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Review and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 5.

THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION
Earlier text: THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION

Disasters of 1875 and the Year's Tragedies

In truth, 1875 will be noted as a year fruitful of disaster of every kind. Typhoons, railway and steamship disasters, explosions, and large fires, these and other forms of disaster have figured in the newspapers all the past year. Indeed, the history of a single fortnight, the last two weeks of the old year, includes such tragedies as the Deutschland and Bremer-haven steamer accidents, the terrible colliery explosion at Framieres, the destruction of Arecibo by an earthquake, the collision on the Gironde, the burning of the English training ship Goliath, the explosion of the Boston gas-main, the tornado in Bermuda, the school-house massacre at Hellikon, Switzerland, and the tornado in the Philippines, while the new year is ushered in with the promise of a speedy eruption of Vesuvius;—and what tragedy may there not yet be enacted there?—Christian at Work.

Finding Compensation Amid Inevitable Sorrows

SINCE we are exposed to inevitable sorrows, wisdom is the art of finding compensation.

“RAILWAY TRACTS.—NO. 6.—CONVERSION.”

By Charles L. Boyd

The above is the title of a tract received from a teacher to whom a package was sent for gratuitous distribution through his school. From it I quote the following, adding a few remarks.
A railway traveler is represented as saying to a companion, “How do you really think a man is to be saved?” He replied, ‘No doubt the man who keeps the ten commandments is a happy man, and I believe that is the way to be saved.’ His fellow-traveler remarked, ‘I did think so, but I heard Dr. — of Leeds preach a sermon which convinced me that it was necessary to keep only the last six.’ I replied, ‘I will not say ten, nor six; but now if one had to be kept for salvation, tell me who could be saved?’ If Adam, happy in innocence, did not keep one, but fell, would it not be a fearful thing for us, fallen in sin, and surrounded by temptations as we are, to have our eternal salvation depend on our perfect obedience even to one command?”
Did Adam violate every one of the ten commandments? Has God given us a law and commanded us to keep it, of which it is impossible for us to keep one-tenth part?
“No, my friends, redemption through the blood of Christ is a very different thing from our trying to keep the commandments. We must have redemption first through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins; and obedience will come after [obedience to what?]. Not the obedience of law-keeping for salvation; that is impossible when you have got salvation first. It would be utterly impossible to be in this carriage, and at the same time to have something to do to get in. Just as impossible is it to receive Christ as my salvation, and yet have to keep the law to get saved.”
“Often the person who tries most to keep the commandments feels more keenly the gnawings of conscience and the burden of sin.”
If men who desire to keep the law of God are lost through such sophistry, from those whose “lips should keep knowledge,” and from those from whose mouth they have a right to “seek the law,” how great must be the condemnation of these “blind guides!” Surely they are causing “many to stumble at the law.”
Again, the writer says, “Oh, the weight of guilt! The law can give you no relief. It can only curse you. For ‘as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.’ And you know well that you cannot continue in them. Again and again you have tried, but in vain. Well, you say, ‘If a man cannot keep the law, why was it given?’ It was given because of transgressions.”
John says, “sin is the transgression of the law;” hence the law must have existed before sin was committed. Here is a plain contradiction between this author and John.
Again, “Believers are saved entirely by grace through Christ Jesus, and not by works of their own. I say, is it not marvelous that men will not believe God himself?”
Is it not more marvelous that men dare pervert God’s word? Reader, has God given us no part to act in our own salvation? “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22. “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46.
Once more we read, “As for yourself, you do not really believe you are utterly ruined by sin. If your hat fell into the river and was injured, it might be restored; but if ruined, it is past mending. Sin has not only injured man, it has ruined him. Every attempt to keep the law for righteousness is an attempt to prove that Christ died in vain, and that you are not so ruined as to need such a gift as Christ.”
Did Christ prove that his blood was spilt in vain by “magnifying” his Father’s holy law? Said a Baptist minister in Iowa, “Whoever keeps the seventh-day Sabbath denies Christ.” Will the act of that redeemed host, in coming up from one Sabbath to another, be a denial of Him whose blood was shed to redeem them from the penalty of that law which so justly condemns them? “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Surely, if there ever was a period when the word of God was perverted by those who should “teach knowledge,” we live in that time. CHAS. L. BOYD.

