Earlier text: The Visigoths in the Western EmpirePunishment and Torment.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
A READER of the SIGNS sends the following:— "Your number of March 11, in 'Notes on the International Lessons,' says the doctrine of eternal torment is contrary to the word of God. Will you please explain Matt. 25:41, 46, Christ's own words? I have had faith in your paper; its teachings compared in many respects to my belief. But without satisfactory explanations in this doctrine, my faith will have some doubts on other subjects." The last verse of the 25th of Matthew reads thus: "And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." We believe that this verse will be literally fulfilled. We know, also, that the words "everlasting" and "eternal" in this verse are the same in the Greek, and have the same meaning in the English; and therefore the text teaches that the punishment of the wicked will last just as long as the reward of the righteous. Our friend must certainly agree with us thus far. Now what will be the punishment of the wicked? "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. Then since the punishment of the wicked is everlasting, it must be everlasting death—a death from which there is no awakening. Paul also in another place says that they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. Our friend has confused the words "punishment" and "torment." They are not synonymous terms. Whatever torment the wicked may suffer, they cannot be said to have been punished until they have suffered death; for the wages of sin is death. The "tribulation and anguish" which will be rendered to them may be of very long continuance; but their punishment consists in death. And this punishment—death—will be everlasting. To all eternity the wicked will "be as though they had not been." Obadiah 16. The 41st verse of Matt. 25 reads as follows: "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." This does not in the least contradict the explanation just given. Everlasting or eternal fire does not necessarily imply that its victims must exist eternally. How was it with Sodom and Gomorrah? The Lord rained fire and brimstone upon them, and they were consumed from off the face of the earth. Nothing marks the site where they once stood, and it is supposed that the waters of the Dead Sea roll over it. They have no existence, yet the apostle says: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7. If "eternal fire" resulted in the complete destruction of the cities of the plain, it must have a like effect on those who are finally impenitent. Indeed, the connection shows that the destruction of those cities was an example of the final fate of the wicked. On this passage Dr. Barnes says:— "The phrase, 'eternal fire,' is one that is often used to denote future punishment—as expressing the severity and intensity of the suffering. As here used, it cannot mean that the fires that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah were literally eternal, or were kept always burning, for that was not true. The expression seems to denote, in this connection, two things: (1) That the destruction of the cities of the plain, with their inhabitants, was as entire and perpetual as if the fires had been always burning—the consumption was absolute and enduring—the sinners were wholly cut off, and the cities forever rendered desolate; and (2) That in its nature and duration this was a striking emblem of the destruction which will come upon the ungodly." One word concerning the position taken by our correspondent. He says that he has had faith in the SIGNS, because its teachings corresponded to his belief. While we are pleased to have people favor the SIGNS, we do not like to have the favor rest on that foundation. If a man accepts only what he already believes, he will make no advancement, and may only be confirmed in error; but if he accepts whatever is demonstrated to be truth, whether it accords with his previous belief or not, he will always be in the right. This is in accordance with the apostolic injunction: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. 5:21. E. J. W. "WHICH day is the Sabbath?" asks one. What is written in the law? "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." "But how," he continues, "do we know that the seventh day of the week is meant?" In several ways, of which we will mention two. The commandment says: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Now it cannot mean the seventh day of the month or the year, because there are more than seven days in a month or a year. A person can work six days and rest the seventh several times in a single month. Then the commandment must mean the seventh day of some period which contains exactly seven days. And what is that? Every child will answer, "Seven days make one week." A week is the only period of time that contains just seven days, and consequently the seventh day is the last day of the week. Plain enough, is it not? 2. The evangelists all give an account of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Speaking of the crucifixion, Luke says: "And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on." Luke 23:54. It being near the Sabbath, the women did not do any work in connection with the body, but only saw how it was laid. Then "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. The next verse says: "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared." Here we see that the Sabbath immediately preceded "the first day of the week." But the week has only seven days; therefore the Sabbath must have been the seventh day of the week. Moreover, this Sabbath day was kept "according to the commandment." Thus the inspired penman gives positive testimony to the fact that the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week. And since there has never been another Sabbath commandment, we know that the seventh day of the week, commonly called Saturday, and no other day, is the Sabbath of the Lord. Christ the End of the Law.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
