p. 163 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 21. (5/24/1877)

LESSON SIX.

THE MESSAGES OF REVELATION CHAPTER XIV.

Having seen that the cleansing of the sanctuary is a work of Judgment, a key is placed in our hands for an explanation of the messages of Rev. 14. The first message, verses 6, 7, is symbolized by an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, saying with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountain of waters.”

Let us see what we are warranted to expect from the terms of the message, that we may know what to inquire for as a fulfillment. The scope of the message is the gospel either as a whole or in some of its special phases; and the burden of its announcement is that the hour of God’s Judgment is come. Some Judgment work connected with the gospel we are therefore to look for. But the gospel brings to view no work of this kind except that connected with the close of the probation of the human race, near the end of time. Still it cannot be any phase of the Judgment after probation has ended; for two other proclamations to men follow it before the Lord appears as symbolized by one like the Son of man on the white cloud. Verse 14. It can therefore be no other than the work of investigative Judgment which we have seen takes place above, as the sanctuary is cleansed immediately preceding the coming of Christ. And further, it is a time message, based on the prophetic periods; for it announces the hour of God’s Judgment come, and must consequently bring us to the commencement of that work.

With these data before us, where shall we look for that message? We need not stop even to inquire if it was given by the apostles, or the reformers, or any class of religious teachers previous to our own day; for if given at any time before the last generation it would not be true. The apostle reasoned of a Judgment to come, Acts 17:31; 24:25; and it is recorded of Luther that he thought the day of Judgment was about 300 years distant from his day. But our own generation has witnessed such a proclamation as the message announces. In the great Advent movement of 1840 to 1844 and onward, the fulfillment is seen.

This movement was one of the right nature: it was based on the prophetic periods and proclaimed time. It was of sufficient extent: it went to every missionary station on the globe. See Exposition of Matt. 24. This angel of Rev. 14:6 is the same as the angel of Rev. 10. Evidence of this is found in the chronology of this latter movement, the nature of the message, and the terms in which the proclamation of this angel is uttered. Rev. 10:6. But this angel utters his oath on the authority of a little book which he has in his hand open. This is unquestionably the book which Daniel had been told to close up and seal to the time of the end, and the fact that the angel now had it in his hand open shows that his message is given this side of the time of the end. He proclaims the end of prophetic time, and following that the finishing of the mystery of God. In Rev. 14:6, 7, it is the finishing of the prophetic periods, and then the hour of God’s Judgment. The finishing of the mystery of God, and the hour of God’s Judgment, therefore, occupy the same time and bring to view the same work—a work to be fulfilled in the cleansing of the sanctuary, commencing in 1844 and now going forward.

Having located the first message, the others must follow in order. The second has received as marked a fulfillment as the first. Babylon is brought to view under the symbol of a woman in Rev. 17:5. This does not mean the wicked world, or worldly powers; for the woman is seated upon a beast which represents the civil power. Verse 3. A woman is the symbol of a church; a lewd woman representing a corrupt or apostate church, Eze. 16; and a virtuous woman, a pure church. Rev. 12:1. But Babylon is not confined to any one church; for this woman of Rev. 17:5 has daughters of the same character with herself. Parity of reasoning would lead us to include under this term all heathen systems of religion, as well as portions of the so-called Christian world. Babylon means mixture and confusion. The name is derived from Babel, where God rebuked men’s impious attempt to build a tower to Heaven, by confounding their language. The great fault here charged upon Babylon is that she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, or corrupted them with her false doctrines.

The fall of Babylon is not the loss of temporal power by the papacy, nor the destruction of the city of Rome. For the papacy does not lose her temporal power because she made the nations drink of her false doctrines; but that is the very means by which she obtained and so long held it. And it cannot mean the destruction of Rome; for Babylon is where the people of God are largely represented. Rev. 18:4. But this has never been true of Rome, and especially it was not when the second message of Rev. 14 was given. And, secondly, it is after Babylon’s fall that the people of God are called out, which would be an absurdity if applied to the fall and burning of Rome. And thirdly, after the fall, Babylon fills up with hateful birds and foul spirits, which makes the application to the destruction of Rome still more ridiculous.