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

By Mammon

The Holy Spirit was designed to assist in restoring the spirit of benevolence. The world could not be surprised out of selfishness and charmed into benevolence by the mere spectacle even of divine love. That love can be understood only by sympathy; but for this, sin had disqualified us. According to the economy of grace, therefore, the exhibition of that love in God is to be made the means of producing love in us; the glorious spectacle of love as beheld in God, is to be turned into a living principle in us. For this end, the holy, unconfined and infinite Spirit came down. His emblem is the wind; he came like a rushing, mighty wind, came with a fullness and a power, as if he sought to fill every heart, to replenish the church, to be the soul of the world, to encircle the earth with an atmosphere of grace as real and universal as the elemental air which encompasses the globe itself and circulates around it, that whoever inhaled it might have eternal life.
In the prosecution of his office, he was to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto men. Heaven stooping to earth; God becoming man, dying upon the cross; infinite benevolence pouring out all its treasures for human happiness,—these were the things which he was to reveal—the softening and subduing elements with which he was to approach and enter the human heart. In his hands, these truths were to become spirit and life. From the moment they were felt, men were to be conscious of a change in their relation both to God and to each other. A view of the great love wherewith he had loved them was to fill their minds with a grand and overpowering sentiment of benevolence, which should melt their obduracy, cause them to glow with gratitude, and bind them fast to himself in the strongest bands of love. That love, with all the communicativeness of fire, was to extend to their fellow-men. Every weapon of revenge was to fall from their hands; every epithet of anger was to die on their lips; and where before they saw nothing but foes, they were henceforth to behold magnificent objects of affection.
The love of Christ would constrain them: glowing and circulating in their spiritual systems, like the life-blood in their hearts, it would impel them to be active for his glory. Having communed with the heart of Infinite Love, they were to go forth and mingle with their race, filled with a benevolence like that which brought their Lord from Heaven. Placing themselves at his disposal, they were to find that they were no longer detached from the species, but restored and related to all around—the sworn and appointed agents of happiness to the world.
The institution of a church is only the continuation and application of the great scheme of love. Its offices were not to terminate on itself. It was constructed on the principle of consolidating and facilitating the operations of divine benevolence upon the world. The Son of God—the great manifestation of that love—must personally withdraw from the earth; but his church, consisting of the aggregate of all on whom that love had taken effect, would continue to give visibility and activity to that love. He stopped not at the bare exhibition of his grace, but turned that exhibition into a means of implanting a kindred principle of love in the human heart; he stopped not at the implantation of this principle, but instituted a church for the express purpose of employing it for the benefit of the world;—of employing it on the largest scale and with the greatest effect, and of thus conferring on it the power of propagating itself.
In the Christian church, everything would conspire to keep alive in its members the new principle which Christ had brought into the world, and to give efficiency to its benign operations. Love was the principle which would bring them together, which would draw them from their distant and detached position, harmonize their jarring natures, and fuse all their hearts and interests into one. Converging from the most opposite points, they would meet at the cross; and the principle which had drawn them to that would bind them to each other. Each would behold in every other a living memorial of his Lord, and see, in the grace of Christ to the whole, a token of that grace to himself in particular. Here, love, as an agent or instrument, either giving or receiving, was to find itself in perpetual exercise, and to behold its image reflected in every face.—Mammon.

On Doing Good Despite Ingratitude

GREAT minds, like Heaven, are pleased in doing good, though the ungrateful subjects of their favors are barren in return.

THE SANCTUARY.

By Uriah Smith

Fifth Paper.—The Year-day Principle.

