Earlier text: General ArticlesSACRIFICE.
By Mrs. M. J. Bahler
THE subject of sacrifice is one of vast importance. Without sacrifice our very existence would prove to be only a vapor, a fleeting shadow, a something to pass away and never come again. He who does not sacrifice something from his own comfort in life, thereby to help or comfort others, is living for self and has not the spirit of Christ dwelling in him. And if we have not the spirit of Christ, we are none of his. At the very outset of man's existence he stretched forth his hand to a forbidden object, and that act made a sacrifice necessary in order to rescue him from the sad consequences of his disobedience. What thoughts of amazing love are brought to our minds as this scene in the drama of earth's sad history opens up to our view. Consider it for a moment—man lost, condemned, and wretched beyond measure with a sense of his guilt. A loving, pitying Saviour extending hope to the offender, and that hope to be realized only through a most cruel death to this Saviour and the sacrifice on his part of years of the bliss and glory of his home of ineffable peace and light. Think for one moment of what a sacrifice this was—and yet it is utterly impossible for us to conceive to any adequate extent whatever the immeasurably sad contrast between his home and ours. His was light, glory, and peace; ours, darkness, sin, sorrow, and death. As I try to contemplate the subject of this great sacrifice, the first ever made—for it was made in purpose before any other, in that the Son of God offered, and the pitying Father accepted—I feel like laying aside my pen from inability to properly express the thoughts which crowd my mind. This is the one great sacrifice without which all others were of no avail. Oh, may the spirit that actuated Jesus, the blessed Messiah, so permeate our hearts that we shall be willing to sacrifice our ease, our pleasure, our convenience, in order to be of some use to our fellow-beings! Those who will be gathered to Christ at last to live in harmony, love, and light, through the ceaseless ages of eternity, will be those who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice—not by sacrificing the innocent animals, but by sacrificing the things of this life which hold them back from, or interfere with, their obedience to, and consequent relationship with, Christ. Oh, may we learn how to render acceptable service to him who has so loved us! And while we remember that "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," and that "a broken and contrite heart" he will not despise, may we also remember that the heart truly contrite and broken with a sense of its weakness and sin, and consequent obligation to him who rideth upon the heavens in our help, who hath pitied our weakness and stretched out a hand to our help,—may we remember, I say, that the heart truly contrite and grateful must continually be sacrificing something it loves and delights in, thereby to give expression to its grateful love. If we find that we do not love to deny ourselves the gratification of some pleasure, that we may be able to cheer, encourage, and help some of Christ's little ones, or search out and bring to him some wandering, desolate one, then may we know that we must seek and find more of that tender, self-sacrificing love which always abides in those who are Christ-like. MAJORITIES AGAINST THE TRUTH.
By Rev. John T. Chalmers
THERE are those who magnify the numbers that give countenance to their cause, forgetting that in both morals and religion the word of God is the only rule and guide, and not the sentiments of any number of fallible men. In other words, they assert that truth must lie with the majority. But is this an infallible method of determining truth and right? How was it when Israel worshiped the golden calf? or in the days of Ahab, when from among the millions of Israel only seven thousand were found who had not bowed the knee to Baal? or when Elijah stood, single and alone, to meet the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal? Who were right and who received the approval of Heaven? How was it upon that dark and tragic day when Jerusalem and its environments rung with the maddened cry, "Away with him, crucify him, crucify him"? Who were right during the Dark Ages, the multitudes that followed "the man of sin" and worshiped the virgin, or that little band of Christians who in the valleys of the Alps kept alive the sparks of true religion that ultimately kindled into the blaze of the Reformation? Who stand upon the safest ground at the present time, the few hundred thousand who profess the true religion, or the countless multitudes who are virtually unbelievers? No, the race is not always to the swift, the battle to the strong, nor truth with the multitude; and when assailed with such logic let us not be intimidated or discouraged, but rather let us remember the babe in the ark of bulrushes, the stripling of Bethlehem before the giant of Gath, the little band of Gideon, and the eleven fishermen of Galilee. Let us not forget these illustrious examples of divine strength made perfect in human weakness, of the power of minorities when God is on their side, and the Saviour's precious words of promise: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."