Earlier text: Two Purses in One Family“Is Father on Deck?”
By The Christian
A NUMBER of years ago, Captain D. commanded a vessel sailing from Liverpool to New York, and one voyage he had all his family with him on board the ship. One night, when all were quietly asleep, there arose a sudden squall of wind which came sweeping over the waters until it struck the vessel and instantly threw her on her side, trembling and crashing everything that was movable, and awaking the passengers to a consciousness that they were in imminent peril. Every one on board was alarmed and uneasy; and some sprang from their berths and began to dress, that they might be ready for the worst. Captain D. had a little girl on board, just eight years old, who, of course, awoke with the rest. “What’s the matter?” said the frightened child. They told her a squall had struck the vessel. “Is Father on deck?” said she. The little thing dropped herself on her pillow again without a fear, and in a few moments was sleeping sweetly in spite of winds or waves. Blessed child! How her confidence shames our doubts and fears and restless, vague surmisings. She had faith in father, and she had no room for fear. And how is it with us? We have our storms, and troubles, and temptations. We fear and tremble. What is the matter? Is it not time for us to ask, “Is Father on deck?” Our Father understands all about the vessel, the winds, the waves, the rocks, the storms, the squalls, the tempests; “Is Father on deck?” Yes, blessed be God, our Father’s “on deck,” all the time. “He that keepeth Israel shall never slumber nor sleep.” He is “on deck,” for he says, “Lo, I am with you alway.” He is “on deck,” for he has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Tempted, troubled, distressed, and frightened soul, look up. Give to the winds thy fears. Rest in God’s faithfulness and love. Cast every care upon his arm. “Fear not the windy tempest’s wail,
Thy bark they shall not wreck;
Lay down and sleep, oh, helpless child,
Thy ‘Father’s’ on the deck.” I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
“And he came to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when He had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. “After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” Mark. 8:22, 23, 25. Darkened soul, Christ is not dead!
“I am living light,” He said;
Whoso cometh unto me,
Blind with sin, shall learn to see.
Even now He passeth by—
Hasten to Him with your cry,
Beg Him lay his hand on you,
Take away your blindness too;
He will not your cry disdain,
Never sufferer plead in vain;
He will take your trembling hand,
Lead you softly through the land,
Talking kindly on the road,
Till you reach the light of God;
Then the scales of sin shall fall,
And Christ shall be your all in all. Christian! you who walk in light,
Joying in your Heaven-given sight,
Have you not some blinded friend,
Whom no earthly power can mend?
Take him by the hand of prayer,
Lead him oft with you there,
Ask the Lord to clear his sight,
Take his hand and give him light.
When you seek the Father's throne
Come not thither all alone,
While such numbers blinded go
Through this life to darker woe;
Ever with you lead some one
Who knows not the way alone,
Thus more souls shall walk in light,
And we shall shine than stars more bright. ONE of your correspondents recently alluded to Rev. Morgan Edwards, whose labors as an evangelist have been blest in Chicago, and many other places in the North-west. I have a fact concerning that excellent but eccentric brother, which, perhaps, may interest your readers; and as I received the particulars from his own lips, there can be no doubt of its correctness. In the year 1837, Mr. Edwards was an officer of a brig then lying in New York harbor. A tract distributor coming aboard handed him a tract. He received it very ungraciously, cursing the man to his face, asking him what wages he received, and telling him that he might be in better business. The distributor mildly expostulated with him, and besought him to put the tract in his pocket, and when he should be at leisure to give it a careful reading. Impressed by the earnest manner and tearful eye of the speaker, he put it into his pocket. While at sea, sometime after, finding the tract, he read it. Its very title, “My spirit shall not always strive,” went like an arrow to his heart. During the remainder of the voyage he was in great agony lest the Holy Spirit might leave him before his peace was made with God. Nor did he find peace till he believed in Christ. After his conversion, his efforts were blessed to the hopeful conversion of several sailors before he abandoned the sea. I have now in my possession that little tract—the identical ink and paper; and when I think of the trains of blessing and salvation, never to end, which have been started by its feeble instrumentality, I thank God for tracts and tract distribution. None but God can measure the influence of one tract.—N. Y. Rec. The Iron Mountains of Missouri.
