"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."—St. John 17: 17. 
VOL. 1. �
GREAT GRIMSBY, JANUARY, 1885. �
No. 9. 
THE PRESENT TRUTH. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY 
At 72 Heneage Street, Great Grimsby, England, 
—for— 
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Terms : 2s. 6d. a year (post free) in advance. 
kake all Orders and Cheques payable to 
The Secretary, MISS IENNIB THAYER. 
THE NEW YEAR. 
WHY hail we thus each new-born year, 
With voice of joy and scenes of mirth ? 
What room for gay and festive cheer, 
While woe and darkness span the earth ? 
While sin and suffering, pain and death, still throw 
Their baleful shadow over all below ? 
Earth trembles at the cannon's roar, 
War's murderous visage scours the plain, 
Its fairest spots are drenched with gore, 
Its fruitful fields are piled with slain, 
And what are all these slow revolving years, 
But funeral pageants of distress and tears ? 
Contagions spread their wings of pall, 
Fierce tempests rage with blasting breath, 
And earthquake throes, engulfing all, 
Make short and sure the way to death. 
No peace, no safety, no enduring cheer, 
To him who builds his hopes and treasures here. 
Yet glad we hail each New Year's morn, 
For from the great high throne of Heaven 
A royal fiat forth has gone, 
A glorious word to earth is given : 
Behold, says He who looks creation through, 
Where sin has marred my works I make anew. 
New earth to smile before his face, 
New heavens in crystal beauty dressed, 
New years to run a guiltless race, 
New joys for each immortal breast, 
New flowers upspringing from the sinless sod, 
New waters sparkling from the throne of God. 
New bodies for these feeble forms, 
New life from e'en the mouldering tomb, 
New skies unrent by raging storms, 
New beauty, new unfading bloom, 
New scenes the eternal era to begin, 
Of peace for war, of righteousness for sin. 
Speed then away, 0 tardy years ! 
Fly quickly, hours that intervene 
Groaning we wait the time when tears 
Shall be but things that once have been. 
Dawn, thou blest morn, so long in promise given, 
The glorious glad new year of God and heaven. 
U. .s. 
THE HIDDEN MEANING.. 
WHATEVER evil falls across my path, 
I straightway look, with optimistic eyes, 
To see what purpose underneath it lies. 
For I believe always God's seeming wrath 
Is but the veil to some intended good, 
By men not understood. 
But if we will take time amidst our grief 
To search for it, I think we cannot fail 
To find the hidden meaning 'neath the veil, 
And, having found it, lo 1 we find relief I 
And what has seemed a cruel, chastening rod 
Proves the kind touch of God. 
. �
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 
OENERAL I I RTICLES), 
" Hear ; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my 
lips ahal be right things."—Prov. 8: IL 
BIBLE SANCTIFICATION. NO. 8. 
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE. 
THE CHARACTER OF JOHN. 
THE apostle John was distinguished above 
his brethren as " the disciple whom Jesus 
loved." While not in the slightest degree 
cowardly, weak, or vacillating in character, 
he possessed an amiable disposition, and a 
warm, loving heart. He seems to have en- 
joyed, in a pre-eminent sense, the friendship 
of Christ, and he received many tokens of the 
Saviour's confidence and love. He was one 
of the three permitted to witness Christ's 
glory upon the mount of transfiguration, and 
his agony in Gethsemane ; and to the care of 
John our Lord confided his mother in those 
last hours of anguish upon the cross. 
The Saviour's affection for the beloved dis-
ciple was returned with all the strength of 
ardent devotion. John clung to Christ as the 
vine clings to the stately pillar. For his 
Master's sake he braved the dangers of the 
judgment hall, and lingered about the cross ; 
and at the tidings that Christ had risen, he 
hastened to the sepulcher, in his zeal out-
stripping even the impetuous Peter. 
John's love for his Master was not a mere 
human friendship ; but it was the love of a 
repentant sinner, who felt that he had been 
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. 
He esteemed it the highest honor to work and 
suffer in the service of his Lord. His love 
for Jesus led him to love all for whom Christ 
died. His religion was of a practical character. 
He reasoned that love to God would be mani-
fested in love to his children. He was heard 
again and again to say, " Beloved, if God so 
loved us, we ought also to love one another." 
" We love him because he first loved us. If 
a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, 
he is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother, 
whom he hath seen, how can he love God, 
whom he hath not seen ? " The apostle's life 
was in harmony with his teachings. The love 
which glowed in his heart for Christ led him 
to put forth the most earnest, untiring labor 
for his fellow-men, especially for his brethren 
in the Christian church. He was a power-
ful preacher, fervent, and deeply in earnest 
and his words carried with them a weight of 
conviction. 
The confiding love and unselfish devotion 
manifested in the life and character of John, 
present lessons of untold value to the Chris-
tian church. Some may represent him as 
possessing this love independent of divine 
grace ; but John had, by nature, serious defects 
of character ; he was proud and ambitious, and 
quick to resent slight and injury. 
The depth and fervor of John's affection 
for his Master was not the cause of Christ's 
love for him, but the effect of that love. 
John desired to become like Jesus, and under 
the transforming influence of the love of 
Christ, he became meek and lowly of heart. 
Self was hid in Jesus. He was closely united 
to the Living Vine, and thus became a par-
taker of the divine nature. Such will ever 
be the result of communion with Christ. 
This is true sanctification. 
There may be marked defects in the char-
acter of an individual, yet when he becomes 
a true disciple of Jesus, the power of divine 
grace makes him a new creature. Christ's 
love transforms, sanctifies him. But when 
persons profess to be Christians, and their 
religion does not make them better men and 
better women in all the relations of life,—
living representatives of Christ in disposition 
and character,—they are none of his. 
At one time, John engaged in a dispute 
with several of his brethren, as to which of 
their number should be accounted greatest. 
They did not intend their words to reach the 
ear of the Master ; but Jesus read their hearts, 
and embraced the opportunity to give his 
disciples a lesson of humility. It was not 
only for the little group who listened to his 
words, but was to be recorded for the benefit 
of all his followers, to the close of time. 
" And he sat down, and called the twelve, 
and said unto them, If any man desire to be 
first, the same shall be last of all, and 
servant of all." 
Those who possess the spirit of Christ will 
have no ambition to occupy a position above 
their brethren. It is those who are small in 
their own eyes who will be accounted great 
in the sight of God. And he took a child, and 
set him in the midst of them ; and when he 
had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, 
" Whosoever shall receive one of such chil-
dren in my name, receiveth me ; and whoso-
ever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but 
Him that sent me." 
What a precious lesson is this for all the 
followers of Christ t Those who overlook 
the life-duties lying directly in their pathway, 
who neglect mercy and kindness, courtesy 
and love, to even a little child, are neglecting 
Christ. John felt the force of this lesson, 
and profited by it. 
On another occasion, his brother James 
and himself had seen a man casting out devils 
in the name of Jesus, and because he did not 
immediately connect himself with their com-
pany they decided that he had no right to do 
this work, and consequently forbade him. In 
the sincerity of his heart, John related the cir-
cumstance to his Master. Jesus said, " For- 
bid him not ; for there is no man which shall 
do a miracle in my name, that can lightly 
speak evil of me. For he that is not against 
us is on our part." 
Again, James and John presented by their 
mother a petition requesting that they might 
be permitted to occupy the highest positions 
of honor in Christ's kingdom. The Saviour 
answered, " Ye know not what ye ask." 
130 �
. THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
How little do many of us understand the true 
import of our prayers ! Jesus knew the 
infinite sacrifice at which that glory must be 
purchased; when he, " for the joy that was 
set before him, endured the cross, despising 
the shame." That joy was to see souls saved 
by his humiliation, his agony, and the shed-
ding of his blood. 
This was the glory which Christ was to 
receive, and which these two disciples had re-
quested that they might be permitted to 
share. Jesus asked them, " Can ye drink 
of the cup that I drink of ? and be baptized 
with the baptism that I am baptized with ? 
And they said unto him, We can." 
How little did they comprehend what that 
baptism signified " Jesus said unto them, 
Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink 
of ; and with the baptism that I am baptized 
withal shall ye be baptized. But to sit on 
my right hand and on my left hand is not 
mine to give ; but it shall be given to them 
for whom it is prepared." 
Jesus understood the motives which 
prompted the request, and thus reproved the 
pride and ambition of the two disciples : " The 
Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their 
great ones exercise authority upon them. 
But so shall it not be among you ; but whoso-
ever will be great among you, shall be your 
minister ; and whosoever of you will be the 
ohiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the 
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many." 
Upon one occasion, Christ sent messengers 
before him into a village of the Samaritans, 
requesting the people to prepare refreshments 
tor himself and his disciples. But when the 
Saviour approached the town, he appeared to 
be passing on toward Jerusalem. This 
aroused the enmity of the Samaritans, and 
instead of sending messengers to invite and 
even urge him to tarry with them, they with-
held the courtesies which they would have 
given to a common wayfarer. Jesus never 
urges his presence upon any, and the Sa-
maritans lost the blessing which would have 
been granted them, had they solicited him to 
be their guest. 
We may wonder at this uncourteous treat-
ment of the Majesty of heaven; but how 
frequently are we who profess to be the 
followers of Christ, guilty of similar neglect. 
Do we urge Jesus to take up his abode in ou 
hearts and in our homes ? He is full of love 
of grace, of blessing, and stands ready to be-
stow these gifts upon us ; but like the Samar-
itans, we are often content without them. 
The disciples were aware of the purpose of 
Christ to bless the Samaritans with his pres-
ence; and when they saw the coldness, 
jealousy, and, disrespect shown to their 
Master, they were filled with surprise and 
indignation. James and John were especially 
stirred. That he whom they so highly rev-
erenced should be thus treated, seemed to 
them a crime too great to be passed over with-
out immediate punishment. In their zeal 
they said, " Lord, wilt thou that we com-
mand fire to come down from heaven and 
consume them, even as Elias did ? " referring 
to the destruction of the captains and their 
companies sent out to take the prophet Elijah. 
Jesus rebuked his disciples saying, " Ye 
know not what manner of spirit ye are of ; 
for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's 
lives but to save them." John and his fellow-
disciples were in a school, in which Christ 
was teacher. Those who were ready to see 
their own defects, and were anxious to im-
prove in character, had ample opportunity. 
John treasured every lesson, and constantly 
sought to bring his life into harmony with 
the Divine Pattern. The lessons of Jesus, 
setting forth meekness, humility, and love 
as essential to growth in grace, and a 
fitness for his work, were of the highest value 
to John. These lessons are addressed to us 
as individuals and as brethren in the church, 
as well as to the first disciples of Christ. 
An instructive lesson may be drawn from 
the striking contrast between the character 
of John and that of Judas. John was a living 
illustration of sanctification. On the other 
hand, Judas posseSsed a form of godliness, 
while his character was more Satanic than 
divine. He professed to be a disciple of 
Christ, but in words and in works denied him. 
Judas had the same precious opportunities 
as had John to study and to imitate the 
Pattern. He listened to the lessons of Christ, 
and his character might have been trans-
formed by divine grace. But while John 
was earnestly warring against his own faults 
and seeking to assimilate to Christ, Judas 
was violating his conscience, yielding to temp-
tation, and fastening upon himself habits of 
dishonesty that would transform him into the 
image of Satan. 
These two disciples represent the Chris-
tian world. All profess to be Christ's follow-
ers ; but while one class walk in humility 
and meekness, learning of Jesus, the other 
show that they are not doers of the Word, 
but hearers only. One class are sanctified 
through the truth ; the other know nothing of 
the transforming power of divine grace. The 
former are daily dying to self, and are over-
coming sin. The latter are indulging in their 
own lusts, and becoming the servants of 
Satan. 
THE SANCTUARY AND 2,300 DAYS. 
(Concluded.) 
r THE nature of the cleansing of the heavenly 
sanctuary we will now briefly indicate. 
The work of the judgment is divided into two 
parts. The first part is the investigative judg-
ment which takes place in the heavenly sanct-
uary, God the Father sitting in judgment. 
The second part is the execution of the judg-
ment, and is committed wholly to Christ who 
comes to our earth to accomplish this work. 
John 5 : 22-27 ; Jude 14, 15. It is while the 
investigative judgment is in session that the 
cleansing of the sanctuary takes place. Or, 
to speak more accurately, the cleansing of the 
sanctuary is indentical with the work of the 
investigative judgment. 
This part of the judgment is described in 
Dan. 7 : 9-14. God the Father sits upon 
the throne of judgment. Those who stand 
before the Father are the angels. Compare 
Rev. 5 : 11. It is not upon earth ; for the 
Father does not come to our earth. It is 
before the second advent of Christ ; for Christ 
comes to our earth as a king sitting upon 
his own throne ( Matt. 25 : 31, 34 ; Luke 19 : 
12, 15 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 1), but this tribunal of the 
Father is the very place where he is crowned 
king. Dan. 7 : 13, 14. It is the time and 
place where our Lord concludes his priestly 
office, and must therefore, be in the second 
apartment of the sanctuary above. Rev. 10 : 
7, and 11 : 15, 18, 19.1 
When the Saviour comes, he gives immor-
tality to the righteous dead. 1 Cor. 15 : 23, 
51-55 ; 1 Thess. 4 : 15-17. The rest of the 
dead are left until the resurrection of the 
unjust. Rev. 20. But those who are thus 
made immortal were previously accounted 
worthy of that great salvation. Luke 20 : 35. 
There can be no examination afterward to 
ascertain whether they shall be saved or lost ; 
for they are put in possession of eternal life 
at the moment when the trumpet sounds. 
And such, also, is the case with the living 
righteous. They are changed to immortality 
in the same moment with the dead in Christ. 
1 These. 4: 15-17. These are previously 
judged worthy of this great salvation ( Luke 
21 i 36), and can never afterward be sub-
jected to trial for the determination of this 
point. The decision as to who shall have eter-
nal life has, therefore been made before Christ 
descends to execute the judgment. 
The books are examined before the deliver-
ance of the saints. - Dan. 12 : 1. The open-
ing of the books is described in Dan. 7 : 9, 10. 
The book of life shows who have ever set out 
in the service of God. Luke 10 : 20 ; Phil. 
4: 3. The book of God's remembrance 
shows the record of their faithfulness in his 
cause, and whether they have made clean 
work in overcoming. Mal. 3: 16. Other 
books contain the record of men's evil deeds. 
Rev. 20: 12, 13. 
c As the object of this final work in the sanct-
uary is to detemine who are worthy of ever-
lasting life, no cases will come before this 
tribunal except those who have had their 
names entered in the book of life. All others 
are left out of this investigation as having 
never become partakers of Christ's atoning 
work. The investigation will determine who 
have overcome their sins ; and these will 
have their sins blotted from the record, 
and their names retained in the book of life. 
It will also determine who have not over-
come; and these will have their names blotted 
from the book of life, Rev. 3 : 5, and their 
sins will be retained in the record, to be visited 
with retribution in the resurrection to dam-
nation. 
The righteous need a high priest until theirl 
sins are blotted out. They cannot be blotted 
out until the judgment ; for God has decreed 
to bring every work into judgment, whether 
good or evil. Eccl. 12 : 13, 14, and 3 : 17. 
He certainly cannot bring any record into 
judgment after he has blotted it out. The blot-
ting out is, therefore, the last act of our High 
Priest, and is done when the Father has ac-
counted each person worthy of this, which 
will only be when the High Priest has shown' 
from the record in the book of God's remem-
brance that he has actually overcome. The 
blotting out of sins (Acts 3: 19) is, therefore, 
the great work which brings our Lord's priest-
hood to a conclusion. As this is an individual 
work, it evidently begins with the first genera-
tion of the righteous, and so comes down to the 
last, that is to those who are alive at the coming 
of Christ. It is the time of the dead that 
they should be judged. Rev. 11: 18, 19. 
The first angel gives notice to the inhabitants 
of the earth that the hour of God's judgment 
has come. Rev. 14: 6, 7. The living are 
still on probation when the solemn announce- 
ment is made to mankind. 
The proclamation of the third angel, which 
is made while Christ is closing up his work in 
the sanctuary, is designed to prepare the° 
living for the decision of the judgment. 
When the cases of the living are reached, pro-
bation closes up forever. The decree goes 
forth from the throne of God, " He that is 
unjust, let him be unjust still; . . . and he 
that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. 22 : 
11. �
The sins of the overcomers being blotted 
out, and the sanctuary cleansed, the Son of 
God, is no longer needed as a great High 
Priest. He therefore ceases from the office 
forever, and, becomes a king for the deliver-
ance and glorification of his people, and for 
the destruction of all transgressors. Dan. 7 : 
13, 14. Satan, the author of sin, receives its 
dreadful burden when the work in the sanct-
uary is closed, and will bear it with him to 
the lake of fire. 
It is of infinite consequence to us who live 
in the time when Christ is closing up his 
priesthood, that we understand the work 
which he is performing, and that we so walk 
in the light as to share in his great salvation. 
J. N. ANDREWS. 
JANUARY, 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
131 
BIBLE CONVERSION. 
(Continued.) 
OFFICE OF THE LAW IN CONVERSION. 
BY the law is here meant the law par excel-
lence—the law of supreme love for God and 
equal love for man drawn out in ten precepts, 
and usually termed the moral law, because it 
relates to moral duties. 
Of this law the Psalmist says, " The law of 
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 
19 : 7. " By the law is the knowledge of sin." 
Born. 3 : 20. Again it is written, " Sin is 
the transgression of the law." 1 John 3 : 4. 
The law is the well-defined rule by which to 
determine what sin is. Without it, it would 
be impossible to get at the starting point 
from which to commence the work of con-
version. We could not tell what to ,be con-
verted from, nor what to be converted unto. 
Even " the light of conscience," of which 
some boast, teaching that the law is unneces-
sary in conversion, is but the result of, at least, 
a faint copy of the law written in the heart. 
Rom. 2 : 14, 15. 
Conversion is a change from sin to holiness. 
" Sin is the transgression of the law," and 
holiness is conformity to the law. The law is 
not only necessary as a faithful mirror in 
which to see our moral defects ( James 1 : 
25) ; it is also needful, indispensable, as a 
sure indicator of the way of holiness. And 
whether we look at the law as written in the 
decalogue, or at the life of Christ, for these 
objects, the result will be one and the same; 
for in Christ's life the law appears drawn out 
in living characters. John 15 : 10 ; 1 John 3 : 
4, 5. 
We could not repent without the knowledge 
of sin by the law. " Where no law is, there 
is no transgression" ( Rom. 4 : 15 ), nothing 
to repent of. Nor would there be room for 
faith in Christ for salvation from sin, if there 
was no law that had been transgressed ; for 
there would be no sin to be saved from. 
Faith in Christ establishes the law. Rom. 3 : 
31. The necessity of repentance and faith 
grows out of the fact that men have violated 
God's law. 
All must admit that Paul was soundly con-
verted. Yet from his own showing, the law 
was the instrument that slew him in conver-
sion. While relating his experience in con-
version, he says : " What shall we say then? 
Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay I had not 
known sin, but by the law : for I had not 
known lust, except the law had said, Thou 
shalt not covet. . . . For I was alive without 
the law once : but when the commandment 
came, sin revived, and I died. And the com-
mandment, which was ordained to life, I 
found to be unto death. For sin taking occa-
sion by the commandment, deceived me, and 
by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, 
and the commandment holy, and just, and 
good." Rom. 7: 7-12. 
The first great work to be wrought in con-
version, is the crucifying of the old man of 
sin, the slaying of sin in us ( Rom. 6 : 6, etc.) ; 
and the law is the instrument that the Spirit 
of God uses to accomplish this work. Then 
the new man, Christ Jesus, can be formed in 
us the hope of glory. 
Before conversion the heart is opposed to 
God's law ( Rom. 8 : 7 ) ' • but in conversion 
the law is written in the heart ( Heb. 8 : 10; 
Jer. 31: 33) ; and those for whom this work 
is performed will love and keep the law. 
They will hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness ( Matt. 5 : 6 ; Isa. 51 : 7 ; Ps. 119: 172 ), 
and their great desire will be to walk in all the 
commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
blameless. 
