Earlier text: Report of the Battle Creek Bible Class.Prophecy is History in Advance. “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”—Luke xvii, 26, 27. Let us look therefore, into the days of Noah as described in the book of Genesis, seeing there is an analogy drawn between those days and the days preceding the coming of the Son of man. Previous to doing so, let me ask, Why is any record given in the Scripture about the days that preceded the flood? Why has God thought fit to hand this down to us? There are two reasons. 1. The Lord would have us know that the people who are living at this end of the world are the same in character as those who lived before the deluge. Man is unchanged and unaltered; no education, no discipline, nothing that can be done for him, can improve him. God has shown us this, not only before the flood, but in the Jews. God chose, separated, hedged in, instructed, protected, and preserved them; and how did they turn out? They killed his blessed Son. In the days before the flood God shows what man becomes when left to himself. When placed under proper teaching and proper rules, as Israel was, he is still the same. And when under a testimony of grace, as in the gospel, his history will end in manifesting the same evil propensities as before the deluge. Man is incorrigible. “Ye must be born again.” Man cannot be improved as regards God’s judgment of him; he must be created anew. 2. Another reason for this history before the flood is, to warn us of coming judgment. In Genesis iv, and vi, we read of the state of mankind then, and by observing the moral declension as there recorded, and comparing it with what we see around us at present, we shall perceive the same evils prevailing now as caused God to sweep the earth with the deluge, and, therefore, may expect similar actings of God in our day. In Ecclesiastes the preacher says that he has “weighed one thing after another to find out the reason,” (chap. vii, 27, margin,) and he tells, as the result, “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; BUT they have sought out many inventions.” 1. The Conscience of Society.—This was his great discovery. Inventions began directly man ceased to be upright. While upright he had nothing to conceal, nothing to improve; but immediately he fell, his inventive faculty came into exercise. “They knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Why? To conceal the results of their sin. Who taught Adam and Eve to sew, and thus to hide their shame one from another? It was the first invention; and it succeeded for a time. They had quieted their consciences, and were at ease in one another’s presence. But the voice of the Lord God was heard in the garden, and then their invention served not in the presence of God. They found that they were naked still, and hid themselves behind the trees in the garden. 2. Rational Religion.—As the second invention, Cain brought an offering to God of the fruits of the ground. The first invention of man was to quiet conscience before his fellow; the second was to make his conscience easy before God. But the melancholy history that follows Cain’s offering of his own devising was, God’s rejecting his offering, which brought anger to his countenance; and when he saw his brother’s offering accepted, he slew him. The first question God asked of man was, “Adam, where art thou?” the second was, “Where is Abel, thy brother?” He first demands of man where he himself has wandered; and next, what has become of his brother. Man first got away from God by sin; and next, he murders his brother. He breaks his allegiance with God, and then violates all human ties. 3. Civilization.—Cain then deliberately goes out from the presence of God. God does not drive him out; but he willingly leaves. A child was then born to him, and he builded a city, and called it by the name of his first-born, “Enoch,” which means “dedicated.” He dedicated his child to the world, and the city which he built was a memorial of this dedication. He went out from the presence of God, and had nothing but this world to live for. He was a man of the world, and yet he was not without a religion; he first invented a religion, and then builded a city; and his family, following his example, spent their energies upon one object, that of making the world better, a more happy residence, endeavoring to blot out the results of the curse, and to live at ease in forgetfulness of God. There is another Enoch, another dedicated man—not of Cain’s line, but of Seth’s—dedicated to God, and not to the world. He was the seventh from Adam, and was translated just at the time the world had arrived at its climax of iniquity. 4. Formality.—“And unto Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methusael;” these last two have the name of God, El, attached to their names. This shows that Cain perpetuated the name of God in his family; but it was a mere pretense, a form. God might be in the name, but he was not in the heart. Perhaps some parents are contented with giving to their children fine Scripture names. Is the name given and the child tossed into the world—left to serve the Devil? Are you, parents, training up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? or educating them for the world, and at the same time praying God to save them from it? If so, you are practically putting your child into the fire, and asking God to preserve him from being burnt. 5. Antinomianism.—Next comes Lamech, and he had two wives, Adah and Zillah. He was a true descendant of Cain, for he perpetuates the spirit of the murderer, and boasts of his security; sheltering himself under the word of the Lord to Cain, “Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” He violates also the sacred tie of marriage, and takes two wives. 6. Agriculture.