Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 22, 1860
A SANCTIFIED HOUSEHOLD.
By A. Thayer
THE communication from sister Whitney in No. 13 of the Review is very much in harmony with my views and desires; entertaining as I do, and have for some time a desire paramount to all others, that the Lord would get glory to himself in the salvation of my entire household. That “holiness to the Lord” may be written upon every member of my family, and that meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price, possess every heart is my earnest prayer. “The Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad;” and almost daily does the tear of gratitude flow down in view of the rich dispensations of his grace to us-ward, while at the same time we fully believe from the light of his word, and confidently expect that he has great blessings still in reserve, to be poured upon us so soon as we are prepared to receive so much. Blessed be his holy name.
Noah, “being seized with fear” (Mr. Knight's trans.), by his faith in the word of God, “prepared an ark for the salvation of his family.” So now it is “as it was in the days of Noah” with those who have faith in the word of God. The Christian parent, the kind husband, the affectionate wife, the pious brother or sister, having heard that the Lord is about to “consume all things from off the land,” to burn up “the proud and all that do wickedly,” is “seized with the same religious fear” for his unconverted friends, and makes a last desperate effort with his heavenly Father and his friends to effect a reconciliation while there is hope. His confidence of success is strengthened by the assurance that the long suffering of our God is (for) salvation. He “is not slack concerning his promise, but is long suffering, not willing that any should perish.” Hence the apparent delay of the vision, that through the faithfulness of his children some may be persuaded to turn to the Lord and be saved.
Christian brother or sister, are you seized with that same religious fear? If you are not preparing an ark for the salvation of your family, I very much fear you will not be saved yourself. But on the contrary as the body without the spirit is dead, so your “faith if it have not works, is dead also;” and can a dead faith save you? Seest thou how Noah's faith wrought? And being in the same circumstances, does yours work? and in the same direction? If so I can see no insuperable obstacle to the salvation of your dear friends. Do not say I cannot save them. If Noah had stood thus, his family would have found a watery grave. Of yourself you can do nothing, but in Christ you can do all things. Look off from earth to the retribution. Think that one more step brings you, and the friends you love, before the Judge to receive the final sentence which must separate you forever. Think that if you had lived, had prayed, had labored in that living faith which Noah had, those children would have been given you to dwell with you eternally in the glorious kingdom; that unbelieving partner of yours might have been your company among the redeemed. O think till you are seized with religious fear; then with ardent love and streaming eyes, lay hold of that friend and pull him out of the fire, that he may rejoice with you forever in the kingdom of God, and your heavenly father be glorified.
Dear brother what would you not give if money could redeem that wife of your bosom, and you possessed a sufficient amount? And who wants her to be lost? As the Lord lives he has no delight in the death of the wicked, but that they turn and live. Jesus has died to redeem them, and what knowest thou O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife? What knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband? And what parent knows whether he can save his dear child? The redemption of his soul is precious. It will quickly cease forever. You cannot give to God a ransom for him. O let me entreat you to use these golden moments to effect his deliverance. Our heavenly Father is good.
He will bless your efforts. He will put all your tears into his bottle. While you wrestle the Holy Ghost will do his work. You will soon see that dear friend “clothed, sitting, and in his right mind.” Only believe. “All things are possible to him that believeth.” The reply of the minister to the mother of Augustine (see Review No. 8) that “the son of those tears cannot perish,” is full of meaning. David's tears mingled with his drink. Ye daughters of Jerusalem weep for your children, for the days are very near when they shall call to the mountains to fall on them, and to the hills to cover them. The children of God are a weeping people, but “Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.” Luke vi. 21. Faith in the present truth or the third angel's message stirs the depths of the soul. It calls on every nerve within us to work for God, for the day is at hand, the night is almost spent.