PROF. WATERHOUSE, in a recent paper on the resources of Missouri, gives the following description of the Iron Mountains for which that State is so famous: “Shepherd Mountain is 660 feet high. The ore contains a large percentage of iron. The height of Pilot Knob above the Mississippi river is 1,118 feet. Its base, 581 feet from the summit, is 360 acres. The upper section of 141 feet is judged to contain 14,000,000 tons of ore. The elevation of Iron Mountain is 228 feet, and the area of its base 500 acres. The solid contents of the cone are 230,000,000 tons. It is thought that every foot beneath the surface will yield 3,000,000 tons of ore. At the depth of 150 feet, the artesian auger was still penetrating solid ore. These mountains contain enough ore above the surface to afford for 200 years an annual supply of 1,000,000 tons. The iron is strong, tough, and fibrous.” The simple fact of our time getting shorter each day does not imply that we are getting also nearer Heaven. As time is flying, it may carry us on its wings nearer hell than Heaven. The true and only reliable rule by which to judge upon this point is, whether we are getting nearer holiness. If we are growing in conformity to the divine likeness and nature; if we are dying daily to sin and living unto God; if we are realizing more and more of the love of Christ within us; if we are rising higher in spirituality of affection and thought; if we are delighting ourselves more heartily in the service of God; then we are, indeed, getting nearer Heaven. Heaven is perfection in holiness, according to the will of God, and as we approach this we approach Heaven. Let us distinctly and vividly understand this. There is a danger lest we think too much of Heaven as a place of beauty, of pleasure, of glory, of great society, without thinking of it as a place of spotless purity; and all those features of Heaven are arising out of this. Let us, then, press on toward purity, through the blood of the Lamb; and in the proportion we do this we shall get nearer Heaven.—Rev. J. Bates. A RAILROAD train was running along at almost lightning speed. A curve was just ahead and the train was late, very late, still, the conductor hoped to pass the curve safely. Suddenly a locomotive dashed into sight. In an instant there was a collision. A shriek, a shock, and fifty persons were slaughtered, and all because an engineer had been behind time. The battle of Waterloo was being fought. Column after column had been precipitated upon the enemy, the sun was sinking in the west, reinforcements for the defenders were already in sight, and it was necessary to carry the position with one final charge. A powerful corps had been summoned from across the country. The great conqueror, confident of its arrival, formed his reserve into an attacking column and led them down the hill. The whole world knows the result. Napoleon died a prisoner at St. Helena, because one of his marshals was behind time. A condemned man was being led out for execution. He had taken human life, but under circumstances of the greatest provocation. Thousands had signed a petition for a reprieve; still none had arrived. The last moment was up. The prisoner took his place on the drop, it fell, and a lifeless body swung in the air. Just at this moment a horseman came into sight, his steed covered with foam. He bore a reprieve for the prisoner. But he had come too late. A comparatively innocent man had died an ignominious death, because a watch had been five minutes too slow, causing the bearer to arrive behind time. It is continually so in life. The best-laid plans are daily sacrificed because they are “behind time.” There are others who put off reformation, year by year, till death seizes them, and they perish unrepentant, because forever “behind time.” It will be so in the Judgment day. When once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door, men will begin to stand without and beg for admittance, but he will say to them, “I never knew you.” The foolish virgins, having no oil in their vessels, will come at last with breathless haste to find that they that were ready are safe within at the marriage feast, while for them the door is shut—they are behind time! Reader, ask yourself the question, whether there is not some danger of your being among this class? Thousands of souls will sink into the pit of perdition because they put off the thought of repentance, and refused to be saved to-day. Oh! it is sad to think that some of them were once living amongst us, and that more now living may share their fate. God grant, friend, that it may not be so with you! MATT. 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Luke records the same sentiment in these words: “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which, after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” Luke 12: 4, 5. The estimate which immaterialists put upon these texts is thus expressed by Mr. Landis, p. 181: “This text [Matt. 10:28] therefore must continue to stand as the testimony of the Son of God in favor of the soul’s immortality, and his solemn condemnation of the soul-ruining errors of the annihilation and Sadducean doctrine.” We reply: Mr. L. evidently applies the argument to a wrong issue; for whatever it may teach concerning the intermediate state, it is most positively against the doctrine of eternal misery, and the consequent immortality of the soul. It teaches that God can destroy the soul in hell; and there is no force to our Lord’s warning unless we understand it to affirm that he will thus destroy the souls of the wicked. We never could with any propriety be warned to fear a person because he could do that which he never designed to do, and never would do. We are to fear the civil magistrate to such a degree, at least, as not to offend against the laws, because he has power to put those laws into execution, and visit upon us merited punishment; but our fear is to rest not simply upon the fact that he has power to do this, but upon the certainty that he will do it if we are guilty of crime. Otherwise there