Earlier text: THE LOVE OF GOD“What Is My Talent?”
By Charles P. Whitford
THERE are many wonderful and strange events coming to pass in the earth, all of which are but the fulfillment of the predictions in the word of God. It is a great privilege to live amid such eventful scenes. At the same time, great is the responsibility of those who live at this time. God, in his mercy, has enlightened our minds, and given us to understand where we are living in the history of this world, and the dangers that threaten us at this time. He has revealed to us through apostles and prophets that there would be “distress of nations with perplexity,” Luke 21:25; “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation;” Dan. 12:1; all given and foretold as so many evidences by which we might know that the “end of all things is at hand.” And while we are permitted to live amid such a blaze of light, and surrounded by such abundant opportunities for extending the light of truth to others, is it not important to inquire, “What is my talent?” On the other hand, what a glorious stimulant there is to the question, that “they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever.” It is, however, a lamentable fact that there are very many to whom God has intrusted talents of influence, and upon whom the full, blazing light of present truth has been permitted to shine, who are mere idlers in this last message of mercy, having made a profession of religion, but evincing none of the lively evidences of its possession. Dear brethren and sisters, unless we awake to duty, will not God say to us at his great tribunal before whom all must soon appear, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting”? If we remain careless and inactive in the cause of God; if we refuse to work, and work earnestly, not only for our own salvation, but the salvation of others, can we expect the “crown of life” which is promised as a reward for well-doing? Can we ever hear the “well done” said unto us unless we have done well? My Christian brother and sister, is it not time that we equip ourselves with the whole armor of God, and like good soldiers go to work in earnest for God and his precious cause? Dare we delay any longer in this day of probation, in this hour of the Judgment, when every one of us has a case pending in the heavenly sanctuary above, which must soon be eternally decided? Can it be true that all the heavenly hosts are engaged for the salvation of our friends and neighbors, while we who profess such a lively interest in their eternal welfare, neglect or even refuse to go and warn them of the judgments that are coming upon all those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark? Ah! brethren, do we really believe the things we profess? If our faith were in lively exercise, would not our affections, tempers, passions, and appetites, all be consecrated to God and his service? Oh! how long shall we remain in this lukewarm state, when just before are the glory-gilt mountains of God’s redeeming love? Does it not seem as though the last Testimony should arouse us to action? Is it possible that none but those who agonize daily will go through? Oh! when will the true spirit of agonizing, the spirit of wrestling Jacob-like, and prevailing with God, rest on the church? The answer comes back to my heart, When we give up our idols, make a full surrender of self and the world, live out the Testimonies, and consecrate ourselves wholly to God, then will the genuine spirit of labor rest upon us, and we shall be ready to inquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” God who gave us each a talent,
To employ it gave command;
If we hide it in a napkin,
He will claim it at our hand.
Let us then be up and doing,
Keeping still this truth in view:
Though our path be e’er so humble,
We have all a work to do.
