Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 9. (2/27/1879)

Signs of the Times

Feb 27, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 27, 1879

General Articles.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life.--No. 7.

ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

But we have only commenced with the evidence. David says: "I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." Ps. 17:15. When did he expect to see God's face? With Job, at the resurrection, when he should awake. Put Peter's testimony with this: "For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:34. No, he is waiting as Job is, in the sepulcher. Acts 2:29. He is to awake in the likeness of his Lord. We draw another idea from this. When is that to be? Paul says it is at the second advent of Christ; "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. 3:20, 21.

It is when the Saviour shall come that David will arise with a body fashioned like Christ's, in the likeness of his Lord. So John says: "We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." 1 John 3:2. What harmony there is in the word of God! Everywhere we look, we find the inspired writers pointing to the resurrection as the grand period that shall confirm all the promises of God.

Some that deny the resurrection of the body claim that the resurrection spoken of in the Bible is simply the rising of the spirit to a higher life at the death of the body. To this senseless, not to say unscriptural, position are some driven, who, believing in the natural immortality of the soul, find no necessity for the resurrection of the body. But such a change as that would not be a resurrection. Webster's definition of the word is: "1. A rising again; the resumption of vigor; 2. Especially the rising again from the dead; the resumption of life." Now it is self-evident that nothing can rise again that was not fallen; nothing can resume its vigor that has not lost it, and nothing can resume its life that has not been dead. According to the view referred to, the soul does not die; therefore it is absurd to talk of its resurrection. A resurrection, therefore, cannot take place at death; nor can it mean simply a change from one condition of life to another. It is the body of the man that dies, that is to be raised from the dead. Isaiah says: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa. 26:19.

Language could not be more to the point. The very man that goes down into dust and rests among the worms shall hear, shall awake, shall answer, come forth, and sing. That will be a song of triumph that no one can sing unless he has been held in the prison house of death,--the grave. It will run thus, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:54, 55.

The Lord gave the prophet Ezekiel a very vivid picture of the resurrection. He showed him a valley full of dead men's bones, very dry. The Lord told him to prophesy unto them that they should live; and immediately they did live. Bones came together, sinews, and flesh came upon them, the breath of life from the four winds came into these bodies, and they lived. Then the Lord said unto him, "These bones are the whole house of Israel. . . . Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." See Eze. 37. The hope of Israel, that which is the gateway to the promised land, indeed, is the resurrection from the dead. Daniel speaks of it thus: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2. At that time, not at death, they go to their reward; for he adds in the same verse, "some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." This shows that the wicked have not been in punishment, nor the righteous in the enjoyment of their reward till they awake in the resurrection. Then "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Verse 3. Then at the end of the world, when the angels have gathered together the saints, Matt. 24:3, when they have cast out the wicked, "then" and not before, "shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:37-43. According to the so-called orthodox view, the righteous are shining forth now in the kingdom of their Father, but Daniel and Jesus both state that will be after the resurrection and gathering of all the saints.

Let us look for a few moments at the teachings of him that spake as never man spake. When are the righteous to be rewarded, according to his testimony? at death or at the resurrection? "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27.

What takes place when the Son of man comes with his angels? The dead are raised; and then they shall be rewarded. This text utterly disproves the doctrine that men go to their reward at death, and shows conclusively that "every man" must wait till the second advent of Christ for his inheritance.

The same thing is again stated in another place. "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

When do the righteous enter upon eternal life? Christ says it is at the resurrection, and when the wicked dead are raised, then it is that they receive their sentence of damnation and are punished.

So opportune is the testimony of Job on this latter point that we introduce it here. He says: "One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. . . . And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul. . . . They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them." Job 21:23-26.

Thus he speaks of the death of two classes, and leaves them alike in the dust. Then the question is raised, "Where are the dwelling places of the wicked?" and Job answers it by saying, "For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked? Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Job 21:28-30.