The fall of Babylon is a moral fall, as is shown by Rev. 18:1–3. But the proclamation of this fall, being connected with the great Advent movement of our own days, must apply to some portion of Babylon which was at that time in a condition to experience a moral change for the worse. But this announcement, Babylon is fallen, could not then be said of the heathen world, which has for ages been lost in darkness and corruption; nor of the Romish church, for that has for generations been as low as it is possible for any organization, religious or secular, to descend. It must therefore have reference to those classes who have partially come out from Romish errors, but stopped short of receiving all the light that was offered them. This is true of the great mass of Protestant sects. They ran well for a season, and had a large measure of the graces of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God to witness to what truth they were willing to receive. But their theology is still hideously deformed by enormous errors drawn from Rome, which they refuse to abandon. A reception of the first message would have healed their divisions and made a beginning of the work of correcting their errors. We know this from the effect it did have on those who received it, who came from all these denominations. But they rejected the message, and shut it out of their houses. The cry was then raised, Babylon is fallen; and although the distinctive call of Rev. 18:4, “Come out of her my people,” which we apply to the future, was not given, yet some 50,000 persons did come out from the theological bondage to which they were subjected, an earnest of a still greater separation to take place, as we believe, in

the near future, when Rev. 18:2 is more completely fulfilled in them, and the cry of verse 4 shall be given.

This state of religious declension among the popular churches has been a marked condition with them since 1844. The most devoted among them saw and deeply deplored it then. See testimonies in work entitled, The Three Messages. Their condition in this respect has not improved since; and the spasmodic and emotional efforts of Knapp, Hammond, Moody and other modern revivalists are not affording any permanent improvement. There is an advance truth for this age, and no permanent work of religious reform can be accomplished except in connection therewith.

The third angel followed them; and now the message deepens into a most close and pointed warning, and a denunciation of wrath more terrific than anything elsewhere to be found in the Bible, against uniting with anti-Christian powers in the last work of opposition against God, upon which they will embark before the end. It is announced with a loud voice that if any man worship the beast or his image, or receive his mark in his forehead or hand, he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. The terms here employed are without dispute highly figurative; and hence many conclude at once that they cannot be understood. But surely God would never denounce judgments so terrible as these and then clothe the warning in such terms that it could not be understood, and so men not know whether they were exposing themselves to the punishment or not. This is certainly the last message to go forth before the coming of Christ; for the next scene is one like the Son of man coming on a white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth. None but Christ does this. This message consequently reaches to the close of probation; and whoever is giving the true Advent message will be urging upon the people a warning of this nature. If we have reached the last days and the coming of Christ is at the doors, the time has come for this message. It is due. Yet there are those who will presume to call themselves Adventists, and proclaim the coming of Christ very near, who entirely ignore this message, leave it out of their preaching, and profess to know nothing about it. Are such standing in the light and giving the true message? Assuredly not.

Seventh-day Adventists claim to be giving this message. People have a right therefore to demand of us an explanation of the terms and figures employed in the message; and we stand ready to give it. This is the burden of our work, to warn against the worship of the beast, and urge in contrast obedience to God. An exposition of the symbols introduced involves an examination of Rev. 12 and 13.

CLASS QUESTIONS ON LESSON VI. WITH ANSWERS.

1. In what manner did Wm. Miller fulfill the oath of the angel of Rev. 10, that time should be no more?

Ans. We do not understand that the angel of that chapter symbolizes any individual, but only a movement. The movement was the great Advent movement of 1844. That met the prophecy in every particular. It was based on the records of a little book which had been closed up and sealed till the time of the end, but was now open, namely, the prophecies of Daniel. The whole burden of the movement was a proclamation of time; that the 2300 days would terminate in 1844, and that no prophetic period would extend beyond that year. This we understand is what is meant by the oath that time should be no more, as that must refer to prophetic time. In the proclamation of time, therefore, under the first message, the oath of the angel respecting time was fulfilled. But there was a disappointment, in consequence of a mistake, connected with that movement; how then could it be a fulfillment of prophecy? Such a question is no embarrassment to us; for we do not regard the mistake as pertaining to anything brought to view in the work of that angel. He swore to time; and the time proclamation was all right. The mistake was not there; but in the event to occur at the end of the prophetic period which reached to that point, which has since been fully explained in the subject of the sanctuary. But this question is an embarrassing one to those who believe the mistake was in the time. That chapter so clearly represents the past Advent movement, that such an application cannot well be questioned. But how then shall it be explained, since, according to their view, the whole burden of the angel’s message that time should be no more proved to be a mistake, as prophetic time did not then expire? They endeavor to get out of the dilemma at the expense of the angel, by saying that as he was clothed with a cloud, see verse 1, there were some things hidden from his view. So he swore to time, but when the cloud cleared away he saw that he had made a mistake. That is to say, this angel got lost in the fog, and in his bewildered state roared out his message over sea and land that time should be no more; but when the fog cleared away, he saw that that was all wrong, and told John that he must go to work and prophesy again! That somebody is in the fog is clear enough; no doubt about that; but it isn’t the angel.

