Earlier text: General ArticlesGRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION OF MATT. 28:1.
By Uriah Smith
IN these times it is almost dangerous to explode a heresy; for there are not a few who are ready even to seize the fragments, and caper about with them in the highest glee, as if they had discovered a new truth, or been blessed with a flood of new light. There are many now claiming that the first day of the week is called the Sabbath in Matt. 28:1, who doubtless learned for the first time that sabbatone occurs in that passage, from reading a refutation of that foolish claim. Let us then again examine the manner in which the first day attempts to find an asylum in Matt. 28:1. The passage, in the original, reads thus: "Opse de sabbatone, te epiphosekouse eis mian sabbatone, eelthe Maria, he Magdalene,"* etc. A translation is given to these words as follows: "In the end of the Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward one (or the first) of the Sabbaths, came Mary Magdalene," etc. And on this the following claim is raised: In the end of the Sabbaths, that is, the old series, or seventh-day Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first of a new series of Sabbaths, namely, Sabbaths to be held thereafter upon the first day of the week. What is necessary to sustain this claim? It is necessary, first, that the word σαββάτων (sabbatone) should have a plural signification, and refer to a series of Sabbaths, and, secondly, that the word first should agree with sabbaton understood; for in that case the idea would be, "as it began to dawn toward the first Sabbath of a new series of Sabbaths." If now it shall appear that the word σαββάτων has a signification the same as if it was in the singular number, and that the word first cannot agree with sabbaton understood, then the translation given above is incorrect, and the claim based thereon unfounded. If now the reader will turn with us to the lexicon and grammar, we will try to ascertain clearly the meaning of the words and the sense of the passage. Opse is defined by Robinson to mean, as a general signification, late, after a long time. "With a genitive, the same as at the end of, at the close of, after." Robinson then quotes these words from the Greek of Matt. 28:1, "opse de sabbatone," and translates them, "at the end of the Sabbath, i. e., after the Sabbath, the Sabbath being now ended." De is simply a continuative particle, signifying but, and, also, and the like. Sabbatone. There are two words translated Sabbath in the New Testament. The first is sabbaton, which is a noun of the second declension, and is always used in the singular number. The second is sabbata,† a noun of the third declension, and always used in the plural number. But these two words have identically the same signification, and are used interchangeably. Robinson says that where the plural form occurs, it is generally used for the singular. The word here in Matt. 28:1, is in the genitive case, which, according to Robinson, determines the meaning of opse before it; he, as already noticed, having said that opse with a genitive signifies at the end of, or after. The genitive is thus used, Sophocles § 196, to denote the time when, or place where. Te epiphosekouse: It beginning to dawn. Here we have the article te and the participle of the verb epiphoseko, which means, according to Robinson, "to grow light upon, to dawn upon." Liddell and Scott give it the single signification, "to grow toward daylight." The word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament, only in Luke 23:54, where it says that the Sabbath drew on; and this use of the word in this instance, Bloomfield explains to be a Jewish idiom to denote the commencement of their day, borrowed from classic use of the word by the heathen, who commenced their day in the morning. The word cannot have the tropical signification in Matt. 28:1, that it has in Luke 23:54, and signify that the first day, according to Jewish reckoning, was drawing on; for the word opse signifies that the Sabbath was already past. It must therefore here have its proper and literal signification, and mean, "as it began to grow toward daylight." The word is here in the dative form for the genitive absolute, Soph. § 226, Note 3, the article te, agreeing with heemera, day, understood. Eis is simply a preposition, meaning to or into. Mian is a numeral adjective, the first of the cardinal numbers, literally signifying one. It is here used, according to a Hebraism, as an ordinal, signifying the first.