Do ye not know their tokens? that is, you have asked where the wicked are; now do you not see the tokens of the dead; the tombstones, as ye pass, by the way? There they are, waiting in the dust till the day of destruction. Then they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. It is useless to say that this has no reference to the soul, but simply to the body; for no such distinction is made here. But suppose that such is the case. Then this poor, senseless body, which is the irresponsible agent or organ of the soul, and which cannot think or feel, at the day of wrath, for it is that which is buried in the grave that is thus brought forth; while the soul, the real, thinking, responsible man, the real culprit, goes free! Not a word is said about it. Is that sensible? It would be like hanging the knife and letting the assassin go. Away with this liberty to make the Bible mean a thousand things it does not say. What it says is sensible, and all parts agree. The testimony of Job in harmony with that of the Saviour places the punishment of the wicked beyond the resurrection.

Returning to the teachings of Christ, we accompany him to the grave of Lazarus. While on his way there, Martha met him, and said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." John 11:21, 23, 24. This shows what the hope of Martha was. Her brother was dead, but she expected to meet him again, not at death, but when he should rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus assured her that it was he that should raise the dead, even at the resurrection day. Verse 25. Then they proceed to the grave. Did Christ then look up to Heaven and call Lazarus down from the paradise of God, again to enter the body which he had lately put off? No. The grave "was a cave and a stone lay upon it." Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Verses 38, 39. Then after offering thanks to his Father, "he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth." And he that was dead came forth. Verses 43, 44. Yes; he that was dead came forth; Lazarus came forth from the grave. That is a sample of the resurrection of the great day to come.

Now let us notice what Paul says of the resurrection. At the outset we hear him state that he has hope toward God "that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." Acts 24:15. For preaching that doctrine he was imprisoned, and kept bound with a chain for more than two years. Acts 24:27; 28:20. To King Agrippa he said, "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers." Acts 26:6. What was that hope? It was the hope of the resurrection, for he continues, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" Verse 8. The resurrection of Christ. Acts 25:19; 26:23. On this he predicted, as we shall soon see, the resurrection of all men and the salvation of the righteous. Of such importance is the doctrine that he calls it the "hope of Israel." Acts 28:20. And it is the hope of the true Israel of God to-day.

People love to read the devotion of Paul, and of the undaunted courage with which he bore his testimony at the loss of the earthly honor he had among his people, and at the peril of his life. Five times did he receive thirty-nine lashes on the bare back; three times was he beaten with rods; once he was stoned till they thought he was dead; in peril by sea and land, among strangers and at home; "in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 2 Cor. 11:23-37. What sustained him amid all this? What was his hope? Was it that he might go to Heaven at death? No; hear what he says: "For whom [Christ] I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, . . . that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. . . . If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Phil. 3:8-11.

Paul's hope was in the resurrection of the dead. It was his faith in that which comforted him in all his sufferings. Accordingly he offers the same hope as a comfort to all

who believe in the resurrection of Christ. He says: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [That is, bring them from the dead as he did Jesus.] For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:14, 16-18.

What more comforting words than these could be spoken? When the blessed Redeemer shall come again, all, of every kindred, nation, tongue, and people, and every age, who sleep in Jesus, shall be raised from the dead just as Christ was raised from Joseph's new tomb; and meeting in one grand, innumerable, happy, immortal, and victorious throng, parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and friends long separated, shall be escorted together to the mansions Jesus is now preparing for those that love him. And when, at the command of the King of kings, the pearly portals shall stand ajar, and he shall bid them "enter in through the gates into the city," may the reader and the writer of these lines be so unspeakably happy as to have a place in the ranks of that redeemed and glorified host.

Before passing these words of Paul, we call attention to the fact that he gives infinite importance to the resurrection. His language is a plain statement that at the second advent of Christ, all the saints of God, who have died, are to be found in the grave; that they are to be called out of the grave, and with the living righteous, taken up by the angels of God to meet the Lord in the air. Such language as this is utterly opposed to the idea that men go to Heaven at death. The resurrection must occur, or death is an endless sleep. And this is most directly proved by the language of Paul to the Corinthians. Speaking of the resurrection, he says: "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:16-18.