could be no cause of fear, and no ground for any exhortation to fear. Now we are to fear God, that is, fear to disobey him, because he is able to destroy body and soul in hell; and what is necessarily implied in this? It is implied that he certainly will do this in the cases of all those who do not fear him enough to comply with his requirements. So the text is a direct affirmation that the wicked will be destroyed both soul and body in hell. The next inquiry is, What is the meaning of the word, destroy? We answer that, take the word, soul, to mean what we will, the word, destroy, here has the same meaning and the same force as applied to the soul, that the word kill has as applied to the body in the sentence before. Whatever killing does to the body, destroying does to the soul. Don’t fear men because they cannot kill the soul as they kill the body; but fear God because he can and will kill the soul (if wicked) just as men kill the body. This is the only consistent interpretation of the language. But all well understand what it does to the body to kill it. It deprives it of all its functions and powers of life and activity. It does the same to the soul to destroy it, supposing the soul to be what is popularly supposed. The word here rendered destroy is ἀπόλλυμι (apolluo), and is defined by Greenfield, “to destroy, to kill, to put to death,” &c. Having seen that the text affirms in the most positive manner the destruction of soul and body, or the complete cessation of existence, for all the wicked, in hell, we now inquire whether it teaches a conscious existence for the soul in the intermediate state? This must be, it is claimed, because man cannot kill it. But the killing which God inflicts, according to the popular view, is torment in the flames of hell, and that commences immediately upon the death of the body. Let us then see what the Scriptures testify concerning the receptacle of the dead and the place of punishment. The word, hell, in our English version is from three different Greek words. These words are ᾅδης (hades), γέεννα (ge-enna), and ταρταρόω (tartar-o-o, a verb signifying to thrust down to Tartarus). These all designate different places; and the following full list of the instances of their occurrence in the New Testament, will show their use. Hades occurs in the following passages:—
Matt. 11: 23. Shall be brought down to hell.
16: 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail.
Luke 10: 15. Shall be thrust down to hell.
16: 23. In hell he lifted up his eyes.
Acts 2: 27. Wilt not leave my soul in hell.
2: 31. His soul was not left in hell.
1 Cor. 15: 55. O Grave, where is thy victory?
Rev. 1: 18. Have the keys of hell and death.
6: 8. Was death, and hell followed.
Rev. 20: 13. Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
20: 14. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. Ge-enna signifies Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, in which fires were kept constantly burning to consume the bodies of malefactors and the rubbish which was brought from the city and cast therein. It is found in the following places:—
Matt. 5: 22. Shall be in danger of hell fire.
5: 29. Whole body should be cast into hell.
5: 30. Whole body should be cast into hell.
10: 28. Destroy both soul and body in hell.
18: 9. Having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
23: 15. More the child of hell than yourselves.
23: 33. How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mark 9: 43. Having two hands to go into hell.
9: 45. Having two feet to be cast into hell.
9: 47. Having two eyes to be cast into hell.
Luke 12: 5. Hath power to cast into hell.
James 3: 6. It is set on fire of hell. Tartaro-o is used only in the following text: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell.” 2 Pet. 2: 4. From these references it will be seen that hades is the place of the dead whether righteous or wicked, from which they are brought only by a resurrection. Rev. 20: 13. On the contrary, Gehenna is the place into which the wicked are to be cast alive with all their members, to be destroyed soul and body. These places, therefore, are not to be confounded together. Now the punishment against which the text warns us, is not a punishment in hades, the state or place of the dead, but in Gehenna, which is not inflicted till after the resurrection. Therefore we affirm that the text contains no evidence whatever of the condition of man in death, but passes over the entire period from the death of the body to the resurrection. And this is further evident from the record in Luke: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.” Luke does not use the term soul at all; yet he expresses the same sentiment as Matthew. Man can kill the body, or can destroy this present life; but he can accomplish no destruction beyond that. But God can not only kill the body, or destroy the present life, but he can cast into Gehenna, or destroy the life that we have beyond the resurrection. These two things alone the text has in view. And now when we remember that psuche, the word here rendered, soul, often means life, either the present or future, and is forty times in the New Testament so rendered, the text is freed from all difficulty. The word, kill, to be sure is not such as would naturally be used in connection with life; but the word, destroy, which is among the definitions of the original word, apokteino, can be appropriately used with life. Thus, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to destroy the future life; but rather fear him who is able to destroy the body and put an end to all future life in hell. And it is worthy of notice that the destruction in hell here threatened is not inflicted upon a person without his body. Nothing is said about God’s destroying the soul alone; but it is at some point beyond this life, when the person again has a body; which is not till after the resurrection. Another declaration from the lips of our Lord, found in Matt. 16: 25, 26, will throw some light on our present subject: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The