Before conversion we are under the law as 
a condemning rule. Rom. 3 : 19. Its just 
I penalty hangs over our heads because of our 
transgressions. At conversion we come under 
the grace or favor of God through Jesus Christ, 
which brings us pardon, and Christ's imputed 
righteousness, and delivers us from the just 
condemnation of the law, so that we are no 
more under the law in the sense that we were 
before. Rom. 6 : 14. But this does not give 
us license to sin, or transgress the law (verse 
15 ) ; on the contrary, it presents strong 
additional motives to shun sin and keep the 
law. 
If Christ had to do and suffer so much to 
save us from sin, to show his hatred to sin, 
and his love for the law, as well as for man 
( Rom. 8 : 3 ; Heb. 12 : 24; Ps. 40 : 8 ; Isa. 
42 : 21; Matt. 5 : 17-19 ; and 19 : 17-19), 
we should, through love for Christ, keep 
the law. To take the liberty of sinning, 
or transgressing the law, because we are not 
under the law but under grace, would be 
a sure way to forfeit our right to grace, and to 
bring us under the law again. 
We cannot be justified by the deeds of the 
law, because by the law is the knowledge of 
sin. Rom. 3 : 20. It justly condemns us for 
having broken it, and it cannot both justify 
and condemn us at the same time. The law 
. being perfect, our present obedience thereto 
cannot, were it perfect, more than meet its de-
mands for the present, and cannot offset 
against our past sins to cancel them and justify 
us. 
Supposing a man opening an account with 
you, gets indebted to you to the amount of one 
pound. He then pays for every article he 
buys of you for six months. Would that 
cancel his indebtedness to you ? We should 
not look to the law, but to Christ, for justifi-
cation and salvation. 
What would you think of a carpenter who 
would reject his square and his line because 
they condemn every crooked stick to which 
they are applied ? or of a woman who would 
break her mirror because it would not remove 
the defects in her appearance ? Greater, 
a thousand times greater is the folly of those 
who reject the law because it does not justify 
nor save them. Give the law its place ; let it 
show the sinner his sins and his lost condition, 
that he may see the need of a remedy ; and 
let it serve as a rule of life to the Christian ; 
but associate with it the cleansing, healing 
Fountain. 
RE—CONVERSION. 
Conversion is just as necessary in cases of 
backsliding, as it is when the sinner starts 
out in the service of Christ. Indeed, in such 
cases there is even more urgent need of con-
version than at the first start in religion. 
The guilt of those concerned is far greater for 
their having sinned against greater light. 
And it is more difficult to engage in the work 
of conversion under such circumstances. It 
requires a greater effort to arouse the con-
science and lead the individual to action. 
The light enjoyed at first has become dark-
ness ; the conscience has been hardened by 
sin ; and Satan has a firmer hold on his victim ; 
who upon awaking to a sense of his situation, 
is in danger of giving way to discouragement 
and of shrinking from the task before him. 
Paul, fully conscious of this, exhorts his breth-
ren to " go on unto perfection ; not laying again 
the foundation of repentance from dead works, 
and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of 
baptisms, and of the laying on of hands," etc. 
Heb. 6 : 1, 2. 
Much of what the Bible says about turning 
unto God and being converted, etc., applies to 
backslidden professors of religion ( Jer. 3 : 
14 ; Lam. 5 : 21 ; Eze. 33 : 11; Acts 3 : 19 ; 
Jas. 5 : 19, 20, etc.), yet such are generally 
slow to admit that they need converting. 
They usually fall back on their profession and on 
outward popular forms, shun the very truths 
and duties that require self-denial, and con-
gratulate themselves upon great blessings they 
have received in the past, and wonders they 
have done in the name of Jesus ; and it is not 
an uncommon thing for them to point to the 
spot where and time when they were con-
verted. 
The great question is not whether we were 
once converted, or whether we have done 
wonders, or whether we were blessed twenty 
years ago, or ten years ago, or even yesterday ; 
but whether we are now converted ( so far, 
at least, as we have put away every known 
wrong, and walk in the light that shines on 
our pathway ), and have a daily, living expe-
rience in practical, experimental religion ; 
whether we have a present, living connection 
with Heaven, and enjoy God's smiles now. 
Have we retained our first love ( Rev. 
2 : 4, 5), the love that we experienced under a 
sense that God for Christ's sake had for-
given us our sins ? Have we the burden for 
souls that we then had ? Do we have the 
tender conscience, the relish for prayer, for 
reading the Bible and assembling with the 
saints, that we then possessed ? Do we make 
most earnest endeavors to fulfill the solemn 
vows we then made, to co-operate with the 
Spirit of God in the work of overcoming the 
evil passions of our heart or have we fallen 
into the error of thinking that the whole work 
is accomplished because we then received so 
wonderful a blessing, and that there is no 
need that we should fulfill our solemn vows ? 
In short, do we most earnestly seek to do 
right in all things, as we did when we received 
the Spirit of adoption ? We can no more be 
saved in a backslidden state, than we could 
be had we never experienced conversion. 
The Scriptures clearly represent that near 
the end of this age a large proportion of the 
church will be in a fearfully backslidden state ; 
that at that time iniquity shall abound, and 
the love of many shall wax cold. Matt. 24 : 
12, 13. Many in Zion will then be charac-
terized by going into the vain and ridiculous 
extremes of fashion in the matter of dress, con-
trary to the plain teachings of God's word. 
See Isa 3: 16-26, in connection with Chap. 
2 : 1, 2, 10, etc. ; 1 Tim. 2 : 9, 10 ; 1 Pet 
3 : 3. 
The church, who are called to be distinct 
and separate from the world, and who are 
forbidden by Christ to lay up treasures upon 
earth ( John 17 : 16 ; 2 Cor. 6 : 17, 18 ; Matt. 
6 : 19 ), will then, with rare exceptions, court 
the friendship of the world, will occupy 
popular positions and largely control worldly 
governments, and will take the lead in amass-
ing wealth. Isa. 2 : 2-7, etc. ; Dan. 2 : 35 ; 
Jer. 51:.25 ; Jas. 4 : 4 ; Rev. 14 : 6-8, and 
18 : 9-23. 
Paul, giving a description of " men " 
" having a form of godliness and denying the 
power thereof," " in the last days," says, 
that they " shall be lovers of their own selves, 
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, diso-
bedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, with-
out natural affection, truce-breakers, false 
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those 
that are good, traitors, beady, highminded, 
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 
2 Tim. 3 : 1-4. 
Is not this a faithful picture of the sad 
moral declension seen in too many professors 
of to—day ? Surely here is ground for con-
version. To modern Israel God says to-day, 
as he once said to ancient Israel, " 0 Israel, 
return unto the Lord thy God ; for thou hast 
fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, 
and turn to the Lord : say unto him, take 
away all iniquity, and receive us graciously : 
so will we render the calves of our lips. I 
will heal their backsliding, I will love them 
freely." Hos. 14: 1-4. 
Yes, backsliders can be re—converted and 
132 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
restored to the love and favor of God, if they 
will be earnest and thorough in returning 
unto God. The case of David is left on record 
as an encouragement for such. When David 
had shamefully backslidden in breaking God's 
law, after being deemed worthy of the appel-
lation, " a man after His [ God's ] own heart " 
( 1 Sam. 13 : 14 ), he heartily confessed his 
sin to God, feeling keenly for having sinned 
against him. Ps. 51. His sin was ever 
before him. Verse 3. He did not pass over 
it lightly. His suffering was so intense 
under the stroke of God's reproof, that he com-
pared it to the great pain resulting from having 
bones broken. Verse 8. 
He then humbly besought God to wash 
him thoroughly from his iniquity, and cleanse 
him from his sin. He continued : " Purge 
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash 
me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make 
me to hear joy and gladness ; that the bones 
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide 
thy face from my sins, and blot out all 
mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, 
O God ; and renew a right spirit within me. 
Cast me not away from thy presence ; and 
take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore 
unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold 
me with thy free Spirit. Then will I teach 
transgressors thy ways ; and sinners shall be 
converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood-
guiltiness, 0 God, thou God of my salvation : 
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy right-
eousness. 0 Lord, open thou my lips ; and my 
mouth shall show forth thy praise." Verses 7- 
15. �
He again presents to God his heart-felt 
repentance ; " a broken and a contrite heart, 
0 God, thou wilt not despise." 
God forgave and accepted him ( 2 Sam. 12 : 
13 ), and his future course envinced genuine 
re-conversion. �D. T. BOURDEAU. 
(To be continued.) 
• •4111. • II 
SPIRITUAL DARKNESS. 
(Concluded.) 
THE HEATHEN. 
WHY do we find the heathen in such gross 
darkness ? Does God wish them to be in this 
condition, while other nations are enjoying 
the light of his truth ? What is the cause of 
their ignorance of the true principles of Chris-
tianity ? Let the apostle Paul speak on this 
subject. " Having the understanding dark-
ened, being alienated from the life of God 
through the ignorance that is in them, because 
of the hardness [margin] of their heart : 
who being past feeling have given themselves 
over unto lasciviousness, to work all unclean-
ness with greediness." Eph. 4 : 18, 19. The 
apostle says they became alienated by their 
ignorance. What caused their ignorance ? 
Some would say that their ignorance caused 
them to sin, but we think it was their sin that 
caused their ignorance. We think the Script-
ures teach this in Rom. 1: 28. " And even 
as they did not like to acknowledge God, God 
gave them over to a mind void of judgment, to 
do those things which are not convenient." 
See margin. The reason why they became so 
ignorant is because they would not acknowl-
edge God. They sinned against him know-
ingly, and thus brought his judgments against 
them. The Lord withdrew his Spirit from them 
and their minds were left void of judgment? 
0, what a sad thing it is for man to refuse to 
acknowledge the God of heaven ! The Lord 
gives men his truth, and his Spirit to assist 
them in understanding that truth. If we 
drive away his Spirit by our disobedience, our 
minds will soon become darkened, and like 
those in the 'heathen world, we cannot see any 
beauty in the word of God, but come to con-
clusions as void of judgment as they do, when 
they bow down to gods of wood and stone. 
If their sins have brought them into such a 
deplorable state of ignorance, may we not 
learn a lesson from them, and avoid the first 
downward step by walking in the light of 
truth that shines on our pathway ? 
THE GOSPEL HID. 
But says one, does not the Bible teach that 
the gospel is hid from some, and they cannot 
understand it ? Such persons generally think 
they are of this class. They try to avoid the 
plain truths of God's word by saying it is hid 
from their eyes, and they cannot see it, hence 
they are not responsible for not obeying the 
truth presented before them. But let us look 
at the text that is supposed to teach their 
theory. " But if our gospel be hid, it is hid 
to them that are lost." 2 Cor. 4 : 3. If we 
read the next verse, we will find how it is hid. 
In whom the god of this world hath blinded 
the minds of them which believe not, lest the 
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is 
the image of God, should shine unto them." 
The things of this world have such a strong 
hold upon them, that they cannot give them 
up. �
They see the truth is very plain, yet how 
can they accept it and lose their position in 
life ? They cannot have both. They want 
to be saved, yet like the young man (Matt. 
19 : 22), they wish to be saved and have the 
world also. Presently the god of this world 
makes them believe they need not be so par-
ticular, and thus they become blinded. The 
gospel is hid from them; their judgment be-
comes void, and they think they are all right. 
When the claims of the fourth command-
ment have been presented to people who have 
been conscientiously observing the first day of 
the week as the Sabbath, how plain they seem 
at first. They wonder why they never saw 
it before. They wish the whole world would 
see it and change to the right day. But after 
considering the matter, they see it will inter-
fere with their business affairs. The man in 
the shop sees that it will take the best day in 
the week from him, if he obeys what he 
knows to be God's truth. The mechanic fears 
he will lose his place, and he cannot see how 
he will support his family and obey God. The 
builder does'nt see how he can obey the truth 
and carry on his business. After dwelling 
upon these thoughts for some time they begin 
to think that God is so merciful that he will 
save them if they do not do just as he says, 
when it is so inconvenient. They soon begin 
to think it makes no difference which day 
they observe, although the Bible plainly says 
the seventh day is the day God has appointed 
to be observed. Then the world gets so round 
they cannot observe any day, and time is lost 
so they cannot tell which day is the Sabbath. 
What is the trouble with these persons ? The 
god of this world is blinding their eyes. Their 
business comes between them and the God of 
heaven, and they turn against the light of 
truth, because it is inconvenient. The same 
principle is true of every truth that has been 
presented before the world. The rejection of 
it has brought darkness, for " he that walketh 
in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." 
How many of the readers of the PRESENT 
TRUTH have seen light in the articles on the 
Sabbath question ? Have not the evidences 
produced been so plain that you dare not deny 
that it is truth ? Have you thought you 
should obey, but have yielded to convenience ? 
Do you say you would like to keep all of God's 
commandments, but you do not see how you 
can and support your family? Ah ! be careful, 
my dear reader. The light is shining upon 
your pathway, and you may stand still until 
it passes by, and then you will be left in dark-
ness. " Walk in the light while ye have the 
light," says our Saviour. Trust in his prom-
ises and walk out by faith. Do not let Satan 
deceive you and make you think that God is 
not particular. God is merciful to those who 
obey him. " But the mercy of the Lord is 
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that 
fear him, and his righteousness unto children's 
children ; to such as keep his covenant, and 
to those that remember his commandments to 
do them." Ps. 103: 17, 18. God has not 
promised to be merciful to those who wilfully 
disobey him. 
May the Lord help you, my kind reader, to 
walk where you can have the blessing of God 
resting upon you. If his truth is unpopular 
and it costs all you have, yea, even life itself, 
step out and trust in Him who was able .to 
close the lion's mouths that they hurt not his 
servant Daniel. Remember those who stood 
at the stake and burned to ashes for the 
precious truth. Are you not willing to suffer 
something to have a part with them ? " Walk 
while ye have the light, lest darkness come 
upon you, for he that walketh in darkness 
knoweth not whither he goeth." 
J. H. DURLAND. 
• • It • 
BLOW YE THE TRUMPET. 
IN all past ages of the world's history, when 
God has brought great judgments upoD the 
people, he has not left them without warning 
as to what he was about to do. There are 
many instances of this on record. When 
God was about to inflict his judgments upon 
the antediluvians, the Sodomites, the Nin-
evites, the Jews before their final dispersion 
among all nations, he sent them due warning. 
The Lord has promised that he will not depart 
from this rule. Let us hearken unto this 
statement of the prophet. " Surely the Lord 
God will do nothing but he revealeth his 
secret to his servants the prophets." Amos 
3: 7. Yes, in all the evils that have been 
irfflicted upon men,God has always warned 
them. And none o the evils or judgments of 
the past have equalled those that are to come 
in the great day of his wrath. " Howl ye ; 
for the day of the Lord is at hand ; it shall 
come as a destruction from the Almighty." 
Isa. 13 : 6-9. " The great day of the Lord 
is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even 
the voice of the day of the Lord : the mighty 
man shall cry there bitterly." See Zeph. 1 : 14- 
18. �
" For the great day of his wrath is come ; 
and who shall be able to stand ? " Rev. 6 : 17. 
Then according to the prophecies above, 
according to all God's past dealings with man-
kind, is it not just and right to expect that he 
will send a warning message ? 
Hearken to the voice of the prophet. " Blow 
ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm 
in my holy mountain : let all the inhabitants 
of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord 
cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2 : 1. 
This signifies that at the time when the day 
of the Lord is near, the trumpet will be 
blown, the alarm will be given. The people 
of God who live at that time are the agents 
by whom the warning is given ; for the com-
mand is to them, " Blow ye the trumpet in 
Zion," etc. 
These promised warnings are more fully 
given in Rev. 14: 6-14. This three-fold 
warning message must go to the inhabitants 
of the earth when the Lord is about to come. 
The Lord still lives and is fulfilling his prom-
ises. The Spirit of God is moving upon 
hearts who are fulfilling these predictions, 
and understand the work he has called them 
to do. By the aid of his Spirit, they will fulfill 
their mission. The trumpet of the final warn-
ing is being sounded. There will be a people 
called out who, instead of worshiping the 
beast and his image, will " keep the com-
mandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 
" The lion hath roared, who will not fear ? " 
The Lord God hath spoken in prophecy, who 
will not hearken ? �
H. JUDD. 
SELECTIONS, 
"The law of the wise is a fountain of life."—Prov. 13: 14. 
TRUE LIVINC! 
HE liveth long who liveth well ; 
All else is life but flung away. 
He liveth longest who can tell 
Of true things truly done each day. 
Then fill each hour with what will last; 
Buy up the moments as they go. 
The life above when this is past 
Is the ripe fruit of life below. 
—H. Bonar. 
KIRWAN'S LETTERS TO ARCHBISHOP HUGHES. 
MY DEAR Sul,.—Agreeably to the promise 
made to you in my last letter, I now com-
mence a statement of the reasons which, on 
the most mature reflection, yet prevent me 
from returning to the pale of your church. 
I wish to avoid prolixity of statement, and 
minuteness of detail ; as I feel that I am 
addressing one who can see the point, and 
weigh the force of an argument, without either. 
When, in the kind providence of God, my 
mind became interested to know what God 
would have me to do, I cast around for a true 
guide to the solution of the question. Where 
could I find such a one ? Books are written 
by fallible men—priests had already imposed 
on my understanding—fond parents, deceived 
themselves, taught me superstition for religion 
—all men are liable to err. I felt there was 
a God, and that I was bound to obey him ; 
but where is the rule of my obedience ? This 
was the question. I was told of the Bible, 
but of that I knew nothing ; and, then, I knew 
the Bible to be by your church a prohibited 
book, or to be read only by priestly permission. 
I sought the Bible and read it. I found it to be 
the true, and only guide to the right solution 
of the question its to what God would have 
me to do. And without the fear of the Pope, 
or of the anathemas of the Council of Trent, 
and without a line of license from prelate or 
priest, I have continued to read it for years. 
And the virtual prohibition of the unfettered 
reading of the Bible by your church, is one of 
the main reasons why I cannot return to it. 
That your restrictions amount to a virtual pro-
hibition, your candor will not deny. 
And let me ask you, dear sir, why this 
virtual prohibition ? Who has given you 
authority to say that I must not read what 
God has given to direct me into all the ways 
of faith and obedience? God has commanded 
me to " Search the Scriptures ; " who has 
given you authority to forbid me ? What 
right have you to forbid me, more than I have 
to forbid you ? Produce your credentials ! 
Where does God place his Revealed Will in 
the keeping of pope, prelate, or priest, to be 
doled out to his erring children in such ways 
and parcels as they may deem best? He has 
no more placed the Bible under your control, 
or that of your church, than he has the sun 
in heaven, or the vital air. Nor can I conceive 
of any principle that can possibly induce you 
to withhold it from the people, without gloss 
or comment, save one : " Every one that 
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to 
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." 
It is said that Herod, when convinced that he 
was not of the royal line of the Jews, burned 
their genealogies and records, that his false 
pretences might not be confuted by them. 
Is it for a similar reason that your church 
withholds the Bible from the people ? The 
Bible lays the axe at the root of the Upas tree of 
Popery; is this the reason why it is withheld? 
MANNER OF WORSHIP. 
Another of the reasons which prevent me 
from returning to your church is the way and 
JANUARY, 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
133 
the manner of your public worship of God. 
On reading the New Testament, I find that 
Jesus Christ embraced every opportunity of 
declaring the will of God. After his ascension 
and the descent of the Spirit, the apostles went 
every-where preaching the gospel of the king-
dom. The worship of God as taught us in the 
New Testament, consists in prayer, praise, 
and the preaching of his word for the instruc-
tion and edification of his people. To the in-
struction and edification of the saints every 
thing in the church of Christ is made subserv-
ient. Is it so in the church of Rome ? Do 
your Masses convey any instruction to the 
common or the uncommon mind ? Do they 
ever give, have they ever given, one true idea 
of God, or of religion, to a human soul ? If so 
I should like to know it. May not individuals 
attend upon them from youth to gray hairs, 
and yet know,not the first principles of the doc-
trines of Christ 2 I have attended recently, sir, 
a High Mass at one of your cathedrals. It 
was on the last Christmas day. I bore the 
unmeaning pageant for three hours together. 
There was the bishop in his robes, with 
his cap, his crook and his crosier—there were 
priests in number moving about, making their 
crosses, obeisances, and genuflexions—when 
the bishop rose,' the cross and crosier moved 
before him, and the priests, as waiters, went 
behind him—the book was shifted from side 
to side, and was read and chanted in ways 
that no mortal hearer could comprehend—
there was the raising of the Host, and the 
bowing down of the people—the incense, and 
all the other usual accompaniments of such 
a service : and it struck me as one of the most 
farcical pantomimes that I ever witnessed. 
