Review and Herald, Vol. 20, No. 11. (8/12/1862)

Review and Herald

Aug 12, 1862

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 12, 1862

The State of the Dead.

By John Milton

BY JOHN MILTON. Author of "Paradise Lost."

(Concluded.)

THUS far proof has been given of the death of the whole man. But lest recourse should be had to the sophistical distinction that, although the whole man dies, it does not therefore follow that the whole of man should die, I proceed to give similar proof with regard to each of the parts—the body, the spirit, and the soul, according to the division above stated.

First, then, as to the body, no one doubts that it suffers privation of life. Nor will the same be less evident with regard to the spirit, if it be allowed that the spirit, according to the doctrine previously laid down, has no participation in the divine nature, but is purely human; and that no reason can be assigned why, if God has sentenced to death the whole of man that sinned, the spirit, which is the part principally offending, should be alone exempt from the appointed punishment; especially since, previous to the entrance of sin into the world, all parts of man were alike immortal; and that, since that time, in pursuance of God's denunciation all have become equally subject to death.

But to come to the proofs. The Preacher himself, the wisest of men, expressly denies that the spirit is exempt from death: Eccl. iii, 18, 20, "As the beast dieth, so dieth the man; yea, they have all one breath (Hebrew, spirit), . . . all go unto one place." And in the twenty-first verse he condemns the ignorance of those who venture to affirm that the way of the spirits of men and of beasts after death is different: "Who knoweth the spirit of man (an sursum ascendat), whether it goeth upward?" Ps. cxlvi, 4, "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Now the thoughts are in the mind and the spirit, not in the body; and if they perish, we must conclude that the mind and spirit undergo the same fate as the body. 1 Cor. v, 5, "That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." The apostle does not say "in the day of death," but "in the day of the Lord Jesus."

Lastly, there is abundant testimony to prove that the soul (whether we regard by this term the whole human composition, or whether it is to be understood as synonymous with the spirit), is subject to death, natural as well as violent. Num. xxiii, 10. "Let me (my soul, Hebrew, anima mea, Lat. Vulg.), die the death of the righteous." Such are the words of Balaam, who, though not the most upright of prophets, yet in this instance uttered the words which the Lord put into his mouth. Job xxxiii, 18. "He keepeth back his soul from the pit." Job xxxvi, 14. "They die in youth." (Heb., their soul dieth. Lat. Vulg., anima eorum.) Ps. xxii, 20. "Deliver my soul from the sword;" lxxviii, 50. "He spared not their soul from death." lxxxix, 48. "Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" xciv, 17. "My soul had almost dwelt in silence." Hence, man himself, when dead, is spoken of under the name of "the soul." Lev. xix, 28; xxi, 1, 11. "Neither shall he go in to any dead body." (Hebrew, dead soul.) Isa. xxxviii, 17. "Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption." The just and sufficient reason assigned above for the death of the soul, is the same which is given by God himself. Eze. xviii, 20. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die;" and therefore on the testimony of the prophet and the apostle, as well as of Christ himself, the soul even of Christ was for a short time subject unto death on account of our sins. Ps. xvi, 10, compared with Acts ii, 27, 28, 31. "His soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption." Matt. xxvi, 38. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Nor do we anywhere read that the souls assemble, or are summoned to judgment, from heaven or from hell, but they are all called out of the tomb, or at least they were previously in the state of the dead. John v, 28, 29. "The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." In this passage, those who rise again, those who hear, those who come forth, are all described as being in the graves, the righteous as well as the wicked. 1 Cor. xv, 52. "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised." 1 Thess. iv, 13–17. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow

not, even as others which have no hope; for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also

which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him; for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep; for the Lord himself shall descend, . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." They were asleep; but the lifeless body does not sleep, unless inanimate matter can be said to sleep. "That ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope;" but why should they sorrow and have no hope, if they believed that their souls would be in a state of salvation and happiness even before the resurrection, whatever might become of the body? The rest of the world, indeed, who had no hope, might with reason despair concerning the soul as well as the body, because they did not believe in the resurrection; and therefore it is to the resurrection that Paul directs the hope of all believers. "Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him;" that is, to heaven from the grave.

