WHEN the village of White Rock, Mich., was burned, in 1871, the fire came upon them with the speed of a hurricane, and in the evening. Men, women, and children, and the cattle, all fled in terror to the lake, and rushed into the water to save themselves from the flames.
About half a mile from the lake-shore, and about thirty rods south of the main road leading west, stood a small house, the residence of a family, a man and wife, and two little girls, the nieces of the wife. When the fire came upon them, they started from the house, each with a little girl. As they passed out of the door, the woman thought of something that she wanted, and stepped back into the house. Thus they became separated. In the darkness, in the wild war of the elements, the scattering fire, and dense smoke, it was impossible for them to find each other. The husband sped on and plunged into the lake to save himself and the child in his charge, hoping that the wife would find her way.
But, as the house was not on the road, she became bewildered and lost. Giving up all hope of escape, she sat down by a stump, and as she was a Christian woman, she committed herself to God and resigned herself to her fate. The fire was all around her—was everywhere. Houses, fences, trees, stumps, all were burning. As the country was newly settled, the stumps were very numerous; and, being mostly pine and hemlock, the fitful glare of the blaze, with the dense volumes of smoke, was well calculated to appall the senses. And there, through the tedious hours of that night, made long by its terrors, she sat beside the stump with the child in her arms.
Every stump around her was burning. The parched ground itself was on fire. Several times the fire ran in the ground and caught in her clothes, and she put it out by digging up the earth with her hands and smothering it. The fierce winds hurled the fire in every direction, and scattered it almost everywhere. But the stump beside which she sat did not take fire. All around, every object was blackened and charred; the ground was scorched and burned over. The timber-land of pine, hemlock, cedar, black-ash, &c., was originally covered with a light soil, made up largely of moss, so deep that the plow would scarcely touch the heavier soil beneath. After the long drouth this burned like tinder. But there was a bound set round about her stump, and the fire did not touch it. In the morning she was of course able to reach a place of safety.
Who will say that this was chance, or accident? It was Divine Providence. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” The God of Noah, of Abraham, and of Daniel, never changes. “Blessed are all they who put their trust in him.”
Samuel was called of God in his childhood. Joseph was guided and saved in his youth. And yet, “little children” are called unto Jesus, and his promise is that they who seek him early shall find him. What child or youth does not want the God of Israel for his friend, that angels may guard him in the time of trouble?
J. H. W.
Hope in Affliction.
By D. T. Bourdeau
It is in tribulation that the hope of the Christian is of the greatest value. In times of temporal prosperity, we are not naturally inclined to desire greater blessings, to hope for an improved condition beyond the present life. Hence it is that in order to inspire in men that hope which will lead them to desire the blessings of the future state, God, in the rich counsels of his grace, sees fit to dissever them from temporal blessings and worldly prospects by affliction.
God generally chooses his children in the furnace of affliction. He suffers pecuniary loss to come upon some that they may see the vanity of worldly goods in their selfish and perverted use, and the importance of seeking the true riches by laying up treasure in Heaven. He permits sickness to come upon others that they may realize how fleeting is this short life with its sinful joys and pleasures, and lay hold on eternal life and the true and lasting pleasures awaiting the righteous.
The use that we make of our afflictions, will determine whether we will profit by them; whether they will lead us to die to selfishness and to this vain world, and serve as a key to open unto us the fadeless glories and durable riches of the world to come, or whether they will tend to the opposite results. It is by confession of sin and submission to God in affliction that hope, light, and joy, spring in the heart, that clouds disappear, that we are calm, and composed amid the most adverse circumstances, that the things we most dread become to us friendly aids in our journey heavenward. In such a frame of mind, with such a blessed hope, death loses much of its terrors, and although this last enemy may make us feel its cruel power, with Job we may exclaim, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” We can also say with David, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” We know that the Lifegiver is coming, and that if God sees fit to hide us in the grave, we will soon have a glorious waking, having escaped the awful wrath of God and other troubles that are coming on the earth.
Whether we live or sleep, we need such a hope as this. D. T. BOURDEAU.
Our Periodicals.
By James White
REVIEW, VOICE, SIGNS, AND TRUE MISSIONARY.
