“AND without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” The more we study the subject of the redemption of the human race, the greater depths we find, and there, as we think of the Redeemer’s glory, are depths we can not reach. It is the glory of the Prince of Life, and the mightiest powers of man can not fully comprehend it. The angels themselves desire to look into this mysterious and wonderful theme. Writing by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the apostle Peter says: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”
It was in order that the heavenly universe might see the conditions of the covenant of redemption that Christ bore the penalty in behalf of the human race. The throne of Justice must be eternally and forever made secure, even tho the race be wiped out, and another creation populate the earth. By the sacrifice Christ was about to make, all doubts would be forever settled, and the human race would be saved if they would return to their allegiance. Christ alone could restore honor to God’s government. The cross of Calvary would be looked upon by the unfallen worlds, by the heavenly universe, by Satanic agencies, by the fallen race, and every mouth would be stopped. In making His infinite sacrifice Christ would exalt and honor the law. He would make known the exalted character of God’s government, which could not in any way be changed to meet man in his sinful condition.
Who is able to describe the last scenes of Christ’s life on earth, His trial in the judgment hall, His crucifixion? Who witnessed these scenes?—The heavenly universe, God the Father, Satan and his angels. Wonderful events took place in the betrayal of Christ. At His mock trial, His accusers found nothing by which He could be proved guilty. Three times Pilate declared, “I find no fault in Him at all.” Nevertheless he ordered Him to be scourged, and then delivered Him up to suffer the most cruel death that could be devised.
“It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” It pleased God to bruise His only-begotten Son, to suffer temptation to come to Him, to permit Satan to develop his attributes and the principles of his government. The enmity of the apostate against the Commander of all heaven must be seen. It must be shown that Satan’s mercy is cruelty. What a battle was this, between Christ and Satan! It was waged up to the very time of the resurrection, yea, up to the time of the ascension. Then it was transferred to Christ’s followers, and to-day Satan wars against them.
During His lifetime Christ’s spirit was grieved because His own nation looked upon Him as a root out of dry ground, having no form or comeliness that they should desire Him. He longed for careworn, oppressed, weary human beings to come to Him, that He might give them the light and life and joy that are only to be found in Him. The veriest sinners were the objects of His deep, earnest interest, pity, and love. But when in the greatest need of human sympathy, in the hour of His trial and temptation, even the most promising of His disciples forsook Him. He was indeed compelled to tread the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Him. An atmosphere of apostasy surrounded Him. On every side could be heard sounds of mockery, taunting, and blasphemy. Satanic agencies full of animosity strove to inspire the human family with deadly animosity against the law of Jehovah; and in his enmity the apostate was joined by the professed worshipers of God, for whom Christ had done so much.
The Lord of hosts suffered with His Son, but He did not abate one jot of the penalty. The world’s Redeemer heard the people taking the oath of allegiance to a rival sovereign. He heard them divorcing themselves from God, refusing to obey His rule, saying, “We have no king but Cæsar.” As He hung on the cross, He heard them say tauntingly, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.”
The Lord permits men to go to a certain length in sin, and then, as in the destruction of the old world, He will arise and punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain.
“Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at Thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.”
Thus it was. The terrible scenes of the crucifixion revealed what humanity will do when under Satan’s control. They revealed what the outcome would be if Satan was to control the world. Those who witnessed these scenes never lost the impressions made upon their minds. Many were converted, and told others of the awful scene they beheld. Many who heard the report of Christ’s death were converted, and commenced searching the Scriptures. Thus were fulfilled the words, “So shall He sprinkle many nations.”
“Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.”
Christ was this Branch, the highest branch of the highest cedar. He was the plant of the Lord’s setting. “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Christ’s every act was acceptable to the Father. God loved His Son in His humiliation. He loved Him most when the penalty for the transgression of His law fell on Him.
Christ was the Majesty of heaven, the Commander of the heavenly hosts. But He put off His crown, and divested Himself of His royal robe, to take upon Him human nature, that humanity might touch humanity. As the world’s Redeemer, He passed through all the experiences through which we must pass. He found Himself in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself to do the greatest work that could be done for the human race. A beam of righteousness from heaven shone amid the moral darkness of this earth, to enlighten every man that cometh into the world.