In the preceding articles we have considered the fundamental principles of the law, and all its bearings. We have by no means exhausted the subject; for that would be impossible; neither have we referred to all the texts relating to it; but we have given an outline of the nature of the law, its origin, perpetuity, extent of jurisdiction, and the relation to it of both righteous and wicked. By the principles of the law, which have already been enunciated, every text in the Bible that mentions the law may be explained; and bearing those principles in mind, we shall now proceed to consider the application of some texts that are too often regarded as antagonistic to the law. Without a knowledge of the principles of the law, these texts may justly be considered as difficult; but with such knowledge, we find not only that they are in perfect harmony with those principles, but that they greatly strengthen the argument already made. Right here, we will say that the task of "harmonizing" different portions of the Bible, is one which no man has to perform. The different portions of the Bible were harmonized by inspiration; all that the expositor has to do is to point out the harmony that already exists. In Rom. 10:4 we read as follows: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Before showing what this text means, it may be well to briefly show what it does not mean. It does not mean that Christ has put an end to the law; because, (1) Christ himself said concerning the law: "I am not come to destroy." Matt. 5:17. (2) The prophet said that instead of destroying it, the Lord would "magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21. (3) The law was in Christ's own heart. "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:7, 8. And (4) since the law is the righteousness of God, the foundation of his Government, it could not by any possibility be abolished. See Luke 16:17. A reading of the verses preceding the one quoted should suggest its meaning. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they216 might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Rom. 10:1-3. Bear in mind that "the righteousness of God" is his law. Isa. 51:6, 7. We can see that Paul uses the term in this sense; for, without any break for explanation, he adds, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," etc. From these verses we learn that Paul, instead of teaching that the law has come to an end, is showing that Israel, through ignorance, had failed to realize the design of the law in securing righteousness. What had caused this failure? Paul says it was because they were ignorant of God's righteousness, and went about to establish their own righteousness. They had such low views of the righteousness of God, as required by his law, that they thought they could make themselves righteous. But, as we have already seen, all men are sinful, and while in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. 8:8. The only way in which men can appear as righteous, is to have that "righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ." When their faith is imputed to them for righteousness, they become, in Christ, new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17), and henceforth it is possible that with them all things shall be of God. But the Jews rejected Christ, and therefore failed to secure that righteousness which the law was designed to perfect in man. A comparison of Scripture texts will show that the view here outlined is the correct one. The reader must know that the word "end" does not necessarily mean "termination." It is often used in the sense of design, object, or purpose. For instances where it is so used, see James 5:11; John 18:37; Rom. 14:9; Amos 5:18; Luke 18:1; Heb. 13:7; 1 Peter 1:9. In reading these texts no one would get the idea that faith is ended, or that the Lord had ceased to exist. So in reading Rom. 10:4, even without an explanation, one need not suppose that "end" means cessation of existence. Now for a more detailed exposition of the text. In 1 Tim. 1:5, the same writer says: "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." The word here rendered "charity" is often rendered "love," and is so rendered in this place in the New Version. In John 5:3, we read: "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments;" and Paul himself says that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10. In both these texts, the same word (agape) is used that occurs in 1 Tim. 1:5. Therefore we say that this text means, Now the design of the commandment (or law) is that it should be kept. Everybody will recognize this as a self-evident fact. But this is not the ultimate design of the law. In the verse following the one under consideration Paul quotes Moses as saying of the law that "the man that doeth those things shall live by them." Christ said to the young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17. Now since the design of the law was that it should be kept, or, in other words, that it should produce righteous characters, and the promise is that those who are obedient shall live, we may say that the ultimate design of the law was to give life. And in harmony with this thought are the words of Paul, that the law "was ordained to life." Rom. 7:10. But "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and "the wages of sin is death." Thus it is impossible for the law to accomplish its design in making perfect characters and consequently giving life. When a man has once broken the law, no subsequent obedience can ever make his character perfect. And therefore the law which was ordained unto life, is found to be unto death. Rom. 7:10. If we were to stop right here, with the law unable to accomplish its purpose, we should leave all the world under condemnation, and sentence of death. Now we shall see that Christ enables man to secure both righteousness and life. We read that we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:24. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. More than this, he enables us to keep the law. "For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21. In Christ, therefore, it is possible for us to be made perfect,—the righteousness of God,—and that is just what we would have been by constant and unvarying obedience to the law. Again we read: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. . . . For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1-4. What could not the law do? It could not free a single guilty soul from condemnation. Why not? Because it was "weak through the flesh." There is no element of weakness in the law; the weakness is in the flesh. It is not the fault of a good tool that it cannot make a sound pillar out of a rotten stick. The law could not cleanse a man's past record, and make him sinless; and poor, fallen man had no strength resting in his flesh to enable him to keep the law. And so God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that "the righteousness of the law" might be fulfilled in their lives. And thus Christ is the end of the law. But life is promised to the obedient, and as Christ enables his people to obey the law, he thus secures to them eternal life. Paul says that Christ has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." 2 Tim. 1:10. Christ himself says: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. And because Christ meets the end or design of the law which was ordained to life, he is called our life, as Paul says: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. 3:4. To conclude, then, we have found that the design of the law was that it should give life because of obedience. All men have sinned, and been sentenced to death. But Christ took upon himself man's nature, and will impart of his own righteousness to those who accept his sacrifice, and finally, when they stand, through him, as doers of the law, he will fulfill to them its ultimate object, by crowning them with eternal life. And so we repeat, what we cannot too fully appreciate, that Christ is made unto us "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." SOMETIMES we hear something like this: "I don't believe a word of your doctrine." Very well, we don't ask anybody to believe our doctrine, if we have any. But we do ask people to believe the doctrine of the Bible. We have a right to ask this, because "the words of the Lord are pure words" (Ps. 12:6); "All his commandments are sure; they stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Ps. 111:7, 8. Everything that is taught in the Bible is from God; for even Jesus himself said: "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." John 7:16. Then when we quote a plain declaration, as, for instance, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," we have a right to expect that people will believe. We would not lower the truth by calling it our doctrine; it is the doctrine of the great Jehovah. "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven." Heb. 12:25. "The Abiding Sabbath."
By A. T. Jones
UNDER the title of "The Change of Day," the author of the "Abiding Sabbath" devotes a chapter to the denial of the right of the seventh day to be considered the Sabbath; and he starts with the attempt to make a distinction between the Sabbath as an institution, and the Sabbath as the name of a day. He says:— "Let it be urged that the Sabbath as an institution, and the Sabbath as the name of a day, are entirely distinct."—P. 201. This is a turn that is quite commonly taken by those who deny that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but we wish that some of those who think they see this distinction, would describe what they call the "institution." We wish they would tell us what it is. We wish they would tell us how the "institution" was made, and how it can be observed distinct from the day. For says Mr. Elliott:— "The particular day is no essential part of the institution."—P. 203. If, therefore, the day be no essential part of the institution, it follows that the institution can be observed without reference to the day; and so we say we should like for Mr. Elliott, or some one else who thinks the proposition correct, to tell us how that can be done. But Mr. Elliott does not believe the proposition, nor does any one else whom we have ever known to state it. In his argument under this very proposition that, "The particular day is no essential part of the institution," Mr. Elliott says:— "Without doubt, the spiritual intent of the Sabbath will fail of full realization except all men unite upon one day."