2. If Babylon does not signify the ungodly world, how is it that a third part of Babylon, Rev. 16:19, is interpreted to be paganism?

Ans. Because paganism is a system of religion; and it is all these multiplied forms of false and apostate systems of religion that we understand to be included in mystic Babylon.

3. Are we to understand that there will be two Judgments?

Ans. Considered as a whole the Judgment is one; but viewed in reference to its different phases, it may be considered as three-fold. 1. We have the investigative Judgment in the sanctuary, in which the Father sits as Judge, accepting those who come to him through Christ, as Christ confesses their names before him. Rev. 3:5. This is the hour of God’s Judgment brought to view in the first message, and decides all cases, drawing the dividing line between all the righteous and the wicked. Then Christ comes; and his coming is called a coming to Judgment, as it is the carrying out of the decisions of the sanctuary, in giving reward to a certain extent to his people. 2. Then comes the second phase of the Judgment, the work of a thousand years, during which time the saints, having themselves been judged and accepted, act with Christ, apportioning to the wicked of each generation the punishment due to their crimes. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:2, 3. This work completed, we come 3. To the third and last division of the Judgment, at the end of the thousand years, when the sentence written is executed. Rev. 20:9. This is called in 2 Pet. 3:7, the day of Judgment; but Peter immediately specifies what part of the Judgment by adding, “and perdition of ungodly men.” At the same time that this final sentence is executed upon the wicked the saints receive the completion of their reward. Matt. 25:34.

4. Does not Matt. 25:31–34 seem to teach that the Judgment is after Christ comes?

Ans. This brings to view simply the carrying out of the decisions of the investigative Judgment in the sanctuary by separating the righteous from the wicked. This takes place when Christ comes. If we confine it to those living on the earth when Christ appears, this separation is shown by the change to immortality which instantly passes upon all the righteous. And if we extend the application so as to include all the dead, the separation is equally apparent; for all the righteous dead are at once raised from their graves, leaving all the wicked dead behind. The rest of the chapter passes on to the execution of the wicked, and the full reward of the righteous, at the end of the thousand years, as noticed in the preceding question.

5. Can persons now in the churches who have heard the third angel’s message, and do not obey it, nor separate themselves from the churches, be saved?

Ans. A person’s present position does not decide his eternal destiny, unless the day of his probation is past. That persons live in some instances for long periods disregarding known duties and refusing to acknowledge and obey clearly perceived light, is beyond question, the Lord bearing with them, and giving them opportunity to repent. That there are multitudes of such at the present time in the churches and the world, is doubtless true. How long the Lord will bear with them, ere he will say, “Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone,” we know not. It is at best a most dangerous position. One thing is certain that a person must, ere mercy ceases to plead with him, obey all the light of which he has any perception, or he will be lost. Jesus said, “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth.” Such are sure to stumble and fall.

6. Is not the call now going forth, “Come out of her my people.” Rev. 18:4?

Ans. As a specific call we do not think it is now going forth. Circumstances and influences conspire more or less to separate those who receive the truth from previous organizations. Frequently churches will not retain a person in their communion if he conscientiously endeavors to obey the law of God by keeping the seventh day. Perhaps more who have come among S. D. Adventists from other churches have left those churches because they have for this reason been thrust out, than from any other cause. Others, failing to receive spiritual benefit, and having no freedom to speak of their new-found faith and hope, voluntarily leave their former connection of bondage for a new one of freedom. But we look for proud and popular churches to grow more and more conformed to the world, to go into greater spiritual darkness, and alienation from God, and for a mighty cry to go forth in consequence, “Come out of her my people,” which will reach all that can be saved in her communion.