—Robinson. The form mian is found in the singular number, feminine gender, accusative case, from the nominative, heis, mia, hen. Being an adjective, it must agree with some substantive, either expressed or understood. Is there any word expressed with which it can agree? The next word is sabbatone (σαββάτων) which is in the genitive plural, and cannot therefore be the word with which the accusative singular, mian, agrees. What word, then, shall be supplied? This brings us to the principal claim based upon this text in behalf of the first day of the week. Is the sense of the passage that this is the first of a new series of Sabbaths now introduced? The first Sabbath of a new series? If so, the word first (mian) must agree with Sabbath (σαββατον, singular) understood. This form is found in the singular number and accusative case, the agreement thus far being all right; but when we look at the gender, we find that sabbaton is neuter, and mian, as already stated, is feminine. We cannot, therefore, supply the word sabbaton, unless we can perform the ungrammatical miracle of making a feminine adjective agree with a neuter noun. But, strange to say, some are so determined to have sabbaton understood, as to claim that mian is neuter! and that the gender of the adjective is determined, not by its form, but by the gender of the noun with which it agrees; as much as to say that the adjective has but one form, and is masculine, feminine, or neuter, according to the gender of its noun. This will certainly surprise those who have any acquaintance with the Greek. It is only for the benefit of those who have never studied it, that we need to say that adjectives are declined, or take a change of form to express the number and case, exactly the same as nouns; and that they have a change of form also to denote the gender; and the gender of the noun determines absolutely what form of the adjective shall be used to agree with it. Take, for instance, the word under consideration. The accusative singular, masculine, of the numeral heis, is hena, accusative feminine, mian, accusative neuter, hen. Used with a noun in the accusative singular, if masculine, hena would be the form of the adjective to be used; if feminine, mian; if neuter, hen. If therefore sabbaton is the word understood with which the numeral should agree, the form hen should have been used, not mian; and the fact that mian, the feminine form, is used, shows that the noun understood, with which it agrees, must be a feminine noun. In this respect the law of the language is absolute and inexorable. With what, then does mian agree? Scholars and critics who understand thoroughly the idioms of the Greek, tell us that in such sentences the word day, heemera, is understood. See Greenfield's Greek Testament, Matt. 28:1, margin, also Robinson's Lexicon. Heemera is a feminine noun, and hence, mian can agree with it in every respect; and there is no grammatical inaccuracy involved. Putting in the supplied word, we have eis mian heemera sabbatone, literally, the first day of the Sabbath. Now it is evident that the word sabbatone must here be taken in other than its ordinary sense; for "the first day of the Sabbath," the Sabbath itself being only one day, would be a meaningless expression. Turning again to Robinson, we find under the word sabbaton the second definition given as follows: "Meton. [that is, metonymy, a figure of speech in which one word is put for another], a Sabbath, put for the interval from Sabbath to Sabbath; hence a se'nnight week." "Only after numerals marking the days of the week." Then he refers, for examples, to all those passages in which the phrase, "first day of the week," occurs in the New Testament. And he adds, "In the Talmuds, the days of the week are written; the first, second, third, day in the Sabbath (week); see Lightfoot Hor. Heb. in Matt. 28:1. In the light of the foregoing facts, presented in a manner so plain that we trust all can understand them, it is not difficult for any one to see that a correct translation of the passage would be: "After the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week." One question may arise: How is it to be known when sabbatone or sabbaton is to be rendered week, instead of Sabbath? Answer. It is to be rendered week whenever it is preceded by a numeral. It is so preceded in every case where the expression, first day of the week, occurs, and also in Luke 18:12, where the Pharisee fasted twice in the (sabbaton, genitive singular) week. Hence we translate the word sabbatone, as it first occurs in Matt. 28:1, by the word Sabbath, because it has no numeral before it; and in the second instance of its occurrence, we translate it week, because it is preceded by the numeral mian. In the Cross Alone Is Life
In the Cross alone is life, It is one thing to believe the Bible when you know what it contains, and another thing to believe it when you do not. It is one thing to believe the things that are in the Bible, and another thing to believe that the Bible, whatever it may be, is true. We may believe that the Bible is true without knowing what is true, or believe without knowing what we believe. Many of our believers are of this kind. They accept the Bible, and then let it go. For aught they know, it may be the Koran or the Apocrypha. They believe it as they believe the truths of astronomy, without having learned them. They believe in a closed book, and to them a blank book. Such a faith is like a knowledge of geometry which believes that it is true but does not know what it is. If you don't know what you believe, you