—Id. Then what his argument amounts to is just this: The particular day is no essential part of the institution, yet the institution will fail of proper realization unless all unite upon a particular day. In other words, The particular day is an essential part of the institution. And that is exactly where every one lands who starts with this proposition. But it is not enough to say that the day is an essential part of the institution. The day is the institution, and the institution is the day. And if the particular day be taken away, the institution is destroyed. The commandment of God is not, Remember the Sabbath institution, to keep it holy. Nor is it merely, Remember the Sabbath, as though it were something indefinite. But it is plainly, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Ex. 20:8. The word of God is not that he blessed the Sabbath institution, and hallowed it. But the word is, "The Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:11.217 Nor is it left to men to select, and unite upon some "one day" to be the Sabbath. The Lord not only commands men to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, but he also tells them as plainly as language can tell, that "The seventh day is the Sabbath." It is the seventh day that God blessed at creation. It is the seventh day that he then sanctified. It is the seventh day upon which he rested. Gen. 2:2, 3. It was the rest, the blessing and the sanctification, of the seventh day that made the institution of the Sabbath. And it is simply the record of a fact, when the Lord wrote on the table of stone, "The seventh day is the Sabbath." Suppose the question should be asked, What is the Sabbath? As the word of God is true, the only true answer that can be given is, "The seventh day is the Sabbath." Therefore it is as plain as words can make it, that apart from the seventh day there is no Sabbath; and that apart from the seventh day there is no Sabbath institution. Again, the word Sabbath means rest, and with this Mr. Elliott agrees; he says:— "The word 'Sabbath' is the one used in the fourth commandment; it means 'rest,' and it is the substantive from the verb employed in Gen. 2:2, 3, also Ex. 31:17, to describe the divine resting after creation."—P. 202. But God did not bless the rest, he blessed the rest day; he did not hallow the rest, he hallowed the rest day. That rest day was the seventh day, the last day of the week. "And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Did God rest any day of the week but the seventh day? Assuredly not. Then is not the seventh day the rest of God? Most certainly. Then whenever anybody calls any day the Sabbath, but the seventh day—the last day of the week—he not only contradicts the plain word of God, but he also contradicts the very language in which they speak; because he gives the title of "rest" to that which by no possibility can truthfully bear it. The word of God is the truth, and it says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath [rest] of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Yet in the face of his own reference to Gen. 2:2, 3, and Ex. 31:17, the author of the "Abiding Sabbath," has the brass to write the following:— "As a human monument the particular day has value, but it has no bearing on that divine ordinance of rest and worship which comes to us out of eternity, and blends again with it at the end of time."—P. 203. "As a human monument!" How did the particular day—the seventh day—in Gen. 2:2, 3 become a human monument? What human being had anything to do with the erection of that monument? It was God who set up that monument, and when an institution established by the Lord himself, can be called a human monument, we should like to know how much further a five-hundred-dollar prize would justify a man in going. And again, "The particular day has no bearing upon that divine ordinance which comes to us out of eternity." This, too, when the particular day is that divine ordinance. If the particular day has no bearing upon that divine ordinance of rest and worship which comes to us out of eternity, then what is the ordinance, and how can it be observed? This brings him again to the important concession that, "all men must unite upon one day," or else the Sabbath will fail of its proper realization. But we would ask, Did not the Lord know that, when he made the Sabbath? Did he not know that it is necessary that all men should unite upon one day? We are certain that he did, and that he made ample provision for it. He himself selected the day which should be the Sabbath. He rested a certain definite day, he blessed that day, and he set it apart from the other days of the week, and he commanded man—the human race—to remember that day, and to do no work therein. That day is the last day of the week, the seventh day, and not the first day of the week. But the day which the Lord has chosen to be the Sabbath; the day which he has put honor upon; the day which he has, by his own divine words and acts, set apart from all other days; the day which he, by his own voice from Heaven, has commanded to be kept holy; that day which he has called his own, is to be set aside by men as not essential, and a heathen institution, by the authority of a heathen commandment exalted to the place of the Lord's day, and as all-essential. But it is wickedness. As for us, we choose to obey the word of God, rather than the word of men. We choose to rest the day in which he has commanded us to rest. We choose to hallow the day which he has hallowed. We choose to keep holy the day which he has made holy, and which he has commanded all men to keep holy. Reader, "God did rest the seventh day from all his works." Heb. 4:4. What are you going to do? God says, Remember the rest day to keep it holy. Ex. 20:8. What are you going to do? God says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath [the rest] of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." Ex. 20:10. What are you going to do? Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:13, 14. A. T. J. How the Talents Were Doubled.