—These two have sons, remarkable men. “Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle”—the first antediluvian agriculturist; a benefactor of mankind by improving the breed of cattle. He has a name of renown amongst Cain’s descendants. It may be they had their cattle shows, their agricultural fetes; and gloried in their fat beasts, just as men do now. A man gained a reputation through the size of his ox, and the amount of fat with which his bullock was covered. The fat beasts were, it may be, adorned with ribbons, as now; and he was considered a man of renown if he had fed a beast which had attained a few stones over the average weight. Is this the object of man’s life? Does he spend his days, his brief span of life, in trying to make a beast fat? and after he has accomplished this object of his ambition, does he glory in it as if he had done a great deed? Is this living for eternity? Is this living to God? But so it is; man will endeavor to make himself a name, a short-lived reputation, even by means of a fat beast; and he is reckless as regards his soul. 7. Religious Music.—“And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.” This child of the murderer and polygamist, Lamech, is not an agriculturist, but an inventor of sweet sounds—sounds which are said to humanize the brutal man. He was the originator of music; and that not warlike music, not the clang of the trumpet, the clash of the cymbal, or the roll of the drum, but the harp and organ—religious music, which is said to elevate the soul, and inspire devotional feelings. It may be, in those far-off days, they had their semi-religious concerts, in which the tedium of religious melodies was relieved by an occasional sprightly air. Or they may have had oratorios wholly of a religious character. Perhaps Cain’s descendants celebrated Abel’s death by setting it to music! Just as, in modern days, the descendants of those who crucified the Lord of glory celebrate His death in the oratorios of “the Messiah!” Only think of what men are doing! Think of the words of the dying Lord set to music, and sung by ungodly lips to an ungodly audience, decked out in the vain fashions of an ungodly world! Is this honoring God? Well may he say, “Shall I not be avenged on such a nation as this?” This is an age of religious music; music to please the ear of the performers, and not to please the ear of God, for he is only pleased with the melody of the heart. Services are intoned, choral services are advertised as fetes for the world, vast choruses of human voices are gathered together to produce an effect, and the broad road to destruction seems to be jubilant with psalm, and hymn, and song. 8. The Mechanical Arts.—“And Zillah, [the other wife of Lamech,] she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.” Thus was Cain’s name revived in one of his descendants. The little accident of his early life, the murder of his brother, was well-nigh forgotten, or more than atoned for in the eyes of his progeny by the advantages they had derived from the “city” he had founded. His success in life had caused his name to descend as an honorable one, instead of its being branded as a murderer’s name. A principle of modern days is this, that success obliterates all the evil ways and means by which that success has been obtained, and crimes are leniently dealt with, provided the hero achieves a great reputation for himself. This Tubal-cain was the great mechanic of the day—“an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.” What could we accomplish in these days if there were not numerous artificers in brass and iron? The railroads, the steam-engines, the iron-clad vessels, the destructive weapons of fearful magnitude, are the results of diligent working in brass and iron. This man, therefore, who bears the name of Cain, may justly rank among the greatest benefactors of mankind. His spirit is still at work, and has been largely developed in these days. 9. Feminine Accomplishments.—One daughter only is recorded in this family, borne by the same mother as bare Tubal-cain. His sister’s name was Naamah, sweetness. Evidently a remarkable contrast with her brother, and yet of the same blood. Sweetness itself, but sweetness in the flesh. A sweet, delicate woman, with the heart of a Cain. Let us for a moment view the picture as thus presented to us in Gen. iv. A religion invented, a city built, agriculture advancing, religious music and its accompaniments making rapid strides, every work in brass and iron advancing to perfection, and feminine sweetness, grace, and beauty displaying itself; add to this a murderous spirit and a wanton violation of natural ties, and you have an antediluvian picture. Does it look different from what the world now is? I question whether, with all the progress, so-called, the world has made, it has surpassed the inventions of the family of Cain. At the end of this chapter is a solemn sentence: “Then began man to call upon the name of Jehovah,” without any mention of sacrifice or altar. Mark where this sentence occurs again. “There he, [Abraham,] builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.” (Gen xii, 8.) Abraham called upon the name of the Lord with an altar and a sacrifice. He knew that God was not to be worshiped except through the blood of the sacrifice, which foreshadowed the death of Christ. Cain’s family, imitating their ancestor, worshiped Jehovah without blood. This was Cain’s sin at the commencement, and his family perpetuated the sin. They knew not the value of the blood. The blood that Cain shed—not in sacrifice, but in anger—called out from the ground against him. Remember, if you do not call upon the Lord through the blood of his Son, you are nothing but a descendant of Cain. You may claim to be a Christian, but you are only imitating Cain if you call upon God without trusting in the precious