For the encouragement of others who have families of children to be saved or lost I will relate a little of my kind Father's dispensations toward me. I commenced keeping his Sabbath in 1845, had embraced what was then called “the shut door view,” and supposed that there was no more salvation for sinners. I had a companion and eight children, none of whom I thought pious. In 1852 several preachers came along, and informed me that they had seen genuine conversions among the children of the remnant under their labors, and thus opened a door of hope for the salvation of mine. And ever blessed be the name of the Lord, who soon began to convince them of sin, of righteousness and of a coming judgment, and brought six of them to hope in his mercy, and to wait for his Son from heaven. He has quite recently led my companion and two more children to look up and rejoice in hope of redemption. Thus out of thirteen surviving children, the eight oldest rejoice in the Lord, the youngest of whom is a son of 11 years. The five remaining are from two to nine years of age, which we are endeavoring to consecrate to God, hoping that he will accept the offering. I look at Cornelius, at the jailor, at Lydia, and believe that it is the will of God that they should all have an “abundant entrance ministered unto them into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” if our faith fail not.
Let us hold on upon the Lord, dear brethren and sisters. He will “abide with us” if we constrain him. We must not let him go except he bless us. Sister Whitney's question, “Is there not an awful, a fearful responsibility resting upon the husband and father?” demands our prayerful consideration. These wives and children the Lord has lent us, dear brethren to prepare for his glorious and everlasting kingdom. They are not ours. He has made them and they are his. He demands that we like Noah shall believe the solemn denunciations of his word, and being “seized with religious fear,” shall prepare an ark for their salvation, saying, “Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up.” The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” “Come thou and all thy house into the ark,”138“before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you.”
Who of us would dare to resist this solemn injunction and leave one of our household behind? I solemnly believe we do it at our own peril. God has laid upon the parent the solemn responsibility of bringing every child lent him, into his name; and 'think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house,' for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, thou shalt be destroyed and that without remedy. 'These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up.' He has spoken unto us words whereby we and all our house shall be saved if we do not prove recreant to the trust that he has reposed in us. If we do who is that god that shall deliver us out of his hand?
The Lord demands that every godly father shall come and bring all his house into the ark; and 'whatsoever he asks he receives of God because he keeps his commandments and does those things which are pleasing in his sight.' But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for the man of two minds is unstable in all his ways and should not expect to receive anything of the Lord. 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you.' What precious promises! Who that has the word mixed with faith can see his friends go down to death with such promises in his hands? 'O spare thy people Lord, and bring them full salvation.'
A. THAYER.
"COME TO JESUS!"
SINNER lost! a voice is speaking
In sweet tones of love to thee,
Through thy soul's deep silence breaking
With its holy melody,
And each tuneful chord is waking
With its echoes, "Lovest thou me!"
Hear those accents sweetly pleading,
As they whisper "Come to me;"
Mark that side, now freshly bleeding,
See how truly, earnestly,
That one voice is interceding
For thy soul. 'Tis all for thee.
Thou hast hitherto neglected,
In thy deep iniquity,
That sweet voice; else ne'er reflected
Who it was thus spake to thee;
Surely thou hast oft suspected
It was he who died for thee.
Mark him in his holy calling,
Kneeling in Gethsemane;
Note the sorrow so appalling
Which he suffered there for thee,
Till his sweat like blood was falling
From his brow—and all for thee!
Can'st thou now, that cross reviewing,
Watch his silent agony?
See that saving blood imbuing
With its hue th' accursed tree?
By thy sins each pang renewing,
When those pangs are all for thee?
Hear that cry so agonising,
"Why hast thou forsaken me?"
Heed that prayer so sympathizing,
"Lord, forgive, they know not me!"
See him whom thou art despising,
Suffering, dying thus for thee.
Come to Jesus! Come believing,
Come in true humility;
Jesus loves to be receiving
Sinners such as thou must be.
Come to Jesus—he forgiving
Waits to pardon all like thee.
[S. S. Times.
DEATH, WHAT IS IT?
By L. Maxson
[We received the subjoined article from Bro. L. Maxson, accompanied with the following note:
“This article has been sent to the Sabbath Recorder the organ of the seventh-day Baptist denomination of which I have been a member for over half a century, with an earnest request that it should be published in the paper, as it was requested by one of the correspondents of that paper as an answer to some few remarks previously made. I also requested that if they did not see fit to publish it, they would be so good as to return it to me which they promptly did.”]