—Rev. John T. Chalmers. We were earnestly remonstrating with a friend who had been brought under deep conviction of sin, on her intended participation in a certain very common bit of worldliness, for the sake of which she was going to absent herself from the meetings in which she had become interested for her salvation. We tried to point out two things to her: First, the folly of trifling with the work of the Holy Ghost in her soul; and second, the sin of doing the thing she was proposing to do. To the latter of these she replied: "But I am not a Christian yet. I admit that it would be a sin for me to engage in the affair if I were a Christian. After I become a Christian, I know I will have to give it up, and many more things like it; but I thought so long as I was not a Christian, it would not be a sin." We are sure that many others are indulging in this kind of sophistry. It is a devil's lie. Sin is sin. Worldliness is sin, whether indulged in by sinners or by professors of religion. It is a dreadful thing for Christians to be found practicing the sins of the worldlings, as so many of them freely do; but it is none the less sin for a sinner to go on sinning. What a monstrous delusion sin is! How desperately wicked and deceitful the human heart is! The whole world lieth in the "wicked one," and with him they are cursed, because the love of God is not in them. Let us utter this solemn warning to young people, if any such may read this paragraph, and older people also, that theft is a crime, even if it is committed by a professional burglar, no less than if it is committed by a church member. It is no doubt a shocking thing for a confessed disciple of Christ to be found defrauding his employer, but it is equally a crime for an unbeliever to do so. What an outcry is made when a Christian is found committing sin! Yet the act is not sinful because it is done by a Christian. God will not tolerate sin in his people, nor will he tolerate it in unbelievers. Sin is sin, by whomsoever it is committed, and must be forgiven or punished.
—Words and Weapons. "THOU ART WITH ME."
By A. S. Hutchins
IN the psalm from which I have selected these words, David expresses his firm and unshaken confidence in the protecting care of the Lord. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Ps. 23: 1, 2, 4. And why should we not trust fully in the Lord? "The good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." And if we confide in him and follow in his footsteps, he will withhold no good thing. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." God has manifested his love to us in the most convincing manner, in giving his Son to die for us. And with the apostle we may ask, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8: 32. "Thou art with me." Oh, cheering thought! Oh, blessed reflection! This consideration has sustained the people of God in the flood, in the Red Sea, in the fiery furnace, and in the lions' den; and in stripes, in imprisonments, and in deaths oft; and amidst perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils of the heathen, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren. It was the divine presence which in all past ages sustained the people of God when called upon to suffer affliction for the truth's sake, and must also be our strength, for a time of trouble is just before us, when we must have it or fall amidst the plagues and lose eternal life. Says David: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." Ps. 27: 4, 5. And again: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Ps. 46: 1-3. But if we would feel this abiding confidence in God, we must walk in the light of all the present truth. It is not enough to be numbered with the remnant, we must have a living and deep experience in the work of the Lord, which we may have if we heed the counsel to the Laodiceans. Then may we confidently say of the great Head of the church, in every trial and conflict, "I will fear no evil; for thou art with me." Jesus Calms Great Troubles
GREAT troubles, like the waves of Galilee, grow quickly calm when Jesus says, "Peace, be still." THE GROWTH OF EVIL.