blood of Christ. This family, whose history ends here, multiplied on the earth; and God selected another family, that of Seth. If these families had kept themselves distinct, the Seth family would perhaps have been small, because the Cain family would probably have kept them down by strife and murder. In the process of time,103 however, the family of Seth, which should have kept itself distinct in its generation, saw the daughters of men, descendants of Cain, that they were fair—the Naamaks, who attracted them by their sweetness, and they took them wives of all which they chose. They were attracted by beauty, and they acted in self-will; they pleased themselves. “As they chose,” is a sad phrase. It is a man’s choice, and not God’s choice. It is the first symptom of declension in the family of God. It is the current phrase of the day “I make my own choice; I do what I like, what I think best.” The result of this intermingling of the two families of Seth and Cain was, that children were born “which became mighty men which were of old—men of renown.” The same result has followed the mingling of the church with the world in this day. If the Christian church had said to the unconverted man, the heathen—for the unconverted man is nothing better than a heathen—“You cannot worship the Lord with us; we will pray for you, and do you all the good we can, but we will not own you as a Christian; your soul will be imperiled by it, we must separate from you,” the unregenerate family of men would perhaps have murdered many of God’s children, and made them a little flock, hiding themselves in dens and caves of the earth. But the church of God has formed alliances with the world; has made ungodly compacts with the unbelievers, and the result is that persecution has ceased, and the children of God have helped on the world in its ambition, its scientific projects, its wars; and the world has believed that all its great enterprises have the sanction of God! In the midst of this seeming outward prosperity the antediluvian age waxed worse and worse—all flesh had corrupted his way. And now let me ask you a question; Do you think the state of society is anything better now than it was before the flood? I believe that you will find in these latter days the same worldliness, the same wickedness, the same corruption, the same evils, the same licentiousness, the same violence, as characterized the antediluvians. In fact, the world is making advances fast toward the same state of things.—Extract from an address of Mr. Seltzer of England. SABBATH EVENING THOUGHTS.
By H. F. Phelps
Another week has passed away; a week of toil; a week of anxiety. What record will it leave for me? I know those heavenly secretaries have made a faithful record of every act, of every word, of every thought. They have not omitted even one little thing. There is in Heaven a faithful picture of my character, as correct a picture of self as can be made by the skillful artist. Yes, far more so. This comparison falls far short, for they can only give a fac simile of the exterior person; and at these times we are sure to put the best side out. But these heavenly angels, these heavenly artists, are faithfully setting opposite our names, every thing good or bad, a smile, a frown, a little deed of kindness, a little word of love, a little act of meanness, deeds great and small. These records are made with sorrow as they record the evils of our character, but, methinks, with joy when they find some good act to record, or a bad act repented of.
These bad records are set to our account, and they must be cancelled; but in no other way, but by the blood of Christ, through faith in his name, or by the death of the sinner. We must give an account for all these things. For God will bring everything into judgment whether it be good or whether it be bad. We are now living in the time of God's judgment. The cases of the dead are being decided. Soon the living must come up in review before him. When my case comes, what will the records be? Will they be cancelled by the blood of Christ? As the great Judge reviews my character, what a dark page, a dark catalogue, presents itself. Methinks as he casts his eye down the first column he sees many sins, but few good things. What now? What next? Will he pass sentence? Ah! there is another column. Down the column is written, Repentance, pardoned. Ah! are my sins all repented of? Is pardon written opposite my name? Has the blood of Christ cancelled all those misdeeds of mine? May God grant that this may be the case. But this week is passed away. It never can be recalled. Were its moments rightly spent? or have any of these golden moments been misspent? How do these records stand? What has been my conduct? Have I stood manfully for the right? Have I set a good example before the world? before my neighbors? before my family? Have I curbed my passions? or have they run as without bit or bridle? Have I exalted in myself the right, and endeavored to put down the wrong? Have I been hasty, or patient? proud and haughty, or meek and humble? Has self been exalted, or abused? In short, have I made any advancements in overcoming? Have I gained anything? or has it been a loss? Have I through faith been delivered out of the temptations of Satan? If so, well. But now I've entered on holy time. May my thoughts be drawn in from the things of the world. May I be able to keep this day as will be pleasing in his sight. May I not seek my own pleasures, or speak my own words. May my meditation be sweet, and may I delight myself in God's word. If God's people are permitted to meet, and I with them, may I do my duty, in the fear of God, and leave the consequences with Him who rules all. And may I at last have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of God. UNION MEETINGS AND THE WEEK OF PRAYER.