BRO. HASKELL is right in urging immediate action in obtaining 30,000 subscribers. To do this work judiciously and properly will require time and patient effort. There is, therefore, no time to be lost. It is very important that as many subscribers as possible be obtained in season to receive the first number at the beginning of the year 1875.
And yet it would be better to take more time to do this work properly, than to do it carelessly on time. Let the work be done faithfully, and be pushed forward as soon and as fast as practicable. Hundreds of names, such as H. W. Beecher, were forwarded last year. These men have neither time nor disposition to give our views the least attention. Let our precious periodicals go where they will not be consigned to the waste paper basket before a single paragraph of them is read.
The Voice of Truth is designed for a pioneer paper, to go out everywhere to the unbelieving world, and never to take the place of the REVIEW among our people, while the REVIEW will be adapted to the church. In it will be given weekly appointments and reports of missionary meetings, and more full explanations of plans of operation. The True Missionary monthly being insufficient for this great work will be merged in the REVIEW at the close of the present year.
As fast and as far as possible, the free subscribers to the Signs of the Times east of the Rocky Mountains should be transferred to The Voice of Truth, either at full, or at one-half price.
All the friends of the present truth on the Pacific Coast should stand by their paper now, and work with vigilance to bring it up to a self-sustaining point. This will require work. We published the REVIEW AND HERALD four years by donations, and at the close of those years, in July, 1854, there was not one-fourth the financial strength with all our scattered few at that time that there is now on the Pacific Coast.
Those east of the Rocky Mountains, who have pledged One Hundred Dollars each for the press in California, are requested to forward the sums to this Office, and they will be acknowledged in the REVIEW, and held subject to the order of the California Conference Committee. J. W.
Late Experience
OF THE PEOPLE OF ST. LOUIS, MO., ON THE SABBATH QUESTION.
In The Christian Standard (Cincinnati) of Sept. 26, 1874, Clark Braden says:—
Advocates of the observance of the first day stultify themselves by taking contradictory and inconsistent positions. A notable instance of this transpired in St. Louis last fall. The preachers of the city organized a Sabbath Association. The first address before the Association predicated the observance of the first day on the fourth commandment of the decalogue. The next day a Jew, in one of the daily papers, demanded why he appealed to the law of Moses, which the New Testament declared to be abrogated—why he observed one command of the law of Moses, and not all—why he appealed to a command to observe the seventh day to sustain his practice of observing the first day, an entirely different day.
A rationalist appealed to the New Testament declaration that the decalogue was abrogated—the fourth commandment with the rest; and to Paul’s declaration in the Roman, Galatian, and Colossian letters, to show that all days are alike. A seventh day advocate wanted to know why he appealed to a positive and definite command to observe the seventh day, to sustain his observance of the first day—and if the seventh day was sanctified at creation and man commanded to observe it, then where was his authority for changing the law and observing the first day? Unable to answer, the Sabbath Association went down for want of a rational basis on which to base an intelligent defense of the observance of the first day.
Nearly Saved Is Not Saved
It is no use of saying, “Well, I am nearly saved,” for saved is saved. A man may drown within an inch of the rope, and drowned is drowned, whether in six feet or six fathoms.
D. T. BOURDEAU
By D. T. Bourdeau
Vermont.
Since returning to Vermont, I have, while aiming to secure rest and to discharge duties I owe to my afflicted parents, spoken twice to the church at Bordoville, and made two visits to Bolton and Jericho, calling on most of the brethren and sisters in those places, and speaking to them three times. I found this church on the back-ground. They had passed through trials without receiving proper help and much-needed counsel; but a small portion of them attended meetings, the Bible-class and Sabbath-school had run down, and only two were taking the Review.
With such a state of things before us, knowing what God had wrought for this dear people over three years since, we waived our bad feelings and went to work, showing in our remarks that the grace of God is sufficient for the church of God under all circumstances. The Lord greatly helped.
Last Sabbath, at the close of our discourse, we had a social meeting in which over twenty took part, several speaking twice. Many confessed their lack, and expressed their determination to reform. The Bible-class and Sabbath-school were reorganized, and at the close of the Sabbath a few subscribed for the Review.
We hope that the labors of Brn. Haskell and Bean in encouraging the missionary work will be appreciated by this church, and that they will profit by the experience of the past, seek for a deeper work of grace, cultivate a spirit of sacrifice, and enlarge in their love for each other and for the cause generally.