"We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." But there would have been no reason to fear lest the survivors should prevent them, if they who were asleep had long since been received into heaven; in which case the latter would not come "to meet the Lord," but would return with him. "We," however, "which are alive shall be caught up together with them," not after them, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord," namely, after, not before, the resurrection. And then at length "the wicked shall be severed from among the just." Matt. xiii, 49. Dan. xii, 2. "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

In such a sleep I should suppose Lazarus to have been lying, if it were asked whither his soul betook itself during those four days of death. For I cannot believe that it would have been called back from heaven to suffer again the inconveniences of the body, but rather that it was summoned from the grave, and roused from the sleep of death. The words of Christ themselves lead to this conclusion: John xi, 11, 13. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep; howbeit Jesus spake of his death;" which death, if the miracle were true, must have been real. This is confirmed by the circumstances of Christ's raising him. Verse 43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth!" If the soul of Lazarus, that is, if Lazarus himself, was not within the grave, why did Christ call on the lifeless body which could not hear? If it were the soul which he addressed, why did he call it from a place where it was not? Had he intended to intimate that the soul was separated from the body, he would have directed his eyes to the quarter from whence the soul of Lazarus might be expected to return, namely, from heaven; for to call from the grave what is not there, is like seeking the living among the dead, which the angel reprehended as ignorance in the disciples. Luke xxiv, 5. The same is apparent in raising the widow's son. Luke vii, 14.

CHAPTER III.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED AND EXPLAINED.

On the other hand, those who assert that the soul is exempt from death, and that when divested of the body it wings its way, or is conducted by angels, directly to its appointed place of reward or punishment, where it remains in a separate state of existence to the end of the world, found their belief principally on the following passages of Scripture. Ps. xlix, 15. "God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave." But this proves rather that the soul enters the grave with the body, as was shown above, from whence it needs to be redeemed, namely, at the resurrection, when "God shall receive it," as follows in the same verse. As for the remainder, "their redemption ceaseth forever," verse 8, and they are like the beasts that perish, verses 12, 14.

The second text is Eccl. xii, 7. "The spirit shall return unto God that gave it." But neither does this prove what is required; for the phrase, the spirit returning to God, must be understood with considerable latitude; since the wicked do not return to God at death, but depart far from him. The Preacher had moreover said before, Eccl. iii, 20, "All go unto one place;" and God is said to have given and to gather to himself the spirit of every living thing, whilst the body returns to dust. Job xxxiv, 14, 15. "If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." See also Ps. civ, 29, 30. Euripides, in the Suppliants, has, without being aware of it, given a far better interpretation of this passage than the commentators in question.

Each various part That constitutes the frame of man, returns Whence it was taken; to th' ethereal sky The spirit, the body to its earth. Line 599 Potter's Trans.

That is, every constituent part returns at dissolution to its elementary principle. This is confirmed by Eze. xxxvii, 9. "Come from the four winds, O breath." It is certain, therefore, that the spirit of man must have previously departed thither from whence it is now summoned to return. Hence perhaps originates the expression in Matt. xxiv, 31, "They shall gather together the elect from the four winds." For why should not the spirits of the elect be as easily gathered together as the smallest particles of their bodies, sometimes most widely dispersed through different countries. In the same manner is to be understood 1 Kings xvii, 21. "Let this child's soul come into him again." This, however, is a form of speech applied in fainting in general. Judges xv, 19. "His spirit came again, and he revived." See also 1 Sam. xxx, 12. For there are many passages of Scripture, some of which undoubtedly represent the dead as devoid of all vital existence; but what was advanced above, respecting the death of the spirit, affords a sufficient answer to the objection.

The third text is Matt. x, 28. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." It may be answered that properly speaking, the body cannot be killed, as being in itself a thing inanimate; the body therefore, as is common in Scripture, must be taken for the whole human compound, or for the animal and temporal life; the soul for that spiritual life with which we shall be clothed after the end of the world, as appears from the remainder of the verse, and from 1 Cor. xv, 44.

The fourth text is Phil. i, 23. "Having a desire to depart (cupiens dissolvi, having a desire for dissolution) and to be with Christ." But, to say nothing of the uncertain and disputed sense of the word analusai, which signifies anything rather than dissolution, it may be answered, that although Paul desired to obtain immediate possession of heavenly perfection and glory, in like manner as every one is desirous of attaining as soon as possible to that, whatever it may be, which he regards as the ultimate object of his being, it by no means follows that when the soul of each individual leaves the body, it is received immediately either into heaven or hell. For he had "a desire to

be with Christ;" that is, at his appearing, which all the believers hoped and expected was then at hand. In the same manner one who is going on a voyage desires to set sail and arrive at the destined port (such is the order in which his wishes arrange themselves), omitting all notice of the intermediate passage. If, however, it be true that there is no time without motion, which Aristotle illustrates by the example of those who were fabled to have slept in the temple of the heroes, and who, on awakening, imagined that the moment in which they awoke had succeeded without an interval to that in which they fell asleep; how much more must intervening time be annihilated to the departed, so that to them to die and to be with Christ will seem to take place at the same moment? Christ himself, however, expressly indicates the time at which we shall be with him. John xiv, 3. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." See Col. iii, 4.

