{mmsTTAN
SPIItATION,
thousand generations cannot ex­
Letter from India.
“It does not lie along the track haust the riches of Scripture. w It is
r
of Biblical teaching that we should the one book which cannot wear
B ombay , I ndia .,
out,
which
is
the
same
everywhere
allow’ to the prophets, Apostles and
Feb. 14, 1884.
and
at
all
tjmes,
which
is
independ-
olden saints of God any monopoly
Bro. J. F. Floyd:
ent of race, of climate, of condition,
of inspiration.”
Your letter, dated some three
These w’ords are taken from a indeed of all conceivable circum­ montns since, was received Jan.
sermon recently printed by an or­ stances, being God’s book for man 2nd. On the envelope which lies
thodox divine, or rather.a divine as man.
before me I ceiyit thirteen post­
-r-'It
is
then
strictly
a
monopoly'.
belonging to an orthodox church.
marks, indicating the long journey
Nothing p.l.sft has thft ^ret TU il .
-
monplace or else shockingly erron­ God speaks as he speaks or nas
It is a source of satisfaction to
eous. If inspiration simply means spoken nowhere else. So the book us to knew of the interest felt by
any sort ordegree of divine influ- itself declares. So the Church de­ our brethren on the Pacific slope
.ence, then of course it is common clares. So the voice of mankind in the work undertaken by your
to all believers, no one of whom be- agrees. God is indeed, not far from missionaries in India. It is your
any one of us, and he is moving in
ally called of Godr But if it mean the energies of his 'illuminating of which all who love the Lord and
sanctifying or guiding grace wher­
the divine influence which enables
his cause must feel a common in­
men to make an authoritative re­ ever the gospel is known. Individ­ terest. As yet jt is in its infancy
cord of the revealed will of God. uals and communities feel the ani­ and fora long time mfty require
then the whole Scripture, with one mating impuW ft
fostering care and patient waiting
voice declares that this is a mon­ But this is not “inspiration,” except ere lye shall see any results of our
opoly. As Peter says, “ men spake that word be used in a loose, popu­ .efforts. IM sad^
from God being moved by the Holy lar sense. It i s not-dhe-4hsptr&tien- upon my mind that the people of
Ghost.” Other persons might speak which the Apostle in the well- India are not seeking after God.
and did speak very good things, but known passage in Second Timothy There are exceptions, but as a
they did not speak from God or -in 3 : 16, ascribes to the written word, general rule the people seem satis­
God’s name, nor wbre their utter and whi.ch makes that word so fied with the religion of their
ances directly prompted by the profitable, nay, which makes it au- fathers. Some of the educated have
Holy Ghost. -With their words was . thoritative for its jjuUlors. ajid for
~■.everyway
-
It is,a very sad thing to see any but, unwilling to accept of Christi­
human weakness and error. But
anity, they are rapidly lapsing into
Scripture is a- different article. It one, whether intentionally or unin­ infidelity. The credulity that ac­
is the^Wordof God, the utterance tentionally,underminingthe claim
cepts implicitly the most palpable
of his will through chosen mediums. of God’s Word to absolute obedi­
absurdities is naturally followed by
It is appealed to as decisive of all ence. Yet this very thing is done
its opposite extreme.
controversies. “ What saith the when a man spreads inspiration
It’is painful to witness some of
fJcripture ?” “ The Scripture can- over the whole life of every believer
.... not be broken.”... According to the.. amle«leui-es anything jieimliHr - (>r;
Apostle the chief advantage of thè spacial to the inspiration of the the people of India. Romanism
Jews over the Gentiles was that to human authors of the Bible. The comes in and offers a compromise
them were committed “ the oracles result, sooner Or later, to every one with their idolatry, for the sake of
of God that is, they had divine who accepts this theory, must be gathering numbers into her fold.
utterances which, other nations did that every man becomes his own The proselyte takes on the name of
not possess. These utterances were Bible, there is no longer an objec­ Christian and dons foreign clothing,
in writing, and marked off from all tive standard of truth, and soul de but in too many cases his life re­
other recorded utterances as express stroying heresies may plead the mains the same. The Salvation
same sanction as the Word which Army with drums and trumpets
declarations of the Most High.