word soul should here be rendered life. Dr. Clarke, on verse 26, says: “On what authority many here translate the word psuche in the 25th verse, life and in this verse, soul, I know not, but am certain it means life in both places.” But let us take the expressions, “soul” and “to lose the soul,” in the popular sense, and what should we have? Whosoever will save his soul (to save the soul meaning to save it from hell) shall lose it (that is shall go into hell torments); but whosoever will lose his soul (suffer eternal misery) for my sake, shall find it (shall be saved in Heaven). This makes utter nonsense of the passage, and so is a sufficient condemnation of the view which makes such an interpretation necessary. The passage simply refers to the present and future life. Thus, whosoever will save his life, that is, will deny Christ and his gospel for the sake of avoiding persecution, or of preserving his present life, he shall lose it in the world to come, when God shall destroy both soul and body in Gehenna; but he who shall lose his present life if need be, for the sake of Christ and his cause, he shall find it in the world to come, when eternal life is given to all the overcomers. Here the life is spoken of as something which can be lost and found again. Between the losing and finding no one can claim that it maintains a conscious existence. And what is meant by finding it? Simply that God will bestow it upon us in the future beyond the resurrection. So what is meant by the expression that man cannot kill it? Simply the same thing, that God will, in the resurrection endow us with life again, a life which is beyond the power of man. The life of all men is in the hands of God. The body was formed of the dust, but the life was imparted by God. Man by sin has made this present life a temporary one. But through the plan of salvation, which was simply placing the race upon a second probation, after Adam’s fall, with the privilege of still gaining eternal life, a future life is decreed for all; for there shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust. With the righteous this life will be eternal; for they have secured the forgiveness of all their sins through Jesus Christ; but with the wicked, will it soon end in the second death; for they have thrown away their golden privilege, and clung to their sins, the wages of which is death. Man may hasten the close of this present temporary life, may cut it short by killing the body, for some years before it would close in the natural course of events; but that future life, which in the purpose of God is as sure as his own throne, they cannot touch. The exhortation is to those who are striving to serve God, and who thereby are liable to lose their present lives at the hands of wicked men for the truth’s sake. Fear them not, though with the bloody arm of persecution they may deprive you of the present life; for the life which is to come they cannot reach. And the warning is to the wicked that unless they fear God more than men, and are governed by his glory more than by worldly considerations, he will bring their existence to an utter end in the fire of Gehenna. The text, therefore, so far from proving the existence in man of an independent, death-surviving, conscious entity called the immortal soul, speaks only of the present and future life, and, passing over the entire period between death and the resurrection, then promises the righteous a life which man cannot destroy, and affirms that the wicked shall utterly cease to be in the second death. THE great Peace Jubilee now in progress in Boston, Mass., may be summed up in a few words: 1. A vast building capable of accommodating 100,000 persons. 2. A ransacking of this country and Europe for singers and performers. 3. An assemblage of the great musical celebrities, and best performers, and national bands, from all the leading civilized nations of the globe. 4. A chorus of 20,000 singers, and an orchestra of 1,000 performers. 5. The production day after day of a series of the most brilliant musical performances, to immense audiences who, by stamping, cheering, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and by every other available means, gave every possible evidence of enthusiasm and delight. 6. Another item in the fulfillment of 1 Thess. 5:3: “When they shall say [or sing] Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” This is called a Peace Jubilee; but it cannot be to celebrate a universal peace already in existence; for such is yet far from being realized. It must therefore be taken as referring to a peace yet to be achieved. It is meant as a prophecy and a token of a time soon to come when universal peace shall reign over a world whose discordant elements are all hushed into harmonious repose. But this can never be while sin reigns; and sin can never end by peaceable means. It can only be rooted out by such judgments from on high as will adequately express God’s indignation against this foul blot in his universe. All this Jubilee is, therefore, in reality, is simply an expression of the hope and desire that reigns in the human breast for an age of peace and quiet; which desire is the father of the many prophecies of the good time coming. But these can never be realized under the present constitution of things. In the Jubilee now in progress we take no interest, only as it is an indication of the blind groping of the race after some unattained, and, in their present condition, unattainable, good. But there is a Jubilee coming, in which the desires of our heart all center: a Jubilee, which will celebrate a peace that will not be a mere burlesque on the name, and a mockery of all our hopes; but a peace that will be real because introduced by the gathering out and destruction of all that do iniquity and offend, of all the causes and agencies that have introduced discord and strife into our world; and a peace that will be eternal, because it will be under the reign of that King of righteousness of whose dominion there shall be no end. The Literal and Spiritual Meaning of Language.