ANSWER TO INQUIRER.
IN the Sabbath Recorder of Jan. 5, I find an article over the signature of Inquirer. He says “in the Recorder of Dec. 22 I see what purports to be an answer to my inquiry of Dec. 1st as to the meaning of the word death.” I would say that I made only a few remarks and gave some advice as to the best way of arriving at a correct understanding of the Scriptures on that subject, and asked him a question in the following words: If you think that the word death does not convey in meaning the opposite of life, or the extinction of life, I would kindly ask you to inform me what word in the English language would convey that meaning; which he has neglected to answer. He said he had seen the definition that I had given disputed, and that too by what seemed high authority, but did not tell me what that authority was. He wishes me to have patience with him and give my rule of definition, and quote my authority for the meaning of the word death. He says “it is to be supposed when a man attempts to speak through the press that he has authority for what he utters.” I think I have seen an exception to that rule. I do not think that I can give authority that will satisfy every person. I have no greater authority to present than the plain common sense meaning of the word of God (unmixed with the traditions of men, and heathen and Romish mysticism and superstition) as spoken by Moses and the prophets, Christ and the apostles. That is sufficient for me as theological authority; and I take Webster for my lexicographer, for the plain common sense meaning or definition of English words; but I do not take him for my theological instructor. In theology he gives the different views as he finds them in religious creeds. For instance; “Transform, to change the elements bread and wine, into the flesh and blood of Christ.” He quotes Rev. ii, 10 as the second death. From such authority for establishing truth I beg leave to dissent. Telling what sects believe does not make their belief truth.
There is a theology at the present day which is gaining very fast by the name of modern Spiritualism, which is striving to overthrow the doctrine of the Bible by establishing a new revelation purporting to be received from the spirits of the dead. Their avowed mission is to convince those that are skeptical of the immortality of the soul. They say that the Bible is not an inspired book; some of it is false and some of it might have been good in its day, but not to be depended upon at this time. I should take them to be of that class that deceived Eve; and drove a whole herd of swine down to perish in the sea; and I think there is great danger of their leading multitudes of men down to a worse fate.
Inquirer like many others of our good brethren whom we respect, appears to exhibit quite a degree of pleasure in annexing the name of materialist or materialism, to those of his brethren who differ in sentiment from him on this subject. It appears to be almost as obnoxious to them as abolitionism is to southerners. We have always believed that God and angels were spiritual beings; and that the redeemed will be such after the resurrection. But I consider myself at present with the rest of my fellow creatures, as belonging to an earthly province in the material universe of God; and as such I addressed my friend. When I address one that is an immaterial or immortal being I do not do it with pen and ink. We are probations required to seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Rom. ii, 7. We must seek for it of God who only hath immortality. 1 Tim. vi, 16. We must seek for it through our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Tim. i, 10. We must seek for it by becoming “heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ” [Rom. viii, 17], to that glorious inheritance. We wait for “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies;” for we are saved by hope. Rom. viii, 23, 24. “He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.” Rom. viii, 10. “For this mortal must put on immortality;” then “death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. xv.
I claim no immortality by virtue of creation, but would humbly take the lower seat and wait with patience until the coming of my Lord; and I am “looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ” [Tit. ii, 13] “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe,” [2 Thess. i, 10], and be called by him in the resurrection morn to take a higher seat in that immortal state with my blessed Saviour as the purchase of his blood. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” 2 Cor. 4, 7.
Let us go back to the head of the stream, where [Rom. v, 12] “sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Gen. i, 26. “And God said let us make man in our image.” Image, “A representation or similitude of any person or thing formed of a material substance.” Web. “After our likeness.” Likeness, “Resemblance in form; similitude; external appearance.” Web. Verse 27. “So God created man in his own image.” Create, “To cause to exist; to make or produce from new combination of matter already created; to shape and organize.” Web. Gen. ii, 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” Make, “To form of materials; to fashion; to mould into shape.” Web. “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Breath in the original is translated into our language spirit. Webster says, “Spirit, primarily, wind; air in motion; hence breath; animal excitement, life, mind.” “And man became a living soul.” A living creature, a living man—living soul and living creature are both of them taken from the same word in the original, and mean one and the same thing. Verse 17. “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Die, “To cease to live.” Web. Gen. iii, 3. “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.” Verse 19, “For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” Death, “That state of being in which there is a total cessation of all the vital functions, the state of the dead.” Web. Rom. v, 12. “By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin.” 1 Cor. xv. “The first man is of the earth earthy”; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” “For since by man came death (the first death, a literal material death), by man came also the resurrection of the dead (brought back from the first death into life); for as in Adam all die (return to the dust), even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (by a resurrection provided in the gospel for all by Christ).