Christ suffered in man’s stead, giving His life for the life of the world. All who repent and turn to Him are His heritage. His death proved God’s administration and government to be without a flaw. Satan’s charge in regard to the conflicting attributes of justice and mercy was forever settled beyond question. Every voice in heaven and out of heaven will one day testify to the justice, mercy, and love of God.
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
ABIDE WITH US.
By Annie Clarke
ABIDE with us; the somber shadows gather,
The light fades to the past,
The chilling gloom of doubt is all around us,
And night has come, at last!
We need Thee in life's daytime, when the sunlight
Gilds everything we see;
For joy is only joy as Thou art with us—
All gladness comes from Thee.
But O! we need Thee sorely when the darkness
Droops downward like a pall;
When joy has spread her wings, her nest forsaken,
And tears like rain-drops fall.
When by the grave of our dead hopes we linger,
And silence meets our cry,
We look to heaven, but only see the storm-clouds—
No stars are in the sky.
Abide with us! then darkness has no terror,
And doubt and fear shall cease;
Our deepest griefs shall all be soothed to silence,
Lulled to Thy perfect peace.
—Annie Clarke.
THE WONDERFUL COUNSELOR.
WHETHER we read Isa. 9:6 as “Wonderful, Counselor,” as in the text of the Revised Version, or “Wonderful Counselor,” as in the margin, it matters not. Jesus Christ is the Counselor, the Advocate of His people, of all that long to be His people. He is also a Wonderful Counselor, in wisdom so surpassing, in knowledge so profound, in love so infinite, that all the counsel of all the wise of earth is not worthy of mention.
He knows all about our case. He understands the principles involved. He sees the harvest in the seed, the end in the beginning. He knows all the dangers which lurk in the way. He looks with clear eye upon all the hidden snares of the enemy. He sees the subtle, sweetened, poisoned draughts the adversary has prepared for thirsty lips. He beholds the enchantress’ bed which would lull to the sleep of death our wearied limbs and brain. He has met all these things Himself, and knows how to escape all dangers, how to make the best use of all blessings; nay, more, how even to turn the banes into blessings. O, our Counselor understands it all; He is perfect in knowledge and wisdom.
Moreover, He counsels to save. He can counsel in no other way, for He loves us with a measureless love. Others may counsel us to do what is “expedient,” what is the best “policy.” But there are no makeshifts to the advice of our Counselor. His counsel is founded in the everlasting principles of truth and righteousness and life. He would not advise you to endeavor to escape a temporary ill and fall into the permanent evil. He would not save you from confession of sin, to let you meet sin’s doom at the end. He would not give you the satisfaction of your temporary triumph here and keep you from His eternal triumph for you hereafter. No; love leads our Counselor to do for us what is always for our best and eternal good.
But the knowledge, the wisdom, the intermingled love are not all that make wonderful our great Counselor. His ear, His private office, is open to all. The poor of earth can not get access, except in rare instances, to the world’s great counselors. The legal advice of a Blackstone, an Evarts, or a Choate costs more than the poor can afford. A retaining fee for such as they, even if life were at stake, would be more than the poor could raise. But the Wonderful Counselor ever keeps open office for earth’s millions. No servant or lackey will keep you from access to the Master. It is your privilege to go to Him. Surely He speaks not to deceive or tantalize; hear Him: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden.” The righteous may come in his perplexity. The sinner, deep-dyed and criminal against his Father’s law, may come and find an Advocate who intercedes, a Judge who justifies. And this is love.
Then, reader, go to Him. Let nothing keep you from it. Tell Him all about your case. Keep back nothing. Only so will you realize your need of His help. And then His Spirit will by His own Word teach you the way; and you will indeed know Him to be the Wonderful Counselor.
“NEITHER SO DID THEIR WITNESS AGREE.”