I left the house without receiving a soli-
tary religious suggestion, and puzzled and con- 
founded for a solution to the question, how 
could intelligent men possibly submit to act 
such a farce, and to pass it off upon a crowd 
of poor looking people for the solemn worship 
of God? And if your Mass, when thus per- 
formed with all the splendor and pomp of your 
ritual, is thus unmeaning, how insipid must 
it be when performed in your country chapels 
by ignorant priests, who hunt up their sheep 
only to shear off their wool ! God, my dear sir, 
is an intelligent God, he has given me intelli- 
gence with which to worship him. For the 
intelligence within me, either as to its increase 
or exercise, your church makes no provision in 
its public worship. I must not, then, return to 
your church, and seek to have my soul, made 
for the inhabitation of the Spirit, satisfied 
with the mummery of your muttered Masses, 
in the public worship of my God. 
Another of the reasons which prevent me 
from returning to your church is the burdens 
which it places on my conscience, which 
crush without correcting it. It institutes a 
kind of a ceremonial law which restricts where 
God has given liberty ; and which • licenses 
where God has prohibited indulgence. With 
your fast and feast days, who can keep up with-
out an almanac in his hand ? And how many 
of your people can read it ? Should I blunder 
in counting the days of the week, and mistak-
ing Friday for Thursday, eat meat, my con-
science is wounded. If in performing pen-
ance I miscount my beads, and say a less 
number of Pater Nosters than required, my 
conscience again suffers �
 And these 
are but specimens of the thousand and one 
ceremonial regulations of your church, as 
burdensome as they are unmeaning, which 
fret and crush the conscience without direct-
ing or strengthening it. And whilst thus re-
stricted jin things indifferent, I am frrely in-
dulged in things which the divine law pro-
hibits. 
Now, sir, who has given you authority to 
make laws where God has made none? Where 
is the law in the Statute Book for your Lents, 
your feast days, your fast days, your Easter 
days ? . . . . . And why burden souls and 
fetter consciences by silly enactments about 
things in themselves indifferent, and about 
which God has made no regulations ? 0, sir, 
like the Scribes and the Pharisees of old, you 
are busied about the mint, the anise, and the 
cummin, forgetful of the weightier matters 
of the law. And I deeply regret that a man 
who has forced himself up to station and influ-
ence against so many adverse circumstances, 
had not force enough left to break the chains of 
early religious prejudice, to rise up to the 
regions of intellectual, and moral, and religious 
freedom ? You are too much of a man to stoop 
to such nonsense. I would leave such things 
to those who know no better. 
On these subjects, dear sir, your church 
must return to the standard of the Bible, and 
of common sense, before I can return to it. 
OBSTRUCTIONS. 
Another of the reasons which prevent my 
return is the obstructions which your church 
raises between me and my God. My Bible, 
that hated book by pope,prelate, priest and 
papal peasant, teaches me that if any man sin 
he has an Advocate with the Father—Jesus 
Christ. It everywhere teaches me, that I 
may have free access to God through Jesus 
Christ, that if I sin, I may go for pardon 
directly to the throne of God, through the 
mediation of his Son. And this is a precious 
privilege ; a privilege which may be enjoyed 
by all, " withdut money and without price." 
Now what do you ask of me to do in order to 
receive the forgiveness of sin, and to be restored 
to the favor of God ? You send me to Peter 
or Paul, or some other saint on the catalogue, 
who may have never known me, and who 
may never hear me if I pray unto them. 
Or you send me to Mary, whom you blasphe-
mously call the Mother of God, to ask her to 
intercede for me. Nor will this suffice. I 
must go to your Confessional, and tell you all 
my sins ; incurring the fearful penalty of re-
fusal of pardon if I withhold one. Thus you 
take from me the privilege of going to God for 
myself, a privilege purchased for me by the 
death of Christ. You tell me I must go to 
the priest and from the priest to the saint, or 
to the Virgin ; and the saint or Virgin will go for 
me to the Saviour ; and he will go for me to 
the Father. And then when pardon is granted, 
it goes from the Father to the Son—from him 
to the saint or Virgin—from him or her to the 
priest ; and when in the hands of the priest, he 
will give me absolution, if I pay for it ! Will 
you say, dare you say, that this is a carica- • 
ture of your teachings upon this matter ? 
Would to God you could with truth ! Why 
send me to the saints to ask them to intercede 
for me, if this is untrue ? That I am a sinner • 
I know and feel. That there is pardon 
for me through the atonement of Jesus 
Christ, on my repentance and faith, is a 
precious doctrine of the Bible, and of my creed. 
That pardon I receive the moment I sincerely 
exercise the graces of repentance and faith 
—yes, and not a whit the less freely, if all of 
you, pope, patriarchs, prelates, and priests, 
were with Pharaoh and his chariots. 
And why turn me away from the door of 
mercy, and compel me to speak to my heavenly 
Father by proxy? Why call me away from 
the cross, and send me to a priest, or a saint, 
or a virgin, to ask them to do for me what I 
can better do for myself ? Where has my 
Saviour taught me that I- can only address 
him through a priestly attorney, that I must 
fee, however poor, for his services ? 0, ask 
me to do any thing—to bale the ocean—to 
tame the hurricane—to arrest the sun—rather 
than ask me to return to your church, 
until every thing is removed which forbids 
the free access of my soul to my God,—which 
suspends my salvation on any thing else than 
134 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
repentance towards .God, and faith in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. You must pull down your 
toll-gates on the way of life, before you see 
me back. 
The statement of a few additional reasons 
I hope to give you in my next. 
With great respect, yours, 
KIRWAN. 
11011MIL �
 
EMPERANCE, 
" Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, er whatsoever ye do, do all to 
the glory of God."-1 Cor. 10: 81. 
DR. DODD'S SERMON ON MALT. 
DR. Donn was a minister who lived many 
years ago, a few miles from Cambridge ; and 
having several times been preaching against 
drunkenness, some of the Cambridge scholars 
(conscience, which is sharper than ten thou-
sand witnesses, being their monitor) were 
very much offended, and thought he made 
reflections on them. 
Some little time after, Dr. Dodd was walk-
ing toward Cambridge, and met some of the 
gownsmen, who, as soon as they saw him at 
a distance, resolved to make some ridicule of 
him. As soon as he came up, they accosted 
him with, " Your servants, sir ! " He replied, 
" Your servant, gentlemen ! " They asked 
him if he had not been preaching very much 
against drunkenness of late. He answered 
in the affirmative. They then told him they 
had a favor to beg of him, and it was that 
he would preach a •sermon to them there, 
from a text that they should choose. He 
argued that it was an imposition, for a man 
ought to have some consideration before 
preaching. They said they would not put up 
with a denial, and insisted upon his preach-
ing immediately (in a hollow tree which stood 
by the road-side) from the word M A L T. 
He then began, "Beloved, let me crave your 
attention. I am a little man—come at a 
short notice—to preach a short sermon—from 
a short text—to a thin congregation—in an 
unworthy pulpit. Beloved, my text is Malt. 
I cannot divide it into sentences, there being 
none ; nor into words, there being but one ; 
I must therefore, of necessity, divide it into 
letters, which (I find in my text to be these 
four, MALT. 
" M—is Moral. 
A—is Allegorical. 
L—is Literal. 
T—is Theological. 
" The Moral is, to teach you rustics good 
manners ; therefore, M—My masters, A—All 
of you, L—Leave off, T—Tippling. 
" The Allegorical is, when one thing is 
spoken of and another meant. The thing 
spoken of is Malt. The thing meant is the 
spirit of Malt, which you rustics make, M—
your Meat, A—your Apparel, L—your Lib-
erty, and T—your Trust. 
" The Literal is, 'according to the letters, 
M—Much, A—Ale, L—Little, T—Trust. 
" The Theological is, according to the 
effect it works, in some, M—Murder ; in 
others, A—Adultery ; in all, L—Looseness 
of life; and in many, T—Treachery. 
" I shall now conclude the subject, First, 
by way of exhortation : M—My masters, A—
All of you, L—Listen, T—To my text. 
Second, by way of caution : M—My masters, 
A—All of you, L—Look for, T—The truth. 
Third, by way of communicating the truth, 
which is this : A drunkard is the annoyance 
of modesty, the spoil of civility, the de-
struction of reason, the robber's agent, the 
alehouse's benefactor, his wife's sorrow, his 
children's trouble, his own shame, his neigh-
bor's scoff, a walking swill-bowl, the picture 
of a beast, the monster of a man ! "—Sel. 
E21'RESIDE PEADINGS. 
" Whatsoever things are tree, whatsoever things are honest, what-
soever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any 
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."—Phil. 4 : 8. 
MOTHER'S WORK. 
BAKING, stewing, and brewing, 
Roasting, frying, and boiling, 
Sweeping, dusting, and cleaning, 
Washing, starching, and ir'ning, 
Ripping, turning, and mending, 
Cutting, tacking, and stitching. 
Making the old like new : 
Shoestrings to lace, 
Faces to wash, 
Buttons to sew, 
And the like of such ; 
Stockings to darn 
While the children play, 
Stories to tell, 
Tears wipe away, 
Making them happy 
The livelong day 
It is ever thus from morn till night : 
Who says that a mother's wqrk is light ? 
At evening, four 
Little forms in white : 
Prayers all said, 
And the last good night, 
Tucking them safe 
In each downy bed, 
Silently asking 
O'er each head, 
That the dear Father 
In heaven will keep 
Safe all my darlings, 
Awake or asleep. 
Then I think the old adage true ever will prove : 
" It is easy to labor for those that we love." 
Ah me dear me I I often say, 
As I hang the tumbled clothes away ; 
And the tear drops start 
While my burdened heart 
Aches for the mother across the way. 
Where, oh, where are 
Her nestlings flown ? 
All, all are gone, 
Save one alone ! 
Folded their garments 
With tenderest care. 
Unpressed the pillow 
And vacant the chair. 
No ribbons to tie, 
No faces to wash, 
No hair all awry; 
No merry voices 
To hush into rest ; 
God save them ! 
He took them, 
And he knoweth best ; 
But, ah the heart anguish ! the tears that fall ! 
This mother's work is the hardest of all ! 
—Philadelphia Sunday Republic. 
MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE. 
A NEW YEAR'S STORY. 
" I WONDER what I shall get for a New 
Year's gift ? " said Ellen Grant, on the day 
before New Year's. 
" I'll tell you what I'd like to have," said 
little Mary. " I'd like to have one of the 
biggest wax dolls that could be found. As 
big as a real baby, and a great deal bigger, too. 
Wouldn't you, sister ?" 
" No ; but I'd like to have—let me see 
what I would like to have ; " and Ellen sat 
and thought for a few moments. " Yes I'd 
like to have a shawl just like Aunt Mary's." 
" And I'd like to have a pony," spoke up 
Harry. " Oh ! I wish father would buy 
me a pony for a New Year's gift." 
Thus the children talked, first wishing for 
one thing and then for another, while Aunt 
Prudence sat knitting and listening to what 
they said. At last little bright-eyed Mary, 
the merry pet of the house, came and lean-
ing her arms on the knees of Aunt Prudence, 
looked up into her face, and said :— 
" What are you going to give me for a 
New Year's gift, Aunt Prudence? " 
" A kiss, dear," replied Aunt Prudence, 
" wont that do ? " 
"I want something besides a kiss. I get 
kisses every day." 
" Oh, yes, and what are you going to give 
me ? " spoke up Ellen. 
" And me, Aunty ? " said Harry. 
" Wait until to-morrow, and we'll see. 
But I don't hear anything about what you are 
to give, only about what you expect to receive. 
Now, ain't that a little selfish ? I am sure 
you might make somebody a present of some-
thing, and then be made to feel how true the 
words are, that it is more blessed to give than to 
receive. What do you say children ? You've 
got a good many shillings in your money-boxes, 
and can make New Year's presents as well 
as anybody else." 
" Sure enough ! " exclaimed Ellen, " so we 
can. I never thought of that. I have got 
eight shillings in my money-box. What shall 
I buy ? Mother shall have a present, and so 
shall father." 
" Can't you think of somebody," replied 
the Aunt, "to whom you might make a New 
Year's present that would be useful? There 
are many people who have not the com-
forts of life, much less its luxuries. There 
are hundreds of poor children who never think 
of toys, and for whom New Year's day comes 
and goes without bringing a present of any 
kind. 
Not far from where Mr. Grant, the father 
of these children, resided, lived a poor man 
named Barker, who from sickness, had not 
been able to do any work for many months. 
He had four children. The two oldest, Wil-
liam and Jane, were only ten and twelve years 
of age ; and Hetty and Philip were much 
younger. Since her father's sickness, Jane 
had got herself a place in a family to look 
after some children, for which she received 
four shillings a week. This, with about eight 
shillings a week which the mother earned 
by sewing, was all the family had to live upon. 
New Year's day came with a sober face to 
the inmates of poor Mr. Barker's comfortless 
home. The children looked for no presents, 
for even a full supply of nourishing food was 
lacking, and their clothing was now worn 
almost into tatters. 
For breakfast they had some milk and 
water and a dish of fried potatoes. Hunger 
made these sweet to the taste, and they ate 
with a keen relish. After the table was cleared 
away, and the room swept up, Mrs. Barker 
sat down at her sewing—there was no holiday 
for her—and Mr. Barker took a book, as he 
lay on his bed, and gave each of the children 
a lesson. 
" I wish they would let Jane come home to-
day," he said, after he had given the lessons. 
" It is New Year's, and they might give the 
poor child a few hours' holiday." 
As he finished speaking, the door opened, 
and Jane came in. The smiles that half 
awoke upon the father's lips died away as he 
saw that tears were in the eyes and glistened 
upon the cheeks of his child. 
" Jane, dear," said he, tenderly, " what is 
the matter ?" as the child came hastily across 
the room, the moment she closed the door, 
and, sinking down upon a chair by the bed, hid 
her face among the clothes and sobbed. 
Mrs. Barker threw aside her work, and 
came and laid her hand gently on the neck 
of her daughter, repeating what the father 
had said, with yet a more earnest and tender 
expression :— 
" Jane, dear, what is the matter ? " 
But it was some time before Jane could find 
voice to express her grief. At last, putting 
her hand in her pocket, she took out four shil-
lings her last week's wages, and, handing it to 
her mother, said in broken accents :— 
" They've sent me home, mother." 
JANUARY, 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
135 
" Why, dear ? " asked Mrs. Barker. 
" Because my clothes are so poor, and my 
boots are all worn out so, they say I'm not 
fit to be seen in a decent body's house." 
And the child wept and sobbed again. 
Poor Mr. Barker caught his breath several 
times, like a person who strives to conceal the 
emotion that nearly overmasters him ; and 
Mrs. Barker, unable to contain her feelings, 
laid her head down upon Jane's shoulder to 
hide her tears. 
At last Mrs. Barker, feeling that such weak-
ness on her part was not right, raised herself up 
and said, with a voice as steady as she could 
command :— 
" Don't take it so to heart, Jane. We will 
buy you a pair of boots with this money, and 
I will alter you one of my old frocks to-day, 
so that you can go back to-morrow looking 
quite smart," 
" But you need the money, mother, in the 
family," replied Jane looking up and drying 
her tears. " It won't do for me to spend it 
all for a pair of boots." 
" You must have boots, you know, my 
child. These you have are all worn out. We 
can't expect people to keep you if you have 
not decent clothes. So we will buy the boots, 
and trust that Providence will help us to get 
along. If we use the money in the family this 
week, you cannot earn us anything next week, 
nor, perhaps, at all; but if we buy the 
boots, and you go back, you will bring us 
home four shillings next week, and so on week, 
after week. It is, therefore, best for us 
that you should have the boots. Don't you 
think so ? " 
And Mrs. Barker turned to her husband. 
" I do certainly," he replied. 
And so it was determined that the boots 
should be bought, and that Jane should see 
about the house and cook their frugal dinner, 
while the mother altered one of her old frocks 
to fit her. 
The frock was brought down from a closet 
up-stairs, turned over and over by Mrs. Barker, 
and examined in every part, before she put 
the scissors into it. It was very thin in many 
places and worn clear through in others. 
" It isn't worth the labor of making over," 
she at length said, letting it fall in her lap. 
" I am sure it won't hold together two weeks." 
Just as she said this, some one knocked at 
the door, and William ran and opened it. A 
colored man stepped in and putting down a 
large hamper on the floor said :— 
"I was told to leave this here," and he 
turned and went out before any one could ask 
him a question. 
" What does this mean ? " asked. Mr. Barker, 
raising himself from the bed. " There must 
be some mistake." 
" We will soon see," replied his wife, laying 
aside her work and taking hold of the hamper 
which proved to be heavy. It was covered 
with a newspaper, which, on removal, showed 
a package neatly done up, marked, " New 
Year's gift for Jane." 
Jane, to whom it was handed, hurriedly 
broke the string, and out fell a pair of strong 
leather boots very little worn, two pairs of 
stockings,—but there was still something else 
in the package, which, upon examination, 
proved to be a handsome print frock. 
While Jane was examining the contents 
of her package, the mother was going deeper 
into the hamper. The next thing taken out 
was a pair of India rubber shoes, a package 
of sugar, one of tea, another of coffee, and 
another containing six or seven pounds of 
rice, each marked, " A New Year's gift for 
Mrs. Barker." Then there was a very good 
jacket and a pair of trowsers for William, and 
shoes and stockings for Philip and Hetty ; 
and last, a paper of sweet Malaga grapes, 
marked, " For Mr. Barker," and as much 
New Year's cake as could be crowded into 
the hamper between the other things. 
Surprised, bewildered, yet happy even to 
tears, was that poor family on that long-
remembered New Year's morning. 
" Where are they all from mother ? " asked 
Mr. Barker, as soon as he could speak, after 
the excitement of the first surprise was over. 
Heaven only knows," replied Mrs. Barker. 
" They are sent from above." 
" And to God we are thankful," said the sick 
man, lifting his eyes upward. " He that 
feedeth the ravens will not suffer us to want." 
" I know where they came from !" ex- 
claimed Jane, breaking in upon her father's 
expression of thankfulness and holding up the 
frock she had received at the moment she 
stood so much in need of one. " This is 
Ellen Grant's dress ; I remember it very well. 
She wore it the day I went there, a few weeks 
ago." 
" And this is Harry Grant's jacket," said 
Willie. 
" Are you sure " asked Mrs. Barker. 
" Oh, yes I know it right well. I've seen 
him wear it many a time." 
" Bless the children ! " ejaculated Mr. 
Barker, whose mind had a strong suspicion 
of the truth. " If it is their presents—if they 
have remembered us in their happiness—may 
Heaven reward them a hundred-fold." 
. Jane tried on her frock and shoes and they 
fitted her as well as if they had been made 
for her. She staid at home a couple of hours 
and then went back to her place, looking so 
much smarter than when she went away, that 
the lady said :—L- 
" You should have worn those clothes 
before." 
" But I didn't have them," replied Jane. 
" Where did they come from? " asked the 
lady. 
Thus questioned, Jane related, in the most 
artless yet touching manner, the distress of 
her father and mother when she went home ; 
and then told of the timely relief that came 
from friends unknown. 
We cannot stop to tell of all the beautiful 
presents that Ellen Grant, and Mary, and 
Harry received on New Year's day. Papa 
and mamma had not forgotten them. Nor 
had papa and mamma been forgotten by the 
children, who under the direction of Aunt 
Prudence, had laid out all the money in their 
money-boxes in order to buy presents ; and 
in bestowing them they did indeed prove it to 
be true that " it is more blessed to give than 
to receive." 
Evening had come—the evening of New 
Year's day—and all the children were in the 
parlor with papa, and mamma, and Aunt 
Prudence, when a servant brought in a note 
directed to Mr. and Mrs. Grant. On breaking 
the seal, Mr. Grant read aloud:— 
" To MR. AND MRS. GRANT.—For your generous 
kindness to us this day, our hearts are full of gratitude. 
Your presents came m a moment of great need, when 
we knew not which way to turn, and fully supplied that 
need. Jane was sent home from her place this morn-
ing because her boots were worn out, and her clothes 
not decent for her to be seen in a respectable family. 