From the exposition of the symbols thus far given we have the field of vision laid clearly out before us. The first symbol, Persia, covers a period of 207 years; the second, Grecia, 170 years; the third, which we have seen to be Rome in both its phases, pagan and papal, from B. C. 161 to its division into ten parts, in 483, A. D., continued 644 years; and if we come down to the close of papal supremacy in 1798, we have the long period of 1959 years; and if we come still forward to our own time, for this power is not yet broken without hands, we have the surprising period of 2033 years covered by this symbol.
Putting these periods together, we have from the commencement of Persian supremacy, B. C. 538, to the division of Rome, 483 A. D., 1021 years, to the temporary overthrow of papal Rome 1798, A. D. 2336 years; to our own time 2410. So vast is the sweep of this vision, which was given to the beloved Daniel.
This fact has an important bearing upon the subject of time, which we are now prepared to consider. One point alone remains unexplained in Daniel 8, and that is the sanctuary and 2300 days of verse 14. On this we now inquire:—
  1. Does the word “days,” which in the margin is rendered “evening, morning,” mean days as commonly understood by that term?
  2. Have we the correct reading, 2300?
  3. Are the days literal or symbolic; and can we tell how long a period they denote?
On the first of these inquiries, we present the following testimony from Dr. Hales:—
“The earliest measure of time on record is the Day. In that most ancient and venerable account of the creation, by Moses, the process is marked by the operations of each day. The evening and the morning were the first day, &c. Gen. 1:5, &c. Here the word ‘day’ denotes the civil or calendar day of 24 hours, including ‘the evening,’ or natural night, and ‘the morning,’ or natural day; while the sun is either below or above the horizon of any place, in the course of the earth’s diurnal rotation between two successive appulses of the same meridian to the sun; corresponding, therefore, to a solar day in astronomy. It is remarkable that the ‘evening,’ or natural night, precedes the ‘morning,’ or natural day, in the Mosaic account. Hence the Hebrew compound, ערב-בקר, ‘evening-morning,’ is used by the prophet Daniel to denote a civil day, in his famous chronological prophecy of the 2300 days, Dan. 8:14.”—Sacred Chronology, vol. 1, p. 10.
Again he says when speaking on this text in Vol. ii. p. 512, note, “The evening-morning was a civil or calendar day.”
On the second inquiry, Is 2300 the correct reading? we quote again from the same author:—
“There is no number in the Bible whose genuineness is better ascertained than that of the 2300 days. It is found in all the printed Hebrew editions, in all the MSS. of Kennicott and De Rossi’s collations, and in all the ancient versions, except the Vatican copy of the Septuagint which reads 2400, followed by Symmachus; and some copies noticed by Jerome, 2200; both evidently literal errors, in excess and defect, which compensate each other and confirm the mean, 2300.” Id., Vol. ii. p. 512.
These points being thus established that the expression is the proper one to denote a civil day, and that the reading, 2300, is correct, we next inquire, Are these days literal, or symbolic? If they are literal, they give us (dividing by 365) six and one-third years, as the extent of the whole period. If they are symbolic, each day signifying a year, they bring to view a period 2300 years in length. Which of these two views is the more consistent with the rest of the prophecy?
The question was “How long the vision?” The question, certainly, covers almost the whole, if not the whole, duration of the vision; and that, as we have seen, extends over a period of over 2400 years. Now if in reply the angel singled out a period only six years and one third in length, then there is no correspondence either between this answer and the vision in connection with which it was given, or between the answer and the question which directly called it forth. These days if taken literally would be far from covering the duration of any one of the kingdoms of the prophecy taken singly, how much less of them all taken together.
This is symbolic prophecy; it would be natural therefore to conclude that the time introduced would be of a like nature. Twenty-three hundred literal days would not be out of proportion to the lives of the beasts shown in the vision; and as these beasts are symbols, representing long-lived kingdoms; so the days are symbols representing the years of their continuance.
The Bible observes this rule of chronological proportion in a general way. In Eze. 16, the Jewish nation is symbolized under the figure of a youthful woman, the youthful age of the woman, and the comparatively short period of growth to womanhood, representing the youthful period of the nation, and the years during which it was coming to maturity. See Elliott’s Horae Apocalypticae, Vol. iii, p. 241.
But more than this, the Bible gives the exact proportion between literal and symbolic time. Ezekiel, during the selfsame Babylonish captivity in which Daniel’s prophecies were delivered, symbolizes years by days. He was commanded to make known to his fellow exiles by the river Chebar, near the Euphrates, the fate of Jerusalem, with her last king Zedekiah, and also God’s reason for it. For this purpose he was to lie prostrate with his face toward the city, on his left side 390 days for Israel, and on his right side 40 days for Judah, restricted all the while to a famine diet, like the Jews he represented shut up in the siege. And God said, I have appointed thee each day for a year. Eze. 4:6.
In this representation Ezekiel himself became a symbol. He was acting a symbolic part, an individual representing a nation, the days in which he was acting his part symbolizing the actual years of the punishment of those whom he represented.
Another instance, not so evidently symbolic in its nature, but equally definite in showing how God uses short periods of time to represent longer ones, and the proportion to be observed between them, is found in Numbers 14:34: “Forty days, each day for a year.”
It is objected against this principle of interpretation that it is novel, not having been known in the church from the days of Daniel to those of Wickliffe, and, secondly that those who adopt the year-day principle are in confusion among themselves respecting their interpretations of prophecy.
The first of these objections is shown by Mr. Elliot not to be well founded; as this principle of interpretation, though not the exact application of this prophecy, was adopted by Augustine, Tichonius, Primasius, Andreas, the venerable Bede, Ambrosius, Ansbertus, Berengaud, Bruno Astensis, &c.
As to the second objection, there certainly is no more confusion among year-day interpreters than among those who take the day-day view; and it is not strange that there should have been discordant views in days past since the prophecy was closed up and sealed till the time of the end; but the intimation is given that then the seal would be broken, the wise understand and knowledge be increased on these things. And right here the year-day principle has been brought out and especially defended as a key to the interpretation of the prophecies.
But that which demonstrates beyond question the correctness of the year-day principle, is the fact that we, living down in the last years of prophetic fulfillment, are now able to trace out in history the accomplishment of these predictions; and we find that the seventy weeks of Dan. 9, the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days of Daniel 7 and 12, and Rev. 12 and 13, and the five months, and hour, day, month and year of Rev. 9 have all been exactly fulfilled a day for a year.
The 2300 days of Dan. 8:14 are therefore 2300 literal years. Where do they begin and where do they end?
U. S.