Paul says, If the dead do not rise, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then they which are fallen asleep in Jesus are perished. The salvation of the people of God depends on the resurrection of the dead.

Now let us take a case to illustrate. Our opponents say that the righteous go immediately to Heaven, and enter into the joys that await them there. Then Abel has been there about six thousand years. Should the resurrection be put off six thousand years longer, it would be no loss to him; and should it never take place, he would indeed be just as well off as in the other case. Then he would not have perished if the dead do not rise. Therefore Paul's language must be untrue, or that doctrine of going to Heaven at death false. Now suppose that Abel is sleeping in the grave. If the resurrection be delayed six thousand years longer, for six thousand years will he continue to lie unconscious in the dust. Should the resurrection never take place, he never would rise, he is perished indeed. If the dead rise not "then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." To any candid truth-seeker, this one plain text will be found sufficient to settle the whole controversy. What then, shall be said of those who shall continue to oppose with the flickering rushlight of superstition and tradition the brilliant rays that emanate from the whole united word of God, declaring that man is mortal, the dead know not anything, they wait in the grave, and shall hear the voice of the Son of God at the resurrection day, when the saints of God shall come forth unto life eternal.

We behold our friends die. They waste away under the hand of disease. Pale and emaciated, they at last surrender to the enemy of the race. I know the hymn says: "Death is the gate to endless joy,"

in which case it would be our best friend; but the Bible calls it an "enemy," and says, that it at last shall be destroyed itself. 1 Cor. 15:26. Every man, woman, and child, meets it as enemy, fighting against its encroachments with all the energy of their being. But death conquers. We lay our loved ones down in its embrace, and they moulder into dust. "It is sown in corruption," says Paul; "It is sown in dishonor," "in weakness," "a natural body." But he does not stop there. "It," the same person that is buried, "It is raised in incorruption," "in glory," "in power," "it is raised a spiritual body." Verses 42-44. And then he says, "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we [those who are alive at the coming of Christ] shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Verses 52, 53. That is the time when the song of triumph will be raised, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Verse 54, 55.

To us the Bible doctrine of immortality through Christ alone, and the thought that all the redeemed are going to Heaven in one grand company when Jesus comes, has more beauty and intrinsic loveliness by far than the poetic view of being wafted to glory singly at death, a mere phantom floating away "beyond the bounds of time and space." Like our adorable Redeemer's glorified, spiritual body, we expect the bodies of his saints to consist of real flesh and bones; Luke 24:39, and that their final abode will be no less than the "heritage of Jacob," Isa. 58:14, the solid new earth. 2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 66:22; Matt. 5:5.

THE TEACHER.

By Horatius Bonar

THOU must be true thyself, If thou the truth wouldst teach; Thy soul must overflow, if thou Another's soul wouldst reach; It needs the overflow of heart To give the lips full speech.

Think truly, and thy thoughts Shall the world's famine feed; Speak truly, and each word of thine Shall be a fruitful seed; Give truly, and thy life shall be A great and noble creed.

—H. Bonar, D. D.

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS AND SATAN AND HIS ANGELS.

By Ellen G. White

CHAPTER SEVEN. THE FLOOD.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

THOSE who honored and feared to offend God, at first felt the curse but lightly, while those who turned from him and despised his authority felt its effects more heavily, especially in stature and nobleness of form. The descendants of Seth were called the sons of God; the descendants of Cain, the sons of men. As the sons of God mingled with the sons of men, they became corrupt, and by intermarriage with them lost, through the influence of their wives, their peculiar, holy character, and united with the sons of Cain in their idolatry. Many cast off the fear of God, and trampled upon his commandments. But there were a few who did righteousness, who feared and honored their Creator. Noah and his family were among the righteous few.