It is not an uncommon thing for two witnesses to disagree. Less frequently we find a witness contradicting himself. That he does directly or indirectly is proof positive that he does not speak the truth. It is a common thing among opponents of the Lord and His work to be self-contradictory. It was so when men endeavored to substantiate a charge against Jesus. It is equally true when the efforts of men are directed against the Lord’s Sabbath.
Before us lies a paper of prominence in the country, a chief organ of a great denomination. In it is an article, written by one man, which takes these positions:—
1. As Christ came to fulfil the law and the prophets, all types and sacrifices, and therefore the Sabbath and law, were then done away.
2. The Sabbath was observed by Christ. It was a type of God’s rest after creation and of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. This Sabbath applied to the Israelites.
3. Jesus said He was Lord of the Sabbath; and He said this with the thought of changing it (a thought of which He has said nothing in His Word).
4. He changed it and called it the “Lord’s day.”
5. The observance of the seventh day is “going back to the law.”
Now it is strange that any one can not see the inconsistency of the above propositions. It is strange that any one can not see that the Sabbath as a memorial of God’s creative work can not be a part of the law of sacrifices; that it was made before sin entered, while sacrifices came as a consequence of sin; that God made the Sabbath law, in order to forever settle its character, a part of the Ten-Commandment moral law, and that what is true of the Sabbath is true of every other part of that law. God condemns those who are “partial in the law.”
The law of which Paul wrote to the Galatians was the living law which brought him and the Galatian brethren to Christ—Paul from a dead Judaism, the Galatians from heathendom—years after the resurrection of Christ. It is the law that points out sin, the law that declares, “Thou shalt not covet,” the Decalogue. See Gal. 3:22-24; Rom. 7:7. It fills the same office to the truly converted sinner to-day.
Christ did fulfil the law; He kept it perfectly, and by His “obedience” we are made righteous. His seventh-day Sabbath-keeping justifies the sinner for his Sabbath-breaking; but Christ has no first-day sabbath-keeping to justify a sinner who has not observed the Sunday. In fact, according to the Word, “Where there is no law there is no transgression,” and there is no law for Sunday sacredness.
Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man,”—all men,—and that is true; then it was not made for one nation. But nowhere are we told that Jesus changed the Sabbath, or that He intended to change it. In fact, it could not be changed without altering more than one jot or tittle. And what Bible authority is there for the statement that John calls the first day of the week the Lord’s day? He does not so say.
Going back to the law to observe the Sabbath which Christ kept, we are told is fraught with the most disastrous consequences!!
And yet Jesus says, “Follow Me.” Do those who take such positions expect Christians to refrain from stealing, to honor father and mother, to keep the sixth and seventh commandments? But is not this “going back to the law”?
No true seventh-day Christian keeps the Sabbath in order to be saved; he keeps it because he is saved, as the memorial of Christ’s rest in creation, as a sign of His power in redemption. He keeps the third, fifth and sixth commandments for the same reason. And the Spirit says: “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.”
ILLUSIONS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION.
THE New York Evening Journal, of May 23, has the following under the above head, which is worthy of note:—
It is to be expected that foreigners coming to our country to become citizens, even foreigners of considerable education, should have mistaken notions of the Constitution of the United States. Most of them believe that the first twelve amendments are limitations on the States. When the first amendment says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” they fancy that the States are bound by this inhibition. But the truth is that if, for instance, the State of Illinois should want to make Catholicism a State church, there is nothing whatever in our national Constitution to prevent her from doing it.
The foreigners’ mistakes are excusable, but what shall we think when a scholarly New York morning paper asserts that “the fifth amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentation or indictment by a Grand Jury,” and denounces the District-Attorney of New York for violating that provision in the Molineux case?
Can it be an American who wrote that article?
Is there an educated American who does not know that this provision applies exclusively to the United States courts?
Should not a pretentious New York paper know that several States, notably California, have practically abolished indictments by Grand Juries, substituting informations by District-Attorneys in almost all cases?