The frock and boots just fit her, and she went back 
with a. light heart. Comfortable boots and warm 
stockings were needed by the children above all things. 
You have supplied them, and may Heaven reward you 
a hundred and a hundred-fold. Forgive this expres-
sion of our gratitude ; but I felt that I could not sleep 
to-night without letting you know the real good you 
have done, and the warmth of our thankfulness. 
MARY BARKER." 
" What does all this mean ? " asked Mr. 
Grant. " Do you understand it, mother ? " 
" Not a word of it," replied Mrs. Grant, 
with a look of surprise. " There is some 
mistake. We are receiving thanks for bene-
fits conferred by others. It is good to re-
member the poor ; but we have forgotten 
them this day. That touching letter of Mrs. 
Barker's rebukes me deeply." 
" Why, what's the matter, Ellen ? and 
Harry? and Mary ? What ails you children ? " 
asked Mr. Grant, looking from face to face of 
the little ones, and being unable to compre-
hend the expression that rested upon each. 
" Let me explain," said Aunt Prudence. 
And she told how the children had spent their 
money in buying things, for a New Year's 
present to the family of poor Mr. Barker, and 
how they had sent clothing, also, that she 
had picked out from such as they had out-
grown or thrown aside. But how Mrs. 
Barker knew where they came from was more 
than she could tell. 
" And my children have done this ! " said 
Mr. Grant, with much emotion, *drawing them 
to his side, and pressing his lips tightly upon 
their pure young foreheads. " How happy 
they have made me And they, too, are happy 
—happier in thus giving than they ever were 
in receiving."—T. S. Arthur. 
PRINCESSES PEELING POTATOES. 
AN incident in the early life of the Grand 
Duchess Marie has been narrated in the 
German papers, in illustration of the great 
simplicity of manners which used to charac-
terize the Russian and Prussian Courts. Her 
parents, Czar Nicholas and Empress Alex-
andra, used annually to visit the Prussian 
King, taking their children with them. On 
one occasion, while they were at Potsdam, 
the autumn manoeuvres were going on in the 
neighborhood, and the whole party went out 
to see the soldiers. The latter were at the 
time preparing dinner. The two young grand 
duchesses, Marie and Olga, went up to a 
group of soldiers who were peeling potatoes, 
and admired the skill with which they per-
formed the operation. " Can you do that, 
children ? " asked the King. They had never 
tried. " How, not yet tried ? The sooner 
the better. No one can be a clever house-
wife without learning to peel potatoes. Let 
us see how you could do it," 
The two princesses at once knelt before the 
fire, received a couple of knives, and began 
their task, the King, the Czar, the Empress, 
Prince William of Prussia, and the Prince 
Alexander all standing round. A Pomera-
nian, who had given up his knife, soon in-
terrupted : " But, young ladies, you must not 
cut so deep. You cut away most of the potato, 
and we shall have nothing left to eat. Do all 
Russians cut potatoes in that way?" "Right, 
Ahlmann," said the King—he had before 
spoken to the man, and never forgot a soldier's 
name—" teach them to do it in the Prussian 
way." Ahlmann, accordingly, showed them 
how to hold the potato and how to hold the 
knife, and exactly how much ought to be 
taken off ; " and soon," the story goes, " the 
potato skins really fell more delicately from 
the delicate hands of the princesses."—Good 
Cheer. 
LIKE flashes of snow that fall unperceived 
on the earth, the seemingly unimportant 
events of life succeed one another. As the 
snow gathers together so are our habits formed. 
No single flake that is added to the pile pro-
duces a sensible change ; no single action 
creates, however it may exhibit, a man's 
character.—feremy Taylor. 
WE must not hope to be mowers 
• 
And gather the ripe gold ears, 
Until we have first been sowers, 
And watered the furrows with tears. 
It is not just as we take it— 
This mystical world of ours : 
Life's field will yield as we make it, 
A harvest of thorns or flowers. 
—Alice Cary. 
136 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
THE PRESENT TRUTH. 
" And be Established in the Present Truth." 
GREAT GRIMSBY, JANUARY, 1885. 
M. 0. WILCOX, �
 RESIDENT EDITOR. 
B. L. WHITNEY, . . . ASSOCIATE EDITOR. 
Corresponding Editors:- 
3. H. WAGGONER, U. SMITH, GEO. I. BUTLER. 
" HAPPY NEW YEAR." 
THE old year of 1884 is in the past. It has been 
a year of joy and gladness to some, of sorrow and 
misery to others. Disease, pestilence, war, and 
intemperance have claimed their full share of those 
who have gone down to the silent land. Oppression 
and depression have pinched the faces and made 
bare the dwellings of the poor. Many others are 
suffering and discouraged because of the cares, the 
burdens, the perplexities, and all the sad conse-
quences of sin. But nearly all are hoping for 
something better—for better years and better days 
to come. And to those who long for that better 
time, we would say that your hope may be realized 
in a gladder fruition than it is possible for you now 
to conceive. Not, perhaps, in temporal good, not 
in freedom from care, anxiety, earthly suffering and 
loss; for all these are the common lot of fallen 
humanity. But if you will seek with humble sub-
mission of heart to God, repentance, confession, 
and forsaking of sins, faithful obedience to all the 
requirements of the Father, and faith in his Son 
for cleansing and grace, to glorify Him, you will 
find that peace and happiness the world cannot 
give. And if faithful to the end, though you may 
suffer poverty and persecution here, you will enter 
upon the glad new year of eternity whose endless 
cycle will never roll into the realms of want or 
woe. In all things good and holy and pure, we 
wish our readers A HAPPY NEW YEAR. 
RIGHT PRINCIPLES. 
THERE are certain underlying principles and 
truths upon which the plan of salvation and God's 
dealings with man are based. These principles are 
plain and unequivocal. Interpreting the Bible in 
agreement with them, a divine and beautiful har-
mony pervades the whole. Ignoring them, one is 
left to drift and be blown about with " every wind 
of doctrine." Men's creeds have been begotten of 
their desires, and isolated texts of Scripture have 
been warped into service to sustain error. Honest 
and truth-loving people come in contact with some 
of these plausible theories and accept them with-
out a thorough examination. They soon meet 
with other "theories " and "views," which appear 
just as plausible, and not knowing the way to test 
them, become unsettled in faith and doctrine. 
Doubts as to the inspiration of the Bible, or parts 
of the Bible, next follow. 
And is not this one of the reasons why there are 
so many " reeds shaken by the wind " ? People 
are not educated in the principles of Bible truth—
the principles of Christianity. The fault does not 
lie in the inability of the .people to comprehend 
these principles ; for many of them talk volubly 
and intelligently in defense of some erroneous 
theory ten times as difficult to comprehend as the 
truth. The fault lies in their education, in the 
preaching of the present day. Were the people 
instructed in some of the simple foundation prin-
ciples—the main doctrines, the frame work. of 
religion,—the church would be able to withstand 
the last-day errors of the world's conversion, 
spiritualism, the age-to-come-ism, and the hundred 
and one theories concerning the restoration of the 
Jews. But these are pleasing doctrines to the 
unregenerate heart, and thousands are falling into 
line under the banner of soul-destroying error. All 
who are familiar with the mass of the people know 
that the above is strictly true. Many believe what 
they believe the Bible teaches, but can bring no 
proof for their positions which are in harmony 
with the principles of Divine government or com- 
mon justice. Men have become alarmed at the " dog-
matic " teaching of Roman Catholicism, and have 
swung to the other extreme—not that of Christian 
liberty, but beyond, to the domains of license. 
And the looseness of interpretation, the multitudes 
of beliefs and theories so dividing and distracting 
Christendom to-day, have resulted from the neglect 
to follow in the simple, plain, positive precepts of 
the word of God. 
Upon few subjects are there, perhaps, more erro-
neous ideas than that of the return of the Jews to 
Palestine, the restoration of their ancient rites and 
privileges, and the evangelization of the nations 
through them. We believe that in the Christian 
dispensation there are no especial blessings for the 
Jews as a nation, according to the flesh. Below 
are some of our reasons for believing as we do. 
1. The New Testament plainly states that all are 
on an equality in this dispensation. "There is 
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor 
free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are 
all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3 : 28 ; Col. 3 : 11. 
" The middle wall of partition " between Jews and 
Gentiles has been " broken down " by Christ, and 
all are one in him. Eph. 2: 13-15. 
2. That God regards men not by their nationality, 
but by their faith, is shown by the fact that 
righteousness was imputed to Abraham through 
his faith, while in um,circwm,cieion, "that he might 
be the father of all them that believe, though they 
be not circumcised." Rom. 4: 9-12. 
3. The term " Israel" is not applied to the seed 
of Jacob according to the flesh alone. " For he is 
not a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither is that 
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : but he 
is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision 
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the 
letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God." 
Rom. 2 : 28, 29. Verse 26 states that "if the uncir-
cumcision keep the righteousness of the law," his 
uncircumcision shall be counted for circumcision. 
Again, " For they are not all Israel, which are of 
Israel: neither, because they are the seed of 
Abraham, are they all children : but, In Isaac shall 
thy seed be called." Rom. 9 : 6, 7. Now notice 
the apostle's explanation of the above. " That is, 
They which are the children of the flesh, these are 
not the children of God : but the children of the 
promise are counted for the seed." Verse 8. 
4. The very origin of the name " Israel " would 
indicate that its primitive significance was a 
spiritual one. Jacob was the name according to 
the flesh, Israel was the name denoting character. 
It was given at the great crisis of Jacob's life. His 
strong pleading with faith prevailed with God. No 
longer is he Jacob, the supplanter, but Israel, the 
prince. Gen. 32 : 28. And all who by faith in 
Christ—the Seed—prevail with God are among the 
true Israel of God, whether they be Jew or Gen-
tile, bond or free, Ethiopian or Caucasian. After-
ward the names Jacob and Israel are used inter-
changeably, referring to both the houses of Israel. 
Thus all who accept of Christ by faith are adopted 
into the family of Israel. And mankind can become 
partakers of the promises in no other way. He 
must, if he becomes a child of God, and a member 
of the church of Christ, come in through Israel, 
and become one of Israel. Eph. 2 : 10-20. 
The foregoing are but a part of the evidence that 
might be adduced on the above position. It is 
plain and positive. It does not admit of opposite 
interpretations. The texts cited are inspired com-
mentaries on the promises of God to his people of 
all nations. It is to these plain, positive principles 
we must bring all other declarations. 
" But," says one, " what of the promises to 
Israel ? " We believe that all the promises to 
Israel in the word of God can be consistently har- 
monized with the above, unequivocal, emphatic 
statements of the apostle Paul in one of three ways. 
1. Many of the promises for the restoration of 
Israel were fulfilled to the literal Israel in the 
return from the Babylonian captivity. 
2. God's promises to Israel, his covenant with 
them, and his decrees concerning nations are con-
ditional, based on the moral course pursued by 
those to whom his promises are made, or concern-
ing whom his decrees are given. Ex. 19 : 5 ; Jer. 
17 : 7-10, et. eel. 
3. The ultimate and complete fulfillment of the 
prophecies respecting Israel and their inheritance 
will be realized only when the Prince of the house 
of David shall come to reign over a purified and 
redeemed earth, when all the Israel of God—those 
who have prevailed through faith in Christ, the 
SEED—shall be gathered out of all nations and 
kindreds and tongues and people. Then all Israel 
shall be saved. 
Our space and time forbid that we should pur-
sue the subject further at this writing; but we 
believe that here are principles laid down which 
will harmonize conflicting opinions, and help 
those who will follow them in the interpretation 
of the word of God upon this question, to avoid 
the dangerous and delusive errors so prevalent in 
the Christian world. 
SPIRITUALISM. 
(Concluded.) 
2. SPIRITUALISTS do not deny that their commu-
nications with so-called departed spirits are what 
is termed in the Bible, " enchantment," " sorcery," 
"necromancy," " divination," " consulting with 
familiar spirits," etc. Webster defines "necro-
mancy " to mean " the art of revealing future 
events by means of a pretended communication 
with the dead ; the art of magic ; conjuration ; 
enchantment." But every reader of the Bible 
knows that all these practices are denounced as 
"abominations," and are strictly forbidden in both 
the Old and New Testaments. See Dent. 18 : 9-12; 
Lev. 19 : 81; '2 Kings 21 : 2, 6, 9, 11 ; Rev. 21: 8 ; 
Gal. 5 : 19-21; Acts 16 : 16-18. Gesenius de-
scribes "sorcerers " as " those who profess to call 
up the dead;" and Webster says that a "familiar 
spirit is a demon or evil spirit, supposed to attend 
at a call." Those who embrace spiritualism are 
therefore obliged to give up the Bible. And such 
is invariably found to be true in its practical work-
ing. 
3. They deny the existence of God and blaspheme 
his name. We will not pain the ear of piety by 
quoting their fearful language, abundance of which 
might be given. An admission of the fact by one 
of their own number will be sufficient on this 
point. Joel Tiffany, a spiritualist lecturer and 
publisher, in his Monthly of June 1858, said : " My 
experience has been, go among spiritualists where 
you will, and as a general thing, they have no 
faith in a living, conscious, intelligent Deity." 
4. They deny Christ, declaring that any just and 
perfect being is Christ; that the story of the first 
advent is a fabulous tale, that the crucifixion of 
Christ is only the crucifixion of the spirit, and that 
all the second advent of Christ there is to be is the 
advent of spiritualism, as we now behold it. 
5. They deny all distinction between right and 
wrong. A. B. Childs says (Better Views of Living, 
pp. 28, 29, 128), " The divine use of the ten com-
mandments is in their violation, not in their observ-
ance." J. S. Loveland, once a Methodist min-
ister, declares in the Banner of Light, that "with 
God there is no crime; " that "he is in the darkest 
crime and the highest holiness, and equally pleased 
with both." 
6. They deify mortal man. In a spiritualist. 
work, " The Educator," we read : " Man is God's 
embodiment—his highest, divinest outer elabora-
tion. God, then, is man, and man is God." 
Satan's first lie to man was that he should be as 
God. No wonder he now tries to build up a repu- 
JANUARY, 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
137 
tation for veracity by making them believe that 
they are gods. Edmunds (Spiritualism, vol. 1, p. 
10) says: "The soul is a god of itself." 
7. They are at war with marriage. One of the 
notorious tendencies of spiritualism is to separate 
husbands and wives, and plunge them all into the 
maelstrom of free love. It takes every moral 
restraint from man as regards either heaven or 
earth, and gives the freest rein to his most debasing 
passions. The author of " Spiritualism as It Is," 
pp. 10, 11, 20, says: "After years of careful inves- 
tigation, we are compelled, much against our incli- 
nation, to admit that more than one-half of our 
traveling media, speakers, and prominent spiritual- 
ists, are guilty of immoral and licentious practices 
that have justly provoked the abhorrence of all 
right-thinking people." 
8. They acknowledge the devil as their God and 
Father, and pray to him. In the Banner of Light 
of Nov. 4, 1865, is published the following : " Ques-
tion. Do you know of any such spirit as a person 
we call the devil? Answer. We certainly do. 
And yet this same devil is our God, our Father." 
This was given through the celebrated medium, 
Mrs. Conant. Miss Lizzie Doten, a celebrated 
trance lecturer, addressed a formal prayer to " Lu-
cifer," who " fell from his high estate, and whom 
mortals are prone to call the embodiment of evil." 
An " Invocation" found in the Banner of Light 
of April 18, 1871, opens in substantially the same 
manner. 
9. The Bible speaks of them as " seducing 
spirits," "deceivers," "speaking lies in hypocrisy," 
and working wonders to prove a lie. 1 Tim. 4: 
1-3; 2 Tim. 8: 18; 2 Thess. 2: 9, 10. Judge 
Edmonds (Broadway Tabernacle Lecture, Feb. 16, 
1855) said :— 
" I assure you from my own experience and ob-
servation that the fascination of this intercourse 
is so great that its tendency is to lead men away 
from their proper judgment, and instill a spirit of 
fanaticism most revolting to the calm and natural 
mind." 
Spiritual Telegraph, July 11, 1856: "Spirits 
unquestionably can, and often do, personate other 
spirits, and that, too, often with such perfection as 
for the time being to defy every effort to detect the 
deception." 
Joel Tiffany (Lectures, pp. 122, 128) : " Mediums 
are under an influence to deceive, to cheat, which 
is almost irresistible." 
Dr. Child (Banner of Light, October 6, 1864) : 
" They will deceive us for their amusement." 
10. It is impossible to identify the spirits. They 
perform their work by mesmeric power, causing 
the medium to see such images as they please. A. 
J. Davis (Herald of Progress, Feb. 1, 1862), says: 
"They can psychologize a medium to see them in 
the style to produce the deepest impression on the 
receiver. They can easily represent themselves as 
being old or young," etc. A person who will yield 
himself to the control of such spirits, must be very 
anxious to be deceived. 
11. Of late years this movement is assuming a 
new phase. It is carefully concealing from public 
view its grosser features under the garb of Chris-
tianity. It can talk of sin, Christ, the atonement, 
and even of future punishment. In this more 
respectable attire, spiritualism well nigh oblit-
erates all marks of distinction between itself and 
the greater part of the professedly religious world; 
for the great majority in all the churches believe in 
its fundamental principles,—the conscious state of 
the dead, and their power to act as guardian spirits 
of the living. Spiritualism only insists upon more 
frequent and open intercourse, which the bereaved, 
made most susceptible in their tender grief to 
every offer of comfort, are only too glad to receive, 
on any plausible evidence that it is from their 
departed friends. Virtually, the greater part of 
the religious world to-day are spiritualists after the 
new order. 
12. Spiritualism is one of the great crowning 
signs of the last days. It is the fulfillment of 
Matt. 24 : 11, which declares that just before the 
end, " many false prophets shall arise and shall 
deceive many." Its mediums and ministers are 
the " false Christs and false prophets " that should 
"arise and show great signs and wonders," insomuch 
that if it were possible they should "deceive the 
very elect," just before Christ appears in the 
clouds of heaven. Matt. 24 ; 24-27. It is that 
"working of Satan," which is finally to reach "all 
power and signs and lying wonders " just as till 
brightness of Christ's coming bursts upon the world. 
2 Thess. 2 : 8-10. It is the " doctrine of devils " 
taught by " seducing spirits," to which some in 
the last days would depart, as the Spirit of God 
has expressly declared. 1 Tim. 4 : 1, 2. It is that 
work which was to take place "in the last days," 
corresponding to the work of Jannes and Jambres, 
who, by their wonders wrought in the presence of 
Pharaoh, withstood Moses. 2 Tim. 3 : 6-8. It is 
that anti-Christian work described in Heb. 10 : 29, 
which was to be witnessed when the great day of 
the Lord was approaching. Verse 25. The same 
class is described. by Peter (2 Pet. 2), and by Jude 
(verse 13), who are to receive vengeance for their 
ungodly deeds at the coming of Christ. It is that 
wonder-working power brought to view in Rev. 
13 : 18, 14, which is soon to gather the nations to 
the battle of the great day of God Almighty (Rev. 
16 : 18, 14), and is again brought to view in Rev. 
19: 20, in the last struggle against Christ, the 
King of kings, when it perishes in the lake of fire. 
Is it any wonder that Satan cherishes such 
venom against the word of God which so fully ex- 
poses his deceptive work 2 �
u. s. 
CHRIST'S DEATH NOT THE ATONEMENT. 
Timms a doctrine should be maintained or ad-
mitted on the strength or correctness of its prin-
ciples, in the minds of some an objection is suffered 
to obscure a principle, however well it may be 
established. Many have been so thoroughly in-
doctrinated in the idea that the death of Christ is 
equivalent to the Atonement that it is really diffi-
cult for them to appreciate our argument on 
justification by faith, and to understand the rela-
tion of such justification to a future judgment. 
And again, by assuming that the death of Christ 
and the Atonement are identical, they are involved 
in endless controversy in regard to the application 
of the benefits of the Atonement. It will not 
appear to be out of place to further notice these 
points. 
We read that Christ died for all. Some who take 
the view that the death of Christ is the atonement, 
readily conclude that the sins of all have been 
atoned for, and argue thence that no condemnation 
can remain to any. The argument is reasonable, 
but the premise is defective. 