don't believe anything to purpose. All have heard of the man who, instead of praying, had a prayer pasted on his bed-post, to which he referred the Lord, as containing his sentiments. So many persons do with their faith. Instead of believing, they simply point to the Bible as what they believe. They let the book do their believing for them. Now, we protest that there is no belief of anything except what goes through the mind. You can't believe anything but what you think. You must know in order to believe; must know, at least, what it is that you believe. There is no such thing as believing the Bible. You must believe the things in the Bible—the story of creation, the story of Jonah, the story of Calvary. You must believe the utterances of Isaiah and of Christ. You must believe after you understand, and believe the particular things related. The Bible cannot be adopted like a series of resolutions, and such acceptance be accounted for faith. It is not to be taken into our opinion entire, lid and all, to be believed in the gross or accepted as a bulk. It is believed, if at all, by a rational acquaintance with what it contains and an assent to the truth of those very things. Those who believe without knowing what they believe are simply unbelievers, having no opinion or materials for any. They are biblical heathen, who need missionaries to take them the light. They are not Orthodox, whatever else they may be. They differ from the skeptics only in this: that, whereas the skeptics know what the Bible contains, and doubt it, they don't know what it contains and believe it. They know nothing of Scripture, instead of knowing it wrongly. They believe and believe nothing, while the skeptics don't believe and believe nothing; one's uncertainty being as to what is true and the other's as to whether it is true. If you would cook a rabbit, you must first get the rabbit. If you would believe the Bible, you must first get the Bible. You cannot have belief without the materials, any more than you can have a dinner without the materials. You must get something to believe before you can believe, just as you must have something to sell before you can sell; and the way you are to get what you are to believe is to apprehend it in your mind, and not to take it as a bundle of unknown contents. It would be interesting to some people if they would go to the Bible, to see what it is that they believe. And nothing would, perhaps, be as new to them as their own opinions. The reason so many people are such voracious believers is that they take it in without knowing what they swallow—a bulk under the name of the Bible, or a creed in which they really get nothing but the name. They take it like a pill in jelly, in which they do not perceive anything of the thing itself, and, therefore, may with indifference take anything, however repugnant to them. They might just as well eat the Bible as believe it in that way; or chew up and swallow the Westminster Catechism as accept it on such profession of faith.—Independent. The Sabbath School. ## THE ART OF SECURING ATTENTION.
By S. S. Hand-Book
You will not get attention by demanding it as a right, or by entreating it as a favor; by urging upon your pupils the importance of the subject, the sacredness of the day, the kindness of their teachers, or the great and solemn character of the truths you have to impart. Attention, such as alone can serve the purpose of a Sabbath-school teacher, must always be founded on the facts that you have got something to say which is worth a child's hearing, and that you can say it in such a manner that he shall feel it to be worth his hearing. The teacher's own mind must be accurately and abundantly prepared on the subject which he has to teach. He must have details—facts which he knows how to state with exactness; and a degree of nicety and precision about his knowledge far greater than he can ever hope to impart to the children. He should store his mind beforehand, not merely with what he means to impart, but with a great deal more. He does not know what topic may grow out of the lesson; he cannot tell what questions the children may ask, nor what illustrations he may find most effective. So he should provide himself at all points. He should look at the lesson and into the lesson, and all round the lesson, before he gives it. There is another reason for attaching great importance to abundant preparation. No man can ever teach all he knows on any subject. If you would be a good teacher, therefore, up to a certain point, you yourself should have gone far beyond that point. If any teacher just gets up a lesson from printed notes, and is only barely provided with the knowledge actually required for his class, he is sure to fail, both in securing attention and in getting the subject understood. Children will always carry away with them far less than you bring. Make up your mind at once to the fact, that a large discount or percentage of even a successful lesson is always lost in the very act of communicating it. Get all the subsidiary and illustrative