By Independent
He was a "good and faithful servant;" he doubled the talents given him; he was rewarded accordingly; that is about all the story tells the ordinary reader. But there is a little intimation how he managed to double them. He "went and traded with the same." He turned them over, and made them a source of profit. Just how he traded is not told in the parable; but if it was in the line of the best trading nowadays, it was by quick sales and small profits. If he had gone into the market-place with his ten talents, and waited for a chance to make his hundred per cent. all at once, he would probably have waited till his lord came back and asked for an accounting; and he would have had no more to show for his stewardship than the unfaithful servant who hid his lord's money. At the end of the first week he had made very little profit; but he was glad to get that little; and he was able to make a little more the next week; and more still the next, until, when his lord came home, the accumulated profit had218 doubled the original capital. Half a per cent. profit is a very little; but half per cent. a week is [at simple interest] twenty-six per cent. a year; and the lord of that servant might have come back in scarcely more than three years and found his capital doubled, and all done in insignificant little profits. Is not this very much the way it is in Christian service? Men often think they will not do anything for Christ until they can do something noticeable and handsome. They want their talents to bring in a big profit on each transaction. But those big opportunities happen very seldom. Every week and every day there are little opportunities—chances for a word, a smile, a cup of cold water. Each of these is an investment for the Master, not at a large profit, but at a satisfactory one; and when the Lord cometh, the grand total of profit we can hand in to him as our account will be made up of these little half-per-cent. transactions, which count up in the end more than the large ones. It is on these that we get compound interest. It is these that show the good Christian financier, who took his talents and traded every day with the same, accepting every opportunity to make a little, and thus gained the "Well done." It is the man who does common duties every day to the best of his powers, neglecting no smallest occasions, that gives the world the example of a living Christian character, and secures a larger harvest of blessing than many an ambitious and noisy professor of religion.—Independent. FROM Plainfield, Wis., Elder Isaac Sanborn writes to the Review and Herald of March 23 as follows:— "I commenced a protracted meeting here the 13th of February, and have continued four weeks, with a constantly increasing interest. People come five or six miles, and notwithstanding the truth has been preached here more or less for many years, more than twenty have already accepted it, mostly heads of families; and many more are expected to do so." ALBERT WEEKS writes the following from Plainfield, Mich.:— "I began meetings at the Light school-house, near this place, February 8. The weather has been very unfavorable, but the interest has been good. Some of the time the house would not hold the people that congregated. The country is thoroughly stirred by the truth. Had one opposition discourse, which I reviewed with freedom before a crowded house. A class of thirteen have signed the covenant, four of whom observed the Sabbath when I came here. Some others are keeping the Sabbath, and many believe it." BROTHER H. SHULTZ, of Nebraska, writes thus:— "February 26, in company with Elder Johnson, I came to Decatur, where he had been laboring for some time. About twenty good souls had taken their stand for the truth, and the church felt greatly encouraged. They have commenced to build a meeting-house, the school-house becoming too small for their accommodation. The Sabbath-school numbers eighty scholars. May they walk humbly before God, and may the Lord add many more to their number, of such as shall be saved." FROM Indiana Brother Wm. Covert writes:— "In company with Brother Oberholtzer I was at Dugger, Sullivan Co., March 25-28. Nine services were held. The weather was unfavorable; the roads were quite muddy, and other meetings were being held in several places in the vicinity. As a result, our congregations were small until the last evening we were there. Brother Oberholtzer and myself held series in two neighborhoods two miles apart. We organized a church, which has a membership of eight. We believe that if we could procure the steady use of a suitable building in which to hold services, their number could be doubled in a short time.