The fifth text evidently favors my view of the subject. 1 Pet. iii, 19. "By which also he went and preached to the spirits that are in prison;" literally, in guard, or as the Syriac version renders it, in sepulchro, in the grave, which means the same; for the grave is the common guardian of all till the day of judgment. What therefore the apostle says more fully, chap. iv, 5, 6, "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead; for, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead;" he expresses in this place by a metaphor, "the spirits that are in guard;" it follows, therefore, that the spirits are dead.

The sixth text is Rev. vi, 9. "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain." I answer, that in the Scripture idiom the soul is generally often put for the whole animate body, and that in this passage it is used for the souls of those who were not yet born; unless indeed the fifth seal was already opened in the time of John; in the same manner as in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luke xvi, though Christ, for the sake of the lesson to be conveyed, speaks of that as present which was not to take place till after the day of judgment, and describes the dead as placed in two distinct states, he by no means intimates any separation of the soul from the body.

The seventh text is Luke xxiii, 43. "Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." This passage has on various accounts occasioned so much trouble that some have not hesitated to alter the punctuation, as if it had been written, "I say unto thee to-day;" that is, although I seem to-day the most despised and miserable of all men, yet I declare to thee and assure thee, that thou shalt hereafter be with me in paradise, that is, in some pleasant place [for properly speaking, paradise is not heaven], or in the spiritual state allotted to the soul and body. . . . Nor is it necessary to take the word, to-day, in its strict acceptation, but rather for a short time, as in 2 Sam. xvi, 3; Heb. iii, 7. However this may be, so much clear evidence should not be rejected on account of a single passage, of which it is not easy to give a satisfactory interpretation.

The eighth text is Luke xxiii, 46. "Into thy hands I commend my spirit." But the spirit is not therefore separated from the body, or incapable of death; for David uses the same language, Ps. xxxi, 5, although he was not then about to die: "Into thine hand I commit my spirit," while it was yet abiding in and with the body. So Stephen, Acts vii, 59: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, . . . . . . . and when he had said this he fell asleep." It was not the bare spirit divested of the body that he commended to Christ, but "the whole spirit, and soul, and body," as it is expressed, 1 Thess. v, 23. Thus the spirit of Christ was to be raised again with the body on the third day, while that of Stephen,

was to be reserved unto the appearing of the Lord. So 1 Pet. iv, 19. "Let them commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing."

The ninth passage is 2 Cor. v, 1–20. It is sufficiently apparent, however, that the object of this passage is not to inculcate the separation of the soul from the body, but to contrast the animal and terrestrial life of the whole man with the spiritual and heavenly. Hence in the first verse, "The house of this tabernacle," is opposed not to the soul, but to "a building of God, a house not made with hands," that is, to the final renewal of the whole man, as Beza also explains it, whereby "we are clothed upon," in the heavens, being clothed, . . . . not naked. This distinctly appears from the fourth verse: "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." So also verse 5. "Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God;" not for the separating the soul from the body, but for the perfecting of both. Wherefore the clause in the eighth verse, "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord," must be understood of the consummation of our happiness; and "the body" must be taken for this frail life as is common in the sacred writers, and the absence spoken of, for our eternal departure to an heavenly world; or perhaps to be at "home in the body and to be absent from the Lord," may mean nothing more than to be entangled in worldly affairs, and to have little leisure for heavenly things; the reason of which is given, "for we walk by faith and not by sight;" whence it follows, "we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord;" that is, to renounce worldly things as much as possible, and to be occupied with things heavenly. The ninth verse proves still more clearly that the expressions, "to be present with the Lord," and, "to be absent," both refer to this life: "Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of God;" for no one supposes that the souls of men are occupied from the time of death to that of the resurrection, in endeavors to render themselves acceptable to God in heaven; that is the employment of the present life, and its reward is not to be looked for till the second coming of Christ. For the apostle says, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." There is, consequently, no recompense of good or bad after death, previous to the day of judgment. Compare 1 Cor. xv, the whole of which chapter throws no small light on this passage. The same sense is to be ascribed to 2 Pet. i, 13–15: "As long as I am in this tabernacle," &c., that is, in this life. It is however unnecessary to prolong this discussion, as there is scarcely one of the remaining passages of scripture which has not been already explained by anticipation.