7. Will there be a second cry, “Babylon is fallen”?

Ans. We think there will be. In consequence of rejecting the truth, Babylon fills up with foul spirits, and unclean and hateful birds, even becoming the habitation of devils. The nations are corrupted with her false doctrines; she has formed unlawful connection with the world, and through her pride and extravagance the merchants of the earth wax rich. These things become so apparent, at length, that a strong announcement is made of this fact, and in connection therewith goes forth the cry, “Come out of her my people.” We look for this to be fulfilled near the close of probation, for then her plagues are about to fall.

8. What is the meaning of 2 Cor. 6:17: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”?

Ans. We think this has more reference to marriage relations with unbelievers than to anything else, as it is said in verse 14, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Why the translators should supply the word “thing” to the adjective unclean, is a mystery; since it is an adjective of the masculine or feminine gender, and refers to persons. The word “touch” means to have relation together as man and wife. We take the passage and its connections to be a general prohibition resting upon believers not to marry unbelievers. Yet it may not have the force in the present condition of society in Christian lands that it did in the days of the apostle; for the word unclean means vicious or lewd; and the pagan world bore, and still bears, notoriously that character. It would scarcely have been possible for a Christian in Paul’s day to unite with a pagan, without yoking himself or herself to a person of that character.

SPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSION.

(Continued.)

MODERN SPIRITUALISM IDENTICAL WITH ANCIENT HEATHENISM.

Floating in the Air.—At the house of Dr. Gray, New York city, “Mr. Henry C. Gordon, a medium, was taken up bodily, and conveyed about the room, without any visible power to support him. He would float about the room in the air, for several minutes.”—Three-fold Test, p. 64.

Iamblichus, on ancient mysteries, says:—

“The inspiration is indicated by the motions of the whole body, and of certain parts of it, . . . the body likewise is seen to be elevated, or increased in bulk, or to be borne along sublimely in the air.”—Iam. Dem. Myst.

Speaking Mediums.—“He [the spirit] sometimes makes some stupid man to speak wisely, etc.”—Idem.

“At Corinth, a certain Chaldean stranger is just now disturbing the whole city with his wonderful replies to questions asked him, and is disclosing the secrets of the Fates to the public for payment.”—Apuleius, Met., lib. 2.

Mediums mostly Females.—“Those who are precedaneously inspired by the mother of the gods, are women; but the males that are thus inspired are very few in number, and such as are more effeminate.”—Iam. Dem. Myst.

Like some modern mediums, they could handle fire and not be burned. “Their energies likewise, are not at all human; for inaccessible places become accessible to those that are divinely inspired. They are thrown into fire, and over rivers, like the priests in Castabalis, without being injured!”—Idem.

They also had in those days a spirit machine (as described by the same authors) which had a circular plate, on which was “skillfully engraved the twenty-four letters of the alphabet;” the pointer, “falling at regular intervals upon single letters, composed heroic verses conformable to the questions asked,” etc. This reminds us of the modern “Spiritoscope” invented by Dr. Hare, and the “Planchette.” Thus we see that modern Spiritualism is only a revival of the spirit wonders of ancient heathenism, and that the demons are at their old tricks, for their own amusement in deceiving men, and exciting them to behold, wonder, adore, and perish.

“TRY THE SPIRITS . . . BECAUSE MANY FALSE PROPHETS ARE GONE OUT INTO THE WORLD.” 1 John 4: 1.

(To be Continued.)

Spoiled Children and Future Greatness

The spoiled children of the present are seldom the great men of the future.

The Overland.

By James White

WE were nearly one hundred miles east of Ogden, paper and pencil in hand, when the porter notified us that the west bound train was in sight. We brought our hasty remarks of last week, under the above caption, to a sudden close, and put it on the train for Oakland and San Francisco. This may explain the abrupt close of that article.

Here we met conductor McCandlish, with whom we formed a happy acquaintance last September on the train from Omaha to Ogden, and received his thanks for the SIGNS and Reformer. This gentleman is every way qualified to fill a higher station; but the ravages of grasshoppers, and accompanying droughts, left him where a $1200 salary as conductor of the sleepers on a railroad train is acceptable. His views of the health question, the present condition of society, and of reforms generally, are such as to form a strong bond of union between us.