DIGEST OF CORRESPONDENCE.

By Uriah Smith

Not having room for all the contributions which are offered for the REVIEW in the form in which they are sent in, we make a note of some of the more salient points in this manner.
In an article headed “Brethren Wake Up,” the writer suggests that if people will come to the meeting-house to sleep, they should seek the most retired and obscure corner in which to enjoy that luxury. This is good. And there are many other respects also in which the brethren should “wake up.” Wake up to the nature and demands of the present time, the fulfillment of God’s word, the wants of the cause, our own spiritual condition, and our duty. Paul says it is high time to awake out of sleep. What can a man do when he is asleep?
Another has a suggestion to make about singing, that the leader should be sure to get the right key. This suggestion is hardly necessary; for after trying the wrong key a few times, he will see it himself. Good singing is a most desirable thing in the worship of God. All should do their utmost to secure it. All the congregation should keep with the leader, and every one should take particular pains to pronounce the words so that they can be understood.
Another sends an article describing how certain English philanthropists have done good deeds of charity by buying houses and fitting them up so that they would afford clean and comfortable accommodations, and then renting them at a moderate sum to the poor. He commends this course to S. D. Adventists. We hardly see an opening in this direction in our present condition. But it may be a subject worthy of consideration by some of our brethren of means, how far they can invest a portion of that in a manner to give employment to Sabbath-keepers who, by embracing the truth, are thrown out of good situations and need assistance.
U. S.

WHICH SUNDAY?

By Uriah Smith

The Oswego Daily Palladium says:—
Some of the pagan newspapers of the West have started a new question in regard to the Centennial. As “all the world” is coming to the exhibition, and as the commission have determined to close it on Sunday, they ask which Sunday shall it be? If the attempt is made to please every nation represented, the gates will have to be closed every day during the week. The Greek’s Sunday is our Monday; the Persian’s, Tuesday; the Assyrian’s, Wednesday; the Egyptian’s, Thursday; the Turk’s, Arab’s, and all Mahommedan nations’, Friday; the Jew’s and the Seventh-day Baptist’s Saturday, and the Christian’s generally, Sunday. Nevertheless, gentlemen, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
The flippant remark with which this paragraph closes seems designed to convey the idea that the command to keep the Sabbath is responsible for all this; which is just as far as possible from the truth. This confusion is not God’s work. An enemy hath done this. And this shows how men turn their backs upon harmony and union when they turn away from God. God has appointed but one Sabbath, not seven. And this is not the Jew’s and Seventh-day Baptist’s Sunday, but the Lord’s Sabbath. When men will turn to that, the seventh day, they have some authority for their position. All else is either human or worse. U. S.