information you can possibly accumulate about your lesson before you give it. Anecdotes, definitions of hard words, illustrations of Eastern life, verses of poetry, parallel texts and allusions, may or may not all be needed in the lesson; but at any rate, they certainly will be needed by yourself. Book knowledge is not the only knowledge, and it is certainly not all a Sabbath-school teacher wants. His preparation must be going on in the world as well as in his study. He must watch the incidents of every day, and see what use he can make of them in his class. The history of each day's experience, even of the humblest of us, illustrates some great moral and spiritual truth which underlies it, and is meant to be recognized and understood by us. If there is anything unfamiliar, or artificial, or sermonizing in your language or even in your tone; if your illustrations are bookish and unpractical; if the virtues and the vices you talk about are not the actual virtues which it is possible for them to practice, and the actual vices into which they are likely to fall; if in any way you shoot above their heads, or betray a want of familiarity with the real lives which children lead, your class, as an inevitable result, will cease to feel any interest in what you say. One of the greatest safeguards for the attention of the class is the cultivation on the teacher's part of quickness of eye and ear. It is surprising sometimes to see teachers addressing themselves to one part of their class, and apparently unconscious that another part is listless and uninterested. They seem incapable of taking in the whole class at one glance. Their eyes move slowly, and they either do not see the disorder and trifling which lurks in the corner of their class, or they do not care to notice what it would give them some little trouble to remedy. A person of this kind will never keep up attention, nor prove a successful teacher, however well he may be provided with knowledge, and however anxious he may be to do good. What every good teacher greatly needs is a quick eye and a comprehensive glance, which will take in the whole class at one view, or travel instantly from one part of it to the other. He should be able to detect the first symptom of weariness, in an instant, and to apply a remedy to it the next instant. It is from want of promptitude in noticing the little beginnings of inattention that our classes so often get disorderly and tired. We recommend every one who wants to be a good teacher, therefore, to cultivate in himself the habit of sharpness and watchfulness. He should so train himself that he shall become peculiarly sensitive about the little signs of inattention. It ought to make him uncomfortable to see one child's eye averted, or one proof, however small, that the thoughts of the class are straying from the subject. The surest way to increase inattention is to seem unconscious of it, or to allow it to pass unnoticed. Few things are so important as alacrity of movement; promptitude and readiness both in seeing and hearing; skill in finding out, at a moment's notice, who is the idlest boy in the class, and in giving him a verse to read, before his mind becomes thoroughly alienated from the subject, and before the contagion of his example has had time to spread among the rest. A sluggish, heavy, inactive-looking teacher can never gain the sympathy of children, or keep up their attention long.—S. S. Hand-Book. A LOCOMOTIVE is a magnificent thing, but is of utterly no account unless it draws something. A very absurd thing it would be to see an engine go thundering up an inclined grade and leaving the train of cars behind, and then snorting away at the top, as if to say, See what a feat I have accomplished! And yet, if we consider a great man as a locomotive, it is just this sort of performance on which sometimes he plumes himself. He may be a powerful preacher, after a fashion, but his power is worthless, unless he moves the people and carries them with him. To move them, and carry them, he must be careful to get hold of them. To get hold of them, he must know them, and enter into sympathy with them. And it is just here that we find the secret of the failure of many very able and scholarly men. They know books, but they don't know men. They dwell apart and aloft like the stars. They are like the pastor of that dear old woman, who said: “A great man we have got for a minister! He is a prodigious scholar. You just ought to see the books he's got! Stacks of books—cartloads of books, and he just lives among them! But you ought to hear him when he comes out on Sunday! He's invisible six days in the week, and incomprehensible on the seventh!” You see that learned locomotive went galloping off up the mountain-side, and left all the train at the mountain's base; but the people all gazed after him with gaping wonder, and said, admiringly: “Did you ever see such a locomotive?” And yet this is not the kind of man that the world needs. A patient, plodding, pains taking pastor, that goes around from house to house; that knows