Others, assured from the Scriptures that all will 
not be saved, that some do now and will finally 
rest under condemnation, are shut up to the con-
clusion that the Atonement is not made for all. 
They also regard the death of Christ and the 
Atonement as the same thing, and therefore are 
necessarily precipitated to the opposite extreme, 
that Christ did not die for all, but only for a chosen 
part of mankind. Here again the difficulties of 
ultra Calvinism lie in the assumption on which 
their argument is based. The distinction herein 
advocated and sustained by plain Scripture facts 
and declarations, removes the errors of " Univer-
salists " and " Partialists," and, if recognized, 
would bring all together on the harmonious testi-
mony of the word of God. 
And we would urge upon the consideration of the 
reader, that, assuming that the Atonement was 
made on Calvary, one of the above positions must 
necessarily be admitted. Either the death of 
Christ was for a limited number (as the Atonement 
is), or else the sins of all have been atoned for, and 
all must be saved. If the Atonement be already 
made, if the Sanctuary be already cleansed, and 
sin blotted out by an act long passed, we are 
unable to see how the destiny of man is to be 
affected by the proclamation and belief of the 
truth. It will be said that our faith lays hold of 
that which has been done for us ; and if the decla-
ration referred merely to what the Scriptures say 
has been done, it would be correct. But if our sin 
was removed or blotted out long before we were 
'born, it is hard to see how the fact could be more 
a fact, or made more certain by our belief of it ; or 
if our sins were not so blotted out, our unbelief 
could not affect the omission. But " Christ died 
for all ; " and yet the impenitent will be " punished 
with everlasting destruction." This is in harmony 
with what has been shown in commenting on 
Rom. 5 : 10, pages 198-195, namely, that the death 
of Christ does not of 'itself save any one, but it 
makes salvation possible to every one. It is a 
matter of wonder that Bible readers have ever for 
a moment recognized as true the idea that death 
makes an atonement, when the Atonement is 
always represented as the work of the priest, per-
formed in the sanctuary, with the blood of the 
offering. 
The position of an individual who is justified by 
faith may be illustrated thus : A owes B a sum 
which he is not able to pay, and C engages to take 
the responsibility of the debt on certain conditions; 
and in order to make it sure, C deposits with B an 
amount sufficient to cover the debt. Now it is 
stipulated that if A fulfills the conditions B shall 
cancel the debt from the deposit made by C. And 
as long as A is faithfully fulfilling the conditions, 
so long is B satisfied in regard to the debt ; and of 
course he will not trouble A for it, knowing it is 
secure. Thus A is accounted just, in the sight of 
B, though not really just in himself, because he 
fails to pay a just debt. He is considered as just, 
or justified through obedience to the conditions of 
C, who is his surety. But if A refuses or neglects 
to fulfill the conditions, the deposit of C no longer 
avails for him; he falls from the favor of B, which 
he had enjoyed through this arrangement, and the 
debt stands against him as fully as though C had 
never engaged to pay it on any condition. 
That justification by faith, or the pardon we 
receive while on probation, is a conditional pardon, 
is proved by our Saviour's words in Matt. 18 : 28-
85. Here is presented the ease of a servant who 
owed his lord ten thousand talents ; but having 
nothing to pay, and manifesting honesty of inten-
tion, " the lord of that servant was moved with 
compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the 
debt." But this servant met his fellow-servant, 
who owed him the trifling sum of two hundred 
pence ; and who plead for mercy in the same terms 
in which the first had so successfully plead before 
his lord. But this servant would not show mercy ; 
he thrust his fellow-servant into prison till he 
should pay the debt. Hearing of this, his lord 
called him, and said unto him, " 0 thou wicked 
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou 
desiredst me. Shouldest not thou also have had 
compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had 
pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and de-
livered him to the tormentors, till he should pay 
all that was due unto him." This we say is the 
Bible view of forgiveness in the gospel, or justifica-
tion by faith, while we are waiting for the decisions 
of the judgment. And on this plain case we are 
not left to merely draw a conclusion ; the Saviour 
has made the application for us, and from this 
application there can be no appeal. He says : "So 
likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if 
ye from your hearts forgive not every one his 
brother their qespasses." 
That this is a true representation of the position 
of the penitent, is evident from the declarations 
that " he that endureth unto the end"—he that is 
"faithful unto death "—shall be saved, while he 
that is justified by faith may, by disobedience, lose 
that justification, and his righteousness will not be 
remembered; The blood of Jesus is the bounteous 
supply—the rich deposit where all may find a 
covering for their sins ; but whether their sins are 
actually atoned for and removed by that blood, 
depends upon their acceptance of it and their 
faithfulness to the conditions of acceptance. With-
out faith and obedience this deposit will never 
avail for any one. 
Yet we hear many say, with the utmost assurance : 
" My debt is all paid ; I cannot be lost, since 
138 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
Vol.. 1, No. 9. 
Christ has died for me." But this is not the 
language of trust; it is rather that of presumption. 
Faith claims the promise of God on the fulfillment 
of its condition. We cannot consent to the idea of 
unconditional salvation. Whether they are aware 
of it or not, this is the position of all who expect to 
be saved because their debt is paiid, or because 
Christ died for them. Every human being can say 
the same. 
But we must notice the real point of this doctrine, 
namely, that God chose a certain part of mankind, 
and predetermined that they should be saved, 
passing by or reprobating the remainder. In 2 Cor. 
5 : 14 we are told that " Christ died for all; " in 
Heb. 2 : 9, " that he, by the grace of God should 
taste death for every man ; " and in 1 John 2 : 2, 
that he is the propitiation " for the sins of the 
whole world." Did Christ shed his blood for these 
reprobate ones ? Is he their mediator ? And some 
of this faith will answer in the negative ; they will 
say that he did not die for them, but only for the 
elect. But if he did not die for them, was anything 
done for them 2 And how can they be said to 
" neglect so great salvation " (Heb. 2 : 3), if no 
salvation was provided for them 2 or trample on 
divine grace, which was no grace to them 2 
On account of the inherent repulsiveness of the 
doctrine known as "Calvinism," we often find per-
sons claiming to hold it in a modified form. But 
that is impossible ; it cannot be modified. It is 
fixed and inflexibly rigid in every feature. It is a 
belief that God irrevocably decreed and determined 
all things; and the belief can no more be modified 
than a fixed decree of Deity can be modified. It 
may only be exchanged for something else ; but in 
itself it admits of no degrees ; for the moment that 
a condition is incorporated into it, it is something 
else. Calvinism teaches unconditional personal 
election ; and unconditional personal reprobation 
is its converse and necessary attendant. 
The Scriptures clearly teach these things, namely : 
free grace, justification by faith, and the necessity 
of good works to salvation ; and these are all in 
harmony. 
It is not our purpose to examine at length the 
various texts quoted on this subject; but rather 
to notice the principles on which the true doctrine 
rests, and introduce texts sufficient to corroborate 
the principles. 
The great question to be decided is this : In 
what respect is the gospel plan unconditional, and 
in what respect is it conditional ? If there is any-
where such a distinction, and if we can clearly 
trace the line, the subject must thereby be relieved 
of much difficulty. Examining this, we find that, 
1. The introduction of the gospel, or setting 
forth of Christ as the way of salvation, was uncon-
ditional. But, 
2. The application of the gospel to individual 
salvation, is conditional. 
We do not see how any, who believe the Bible, 
can dissent from either of these declarations. It 
is not said to the world, nor to any class in the 
world, that if they would do some certain thing 
Christ should die for them. But it is said that if 
they will believe and do certain things, they shall 
be saved by his blood so freely shed for " the sins of 
the world." " God so loved the •world, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlast-
ing life." John 3 : 16. Freely and unconditionally 
he gave his Son to be a propitiation for the sins of 
the whole world, to die for all ; but not so that 
they will be saved from perishing if they refuse to 
repent and believe. Salvation was freely purchased 
by the death of Christ, but will never be given to 
those' who neglect it. Heb. 2: 3. Eternal life 
through Christ was freely and unconditionally 
brought to man ; Rom. 6 : 23 ; yet, if they would 
not perish they must " lay hold on eternal life ; " 
1 Tim. 6 : 19 ; which they can only secure " by 
patient continuance in well-doing; " Rom. 2 : 7 ; 
and so " work out their own salvation with fear 
and trembling." Phil. 2: 12. But in uniting 
works to faith we detract nothing from the grace 
and glory of Christ, for we can do nothing in our 
own unassisted strength. John 15 : 5. With this 
distinction in view we find no difficulty in harmon-
izing all the Scriptures. But we will notice a few 
texts to further show the conditional nature of 
God's promises to man. 
When the Lord sent Moses to the children of 
Israel, it was with this message : " Say unto them, 
The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, 
of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, 
I have surely visited you, and seen that which was 
done to you in Egypt : and I have said, I will bring 
you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land 
of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amor-
ites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the 
Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and 
honey. Ex. 3 : 16, 17. Again he said to them : 
" And I will take you to me for a people, and I 
will be to you a God : and ye shall know that I 
am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out 
from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I 
will bring you in unto the land, concerning the 
which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, 
and to Jacob ; and I will give it you for an heri-
tage: I am the Lord." Ex. 6 : 7, 8. Yet, direct 
and positive as this promise was, the Lord did not 
bring them into that land, but destroyed them for 
their disobedience. 
Again, it was said to Pharaoh : " Thus saith the 
Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born : and 
I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve 
me : and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will 
slay thy son, even thy first-born." Ex. 4 : 22, 23. 
The first-born was the highly-prized and beloved. 
Yet on the institution of the Passover, they would 
have been destroyed with the first-born of Egypt, 
if they had not remained in their houses and 
sprinkled the blood on their door-posts ; and were 
afterwards destroyed as noticed above. This 
teaches us that God's chosen—his first-born, will 
continue to enjoy his favor only on condition of 
continued obedience. The conditional nature of his 
gracious promises is shown by his word through 
Jeremiah, wherein he commanded Israel to obey 
him, saying : " That I may perform the oath 
which I have sworn unto your fathers." Jer. 11 : 
3-5. And again, where he has shown the fixed 
principle upon which he fulfills his promises and 
threatenings. " At what instant I shall speak 
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, 
to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it ; if 
that nation against whom I have pronounced, 
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that 
I thought to do unto them. And at what instant 
I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning 
a kingdom, to build and to plant it ; if it do evil in 
my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will 
repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit 
them." Jer. 18 : 7-10. And this is true not only 
of nations, but of individuals. Thus the Lord said 
to Eli : " I said indeed that thy house and the 
house of thy father should walk before me forever; 
but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me ; for 
them that honor me I will honor, and they 
that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." 
1 Sam. 2 : 30. 
It is argued that he that has an interest in the 
Saviour cannot or will not lose it. See what our 
Lord himself says : " I am the vine, ye are the 
branches. . . . If a man abide not in me, he 
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." John 
15 : 5, 6, and in verse 2 : " Every branch in me 
that beareth not fruit he taketh away." This 
completely overthrows that doctrine which affirms 
that if any one be in Christ by faith he cannot be 
taken away. He may "depart from the faith." 
It is urged, and with truth, that none can pluck 
them out of his hand. But this supposes that they 
"bear fruit," or continue faithful. He that en-
dures to the end shall be saved. As the Jews 
were rejected because of their unfaithfulness, so 
Paul says to the Gentile converts, who, by faith, 
were grafted into the good olive tree, they must 
continue faithful or they should be cut off also. 
According to the unconditional personal election 
scheme, there could be no danger of it, and if so, 
the warning of the apostle was deceptive. He 
says also that they in whom the Spirit of God 
dwells, which can refer only to accepted believers, 
are the temple of God ; and if they defile the tem-
ple of God, that is, themselves or their own bodies, 
God shall destroy them. And Peter affirms that 
some shall arise in the church who shall deny the 
Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves 
swift destruction. 2 Peter 2: 1. 
Again, it is said we are chosen in him before the 
foundation of the world. But all must admit that 
there is a time when we become Christ's, come into 
him, etc. "As many of you as have been baptized 
into Christ have put on Christ." We are also said 
to receive Christ by faith. So it is evident that 
we are not " in Christ " before we have faith—
before we have put him on. Prior to that event, 
we were the " children of wrath, even as others." 
Eph. 2 : 3. That we are personally and uncon-
ditionally elected before the foundation of the 
world cannot, therefore, be the sense of that script-
ure. Jesus Christ was the one chosen—" the 
elect "—to be the Author of salvation to all who 
believe and obey ; and all who receive him and 
put him on, or are baptized into hini, become one 
with him, members of his body ; and, of course, 
are partakers of his privileges and his election. 
That the election was a prior event is admitted; 
but that we have any part in it before we become 
members of Christ's body is denied. The choice 
is of Christ, and through him all that are " ih 
him : " but, personally, does not reach them that 
are out of him, children of wrath, as we were all 
by nature. With this view, we see the reasonable-
ness of Peter's exhortation to make our calling 
and election sure, 2 Pet. 1 : 10 ; but with the Cal-
vinistic view, it cannot be made to appear rea-
sonable. And so of all the exhortations and 
threatenings in the Bible ; if man is not free to 
choose or refuse, to obtain through obedience or 
lose through disobedience, they cannot be what 
they purport to be. 
The truth on this subject we chiefly rest on the 
difference between the death of Christ, and the 
Atonement, to the argument on which we refer 
the reader.—J. H. w. in the Atonement. 
HE SERMON„ 
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ 
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his king-
dom; PREACH THE WORD."-2 Tim. 4: 1, 2. 
"PRESENT TRUTH." 
BY ELDER D.. H. CLNRIGHT. 
(Continued.) 
TRXT 
" Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you 
always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, 
and be established in the present truth." 2 Pet. 1: 12. 
THAT the coming of Christ will not take place 
without a warning to the world, we now offer in 
proof a few plain propositions :— 
I. The Judgment, the Second Advent of Christ, 
the Resurrection, am•d the End of the World, are 
events which the Scriptures teach will come to pass 
at some time. 
We are not now concerned as to when they will 
come to pass, but simply with the fact that these 
events will transpire sometime. Nothing in the 
Bible, it seems to us, is more plainly revealed and 
emphatically stated than these facts, and we pre-
sume that most of our hearers will agree with us 
on this point. They believe in the literal second 
advent and resurrection of the dead the same as 
we do. There is no controversy, then, on this 
point. However, we will give a few texts out of 
the scores bearing upon these events. 
The Judgment. " Because he hath appointed a 
day, in the which he will judge the world in 
righteousness." Acts 17 : 31. "And the angels 
which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains 
under darkness, unto the judgment of the great 
day." Jude 6. " And I saw a great white throne, 
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth 
and the heaven fled away ; and there was found no 
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and 
great, stand before God; and the books were 
opened : and another book was opened, which is 
the book of life : and the dead were judged out of 
 
 
JANUARY) 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
139 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
those things which were written in the books, ac-
cording to their works." Rev. 20 : 11, 12. 
The Second Advent. " For the Son of man shall 
come in the glory of his Father with his angels ; 
and then he shall reward every man according to 
his works." Matt. 16 : 27. "For as the lightning 
cometh-out of the east, and shineth even unto the 
west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man 
be." Matt. 24 : 27. " And when he had spoken 
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; 
and a cloud received him out of their sight. And 
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he 
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white 
apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
heaven." Acts 1 : 9-11. " 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." 1 Thess. 
4 : 16. 
The Resurrection. " Marvel not at this : for the 
hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; 
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur-
rection of damnation." John 5 : 28, 29. 
The End of the World. " The field is the world ; 
the good seed are the children of the kingdom ; but 
the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the 
enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest 
is the end of the world ; and the reapers are the 
angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and 
burned in the fire ; so shall it be in the end of this 
world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that offend, and them which do iniquity ; and shall 
cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be 
wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 13 : 38-42. 
Language could not be more explicit than this 
on these great and awful events. Yes, say our 
opponents, we agree that they will come sometime, 
but as to when they will come, we know nothing. 
Christ may come to-night, or next week, or it may 
be a thousand years before he comes; we cannot 
tell. If we are only prepared to die, that is all 
that it need concern us, let it come when it will. 
No doubt the objector thinks that this is sound 
reasoning, and according to Scripture ; but look a 
little further. We often hear these men who de-
clare that the Lord may come to-night, declare 
that the world must be converted, and that there 
must be a millennium of a thousand years before 
Christ comes. Then they.go on to argue that the 
Jews must be converted and return to Palestine, 
first; that this, that, and the other, prophecy has 
not yet been fulfilled ; and still the Lord may come 
to-night I How they can have the world converted, 
and a thousand years' millennium in one night, and 
the Lord come after that time, we never could see ! 
And yet they stoutly argue both. The Jews must 
be converted and return to Palestine before the Lord 
comes, and yet he may come to-night Many other 
prophecies have not been fulfilled, and yet the Lord 
may come to-night ! They certainly cannot believe 
both positions. And further : In saying this, they 
assume that the coming of the Lord will take 
place without any signs being given to mark his 
coming—without any warning to the world, and 
without his people knowing anything concerning 
it. They virtually assume that everything will go 
right on just as it always has, without any sign or 
warning, and the first that any one knows, either 
saint or sinner, the trumpet will sound like a peal 
of thunder out of a clear sky at noonday. To show 
the unsoundness of this, we will make a second 
proposition :— 
II. There will be signs given preceding these 
events to mark their coming. 
I might give scores of texts on this point, naming 
the different signs which shall transpire shortly 
before the advent. I will content myself with 
quoting two or three which directly assert that 
there shall be signs. " And as he sat upon the 
Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him pri-
vately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be 2 
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
 
the end of the world?" Matt. 24: 8. The dis-
ciples inquire directly, What shall be the sign of 
thy coming, and of the end of the world? If there 
were to be no signs, Christ would have simply said, 
Children, do not trouble yourselves on that point ; 
there will be no signs given of those events. But 
instead of answering them thus, he does proceed to 
give them a whole chapter of signs upon the very 
point they had asked. Luke briefly sums up his 
answer thus : " And there shall be signs in the sun, 
and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the 
earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea 
and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them 
for fear, and for looking after those things which 
are coming on the earth ; for the powers of heaven 
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son 
of man coming in a cloud with power and great 
glory. And when these things begin to come to 
pass, then look up and lift up your heads ; for your 
redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21: 25-28. 
Here Jesus says that there shall be signs in the 
sun, in the moon, in the stars, in the earth, etc. 
So in verse 11, he says, " And great earthquakes 
shall be in divers places, and famines, and pesti-
lences ; and fearful sights and great signs shall 
there be from heaven." And thus Joel says : " And 
I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in 
the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of 
smoke : the sun shall be turned into darkness, and 
the moon into blood, before that great and notable 
day of the Lord come." Acts 2 : 19, 20. We take 
it that these texts settle the fact that the Lord will 
give signs to mark his second coming. 
God has said that, at the proper time, he will 
hang out signs in very conspicuous places indeed, 
viz., in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and upon 
the earth. And when God shall do this, what will 
it be for ? Will it not be to call the attention of 
his people and the world to the very event which 
these signs indicate ? Most certainly. This fact 
alone shows that God will have men know some-
thing with regard to it, else why give the signs ? 
And when God shall do this, will it be immaterial 
whether men heed these signs, or disregard them 
Whether they believe them, or scoff at them ? 
Whether they note them, or pass them by as not 
worthy of their attention? Whether they accept 
them as the fulfillment of God's word, or deny them 
to be such ? Think of this point a moment. Did 
not Christ rebuke the men of his time for not 
discerning the signs of the times " 0 ye hypo-
crites ! Ye can discern the face of the sky ; but 
can ye not discern the signs of the times ? " Matt. 
16 : 3. And if men should pay no more attention 
to the signs of the times now than they did then, 
will they not receive just as severe a rebuke from 
the Lord as they did then 2 Certainly, they will. 
Be careful, my friend, there may be more impor-
tance to this subject than you have thought. 
To show the importance of this, we will make a 
third proposition :— 
III. A warning message will be given to the 
world, immediately preceding the coming of Christ. 
