A general invitation is extended to the brethren from abroad who feel interested in the advancement of the cause. We hope the churches generally will be represented by those who shall come to help us by their counsel.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.12

The object of this convocation is not to eat and drink nor to see and be seen; but by fasting and prayer and an investigation of truth, devise such means as shall be conducive to the present and ultimate interest of the remnant.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.13

If our bread and water are made sure on the occasion, and that less frequent than usual, we will be satisfied.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.14

The Conference will probably be held in one of the rooms in the Chapman Hall building, Boston. As no brethren live in the City, those coming from abroad on Friday, will find Bro. Paul Folsom, who lives in Charlestown, near the foot of Winter Hill now called Summerville, two and a half miles from Fitchburg Depot. Those wishing for public conveyance from Boston to Summerville, can obtain it at the corner of Summer and Washington Sts., by the Charlestown Neck Line Omnibus, that will take them as far as their station in Summerville. Bro. Folsom lives half a mile further on, towards Winter Hill, in the second house on the left after passing Walnut St. Brn. Hutchins and Philips may be expected.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.15

STEPHEN PIERCE.
E. L. BARR.
In behalf of Brn. P. FOLSOM.
O. NICHOLS.
A. WILLEY.
E. P. BURDIT.

Business Items

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N. Davis:- There is $1 receipted to B. Haselback in No. 10, Vol. VII, and $1 to N. Davis in No. 15, same Vol. Is not that it?ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.16

I. C. Vaughn:- Return all imperfect books to this Office at a convenient opportunity, and we will exchange them for good ones, or give credit as may be desired.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.17

Second Edition of “Bible Students Assistant” now ready. We send this week to those who have ordered.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.18

BOOKS SENT. - P. C. Truman, C. W. Standish, L. Philips, Geo. R. Brown, J. Marsh, Wm. Bailey, Mrs. S. A. Beery, Jno. Stark, Mrs. D. Gwinail, A. J. Ady, H. W. Lawrence, C. O. Taylor, Benj. Hostler, D. T. Evans, Thos. Brown, H. D. Corey, L. W. Carr, S. Willey, G. W. Sperry, H. N. Bates, L. Marsh, T. Bryant, jr. S. Bunnel, Mrs. L. Harrington.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.19

Receipts

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Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the “Review and Herald” to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should be given. FOR REVIEW AND HERALD.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.20

W. Morse $1,00,xi,1. J. Edson 1,00,ix,1. M. Edson 1,00,xii,1. N. Davis 2,00,x,1. D. Arnold 1,00,x,1. S. Peckham 1,00,x,1. J. Wilson 1,00,x,1. H. S. Giddings 1,00,x,1. Wm. L. Saxby 2,00,xii,1. J. P. Hunt 1,00,x,1. C. Pangburn 3,00,x,1. A. P. H. Kelsey 1,00,xi,1. S. Allen 1,00,x,1. Geo. Rider 1,00,ix,1. C. Walker 1,75,x,19. R. Harrington 2,00,x,1. C. Farr 1,00,ix,1. Mrs. A. Thurber 1,00,ix,1. S. Cronkright 1,00,ix,1. N. Gibbs 1,00,x,1. J. G. Briggs 1,00,ix,1. S. J. Voorus 1,00,x,1. C. C. Collins 1,00,x,1. J. M. Ballou 1,00,x,16. Clarissa Woodard 2,00,x,1. Chas. W. Barber 1,00,x,1. J. F. Eastman 1,00,x,1. S. Bliven 1,00,x,11. Mary Tyler 1,00,x,1. R. Lockwood 1,00,ix,1. L. B. Lockwood 1,00,x,1. D. Howard 1,00,x,1. W. G. Kendall 1,00,x,1. R. G. Lockwood 1,00,x,1. Mrs. P. Harp 1,00,x,1. N. G. Mack 1,00,ix,1. C. Fuller 1,00,ix,1. J. W. Learned 1,00,x,1. C. W. Standish 1,00,x,1. Jno. Russ 1,00,ix,14. A. M. Preston 1,00,x,1. Jas. Hawkins 2,00,x,12. I. McCausland 2,00,x,14. Wm. B. Putnam 1,00,viii,1. L. E. Knight 1,00,x,1. Wm. Treadwell 1,00,x,1. H. Farr 1,00,x,1. E. D. Cook 2,00,xi,1. N. Guider 2,00,xi,1. Mrs. F. Freeman 1,00,x,1. Mrs. F. Freeman (for I. B. Jaycox) 1,00,xi,1.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.21

REVIEW TO THE POOR. - Church in Troy, N. Y. $2.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.22

FOR OFFICE RELIEF. - E. Scoville, S. E. Scoville, R. B. Abbey, each $1. A. E. Gridley, S. W. Rhodes, each $3.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.23