We can but express the conviction that had this church occasionally enjoyed the labors of experienced brethren from Bordoville and Bristol they might have been saved unnecessary trials, a better state of feeling would have existed between them and older brethren, and they would now be in a better condition. Yet we hope that in the future this church will be faithful in performing those duties which will link them to the Almighty, and without which it were useless to look to others for help.
D. T. BOURDEAU
Bordoville, Vt., Nov. 9, 1874.
Leon, Oct. 25, 1874
By H. W. Decker; John Atkinson
Wisconsin.
We pitched our tent in the village of Leon, Monroe Co., Aug. 7. The farmers were very busy stacking their grain, yet there was such an interest to hear that many came five miles nearly every night after doing their day's work. We held meetings in the tent five weeks, when, the evenings getting cold, we took the tent down and continued meetings in school-houses in the vicinity. Had strong opposition from the Methodist preacher of the place, but God caused his truth to triumph. Thirty-eight are keeping the Sabbath as the result of the meeting. Some very intelligent persons have embraced the truth; among the number there are fifteen who are, or have been, school teachers. We have tried to present the whole truth. Have talked of the reforms in public and at their homes. There were eight keeping the Sabbath when we went to the place, making a company of forty-six. There being no convenient place to hold meetings, we immediately commenced building a meeting-house 20x30. The building is already up, and by the close of the present week it will be plastered and painted. In about twelve weeks from the time we pitched the tent, the house will be completed. Have obtained quite a number of subscribers for our periodicals. The Lord has blessed, and we are thankful.
H. W. DECKER,
JOHN ATKINSON.
Leon, Oct. 25, 1874
Science vs. Religion.
By Wm. C. Gage.
The religious world is just now in a state of considerable excitement, not to say positive alarm, at the latest encroachments of science on the domain of religion, as manifested in the addresses of Professors Huxley and Tyndall, in which the so-called fundamental principles of religion are boldly assailed.
The religious press have had “their say” in repelling these attacks, and, it appears to us, have but weakly parried the thrusts of these eminent scientists. The larger number of “evangelical” editors who have noticed the subject have contended with much warmth that these Professors are out of their place in leaving their own legitimate sphere of labor, and trenching on the grounds of theology, and have quoted to them the familiar maxim, “Shoemaker, stick to thy last.” While these strictures may be just, and the position now taken by them may be the correct one, we cannot forget the readiness with which the theological world have yielded inch by inch, or perhaps more properly, ell by ell, to the claims of “science, falsely so called,” in its encroachments upon the revealed word of God.
The Mosaic account of creation has been made to give way to the deductions of science in establishing a pre-Adamic and pre-historic age of the world. The Bible record of the flood has been belittled to a local affair of small magnitude, and one after another of the historical records of the Scriptures has been compelled to yield its claims to credence, as “science” has boldly challenged their authenticity and reliability.
We are reminded of the fable of the camel, who wished at first to get only his nose into his master’s tent, and having accomplished so much, finally succeeded in obtruding his entire body, and driving out the rightful occupant. In like manner, faith in the Bible has yielded to the false claims of science, until the latter has nearly supplanted that confidence in the word of God which is so essential to vital godliness.
If this alarm, which thus seizes upon the religious world at so late a day, shall teach them a lesson, it might be well. But such a result seems hardly probable. And as we view the matter, their terror comes not so much at having to give up the truth to the claims of so-called science; for this they have all along been doing at a fearful rate. The real difficulty consists in the fact that the gist of Profs. Tyndall and Huxley’s attacks is summed up in an assault upon the popular doctrines of immortality and immateriality. True, these men are opposers of revealed religion; but this fact has given the popular religious world but little anxiety until they declare, as does Prof. Huxley: “I find that matter can generate mind.” This is horrible! They may pronounce against the reliability of the Scriptures, they may question the efficacy of prayer, and their words pass comparatively unnoticed; but when they tell us that mind is dependent on matter, then they are out of their domain! On the point when they do really accord with the tenor of the Scriptures, they must be attacked and repelled, and driven from the territory of religion.