By Editor
THERE is a growing tendency towards the belief that evil is a necessary thing in this world. This is a fundamental principle in the creed of Spiritualism, and it is gaining ground exactly in proportion to the growth of Spiritualism. Spiritualism professes to be a religion of nature, and sin being natural, it is very evident that the idea that sin is necessary will very easily find a multitude of adherents. The very fact that Spiritualism makes such a claim is sufficient evidence that, despite its pretension to elevate the race to the love of the pure and the beautiful, it can only result in the total degradation of the race; for let men once be assured that evil is in even the slightest degree necessary in this world, and they will be sure to make no efforts to get rid of a thing which is so pleasing to them. A few Sundays ago, Professor Fiske, of Harvard University, lectured before the Unitarian Society of San Francisco. His address was on the nature and origin of evil. Following is a portion of the newspaper report of the address:— "Mr. Fiske then went into a discussion of considerable length to establish the relativity of all knowledge. We know nothing, he said, except by contrast with or relation to something else. If there were only one color in the world, we would be unable to conceive the idea of color at all. If everything were as sweet as sugar, we would not know what taste means. In the same way, evil exists only by contrast—the contrast of a lesser good with a greater. Evil may be defined as a low stage of existence looked at from a higher one. There is ground for the hope that evil may be evanescent in the universe, but it now exists as a necessary condition of the development of man, like the creation of the shadow to the light. Were there no evil in the world, there could be no morality—no man in the highest sense; human beings would be so many puppets, but such a thing as character would be impossible." With all due respect for the learned Professor, we can think of nothing else, as we read his words, but the apostle's description of the downward progress of enlightened men toward heathenism: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the image of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves; who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Rom. 1:22-25. Such teaching as that of Professor Fiske is identical with that which sunk the ancient world into the most licentious idolatry, and it cannot fail to have the same effect now if it is but followed. Our boasted superior enlightenment will be no bar whatever to such a result; for, in spite of our boasting, the ancients were wiser than we, and it was, in fact, their boasted wisdom which led them into such folly and degradation. Take now the statement that evil is necessary, and that without it there can be no morality. Can anyone fail to see that this makes the goodness of God dependent upon evil, and actually denies his absolute goodness? and that this is simply to deny his existence as God, and to degrade him to a level with man? This is identical with what Paul said: "They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." And when men have done that, the changing of it still further into an image like to four-footed beasts and creeping things, and giving of themselves up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, is only a question of time, and not a very long time, either. The Professor thinks there is ground for hoping that evil may be evanescent; but what necessity is there for such a hope, or what incentive to induce man to eradicate it in himself, if evil is only a lesser good, and consequently no evil at all? Indeed, if it were true that evil is a necessary condition without which there could be no morality, then it would follow that evil ought not to be evanescent; for no matter to what heights of morality man had attained, we would begin to degenerate as soon as the evil was removed! Is it possible to conceive of a more absurd proposition? Yet in spite of its absurdity, it is seriously advanced by men who have committed to them the task of educating the youth of our land. This theory is simply another way of expressing the idea that "whatever is is right;" that man can do no wrong, for really there is no wrong. So, then, whatever a man may do, it is only a necessary step in his development. This is a pleasing thought to the carnal heart, and one that will find adherents without much urging. Now when it is remembered that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," and that "from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" (and these statements may be verified by anyone who knows much of his own heart), it is easy to see how those who think that all the impulses of their nature are only undeveloped good, could plunge into any excess. Public sentiment may act as a restraint upon a man with such an idea; but when the public sentiment is the same, when the majority of people conclude that nothing that they want to do is evil, then there will be no restraint, and the floods of iniquity will cover the earth. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3:1-4. It now requires no prophet's eye to see this state of things just ahead. When men occupying the highest positions as moulders of the thought of the rising generation, can without rebuke give utterance to sentiments that directly lead to unrestrained vice, it is surely time for an alarm to be sounded. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." 1 Tim. 6:11, 12. W. "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19. The apostle is not comparing one prophecy with another, but he is comparing prophecy with something else. He does not say that we have one word of prophecy that is "more sure" than some other word, but that the word of prophecy is more sure than some other thing. What that other thing is we may learn from the context. In verses 16-18 he speaks of the certainty of Christ's coming, and the reason why he is so certain in regard to it. He says: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." The idea is this: At the transfiguration the apostles saw Christ just as he will appear when he comes in his glory. They also heard the voice of God from Heaven. So when they declared the coming of Christ, they did it on the evidence of both their eyes and their ears. This is accounted the best possible evidence; but Peter says that there is something that is more sure than this. What is it? It is the "sure word of prophecy." It is possible that a person's eyes or ears might deceive him, but there is no possibility of doubt in regard to the prophecy. And why not? Because it did not come "by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The prophecy, therefore, is as reliable as God himself. There are very few things in this life upon which we can depend implicitly; how gladly, then, we ought to receive this sure word, and how eagerly we ought to search it. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM.