With the heralds of the gospel,
If we cannot bear a part,
We can drop a word of kindness
That may reach some careless heart;
We may touch a chord of feeling
Guilt and sin have lulled to sleep;
To the blessed fold of Jesus
We may bring some wandering sheep. “Is IT not quite too much to believe that any one ever considered afflict-ing?” Well, dear reader, it is not necessary for me to speak for others. I will only honestly state to you that there have been times, in my own experience, when the sorrows and the sufferings which I was enduring were in one sense at least, comforts. You will say, “Oh, yes! in their results!” I reply, They were comforts at the time when I felt them. You, my unbelieving friend, tell me that you “cannot conceive it possible that a grief should be anything but a grief, or a pain anything but a pain.” Can you understand me when I say that my trials are as the presence of God to my soul? I have had trouble speak to my heart as with the voice for which I was longing! When I thought God had almost forgotten me; forgotten to send me the shower of grace I so needed in the garden of my soul, then it came, though it fell through my own tears! Experience of need quickened my spirit in prayer, and brought me into nearer and more blessed communion with the Fountain of all my good. Who sends afflictions? Surely God appoints our burdens. He therefore is thinking of us and dealing directly with us. Do we not find immediate comfort in believing that all God's providences toward us are intended for our own good? His thoughts are kind toward us, though the means he takes to bless us with spiritual good may seem severe. I have found it a comfort to be assured, even by the coming and presence of a sorrow, that God was near me even though he came as a wise gardener to prune the vine from which he desired better fruit! “You find some enjoyment in pain and suffering, then,” you say. Oh, no! my flesh shrinks as sensitively as yours, my friend; my heart has loved, and the grave holds some of my treasures—and yet I tell you that the angel of comfort hides her calm face under the dark wings of sorrow! Yes; I will be a witness for God that he encourages his suffering ones through, and in, their afflictions. Sad, yet cheerful—how can it be? It cannot be except through faith. We are to “have faith in God.” When? When what we see and feel is calculated to make us doubt that he loves us and designs our best good. Then we are to have faith—when we cannot see. When faith is strong, we shall not count cares and crosses to be only “things against us.” Our earthly ease seems to lose a little of its importance to our selfish natures, while faith sheds its light upon the soul and its deepest needs. Did you never see that a season of sickness had been a time of refreshing from the Lord's presence, to some dear child of God whom you have known? I once had a friend very ill, and she repeated to me the remarks her minister made to her at her bedside. She told me that in his prayer he gave God thanks that he “had appointed to his suffering child a vacation” in the midst of life's cares and confusions, in which she might be alone with her Father in Heaven, listening to all that he would say to her, and receiving the spiritual gifts with which he would enrich her. Where is there a Christian who will not witness for God that he hath whispered words in the darkness of the cloud which “the world” did not hear, and ministered comfort to the trusting soul in the very time and experience of affliction?—Sel. THE LORD'S LEADING.
By Sel.
Thus far the Lord hath led us, in darkness and in day,
Through all the varied stages of the narrow homeward way;
Long since he took that journey—he trod that path alone,
Its trials and its dangers full well himself hath known. Thus far the Lord hath led us; the promise has not failed,
The enemy encountered oft has never quite prevailed;
The shield of faith has turned aside, or quenched each fiery dart,
The Spirit's sword in weakest hands has forced him to depart. Thus far the Lord hath led us; the waters have been high,
But yet in passing through them, we felt that he was nigh.
A very present helper in trouble we have found,
His comforts most abounded when our sorrows did abound. Thus far the Lord hath led us; our need hath been supplied,
And mercy hath encompassed us about on every side;
Still falls the daily manna; the pure rock-fountains flow;
And many flowers of love and hope along the wayside grow. Thus far the Lord hath led us; and will he now forsake
The feeble ones whom for his own it pleases him to take?
Oh, never, never! earthly friends may cold and faithless prove,
But his is changeless pity and everlasting love. Calmly we look behind us, our joys and sorrows past,
We know that all is mercy now, and shall be well at last;
Calmly we look before us—we fear no future ill,
Enough for safety and for peace, if Thou art with us still. Yes; they that know thy name, Lord, shall put their trust in thee,
While nothing in themselves but sin and helplessness they see.
The race thou hast appointed us, with patience we can run,
Thou wilt perform unto the end the work thou hast begun.