By John H. Waggoner
It has become quite common in these days to say that the language of Scripture has two meanings, or a double meaning, a literal and a spiritual. So common has it become that the statement is put forth with the utmost confidence, as if the saying were an axiom—so evident as to require no proof. But it is more nearly a self-evident absurdity than a self-evident truth. Language is used literally and figuratively, but it cannot therefore be said that language has a literal and figurative meaning. The figurative use must conform to the literal signification, otherwise we could no more judge of the correctness of the figure than if the terms used had no meaning. We have lexicons to define terms, and a word may have several meanings, yet any one is as literal as any of the others; that is, it has only literal meanings. No man would ever attempt to convey the idea of a figure which was the opposite of the idea conveyed by the literal meaning of the words employed. Or should it be attempted it could not succeed; and we could only catch his idea by a change of the language. Figures must be expressed by terms that are understood. What, then, shall we say of the spiritual meaning of words? It is either identical with the literal meaning, or it is not. If it is identical with the literal meaning, there is then no such distinction in reality. But if it is not identical with the literal meaning, how is it to be determined? There could be but one way to determine it; we should have a spiritual Dictionary to give us the true spiritual definitions, otherwise we should be under the necessity of guessing at the meaning, which is rather a poor method to settle disputes about language! But who ever heard a person claim a spiritual meaning for language that had anything but guesswork in his effort? Were any two persons ever known to agree in regard to the spiritual meaning of terms? If such a distinction exists would it not be well to establish a spiritual school and employ a Professor of spiritual language to give instruction, so that somebody may become qualified to read the Bible understandingly? From some observation on this subject I think the following may be adopted as the first and chief rule of spiritual grammar. The spiritual meaning of words is the opposite of the literal. This may not be of universal application, but is doubtless more nearly universal than any other. The next in importance will be the following. The spiritual meaning must always be taken in preference to the literal. The conclusion from the above is easily arrived at, but in the absence of a lexicon, grammar, or any other spiritual standard literature, the following will probably be the wisest and safest course to pursue to arrive at the spiritual meaning of language, to wit, when you read the Bible believe it means anything except what it says!21 Now I do not pretend that I have settled this question very definitely (and who can?); but where I have erred, I am ready to be corrected. Will some one of that faith be so kind as to point out the errors in the above rules, or give us better ones? As there are many who set up that claim, and some of them are eminent men, no doubt, correct and definite information may be obtained on this subject. Sketch of a Discourse, Preached at Woodhull, N. Y.
By R. F. Cottrell
Text.—“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31: 16, 17. I. Who are the children of Israel?
II. How long will Israel endure?
III. Are “perpetual” and “forever” limited or unlimited? I. To Jacob was given the name of Israel, i. e., A prince of God, because he had power with God and men, and prevailed. See Gen. 32: 28. Those who are truly “the children of God” are the children of Israel in the true sense. “For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel: neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9: 6–8. See this teaching in the following texts: Matt. 3: 9; John 8: 39; Rom. 2: 28, 29; John 1: 47; Ps. 73: 1; Gal. 6: 16. Abraham is “the father of all them that believe.” Unbelievers are not his children in the sense of Scripture. “That he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised.” Rom. 4: 11. “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Gal. 3: 7. “All Israel shall be saved,” or in other words, All the saved are the Israel of God. “And so, by the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles, all Israel shall be saved.” Rom. 11: 26. When the Gentiles are converted, they come in and constitute a part of Israel, being grafted into the olive tree which represents Israel. See Jer. 11: 16; Rom. 11: 17. Paul tells the Ephesians that “in time past,” that is, before their conversion, they were Gentiles, that “at that time” they were “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise.” (Both the first and the second covenants belong to Israel. Rom. 9: 4; Jer. 31: 31.) But when these Gentiles were converted they were no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” See Eph. 2: 11–20. Israel will be saved in twelve tribes. James, an apostle of Jesus Christ, addressed his letter to his “brethren,” “To the Twelve Tribes.” James 1: 1, 2. For the “hope of Israel” Paul was bound with a chain and sent to Rome. Acts 28: 20. And when before king Agrippa, he said, “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.” Acts 26: 6, 7. The last of the church of Christ on earth, those that are sealed to prepare them to stand in “the great day” of the wrath of the Lamb, all belong to the “tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. 7: 4. II. How long will Israel endure? How long will the seed and name of Israel remain? We answer, Eternally. The gates of the eternal city, which will be located upon the new earth, will bear upon them “the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. 