Prof. Huxley is a materialist, and believes that mind is dependent on matter. So was David, who declared that in the very day when a man dies his thoughts (mind) perish. So was Solomon, so was Job, and so was St. Paul. The latter declared that unless the dead have a resurrection those who are sleeping in Christ have perished; showing conclusively that he believed in the necessity of matter for the exercise of mind.
How singular that the theological world should be so willing to yield the truth, without a struggle or complaint, and so valiantly contend when their errors are assailed. WM. C. GAGE.
Walpole, N. H.
Letter and Spirit.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
The following article under the above heading is so sound, practicable, and important that I wish the readers of the REVIEW to have the benefit of it:—
“We have always admired the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the language in which Thomas Campbell announced the purpose of the reformatory movement which he initiated: the restoration of the Christianity of the New Testament “In letter and in spirit, in principle and in practice.” Nothing short of this filled his conception of the reformation to be aimed at. We fear that the conceptions of many professed reformers are less worthy. There are zealous adherents of the letter, who are strangers to the spirit of Christianity; there are boisterous advocates of the principles we teach, who have little to do with these principles in practice. We are aware that law and gospel are contrasted as letter and spirit, and that even the letter of Christianity is more spiritual than the spirit of the law. The letter of the gospel is freighted with weighty spiritual ideas and aims, and its very words are said to be “spirit and life.” They relate to spiritual things and are pregnant with spiritual meaning, and are to be interpreted in view of the spiritual economy to which they belong. Yet it is possible to make, in Christianity itself, a distinction between letter and spirit, and, resting in the letter, to be destitute of the spirit which seeks embodiment and expression there. The spirit of Christianity can only find expression through the letter; but the letter is capable of being so held and used as to fail of its proper office in conveying the spirit to the reader. Here are words—words in certain combinations—words capable of this or that meaning, and capable of serving this or that end. Nothing easier than to get up a “strife about words,” and make a battle-cry or a shibboleth of certain words which the Holy Spirit gave for no such purposes. How readily we enter the strife, and spend our lives in maintaining certain forms of words, or certain interpretations of them, transforming into a causa belli that which came from Heaven as a messenger of peace and love! The earth has long resounded, and yet resounds with the fierce controversies of mere logomachists, to whom the real office of the words they strive about is as foreign as is the spirit of the gospel to their perpetual gabble and babble.
When Paul says, “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power;” 1 Cor. 4:20; again, “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5), we do not understand him to allude merely to the miraculous accompaniments and demonstrations that belonged to his ministry, but power over mind, heart, conscience and life which came through the apprehension and reception of gospel truth and grace; hence he adds, “Ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.” There is such a thing as having the gospel come in word only. There is special danger of this in times of controversy when dispute as to the proper meaning of words is a necessity; for such controversy, however necessary, is apt to attract a class to which the clatter of the strife and the jingle of the words has a much greater charm than their spiritual meaning.
It is easy, for instance, to get in earnest over the question of creeds, and to become very zealous for the Bible as against all human creeds, and to read the Bible diligently to obtain proof texts as ammunition for the warfare; and all the while fail of the least interest in the word of God as a rebuker of one’s sins or as an instructor in righteousness. It is not the bread of life to one’s soul, but death and destruction to one’s opponents. It may be said with enthusiasm, “Thy word was found, and I did search it, and thy word was unto me a rich storehouse of arguments with which to vanquish my enemies;” but it is not said or felt, as the prophet said: “Thy word was found, and I did eat it, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” It is possible to be very earnest about Christ, to win a victory over a foe in behalf of some special notion of being able to say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” One may become very anxious over some theory of the atonement, and be willing, in a mere party spirit, to spend and be spent in maintaining “soundness” of doctrine, and yet be an utter stranger to the sentiment of Paul when he says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
It is possible, too, to spend the time and strength in demolishing infant baptism, which is due to our own children in training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; or to lavish time and money in defense of the proper meaning of baptizo, with little regard to what scriptural baptism imports—a death to sin and a resurrection to a new life. How much easier it is to declaim against the assumption and corruptions of a hireling priesthood than to walk humbly ourselves before God, or spend liberally and unostentatiously of our own means to spread the knowledge of the truth! It is possible to get ill-natured even to spleenishness and strife over the question of Christian union, and to contend spapishly and rudely for a theory of union, while alienations and bitter strifes abound among the zealous champions of love and harmony. In all these cases, the gospel has come in word only. It is the restoration of Christianity in letter, without the spirit; in principle, without the practice. It is the knowledge that puffeth up without the love that buildeth up. It is the form of godliness without its power.