the men and women and children; their joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, doubts and disquietudes; their business and domestic troubles; their life-history, is worth a whole regiment of your so-called great men that are only crammed with lumbery learning. Of many things the preacher can afford to be ignorant—every man must be content to be ignorant of many things, if he would know and do a few things well; but there are two things that the preacher must know, if he would properly fulfill his ministry; one is the word of God, and the other is human nature—God's nature, and man's nature—these are the great themes that are to occupy our thoughts; for between God and man our ministry lies, whether we stand in the pulpit, or sit among the children. If we are Sabbath-school teachers, our business is not merely to get hold of the truth, but to get hold of our scholars, for the one is profitless without the other. It is not sufficient, as many suppose, to “prepare the lesson,” we must be able to adapt the lesson, and so to grapple on to the scholars as to be able successfully to apply the lesson. It is not enough when you go a-fishing to have a basket full of good substantial bait, just such as fish ought to take to, if their tastes are at all like yours; but you must know about the haunts and habits of fish, and to these you must accommodate yourself if you would go home richly laden with spoils. Many a time you will find a teacher, with very little learning and very little brains, and yet, singularly enough, his scholars cluster about him with closest attention, even as a brood of chickens about their mother when she is scratching away to find them food. They are interested and expectant, and you wonder, seeing how little there is in the teacher, that he should hold his class with so firm a grip. He does not know much about books, perhaps, but he does know a good deal about boys, and he enters into sympathy with them, and they instinctively feel it. He believes in them and understands them, and they believe in him, and understand him, and that is the secret of the whole matter. It is not sufficient to have been a child in order to understand children, for we are apt to forget how it was with ourselves; we need to mingle with them—talk with them on the road, and in their homes—talk down to their level; at whatever strain of crotchety knees and personal dignity to put ourselves in their place, and see how things look from their stand-point; talk with their parents about them, and find out their individual peculiarities; let them see that whatever little thing concerns them concerns us; even as our heavenly Father gets hold of our heart's tendrils by assuring us that he numbers even the hairs of our head; let a teacher patiently and persistently pursue this policy, and as sure as there is a soul in the child's body he will presently get hold of it.—Baptist Teacher. AGAINST THE COLD.
By Margaret J. Preston.
"And Peter stood and warmed himself."
The very Christ of whom he bore
Such bold, brave witness but a few
Sad days agone,—the Christ he knew
Had raised from death, one week before,
Lazarus of Bethany,—he saw
Now in the clutch of Roman law,
Dragged midmost o'er the pavement stone,
Bound, mocked, forsaken of His own,
And—"stood and warmed himself"! He watched the soldiers rudely strip
Away the robe the Marys made,
And pluck the inner garment frayed
By brutal wrenchings,—marked the lip
Shiver, as o'er the flesh laid bare,
Blew gusts of chilling midnight air;
Yet, by the sight not smitten dead,
Above the brazier's flame he spread
His hands,—"and warmed himself." He heard a maid say,—"Here, behold,
One of this man's disciples; he
Speaks with the speech of Galilee."
Ah, then—ah, there, his blood ran cold;
And as the leaping blaze rose higher,
Among the crowd that girt the fire,
With, sharp, reiterate, angry "Nay,"
He thrust his arms and pressed his way,
And crouched, "and warmed himself." "Yea, thou art one of them:" He heard
The charge come back and back again,
Tossed from the mouths of jeering men;
And as with oaths he flung the word
Straight in their teeth, he sudden turned,
And ah, that look!—it burned, and burned
As if Gehenna's hottest coal
Had down into his deepest soul
Dropped, while "he warmed himself." His hands he could no more uphold;
Remorse, despair, self-loathing, woe,
Tore at his heart; he did not know
If it were night,—if it were cold,—
He neither looked behind, before,
Nor cared, though she who kept the door
Said,—"Surely this was he who drew
The sword on Malchus; Malchus knew
Him, as 'he warmed himself.'" But prone upon the ground he lay
Abject thro' horror, racked with shame,
Too stricken to name the Master's name,
Remembering, till the dawn of day,
How thro' His mystic anguish, he
Had mingled with that company
Of mockers in the high priest's hall,
As one of them, and watched it all,
And "stood and warmed himself." ... So is it still!—We skulk afar
With scarce the scoffed-at Christ in sight,
Nor do the wrong, nor dare the right,
Poor trembling cravens that we are!