This is an important proposition, and, if it be 
true, it shows the importance of engaging in such 
a proclamation. Here again, we might give a 
great many texts to the point, but have room for 
only a few. Let us first reason a moment. God is 
merciful, long-suffering, not willing that any should 
perish ; hence, he always warns the wicked of 
coming judgments in sufficient time for them to 
repent and escape them if they will. He loves his 
people, and does nothing without revealing it to 
them. Did God warn the world in the days of 
Noah ? So, then, he will here. Christ says, "But 
as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming 
of the Son of man be." Matt. 24 : 37. Did God 
warn the Sodomites 2 Did he warn the men of 
Nineveh 2 Did John the Baptist give a warning 
message before the first advent ? Did Jesus warn 
them of the fall of Jerusalem ? How much more 
reasonable, then, that there should be a warning 
here. Did the righteous know when the flood was 
to come 2 When Sodom was to fall ? When the 
Jews were to come out of Egypt ? When Nineveh 
was to be overthrown ? When Christ was to come 
the first time ? Then will they know with regard 
to his second advent. Nothing is more reasonable 
and just than this conclusion. But let us hear the 
word of the Lord :— 
"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an 
alarm in my holy mountain : let all the inhabitants 
of the land tremble : for the day of the Lord 
cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2 : 1. What 
is the day of the Lord ? It is when the Lord 
comes, as will be seen by the following texts : 
" But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in 
the night; in the which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the 
works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. 
3: 10. This shows that the day of the Lord is 
when all things shall end. This is the time of 
which the prophet speaks :— 
" For the day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at 
hand." This fact is further confirmed by the 
language of verses 10, 11 : "The earth shall quake 
before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun 
and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall 
withdraw their shining : and the Lord shall utter 
his voice before his army : for his camp is very 
great : for he is strong that executeth his word : 
for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible ; 
and who can abide it ? " 
Having shown what the subject is, now look at 
the prophecy : "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion." 
This was always done to warn the people of some 
important event. " Sound an alarm in my holy 
mountain : let all the inhabitants of the land 
tremble." This shows that it is some awful event 
that is just pending. What is it 2 When is this 
warning to be given, this alarm to be sounded ? 
" For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at 
hand." Then when the day of the Lord is drawing 
near, is even nigh at hand, then is the time that 
this prophecy must be fulfilled. Will not God see 
that it is fulfilled? He certainly will, if he has to 
raise up men from the very stones to do it; and 
when it is thus fulfilled, what will the world hear ? 
They will hear the blowing of the trump and 
sounding of the alarm here predicted. 
Compare this with Isaiah 40 : 3 : " The voice of 
him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the 
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a 
highway for our God." Here was a prophecy given 
700 years before Christ. Age after age rolled on, 
and no one came up to fulfill it. By-and-by, in the 
wilderness of Judea, is heard the voice of a humble 
man proclaiming this very message. The proper 
time had come. God, who very jealously guards 
the fulfillment of his word, raised up a man to ac-
complish it. So it must be with regard to this 
prophecy relating to the end. When the day of 
the Lord is nigh at hand, God will lay the burden 
of his work upon those who will blow the trumpet 
and sound the alarm. All the powers of darkness 
cannot prevent it. 
Take another text. " The great day of the Lord 
is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the 
voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man 
shall cry there bitterly." Zeph. 1: 14. Thus he 
goes on describing the terrors of that day, and then 
says: " Gather yourselves together, yea, gather 
together, 0 nation not desired ; before the decree 
bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before 
the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, be-
fore the day of the Lord's anger come upon you." 
Chap. 2: 1, 2. This shows that in connection with 
that great day of God's wrath there will be a gath-
ering message to prepare the people to stand in 
that awful time of trouble. Once more : " And I 
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 
that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud 
voice, Fear God and give glory to him ; for the 
hour of his judgment is come." Rev. 14: 6, 7. 
Here is another prophecy. It is in your Bible the 
 
 
140 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
same as in mine. God put it there. He worded it 
just right. He will see that it is fulfilled at the 
proper time. God's word cannot fail. This mes-
sage will be accomplished. 
When it is fulfilled, what will the world hear ? 
Just the message here given, " Fear God, and give 
glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is 
come." This, it will readily be seen, is an announce-
ment that the time for God's judgment to sit has 
arrived, and this announcement is made to every 
nation, tongue and people ; hence it is a world-wide 
message. Now such a message as this could be true 
only in the last generation, because that is the time 
when the judgment will occur. It would not have 
been true if given a thousand years ago, or five 
hundred years ago ; for the hour of God's judgment 
did not come then. Hence, this is a last-day 
message. It is positive proof that, immediately 
preceding that event, God will cause a solemn 
warning to be given to the world concerning it. 
When the proper time shall come, and the signs 
shall appear, and God shall cause this message to 
be heralded to the world, will it be a matter of 
no account whether men heed that warning or 
not ? Can men disregard it with impunity ? Can 
they mock at it and denounce it as the work of the 
devil, and still enjoy the blessing of God ? Can 
they please God by simply passing it by unnoticed ? 
How did it fare with the men who rejected Noah's 
warning? With those who did not believe the 
words of John the Baptist, and other similar 
messages ? And will not those fare the same who 
shall reject this, when God shall cause it to be 
given ? 
We are not now arguing as to whether this mes-
sage is now being given ; that is not the point. 
But we are endeavoring to show that such a mes-
sage must certainly be given, whenever the proper 
time comes, immediately preceding the second 
advent. Let me call attention again to that oft-
repeated assertion, that if we are only prepared to 
die, we are prepared for the coming of the Lord ; 
and, hence, even though the Lord is coming soon, 
and there are signs which show it, and the warning 
is being given concerning it, yet it does not matter 
if we do not heed them, provided our hearts are 
only right. This, I firmly believe, is a subterfuge 
gotten up to lull men to sleep and to close their 
eyes to the truth. 
To show the fallacy of this statement, look at it in 
the light of other similar events. Suppose the men 
who heard Noah preach had reasoned that way. 
Perhaps the flood is coming, said they, and per-
haps it is not, we do not know ; and it do'nt make 
any difference any way ; if our hearts are only 
right, let it come. What would have been the con-
sequences ? They would have perished in the flood 
just as they did. Suppose that Noah himself had 
reasoned that way ; who would have built the ark ? 
Who would have warned the world 2 Would not 
God have rejected him, and let him perish with 
the ungodly, while he raised up somebody else to 
do that work ? Suppose Lot had reasoned thus 
when he heard of the threatened destruction of 
Sodom. Suppose, again, that the men who heard 
John the Baptist had argued thus : He says that 
the Messiah is soon to come, and that he is his 
forerunner ; may be it is so, and may be it is not. 
We cannot tell. What matter is it to us ? When 
we see him, it will be time enough to believe on 
him. What good will it do us simply to have our 
bodies put under the water ? If we only love God 
and obey him, we shall be safe enough, whether 
the Messiah comes or not. Could they thus reject 
God's work and God's message with impunity P 
No; the fact is, God never causes any warning to 
be given unless it is needed. And when he does 
this, it cannot be ignored nor rejected with im-
punity. Those who reject it thereby give evidence 
that they do not really love God, nor his truth, 
and they are not walking in the light. If they were, 
they would discern the work of God, would hear 
the voice of the Master, and would gladly obey it. 
( Concluded next month.) 
I 
RE ACR-TOWER,, 
Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, what of the night ? 
The morning oometh, and also the night: if yo will enquire, enquire 
ye: return, come."—Isa. 21: 11, 12. 
COMPARE THEM. 
DR. JAMES MORRIS WHITON, pastor of the Congre-
gational Church, Newark, New Jersey, U. S. A., has 
lately published a book the title to which is " The 
Resurrection." The literal resurrection is discarded, 
and the learned author steps square upon the plat-
form of modern Spiritualism. We quote from the 
leading editorial in the Christian World of Nov. 
20. We put some of his utterances alongside of 
those of Spiritualists. Compare them. 
SPIRITUALISTS. 
Woodman says: "At death, 
the external body of man again 
mingles with the common 
mass of the earth, never more 
to be reclaimed or needed by 
the man who gives it up."—
Reply to Dwight, page 82. 
" At death, the real man, 
that is to say, his soul and 
spirit, rise from or out of his 
dead body; that in the New 
Testament this is denomina-
ted anastasis, or the resurrec-
tion."—Id. 
" How can one (spirit) extri-
cate itself from the depths of 
an avalanche where it has 
been buried ? how shall it es • 
cape from the mountain of 
earth and stones P To this 
question I am impressed to 
answer that when a human 
being is overwhelmed by 
such a catastrophe—is thus 
fearfully buried, thus crushed 
to death, as it is termed—the 
spirit escapes the body and 
the mass of materials, accord-
ing to the law of gravitation, 
to a position above the earth 
where the reorganization of the 
elements can, without obstruc-
tion, easily take place."7.4.,T. 
Davis, in Philosophy of Spiritual 
Intercourse, pp.128,129. Of the 
spirit of a man buried in a 
well he says : " Particle 
sought particle, atom sought 
atom, element sought element, 
principle sought principle, 
etc � In due order of 
progression, I saw developed 
the perfect development of the 
head, body, limbs, eto„—Id., 
p. 131. 
Of the book the Christian World says : " Whether 
we adopt his opinion or do not, we are bound to 
say that his book is full of fresh and suggestive 
thought, and is inspired by a frank enthusiasm of 
faith in the gospel of the resurrection," an expres-
sion which would certainly incline us to believe 
that the C. W. looked at least with favor upon 
these views. " Frank enthusiasm of faith " ! In 
what ? Not in the plain declaration of God's 
word. 
For ourselves, and we believe that we echo the 
mind of our readers who love and believe God's 
Bible, we prefer to believe the inspired declara-
tions concerning the resurrection and judgment. 
John 5 : 28, 29 : " Marvel not at this : for the 
hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; 
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur-
rection of damnation." 
1 Cor. 15 : 51, 52 : " Behold, I show you a mys-
tery : we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be 
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
shall be changed." 
1 Thess. 4 : 16 : " 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." 
Acts 17 : 31 : " Because he hath appointed a 
day, in the which lie will judge the world in right-
eousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; 
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in 
that he hath raised him from the dead." See also 
Rev. 20 : 11-13. 
" LET GOD BE TRUE." 
WORDS OF TRUTH. 
Is IT not true that the so-called Protestant 
churches of to-day are losing their power to pro-
test? Popery is marching on with rapid strides to 
influence and power, and scarcely a warning voice 
is raised against her. Men would fain believe that 
the Popery of the present is not the Popery of the 
Dark Ages ; but the very dogmas of the system 
proclaim that church always the same. Rome can 
play the martyr and preach against intolerance, 
but give her the power to-day, and the massacre of 
St. Bartholomew would be repeated. Her greed of 
power is no less than when the Pope of Rome 
placed his foot upon the necks of monarchs. The 
" sure word of prophecy " characterizes her as the 
enemy of God, the perverter of truth; and the 
Reformers were mighty through God in making 
bare her iniquities. But in these days of unbounded 
charity (?) many of the leading divines of Protest-
antism consider this anti-Christian power as an 
ally and sister church. Errors received from Rome 
are held tenaciously by many, and serve as means 
to draw them nearer Popery. That so-called 
charity which looks with indifference upon the 
requirements of God is always ready to throw a 
mantle over others in like condition. The follow-
ing from Dr. Wylie, as reported by the Christian 
Leader, of Nov. 26, are words of truth, though it is 
not England alone that is blind to this great 
danger :— 
" Dr. Wylie in his opening lecture to the Edinburgh 
Protestant Institute on John Wicliffe lamented that 
England should to-day be undoing his work and be at 
this hour on the march back to the old prison-house 
of the papacy. She has bent her neck to the political 
yoke and is opening her ears to the spiritual teaching 
of the Vatican. There is at this hour a judicial blind-
ness on the nation, which will continue till God's 
purposes towards them and the papacy have been 
fulfilled, and then the interest in that question will 
return with a rush, and with it will come lightnings, 
and thunderings, and the great earthquake." 
RELIGIOUS GAMBLING. 
MITCH has been said of late, not only by the 
religious, but by the secular press, on the increase 
of gambling. It is stated that on one section of 
the Great Eastern Railway, in nearly all the smok-
ing carriages, the tables are used almost wholly 
for card playing. Complaints have also been made 
in regard to the great amount of gambling on 
ocean steamers. But why inveigh so much against 
this vice in these placeii when religious societies 
have their lotteries, their raffles, etc. ? We com-
mend the following from the Christian Common-
wealth, to our readers as a noteworthy sign of the 
times, and we anticipate that the C. C. will have 
to ":denounce," it many times before the evil "dies 
out." But in spite of the denunciations of good 
men the evil is increasing instead of " dying out." 
How must the pure and holy God look upon these 
things. He justifies no evil that good may come. 
His frown is upon such as do them. And these 
things are all the more potent for evil because 
done under the garb of religion. Truly it could be 
said to such as to the Jews of old, " The name of 
God is blasphemed . . . through you." Rom. 
2 : 24. Here is the quotation referred to above :— 
" More than once we have strongly denounced the 
pernicious vice of gambling, in all its varied forms, 
and we expect to do it again many times before the 
evil practice dies out. Certainly we cannot be 
silent when we find that even the church itself 
is infected with this pestilent disease. The raffling 
which goes on at bazaars is a species of gambling, 
and it is marvellous that Christian men should 
countenance it in any way. It is a lottery, puro and 
simple. At Birmingham the other day, £5 and £10 
notes were raffled at a Congregational bazaar. This 
is just as much gambling as betting on horse-races, or 
playing at games of chance in the gambling hells of 
Monte Carlo. How can Christian men protest against 
the vices of the world whilst their own hands are pol-. 
luted ? What are the ministers of Birmingham about 
that they have not uttered a protest against this scan-
dalous transaction? We should like to know, too, 
where the eyes of the police were. Those gentlemen 
are sharp enough to detect ordinary culprits, but they 
wink at violations of the law on the part of the very 
Da. WHITON. 
He believes that certain 
utterances of St. Paul imply 
that he looked upon the res-
urrection, " not as an external 
event, but as a spiritual de-
velopment,resulting from spir-
itual processes." 
"The result which Paul 
deems it necessary to attain 
before ho dies is a certain 
spiritual condition. This, po-
tentially, is the resurrection." 
" He holds that the incor-
ruptible body of the resurrec-
tion may even in this world be 
springing from the germ of 
Spiritual life in the soul-re-
generated Christ."—C. W. 
"Dr. Whiton discards, as 
supported by no sound evi-
deuce, either philosophical or 
Scriptural, the theory that the 
soul, at death, enters a state 
of unconsciousness, from 
which it is awakened tojoin 
the body at the judgment-day. 
When the corruptible body 
has perished, the incorrupt-
ible body will be found en-
veloping the soul. There will, 
he holds, be no transition 
period whatever, no suspen-
sion of the hill spiritual life ." 
—Id. 
He looks with distrust on 
the doctrine of "a final judg-
ment-day, universal, scenic, 
and catastrophic." 
JANUARY, 1885. �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
141 
• 
persons who ought to be the first to set an example of 
obedience. At Manchester a confectioner is pounced 
upon for selling " lucky balls" containing.coins, and in 
London a man is prosecuted for holding a lottery in the 
streets ; but if they had done the same thing at a 
religious bazaar they would have gone scot free. It is 
high time ministers and church officers washed their 
hands of this business, and frowned it out of existence. 
Dean Oakley, we are glad to see, has been lifting up 
his voice against gambling, in the pulpit of Manches-
ter Cathedral. From every pulpit in the land the 
same teatimony ought to be borne. The Dean perti-
nently asks why poor boys should be stopped from 
playing chuck-farthing in the streets while betting 
clubs are allowed to flourish, why there should be one 
law for the rich and another for the poor ? And 
we want to know why lotteries should be put down by 
the arm of the law in every place but the church." 
THE THEOLOGICAL TREND. 
WE are glad to see the old error of everlasting 
torment giving way. It is unscriptural, unscien- 
tific, illogical, unjust. BM we are not prepared 
to admit universalism, or restorationism, in its 
place. The following from a leader in the Chris-
tian World of Nov. 27, entitled " the Unseen 
World," well shows the theological trend upon 
this question:— 
" Divines of all schools and parties are now 
disposed to admit that theologians brought up an 
evil report of the promised land, and that salva- 
tion is offered to mankind with a Godlike gener- 
osity. It seems almost incredible that, in the 
memory of the present generation, Frederick Den- 
nison Maurice should have been expelled from 
King's College for publishing these words : ' What 
dream of ours can reach to the assertion of St. 
John that death and hell shall be cast into the lake 
of fire ? I cannot fathom the meaning of such 
expressions. But they are written : I accept them, 
and give thanks for them. I feel there is an abyss 
of death into which I may sink and be lost. 
Christ's gospel reveals an abyss of love below that ; 
I am content to be lost in that.' The difficulty 
now would be to find any divine of authority and 
repute who would hesitate for a moment to adopt 
the words as his own. Dean Plumptre can cite a 
cloud of witnesses to the larger hope. Roman 
Catholics like Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Man-
ning, and Mr. Oxenham, Anglican divines like 
Pusey, Farrar, Birks, Bickersteth, and a host of 
others, Non-conformists like Mr. White, Mr. Cox, 
Mr. Baldwin Brown, if they do not suspend their 
differences, or agree on any one view as to eternal 
life, yet all look towards a brighter future than 
former generations dared to hope for. Dean 
Plumptre himself is bold enough to suggest, if but 
in a whisper, the transporting vision of universal 
restoration. To this, he says, it cannot be denied 
that the teaching of the New Testament tends.' 
But, in the conclusion of his thoughtful and able 
book, he warns his readers against effacing all 
sense of the majesty and the terror of Divine law. 
I have no wish,'—such are his words—' in giving 
utterance to these thoughts as to the possibilities 
ef the intermediate state, to rest in an unreal op-
timism. The vision, seen through the uplifted 
corner of the veil, is not without its terrors. The 
flames of Hades in which the rich man was tor-
mented are the symbols of a dread reality.' True ; 
where sin is, there will be misery; but, while GOD 
lives, there will be hope." 
While there are many who, in breaking away 
from the horrors of Augustine's hell, get hold of 
the truth, conditional immortality, the great mass 
are drifting to the other extreme ; and those who 
still hold tenaciously to the doctrine of eternal 
misery, hold it in a modified form. But restora-
tionism is not much better. It ignores the justice 
of God, upon which the very integrity of the Divine 
government rests. It leads the sinner to reject 
the message, "Behold, now is the accepted time, 
now is the day of salvation." It is contrary to 
God's ward and the great plan of the atonement. 
It retains the Roman purgatory, if it does not use 
the name. And all this is pleasing to the carnal 
heart, which is soothed to sleep in the hope of a 
hereafter in which the Lord will right the wrongs 
of this life. All this is in harmony with modern 
Spiritualism, which is waiting with open maw to 
devour all who will not receive the love of the 
truth, lulling them to ease meanwhile by siren 
songs of a happy future. Roman Catholics escape 
the horrors of their hell, however wicked they may 
be, if they die in the pale of the church, by the 
purgatorial fires of Limbo; Protestantism is build-
ing up a similar "half-way house" for its faith-
ful ( ? ) ; while modern Spiritualism sweeps in 
the whole mass. May God help the reader that 
when the eternal fiat may go forth, " He that 
is righteous, let him be righteous still ; and he 
that is holy, let him be holy still " (Rev. 22 : 11), 
he may be found among that class whose hopes are 
not based on the false and dreamy speculations of 
a future probation. 
IrtHE ISSIONARY, 
"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt Sad it after many 
days."—EooL 11: 1. 
WAITING. 
1 AM waiting for the dawning 
Of the bright and blessed day, 
When the darksome night of sorrow 
Shall have vanished far away; 
When forever with the Saviour, 
Far beyond the gloom of tears, 
I shall swell the songs of worship 
Through the everlasting years. 
I am looking at the brightness— 
See, it shineth from afar— 
Of the clear and joyous beaming 
Of the " bright and morning star," 
Through the dark gray mists of morning 
Do I see its glorious light; 
Soon shall flee the darkest shadow 
Of this sad and weary night. 
I am waiting for the coming 
Of the Lord who died for me ; 
Oh I His words have filled my spirit, 
" I will come again for thee," 
I can almost hear his footfall 
On the threshold of the door, 
And my heart, my heart is longing 
To be his for evermore. �
—Selected.. 
THE REFORMATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.. 
ENGLAND SEVERED FROM THE PAPACY. 
SOME eighteen years after his marriage with. 
Catherine, the doubts which Henry VIII. at first 
entertained in regard to the validity of his marriage 
revived, and he sought to dissolve the connection. 