Rains have fallen recently all along the road, exempting us from dust. The weather has been fine. We are having a very pleasant passage through the State of Nebraska. The prairies and almost boundless fields are delightfully green with the new grass and grain. Heavy rains have been falling for ten days, and the lower grounds are temporary lakes. On the higher lands the young grasshoppers revel in the new grass by the million, in spite of the heavy rains. With continued rains this rich soil will produce enormous growth, probably enough for both hoppers and the farmers. But should extreme drought soon follow the excessive wet, the condition of the country may be deplorable.

One of our nearest neighbors in this flying palace is an intelligent Catholic lady from Idaho. She is returning to New York in hopes to find relief from heart difficulties. Her husband was raised a Seventh-day Baptist in Tennessee. She seems to have great respect for her Protestant husband, and says the seventh day is the right Sabbath. She subscribes for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for herself in New York, to remail to her husband after she has read. They have been in Idaho fifteen years, and have become rich by stock raising. The husband is to leave that Territory the first of June with six thousand head of cattle, and thirty men to help drive and guard. They will move eight or ten miles a day ever entering upon new grass, and thus fatten the stock for the eastern market while moving toward it.

Another neighbor is a doctor who thinks himself deserving much credit for leaving the regular practice for the eclectic. He is an inveterate smoker and pleads for eating that which tastes good. Three times a day he has partaken largely of the greasy, spiced and sweetened preparations at the eating houses, and has dozed away his time like the stupidest blockhead. When we reached Mt. Sherman at noon, we were told that there would be no chance for dinner until the train reached Cheyenne at 3:30 P. M. The doctor appeared troubled, and learning that he had two minutes, rushed out to a humble, private cottage, and as the train began to move, he was seen running with something in his hand rudely done up in a newspaper. He reached the train, opened his package, and began to eat that which a few minutes before probably was pie and sweet cake, but had been squeezed and shaken up so that it was difficult to tell which was pie and which was cake. With feelings of sympathy for the poor doctor we passed him some of our California oranges and sweet cherries. But he refused with the statement that he was not fond of fruit.

We have now partaken of our simple food of bread and fruits from our lunch baskets five successive days. We sleep as well as at our Oakland home, and are free from headaches and dullness. We are reading, writing or conversing at least ten hours each day, and are growing rested, while our friends seated around us, who spend three dollars each day at the eating houses, are getting sick and tired. We have been revising the Life of Eld. Bates for the Battle Creek press, and have done more editing and writing the past five days, than for three weeks at the SIGNS Office with the usual interruptions.

Now we do not recommend reading and writing in the cars, but we are so accustomed to car life, and to writing on the moving train, that we do not realize the least weariness or injury. Neither do we recommend bread and fruits only, to those at their homes. We speak of these as most portable and best to use day after day in a railroad train. They are simple, and fully sufficient for those shut up in a car in passing across the continent. God gave Adam the grains, fruits and vegetables for food. The great Master Chemist knew how much salt, pepper and vinegar to put in Adam's bill of fare. That which was good then, may be quite as good now.

We have passed the Missouri river, and are passing through a very beautiful portion of Iowa. The Lord has been very near and precious to us on this journey. And while we pray God to bless dear friends we have left in California, we pray for light to help in future responsibilities and trials as we near the headquarters of our eastern work, where we have spent twenty years of the best of life. A solemn, blessed weight is upon us. A great and glorious work is before those who will accept and proclaim the last message of mercy to a lost world, with its reproaches, privations, toils and joys. Thirty-six years since, we left school to point sinners to the promised One, the crucified One, the risen and ascended One, the coming One. Jesus was our theme and song then, and as we near the consummation of the blessed hope the theme is more glorious and the heavenly harmony of its sweet notes more enrapturing. J. W.

The Son of God Kept his Father's Commandments.