By Wm. Penniman
The so-called union meetings, which are now in the churches, seem to be one of the signs of the times. They are not a sign that the world is growing better, or that the millennium is near, which is claimed by the orthodox preachers, but seem to be a sign that the world is being lulled to sleep by the “peace and safety cry.” When will these false teachers see that they mistake? I fear many of them will not, until the impending wrath of God is upon them. Honest ones, no doubt, there are, who may yet be led to embrace the truth, and to make their escape from Babylon; while others, who might see, will remain willfully blind, and will lead and bewilder those who follow them, till both shall fall into the ditch. So far as I have witnessed, and can learn correct reports of the union meetings, there is but very little union about them. In this place there are four meeting-houses, three where they keep up regular meetings. The week of prayer was observed here, the Methodists and Congregationalists uniting. The Disciples could not unite, as they look upon the creed-making churches as too closely allied to the Papacy. The Close-Communion Baptists could not, as they would be taking a step against close communion. Had there been a United Presbyterian church, they would have objected on the psalm question; and so it might be carried out, and the greater the number of churches the greater the confusion. The preacher, in the introductory sermon, attempted to trace down the chronological events, and to prove that they would all end in 1868, and that consequently the millennium would commence this year, and that he did not know but that it would by the time the meetings closed. It was plain to be seen that the whole drift of the subjects, and of their prayers, was for the conversion of the world. Oh! how I wished, while witnessing their vain efforts in trying to build a millennium tower, that some good Advent preacher would come down, and, if he did not confound their language, that he would instruct them in the way of the Lord more perfectly. Woodburn, Ill., Jan., 1868. A RIDDLE SOLVED.
By J. M. M.
[The following lines were written for, and published in, the Sabbath Recorder, August, 1859. I send them to you for publication in the columns of the Review and Herald, if you think proper. J. M. M.] 'Tis said a sage in days of yore,
Proud of the glossy cue he wore,
Did wonder much and sorrow more,
Because it hung behind him. And, musing on his hapless case,
He vowed the cue should change its place,
And hang before his handsome face,
Not dangling there behind him. Says he, “The way to do ’t I’ve found!
I’ll turn me round;” he turned him round,
And round, and round, and round, and round,
But still it hung behind him. And round and round, and out and in,
All day, the puzzled sage did spin;
In vain; it mattered not a pin,
His cue yet hung behind him. And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist, and twirl, and tack;
There in its place upon his back,
His cue still hangs behind him. So reads the riddle; thus ’tis solved:
The Puritan, of yore resolved
To make last, first; and then revolved
To bring before, behind him. He was this sage, so wondrous wise,
Who thought God's order to revise,
And bring that round before his eyes,
Which should be left behind him. The Sabbath law he sought to change—
With twist and turn, tried to arrange,
To bring before him—oh how strange!
A day that was behind him. To rest before his work begun!
And turn a seven into one!
He's whirled and twisted, tacked and spun;
But still he finds behind him. The day he wants to find before;
And seven is seven, forevermore,
And one is one—and, as of yore,
His cue still hangs behind him. REFLECT CHRIST.—A drop of rain or dew is but a small object, but still, when the sun shines on it, it is large enough to reflect, in various colors, his brightness and beauty; and the soul of a believer is but a very small thing in this great universe, but still capable of reflecting the perfections of God, when savingly enlightened by the quickening beams of divine mercy, and that light which comes from the Day-spring from on high. VIRTUE and happiness are mother and daughter. “WELL DONE.”
By Mary E. Guilford
How sweetly these words will fall upon the ears of the patient, waiting saints. After having passed through bitter trials, endured the scoffs, the scorn, the gibes and sneers of the mocking multitude around them, and having, through the grace of God, victoriously overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil, they are prepared to enter the promised land of rest; and their glorious Redeemer, for whom they have waited so long and so patiently, has come, clothed with the power and majesty of Heaven, to confer upon them immortality, and receive them unto himself. Then the bitter persecutions, grievous trials, and deep afflictions through which they have passed, will seem as naught as the lovely Saviour places upon their heads the bright, glittering crowns, and with majestic sweetness bids them enter into the joy of their Lord. Their warfare is ended, their trials are o’er, the victory is won, and as they join the holy angel band, they will touch their golden harps, and sing the sweet song of deliverance. Oh, brother pilgrim! falter not, neither grow weary in well doing, but press on toward the prize. Renew thy zeal and energy in the work of the Lord. Remove every hindering cause, take up thy every cross, yea, put thy whole soul into the work of overcoming, and follow on to know the Lord, whom to know aright, is life everlasting. Shrink not from duty, but at all times be found at thy post, ready to do thy Heavenly Father’s bidding, so that when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, you may stand among that holy, happy throng, who will receive from his lips the welcome plaudit, “Well done.” EXPERIENCE to most men is like the stern lights of a ship; they illuminate the space gone over.