A CORRESPONDENT of the Star of Idaho, some weeks ago, addressed an open letter to the business men of a certain town, in which, referring to Sunday, he asks: "Will your conscience be less composed by keeping this day as the Lord has commanded?" But what would he say if in turn someone should ask, How has the Lord commanded that Sunday should be kept? Has he ever commanded such a thing?
The Rest That Remains
By Editor
WE call the attention of our Sabbath-school students, and, in fact, of all, to the article, "The Rest That Remains," in another column. Heb. 4: 3-11 is one of the "hard passages" of Scripture to many; but a careful reading of Brother Waggoner's article will make the passage much more lucid. The text is often brought forward as a Sunday-sabbath proof text; but it has no more reference to Sunday than has Isa. 58:13, or John 13:16.
Sunday Laws and Religious Persecution
By Editor
THE Christian Commonwealth, of London, says: "There is a real reaction in some places against the continental Sunday. Sunday rest on the English system is warmly advocated in Russia." We call to mind the fining of two bakers five shillings each for selling a loaf of bread to a family in need, not long since. A million worse things are done every day throughout Britain without rebuke. It would be just like Russia to adopt such laws as exist in England; and it would make them most effectual. Sunday laws will come, and religious persecution will inevitably follow everywhere.
Brooklyn Tabernacle Destroyed by Fire
By Editor
The famous Brooklyn Tabernacle, of which Rev. T. De Witt Talmage is pastor, was destroyed by fire early on the morning of October 13. The old tabernacle was burned seventeen years ago. It is thought that the fire originated from lightning entering the building on electric light wires during a thunder-storm. Had this been a railroad accident it would no doubt have been pointed to as a divine visitation, because of Sunday desecration, but being the church of an earnest advocate of Sunday sacredness and of Sunday laws, some other explanation must be given. We leave our Sunday friends to suggest one free from difficulties.
The Sabbath Not a Shadow of Christ
By Editor
THE editor of the New England Evangelist has written a labored article on the "Sabbath question," the purpose of which is to show "that the Sabbath was simply and only, as ordained of God, a shadow or type of Christ." Those who are familiar with Sunday-sabbath arguments, so called, need not be told that this conclusion is arrived at solely in the interests of first-day observance. Sabbath-keepers rest their case on a plain Thus saith the Lord, and have no use for such sophistry and nonsense as that indulged in by the Evangelist.
Chicago Socialists and Revolution
SUNDAY, October 13, a meeting of about one thousand Chicago Socialists was held in a hall in that city. The janitor of the building unfurled the stars and stripes on the stage, but the flag was greeted with a perfect storm of hisses. A red flag was then unfurled, and was greeted with prolonged cheering. A violent speech was made by a New York Socialist who was loudly applauded. He said that he was proud of Chicago, the city in which the Anarchists were hanged, because he felt that one day it would be the Paris—the city of revolutions—of America. Awful discontent is smouldering in the hearts of laborers, he said, and it is useless and idle to think that the revolution which will soon burst forth will be a peaceful one.
Was Jonah Swallowed by a Whale?
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT criticises a selection—"Mis-construed Scripture"—which appeared in our issue of September 23, of the present volume. That article stated that the Scriptures do not state that it was a whale which swallowed Jonah, but a "great fish." Our critic says: "If this is true, why did Christ say plainly it was a whale? Matt. 12:40. Are not the words of Christ to be relied upon?" Yes; the words of Christ are to be relied upon. Heaven and earth may pass, but his words will not fail. But Jesus did not say "whale." Matthew used the Greek word ketos, which means, "a great fish," or "a sea monster." The Revised Version has the latter in the margin. "The Greek word," says Kitto, "no more fixes the meaning to whale than does the Hebrew." The word used by our Lord meant shark as much as whale. The term is generical, meaning a great fish of any kind. Our translators were probably better acquainted with the whale, and so translated.
The Sabbath Memorial of Creation
By Editor
The New England Evangelist thinks that the ancient Sabbath should not now be observed, for the reason (?) that it was only a type of Christ. But extraordinary and unfounded as this opinion is, the editor of our contemporary has the good sense to say:—
“It was not primarily to supply a physical necessity that God gave man a Sabbath, but that man should remember it and keep it. Men may cease from work as often as they may agree, or as may be convenient, and have all the benefit of bodily rest; but when God appointed a day, and sanctified it, and called it his own, it then stood for something more than bodily rest.”
This is true; the Sabbath of the Lord stood as the memorial of the work of the finished creation, and there is just as much reason why it should be kept now as there ever was. It was not given as a day of rest for man, but as a day of worship, a day to remind man that God had created all things; and for this purpose it will be observed in the eternal state, as foretold in Isa. 66:23.
Hades Is Not Paradise
By Editor
A WRITER who signs himself "A. J. N." (is it Dr. A. J. Nelson?) has an article in the California Christian Advocate, of October 9, on "Hades—Tar-tarus—Gehenna—Aiden," one expression of which we wish to notice, because it teaches an erroneous idea.
"Hades of the New Testament is always the Paradise of the blessed dead, or the abode of the disembodied dead."
It is marvelous that a well-informed writer should make such a statement. Hades occurs in the original, we believe, eleven times, but never once is it used to mean "Paradise;" it always means the place or state of the dead—good and bad. "Paradise" occurs only three times in the New Testament, namely, Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:2, 4; Rev. 2:7. By comparing the last text with Rev. 22:1, 2, it will be seen that Paradise is where the throne of God is or, as indicated by Paul in 2 Cor. 12:2-4, in the third heaven. This is a fair sample of the scripturality of the whole article.
Was Pentecost Always on Sunday?
By Editor
IN the California Baptist, of September 12, the Rev. Eli Reese uses over two columns to prove that the day of Pentecost always occurred on Sunday; that therefore the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1 fell on Sunday; that the Holy Spirit fell on that day; and, ergo, the day Sunday is holy. The support of this argument is Mr. Reese's interpretation of the last clause of Lev. 23:15, "Seven sabbaths shall be complete," which, he says, means that seven weeks, always counting from Sunday, must be complete, or full weeks, as the regular week was counted. The morrow after was Pentecost. Mr. Reese admits that "sabbaths" in the text means "weeks," and this is true, as proved by Deut. 16:9.
But to the argument of Mr. Reese, we will just say: 1. Forty-nine days would be just as much seven complete weeks if begun on Tuesday as Sunday. 2. The Passover and Pentecost fell on different days of the week, the same as our Fourth of July or New Year's day. Many eminent men, among them Dr. Kitto, believe from the same evidence that Mr. Reese had that the Pentecost of Acts 2:1 fell on the seventh day instead of the first. 3. As it was dated from the Passover, and as the Passover always fell on the fourteenth of the first month, both the Passover sabbath and Pentecost would fall on different days of the week in different years. 4. But if Mr. Reese were correct in his argument (which he is not), it would not prove Sunday a sacred day; for if it were Sunday which God designed to honor by the outpouring of his Spirit, he would have mentioned the day. But the only day mentioned is the day of Pentecost, which there met its antitype and perished. So much for Mr. Reese's argument. Sprinkling and infant baptism could be proved as easily and as scripturally as Mr. Reese has proved his Sunday-Pentecost sabbath.