And while our Lord is being betrayed,
We lurk among his foes, afraid
To own him; yet, like him of old,
We comfort us against the cold,
And "stand and warm ourselves!"
—Margaret J. Preston. Prepared for Success, Not Defeat
Admiral Farragut said: As to being prepared for defeat, I certainly am not. Any man who is prepared for defeat would be half defeated before he commenced. I hope for success, will do all in my power to secure it, and trust to God for the rest. THE TIME OF THE END.
By James White
THE position taken in previous articles on the subject of the time of the end, is that the prophetic word relative to the end was sealed till that period should arrive called the time of the end, and that in this brief, indefinite period, prophecy is unsealed, in order that the warnings symbolized by the three angels of Rev. 14:6-12 should go forth in the form of special messages of divine truth applicable to the closing work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not the design of God that the soon second advent of Jesus Christ should be proclaimed by the apostles, by the martyrs, or by the reformers. The specific work of giving this message to the world, is reserved to the very generation that will witness the coming of the day of God and the revelation of his Son from Heaven. The prophetic words of the apostle to the church at Thessalonica fully sustain the position taken:— "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thess. 2:1-8. 1. The subject introduced is the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the gathering of his people to him at the time of the resurrection of the dead. 2. The apostle warns the Christian church all along the centuries against looking for the Second Advent until the close of the period of papal rule, the time, times and a half of Dan. 7:25; 12:7, which is the 1260 days (years) of Rev. 12:6, 14. 3. The mystery of iniquity worked in the days of the apostle and hindered the development of the papacy until it was removed about the year A. D. 508. 4. In his time, the papacy was revealed as a blasphemous, persecuting power, covering the time from A. D. 538 to A. D. 1798. 5. The papacy has exalted itself above God in that it has offered pardon for sins before they were committed, a thing which God has never done, and in exalting the rival Sabbath of the Roman church above the Sabbath of the Lord our God. 6. It is worthy of especial notice that the warning of the apostle against looking for the day of God too soon, closes with the close of the 1260 years of papal supremacy, just where the time of the end commences. Eighteen years prior to the commencement of the time of the end, the fulfillment of the special signs of the second coming of Christ, in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, commenced. Christ speaks of the signs of his second coming as follows:— "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:25-28. Again our Lord says:— "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:29-35. Our Lord states, as recorded by Luke, that when these special signs of his coming should begin to come to pass, his people should look up, and lift up their heads in faith and hope; for their redemption draws nigh. The first signs, those in the sun and moon, occurred a century ago the 19th of last May. And again he says, as recorded by Matthew, that when his waiting people should see all these things, they should know that his coming was near, even at the doors. SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH.