Trust.

By E. W. Darling

O Lord! thy praise is great, All things thou didst create. Thou madest all. All things thy blessings share; All are beneath thy care, Both great and small.

Thou dost the lilies clothe, the ravens feed, Number the sparrows and supply their need. Help me thy providence to see, And ever, ever trust in thee.

In this vain world of care, and sin, and sorrow, Ills from the future may I never borrow, But ever leave with thee the doubtful morrow.

'Tis mine to hope, and trust, and praise, And thine to plan for future days.

The dangers that now seem to lower, May change their course in one short hour, And vanish from my anxious eye, Proving they came my faith to try, To show the vanity of care, And teach me never to despair.

Sufficient are the evils to the day, Nor will I brood them or prolong their stay.

When foes surround my path, Mustered in rage and wrath, To make me fly; To catch me when I rove, Or make me trembling move, Be thou still nigh.

Blest Saviour do not leave me ever, But guide me by thy gracious favor. Counsel I need, and aid, Friends have their trust betrayed, Snares for my feet are laid, On thee my hope is stayed Now and forever.

E. W. DARLING.

Beaver, Minn.

Christ a Companion on the Life-Journey.

By Cuyler

On a certain "first-day" afternoon—more than 1800 years ago—two men set out on foot from Jerusalem to the little village of Emmaus. The journey covered seven miles, but they were not easy miles to travel, for much of the way lay over rugged hill country and through deep ravines. The village toward which they walked is perched, like a birdsnest, on the cliffs that look off toward the Mediterranean Sea.

It is in the month of Nisan—corresponding by the calendar to our April, but later still by the almanac of the leaves and flowers. On the day that these pedestrians walked to Emmaus, spring was giving place to the soft warmth of opening summer. The air was moist from the "early rains" just over; the hills smelled sweet from the fragrance of budding vines; the valleys laughed with the pomegranates bursting into flower, and the barley crops whitening for the harvest. It was a bright vernal landscape that smiled around them; but sad hearts were they that moved slowly over the hills toward the mountain village. Talking sadly and despondingly of the terrible tragedy that had just been enacted on Calvary, the two disciples walked onward.

A stranger accosts them by the wayside. They do not know him. Their "eyes are holden." A supernatural obstruction blinds their vision for the time. So they address him as a stranger. "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem," inquires Cleopas, "and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?" "What things?" Then they begin and give a brief, artless narrative of the barbarous tragedy that had ended in the judicial murder of him whom they had hailed as the Redeemer of Israel. "O fools, and slow of heart," exclaims the mysterious stranger, "ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" And beginning at Moses and the prophets, he pours out upon them a stream of rich, instructive, and precious talk, that makes the road seem short to Emmaus. They are there before they are aware, and so charmed with their delightful companion, that they court his society for the night. "Abide with us," is their hospitable invitation. The kind offer is accepted. He comes into their house—reclines beside them at their table—and while he is breaking bread with them, he breaks the illusion, too, and lo! the affable comrade of the journey is no less a personage than their adorable Master! Wonderful companion! Wonderful guest! Wonderful instructor! "Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us by the way?" said one. "Mine did," replies the other. And well they might. For the light that had beamed on them, and the heavenly warmth that had kindled their souls, poured from no less a source than the divine heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for this delightful episode. I learn from it one precious lesson—that Christ Jesus is willing to be the companion of my life-journey until I reach my heavenly home. Blessed is the man whose heart burns within him from the constant presence and inspiration of the Saviour.

I. The first benefit to the believer from having Christ with him, is that the life-journey will be a safe one. He need never miss the right road. He will never be led astray. Christ knows the whole pathway thoroughly from the "City of Destruction" to the City of the Great King. And wherever Christ directs us to walk, there we ought to go. It matters not that we cannot see the end from the beginning. Christ sees; that is enough. He sent Paul on many a perilous path of duty, and when the boiling deep threatened to engulf him, Jesus stood by him, and said, "Fear not, Paul; thou must yet stand before Cæsar." The courage that quailed not in Nero's judgment-hall is easily explained by the heroic apostle's assurance, "The Lord stood with me and strengthened me." What Christ did for Paul, he will do for you, my brother. Invite him to be your companion. Ask his direction; never take a decisive step in life without it. Covet his fellowship, for he that walketh with Jesus, "walketh surely."