By W.
This dream, related in the second chapter of Daniel, is familiar to every reader of the Bible. The circumstances attending it are such as would attract the attention of one who was reading merely for pleasure, for they are highly interesting. But our interest in the narrative is increased a thousand-fold when we learn the object and interpretation of the dream. The object of the dream is told in few words. Daniel said to the king, "There is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." Then it is for us far more than for Nebuchadnezzar. The dream was as follows: A great image, bright in appearance and terrible in form, appeared to the king. Its head was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, and its feet of mingled clay and iron. While the king looked upon this image, a stone was cut out of the mountain without the aid of human hands. This stone smote the image upon the feet, and instantly the whole image was reduced to fine powder, and was blown away; but the stone immediately became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. The interpretation of the dream occupies but little more space. Daniel, after reminding the king that God has given him universal dominion, tells him that his kingdom is symbolized by the head of gold. The other three divisions of the image, the silver, the brass, and the iron, symbolize three other universal empires. The last one of these is to be divided into ten parts, as is indicated by the ten toes of the image, which shall be distinct from each other. And now comes the closing scene: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass428 hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." Dan. 2:44, 45. This dream with its interpretation was not given that men might be informed in regard to earthly kingdoms, but for the sole purpose of pointing out the fifth universal kingdom. Then we may know something in regard to the time of its setting up. Let us follow the connection. Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, B. C. 538. Medo-Persia, then, was the empire symbolized by the breast and arms of silver. The Persian Empire in its turn gave away to the Greeks. This took place B. C. 321. Here we have three of the four kingdoms; and since there were to be but four universal, earthly monarchies, the fourth cannot be difficult to locate. There is no doubt but that Rome was symbolized by the iron part of the image. It was at the height of its power at the first advent of Christ, having fully completed the conquest of Greece half a century before. There is no disputing the fact that it was universal in its dominion, and Scripture proof of the fact is found in Luke 2:1. Now we have the four universal empires before us. Where shall we look for the setting up of the fifth. In the days of Christ? No; because Rome was then undivided. It could not be set up until the division of that empire into its ten parts, which was completed A. D. 457. The coming of Christ, and the setting up of his everlasting kingdom, is the next thing brought to our view. And this is in reality the next thing to be accomplished. Certain things must be done by powers that now exist, but when earthly Governments again fall, their place will be taken by Christ's kingdom. Now is not this a sure word of prophecy? Kingdoms have risen and fallen just as predicted by the prophet. He said that the ten divisions of the Roman Empire would seek to consolidate their power, but would be unsuccessful, and so it has been. Every attempt to unite the nations of Europe has ended in failure. And if the past has been fulfilled to the letter, we have the assurance that that which yet remains will as surely be fulfilled. Inspiration did not point out the length of time that these earthly kingdoms should exist, and it has not told when the heavenly kingdom will be set up, but we know it cannot be far distant. The divided state of the image has continued for 1,400 years, much longer than any other division. Other prophecies show more definitely that the end is very near. We learn from this that God's kingdom is as much a reality as any earthly kingdom, and that those whose interest is in earthly things can have no part in it. Are we fitting ourselves for citizenship in that glorious, everlasting kingdom? As noted by Peter, the object of the sure word of prophecy is that we may be more certain in regard to Christ's coming, for that is the grand event to which all prophecy points. Christ's first advent was the basis of many prophecies, and it was the most momentous event since the creation of the world. Upon that coming the redemption of the whole human race depended; but even that with its attendant sacrifice would be lost to us if Christ were not to come the second time. Christ came and died that man might be redeemed, to reign with him forever; but those whom he has purchased cannot be with him unless, according to his promise, he comes again to redeem them to himself. There is no other way by which we can go to Heaven. So the redemption of the race depends fully as much upon Christ's second coming as upon the first. It is no wonder, then, that so much prophecy has been given in regard to so important an event. We will examine a little of it, and we shall see that the coming of our Lord is not so vague and indefinite a matter as some would have us believe. “PLEASE give an explanation of John 4:20. J. S.” The text reads, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” These are the words of the woman of Samaria to Jesus, as he talked with her at the well. Samaria was a hill that 925 years before Christ belonged to a man by the name of Shemer. When Omri had reigned as king of Israel six years in Tirzah, he bought this hill from Shemer for two talents of silver, and built a city on the hill, “and called the name of the city which he built,” Samaria, “after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill.” 1 Kings 16:23, 24. Omri thus made it the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and it remained the capital of the ten tribes as long as they were a kingdom. About 740 B. C. Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, carried captive a part of the ten tribes. 2 Kings 15:29. About 721 Samaria fell after a siege of three years by the Assyrians, and Sargon, king of Assyria, destroyed Samaria and carried the remainder of the ten tribes captive unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. Then to re-people the land he “brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel.” But by taking the inhabitants away, the lions had multiplied in the land. And when he brought up the new people the lions slew some of them. Then they sent word to the king of Assyria that, as they did not know the manner of the God of that land, the lions were slaying them, and asked him to send up there some of the priests who had been carried away captive, so that they should teach the newcomers the way of the God of the land. The king did so, and the priests taught them how they should fear the Lord. So then they all feared the Lord, so as to have him keep the lions off, and went on worshiping their own gods. So “the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” 2 Kings 17:6, 24-34. It will be seen at once that this introduced a mixed and most corrupt worship. Afterward there were some Arabians transported there by Sargon, and several other peoples by Esar-haddon. Ezra 4:2, 9, 10. When the children of Israel returned from the captivity of Babylon, B. C. 535, these people of Samaria proposed to join with them in rebuilding the temple and in re-establishing the worship of God. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and their companions would have nothing to do with them. Then the Samaritans set about to hinder the work all they possibly could, and even hired counselors against them at the court of the kings of Persia, all the time of Cyrus and Cambyses. And thus began an enmity between the two peoples, that never was quenched, but which grew more and more bitter as ages passed by. The efforts of the Samaritans were in vain with Cyrus and Cambyses, but when the impostor Smerdis came in, they succeeded in obtaining a decree from him putting a stop to the work at Jerusalem. So it ceased for about two years, till the second year of Darius Hystaspes, B. C. 520. Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the Jews again to go to building. But no sooner had they begun to build than the Samaritans were on hand again to stop them. There was a new governor over them, however, by this time, and he appears to have been a very honest man himself; he sent to Darius an honest account of the matter, and the effect of it was to bring a decree that not only should they let the work at Jerusalem go on, but that they should help speedily with money from the king's tribute, and with bullocks, rams, and lambs, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, all that was needed at Jerusalem. Ezra 4-6. After this the Jews were bothered no more by the Samaritans for about seventy years, till Nehemiah went up to Jerusalem to complete the work. Then they tried their best to get the advantage of him, but failed at every effort, which only increased their bitterness. This was at Nehemiah's first visit to Jerusalem. But he returned to the court of Persia and stayed several years, and then went up again to Jerusalem. There he found that in his absence the Jews had intermarried with the heathen, and even with the Samaritans. Eliashib the priest had actually brought Tobiah the Ammonite to Jerusalem and had set him up at housekeeping in the chambers of the temple of God. And one of Eliashib's grandsons had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, who seems to have been then governor of Samaria. When Nehemiah arrived at Jerusalem, and found matters thus, he pitched all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chambers that had been given him, and commanded the chambers to be cleansed. Then he made all the Jews who had strange wives put them away. But this grandson of the high priest, Manasseh by name, who had married Sanballat's daughter, would not give her up, therefore Nehemiah chased him clear out of Jerusalem. Then Manasseh went with his wife over to Samaria to Sanballat, as also did others who, like Manasseh, clung to their heathen wives, and rebelled against the authority of Nehemiah. In B. C. 409 Sanballat obtained from Darius Nothus a grant to build on Mount Gerizim near Samaria, a temple like that at Jerusalem, and he made this Manasseh the high priest of the temple and its worship. Thus the enmity became still more bitter, and continued so down to the time of the Saviour, by which time the hatred was so bitter that when the Pharisees would apply to Jesus the most bitter epithet that they could command, it was, “Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.” John 