We would like to ask the Journal a few questions. If the State of Illinois should make the Roman Catholic Church the State church, presumably this union would be similar to such establishments elsewhere; fasts and feasts would be ordained by law; citizens would be required by law under penalty to adore “the host” as it would be carried along the streets in solemn procession; utterances against the State religion would be condemned and punished as blasphemy and treason; only Roman Catholic citizens could serve in public office; and other things, too numerous to mention, would obtain. Now, according to the Constitution, would Illinois7have the right to do all this? Amendment XIV., section 1, declares: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Would it not be an abridgement of the privileges or immunities of a citizen of the United States to require him to support a State church in Illinois? Would it not, in the light of the First Amendment, be an abridgement of his privileges to require the observance of a fast day, or bowing before what to him was a mere wafer? These are pertinent questions these days. Is slavery of mind and conscience of less importance than physical slavery?
We are not captious in this inquiry; we would be glad of a candid reply to these questions.
ORIGIN OF SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.
By Editor
A CORRESPONDENT sends us a leaf of the Tacoma Baptist, of what date we know not, which refers to this paper, and requests us to answer it. It is hardly worth while. The article is but a general, bold denial of facts which the SIGNS has stated. The Baptist quotes this from the SIGNS:—
The Sunday sabbath rests alone upon the authority of the tradition of the Catholic Church. Shall we keep the Sabbath of the Lord, or the Sabbath ordained by the great enemy of the church of God?
Upon this the Tacoma Baptist sweetly remarks:—
We believe that, by this time, the SIGNS OF THE TIMES knows full well that Constantine or the Catholic Church had nothing whatever to do with originating Sunday observance among Christians. I believe they know this, and yet they go on chewing their old chestnut. It is positively untrue that Constantine changed the Sabbath and originated Sunday observance among Christians.
The early Christian fathers all speak of Sunday observance, long, long before Constantine or the Roman Catholic Church were born. Peter, bishop of Alexandria, A. D. 306; Anatolius, bishop of Laodicea, A. D. 270; the Apostolic Constitutions, A. D. 250; Cyprian, A. D. 250; Tertullian, A. D. 200; Clement of Alexandria, A. D. 194; Bardesanes, Edessa, Asia, A. D. 180; Justin Martyr, A. D. 140; Barnabas, A. D. 125; St. John, on Patmos, A. D. 96; Luke, Asia Minor, A. D. 60; all speak of the first day of the week as being the day kept by the early Christians (not however as the Sabbath, for the Sabbath belongs to Israel only) but as the day on which Christ rose from the dead.
If all this is not known to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, I pity it. It is not true at all that Constantine or the Catholic Church originated Sunday observance. We say to the Times, Never quote again that foolish claim of Romanists that their church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. The TIMES knows as well as we do that that is not true.
Now it is not a hard thing for a blind man to declare that the sun does not shine; but his denial does not alter the fact. In 1897 there were published in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES seventy-seven “Historical Facts and Incidents Relative to the Sabbath and the Sunday.” They are now published in tract form, “Apples of Gold Library, No. 45.” Price 1 cent. The historical facts are not mere statements, but the references to the histories from which they are taken, are given.
Here are a few of these facts for our contemporary to consider:—
43. Says Neander, the greatest of church historians (“Church History,” translated by H. J. Rose, p. 186): “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect; far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.” Neander lived A. D. 1789 to 1850.
Dr. Peter Heylyn, a member of the Church of England, who wrote in 1636, gives this testimony to the same effect: “Take which you will, either the ‘fathers’ or the moderns, and we shall find no Lord’s day instituted by any apostolic mandate; no sabbathset on foot by them upon the first day of the week, as some would have it.”—Hist. of the Sabbath, part 2, chap. 1, sec. 10.
Says Sir William Domville: “Not any ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries attributed the origin of Sunday observance either to Christ or to His apostles.”—Examination of the Six Texts Supplement, pp. 6, 7.
44. A. D. 140.—The earliest testimony among the “fathers” in behalf of Sunday observance that can lay claim to genuineness is by Justin Martyr, a half-converted heathen philosopher, and a portion of the time at least an inhabitant of Rome, the seat of the apostasy. Justin simply speaks of meeting together for worship, etc., “upon the day called Sunday.” He gives the day no other title. This testimony is found in “Justin Martyr’s First Apology,” translated by Wm. Reeves, chap. 67, p. 127, secs. 87, 88, 89. Justin wrote at about the above date.