II. The life-journey, in the second place, is made pleasant by having the Saviour as our constant associate. You all know the charm that is imparted to a voyage by having a genial friend to pace the deck with us in confiding conversation, to gaze with us on the glories of the changeful ocean, and drink in the witchery of the sunrisings and the sunsettings. The road to Emmaus may have seemed long to Cleopas and his companion in other times, but when the affable stranger joined them, how fast the furlongs were measured off! How unweariedly they climbed the rugged hills! Charming was that excursion from the charm of such society.

Christian believer! you may walk your daily life-journey with the same celestial companionship if you keep a good conscience and a praying heart. Begin each day on your knees with a cordial invitation to Jesus Christ to vouchsafe to you his presence. Think of him all the while as close by you. The busy bustle of the counting-room did not hinder the fellowship with Christ of Henry Thornton, of Garret Bleecker, and many a godly-minded merchant like them. Many a farmer has communed with Jesus as he followed his plow, until the acres that he trod had "the smell of a field that the Lord had blessed." Many a pious housewife has made the hours seem short as to the merry music of her wheel her heart has sung—

"No journey is without its cares, Life's journey, too, the spirit wears, It is not all a path of roses; The road is narrow, foes are strong, And oft mislead me to the wrong, The tangled thorn my way opposes; O'er sorrow's wilds I'm forced to go, And groping, march the journey through.

"But Jesus, once a pilgrim too, Will be with me a pilgrim true, Of all my anxious cries a hearer. Thy warning words in mind I'll keep, And by thy guidance every step Shall bring me to salvation nearer, Till to my journey's end I come, And live with thee in yonder home."

We may have hard and trying places just before us on our life-march. Sick rooms and beds of suffering may be a few weeks or months in advance. But no part of our pilgrimage is more cheerful than that which is spent in the sick room, with the blessed Saviour as the companion of our meditations and devotions. "Here I lie," said the heroic Halyburton, "pained without pain; without any strength, and yet strong. I am not faint; I am refreshed with the spiced wine. Christ comes to me in the watches of the night and draws aside the curtains, and says, It is I, it is I, be not afraid." His heart burned within him with a holier glow as he neared the journey's end.

III. Once more. Christ's presence with believers shames them from sin, and stimulates them to duty. Paul assures us that Jesus is "made unto us sanctification" as well as redemption; i. e., his Spirit is a Spirit of holiness. And when we live in union with Jesus, it has a tendency to make us holy.

The sense of Christ's immediate presence is a perpetual check upon our lusts and passions—a perpetual spur to our spiritual indolence. Are we tempted to hurry off in the morning under the pressings of business without our usual season of devotion? The thought that Jesus witnesses the petty larceny of few moments, is enough to send us mortified and penitent to our closet. Does an irritating vexation prompt the sharp answer or the angry blow? One look from the all-forgiving Lamb is enough to hush the tumult and smooth the ruffled brow. Am I tempted to a keen bargain? "Why not?" "It is all fair in business." Yes; but what will Christ say? And so on through all the calendar of besetting sins. The sin-hating eye of my spotless Saviour follows me by day and by night; and while in his holy fellowship how dare I play the coward, the cheat, the sensualist, or the poltroon?

"How will my wicked passions dare Consent to sin while Christ is there?"

He who walks in the blessed company of Jesus while he lives, is sure of the same divine companionship when he reaches the dying bed. And then, when all earthly loved ones are giving, through tears and sobbings, their last farewells, this Friend that sticketh closer than a brother sweetly whispers, "Fear not, I will never leave thee. Where I am, ye shall be also. Having loved my own, I love them to the end. Thou shalt be for ever with the Lord."

Behold!

By H.

I RECENTLY heard a Wesleyan Methodist minister preach from the passage, ‘Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ He remarked that when the word ‘Behold’ is used in this way, we may be sure that something of peculiar importance and demanding special attention, is about to follow.

It at once occurred to my mind that if the principle thus laid down was allowed to have its perfect work, there would be no danger of the doctrines of the Second Advent and the Restitution being cast into the shade, or lost sight of; for in the Apocalypse, from which the text was taken, the following passages are found: ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen.’ ‘Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.’ ‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.’ ‘Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.’ ‘Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.’ ‘And I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . and I heard a great voice from heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.’