8:48. And Jesus when giving in a parable an example of perfect obedience to the divine command to love our neighbor as ourselves, pictured an instance of a Samaritan helping a Jew. And in this same conversation with the woman of Samaria, as Jesus sat on the well, the woman came, and he asked her to give him a drink. She was surprised that he, a Jew, should speak to her, a Samaritan, and so she asked, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” John 4:7-9. When Sanballat and Manasseh built that temple on Mount Gerizim, there was thenceforth a false worship there as rival to the true worship in Jerusalem. At first it was the mixed worship of the idolatrous Samaritans and apostate Jews. But this was not only a place of rival worship, but it became an asylum for all the rebellious, discontented Jews, and by this means it came about in the course of time that the worshipers there were mostly made up of apostate Jews and their descendants, and as the Pentateuch was used in the Samaritan temple, and as the service was made as near like that at Jerusalem as possible, the worship of the false gods was soon dropped entirely, and the Samaritans claimed to be the true people of God, and claimed that Mount Gerizim, and not Jerusalem, was the place which God had chosen, that there Abraham and Jacob had built altars and worshiped God, and that therefore theirs was the true temple and the true worship. And that is why it was that the woman said to Jesus, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain [the mountain was right over their heads]; and ye [that is, the Jews] say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” That also was why Jesus replied to her, “Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews.” Their worship was a false, corrupt worship from the beginning, and Jesus exposed it all in a word, “Ye worship ye know not what.” J. LIFE AND DEATH EVERLASTING.
By W.
WHEN we read the words of the Lord concerning the wicked, "For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land;" "for yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction" (Isa. 10:23, 25), and say that the Lord never designed to keep the wicked alive to all eternity suffering torture, we are told that if we limit the suffering of the wicked we have no assurance that the righteous will have everlasting happiness. This idea is based upon the erroneous idea of what is to constitute the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. It is true that the wicked are to suffer torment, and the righteous to have fullness of joy evermore at the right hand of God; but neither of these constitute the reward promised to the two classes. All that is promised to the righteous is life. Said Christ, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10. "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." John 5:40. "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. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. 1:1. To the wicked, death is threatened. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and424 all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." Rev. 21:8. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Deut. 30:19. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Rom. 8:13. We find that everywhere the choice is between life and death. The reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked are exactly opposite. As we said, all that is primarily promised to the righteous is life, but that comprehends everything else. The man who has unlimited life may have all things. Then, too, that promised life is really life. It is not partial life, as is our short life, but perfect life in every organ, so that there will be no sickness to interfere with plans. Therefore we say that this promise of life comprehends all blessings that may be desired. But how long will it last? To all eternity, for the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. "But," says one, "you limit the punishment of the wicked, which the Bible declares will be eternal, and why may you not as well limit the reward of the righteous?" That is a mistake; we do not put a limit to the punishment of the wicked. It will be everlasting, that is, without end. It will be just as long as the reward of the righteous. "These [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46. But this does not say that the wicked shall be in eternal torment. As we have seen, the punishment of the wicked is not primarily suffering, but it is death. They will suffer torment, and doubtless for a very long time, but until death shall have ensued they will not have received their punishment. Since their punishment is death, and it is also eternal, it follows that the punishment of the wicked is eternal death. And this agrees exactly with the words of Paul, who says that they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. There is no life except in Christ. The righteous have the promise of life which is in Christ. Their life is hid with Christ in God. And when they, in common with all men, are redeemed from the death which came upon them as the result of their inherited mortality, they will live as long as Christ does. The wicked, however, after having their mortal life restored to them, shall be punished with death for the sins which they have committed, and when they go down to the grave the second time there is no way by which they can be rescued, and they "sleep a perpetual sleep."