45. A. D. 196.—The first effort made by Rome to rule the Christian church was an edict in behalf of Sunday. The Eastern churches celebrated the Passover (Easter) on the 14th day of the first Jewish month, without regard to the day of the week. Rome began keeping it on the Sunday following “Good Friday.” Victor, bishop of Rome, made a decree imposing the custom of Rome upon all the churches, that is, to observe the Passover on Sunday. “This bold attempt,” says Bower (“Hist. of the Popes,” vol. 1, pp. 18, 19), “we may call the first essay of papal usurpation.” See also Dowling’s “Hist. of Romanism,” book 1, chap. 2, sec. 9. In the heading of page 32, Dowling, a Methodist Episcopal, calls this attempt of Victor, in behalf of Sunday exaltation, “the earliest instance of Romish assumption.”
46. A. D. 200.—The first early “father” who without doubt applies the term “Lord’s day” to Sunday, is Tertullian. On that day he tells us that fasting or kneeling was unlawful. They traced on the forehead the sign of the cross, and made offerings for the dead in connection with Sunday observance.—De Corona, sec. 3. Concerning these observances Tertullian frankly says: “If for these and other such rules you insist upon having positive Scripture injunction, you will find none. Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener.”—“On Prayer,” chap. 23; De Corona, secs. 3, 4.
47. A. D. 321.—The first law for Sunday as a weekly day of observance on record, human or divine, is by Constantine, at that time heathen emperor of Rome and sun-worshiper: “Let all the judges and townspeople, and the occupation of all trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture. . . . Given the seventh day of March; Crispus and Constantine being consuls, each of them for the second time.”—Corpus Juris Civilis Codicis, lib. iii, tit. 12, 3; also Schaff-Herzog Ency., art. Sunday Legislation.
48. A. D. 325.—Sylvester, bishop of Rome, authoritatively bestowed upon the Sunday the title of “Lord’s day.” This was needed to supplement Constantine’s heathen decree. See “Historia Ecclesiastica,” per M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, chap. 10, pp. 739, 740, ed. Basilea, 1624, library of Andover Theological Seminary.
49. About A. D. 325.—Of Constantine’s relation to Sunday Dr. Peter Heylyn (“Hist. of the Sabbath,” part 2, chap. 3, sec. 1) says: “So natural a power was it in a Christian prince to order things about religion, that he not only took upon him to command the day, but also to prescribe the service.”
50. A. D. 338.—Says Eusebius, the friend and flatterer of Constantine (“Commentary on the Psalms,” quoted in Cox “Sabbath Literature,” vol. 1, p. 361): “And all things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath these we [Constantine, Eusebius, and other bishops] have transferred to the Lord’s day, as more appropriately belonging to it.” This is a fair example of apostasy’s assuming authority to alter what Christ or His apostles did not even presume to change in any way.
Now what of this proof? Sunday observance in professed Christianity originated, not with Christ or His apostles, but in the apostate church, helped on by Constantine, a heathen emperor. It was brought into the church by half-converted heathens.
Yes, some of “the early Christian fathers” do speak of Sunday observance; but what kind of observance, let the Tacoma Baptist tell. It was not regarded as a holy day till centuries had passed. Some of these “early Christian fathers” speak of sprinkling instead of immersion, and even those who immersed followed customs that we hardly think the editor of the Baptist would care to practise.
The epistle of Barnabas referred to above, is spurious. John, on the isle of Patmos, never mentions the first day of the week. The Bible Lord’s day is the Sabbath. Ex. 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:27.
It is true that the Roman Catholic Church did not change the Sabbath. Nor did any other. It can not be changed. It is as immutable as God Himself. We made no claim; we do not believe that the Sabbath is changed; for it is unchangeable. Jesus said: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail.”
And there are many more facts in the eternal verities of God. O for Bible Baptists! O for Bible Christians!
WHAT IS “ETERNAL PUNISHMENT”?