—Sel. At the critical moment in the battle of Waterloo, when everything depended on the steadiness of the soldiery, courier after courier kept dashing into the presence of the Duke of Wellington, announcing that unless the troops at an important point were immediately withdrawn or relieved, they must yield before the impetuous onset of the French. By all of these he sent back the same spirit-stirring message, “Stand firm!” “But we shall perish!” remonstrated the officer. “Stand firm!” again answered the iron-hearted chieftain. “You’ll find us there!” rejoined the other, as he fiercely galloped away. The result proved the truth of his reply; for every man of that doomed brigade fell, bravely fighting at his post. What an example is this for the Christian contending under the blood-stained banner of the cross! Shall the worldling maintain his position at all hazards, for merely earthly considerations, and the follower of the meek and lowly Jesus bear nothing for the boon of eternal life? God forbid! His pathway should be lighted up by the flame of divine love, and in the strength of Christ he should press manfully on from conquering unto conquest. If he will only continue to act thus, he will eventually achieve a glorious victory over his last foe, and be able to shout the paean of victory in that kingdom where the sound of weeping never comes, and where the weary are at rest.—Sel. How Long Will It Do to Wait?
Dr. Nettleton had come from the evening service in some country town to his home for the night. The good lady of the house, rather an elderly person, after bustling about to provide her guest with refreshment, said directly before her daughter, who was in the room: “Dr. Nettleton, I do wish you would talk to Caroline. She don’t care nothing about going to meeting nor about the salvation of her soul. I have talked and talked, and got our minister to talk, but it don’t seem to do no good. I wish you would talk to her, Dr. Nettleton.” Saying which, she soon went out of the room. Dr. Nettleton continued quietly taking his repast, when he turned round to the young girl, and said: “Now, just tell me, Miss Caroline, don’t they bother you amazingly about this thing?” She, taken by surprise at an address so unexpected, answered at once: “Yes, sir, they do; they keep talking to me all the time, till I am sick of it.” “So I thought,” said Dr. Nettleton. “Let’s see—how old are you?” “The fact is,” said Dr. Nettleton, “religion is a good thing in itself; but the idea of all the time troubling a young creature like you with it, and you are in good health, you say. Religion is a good thing. It will hardly do to die without it. I wonder how long it would do for you to wait?” “That’s just what I have been thinking myself,” said Caroline. “Well,” said Dr. Nettleton, “suppose you say till you are fifty? No, that won’t do; I attended the funeral the other day, of a lady fifteen years younger than that. Thirty? How will that do?” “I am not sure it would do to wait quite so long,” said Caroline. “No, I do not think so either; something might happen. See, now, twenty-five or even twenty, if we could be sure you would live so long. A year from now; how would that do?” “Neither do I. The fact is, my dear young lady, the more I think of it, and of how many young people, as well apparently as you are, do die suddenly, I am afraid to have you put it off a moment longer. Besides, the Bible says, ‘Now is the accepted time.’ What shall we do? Had we not better kneel right down here and ask God for mercy through his Son Jesus Christ?” The young lady, perfectly overcome by her feelings, kneeled on the spot. In a day or two, she by grace came out rejoicing in hope, finding she had far from lost all enjoyment in this life.—Christian World. “BUT FOR A MOMENT.”—Are you sitting by an open coffin, or beside a new-made grave? Try to read through the fast welling tears these precious words which an olden-time saint traced on a stone by the wayside: “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” If you could read that blessed line in the identical language in which Paul wrote it, you would find that the words mean, a glory exceeding all excess. Oh! what are tears, and groans, and weary days of penury, and lonely nights of bereavement, to one who is looking not at the things which are seen, but to the things which are unseen? What is coarse raiment to her for whom the white robe is waiting? Earn Money Before You Spend It