Our Day of Humiliation.

By John Nevins Andrews

THE REVIEW, containing the appointment of the first Sabbath in the year as a day of solemn humiliation before God, came to hand a few hours before the commencement of that Sabbath. Nothing could have been more congenial to my heart than such a recommendation as this. I hope it has been very generally regarded by all our people. The goodness and mercy of God, and our own failure to appreciate that mercy, the sacredness of the work, and our general failure to set ourselves apart from every evil thing to faithfully fulfill that which God has committed to our trust, constitute weighty reasons for the deepest humiliation before God. It is very necessary that we often stop and take time for consideration with respect to our own standing before God. The work will give us pain; for it will reveal our faults. But people who expect to come to the Judgment should consider that the discovery of sin must be made sometime, and that it better be made while there is time for repentance.
And this brings to view a part of the work which is quite generally left undone. After the day of humiliation is passed, the work is considered finished. The truth is, that after our work of heart-searching and self-examination comes the real work of repentance. This is the change of our conduct in all those things which we have found faulty before God. This is what is meant by our bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. This kind of work gives us lasting employment. The genuineness of our humiliation is shown by the extent of the reformation which follows it. If we set ourselves to the work of correcting the errors which we have found in our hearts and lives, we shall have a work which will demand our best energies till God shall give us another lesson in the knowledge of ourselves.
If we are faithful in this kind of work, when we come to another season of humiliation and self-examination, the Spirit of God will meet us again and give us another lesson. It will not take us over the same ground, but it will give us a deeper lesson with respect to our own hearts and our own conduct. It will show us blemishes where we did not suspect their existence, and it will show us self in many things that we did not suppose it had entered into. And then will follow in order our work of deeper repentance before God, and so the work will continue till our preparation for the Judgment is accomplished, if we follow on to know the Lord.
Most earnestly do I entreat every reader of the REVIEW to make this work the business of life. We are hastening to the Judgment. What we do for ourselves or for others we must do now. Success in our work means a place at Christ’s right hand. Failure means a part in the lake of fire. Our own destiny is in our own hands.
The REVIEW is filled with practical matter of the highest value. To me it is very precious. I watch the extension of the work with the deepest interest. For every part of the work my heart goes out to God in earnest prayer. Our paper on the Pacific Coast is a credit to the cause in California, and a light to the people in all the great harvest field. Surely, the hand of God is in this work. If we are truly workers together with God, his work will prosper in our hands. But God will not be with us if we grieve his Holy Spirit by our course of action. I hope the day of humiliation which we have passed will be followed by such a work of genuine repentance as will bring us into a purer atmosphere, and upon a higher plane of action, and into more intimate connection with the Holy One of Israel. J. N. ANDREWS.
La Coudre, Neuchatel, Jan. 6, 1876.

MONEY

By Trustees, S. D. A. Educational Society

More money wanted? Yes. Will not these calls for money ever cease? Never, till the last message of mercy has done its work; and then what there is left will go to the moles and to the bats. Do you want to invest any in that direction? If not, it must be put into service now.
One poor worshiper of mammon was once facetious enough to remark that “all the ‘loud cry’ he had yet heard in this cause was a loud cry for money.” Well, let us thank God that there has been something of a cry in this direction; that there have been occasions to use money where it would tell in the advancement of the work, and bring to the donors, if they loved the truth, the greatest satisfaction in this life, and secure for them “bags which wax not old” in the world to come.
Yes there have been calls for money; and there will be more still, larger and louder and longer. The loud cry of this message never will be accomplished without such a pouring out of treasure as will answer to the direction (Mal. 3: 8-10) which the Lord gives us through the prophet.
Suppose there had been no calls for money, because there were no avenues in which to use it in the cause, this work would years ago have fallen into hopeless stagnation and decay. Every new opening that calls for means, every new demand for money where it can be used to advantage in the dissemination of the truth, is so far an advancement of the cause which should call forth a prompt response from all the stewards of the Lord.
Money is now wanted for the school. This enterprise never gave its friends more ground for hope than now. The present term shows the largest number of students of any term thus far, and there never was so promising a class of young men and women as are now in attendance. Some twoscore or more of those now here, could be, and we doubt not most of them will soon be, efficient laborers in the great harvest field. Special interest has thus far been manifested by those composing the lecture class. The hearts of those engaged in the work are full of courage.
Now what is wanted is means and facilities to make the instruction most efficient in the shortest possible space of time. To do this, philosophical, physiological and chemical apparatus is needed, in those departments. Two thousand dollars are wanted immediately to purchase such apparatus. So urgent is the demand for this, that a portion of it has already been procured, with the confidence that the true friends of the school would sustain this very necessary move.
This money is wanted not from those who, if they give, will feel the lack of it in food or clothing, but from those who have a greater or less sum above all the present calls of the necessities, the comforts, and, in some cases, even the luxuries of this life. And these are to be found in every State, almost in every church. Shall we hear at once from such.
Brethren, do not let these calls for means accumulate on your hands, and so be thrown into great embarrassment in the future. Dispose of them as they come. Enough is due on pledges to meet the present indebtedness of the school. And this should be paid at once. Other needs will look to voluntary contributions. The sum here called for is a moderate one. Please dispose of it at once, by sending in the means, and so be ready for the next. TRUSTEES, S. D. A. Educational Society.