It is not a difficult question to answer. Direct reference to the Word will find simple, clear, and direct reply. It is more difficult to get around the Scripture and endeavor to make it mean something it does not. Says a writer in a Pacific Coast Christian paper:—
Of the nine occurrences of the words “punish,” “punished,” and “punishment,” in the New Testament, only four have reference to the future torment of the wicked: Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:9; Heb. 10:29; 2 Peter 2:9.
The following is the text (R. V.) of Matt. 25:46: “And these shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into eternal life.” Now if the term “punishment” means “pain, suffering,” as Webster defines it, and the term aionios—eternal—means “unlimited duration,” as Greenfield, et. al., define it, the Master says to us in this passage that the wicked shall endure conscious pain and suffering, time without end!
Now all this is true if, if—but what does the Bible say? Let Rom. 6:23 (not Webster) tell us what this punishment is: “For the wages of sin is death [not life in misery], but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Let 2 Thess. 1:9, R. V., speak: “Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might.”
Now what is everlasting punishment?—It is not everlasting punishing; it is death; it is “eternal destruction.”
But this is the way the writer above referred to labors to get around the latter text:—
1. Paul has saved us the trouble of going to Webster in this case by telling us that this punishment, whatever it is, is a punishment of suffering.
2. The word here rendered “destruction” is olethros, and means, as before shown, “perdition,” “destruction,” “ruin,” “misery.”
3. The only way to make this passage teach the annihilation of conscious being is to assume such a meaning for the Greek word olethros—a meaning which it does not possess.
But may not “destruction,” “perdition,” “ruin,” mean eternal loss of being? “Misery” is a derived meaning. Liddell and Scott define olethros to mean “ruin, destruction, death;” and no other definition contrary to the above is given.
The word defined “punishment” in Matt. 25:46 is kolasis from kolazō, meaning “to curtail, dock, prune.” “And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting cutting off;” they are the fruitless branches cut off and burned in the fire. See John 15:6.
The above is sufficient to show that a just God takes no pleasure in the torment of the incorrigibly impenitent. He sets before them life and death; they choose death, and are given their choice.
THE DEVASTATING TORNADO.
ELSEWHERE our correspondent at Minneapolis gives his impressions of the storm as he viewed the ruins the next day. The following is from the Minneapolis Times of June 14, sent us by a friend:—
“In the southwest appeared a black cloud, cone-shaped, the apex near the earth and the funnel in the sky. With an ominous roar, with its substratum of ghastly green, it advanced. When the storm broke over the center of the town, the main street was filled with hundreds of distracted men, women, and children rushing up and down in frenzied terror. A circus was in town on Monday and people had come from all the surrounding country to see the show. After the circus the people had crowded into the city to do their shopping in the evening. It was at this time the storm-cloud came up from the southwest. The scene that followed defies anything approaching adequate description. The black cloud of destruction enveloped the little city in darkness. The furious whirlwind seized the brick blocks as tho they were mere toys and hurled the debris through the air with terrific velocity. It snatched human beings from the ground and dashed them to the earth again or buried them under tons of ruins, mangling their forms, severing their limbs, crushing them out of all resemblance to humanity. The faces of the dead, even in cases where the features were not distorted or destroyed, were literally filled with dirt and sand that lodged under the skin, imparting a brownish-black hue that often rendered them unrecognizable. Buildings were heaped together; some lay flat on the ground, while the ruins of others still reared their heads, gruesome relics of the horrible devastation wrought by the storm. The tornado had no sooner passed than ‘horror on horror’s head’ accumulated. Fires broke out in the midst of the debris, and those who had not been crushed to death under the collapsing buildings suffered even a worse fate. They were burned to death. The air was filled with the moans and cries and shrieks of the victims, who, pinioned down by the heavy timbers and other debris, perished in the flames.
“The scene at New Richmond was horrible. The storm seemed not content with blowing things around and destroying them, but had literally chewed everything to pieces. Machinery which seemed heavy enough to withstand any force which the elements could bring against it, was twisted and turned a thousand different ways. A heavy piece of mining machinery was deposited near the track and was twisted and turned until it hardly retained its form in any part.