By John Nevins Andrews

This declaration may well be termed an article of faith with those who reverence the moral law. They regard that law as the perfect standard of right, and they look to the life of Christ as the perfect example of that law lived out. They know that in the sight of the law of God all other members of the human race stand condemned. But in the example of Christ the precepts of the moral law are shown to be as worthy of our admiration in real life, as they appear to be in theory upon the pages of inspiration. Does the law of God require us to love him with all our soul, and with all our strength? Behold in Christ the perfect example of this supreme, ardent, never-failing love. And if we ask for the exemplification of loving our neighbor as ourselves, behold in Jesus the perfect pattern of this unselfish love. His life was wholly devoted to doing good to mankind. He went about doing good, but never that he might thereby become great among men. He sought never to benefit himself as the object of his labors, but always to do good to the needy, the suffering, and the distressed. And how reverently did he honor his Father, and worship before him. He claimed, indeed, to be the Son of God, but how simply did he walk with reference to the glory of God! And how high did he elevate the nature of the divine existence in his discourse, when to the woman of Samaria, he said, “God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. How reverently did he take the name of God, even in prayer. And how did he inculcate the same reverent spirit in ourselves, when he taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” How great the pains taken by him to put away the Pharisaic traditions by which Satan had converted the merciful institution of the great Creator into a yoke of bondage. How tenderly did he care both for his people and for the rest-day hallowed for mankind in Eden, when he bade his disciples pray that their flight out of Judea should not be in the winter, nor upon the Sabbath day. Matt. 24:20. And how our Lord honored his parents in their lowly life of poverty. How he forgot his own terrible anguish upon the cross, to care for his widowed mother, when he said to his best-beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother.” John 19:26, 27. What precepts of love toward our enemies did he inspire in word, and exemplify in act. What purity of life did he inspire by his example, and by his precepts, make to reach even to our hearts. And even his worst enemies could never accuse him of one selfish deed, one malicious, or heartless, or untruthful word, nor one selfish thought or motive. He said that he had kept his Father's commandments. John 15:10. Who will dare to deny this statement? Indeed, he asked his enemies, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” John 8:46.

“Sin is the transgression of the law.” But in Christ there was no sin. 1 John 3:4, 5. He was indeed the Lamb of God, without blemish and without fault. And now if we would know the secret of our Lord's perfect obedience, we shall find it revealed in the fortieth Psalm:—

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:6–8.

The Son of God here testifies concerning himself, through the Spirit of prophecy, that he came at his first advent with the law of God in his heart. Not the law pertaining to sacrifice, for that God did not desire. It had answered its purpose and was to meet its antitype in his own death. But it was the moral law which he had in his heart, that made his own great sin-offering necessary.

And our Lord coming into the world with the law of his father in his heart, breathed its spirit in every word, and lived its meaning in every thought and motive. When he laid down the golden rule he made its authority to rest upon the fact that it was the substance of the law and the prophets. Matt. 7:12.

Our Lord came into our world, from his Father, with the Father's perfect law within his heart. He purposes to take back to his Father, when he shall come again, a people every one of whom shall have the law of God within their hearts. Many persons suppose that the New Testament proposes to save men by doing away with the moral law and releasing men from its obligation. Never was a greater mistake made. The New Testament designs to save men by taking out of their hearts the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and not subject to his law, and then placing that law in the heart and mind. Jer. 31:31–34; Rom. 8:3–7. When men have this law thus established in their hearts and minds, they will be in character like Christ. “The righteousness of the law” will be “fulfilled in them” because they will not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. They will, like the Son of God, keep the commandments of the Father's law. And when they shall be examined in the day of Judgment, they will stand justified in the sight of the just Judge, as doers of his law. Rom. 2:13.

Surely it was not an evil thing that our Lord had his Father's law in his heart. And it cannot be a pernicious thing for us to have that law in our hearts also. Nay, unless this sacred code be there written, we shall never be heirs according to the New Testament. Our Lord's life was the perfect example of this law obeyed. In fact that was the very excellence of his life. Our lives must be like his. He taught the precepts of the law of God. He has said that if we also do and teach them we shall be great in the kingdom of God. Matt. 5:17–19. We must be like Christ, and in due season we shall be with him.

J. N. A.

Everlasting Punishment.

By Uriah Smith

“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25 : 46.

There is, perhaps, as much reliance placed upon this text, as any other, to prove the endless conscious existence of the wicked. But the advocates of this theory have no strong hold, which believers in the destiny of the wicked which the Scriptures reveal, may fear to meet. They can afford to walk deliberately up to this text, which has the honor of being oftener than any other, quoted in favor of orthodoxy, and thoroughly and candidly explore the length and breadth of its meaning.

We then inquire, What is the everlasting punishment threatened in this text? The word rendered punishment is kolasis, and occurs in but one other passage in the New Testament, and where it is rendered torment; namely, 1 John 4:18. So, say the believers in the sinner’s immortality, this word conveys the idea of torment; and torment can be suffered only by conscious beings; and as this punishment or torment is to be everlasting, therefore the wicked must be everlastingly conscious to receive it. Thus stated, this conclusion no doubt sounds strong and good to the popular ear; but it would be unsafe to adopt it, without looking further at the meaning of the word. Perhaps a derived or secondary meaning has been attached to it, which is liable to misconstruction.