“PRIVATE INTERPRETATION.”

By R. F. Cottrell

An apostle has affirmed that “no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation;” yet many who profess to be guided by the Scriptures persist in seeking for them some allegorical, mystical, or hidden meaning. One of the latest instances that has come under my notice is from a recent discourse on “The Transfer of the Sabbath,” by Rev. H. A. Duboc, of Tonawanda, N. Y. He says:—
“When ‘the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them,’ the ‘morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy;’ and a day was set apart to commemorate the completion of the Creator’s work. But the prophet Isaiah tells us of another creation more glorious than the first, and more worthy to be had in remembrance, ‘Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind; but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create;’ Isa. 65:17, 18,—alluding to the dawn of the gospel dispensation and to the transfer of the Sabbath to commemorate the work of redemption rather than that of the original creation.”
Mr. Duboc is not alone in this sort of interpretation. Many years since, Dr. Lord, of Buffalo, N. Y., gave a discourse in which he argued in favor of a change of the Sabbath, and, alluding to the outpouring of the Spirit on the celebrated day of Pentecost, he said, “We behold the new heavens and the new earth, and the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven upon the Christian Sabbath.”
Now Peter, the writer of our text against private interpretation, did not hold with these gentlemen concerning the fulfillment of the promise of the new heavens and earth, given through Isaiah. The apostle wrote about A. D. 66, more than thirty years after “the dawn of the gospel dispensation.” 1 Pet. 3. He says, “There shall come in the last days scoffers.” The subject of their scoffing is the promise of Christ’s coming. They see no signs of it. He refers them to the fact, which they willingly ignore, that the earth was once overflowed with water,—literal water, I suppose. He then affirms of the present heavens and earth, that they are “reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Is it figurative fire? He carries us forward to the day of Judgment; and though the time is so long that men begin to think that such a day never will come, he goes on to assure all that “the day of the Lord will come,” and that in that day “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also.” Mystical earth, do you say? “All these things shall be dissolved,” says he. “Nevertheless,” says he, though the present earth and elements shall be melted, “we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
The promise was recorded by Isaiah the prophet; and the apostle, in A. D. 66, was still looking forward for its fulfillment. And what did he see before its fulfillment? He saw the scoffers of the last days disbelieving the evidences of Christ’s second coming, which, in the last days, must be near. He saw “the day of Judgment,” “the coming of the day of God,” the dissolution of the earth and its elements, and “the perdition of ungodly men,” the execution of the decision of the Judgment upon them; and, beyond that, he teaches us to look for the fulfillment of the promise recorded by Isaiah.
And did the prophet predict a transfer of the Sabbath in the new earth? If so, men have got it transferred too soon. And when the new earth, which the apostle looked for on the strength of the promise, does come, it will be too late to institute a memorial of an event which transpired nearly two thousand years in the past.
But the Sabbath will survive and be observed in the endless ages of the new earth. God’s purpose in creating the earth, though for a season seemingly frustrated by sin, will not fail forever. The earth, though melted and purified in the fires of the last day, shall come forth renewed, and redeemed men. “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.” Isa. 45:18.
And the second Adam, “the Lord from Heaven” (1 Cor. 15:45–47), shall receive “the first dominion” (Micah 4:8), “the uttermost parts of the earth,” for his possession (Ps. 2:8); and having raised his saints from death, and purified “the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:14) from sin, sinners, and the curse, he shall stand at the head of the whole earth, as Adam did at the first. The Son of David “shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun.” Ps. 89:36.
The Sabbath truly will be there. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23. There will be no need of a new Sabbath to celebrate the birth of the new earth; for the first creation has not been utterly lost. Man and his habitation have been redeemed and saved. The original Sabbath only can celebrate the Creator’s rest at the close of the first week of time. The song of the morning stars and the shout of all the sons of God were not in vain, when they beheld the work of God in the beautiful creation. That song and that shout shall only be renewed when they shall see man and his habitation redeemed, and the original purpose of God carried out.
How beautiful, how harmonious, are all the words of God! They should be taken at par value, and not discounted so largely by private interpretations. When will men cease to trifle with, and caricature, the words of the Most High? When will they yield to his institutions and ordinances, plainly taught in his word, and no longer make the commandments of God of none effect, through the traditions, doctrines, and commandments, of men? Such unwarrantable liberties taken with the sacred word, by men in high places in the church, only serve to nourish the prevailing and increasing infidelity of our times; for infidels are not slow to follow such examples, and hide their shameless contradictions of that word behind the flimsy fabric of allegorical interpretation. Ye professed men of God, when will you cease to give aid and comfort to the enemies of divine revelation? When will you take the word of the living God by which to correct your false theories, and no longer force that word, by your interpretations, to teach the traditions and commandments of men? This is plain talk; but it is meant only for the good of those who revere the word of God.
Truth is sent into the world to save men, not to condemn them. Yet, rejected, it will be a savor of death unto death. Oh, that I could persuade men to choose life, that they may live!
All flesh have never come to worship God from Sabbath to Sabbath, since Isaiah wrote. But the promise will be fulfilled. When? After sin has been abolished and sinners destroyed. Righteousness only shall dwell in the new earth. Then there will be “no more curse.” Glad day! How cheering the anticipation! Oh, let me share in the fruition.
R. F. COTTRELL.