“Not a single business block remains standing in the entire city. Three-fourths of the private residences are either utterly demolished and scattered to the four winds of heaven, or are in so dilapidated a condition as to render them unfit for human habitation. Never before, in the history of the country, has a cyclone of equal force been attended with such frightful loss of life.”
The next day, June 13, the little village of Herman, Neb., was struck by a tornado, a score killed, 100 injured, and every building in the place, save two, demolished.
Other sections and towns in Wisconsin and Minnesota suffered more or less from the cyclonic disturbance.
CYCLONE AT NEW RICHMOND.
By L. B. Losey
UNDOUBTEDLY, the cyclone and tornado both combined which passed over the Northwest the evening of June 12, and destroyed the city of New Richmond, was one of the most destructive that has ever visited this country. As the writer had the privilege of visiting the fated city a few hours after the cyclone had done its awful work, these words of the Saviour as He wept over Jerusalem before its destruction, came to mind: “Behold your house is left unto you desolate. . . . There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. . . . And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
As we stepped from the train about midnight, we were met by a national guard armed with gun and bayonet, and escorted to the next guard, who passed us on to the next, till we reached the end of the picket line, and when we asked where we could find lodging he directed us to the Congregational church as the only possible place where we might find lodging.
New Richmond, Wis., at 6 P. M. June 12, was a prosperous town of 2,300 inhabitants. In less than one minute, between 6 and 6:30, the city was a mass of ruins; from 150 to 200 killed,—the exact number will never be known,—and nearly 1,000 injured. The above is from a photograph of the main business street after the tornado did its half-minute work.
Arriving there, we found that the church, being in the edge of the path of the storm, was partially torn down, but it furnished a shelter for the living as well as the dead. It had been turned into a morgue and hospital, and sheltered that night seventeen of those who had perished without a moment’s warning. Tired surgeons were there lying on the floor after a hard day’s work of caring for the dead and dying. After a few hours’ sleep on the floor of the church, we went out to view the devastated city. Such a scene of desolation and destruction our eyes had never beheld before. As we walked over those ruins we could only think that the four winds of heaven had been let loose, for that was literally true.
The weather observer had discovered before the storm that the wind had been blowing from every quarter towards the storm center, which was at this fated city. How an unseen force could twist and turn and break and pile up and tear down iron and wood and stone as it did there, is more than human mind can comprehend. I could only imagine that some giant fiend had stalked into that beautiful city, bent on destruction, and literally torn every building in its path from its foundation, and not satisfied with simply destroying the buildings, had passed them through a huge threshing-machine, after which the wood and stone and iron and all household effects, torn into fragments, had been scattered in shapeless piles or sown broadcast over the land. Horses and cows and chickens were lying dead, with lumber and brick and stone piled on them, or lying alone on the prairie.
Up to the present time over one hundred human bodies have been discovered, and it is supposed many more are yet undiscovered, and many more than this number have been wounded. One little sketch will serve to illustrate how nearly whole families were destroyed. Among the wounded was S. W. Hawkins, suffering from severe internal injuries and a broken leg. A newspaper man leaned over the ambulance and asked his name. The man was suffering greatly, but replied with cheerfulness, evidently forced:—
“Hawkins, sir, but it don’t make much difference; my wife, my two daughters, and my son, were all killed in the same place. They are all gone.”
Volumes might be written telling of similar pitiful stories, but such things are becoming so common they receive but a passing notice.
Skeptics read of strange and wonderful experiences in the Bible, and call them fables and falsehoods, while stranger and more unexplainable things are happening all around them, and still they go on doubting and finding fault with God. But God is ever merciful, and goes on warning the world and speaking to hearts that we are living in perilous times, yet the warning is unheeded. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth, and there is only one place that is safe, where men and women can flee, and that is to Christ, the only City of Refuge where the storms of life can not enter to destroy or make sad hearts weep. He is the only sure foundation on which to build our hopes and anchor our lives. All other hopes and aspirations may fail, but God’s Word and promises never.