EARN money before you spend it. “YE are my witnesses saith the Lord.” He says this to his people; and these witnesses he has had through all the rebellious ages of this world’s history. The deeper the darkness of the age, the brighter has shone the light of God’s truth in the lives of his followers. And he has never suffered himself to be outdone. He has matched evil with goodness every time. In the ages of the most fearful apostasy, some have ever been found who felt it incumbent on them to be as pre-eminently good as the servants of sin were pre-eminently wicked. Noah among the antediluvians, Lot among the Sodomites, Ahijah in the days of Jeroboam, and Elijah in the days of Ahab, appear as notable examples. The earth was full of violence, when Noah stood out in brilliant contrast with the dark background, as righteous before God. The wickedness of the Sodomites was such that God through his judgments made them an example to all who should after live ungodly, when Lot vexed his soul with their filthy words and unlawful acts. And the sinfulness of the age of Jeroboam and Ahab was such, that the lives of Ahijah and Elijah stand out as striking examples of godliness and virtue. To realize the full wickedness of Jeroboam and the moral darkness that prevailed during the period of his reign, one must carefully read the record of his rebellious deeds, the frequent reference made throughout the Scriptures to him as a leader in sin, and the terrible denunciation of God’s wrath against his iniquity. God expressly gave him the opportunity of following him. A prophet of the Lord announced to him his future sovereignty over the ten tribes which should revolt from the house of David, and promised him that if he would walk in the way of the Lord’s commandments, his throne should be made sure like the throne of David. What a magnificent opportunity was presented before him. But he turned from it. Selfish considerations took supreme possession of his soul. He turned to idolatry. A powerful ruler of ten of the twelve tribes, he turned the people also into idolatry. He caused Israel to sin. He cast God behind his back, so that God testified of him that he had done iniquity above all that were before him, and determined in righteous indignation to root his house and posterity from the land of the living. A fearful tide of apostasy thus swept over Israel. A monster of iniquity has the control of affairs. Will all be carried away by this flood of evil? Where are God’s witnesses? Where are his agents to match this work of the enemy? Suddenly they appeared. A “man of God,” we read, testified against the king, and Abijah the prophet, the same who announced his elevation to the throne, announced his utter overthrow and rejection for all the iniquities which he had committed. Thus God had servants who were true to him and filled with his power; and the light of their life relieved in a measure the surrounding darkness. But that age of rebellion and apostasy went still deeper into sin. Soon Ahab appeared upon the throne of Israel; and wicked as Israel had been, wicked as Jeroboam had been, it is recorded of Ahab that “he did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him,” and that he “did more to provoke the God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” To match this monument of wickedness, as a witness for God’s truth and an instrument of his power, appeared the illustrious prophet of Heaven, Elijah, towering, as a man of God, above the ordinary level of saints and righteous men, as Ahab towered above the masses of sinners, as an embodiment of iniquity and evil. And thus it has been in every age. When the enemy has worked, God has worked. Evil has not been able to surpass the good. Whenever the enemy has put upon the stage a prime minister of sin, God has raised up servants of his own as eminent for righteousness and virtue as the former for corruption and crime. And as it has been, we may expect it will be. Reader, do these thoughts suggest further comparison and present duty? How is it at the present time? Will it not be in these days as it ever has been? Does not God design to have living examples of his righteousness and truth, equal to the development of iniquity and evil in these days? But we all know that the last days are to be days of surpassing wickedness. Evil men and seducers are to wax worse and worse. Sin is to run riot, and the world be swallowed up in floods of unprecedented wickedness. What then may we, on the other hand, expect? That God will have a people eminent for piety and holy living. Who will they be? Those to whom he has committed his truth; those who are called out to look and prepare for his coming and kingdom. Do we, then, come up to the standard? Are we endeavoring to live as holy lives, as the wicked around us are living abandoned ones? As the world is growing worse are we growing better? We must be doing this if we would be among his chosen ones at last. To maintain the required standard of purity and devotion is our privilege; for God has promised all needed help: it is our duty; for God requires it: and it is our necessity; for without it we fail of Heaven at last. The Course of Day.