HOME RELIGION.

By J. O. Corliss

A STRANGER went into a prayer-meeting, and, after a few testimonies had been given, arose and made some remarks, in the course of which he said, “If you don’t believe I’ve got religion just go and ask my wife; she’ll tell you.” At first thought some might be inclined to smile at such a blunt, pointed testimony; but is not the reference a good one? How many feel willing to have their wives testify truthfully concerning their religion? Does our religion make us act as politely at home as abroad? Do we try to be gentle, obliging and kind in the family? Do we upon returning from a journey or the day’s labor greet the family with a smile, and thus bring light and sunshine to the home circle? These are vital questions that all may ask themselves, and if we cannot answer in the affirmative, we may well doubt our religion, however high our pretensions to godliness may be.
One of the fruits of the Spirit is gentleness, the law of which, if written in our hearts, will lead us to acts of kindness in little as well as great things, at home as well as abroad, and may well be considered the foundation of good manners. Good manners will lead one to be polite at all times and in all places, but especially in the family. This can be done, too, without that distant dignity which makes one seem as cold as an iceberg. Some men seem to think that any indulgence in affectionate feeling is a weakness. But what is a more unnatural sight than a family without affection? God is love. Then why think it a weakness to have warm hearts and ardent affections? Can we find a stronger cord than love with which to bind the family together?
If we would have a happy home, and one where the Spirit of God can dwell, we should do all in our power to make it such. A smile costs nothing, yet there is power in it to cheer the disconsolate, comfort the mourner, subdue temper, turn hatred to love, and light up the darkest paths with rays of sunlight.
In a neighbor’s house, almost any one can be courteous. If any thing goes wrong, or is disagreeable, it is made the best of; efforts are made to excuse it, and to show that it is not felt. If this is so easy and natural in the house of a friend, is it not possible at home? If as much mutual anxiety was manifested to please and be pleased at home as in a neighbor’s house, home would be an attractive and happy place; and all who might come within its precincts would be made better by its influence.
J. O. CORLISS.
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