Sin was spreading abroad in the earth like a deadly leprosy. The world was but in its infancy in the days of Noah, yet iniquity had become so deep and wide-spread, that God repented that he had made man. Goodness and purity seemed to be almost extinct; while hatred of the law of God, emulation, envy, sedition, strife, and the most cruel oppression and violence, were corrupting the earth under its inhabitants. The thoughts and imaginations of man's heart were evil continually.

A heavy, double curse was resting upon the earth in consequence, first, of Adam's transgression, and, secondly, because of the murder committed by Cain; yet this did not at once change the face of nature. It was still rich and beautiful in the bounties of God's providence. The quiet valleys and spreading plains, robed with verdure and adorned with shrubs and bright hued flowers colored by the Divine Artist, the lovely birds whose glad songs filled the groves with music, the graceful hills and winding streams, the trailing vines and stately trees, charming the eye with their beauty and supporting life with their fruit,—all seemed little less fair than Eden.

Gold and silver existed in abundance. The race of men then living was of very great stature, and possessed wonderful strength. The trees were vastly larger, and far surpassed in beauty and perfect proportions anything which mortals can now look upon. The wood of these trees was of fine grain and hard substance—in this respect more like stone. It required much more time and labor, even of that powerful race, to prepare the timber for building, than it requires in this degenerate age to prepare trees that are now growing upon the earth, even with the weaker strength which men now possess. These trees were of great durability, and would know nothing of decay for very many years. But notwithstanding the richness and beauty of the earth, when compared with its state before the curse was pronounced upon it, there was manifest evidence of certain decay.

The people used the gold, silver, precious stones, and choice wood, in building houses for themselves, each striving to excel the other. They beautified and adorned their houses and lands with the most ingenious works, and provoked God by their wicked deeds. They formed images to worship, and taught their children to regard these pieces of workmanship with their own hands, as gods, and to worship them. They did not choose to think of God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and rendered no grateful thanks to Him who had bestowed upon them all which they possessed. They even denied the existence of the God of Heaven, and gloried in, and worshiped, the works of their own hands. They corrupted themselves with those things which God had placed upon the earth for man's benefit. They prepared beautiful walks, overhung with fruit trees of every description, and under these majestic and lovely trees, with their wide-spread branches, which were green from the commencement of the year to its close, they placed their idols. Whole groves, because of the shelter of their branches, were dedicated to these idol gods, and made attractive as a resort for the people in their idolatrous worship.

The groves of Eden were God's first temples, from which ascended purest worship to the Creator. The sorrowing exiles from Paradise could never forget that happy home. The waving trees and sheltering groves had for them a peculiar charm; for they reminded them of Eden and the joyful converse which they had once enjoyed with God and angels. And as they listened to the murmur of the wind among the leaves it almost seemed that they could again distinguish the sound of that voice that was heard in the garden in the cool of the day. The oak and the palm-tree, the drooping willow and the fragrant cedar, the olive and the cypress, were sacred to our first parents. Their verdant branches, spreading abroad and reaching upward to heaven, seemed to them to be praising their Creator. To Adam there was something almost human and companionable in the trees, carrying him back to many pleasing incidents of his life in Eden.

If the hearts of God's people were softened as they should be by his grace, they would become acquainted with him, as they discern of his wisdom and power in the things of his creation. Every green leaf, with its delicate veins, every opening bud and blooming flower, every lofty tree stretching upward to heaven, the earth clothed with its carpet of living green, is an expression of the love of God to man, not to lead us to worship nature, but to attract our hearts through nature up to nature's God. The forest trees swaying in the wind, break forth into singing and praise to God, and rebuke the silence and indifference of man.

Adam had described Eden to his children and children's children. Again and again the story was repeated, and his love for trees and flowers and groves was transmitted to his descendants. But instead of bowing down in the solemn groves to acknowledge the love of God and to worship him, they desecrated these groves by their idols. It was an abuse of the tender and sacred memories which Adam cherished—the association of the groves with the worship of the true and living God—that led the idolatrous children of Cain to build their altars and set up their images in the groves and under every green tree. And as they put God out of their hearts, their course of conduct was in accordance with their sacrilegious sacrifices and worship. The characters of men became more and more debased.