Mark xvi, 16. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (receive glory, immortality, eternal life. Rom. ii, 7.), “but he that believeth not shall be damned,” condemned, fail to obtain immortality; have no part in the book of life [Rev. xx, 15], be judged according to his works and “cast into the lake of fire which is the second death” [Rev. xx, 13-15] from which there is no resurrection, it being the final “overlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” 2 Thess. i, 9.
Destroy, “To ruin; to annihilate by demolishing or burning; to devour; to consume, to cause to cease; to put an end to.” Web.
Immortality, “Having no principle of alteration or corruption; exempt from death.” Web. Man was not made exempt from death; he has altered and changed from good to bad, and will have to be changed again before he becomes immortal. If you say that death was physical, moral, or spiritual, in either case he has altered and changed from his original state, and therefore was not immortal.
“In Adam all die” [1 Cor. xv], and return to the dust (the first death) without one glimmer of hope of a future existence until it is found in the glorious plan of redemption through Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. Man was placed on a second probation; life and immortality were brought to light through the gospel [2 Tim. i, 10] and provision was made for all who would accept offered mercy. Salvation is offered to all who will receive it; and they that believe and obey the gospel receive immortality and eternal life as the gift of God through Jesus Christ, while those who reject the invitations of the gospel and slight offered mercy shall reap the reward of their doings; for they shall be destroyed without remedy. James i, 15. “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.” Acts iii, 23. “Shall be destroyed.” Phil. iii, 19. “Whose end is destruction.” Isa. i, 28. “Shall be consumed.” Heb. x, 17. “Which shall devour the adversaries.” Heb. vi, 8. “Whose end is to be burned.” Ps. xxi, 9. “The fire shall devour them.” 2 Pet. ii, 12. “Shall utterly perish.” Ps. cxlv, 20. “But all the wicked will be destroyed.” Rom. viii, 13. “For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die.” “The soul that sinneth shall die.” Rom. vi, 23. “For the wages of sin is death.” Mal. iv. “Shall burn them up.”
What stronger language could possibly be used than the above to express the final destruction of the wicked? Man is a finite being, and is not capable of performing an infinite act, nor of receiving an infinite penalty for a finite act. To ascribe natural immortality to man by virtue of creation, would be to rob God and Christ of the glory due in the plan of redemption, for immortality and eternal life which is brought to light in the gospel through Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead.
The wicked are spoken of in the Bible as the most combustible materials; as chaff, withered branches, fruitless fig-trees, tares of the field, stubble; and the day that cometh shall139burn them up saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And now I have quoted a few of the many passages of scripture, and given my theological and lexicographical rule, and have proved by high authority my position. There is however, one passage that I have not quoted that might seem to be high authority against my position if it had come from the right source. Gen. iii, 4, 5. I do not think that passage will invalidate the testimony that I have given, in the minds of the lovers of Bible truth. That truth may triumph, and error flee away is my desire and prayer to God.
L. MAXSON.
Alfred Center, N. Y.
THE FLOCK OF GOD.
1. It is a purchased flock. PAUL, addressing the elders of Ephesus, says, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."—Acts xx, 28. We are by nature "carnal, sold under sin;" but by grace "we are bought with a price." An article will be considered valuable, according to what it has cost the owner; and that must be a valuable flock which cost the blood of the Shepherd.
2. It is an obedient flock. JESUS says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me—John x, 27. His voice is now heard in the Scriptures of truth, and we follow him when we comply with his requirements. "In keeping his commandments, there is great reward."