By John Nevins Andrews
WHAT do we mean by this expression? Simply this: that each day of the week makes a definite circuit of the globe. But does not each day begin and end to each individual just where he is? Assuredly it does. Then what more is there, or can there be, to the subject? To those who have given the matter no special thought, this is all there is to it. The day begins and ends in each place to its inhabitants, and the most of them regard this as all that pertains to any day of the week. Why are they not right? Simply because there are, east and west, other people, and other places, in the world. But how does this have any bearing upon the subject? Strange to say many apparently thoughtful persons fail to see that it has any bearing at all. They know when any given day begins and ends with them, and they never look beyond that single fact. Indeed such persons can with difficulty be induced to give any thought to the subject. They are indifferent, simply because they think they understand it well enough already, and that there is no important idea concerning it which they do not already grasp. Yet there is something more which they need to learn. The proof is found in one very palpable fact of which few persons are ignorant. A day is added to the reckoning of those who circumnavigate the globe in an easterly direction, and a day is lost from the reckoning of those who circumnavigate it in a westerly direction. To the seventh-day man, this is a matter of importance, as it furnishes the most plausible argument against the observance of the definite seventh day. To the first-day man, it is even of greater interest, for this change of reckoning in circumnavigating the globe furnishes his principal proof that the fourth commandment calls for the sabbatical observance of the seventh part of our time, and not for that of the definite seventh day. It is of special interest also to those who do not regard any day as sacred, for no person who has any love for truth can feel indifferent at the supposed confusion and indefiniteness of dates which seems to be by this fact established. Why is it that this apparent gain or loss of a day occurs? This brings us to consider the nature of the course of day, for it is involved in this very thing. Because every individual does have a definite day of twenty-four hours for each of the seven days of the week, he must not therefore conclude that the day begins and ends its course with him. The measurement of time as established by the Creator is very worthy of our admiration. It gives to each place definite days of twenty-four hours, and it gives to our globe the circuit of day which must be carefully distinguished from the simple existence of definite twenty-four-hour days in any one locality. Does any one feel disposed to call this distinction a foolish and unlearned question? Before they do this, let them answer this inquiry: Does each day of the week commence all round the world at once? If it does, then indeed there is no circuit of day to our globe; for it begins everywhere at the same instant, and ends everywhere at the same identical moment. But in that case, whereas it is sunset, afternoon, noon, forenoon, morning, midnight, and evening, at the very same instant in different and successive points in the compass of our globe, it follows of necessity that each day, if it begins at the same instant all over the globe, begins at every hour and even minute of the entire twenty-four hours of day and night. Any one can see that such an idea would make the observance of the Sabbath practically an impossibility. For in addition to the fact that some point on the world's surface must be selected for the place at which day should begin at sunset, there must also be an exact measurement from that precise meridian to that of each individual the world over. And as this would involve the beginning of day at some point of the globe during each moment of day and night, and as there is nothing in nature to mark all the moments or even hours of the twenty-four, it would follow that the whole thing after being determined by an exact computation of each man's meridian to fix the time of day or night at which he should commence the day (provided it could be agreed where is the exact meridian that should have the day begin with sunset), there would be only one thing that could be depended upon to govern the beginning of the days of the week, and that is—clocks! A very unfortunate state of the case to those who happen to have none, and are not able to buy; and equally such to those who have clocks that will not keep good time! But if this were the proper way to reckon days, viz., by having them each begin at the same instant the world over, the difficulty by no means pertains to the Sabbath-keeper only. For all the natural divisions of time would have to be disregarded by nearly all the people on the globe; for the days of the week would commence in different parts of the world at every moment of day and night. Such would be the case were it true that the days of the week begin at the same instant the world over. Happily no such reckoning of time was ever ordained by the Lawgiver, for he is not the author of confusion, but all his ways are perfect. Indeed not one particle of evidence exists to show that each day of the week commences all over the world at the same instant. We copy the following forcible argument of Eld. Waggoner in reply to one who contended that the Sabbath begins at the same instant to all the inhabitants of the world. Bro. W. speaks thus:—