Books for Sale at this Office

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THE price set to each publication includes both the price of the book, and the postage, when sent by Mail.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.24

HYMNS for those who keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus. This Hymn Book is designed to promote not only public worship, but also social and family devotions. It is a selection of Hymns expressing the faith and hope of the Church as set forth in the Scriptures of truth, free from the popular errors of the age. The Book contains 352 Pages, 430 Hymns and 76 pieces of Music. Price, 60 cents. - In Morocco, 65 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.25

Bible Tracts Bound in Two Volumes. These Volumes are of about 400 pages each, and embrace nearly all of our published Tracts. We are happy to offer to our friends the main grounds of our faith in a style so acceptable. - Price, 50 cents each.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.26

Sabbath Tracts, Nos. 1,2,3 & 4. This work presents a condensed view of the entire Sabbath question. - 184 pages. Price 15 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.27

The Sanctuary and Twenty-three Hundred Days, by “J. N. A.” This work presents a clear exposition of Daniel 8 and 9, shows what the Sanctuary is, and the nature of its cleansing. Price 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.28

The Three Angels of Revelation 14:6-12, particularly the Third Angel’s Message, and the Two-horned Beast. This work maintains the fulfillment of Prophecy in the past Advent movement, and is of great importance in these times of apostasy and peril. - 148 pages. - Price 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.29

Review of Crozier. This work is a faithful review of the No-Sabbath doctrine as set forth in the Advent Harbinger by O. R. L. Crozier. It should be placed in the hands of those who are exposed to that heresy. - Price 6 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.30

The Bible Class. This work contains 52 Lessons on the Law of God and the Faith of Jesus, with questions. It is peculiarly adapted to the wants of those of every age who are unacquainted with our views of these subjects, especially the young. - Bound 25 cents. Paper covers, 18 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.31

The Four Universal Monarchies of the Prophecy of Daniel, and the Kingdom of God, to which is added a condensed view of the 2300 days and the Sanctuary. - Price 8 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.32

The Sabbath. Containing valuable articles on 2 Corinthians 3; Colossians 2:14-17. Who is our Lawgiver? The two tills of Matthew 5:18, Consistency, etc. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.33

The Law of God. In this excellent work the testimony of both Testaments relative to the law of God - its knowledge from Creation, its nature and perpetuity - is presented. - Price 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.34

The Truth Found. A Short Argument for the Sabbath, by J. H. W. This is the best condensed work on the Sabbath extant. Price 6 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.35

Sabbath and Advent Miscellany. This work is composed of seven small tracts on the Sabbath, Second Advent, etc., and presents a choice variety for those who commence to seek for Bible truth. Price 10 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.36

The Bible Sabbath, or a careful selection from the publications of the American Sabbath Tract Society, including their History of the Sabbath. Price 10 cts.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.37

The Atonement. This work opens a wide field of Bible truth, and will be found a valuable assistant in the study of the great theme on which it treats. - 196 pp. - 18 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.38

Man not Immortal: the only Shield against the Seductions of Modern Spiritualism. Without the great truth that man is not immortal, and that the dead know not anything, none are prepared to stand against wicked spirits in high places. We commend this work on the Immortality question, as an able discussion of the subject. - 148 pp. - 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.39

Last Work of the True Church. - Price 7 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.40

Perpetuity of the Royal Law. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.41

An Examination of the Scripture Testimony concerning Man’s present condition, and his future Reward or Punishment. By this work is shown the unconscious state of the dead, and the final destiny of the wicked. In this work we consider all objections to the mortality of man and the death of the wicked fairly and fully met. Price 18 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.42

Why Don’t you Keep the Sabbath? Extracts from Catholic works. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.43

Signs of the Times. This work presents the historical facts concerning the signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars, points out other signs of the soon coming of Christ, and contains an exposure of Spirit Manifestations. - Price 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.44

A condensed edition of 32 pp., 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.45

History of the Sabbath. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.46

The 2300 Days and Sanctuary by “U. S.” - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.47

The Celestial Railroad. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.48

Christian Experience and Views - Price 6 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.49

Supplement to Experience and Views. - Price 6 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.50

POEMS

UrSe

Home Here and Home in Heaven, with other poems. This work embraces all those sweet and Scriptural poems written by Annie R. Smith, from the time she embraced the third message till she fell asleep in Jesus. - Price 25 cents. In paper covers, 20 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.51

Time and Prophecy. This work is a poetic comparison of the events of time with the sure word of Prophecy. - Price 20 cents. In paper covers, 12 1/2 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.52

A Word for the Sabbath. This work is an exposure of false theories in regard to the Sabbath. - Price 5 cents.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.53

Liberal discount on these works where $5 worth is taken.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.54

Address URIAH SMITH, Battle Creek, Mich.ARSH December 18, 1856, page 56.55