We need careful attention to the letter of the New Testament. We have no sympathy with the sentimental twaddle so often indulged in about the insignificance of the letter and the supreme importance of the spirit, as if it were possible to know anything of the spirit of the gospel except through its letter. The spirit of the gospel is the true meaning of its letter. With disembodied spirits we are forbidden to consult. But the letter should ever be regarded as important, not for the mere sound of the words, or as formulating some item of sound doctrine to be used as a party watchword or a heretic detector, but as the embodiment of the thoughts and sentiments of the divine mind, and as conveying the life of God to our own souls. The critical reading of the Scriptures is important, since an error in the letter corrupts the channel through which the spirit of truth is conveyed to us. But the devotional reading of the word of God is that which we most need, with the sentiment of the psalmist ever-dwelling in our hearts: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and show me if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.”
If we are able to read the signs of the times with any approach to correctness, the tendency is on one hand to a latitudinarianism which sneers at literalism, and rejoices in a hazy, dreamy, speculative view of divine revelation which, without any fixed principles of interpretation, enables each teacher to find in the Bible that which gratifies his own pet notions, and leaves the people, as Paul says, to be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” and on the other, to a pompous formalism—a trust in externals, a content with that which is merely mechanical and artistic, decorous and impressive to the senses. With the increase of business enterprise, absorbing thought and life, leaving neither time175nor inclination for spiritual pursuits; and the increase of wealth, and pride, and extravagance, leaving their bewitched worshipers to adore appearances, to conform their lives to factitious standards, and to seek their happiness in the phenomenal rather than the essential, men walk by sight rather than by faith, and the glare of the sensuous rather than the simplicity and purity of the spiritual carries them captive.
Both these tendencies are inimical to the interests of Christianity. We must beware how we drift into these popular currents. There is constant danger that the church of God will be invaded by these subtle and powerful influences. We need to cling to the gospel “in letter and in spirit, in principle and in practice.” We especially need so to study the word of God, with diligence, constancy and devoutness, that it shall be unto us sweeter than honey, or the droppings of the honey-comb, and more precious than rubies or than fine gold. We need its daily study in our families. We need to talk of it by the way, in coming in and going out, in sitting down and rising up. We need to be instant in prayer. We need to cultivate faith, and attain to a readier communion with the invisible. We greatly need more hours of retirement for the closet, where we can be alone with God, and bare our hearts before him. We need larger supplies of the spirit of Jesus Christ. We need more Bible reading, Bible exposition, and Bible study in our congregations. We need Christ in us the hope of glory.—Christian Standard.
These remarks are certainly worthy of careful attention. Compelled as we are to be constantly engaged in controversy, there is great danger that we overlook the spirit of the holy work in which we are engaged—the heart work which we must have wrought in ourselves by it. While we closely adhere to the letter let us also carefully cultivate the spirit. Safety lies only in the union of the two.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
NOT TO MYSELF ALONE.
“Not to myself alone.”
The little opening flower, transported, cries,
“Not to myself alone I bud and bloom:
With fragrant breath the breezes I perfume,
And gladden all things with my rainbow dyes;
The bee comes sipping, every eventide,
His dainty fill;
The butterfly within my cup doth hide
From threatening ill.”
“Not to myself alone.”
The circling star with honest pride doth boast,
“Not to myself alone I rise and set:
I write upon life's coronal of jet
His power and skill who formed our myriad host;
A friendly beacon at Heaven’s open gate,
I gem the sky,
That man might ne’er forget, in every fate,
His home on high.”
“Not to myself alone,”
O man! forget not thou, earth’s honored priest—
Its tongue, its soul, its life, its pulse, its heart—
In earth’s great chorus to sustain thy part:
Chiefest of guests at love’s ungrudging feast,
Play not the niggard—spurn thy native clod,
And self disown;
Live to thy neighbor, live unto thy God,
Not to thyself alone.
Maine.