“But where is the difficulty? The question recognizes the fact that the day commences at sunset, and sunset does not occur at all places at the same time; therefore, the day does not commence in all places at the same time. The Bible plainly teaches that the day commences with the evening; and as all days commence at that time, what is said in Lev. 23:32, will apply to all Sabbaths at all times, and in all places. But the writer of the foregoing letters urges that we should begin to keep the seventh day at the same time they would begin to keep the same day in Asia! Let us see how this will work. “Two men, one in Asia and one in America, wish to keep the Sabbath according to the Bible. They read in the Bible that (1.) the seventh day is the Sabbath. Ex. 20:9. (2.) The evening is the first part of the day. Gen. 1. (3.) That the evening begins at the setting of the sun. Josh. 8:29; 10:26, 27; Mark 1:32. And (4, therefore,) The Sabbath must be observed from even to even, that is, from sunset to sunset. Lev. 23:32. Now if they both keep the Sabbath according to the Bible, they will both keep it according to these particulars. As time rolls on, the sun rises the sixth time in the week on the American—it is sixth-day morning with him. Thinking of the circumstances of his Asiatic brother, he soliloquizes thus: “‘The sun is now setting in Asia, and my brother there now commences to keep the Sabbath. It is said that God is a God of order, and uniformity is desirable, so I must now begin to keep the Sabbath, in order to keep it with my brother. But the Bible is my rule, and I will see if I can begin the Sabbath here at the same time my brother in Asia begins it, and obey the rule. The rule says I must keep the seventh day; if I begin now, I shall keep part of the sixth day and part of the seventh day. The rule says I must keep it from evening to evening; if I begin now, I shall keep it from morning to morning. I must not violate the rule; therefore I must not yet commence my rest of the Sabbath. Neither will it do for my brother to wait till the sun sets here, in order to begin with me, for the sun has already set there, and the seventh day has there commenced. The rule requires him to begin now. And if he waits to begin with me, the Sabbath will be half gone there when he begins; so he will then keep half of the seventh day and half of the first day. Therefore, if we begin at the same time, we must violate the rule, or else get the sun to set in Asia and America at the same time! But the former, we must not do, and the latter, we cannot do; therefore, he must begin now, and I must wait till the sun sets here, and the Sabbath begins with me.’” “Who can say he has not arrived at a safe conclusion? It is, in fact, the only conclusion at which he could possibly arrive without doing violence to the sacred rule. “Suppose a law should be passed at Washington that a certain document should be placed on record in Washington, and in the capital of every State of the Union, on the fourth of July, exactly at noon. Would the Secretary in Sacramento fulfill the law, if he made the record at the same time that it was made in Washington? Surely not; for the law requires it to be made at noon, in every place, but noon does not come at Sacramento some three or four hours before the sun reaches the meridian. There is not a person in the land so wild as to suppose, nor so reckless as to urge, that the record must be made at the same time, absolutely, in each State of the Union. But ‘noon’ is no more definite than ‘evening’ or ‘the setting of the sun;’ what will apply to one, in this respect, will apply to the other. Why, then, will people argue so absurdly in respect to the commencement of the Sabbath?”—Advent Review, July 15, 1869. It is certain, therefore, that day does not begin at the same instant to all mankind. It does begin with sunset as has been clearly shown, and sunset makes the circuit of the globe westward. This being true, it follows that there is such a thing as a circuit to day, as well as definite days of just twenty-four hours each. Here is an important truth: Each day makes the circuit of the globe in forty-eight hours, and each day occupies twenty-four hours in passing any one point in its course around the world. If the reader will have patience, the statement shall be proved, and its importance made manifest. That each day of the week occupies twenty-four hours in passing any point in its course round the world, is manifest. For every one knows that wherever he may be, each day of the week comes to him and continues with him for twenty-four hours. He may also understand that as each day does begin earlier to those who live to the east of himself than it does to him, and that it does not begin to