If the minister was correct in the rule of exegesis which he announced, then the coming again of Christ and the new creation are ‘of peculiar importance, and demanding special attention;’ and it is not surprising that John Wesley should publish a sermon on the words, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ H.—Millennial News.

The Free Choice.

WHEN a man becomes a Christian, he acts as a free man; and whatever power has been exerted over him, no violation has been done to his liberty, nor has he done anything which has not been to him a matter of preference or choice.

The converted sinner acknowledges the power of God in his change. He is sensible that he has become what he is by an influence from on high. It was some such mysterious power that arrested his attention, that alarmed his conscience, that induced him to give his heart to God. But he has been sensible of no violation of his freedom. He has done nothing which he has not done freely. He was not converted by bringing a deep sleep upon him, as Eve was formed from the side of Adam, nor was an unnatural stupor diffused over his frame, benumbing all his faculties, and leaving him to be molded as the clay; but he was converted in the full exercise of his faculties, and with the entire consciousness of acting as a free man. He has done nothing which he did not prefer to do; he has abandoned no sin which he did not choose to abandon; he has formed no new plan of living, by becoming a Christian, which he did not choose to form. One of the most free and unfettered acts of his life was that when he gave himself to God; and he became a Christian with as much conscious freedom, and with as much of the spirit of rejoicing, as the imprisoned father leaves the gloomy cell where he has been long immured, to visit his children when his prison-doors are thrown open, or as the galley-slave exults when the chains fall from his hands.

There is no act that man ever performs more freely than that of becoming a Christian. His whole heart is in it; and no matter what sinful course he abandons, what sacrifices he makes, and what friends he is constrained to leave, or what amusements he is required to abjure—he does it most freely. And no matter what trials he may see before him, no matter though his embracing religion may require him to forsake his country and home to preach the gospel in a heathen land—it is all cheerfully done. It is the act of a free man. He prefers it. He would not, for all the gold, and diamonds, and coronets, and crowns of the earth, have it otherwise. And though he is conscious—for who could not but be so in such a change?—that this has been brought about by the power of God, and will always ascribe it to the agency of the Holy Ghost, yet he feels that no law of his nature has been violated, and that one of the most free acts of his life was then when he gave his heart to God.—Barnes' "Way of Salvation."

Live by the Day

Live by the day; you will have daily trials, and strength accordingly: leave to-morrow to the Lord.

Prayer Makes a Spiritual Christian

Reading may make you a pleasant companion, but private prayer will make you a spiritual Christian and a useful companion.

Eternal Torment.

By Uriah Smith

So revolting is the doctrine of everlasting torment to every sentiment of humanity, as well as to an enlightened reason, that it is no wonder that eminent men have been constrained at times to bear such testimony as the following against the unscriptural and unnatural theory. Apart from the Bible testimony on the subject, the quotation from J. C. Calhoun furnishes an objection to the doctrine from which it will be utterly and forever unable to free itself. The following are a few of the utterances alike creditable to the heads and hearts of those who made them. U. S.

JEREMY BENTHAM.

"The dreadful dogma is not to be found in Christianity. It is the most vain, most pernicious, most groundless conceit."

HON. J. C. CALHOUN.

"It is a sufficient refutation of the doctrine of endless punishment that it is incomprehensible. For a righteous law-giver would never ordain a penalty which his people could not understand."

REV. JOHN FOSTER.

"Hopeless misery—I acknowledge my inability to admit this belief, together with a belief in the divine goodness."

REV. P. W. CLAYDEN.

"The dogma was always repulsive to my matured reason. Against that miserable dogma every Christian heart feels some revolt, and where theological notions will not let it be confessed, there is often in reserve a kind of secret hope that in some way God's infinite mercy and wisdom will find a way of escape from the terrible anomaly of a scene of eternal torment existing in the empire of the God of love."

DR. DWIGHT.

"This subject (endless misery) is immeasurably awful, and beyond all others affecting. Few persons can behold it in clear vision with a steady eye."

SAURIN.

"I sink under the awful weight of my subject. It renders society tiresome, pleasure disgustful, nourishment insipid, and life itself a cruel bitter!"

THOMAS DICK, LL. D.

"When I consider the boundless nature of eternity, when I consider the limited duration of man, I can scarcely bring myself to believe that the sins of a few brief years are to be punished throughout a duration that has no end."

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