By J. B. Goodrich
SINCE the close of our camp-meeting, I have labored at Somerset Mills, South Norridgewock, Deering, Brunswick, Richmond, Jay, Hartland, East Bradford, and East Dover, Baptized two, and have seen some who have been discouraged, resolve anew to serve the Lord. I am greatly encouraged to labor on, and do what I can to bring men to a saving knowledge of the truth. I want some humble part in the closing message of mercy to this world, that I may finally share in the glorious victory that is soon to be given to the faithful. Pray that I may.
J. B. Goodrich.
Houlton, Aroostook Co., Me., Nov. 18, 1874.
Hancock, N. H.
By R. M. Kilgore
I HAVE been here one week, and have held meetings every night but one, in the town hall.
I am not encouraged much concerning the interest, and yet I shall do all I can to forward the work in this place. Those who attend listen attentively, but prejudice against the truth is strong, and unbelief is apparent. We have had it to meet in the public congregation. I shall remain here until I am satisfied that my duty is done.
We were at Marlow two Sabbaths since we left Rhode Island. The friends there are still holding on to the truth, and are growing in it, yet we hope to see them making more rapid strides toward higher attainments. Letters from Victor, Iowa, are affording us great encouragement. There is no decrease in their interest in the meetings there, and their neat and commodious meeting-house is just being completed. They now call for Bro. and sister White, or one of them, or Bro. Butler, to visit them and dedicate their house of worship, which they have almost built by their own efforts.
My family is with me, and we are now living in our own hired house. We ask the prayers of the people of God. R. M. KILGORE.
Hancock, N. H., Nov. 13.
Fruit Appearing.
By W. M. HEALEY
The following letter was handed to me by a friend to whom it was written, and as it shows how much good may be done by circulating our papers and tracts among our friends I send it to you for publication.
“Dear sister H———
“I write to tell you that your labor in the work of the Lord is not in vain. I read the REVIEW which you sent me, from love and respect for you. I preferred it to other religious papers because it is so thoroughly earnest and religious. Its doctrines I thought presumptuous, but concluded to try them by God’s word. So I read with a Bible at hand, and on each doctrinal point looked to see what the word of God said.
“I am convinced that the S. D. Adventists are correct upon the Sabbath and the near coming of Christ. I regard the Sabbath question as the most important of all. How can we be prepared to meet Christ if we live in open disobedience to his plainly worded command? Although it has long been vailed by the traditions and commandments of men, if we will look for truth in the light of God’s word we cannot fail to see that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.
“I think there are many who, could they be induced to search the Scriptures upon this point, would be convinced of the truth, and at once obey the fourth commandment even in opposition to custom and tradition.
“S. A. MADDOCK.”
Here is a field of labor for us all. Who has not some friend to whom he can send a few copies of our publications? Let us all wake up to the work.
W. M. HEALEY.
California.
An Interesting Prophecy.
By George W. Amadon
In the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, twelfth verse, there is a prophecy relating to the final gathering of the great family of Heaven. It reads, “Behold, these shall come from far: and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the LAND OF SINIM.”
Recently, while using the book of Isaiah in Bible-class exercises, this prediction received particular attention in the class; and the position was taken that the prophecy particularly specified the people of China, and that in all probability it would receive its fulfillment in the last days, under the closing gathering work of the third angel’s message. The reasons for regarding it as referring to the Chinese are here presented, mainly in the language of others.
Gesenius, the great Hebrew scholar in his Hebrew Lexicon, says:—
“The context implies a country situated in the eastern or southern extremity of the earth: probably the Sinae, Chinese, whose country is Sina, China. This very ancient and celebrated people was known to the Arabians and Syrians by the name Sin; and a Hebrew writer might well have heard of them, especially if sojourning in Babylon, the metropolis as it were of all Asia. The name appears to have been given to the Chinese by other Asiatics; for the Chinese themselves, though not unacquainted with it, do not employ it.”
Mr. Gesenius has lengthy remarks on the word Sinin, which for want of space are not given. He also refers to his “Thesaurus” for a fuller explanation.