Instead of doing justice to their neighbors, they carried out their own unlawful wishes. They had a plurality of wives, which was contrary to God's wise arrangement at the beginning. God gave Adam one wife—showing to all who should live upon the earth, his order and law in that respect. The transgression and fall of Adam and Eve brought sin and wretchedness on the human race, and man followed his own carnal desires, and changed God's order. The more men multiplied wives to themselves, the more they increased in crime and unhappiness. If any one chose to take the wives, or cattle, or anything belonging to his neighbor, he did not regard justice or right, but if he could prevail over his neighbor by reason of strength, or by putting him to death, he did so, and exulted in his deeds of violence. Men loved to destroy the lives of animals. They used the flesh for food, and this increased their ferocity and violence, and caused them to look upon the blood of human beings with astonishing indifference.

God proposed to destroy by a flood that powerful, long lived race that had corrupted their ways before him. He would not suffer them to live out the days of their natural life, which would have been hundreds of years. It was only a few generations since Adam had access to that tree which was to prolong life. After his disobedience he was not suffered to eat of the tree of life and perpetuate an existence in sin. In order for man to possess an endless life he must continue to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. Deprived of this, his life would gradually wear out.

More than one hundred years before the flood, the Lord sent an angel to Noah, to make known unto him his purpose in regard to the sinful race, that his Spirit would not always strive with man, but that he would send a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy man and beast. He would not leave the race ignorant of his design; but would, through Noah, warn the world of its coming destruction, that the inhabitants might be left without excuse. Noah was to preach to the people, and also to prepare an ark as God should direct him for the saving of himself and family. Not only was he to preach, but his example in building the ark was to be a continual testimony of warning to the world, showing that he believed what he preached. His simple, childlike faith, and his implicit obedience, notwithstanding the opposition he received, was an evidence to the world of his sincerity. He was firm as a rock to duty, directing the work of that singular building, under the guidance of the Divine Architect. Every blow struck upon the ark was a witness to the people.

This period was the testing time for Noah. He knew that he was the object of popular contempt and scorn with that corrupt generation. He met with unbelief and mockery everywhere. But the greater the iniquity surrounding him, the more earnest and firm and persevering was he in his obedience, showing that there was one man in the world who would be true to God. He was a faithful and unbending witness for God, kind and courteous to all, resenting no insult. He was as one who heard not the reviling and blasphemy that greeted him on every side.

Noah was bearing to the inhabitants of the earth an important message of warning, the reception or rejection of which would decide the destiny of their souls. He believed God, he believed that he had the truth, and he moved straight forward in the path of faith and obedience, gaining strength from God daily, by communion with him. Noah was a man of prayer; and in this close connection with God he found all his courage and firmness. He preached, and warned, and entreated the people; but they would not change their course. They bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, they married and were given in marriage, they indulged in feasting and gluttony, and debased their souls, showing contempt for the message of Noah. Their speeches and actions became more vile and corrupt as the period of their probation was closing. The whole world seemed to be against Noah; but he had the testimony from God, "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."

As far as human wisdom could see, the event predicted by Noah was not likely to occur. Rain had never fallen; a mist or dew had watered the earth. The brooks and rivers had safely flowed along their channels, emptying into the sea. The bodies of water, had been kept in their place by God's decree, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Men then talked about the fixed laws of nature, that could not be set aside to bring about any such event as they had foretold. They wished to believe, and to have all others believe, that God could not change the order of the natural world; thus they sought to prescribe the limits of his power, making him a slave to his own laws. The people in Noah's day possessed sharp intellects, and they sought to show, on scientific grounds, that it was impossible for his prophecy to be fulfilled. Noah was laughed to scorn because of his warnings; he was regarded as a fanatic. Noah's implicit trust in God annoyed while it condemned them; but they could not move this faithful reprover from his position. The Lord had given the warning, and that was enough for Noah. The arguments of the philosophers were nothing to him, when the message of God was sounding in his ears, "The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

Noah, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. He had that fear which should characterize the life of every Christian. The perfect faith of Noah intensified his fear. The threatened wrath of God, which was to fall upon man and beast, and upon the earth, led him to prepare the ark. His faith, and his fear of God's anger, produced obedience. Noah did not hesitate to obey God. He urged no excuse, that the labor of building that ark was great and expensive. He believed God, and invested in the ark all that he possessed, while the wicked scoffed and made themselves merry at the deluded old man.