3. It is a little flock. The Shepherd said on one occasion, "Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.—Luke xii, 32. The flock of God in every age has been a little one; and he has nowhere told us that it would become large enough to embrace the world, before the end of this dispensation. The truth of God is found with the few, and not with the many.
4. It is an exposed flock. When Jesus sent forth his disciples to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God at hand, he said to them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves."—Matt. x, 16. And Paul says to the bishops of Ephesus, "I know that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock."—Acts xx, 29. And the exhortation of Peter is, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." From which we gather that if Satan cannot destroy the flock, he will, at least try to frighten them.
5. It is a scattered flock. The sheep are found scattered everywhere through the "weary land" of this world. Yet, the Shepherd's eye is upon them; he knows where they are. Yea he maketh them to lie down in pastures of tender grass, and leadeth them beside the waters of quietness.—Psalms xxiii, 2. Christians live not by bread alone, "but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God." To them his promises are "exceeding great and precious."
6. It will soon be a gathered flock. "For thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep, that are scattered so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them, and the places about my hill, a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."—Eze. xxxiv. "And they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." Rev. vii. Oh blessed day! "When the chief Shepherd shall appear" to gather his flock into one fold, on the green fields of the regenerated earth.—When earth shall once more bloom beneath the smile of its Creator.—When the saints of every age and clime will stand with the Lamb on the radiant heights of Zion. That indeed will be "the congregation of the righteous," where no sinner will be seen.—Psa. i, 5. O blessed thought! that the day is near which will consummate the hope of the church.—That soon the heavens will be lighted up with the glory of God. That Jesus will appear in threefold glory, to rifle the graves, and change the righteous living. Well may we say with the poet,
"O what a blessed hope is ours,
While here on earth we stay,
We more than taste the heavenly powers
And antedate that day."
Reader, do you belong to the flock of God? Are you resting the whole weight of your salvation on the merits of the Shepherd? Are you a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus? Tried and tempted you may be; exposed to dangers you must be, but never doubt the love of Him who came from glory to wander over the mountains of this world in search of the lost sheep. (See Luke xv, 1-7.) You may complain of weakness; but remember that it is the Shepherd's work to gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and he has promised to do this.—Isa. xl, 11. Do not complain of unworthiness; remember that the song of the redeemed in glory will be, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," &c. If you feel weary of sin, and earnestly long for more communion with God, it is the Spirit of God who has wrought in you this feeling and desire. Continue to trust in Christ. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." J. M. O.—[Ad. Herald.
“WO IS ME.”
By Jesse Dorcas
THESE are the words of Jeremiah the prophet, one of the best and most patient of men. See chap xv. He was a man of contention, and was not afraid of hurting somebody's feelings by taking a decided position on the side of truth; though, as it regards his business transactions, no one could, in truth, say aught against him; and it is worthy of notice that he was not a fault-finder himself, yet he was hated and cursed; and, simply because he was not “one of them.” Jeremiah, in this chapter, represents the work and trials under the three angels' messages of Rev. xiv. When he went to his brethren with the word of the Lord, and testified against them for their good, they would rise up against him with anger and flatly deny the word of God, tell him he lied, and suppose that some one “set him on” to oppose their interests. Jer. xliii, 2.
So it is at the present time, since “the second house of Israel” have rejected the testimony of the near coming of the great King. They seem to be very suspicious of the man that has moral courage enough to speak a word in favor of God's own word in hearing of their assemblies. The ministers in the different sections of Babylon seem very much like the governors of the slave states, incensed at the introduction of “the law of liberty.” Woe is me! well may the man say, that will venture within the walls of the synagogues of modern Israel, and speak with the Lord's words to the people. If they do not pronounce him an enemy of the church and a troubler of Israel, and Ahab like, seek his life, reputably, we are not living near the time of the translation of the saints. Scribes, pharisees, and hypocrites, do not relish plain truth now any more than at any other period.
O that the Lord would preserve us from every evil work unto his heavenly kingdom, is my prayer.
JESSE DORCAS.
TOKENS OF THE END.