These doubts appear to have been strengthened 
by his desire for a younger and more beautiful 
queen, Catherine being many years his senior. 
Wolsey was very ready to encourage the king, be-
cause he knew that the dissolution of the marriage 
would create an irreparable breach between Henry 
VIII. and Charles V., Catherine's nephew, whom he 
could not forgive for his disappointment in being 
deprived of the papal chair. He therefore under-
took to procure a divorce from the Pope, who being 
a prisoner in the hands of Charles V. feared to 
displease him by casting dishonor upon a member 
of his family. When Wolsey learned, however,. 
that King Henry, on obtaining a divorce, designed 
to marry Anne Boleyn, one who favored the reform-
ers, he permitted the business of the divorce to 
languish. By this course he incurred the wrath of 
the king, was commanded to resign the great seal, 
and at length died under arrest in November, 1530.. 
The death of Wolsey seems to have severed the 
last tie that bound Henry VIII. to Rome, and pre-
pared the way for steps to be taken that would 
free England from the papal power. In 1532, " a 
law was passed which prohibited the payment of 
firstfruits to the Pope, and decreed that any cen-
sure which might emanate from the court of Rome, 
on account of such prohibition, should be disre-
garded. In like manner appeals to Rome in causes • 
of matrimony, divorces, wills and other suits 
cognizable in ecclesiastical courts were forbidden, 
while the oath of canonical obedience to the 
supreme Pontiff, which the bishops had been in the 
habit of taking, was declared incompatible with the 
duty which they owed as subjects to the crown of 
England." "Allegiance to the see of Rotne was 
renounced both by the king and the people, and 
both king and people were threatened with the 
pains of excommunication." In 1533 the king was 
married to Anne Boleyn, and a court was opened 
to consider the validity of his previous marriage, 
which was pronounced by Cranmer, Wolsey's 
successor, to be " contrary to the will of God," and 
hence " null and void." 
In January, 1584, " Parliament gave a death 
blow to the supremacy of the Pope. They enacted 
that, the authority of the Bishop of Rome being 
opposed to Holy Scripture and the laws of the 
realm, the words and acts that were contrary to 
the decisions of the Pontiff could not be regarded 
as heresies. Thomas Philips, who had been in 
prison three years under a charge of heresy, was 
set at liberty. The Commons restored to England 
the right of which Rome had despoiled her. in 
reference to appeals and the election of bishops. 
Parliament forbade everybody, even the king him-
self, to apply to " Rome for any dispensation or 
delegation whatsoever, and formally ratified the 
marriage between Henry and Anne."—Hist. Great 
Reformation. 
In the month of March following, the Pope 
summoned the consistory who decreed that the 
marriage between Henry VIII. and Catherine was 
"valid and canonical," and thus the king of Eng-
land was condemned by the court of Rome. In 
the meantime, Henry had dispatched envoys to 
Rome bearing an act in which the king "declared 
himself prepared to enter into an arrangement 
with the Pope." Fortunately for the cause of 
Protestantism, these envoys did not reach Rome 
till two days after the king had been condemned 
by the consistory. On learning of this, a mes-
senger was sent to the king to receive further 
orders. 
The historian says : " When the king of Eng-
land received his ambassadors' message, he could 
hardly restrain his anger. National pride arrayed 
the people on the king's side. Henry no longer 
hesitated ; his offended honor demanded reparation ; 
a complete rupture alone could satisfy it. He 
wrote a treatise entitled, ' On the power of Chris-
tian kings over their churches, against the tyranny 
and horrible impiety of the Pope.' Parliament, the 
privy council, the people, and even the clergy, de-
clared against Rome. By a vote of thirty-three to 
four, the lower house of Convocation, on the 31st of 
March, decided that the Roman Pontiff had in 
England, according to the Scriptures, no higher 
jurisdiction than any other foreign bishop. The 
friends of the gospel were filled with joy."—Hiat. 
Great Reformation. 
Some three months later, the king announced 
himself "supreme head of the church of England," 
and gave orders that the Word of the Lord should be 
preached, and that the name of the Bishop of Rome 
should no more be remembered. This decree did not 
arise from any leaning towards Protestantism on 
the part of the king, but from his ambition and de-
sire to be revenged on the Pope. He was still a 
bigot to the doctrines of Rome, and the reading 
of the Scriptures was for a while prohibited. He 
" proceeded with indiscriminating fury against both 
Lutherans and papists. The former he condemned 
to the flames as heretics, because they presumed to 
deny the truth of doctrines which he professed ; 
the latter died upon the scaffold as traitors, be- 
cause they refused to admit his supremacy." Sir 
'Thomas More and Bishop Fisher are examples of 
devoted papists who suffered martyrdom at his 
hand. "In less than two years, six hundred and 
forty-five monastic establishments were over- 
thrown of which twenty-eight had been governed 
by abbots possessing seats in the upper house of 
Parliament. Nor were colleges, chantries, free 
chapels, or even hospitals spared. One common 
ruin overtook the whole, out of which an annual 
revenue, estimated at one-twentieth part of the 
national income was rendered available for the-
service of the State." The spoils of these were- 
142 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
not dedicated to the spread of the gospel, but were 
distributed afnong the king's favorites. 
Cranmer, primate at this time, and Queen 
Anne were both Protestants, and sought to aid the 
work of reform. The king was much annoyed 
that she should oppose his wishes by favoring the 
circulation of the Scriptures ; but Cranmer, who 
bent at times beneath the sceptre of the Tudor, 
sought to give the Bible to the laity. He pro-
posed that the Scriptures should be translated into 
English and be circulated among the people. The 
king assented " upon condition that the bishops 
should henceforth recognize the Pope as merely 
bishop of Rome." Overjoyed at his success, Cran-
mer said, " If we possess the Holy Scriptures, we 
have at hand a remedy for every disease." How 
true England at last was permitted to enjoy the 
basis of all true reform,-the lamp which has 
guided benighted souls in all ages to light an d 
peace, the balm offered by the great Physician to 
the weary, sin-sick heart. 
Little did those upon the stage of action during 
this reign realize that God was using their sover-
eign to further his own merciful design toward 
our nation, that to this end even the vices of the 
king were made subservient-; but, had the king re-
mained faithful to Catherine, it is doubtful whether 
England would have separated from the papacy, 
and the word of God have been given to the 
people in the reign of Henry VIII. �
J. T. 
THE CAUSE AT LARGE. 
As IN the past, we have much cause to be grateful 
for the spread of the third angel's message in 
different parts of the world. The work in this 
country is surely advancing, as will be seen from 
the reports of laborers. Some have accepted the 
truth through their efforts, and many have been 
enlightened. Many cheering responses have been 
received from the publications sent out to different 
parts of the Empire ; and we expect ere long to 
see them bear fruit which will be reaped when the 
Master shall come. 
On the Continent, the work is also advancing. 
A large publishing house is being built at B41e, 
Switzerland, for Central Europe, which will be 
ready for use in a few months. The publishing 
work is enlarging in the Scandinavian countries. 
A new publishing house will be built there the 
coming season. Our ministers laboring in the 
different countries are much encouraged in seeing 
souls turn from the darkness and superstition of 
the past centuries to the light of God's truth. 
A new corps of laborers have gone to the Sand-
wich Islands, and another expects soon to leave for 
Australia. 
In America the friends of the work have great 
cause for encouragement. While they have sacri-
ficed much, labored earnestly, they have been re-
warded by seeing souls converted to God. At 
South Lancaster, Mass., a fine academy was dedi-
cated last month under favorable auspices for its 
future success. Camp-meetings have been held 
in several States, which as usual have been seasons 
of great refreshing, and a good work has been done 
by them. The twenty-third annual session of the 
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 
began its sittings October 31, as noticed in our last. 
All State and division conferences and foreign 
missions were well represented. Full reports of 
the business done have not yet reached us, and it 
will be impossible for us to give but a few particu-
lars of the work done. Cheering reports were given 
by the delegates from all parts of the field. Many 
thousands of dollars have been raised during the 
past year, for both foreign and local missions. 
Additional laborers are to be sent to mission fields, 
among whom are Elds. S. H. Lane and R. F. 
Andrews, whom we gladly welcome to this Empire. 
The work of the Battle Creek College has been 
excellent. The President states that last year it sent 
out more than one hundred active workers in the 
cause. Our central publishing house and Sanitarium 
have enlarged their facilities by the addition of 
fine, suitable buildings. From the somewhat 
lengthy statistical report of missionary labor, we 
extract the following items : Number of members. 
added, 1,092 ; missionary visits made, 103,506 ; 
letters written, 36,398; subscribers for periodicals, 
44,689; number of pages of publications distributed, 
9,978,520 ; number of periodicals distributed, 
1,921,920 ; wholesale value of publications sold, 
£140,091 ; received on donations to the Society, 
17,850 ; amount pledged to various enterprises, 
£31,060. The spiritual interests of the Conference 
all reports say were excellent. May God bless his 
work the coming year, and give those who are 
laboring therein an unction from on high. 
SWITZERLAND. 
SINCE my return from Roumania, the first of 
OctBber, I have held interesting meetings among 
our churches in Switzerland. In every place, I 
enjoyed much freedom in speaking the word, and 
God greatly blessed the friends of present truth 
who took part in the social meetings. We also 
enjoyed blessed seasons in celebrating the ordi-
nances of the Lord's house. About twenty persons 
have quite recently embraced the Sabbath of the 
fourth commandment; eleven have been baptized, 
and next Sabbath I expect to baptize several more 
new converts to the faith. Thus it is seen that the 
cause of truth is making rapid progress. Truly 
God has set his hand to the work, and he will carry 
it on most gloriously. 
November 19. �
A. C. BOURDEAU. 
WIL.\"1.\WOMWCIMW\IWOhn.WIL.\WOMMICIWIIMMIalk,• 
11B8ABBATHSCHOOL 
"And thou shalt teach them dillgently."-Dent. 6: 7. 
LESSON XXXI. 
(For Second Sabbath in January.) 
REVIEW. 
1. How did the Lord continually manifest his pres-
ence ? Ex. 40 : 38. 
2. How did the Israelites know when to journey 
and when to remain in camp ? Ex. 40 : 36, 37. 
3. Who ministered in the sanctuary? Ex. 28 : 1; 
Num. 3 : 10. 
4. Who were appointed to wait on the priests and 
to do the service of the tabernacle ? Num. 3 : 5-9. 
5. Give the names of the sons of Levi. Num. 3 : 
17. 
6. Of what did the Gershonites take charge ? 
Verses 25, 26. The Kohathites ? Verse 31. The 
Merarites ? Verses 36, 37. 
7. What did Moses give to the Gershonites to help 
them in transporting the curtains, etc., from one place 
to another ? Num. 7 : 6, 7. 
8. What did he give to the Merarites to assist them 
in removing the boards, pillars, etc. ? Verse 8. 
9. Why did he not give any oxen or wagons to the 
Kohathites ? Verse 9. 
10. What did they bear upon their shoulders ? 
11. What precaution was taken in order that the 
Kohathites should neither see nor touch the sacred 
vessels of the sanctuary which they were to carry 1 
Num. 4 : 5-20. 
12. What would have been the consequence if they 
had touched or looked at these holy vessels ? Num. 
4 : 15, 20. 
13. Did any one ever suffer death for touching any 
of these sacred things ? 1 Chron. 13: 9, 10. 
14. How many of the men of Beth-shemesh were 
smitten because they had looked into the ark of the 
Lord ? 1 Sam. 6 : 19. 
15. What other incidents can you give from the 
Bible to show that the Lord requires the most exact 
obedience ? 
• 
LESSON XXXII. 
( For Third Sabbath in January.) 
HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE. 
1. WHERE did they set up the tabernacle in the 
land of Canaan ? Joshua 18 : 1. 
2. Was it still known as the sanctuary of the Lord ? 
Joshua 24 : 26. 
3. By what other names. was it known ? Joshua 
22 : 19 ; Judges 18: 31; 1 Sam 1: 7 ; 3 : 3. 
4. Where was it' located in the days of Sau ? 
1 Sam. 21 : 6. 
.5. Where was it in the time of king David? 
1 Chron. 21 : 29. 
6. Whore was it in the days of Solomon ? 2 Chron. 
1 : 3. 
7. Did the ark of the testimony remain in the taber-
nacle all this time? 1 Sam. 4 : 5, 6. 
8. On what occasion, and for what purpose, was the 
ark taken out of the sanctuary ? 1 Sam. 4 : 3. 
9. What was the result of the battle ? Verse 2. 
10. What did the Philistines do with the ark of 
God ? 1 Sam. 5 : 1, 2. 
11. What befell their god Dagon in consequence ? 
Verses 3, 4. 
12. What was the consequence to the people where-
ever the Philistines carried the ark ? 1 Sam. 5 : 6-9. 
13. How long did the ark remain in Philistia ? 
1 Sam. 6 : 1. 
14. To what place did they send it ? 1 Sam. 6 : 
10-13. 
15. To what place was it next taken? Verses 20, 
21 ; Chap. 7 : 1. 
16. How long did it remain there ? Verse 2. 
17. To what place was it next removed ? 2 Sam. 
6 : 3-10. 
18. How long did it remain there ? Verse 11. 
19. What was then done with it ? 2 Sam. 6 : 12-
17 ; 2 Chron. 1 : 4. 
LESSON XXXIII. 
(For Fourth Sabbath in January.) 
DAVID DESIRES TO BUILD A SANCTUARY. 
1. WHO had it in his heart to build a sanctuary to 
take the place of the tabernacle that Moses built ? 
1 Chron. 22: 7. 
2. To whom was this desire expressed? 2 Sam. 
7: 2. 
3. When did David say this ? Verse 1. 
4. What answer did the prophet make? Verse 3. 
5. What did the Lord afterwards instruct Nathan 
to say to David ? 1 Chron. 17 : 3, 4. 
6. Why was not David permitted to build a sanct-
uary for the Lord ? 1 Chron. 22 : 8. 
7. Who was appointed of the Lord to build him a 
house? See 1 Chron. 22 : 7-10. 
8. What preparation did David make for the 
building of this house ? 1 Chron. 22 : 14. 
9. What was the value of the gold and silver that 
he had laid up? Ans. Not less than eight hundred 
and forty million pounds.* 
10. What charge did David give to the princes ? 
Repeat. 1 Chron. 22 : 19. 
11. What charge did he give to Solomon? Repeat 
1 Chron. 28: 9, 10. 
12. Where was the temple built ? 2 Chron. 3 : 1. 
13. What important events had transpired on the 
spot where the temple was built ? Gen. 22 : 1-18 : 
1 Chron. 21. 
14. How many men were employed in building it 
Ans. 184,600. 
15. How long was it in progress of construction ? 
1 Kings 6: 1, 38. 
LESSON XXXIV. 
( For Fifth Sabbath in January.) 
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. 
1. How large was the "house of the Lord" or 
sanctuary in the temple built by Solomon ? 1 Kings 
6 : 2. 
2. What were the dimensions of the porch ? 
Verse 3. 
3. How was the house built? Verse 7. 
4. How was it covered ? Verse 9. 
5. How was it built on the inside ? Verse 15. 
6. How was the cedar carved? Verse 18. 
7. How was the whole house overlaid ? Verses 
21, 22, 30. 
8. How was it ornamented ? 2 Chron. 3 : 6. 
9. What name is applied to the most holy place, in 
1 Kings 6 : 19 ? 
10. For what purpose was it made ? 
11. How large was it ? Verse 20; 2 Chron. 3 : 8. 
12. How much gold was used in overlaying this 
most holy place ? 2 Chron. 3 : 8. 
13. What was the value of this gold ? Ans. 
Nearly three million pounds. 
14. What did the most holy place contain ? 2 
Chron 5 : 7. 
15. What vessels and utensils did Solomon make to 
be used in the service of the temple ? 2 Chron. 4. 
16. What were the dimensions of the brazen altar 
for burnt offerings ? 2 Chron. 4 : 1. 
17. What were the dimensions of the molten sea ? 
Verse 2. 
18. How was it supported ? Verse 4. 
k
19. For what purpose was it made ? Verse 6. 
20. How much did it hold ? Verse : 5. 
21. How many lavers did he make ? Verse 6. 
*A person counting ten hours a day, and six days a week, 
at the rate of one a second, would have to count over ninety 
years to count such a sum of money. Some writers estimate 
the value of this gold and silver at over one billion two 
dyed million pounds. 
JANUARY, 1885. 
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
143 
22. How much did each contain ? 1 Kings 7 : 38. 
23. What purpose did they serve ? 2 Chron. 4 : 6. 
24. How many candlesticks were made ? Verse 7. 
25. Where were they set? 
26. How many tables where made ? Verse 8. 
27. Where were they put, and how arranged ? 
28. In what part of the temple were they put ? 
29. For what purpose were the tables used ? 
Verse 19. 
30. How many basins of gold were made ? 
31. Was there any altar of incense in the holy 
place ? Verse 19. 
32. What is it called in this place ? 
LESSON XXXV. 
(For First Sabbath in February.) 
DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 
1. AFTER all the work far the house of the Lord was 
finished, what did Solomon bring into it ? 2 Chron. 
5 : 1. 
2. What else was brought into the temple ? 
Verses 2-5. 
3. Where did they put the ark ? 2 Chron. Verse 7. 
4. What was in the ark at this time ? 1 Kings 8 : 9. 
5. What was the first act of worship ? 2 Chron. 5 : 
12, 13. 
6. By what sign did God then take possesion of the 
sanctuary ? Verses 13 and 14. 
7. What proof did the Lord give that he accepted 
the temple as his sanctuary ? Repeat 2 Chron. 7 : 1. 
8. Did he give in words any assurance of this ac-
ceptance ? 2 Chron. 7 : 12, 16. 
9. Did the Lord give special directions in regard to 
the manner in which this sanctuary was to bo built? 
1 Chron. 28: 11-13, 19. 
10. Of what was it a resemblance ? Wisdom of 
Solomon 9 : 8. 
11. Is this temple called the sanctuary ? 2 Chron. 
26 : 16-18. 
12. How long did the Lord say he would put his 
name in this sanctuary ? 1 Kings 9 : 3. 
13. What were the conditions of this promise? 
Verse 4. 
14. What consequences were predicted if Solomon 
and his decendants should not keep the command-
ments of God ? Verses 6-9. 
NOTES ON THE LESSONS. 
LESSON XXXI. 
1 SAM. 6 : 19. Fifty thousand and threescore 
.and ten men.-This translation seems evidently 
wrong, and is caused by a transposition of the words. 
As Beth-shemesh was but a small village, it is improb-
able, that it should contain as many inhabitants as 
are here mentioned to be slain. The interpretation 
of Bochart is far more reasonable, He smote threescore 
and ten men, fifty out of a thousand : meaning that 
God was so indulgent as not to slay all that were 
guilty, but only seventy of them.-Bp. Patrick. 
Josephus says seventy men. The addition of a single 
letter, which may have been omitted, would make 
the passage read : " And he smote of the people 
seventy men, equal to fifty thousand men; " that is, 
they were the elders or governors of the people.-
Clarke. The passage is very difficult, but these are 
the most plausible interpretations. 
LESSON XXXII. 
1 SAM. 7: 2. For it was twenty years.-This 
is not to be understood of the whole time that the 
ark remained there ; for it continued in this place till 
the time of David, 2 Sam. 6 : 3, about forty-six years. 
'Thus the expression, "it was twenty years," refers to 
;the time when " the house of Israel lamented after 
ithe Lord,"-Bp. Patrick. 
LESSON XXXIV 
1 KINGS 6: 2. And the length thereof was 
threescore cubits.-It is the opinion of Bp. Cum-
berland and Dr. Clarke, and others, that the sacred 
kubit was here used, which measures nearly 1 foot 
10 inches. This would make the temple about 110 
feet long, 36 wide, and 55 high. Others believe the 
common cubit to have been used measuring one foot 
and six inches. 
LESSON XXXV. 
1 KINGS 8 : 9. There was nothing in the ark 
save the two tables of stone.-See notes on Les-
son xxi. in PRESENT TRUTH No. 6. 
QUESTION 9. The passage referred to, in " Wisdom 
of Solomon," reads thus : " Thou hast commanded 
me to build a temple upon thy holy mount, and an 
altar in the city wherein thou dwejlest, a resemblance 
of the holy tabernacle, which thou hest prepared 
from the beginning." This is in harmony with the 
words of the apostle in Heb. 8 : 5, and 9 : 24. 