Albert Barnes, author of the commentary, in his Notes on Isaiah, dwells quite lengthily upon the term Sinin, from which the following extract is taken:—
“Gesenius supposes that Sinin refers to the Chinese and that the country here referred to is Sina, or China. ‘This very ancient and celebrated people,’ says he, ‘was known to the Arabians and Syrians by the name Sin, Tsin, Tchini.’ . . . . . The Rev. Peter Parker, M. D., missionary to China, remarked in an address delivered in Philadelphia, that ‘the Chinese from time immemorial have been known by the name Tschin. Tschin means a Chinaman.’ Where they first received the appellation cannot be determined, nor is the reason of its being given to them now known. As there is remarkable permanency in the names as well as in the customs of the East, it is probable that they may have had it from the commencement of their history. . . . . . It may be added that this is the only place where that country is referred to in the Bible, and there may be some plausibility in the supposition that while so many other nations, far inferior in numbers and importance, are mentioned by name, one so vast as this would not be wholly omitted by the Spirit of Inspiration.”
This sounds like correct reasoning, and without doubt in the great final gathering of the saints there will be many from the land of Sinin, or China.
The view that Sinin refers to China, is somewhat cautiously adopted by Kitto in his “Biblical Cyclopedia.” He says:—
“The context implies a remote region situated in the eastern or southern extremity of the earth. Many Biblical geographers think that this may possibly denote the Sinese or Chinese, whose country is Sina, China. This ancient people were known to the Arabians by the name of Sin, and to the Syrians by that of Tsini.” Referring to the Septuagint, he says that version gives “some support to the identification of the Chinese with Sinin.”
Not less valuable than the preceding, and to the same effect, is the testimony of Smith’s Unabridged Bible Dictionary. It says: Modern authorities are in favor of referring this passage to some nation located in the extreme East, and adds that this people are identified by Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, and others, with the classical Sinae, the inhabitants of the southern part of China. Mr. Smith remarks that there is no improbability in the name of Sinae being known to the inhabitants of Western Asia in the time of Isaiah, for the Sinae obtained an independent position in Western China as early as the eighth century B. C.; and that in the third century B. C. they established their sway under the dynasty of Tsin over the whole of the empire.
The “Cottage Bible,” referring to a contrary view on this passage, quoting Bagster’s Bible with notes, says:—
“It seems more probable that it denotes China, called by the natives Sin, and by the Arabians and Syrians Zin.”
Of this people, the Sinin of Isa. 49:12, the Religious Encyclopedia” testifies:—
“Sinin is thought by Mr. Taylor, Dr. Morrison, and other writers, to be China, which Dr. Hager, in two very learned tracts, has attempted to prove was well known to the Greeks in early ages; and that the trade in silk was the life and soul of their intercourse with it.”
The “Bible Dictionary” published by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, of London and prepared by many authors, has the following:—
“Sinin, The land of, a country in the distant East. . . . . . The usual opinion has been that China is meant, because the word Sinin more closely resembles the name by which China was known among the ancients than any other. Some have thought that Sin and others that Syene was meant. Neither of these is likely, because both Sin and Syene were known to the Hebrews by their proper names, and were cities, not countries. . . . . . Gesenius regarded Sinin as pointing to China, and Fürst agrees with him. We may therefore abide by the common explanation, and consider Sinin as the inhabitants of the land of Sin, or China. The word occurs in this form only once in the Scriptures [Isa. 49:12].”
The “Bible Dictionary” of the American Tract Society remarks:
“Sinin, Isa. 49:12, a people very remote from the Holy Land, towards the east or west, generally believed to mean the Chinese, who have been known to Western Asia from early time, and are called by the Arabians Sin, and by the Syrians Tsini.”
The “Family Bible, with Notes,” by the above-named Society, also bears a testimony to the same effect.
The “Comprehensive Commentary” remarks that very anciently there were Jews settled in China, and argues that the Chinese had some knowledge of the west from the phrase “Great West,” early in use among them. It also quotes Langles, who thinks that the Hebrew word is not different from zyn and syn, by which the Arabs designate China. This authority also refers to the opinions of Gesenius, and indorses it. We might add that Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel earnestly advocates the same ideas regarding the etymology and meaning of the word Sinin.
No doubt authorities might be extended to far greater length, but these are amply sufficient for the purposes intended. In closing we will inquire, May not the remarkable immigration of the Chinese in these last days to America have something to do in fulfilling this prophecy? Dr. Gill, the gifted commentator, says if the prophecy has reference to the Chinese, it must apply to the end, when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. G. W. AMADON.