Kolasis is defined by Robinson as follows: “A curtailing; a pruning; for example, the pruning of trees.” Liddell and Scott say, “A pruning, as of trees.” Thus these lexicographers, who stand at the head of all authority in these matters, give to the word the primary idea of pruning, or cutting off from something. True they give a secondary meaning of checking, punishing, and correcting; but all the punishing that can be expressed by this word must result from being cut off from, or deprived of, something.

Apply this to the scripture under notice.

The human race is comprised in two great divisions, the righteous and the wicked. We may liken it to a tree with two great branches, the righteous being one branch, the wicked the other. Now of these the Saviour says that one shall live on, a life eternal, but the other shall suffer an everlasting kolasis, pruning, or cutting off. Cutting off from what? Answer, from life.

When a branch is pruned or cut off from a tree, we understand that that branch, cut off from its fountain of life, can no longer live. So of the wicked. The antithesis of their punishment is eternal life; not happiness or bliss, but life in itself considered. Then their punishment must be just the opposite of life. Thus we see that the Saviour’s language demands that we take the word kolasis in its most literal and primary sense, which is to cut off. So taken, a more striking contrast between the eternal destiny of the righteous and the wicked can scarcely be found in the Bible. The righteous shall go into life eternal, but the wicked into an everlasting “cutting off” from life—into a state of eternal lifelessness or death.

With these thoughts we submit Matt. 24 : 46, to the reader. With the same clearness that it is supposed to teach eternal conscious misery for the wicked, does it not in reality teach that as conscious beings they shall exist, after the second death, no more forever? U. S.

The Return of the Jews.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

A CERTAIN class of prophetic interpreters are anxiously awaiting the return of the Jews to Palestine. On this all their theories and hopes depend. But this is not only unscriptural but foolishly absurd. The following upon this subject from the World is right to the point:—

“THE JEWS IN PALESTINE.

“What the Jews would do in Palestine if they got there has never yet been considered by the Christian bankers, stock-brokers and clothiers who are most enthusiastic in favor of their return to Palestine. There are some 10,000 Jews in Palestine now, and it is easy to see how they live. They live on the Jews who do not live in Palestine, but this mode of life obviously depends upon the number of Jews who reside out of Palestine, and cannot be practiced on a very large scale without losing its profitableness. The amount of subsistence is inversely as the number of resident Jews. If all the Jews went back they would need to take with them a Gentile population in something the same ratio as holds in Europe and America, in order to preserve their business. It is a well-known fact that Hebrews are not given to agriculture or the mechanic arts. Nothing is so uncommon as a Jewish farmer, a Jewish shoemaker, or a Jewish carpenter. Yet it is upon farmers and mechanics that Palestine, like other countries, would rely for its prosperity if it had any.”

“A stock exchange in a country where there were no railroads would be a hollow mockery, and yet a dozen stock exchanges would not give scope to the speculative activity of the Jews of Europe and America. Similarly the number of banks necessary to meet the requirements of a country without money would not be great, and there would be from fifty to a hundred thousand astute and experienced bankers gathered together with no raw material to work upon. The only other resort would be the trade in wearing apparel, which in the event of the reoccupation of Palestine would, to put it mildly, be overdone, considering that something like a third of the total population would be engaged in it and that the remaining inhabitants would have no wherewithal to pay for clothes. Such a community, even though enlightened by liberal lectures from Professor Adler, would not be gratifying from a social, economic, or sentimental point of view.”

“Of course all modern talk about the return of the Jews is an absurd anachronism. In the middle ages it had a meaning, because Jews were continually made to feel, by the fierce attentions of mediaeval dentists, and by the scientific curiosity of mediaeval inquisitors, generally taking the form of the vivisection of Jews, that they had in Christendom no continuing city. Then it was that the advantages of portable property were impressed upon them, and the

necessity of keeping themselves in light marching order, and it was this necessity which forced upon the Jews the industries which they still follow. The return to Palestine will be practicable when every Jew has enough money in consols to support himself in opulence without work.”

These are solid facts. All the Jews are fully aware of these insurmountable difficulties and hence make no effort to gather the nation back there.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

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