21: 12. All the saved, being “Israelites indeed,” will pass in through those gates of pearl, because they belong to the tribes of Israel. The seed of Israel shall not cease from being a nation before the Lord, as long as the sun and moon and stars endure. “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name; if those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.” Jer. 31: 35, 36. The seed and name of Israel shall remain as long as the new heavens and the new earth shall endure. “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. III. Are “perpetual” and “forever” limited in the text? These terms, when applied to things of limited existence, are limited in their significance; but when used concerning things of eternal existence, they are unlimited. But we have shown that the children of Israel will exist to eternity. Therefore there is no room for that poor evasion, which says that the Sabbath was given to the Israelites throughout their generations, but their generations have passed away, and therefore the Sabbath has passed away. Even Israel after the flesh have not passed away, and the true Israel will live eternally. As long as eternity shall endure—as long as the new heavens and the new earth remain—so long shall the Sabbath remain a sign, a memorial, of the fact that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” There is something peculiar about this Sabbath, which so many want abolished. It was instituted in Eden, before man fell. It is recognized in all revelation, both in the Old Testament and the New; and, in prophecy, it is shown to exist in the world to come, the Paradise restored. There it will be a universal institution, though men claim that it cannot be universally binding; “all flesh” shall observe it, and come, on that one definite day, to worship before the Lord. There has been no time, since God revealed this by Isaiah the prophet, that “all flesh have worshiped God upon the Sabbath;” hence it will be fulfilled hereafter. The children of Israel will all keep the Sabbath then. If we claim to belong to Israel, and to be heirs of the promises, should we not keep it now? A perpetual covenant can have no break, or void space, in which it is not in force. Children of Israel, the Sabbath is a sign between you and the great Creator forever. Do not forget it. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may ENTER IN THROUGH THE GATES INTO THE CITY.” Conversion.
By Stephen N. Haskell
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” The production of the natural heart is evil; for “the heart of the sons of men is full of evil.” It is the entrance of the spirit of God that renovates the heart, changes the affections, and prepares the soil to bear the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” But “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.” Therefore unless an individual has felt the transforming influence of the grace of God upon his heart he cannot bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, and thus please God. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” The great object of life before the individual is to prepare for the kingdom of Heaven by forming a character so that the spontaneous outgushing of the soul will be the fruit of the Spirit. Adverse, trying, and perplexing circumstances in this life are well calculated to make manifest the real condition of the human heart, and without this, we never should know ourselves; for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” There should be a continual watchfulness on the part of the remnant of God, that the fruit of the Spirit may ever abound. Let the mind dwell upon that which makes for peace. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good reports if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.” If the mind is permitted to dwell on things opposite to what the apostle has said, it will be sowing evil seed that will surely bear a plenteous crop of the fruit of the flesh, and it will have its moulding effect upon the character. A spirit that can ever discern evil in others can always see insurmountable difficulties in the way of the work of God, and there is a constant proneness to dwell upon them. Under whatever may be the pretense by which they think they are serving God in these things, are altogether mistaken in the nature of Christianity, and need to learn its first principles. They give the clearest evidence of a defiled conscience “for unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” The words of God are pure; they are tried words. “He has magnified his word above all his name.” The truth that relates to these times and the obligations we are under to faithfully discharge our duty are of sufficient importance to be the absorbing theme of the mind. Therefore whenever the heart gives evidence of its unsoundness in the cause of God by its proneness to dwell upon that which does not make for peace, or for the upbuilding of the work of God upon earth, it should lead to a humbling before God and a seeking for the transforming influence of the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to be negligent, or in any way careless in the work of overcoming. Altogether too much is pending. It is the salvation of ourselves and of our fellow-men; and if darkness and gloom are emitted by the course pursued we are a dead weight to the cause of God, and co-workers with evil angels and shall have no part or lot in the kingdom of glory. But if like the meteor that leaves a trail of light in its track we are ever found with kind and encouraging words, favorably impressing others with the truth we profess, ever bearing the precious fruit of the Spirit, we shall not only find much sweet even in this life, but joy in the world to come. S. N. HASKELL.