COMMUNICATIONS. FOR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 1841

COMMUNICATIONS.

FOR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

We desire to acknowledge with sincere gratitude, the protecting care and providence of our heavenly Father, in sustaining us thus far on our editorial pilgrimage, in delivering us from the numerous evils by which we have often been surrounded, and in granting us permission to commence this our tenth volume, with the cheering assurance that the same Almighty arm which has been raised for the defence of his people in all past ages, will continue to defend his own cause; and, notwithstanding the violence and apparent success of the opposing powers of anti-christ, will cause the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath, restrain.

The contemplation of the being and perfections of the God of Sion, arrayed in radiant light, crowned with glory, and extending his sovereign government over all things and all worlds, fixing the destiny of all things according to the nature of his own will, with the most exact and infallible certainty, directing all things to his final issue, so that nothing, however insignificant, present or ongoing, can possibly fail to result in his declarative glory and the good of his people, affords us the most delightful incentives to action, that can possibly exert an influence over the head or heart of man. In the absence of this incentive, how gloomy would be our prospects! No confidence in ourselves, none in our fellow men, any further than they are influenced by the absolute government of God; every power of the soul would be paralyzed; and every encouraging prospect of the mind would yield to gloomy despair, if compelled to surrender our confidence in the Holy One of Israel.

In prefacing this volume with a few preliminary remarks, it is proper that we should give a brief statement of our designs, together with the prospect of success. Our design has been stated in our prospectus, and laid before our brethren on more than one occasion; and it will be sufficient here to recapitulate, for the satisfaction of those who have not formerly patronised or read our paper: of our prospects we will speak more particularly.

OUR OBJECT. That we may be more definitely understood, we will state our object negatively and affirmatively. We do not design this sheet as a Standard of orthodoxy for the Old School Baptists, nor for any other order of people; for the disciples of Christ, at this day, designated Old School Baptists, discard and repudiate all other standards of faith and religious practice, than the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ: that being full and in every respect complete, and a transcript of the will of the glorious King of Sion, the Old School Baptists require no other standard or criterion by which to estimate the orthodoxy, or to detect the heterodoxy of those who claim their fellowship. Nor do we contemplate the conversion of the world or any part of it to christian faith by the publication of our sheet; nor even to be able to satisfy the enemies of the truth, of the reasonableness or scriptural consistency of our cause: because, first, we have no evidence that God designs the conversion of the world: secondly, we have positive evidence that he does not; and thirdly, if he did intend it, it could be effected only by the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. We do not expect to make the cause of truth appear reasonable to any of the wise men of this world; for God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes. Again, we do not expect to avert the storm of persecution and wrath of the dragon, which is now gathering thick and threatening loud the slaughter of the Lord’s two witnesses, and the extermination of their testimony, from the earth; we expect, as God has appointed it, for the saints to overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and, when they shall have finished their testimony, that the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. But we also expect that their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified; and that, after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God shall enter into them, and they shall stand upon their feet; and great fear shall fall upon them which see them.

If then, it may be demanded, we neither design nor expect, by our labors, to convert the unregenerate to God, convince the world of the justice of our cause, nor to overcome, neutralize, or exterminate the hostility of our enemies, nor even to sustain the orthodoxy of our brethren, what can be our inducement to take ground against the great, the popular, the learned, the wealthy, the influential, and the countless millions of those arrayed against whose doctrines and works we so earnestly contend, since we have nothing to expect from them in return but reproach, persecution, proscription, revilings, tortures and death?

We answer, affirmatively: as far as God is graciously pleased to enable us, we design to edify, comfort, strengthen, and encourage the tried, tempted and afflicted saints of God, and to bear a frank, faithful and unreserved testimony against all the hidden things of dishonesty in matters of religion, so far as we can discover them; and, in short, as our title implies, to mark and report the current signs of the times. In prosecuting this work, we shall protest against all innovations, corruptions and perversions of the doctrine of the New Testament, and of the order of the gospel of our Redeemer, without courting the smiles or fearing the frowns of men or devils.

OUR PROSPECTS. We expect, as formerly, to receive a very liberal share of ridicule, abuse and misrepresentation from opposing principles of the day, together with the malignant, cruel, relentless opposition, proscription and persecution of the united batteries of false professors and false apostles, of the present degenerate age.

Judging from the past history of our periodical, we rejoice in the prospect that our humble labors may be greatly blessed to the consolation of many of our scattered brethren throughout our wide-spread country, spreading before them the correspondence of their brethren in Christ, from all parts of our country, and stirring up their pure minds by way of remembrance. There is, at present, a flattering prospect, that our brethren will not suffer us to go a warfare altogether at our own charges; that we shall be sustained in our pecuniary affairs, by their continued support; which we have every reason to believe they feel a real pleasure in affording us.

We closed the last volume, with a subscription of about 2350 subscribers, from whom we received during the past year, including some that was paid on account of former dues, $2257, which, with our collections received for printing extras, has subjected us to the current expenses of the year, and allowed us to purchase our paper for the present volume. Our receipts, our readers will see that, but part of our dues have been paid; some of the above number have been gratuitously sent to indigent brethren and sisters who have desired a copy, but were unable to pay for them. On the amount of money received during the year, we have paid about $200 discount; some of the notes sent to us are worthless, and some have been lost on their way to us. Our subscription list amounted a few years since to about 3000; the reduction has been occasioned principally by the introduction of other papers into the field, and not by a reduction of the number of valuable brethren of the primitive faith, who feel the importance of a press connected with, devoted to, and under the control of the Old School Baptist family in the United States.

It has been suggested to us by a valuable correspondent, that our list of subscribers can be greatly increased by a little extra exertion on the part of our agents, and those generally who feel an interest in circulating the paper. If this can be done, and we have no doubts that it can, we would soon be enabled to enlarge our facilities for serving our brethren; by improving, enlarging, or multiplying the number of our issues. We only ask that the expense of the work be promptly met, and that for our unremitting labors we may have wherewith to meet and liquidate the claims of a dependent family, the right of which to a support by our labor, we cannot dispute without involving a crime worse than that of infidelity. Our object however, in stating our prospects thus frankly, is not to complain, nor would we wish to urge any one to patronise us, any farther than they may esteem it a privilege to do: so soon as the publication shall cease to support itself, we shall be satisfied that in the estimation of our brethren, its continuance is uncalled for, and we shall discontinue it.

The subject is fairly before our readers; if they are of opinion that the interests of Zion would be served by an enlargement of our paper, or by changing it from a semi-monthly to a weekly, and will forward to us the means to do so, our press, our type, and ourselves are at their service. And when they can persuade themselves that our publication is of no farther use to them, they have only to withdraw their support, and the work will stop. Those who wish to discontinue their subscription, will pay up arrearages, and give immediate notice, either by letter, through their post masters, as the law provides, or if their accounts are balanced they may write their name, and that of their post office on the margin, and send it to us, directed, “Signs of the Times, New-Vernon, Orange Co., N. Y.”—All who neglect this notice will be considered as renewing their subscription for the current volume. We shall drop from our list quite a number from whom we have not heard for a long time; if in doing so, we should drop any who wish to continue, they will immediately renew their subscription by forwarding to us their orders. We shall send some few extra copies of this number to some of our friends, desiring them to give them a circulation among those whom they think will be likely to subscribe for the volume; and some copies will be forwarded to individuals whose names have not yet been enrolled as subscribers; should they wish to encourage the work, they will forward their orders without delay