By Cumming
WE shall find that nothing can occur in the shape of material phenomena, however unprecedented or extraordinary, which men will not explain away. I have no doubt that many of the contemporaries of Noah, while they saw him building the ark, derided his folly, and described Noah and his project in the Charivaris and caricatures of the day, as an antediluvian lunatic, while they contemptuously smiled at the stupid old man who dreamed that any force we are aquainted with could raise the ocean from its oozy bed, and cause it to overflow hill and valley, and leave not a living thing over the face of the whole earth. Up to that very morning when the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven poured down water, the philosophers and the astronomers-royal of the age demonstrated with mathematical accuracy that a universal flood was a physical impossibility, and that Noah was, beyond all dispute, a fool and a fanatic, whose requests to the people to enter into the ark ought to be treated with the contempt such counsels deserved. When phenomena shall overtake this world that shall be the divinely-appointed pioneers of the great and final convulsion, demonstrations in leading articles, and letters, and essays, will appear thick as dead leaves in November, showing that all is explicable from electricity, or the polarization of light, or other natural law, and that it is very wrong in Christian ministers to disturb weak nerves, and alarm timid minds; pleading, also, as they did of old, "All things continue as they were from the begining until now:" not knowing that thousands of signs are pre-signifying the exhaustion of an age in which we play so momentous a part, and the approach of a glorious dispensation, in which I trust and pray that we shall be found heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.—Cumming.
Gambling Sanctioned by Law
Gambling Sanctioned by Law.—A bill that has been pending for some time in the Legislature of the State of Delaware, to grant a lottery charter for twenty years, has passed both branches, and only awaits the signature of the Governor, which it is understood will not be withheld. For the franchise thus to be conferred the manager pays a bonus of $720,000—that is to say, $36,000 per annum. From this it may in part be inferred how large are the profits of the business, and how grevious the losses of the deluded creatures who throw away their money in the purchase of tickets. $720,000 is a vast bribe for a small State, and yet Delaware has a character which ought to be worth more in her own eyes. The bill passed by a bare majority. We notice that one of the objects to which the money thus received is to be appropriated, is to build a Methodist Protestant church. Such is the demoralizing influence of slavery on the Border. —Sel.
Slavery Silences Its Opponents
HEAR the Charleston S. C. Telegraph. It says :
"Let us declare, through the public journals, that the question of slavery is not, and shall not be open for discussion ; that the system is too deep-rooted and must remain forever ; that the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the dung hill."—Sel.
THE TREE OF LIFE.
By James White
Among the many blessings with which the garden of Eden was stocked for the pleasure and utility of our first parents, there was, says the record, "the tree of life also in the midst of the garden." The tree of life! significant in name, truly, if in nothing besides. Judging from the name we should conclude that it had something to do with the life of the individuals for whose benefit it was given; that it was designed to be a source of vitality to them; tending to perpetuate their days; and that from a deprivation of it, they would inevitably suffer loss.
We apprehend that this wonderful object is too much lost sight of and neglected in the prevalent theories of God's purposes towards man. What was the object of this wonderful arrangement of the tree of life? and, since it is now nowhere to be found on earth, and the human race is thus shut out from it, what results? We can infer an answer to this question from Gen. iii, 22, where we find the next mention of the tree of life: Man had now sinned, fallen, and become obnoxious to his Maker; but there was the life-giving tree within his reach, and now what shall be done? Shall the sinner be suffered to live forever, and sin be made eternal? Hear what God says, and mark the means he took to prevent such a result: "And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, and placed at the east end of the garden, cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Gen. iii, 22-24.
Reader, if you are one of those who believe that the popular view of the natural immortality of man is correct, we ask you to ponder carefully this record. Why was there ever a tree planted in Eden bearing the significant name, The tree of life? Why, when man had sinned, and so forfeited all right to life, was he so hastily and so completely debarred all access to that peculiar tree? And why, above all, did God assign as the reason why he should be thus excluded from it, that it was lest he should take of the tree of life and eat and live forever; if, at the same time, there was in man's nature an immortal and undying principle by virtue of which he must live forever, whether he should ever see that tree again or not? We submit these questions to all fair criticism; and we appeal to every candid mind if the facts and circumstances recorded in connection with the tree of life in Eden, do not furnish as plain proof as need be given, that man did not possess any tenure of life independent of the arrangement by which God evidently designed to perpetuate it, and from which he was debarred the moment he became polluted with sin.
"Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever." What plainer declaration could be required that it is not the design of God that man in sin shall live forever; and we are expressly told that for this very reason, that this might not be his condition, that man might not be an immortal sinner, he was driven forth from the garden, and excluded from the tree. Yet the majority of mankind seem disposed to console themselves with the idea that they have nevertheless an inherent immortality, just as though their common father had never suffered this humiliating exclusion, and just as though he and they had always had free access to the tree of life. It is not to be wondered at that a certain character who bore a conspicuous part in the scenes of the fall, should, for the sake of his reputation, manifest a marked diligence in disseminating a belief which would exculpate him from the charge of falsehood in what he said to our mother Eve in Gen. iii, 4; and the result shows that mankind have been too willing to swallow the fraud, even as the hasheesh-eater of the East, though but the proprietor perhaps of a mud cabin, delights under the influence of his favorite narcotic, to imagine himself lord of untold treasures, and a reveler in princely halls.
But man was driven from Eden; and as he went forth "with wandering step and slow," he beheld the flaming sword guarding the tree of life, and himself excluded from his only source of immortality; for, barred from that life-giving tree, he could not "live forever." It then becomes evident that if immortality is ever bestowed upon our race it must be by some subsequent arrangement on the part of the Creator. If such a plan was ever devised we may expect to find it made known in the records of his subsequent dealings with the human family. And we may moreover expect to find it plainly stated whether the precious boon is conditional or unconditional, to be bestowed upon a certain class only, or upon all promiscuously.
We then inquire, Has there ever been a way of life opened before man since his expulsion from the tree of life in Eden? Ere we have time to pen the answer, the mind of the reader will doubtless recur to the life and mission of Christ our Redeemer, who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. But on what basis does that life rest, which Christ thus brought to light? Does it rest upon the nature of man? Did the Saviour come to tell all men that they had it? No; he came to offer it to them. Jno. iii, 16. Did he tell them it was all in them? No; he told them it was all centered in him. 1 John v, 11. Did he tell them that he had come to give it to all promiscuously? No; but only to such as would believe on him. Jno. v, 40. Come to me and live; reject me and perish: is the tender, benignant, though solemn message he proclaimed to men.
But it may be thought we are digressing from the tree of life: our argument however, brings us back to it again. For no sooner does the Saviour come down and bring immortality to light, no sooner does he point mankind to the re-opened way of eternal life, than at the head of the glorious avenue, we behold again the tree of life, inviting us with wide-spread arms to come and partake of its healing leaves. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Rev. ii, 7. This is the next mention we have of the tree of life in the Bible, after leaving it in Gen. iii, 24. It is here said to be in the paradise of God. Paradise, Paul tells us in 2 Cor. xii, is in the third heaven. How the tree of life came to be in the third heaven since our last beholding it on earth, we will not here speculate. Suffice it to say that we believe it to be the identical tree which once flourished in the paradise on earth. Many interpret a passage in the Apocrypha as applying to this subject. 2 Esdras vii, 26. "Behold the time shall come that these tokens which I have told thee shall come to pass, and the bride shall appear, and she coming forth shall be seen that now is withdrawn from the earth."
It is further spoken of in the minute description which we have of the heavenly Jerusalem, in the last two chapters of Revelation: "In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing [service] of the nations." Rev. xxii, 2. And what more fitting object could be described in the closing pages of that book which is given to guide us in the way to life? And in verse 14, the last glowing promise that beams from the page of inspiration, a description of the reward that awaits those who keep the commandments of God, the climax of the promise is, "that they may have right to the tree of life." Glorious tree! All-inviting center of the heavenly landscape! Grand summary of the story of our immortality! what we lose in the first Adam, we gain through the second, if we believe in him—ACCESS TO THE TREE OF LIFE.