PTERES TOW trEMS„ 
-The total number of 'ship-wrecks for the year up 
to Nov. 15, was 1,335. 
-At the marriage of Miss Astor, in New York, the 
presents were valued at £50,000, the bride's necklace 
alone costing £15,000. 
-The dynamite outrage at Edenburn, County Kerry, 
Ireland, has been the cause of much excitment. Its 
perpetrator is unknown. 
-There has been a terrible outbreak of trichinosis 
in St. Andreasberg, a little town in the Hartz Moun-
tains, the centre of the canary bird business. 
-The monument to the memory of George Washing-
ton, at Washington, U. S. A., now finished, is 550 
feet high, the highest structure in the world. 
-A fatal epidemic has been raging in Viginia and 
Kentucky, which is supposed to have been caused by 
drinking impure water. It is reported that as many 
as 2,000 persons have died. 
-A three-master, the Pochard, bound from Cork to 
Liverpool, sunk in a squall Dec. 7. Crew of 23 all 
lost.-Steamer Alliance wrecked off Cornwall coast 
Dec. 5. All hands 16, supposed to be lost. 
-Many outrages have been committed on Christians 
by Chinese mobs. In one province, four Catholic and 
five Protestant churches have been destroyed. 
Priests have been beaten and women ravished. 
-At Wolverhampton, a woman has been sentenced 
to three months' hard labor for telling fortunes. Ono 
of her victims (a woman) had a serious quarrel with 
her husband, and another (a young girl) committed 
suicide. 
-An inquest has been held on the little child which 
was buried alive near Belfast, and for which the 
parents stand charged with murder. The doctor 
stated that the child's death was caused by the im-
pure air it inhaled during the time it was in the coffin. 
The child, it will be remembered, was still alive when 
the coffin had been exhumed. 
-Along the Russian frontier for a distance of 200 
miles European engineers are constructing for the 
Chinese Government fortresses on the newest model. 
The reiterated complaints of robberies by the Chinese 
are disregarded at Pekin. When the Russian author-
ities protest, they either receive no answer or an in-
sulting one.-Daily News, Dec. 2. 
-Hitherto Chinese robbers making incursions into 
the Amour country and taken by the Russian police 
have been delivered to the Chinese authorities to be 
punished, but notoriously they were always released 
directly. Now the Government has decided that such 
offenders shall be dealt with by the Russian laws, 
The Chinese authorities are much exasperated. 
-MELBOURNE, Nov. 14.-The British Protectorate 
over all the southern coasts of New Guinea to the 
eastward of the 141st meridian of east longitude was 
proclaimed in New Guinea on Dec. 9, with great 
ceremony by the Commodore of the Australian sta-
tion. Fifty native chiefs were present, and five 
British war vessels lay off the shore. 
-A Dutch lugger was wrecked Oct. 28, off the 
Yorkshire coast. Only two out of a crew of fifteen 
being saved. These were rescued by the smack 
General Wolseley of Grimsby, after having clung to 
the stemhead, the only part above water, two days 
and nights. One poor fellow had become insane, and 
refusing to be rescued, plunged into the sea, and was 
drowned. The courage of the rescuers was highly 
praiseworthy. 
-During the months of July, August, and Septem-
ber, there were killed by lightning in the British Isles 
35 persons ; injured, 91. Outside of these killed and 
injured, the damage done is somewhere from £10,000 
to £30,000. There have been struck 20 churches, 112 
houses, 10 cottages, 12 barns and sheds, 11 factories, 
42 chimney stacks, 32 ricks. The News thinks that 
this summer " has been exceptionally disastrous." 
Nearly all the damage was done in four or five days. 
-The poor " sick man " of the East, Turkey, is 
having trouble with his army. Soldiers have mutined 
because of arrears in pay. Many Albanian chiefs have 
been arrested under the belief that they are taking 
measures to declare for annexation to Greece. 
Throughout the Empire there is general dissatisfac-
tion at the order to send all the taxes to the capital to 
meet pressing wants, and to leave the public servants 
unpaid. Many replies have come in that anarchy and 
something worse will be the result. 
-CINCINNATI, Oct. 31.-The Synod of the Ohio 
Presbyterian Church, in session here, has adopted the 
report of the Standing Committee on observance of 
the Sabbath and Temperance, in whieh the following 
resolution occurs : " That the increased desecration of 
the Sabbath calls for prayer and for united and vigorous 
effort on the part of all good and law-abiding citizens tq 
secure a faithful observance of that sacred day, the 
great end to be attained being the sacredness of the 
Sabbath and the entire prohibition of the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquors as beverages." By 
Sabbath is here meant Sunday, but where is its 
" sacredness " ? 
-Cardinal Manning, says the Christian Leader, 
"refuses to appear any more on the alliance platform 
until Sir Wilfrid Lawson apologises for having, at a 
recent demonstration against the House of Lords, 
alluded to the superstitious pilgrimage by the Duke of 
Norfolk to a holy well to obtain the cure of his child's 
blindness." We wonder if he will do so. 
-St. John, the prohibition candidate for the presi-
dency of the United States, was burned in effigy on the 
streets of Ottawa and Sterling, Kansas, on the evening 
of Nov. 8, and by the students of the University at 
Syracuse, N. Y. on the evening of Nov. 11. Students 
of Syracuse University, controlled by the M. E. 
denomination, burning in effigy the moral candidate of 
a moral party because his following caused the defeat 
of a political trickster and jobber ! Consistency, thou 
art a jewel ! 
-Duluth a mining town in Colorado, U. S. A, 
burned Nov. 6, Loss 190,000 dollars, also several lives. 
It is supposed to be done through revenge.-Eight 
wreckers were drowned off Pictou Island, near Nova 
Scotia, Nov. 17.-Railway accident in Hanau, Ger-
many, Nov. 14, resulted in the death of 12 and injur-
ing of 20. Cause, carelessness of officials.-Nov. 27, 
the screw-steamer Durango was run into by the iron 
barque Luke Bruce of Liverpool, in the English 
Channel, and sank, the crow of 20 hands being 
lost. The Durango was the property of Messrs. R. W. 
Jones and Co Newport (Monmouth), and was charted 
to carry rails from Dunkirk to Genoa.-In the great 
storm of Sept. 15, in Japan, the entire city of Yoko-
hama way completely wrecked. Fifty-three vessels 
were lost and 12 missing. Over 350 persons were 
killed or drowned. 
-The Daily News gives the result of the German 
elections as follows : " The sixth Reichstag of the 
German Empire will be opened next Thursday by the 
Emperor William in person. The results of all the 
elections being known now it is at last possible to 
form an estimate of the composition of the new German 
Parliament. The following figures give the present 
strength of the different parties as compared with the 
last Reichstag. Conservatives 72, gain 20; Free 
Conservatives 29, gain 5 ; Ultramontanes 100, gain 
2 ; National Liberals 54, gain 9 ; German Liberals 
68, loss 32 ; South German Democrats 7, loss 2 ; 
Social Democrats 24, gain 11; Poles 16, loss 2 ; 
Danes 1, loss 1; Guelphs 8, and Alsatians 15, both 
remaining unchanged. The most conspicuous results 
of the recent elections are therefore the heavy losses 
of the German Liberals, who have lost one-third their 
seats, and the great increase of the Social Demo-
crats who have nearly doubled their number." 
VEGETARIAN ALMANAC.-This little annual for 1885, 
(published by Mr. J. S. Herron, 29 High Street, 
Belfast), is, we should judge, well up to the mark, 
and is an able exponent of the principles of Vege-
tarianism. It contains some fine illustrations and 
much that is useful and instructive. 
�
VIM\ �
 
Publication List. 
THE following Periodicals and Publications will be 
sent Post Free, from the Depository at 72 Heneage 
Street, Great Grimsby, at the prices given :- 
Good Health. An Atherican monthly journal of 
Hygiene, devoted to Physical, Mental and Moral 
Culture, Homo Topics, Choice General Literature, 
Science, Practical Suggestions for the Household, 
News and Miscellany. Each number illustrated. 32 
pp. with cover. 4s. per year, or 4d. per number. 
SABBATH TRACTS. 
Assorted Package No. 1. Price, 5d. 
Which Day Do You Keep, and Why-Who Changed 
the Sabbath-The Sabbath in the New Testament-
Elihu on the Sabbath-Definite Seventh Day-Sunday 
Not the Sabbath-Why Not Found Out Before-One 
Hundred Bible Facts About the Sabbath. 
Assorted Package No. 2. Price, is. 
This package contains all the tracts in package No. 1, 
and the following in addition :- 
Seven Reasons for Sunday-keeping Examined-The 
Ten Commandments Not Abolished-The Seventh 
Part of Time-The Lost Time Question-Perfection 
of the Ten Commandments-Address to the Baptists 
-The Law and the Gospel-The Old Moral Code not 
Revised. 
SABBATH PAMPHLETS. 
Eleven Sermons on the Sabbath and Law. 
By J. N. Andrews. 226 pp �
1 s. 
The Truth Found. The Nature and Obligation 
of the Sabbath. By J. H. Waggoner. 64 pp �
5d. 
MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS. 
Assorted Package No. 6. Price, is. 
The Plan of Redemption-The Sufferings of Christ 
-The Sanctuary of the Bible-Scripture References-, 
The Spirit of Prophecy-Spiritualism a Satanic Delu-
sion-Samuel and the Witch of Endor-The End of 
the Wicked-The Two Thrones. 
144 �
THE PRESENT TRUTH. �
VoL. 1, No. 9. 
THE PRESENT TRUTH. 
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be."—Rev. 22: 12. 
GREAT GRIMSBY, JANUARY, 1885. 
CONTENTS. 
[Tin signature of all original articles will be in SMALL CAP. 
ITALS ; selected articles will be in rtau.,s. Credit will always 
be given when the source is known. Articles from the associ-
ate, and corresponding Editors will be signed by their initials. 
Articles without signature will be understood as coming from 
the resident Editor.] 
Poetry. �
Page. 
The New Year u. , 
�
129 
The Hidden Meaning, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, . �
129 
True Living, H. Boner, �
 133 
Mother's Work, Philadelphia Sunday Republic, . �
134 
Waiting, Selected, �
 141 
General Articles. 
Bible Sanctification. No. 8, Mss. E. G. WRITE, . �
129
130 
The Sanctuary and 2,300 Days, J. N. ANDREWS, 
Bible Conversion, D. T. Bausessr, . �. 131 
Spiritual Darkness, J. H. DUELAND, . �. 132 
Blow Ye the Trumpet, H. JUDD, �
 132 
Selection. 
Letters to Archbishop Hughes, Kirwan, �
133 
Temperance. 
Dr. Dodd's Sermon on Malt, Selected, . 
Fireside Readings. 
More Blessed to Give than to Receive, 7'. S. Arthur, 134 
Princesses Peeling Potatoes, Good Cheer, . �
. 135 
Editorial. 
Happy New Year,—Right Principles, �
138 
Spiritualism, u s., �
 138 
Christ's Death Not the Atonement, .T. M. w., �137 
The Sermon. 
Present Truth, D. M. CANRIGMT, �
. �
138 
The Watch-Tower. 
Compare Them �
 140 
Words of Trath, �
 140 
Religious Gambling, �
 140 
The Theological Trend, �
 141 
The Missionary. 
�
The Reformation in Great Britain, a. T., 
 141 
The Cause at Large, �
 142 
Switzerland, A. C. B., �
,, �
... �
. 
142 
The Sabbath School. 
�
Lessons 31, 32, 33, 34, 95, G. H. Bell, 
 142 
Notes on the Lessons, �
 143 
Interesting Items. �
143 
Editorial Notes. �
144 
Those correspondents who expect their 
communications to be noticed in this journal, or by 
letter, must give their name. If the communica-
tion is noticed in the paper, the name will not be 
made public unless desired. 
JI:=° November 16, I had.the pleasure of meet-
ing with one of the Baptist Life and Advent con-
gregations at Lincoln, and speaking to them twice, 
in their neat new chapel, on the importance, relia-
bility, and clearness of prophecy, and the great 
present truths God has at different times given to 
the world, and the greater present truth relative to 
the near coming of our Lord. I was hospitably 
entertained by Mr. Cottam, and by Mr. White the 
pastor. The visit to the old cathedral city will be 
remembered with pleasure, and the prayer is fer-
vently offered that those who have had courage to 
step out on some of the unpopular truths of the 
Bible may be led into all truth and be found among 
that "righteous nation that keepeth the truth" 
"in that day." �
THE EDITOR. 
4 �
 
f" The Christian Leader of November 20 has 
the following notice of our journal : "The Seventh-
day Adventist Society have started an International 
monthly journal, THE PRESENT TRUTH, Which is 
published at their tract depository at Great 
Grimsby, in Yorkshire." 
We are thankful for the notice, but it is a little 
misleading in two respects. 1. Great Grimsby 
is not in Yorkshire, but Lincolnshire. 2. The 
language would seem to imply that this is the first 
journal of the kind published by the S. D. Ad-
ventists, whereas they are publishing eight religious 
periodicals in the various languages of Continenta 
Europe and three in English, besides two health 
magazines and one educational. The average 
number of copies circulated by them the past year 
was more than 225,000 per month. 
AN INSTANCE. 
IT is stated in another column in the article on 
" Spiritualism," that the doctrine is now assuming 
a religious garb, instead of that of scoffing infidelity, 
that it may the more easily deceive the unwary. 
As an instance of this, and a fulfillment of Matt. 
24 : 26, we append a few verses from a poem in the 
Spiritualist journal, Light, of August 9, entitled, 
" Musings on the Opened Door, or the Second 
Advent, by Lily," one of the principal contribu-
tors to that journal. The rhythm is musical and 
flowing, and to one not grounded in the Word it is 
well calculated to deceive. Says our Saviour, "if 
they shall say unto you, Behold, . . . He 
[Christ] is in the secret chambers, believe it not." 
Those who heed these warnings will not be deceived 
by the subtle, delusive casuistry of Spiritualism. 
Instead of " only the way to the happier shore," it 
is the way to the "blackness of darkness." Here 
is a sample of the new theology 
" Once more sent down, on a mission high, 
By His Father, the God of Love, 
In His Second Advent we well descry 
The answer to His poor children's cry, 
Of `light, more light from above.' 
" And lo I His messengers fill the air, 
With the echo of news divine ; 
There is room for all in our mansions fair, 
Then upwards and onwards, press ye there, 
In our Father's halls to shine. 
" ` For we are those who have gone before, 
And have come to ye now again, 
To show ye we live, and that death is o'er, 
'Tis only the way to the happier shore, 
To freedom from sorrow and pain.' " 
"THOU THOUGHTEST." 
NOT long since, we heard a local preacher, or at 
least a prominent worker in the Wesleyan society, 
state in substance that Jesus kept the seventh-day 
Sabbath because the majority did, and that he 
would have kept any other providing it had been 
kept by the mass, and ridiculed his example in this 
respect by comparing it with the occupation Christ 
followed the forepart of his life, the clothes he 
wore, etc. He scouted the idea that God was par-
ticular in this respect. 
We would not notice it for the sake of the indi-
vidual who gave utterance to the thought, but for 
the fact that the sentiments were loudly applauded. 
Now we have been simple enough to believe that 
the ten commandments were moral or ethical in 
their nature, that they enjoin moral duties obliga-
tory upon Omen. We believed that the Methodist 
discipline was right when it declared, " No Christian 
whatsoever is free from the obedience of the com-
mandments that are called moral." We had sup-
posed that when our Saviour said he kept his 
Father's commandments (John 15 : 10), he meant 
what he said ; and that in his life he exemplified 
the perfect morality that is found in God's law. 
We read (1 John 3-4) that transgression of the law 
is sin. And many instances God has given us of 
how particular he is to vindicate his requirements. 
And we believe all this has been done contrary to 
the public opinion of the majority of men. 
These utterances are but an additional evidence 
of the near coming of the Master, who will mete 
out judgment to every man according to his works, 
which works will be measured by the rule, standard, 
or law, that God has given. Says the Lord, " Thou 
thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as 
thyself : but I will reprove thee, and set them in 
order before thine eyes. Now consider this." Ps. 
50 : 21, 22. Yes ; dear reader, God will surely pun-
ish sin. He is very jealous of his honor and the 
dignity of his law. Turn to him, cleave to his 
word ; and though his professed servants teach 
contrary, do not be turned aside or wonder ; for it 
will not be the first time that Jesus and the truth 
have been wounded. in the house of his " friends." 
HOW WOULD WESLEY VIEW IT? 
[THE following by no means extreme case well 
illustrates the commingling of the sacred and pro-
fane so prevalent in these days. In fact, it is 
a very " mild " case compared with many of like 
character. And the query forces itself upon our 
mind, if the following is the way it is regarded 
by a newspaper never particularly noted for its high 
moral tone, how would Wesley view it, were he 
now living 2 How does the Lord view it 2] 
Atlantic Highlands was on Wednesday last the 
scene of one of the most extraordinary picnics on 
record. A large Methodist Church hired a steamboat 
and took nearly 2,000 persons to the grove, one of the 
chief attractions being the announcement that twenty 
or thirty infants would be baptized. The " infants 
were present according to contract, most of them 
being babies in arms, but some being from four to 
thirteen years of age. The baptismal services were 
held in the open air auditorium, where an immense 
crowd was gathered. The picnic element of hilarity 
pervaded the place and the people, to such an extent 
as to take away the solemnity of the sacred ordinance, 
and to reduce it to the level of a rare spectacular per-
formance. As the children were passed up to the 
minister to be sprinkled with baptismal water, semi-
jocose remarks were uttered, not at all calculated to 
impress the ungodly. The opinion was expressed by 
most of the discreet persons who witnessed the show, 
that although baptism and steamboat picnics are both 
good things in proper time and place, yet the two 
have nothing sufficiently in common to warrant their 
partnership.—N. Y. Sun. 
THE ATONEMENT. 
" THE Atonement in the Light of Nature and 
Revelation " is the title of a new work by Eld. J. 
H. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times, 
Oakland, California, and corresponding editor of 
this journal. The author's argument on the 
" Atonement in the Light of Nature " is unanswer-
able. Eminent jurists declare that the positions 
are well and safely taken. It is conclusively shown 
that forgiveness of sin does not lead to license, but 
that God can "be just and the justifier of him that 
believeth in Jesus." A better idea of its scope can 
be gained by glancing at the headings of its chap-
ters. They are as follows : Comparison of Nature 
and Morality—The Moral System—Requirements 
of the Moral System—Principles of the Divine 
Government—Sin and its Penalty—Justification 
and Obedience—Death of Christ Vicarious—Tht 
Son of God Died—Doctrine of a Trinity subversive 
to the Atonement—What the Atonement Is—The 
Judgment—The Scapegoat—The Kingdom of 
Christ—Redemption—Conclusion, with two appen-
dixes, the former of which appears in the present 
number under the title "Christ's Death not the 
Atonement." 
The work must be read to, be appreciated, and it 
is one which every true lover of the principles of 
Divine government will welcome. The book is 
neatly bound in muslin with gilt back and side 
titles. 368 pp. Price 4s., post free. Address, 
International Book and Tract Depository, 72 
Heneage Street, Great Grimsby. 
THE PRESENT TRUTH, 
PUBLISHED BY 
The Seventh-day Adventist Society. 
COMMITTEE: 
M. C. WILCOX, A. A. JOHN, J. H. DUBLAND. 
A Sixteen-page Religious Journal, devoted to the Ex-
position of the Prophecies ; the Consideration of the 
Signs of the Times, Second Advent of Christ, Relation 
of the Law and Gospel, and other great Bible Truths; 
and Inculcating Christian Temperance, Bible Conver-
sion, Holiness of Heart, and Purity of Life. 
TERMS : 20. ed. a Year, 12 Numbers, Post Free. For 
Terms in Clubs of Five and Upwards, to be Used in the MU_ 
sionary Work, Address, THE PRESENT TRUTH, 
72 Heneage Street, Great Grimsby, England. 
Printed by the Grimsby News Co. (Limited), 85 Victoria 
Street, for the Passim Tit= Publishing Committee, 72 Hen. 
cage Street, Great Grimsby. 
. . 134