And in this sense the Bible is is able tb make wise unto salvation. and banners inscribed “ Blood and
and ever must be a monopoly. It When teachers say such things, Fire,” are doing much to degrade
arrogates «to itself an exclusive what must the taught say ? Alas, the religion they profess to honor,
privilege, And there is an anathema when the blind lead the blind, both, in the eyes of the heathen. But
to any one who adds to or . takes fall into the dicth.— Christian Intel­ aside from all this there is steady
effectual Work being done, which is
A
from it. But then it is a monopoly ligencer.
already telling. The gospel is
like the sun, which shines for alh
We believe in the life of the world slowly but surely finding its way
Its pages stand open for every child to come, and look forward to it,—
into the hearts and consciences and
of man, and it is free to any one to
just so far as we believe in God, lives of men, and the results are
become wiser than his teacher. But
and live upon his gilts, and look
60 far, while many have shown the forward to His promises ; as--Jesus most apparent. There are, indeed,
will, none has had the ability to ac­ believed and lived and looked for­ mountains of ignorance and super­
stition and sin to be removed, and
complish this. The Bible still ward. _______
R. Ellis.
*_____________
. 4-
the mighty task grows in magni­
stands at an immeasurable remove
Never hold anv one by the but­ tude when one is brought face to
above all competitors. Everywhere
ton or the hand in order to Be face.with the reality.
else we soon see an end of all per­ heard out; for, if people are un­
After waiting morelhan a month
fection, but here, deep a3 any one willing to hear you, you had better
may send down his sounding line, hold your tongue than them Lord 1 am still limited in time so that I
be feels and knows that there is a Che s terfield.---<—~
am only able to write a short letter.
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with the readers of your paper oc­
casionally, as time and other duties
pertnit. Letters from the home
land are always welcome and fur­
nish one of our greatest comforts
in this strange land. I have not,
xhad the privilege^ of reading your 1 2 * 4 5
paper for some time, but hope to do
i
so before long. With best wishes
tor the success of that enterprise
and every other which seeks to
Christ, I am very sincerely yours,
-
M. G raybiel .
Letter from Bro. M. N. Warren.
W est C hehalem , Q r ,
Christian Herald :
•Having returned from Iowa
(after an absense of four years) I
am engaged in holding a mceting..^^,
at this place. The Seventh Day
Adventists have beenwholding meet­
. ings nearly continuously (since the,
20th of January last) until recently.
The people are anxious to hear the
truth. They (the Adventists) have
indirectly done some good by stir­
ring up the people to read the
Scriptures. Their main object was
>
Togef
........ ...... ----- -------
batarians, My object in writing
Ì
now.is to call attention to their ex­
position of Rev. 13th. The “ two
horned beast* They "affirnf that ‘
the United States is that two
horned beast, against this baseless,
graceless and sinless assumption H
urge seven objections.._________ •-
rive its power from the beast (pagan
Rome) and the two horned bekst
did.
2. iiVe are twelve hundred years
too far down the stream of time to
make it possible'(for the 1260 years
had gone by).
•3. Ours is a Republic, that was a
monarchy.
4. Ours (government) has no
horns, that had two.
5. That came up out of the
earth (meaning powerful or quiet
times), ours was established by
eight years of war, revolution, blood
and thunder with England.
*** 6. The Catholic power did de­
rive its power from pagan Rome.
,7. it has two horns, civil and ec­
clesiastical, the civil horn was
broken off the 2nd day of Septem­
ber, 1870, by Victor Emanuel en­
tering Rome and depriving the
Pope of political power, and the
spiritual horn is so weak the Pope
cannot hodk much. More sodn if
desired.
. ’
M. N. W arren .
P. Sr*—I am on my way up the
\\ illamette, valley as far Rs Albany,
and may call af your sanctum.
»
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