They had more opportunity for their unbelief and mockery, because God did not at once carry out his purpose. But the lapse of time did not cause the faith of Noah to waver; his trust in God was unfailing, and he accepted without a murmur the hardships and sacrifice involved. Noah's faith, combined with action, condemned the world; for he was a faithful preacher of righteousness, rebuking, warning, and exhorting the wicked. Their reproach and abuse was sometimes almost unendurable; yet the patriarch stayed his soul on God, and called upon him for help in his great need. Through derision, insult, and mockery, he went to and fro as a man with a great mission to fulfill. Privileges had been neglected, precious souls degraded, and God insulted; and the day of retributive justice came slowly on; man's unbelief did not hinder the event.

God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ark, and explicit directions in regard to its construction in every particular. It was three stories high, but there were no windows in the sides, all the light being received from one in the top. The different apartments were so arranged that the window in the top gave light to all. The door was in the side. The ark was made of the cypress, or gopher wood, which would know nothing of decay for hundreds of years. It was a building of great durability, which no wisdom of man could invent. God was the designer, and Noah his master-builder.

The work of completing the building was a slow process. Every piece of timber was closely fitted, and every seam covered with pitch. All that men could do was done to make the work perfect; yet, after all, it was impossible that it could of itself withstand the violence of the storm which the Lord in his fierce anger was to bring upon the earth. God alone by his miraculous power, could preserve the building upon the angry, heaving billows.

A multitude at first apparently received the warning of Noah, yet they did not fully turn to God with true repentance. There was some time given them before the flood was to come, in which they were placed upon probation—to be proved and tried. They failed to endure the trial. The prevailing degeneracy overcame them, and they finally joined others who were corrupt, in deriding and scoffing at faithful Noah. They would not leave off their sins, but continued in polygamy, and in the indulgence of their base passions.

With heart filled with sorrow that his warnings had been slighted and neglected, Noah makes, with quivering lips and trembling voice, his last appeal to the people. And while their voices are raised, in jest and scoffing, suddenly they see the beasts, the most ferocious as well as the most gentle, of their own accord coming, from mountain and forest, and marching quietly into the ark. A noise like a rushing wind is heard; and lo, birds of every description come from all directions, clouding the heavens with their numbers, and file, in perfect order, into that ark. Philosophers were appealed to in vain to explain from natural laws the singular phenomenon. Here was a mystery beyond their depth. The world looked on with wonder—some with fear, but they had become so hardened by rebellion that this most signal manifestation of God's power had but a momentary effect upon them. For seven days these animals were coming into the ark, and Noah was arranging them in the places prepared for them.

And as the doomed race beheld the sun shining in its glory, and the earth clad in almost Eden beauty, they drove away their rising fears by boisterous merriment; and their deeds of violence seemed to be encouraging upon themselves the visitation of the already awakened wrath of God.

A New Heart

A RESPECTABLE female once called on Rowland Hill, expressing a wish to unite with the church. He at first misunderstood her state of mind. Among other questions, he put the following, "Have you a good heart?" She replied, "I hope I have, sir." Mr. Hill called the attention of a friend to the reply, and said, "Come see a wonderful woman, who has a good heart. I'm sure it's more than I can say." The worthy female was much affected, but most judiciously answered, "I trust, sir, I have a new heart; and I did not think it wrong to call the work of the Holy Ghost a good work." This remark touched Mr. Hill, who immediately apologized in the most Christian manner for having wounded her feelings.—Rowland Hill's Life.

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