"We then went to Poseyville, in the extreme southwestern part of the State, where the tent was pitched last July by Brethren Oberholtzer and Kauble. The messages were never proclaimed there previous to that time. The usual opposition was manifested, but the Lord blessed the labor bestowed, and a good work was done. We organized a church of fourteen members. Four were baptized yesterday, March 7, and four or five others expect to go forward in the ordinance before Brother Oberholtzer leaves for another field of labor." FOLLOWING, written by Louis Higby, is a report from the mission recently started at Watertown, N. Y. It should give courage to all workers:— "We have received much of the Lord's help and blessing in trying to carry on the good work. Our mission has been open over five weeks. The company consists of Brother Flint's family and three or four workers. The whole expense thus far for provisions, coal, rent, etc., amounts to $32. This has been met by contributions of money and staple articles for family use, from different ones throughout district No. 3. The number engaged in the work thus far would average three persons laboring three weeks.
"During this time, about one-half the city has been canvassed for 'United States in Prophecy,' accompanied with the SIGNS or the American Sentinel. There have been one hundred and thirty-three orders taken for the book, eighty-eight for the SIGNS, thirty-three for the Sentinel, seven for the 'Sunshine,' one for 'Great Controversy,' one for 'Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,' three for the Instructor, and one for the Stimme. We find a fine class of people in this city, having a very little prejudice." In addition to the above, reports from the missions in Minneapolis, Minn., and Brooklyn, N. Y., state that Bible-readings are held daily, and that sermons on present truth are preached every week in those places, which are attended by good congregations, and that the number of those who hear with interest is rapidly increasing. Relation of Love and Law in God.
By McCook
THE planet is held in its sphere by two influences, one impelling, the other staying it. So it is with moral beings; they are drawn by love, but it is love regulated by law. It is well that the earth should have an attraction toward the sun, without which it would wander into an outer region of coldness, darkness, and destruction; but were there no restraining power, it would be drawn into the sun's atmosphere, and be consumed by his heat. In like manner, moral excellence implies of necessity these two things, love and law; the one to attract, the other to guide in the right path. It is not easy to embody in human conceptions, and to express in human language, the relation of law and love. We know that the two are closely connected. Their connection is in God, the source of both. Even as God is the origin of all other things, of nature, of force, of matter, of mind, so is he also the origin of love and law. All these streams, if we follow them up sufficiently far, carry us to the fountain. Love is the refreshing water; the law is the channel for it to flow in; and the spring is the bosom of God. "Let us love one another, for love is of God." Charity is the highest of all the graces. "There abideth these three, faith, hope, and charity; but the greatest of these is charity." But then charity never tries to set itself above law; if it did so, it might work only mischief. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Love takes the form of a commandment. When asked by the lawyer, "Which is the great commandment of the law?" Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Thus indissolubly are charity and commandment joined in Scripture. It is love that makes us like unto God, who is love; but the love of God is a love regulated by eternal justice. We cannot by any process of analysis get rid of either of these elements. Defective systems of ethics arise from omitting one or the other, or not giving each its due place. A stoic, a pharisaic morality leaves out love, and presents only the expressionless form of law. Utilitarianism leaves out eternal and unchangeable obligation, and offers a flexible morality, suiting itself to supposed results. . . . Yes, but whence this word "ought," so full of meaning? Why should I love any one but myself? Our deepest nature gives the response, and will continue to do so, whether we attend to it or not. All this implies that alongside of love there is law, commanding and demanding. Far as the eye can reach, the two are seen to run parallel. I do not say that they never meet, for they meet in the nature of God and of all holy beings. And, though often dissevered here, they will meet at last in the character of saints in Heaven, with whom love will be law, and law will be love. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." There is no propriety in drawing invidious comparisons as to the relative importance of the two. It might be argued that law is the higher; for it commands love, says when it is to flow, and where it is to stay. But then love is the very end for which the law exists; the end of the commandment is charity. Law without love is a mere form without life; love without law is a life without a body in which to reside. Law without love is a channel without a stream; love without law may be a stream, bursting forth and spreading destruction. Let the two revolve round each other like binary stars, each with its own color, the one the complement of the other. Let Righteousness stand forever on the pedestal on which he has been set up, with his high look and unbending mien, the master and the guardian; and ever beside him, beneath him, and leaning upon him, yet beautiful and graceful as he, let there be seen Love, with smiles upon her face and gifts in her hands.—McCook.