By Uriah Smith
PETER in his first epistle (chap. 4:4-6) speaks of a certain class “who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick [living] and dead. For this cause,” he continues, “was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to [Gr., kata, in the same manner as] men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.” This testimony is important. It furnishes positive proof that some are judged while they are dead, and others while they are living; and that consequently a Judgment passes upon the human race, before the resurrection. And the next verse shows us the chronology of this work; it is when “the end of all things is at hand.” It may be asked how those in their graves can be judged. We answer, It is from the books of record which are kept of all men’s actions. We read in Dan. 7:10, that the Judgment was set, and the books were opened. And again (Rev. 20:21), the books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things written in the books. A variety of texts also inform us that every man shall be rewarded according to his works. See Matt. 16:17; Rom. 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 2:23; 22:12. From this testimony we learn that a record is kept of the acts of all men, and from that record their reward is given them according to their desert. There is no judgment in this sense of the term, independent of these books of record. But “the time is come,” says Peter, “that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” To what event do these words of Peter apply? The answer is, To the closing ministration of the sanctuary! The work of cleansing the earthly sanctuary was a work of judgment. The high priest went into the most holy place, to make an atonement for the holy sanctuary and for all the people of the congregation. Ex. 28:15-30; Lev. 16:33. And whosoever did not afflict his soul upon that day of atonement, was to be cut off from among his people. Chap. 23:29. This could only prefigure one solemn fact, namely, the great time of judgment and decision that should pass upon the human race in the closing work of the heavenly sanctuary. In the type, the cleansing of the sanctuary was atoning for, and removing, sins in figure. In the antitype it is blotting them out in fact. “Repent ye therefore,” says Peter, “and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19. When is this? Ans. When he is about to send Jesus Christ. Verse 20. In the type a round of service was repeated and completed every year. In the antitype it is accomplished once for all. When the last act of cleansing is accomplished, the plan of salvation is ended—the result is told! From that decision there is no appeal; for there is thenceforth no more offering for sin. Heb 10:18. Then the decree goes forth, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11. All cases are then decided; judgment has passed upon the human race! And the chronology of this decision is also revealed to us in the verse following, where the Saviour continues after pronouncing the above sentence, “And behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me.” In the type, atonement was made for the people of Israel as a body. Now it has to do with individuals; for as individuals we must stand condemned or acquitted at the judgment-seat of Christ. It is but a just conclusion therefore that the lives of the children of God, not only of those who are living, but of all who have ever lived, whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, will during the closing of the sanctuary service, pass in final review before that great tribunal. It is thus that judgment begins at the house of God. It is thus that the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all the people of God, stand in their lot. The merits of that blood which was shed on Calvary looked back as well as forward, and reached transgressions under the first covenant, as well as those committed since that time. Heb. 9:15. We now understand the import of the message of that angel who proclaimed on land and sea, The hour of his Judgment is come. With his message it did come. Our High Priest entered upon his last office for the salvation of men. That there is a Judgment after Christ comes is also true. The time allotted to it is one thousand years. But this can have no connection with the saints who enter upon their reward previous to that time, as we have already shown. Who then are the subjects of this Judgment? We answer, The wicked. Our Lord told Peter, and through him the twelve apostles, that in the regeneration, when he should sit upon the throne of his glory, they also should sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matt. 19:28. This must refer to the wicked of the tribes of Israel; for the righteous are then entered upon the fruition of their hope. But the tribes of Israel are not alone concerned in this matter. Paul writes to his Corinthian brethren, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” 1 Cor. 4; 2, 3. The reference here must of course be to the wicked of the world and to the fallen angels who are reserved to judgment. Jude 6. And this judgment of the wicked passes upon them while they are yet in their graves; for we read in Rev. 20, that those who have part in the first resurrection live and reign with Christ a thousand years; and it is during this thousand years, while they are reigning with Christ that they are judging the wicked, as we learn from Matt. 19:28. Rev. 20:4, also says that judgment was given (committed) unto them. After the thousand years are ended, the wicked are raised, come up around the camp of the saints, and the judgment which during that time had been allotted to them is executed upon them. In the Judgment that is now passing in the heavenly sanctuary, since it has to do with transgressions under the first testament, the natural order would be that the cases of the dead should first come up, and the living last. Thirty-six years have now elapsed since the work commenced. In the very nature of the case it must soon be finished. The interests of a perishing world now center there. All have an interest there; for the case of each individual personally and singly must come up and be forever decided. This is the great subject for this time. The Judgment! The Judgment! Would that a voice might continually remind us that its solemn council is now in session, and its unalterable decisions passing upon our race. Reader, how does your case stand? Have you an interest in the Advocate who is pleading the cases of his children before his Father? Are you aware of a charge that yet stands against you unrepented of and unforgiven? Pass not over this subject lightly. Eternity is bound up in it. An endless and glorious life, or an eternal death, hang upon the issue. May the Lord help us to feel over it, and feeling to act—so act that our sins may be blotted from the book of his remembrance, and our names, though unworthy, still stand in the golden characters of the book of life. U. S. No man can be elevated who does not love something higher or better than himself.