those who live west of himself so early as it does with him, that it follows of necessity that the course of day is more than twenty-four hours long. But how can it be shown that the course or circuit of day around our world is just forty-eight hours? This can be done without difficulty. For as the days of the week begin with sunset, so also is it true that sunset makes the circuit of the globe. It requires twenty-four hours for sunset to go round the world. And therefore when it has accomplished the circuit of the globe the day is ended where the circuit began, but is only commenced at the place where that circuit closes. And as day is thus ended on one side of the day line, and just begun on the other side of that line, it will take the end of day just as long to make the circuit of the globe as it required for the beginning165 of day to make the same circuit. In other words, it will require twenty-four hours for the end of day to go round the world. There is certainly a point where each day first begins upon our globe, and from thence the beginning of day makes the circuit of the globe requiring for that the space of twenty-four hours. There is also a place where each day of the week first ends upon our globe, and from thence the end of day passes round the world. And the point where any day first ends upon the earth is the very point where it first begins to our earth. The end of day requires just as much time to go round our world as is required by the beginning of day to make the same circuit. And as it sets out twenty-four hours behind the commencement of day, it follows that when the commencement of day has reached the end of its circuit, it will require twenty-four hours for the end of day to fill out the same circuit and to close the day where it last commences. I have important facts to present bearing upon this subject. The study of the subject will repay the labor which it may cost. An article, “Be ye Holy,” is passed by for want of signature. D. S. JAMES: It is not certain who made the vow mentioned in Acts 18:18, Paul or Aquila. Many commentators refer it to the latter. The vow was probably that of a Nazarite, see Num. 6, and may have been made before his conversion to Christianity. But if not, it can easily be accounted for: for, 1. Paul wished to disarm the Jews of prejudice, and hence performed things which to him were matters of indifference, because they were still considered essential by them; and, 2. Offerings and sacrifices had a political as well as typical use; for from them, the State or civil government derived its support. It was therefore proper even for Christians, as citizens of that commonwealth, to present them for their political uses, though their typical significance had ceased. We understand John 2:24, 25, to be simply a declaration of the Lord’s omniscience, shown by his power to read the hearts of men. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH: The word translated, “made void,” in Ps. 119:126: “They have made void thy law,” is not the same as the one rendered “made void” in Rom. 3:31, though it has a similar signification. The word in Psalm 119, is diaskedannumi, which means to “scatter abroad, disband, drive away.” Katargeo, the word employed in Romans, means “to set free, to leave unemployed or idle,” hence “to render useless, to make void, to abolish.” R. J. FOSTER: We think the words “letter” and “spirit” in Rom. 2:27, 29; 7:6, are not used in the same sense as in 2 Cor. 3:6. In the latter they seem to denote the old and new covenants, or the civil administration of the law under the former dispensation, in the Jewish nation as a theocracy, and the spiritual administration of the law in this dispensation, among Christians as a household of faith. While in Romans the same words evidently refer to an inward, spiritual, living worship, in contrast with an outward, formal, dead one. R. D. BENHAM: The book was thankfully received. Should have acknowledged it before, but have been trying to find time to notice it. J. C. BUNCH: Isa. 65:20, and Zech. 14:16–21 cannot be taken to prove immortality in the new earth, because we have testimony which is plain, positive, and direct, that there will be no death there, and all these passages from which an inference can be drawn to the contrary, are confessedly obscure. Direct testimony cannot give place to the indirect. We believe all the cutting off that is spoken of in both passages takes place before the new earth becomes the possession of the saints. H. J. JOHNSON: For an exposition of Rev. 12, see Thoughts on the Revelation. INQUIRER: For an exposition of Luke 17:34–37, see Answers to Objections against the Visions pp. 57–68. We have not time now to notice Mal. 1:12, 13, and 3:8–12. Should be pleased to have some of our preaching brethren prepare remarks on those passages for the REVIEW. J. O. CORLISS: We have no evidence that the darkness during the dark day of 1780, extended beyond New England, and the Canadas; but at the same time it was the most remarkable and extensive phenomenon of the kind that has occurred since the crucifixion of Christ; and hence is sufficient to fulfil the prophecy.