Earlier text: THE PASSOVER SUPPERLIFE SKETCHES.
By Ellen G. White
PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE.
“In New Hampshire we had to contend with a species of spiritual magnetism, of a similar character with mesmerism. It was our first experience of this kind, and happened thus: Arriving at Claremont, we were told there were two parties of Adventists; one holding fast their former faith, the other denying it. At other places we had visited and labored with this latter class, and found that they were so buried in worldliness, and had so far adopted the popular view in regard to our disappointment that we could not reach nor help them. “But we were now pleased to learn that there was a little company here who believed that in their past experience they had been led by the providence of God. We were directed to Elders Bennett and Billings as persons holding similar views with ourselves. We discovered that there was much prejudice against these men, but concluded that they were persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We called on them and were kindly received and courteously treated. We soon learned that they professed sanctification, claiming they were above the possibility of sin, being entirely consecrated to God. Their clothing was excellent, and they had an air of ease and comfort. “Presently a little boy about eight years old entered, literally clad in dirty rags. We were surprised to find that this little specimen of neglect was the son of Elder Bennett. The mother looked exceedingly ashamed and annoyed; but the father, utterly unconcerned, continued talking of his high spiritual attainments without the slightest recognition of his little son. But his sanctification had suddenly lost its charm in my eyes. Wrapped in prayer and meditation, throwing off all the toil and responsibilities of life, this man seemed too spiritually minded to notice the actual wants of his family, or give his children the least fatherly attention. He seemed to forget that the greater our love to God, the stronger should be our love and care for those whom he has given us; that the Saviour never taught idleness and abstract devotion, to the neglect of the duties laying directly in our path. “This husband and father declared that the heavenly attainment of true holiness carried the mind above all earthly thoughts. Still he sat at the table and ate temporal food; he was not fed by a miracle, and some one must provide that food, although he troubled himself little about that matter, his time was so devoted to spiritual things. Not so his wife, upon whom rested the burden of the family. She toiled unremittingly in every department of household labor to keep up the home. The husband declared that she was not sanctified, but allowed worldly things to draw her mind from religious subjects. “I thought of our Saviour as a constant worker for the good of others. He said ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.’ The sanctification that he taught was shown in deeds of kindness and mercy, and the love that counteth others better than themselves. “While at this house, a sister of Elder Bennett requested a private interview with me. She had much to say concerning entire consecration to God, and endeavored to draw out my views in regard to that subject. I felt that I must be guarded in my expressions. While talking, she held my hand in hers, and with the other softly stroked my hair. I felt that angels of God would protect me from the unholy influence this attractive young lady was seeking to exercise over me, with her fair speeches, and gentle caresses. She had much to say in regard to the spiritual attainments of Elder Bennett, and his great faith. Her mind seemed very much occupied with him and his experience. I was glad to be relieved at length from this trying interview. “These persons, who made such lofty professions, were calculated to deceive the unwary. They had much to say of love and charity covering a multitude of sins. I could not unite with their views and feelings; but felt that they were wielding a terrible power for evil. I wished to escape from their presence as soon as possible. “Elder Bennett, in speaking of faith, said, ‘All we have to do is to believe, and whatever we ask of God will be given us.’ “Elder White suggested that there were conditions specified. ‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ Said he, ‘Your theory of faith must have a foundation; it is as empty as a flour-barrel with both ends out. True charity never covers up unrepented and unconfessed sins. She only drops her mantle over the faults that are confessed and renounced. True charity is a very delicate personage, never setting her pure foot outside of Bible truth.’ “As soon as the views of these people were crossed, they manifested a stubborn, self-righteous spirit that rejected all instruction. Though professing great humiliation they were boastful in their sophistry of sanctification, and resisted all appeals to reason. That same afternoon, we visited the house of Brother Collier, where we proposed to hold a meeting in the evening. We supposed this family were in union with those we had left. We asked some questions in reference to those men; but Brother Collier gave us no information. Said he, ‘If the Lord sent you here, you will ascertain what spirit governs them, and will solve the mystery for us.’ “Both Elders Bennett and Billings attended the meeting. While I was earnestly praying for light and the presence of God, they began to groan and cry ‘Amen!’ apparently throwing their sympathy with my prayer. Immediately my heart was oppressed with a great weight, the words died upon my lips, darkness overshadowed the whole meeting. “Elder White arose and said, ‘I am distressed. The Spirit of the Lord is grieved. I resist this influence in the name of the Lord! O God, rebuke this foul spirit!’ “I was immediately relieved, and rose above the shadows. But again, while speaking words of encouragement and faith to those present, their groanings and amens chilled me. Once more Elder White rebuked the spirit of darkness, and again the power of the Lord rested upon me, while I spoke to the people. These agents of the evil one were then so bound as to be unable to exert their baneful influence any more that night. “After the meeting Elder White said to Brother Collier, ‘Now I can tell you concerning those two men. They are acting under a Satanic influence, yet attributing all to the Spirit of the Lord.’ “‘I believe God sent you to encourage us,’ said Brother Collier. ‘We call their influence mesmerism. They affect the minds of others in a remarkable way, and have controlled some to their great damage. We seldom hold meetings here, for they intrude their presence, and we can have no union with them. They manifest deep feeling, as you observed to-night, but they crush the very life from our prayers, and leave an influence blacker than Egyptian darkness. I have never seen them tied up before to-night.’ “During family prayer that night the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I was shown many things in vision. These professed ministers were presented to me as doing great injury to the cause of God. While professing sanctification they were transgressing the sacred law. They were corrupt at heart and all those in unison with them were under a Satanic delusion and obeying their own carnal instincts instead of the word of God. These two men exerted a marked and peculiar power over the people, holding their attention and winning their confidence through a baneful mesmeric influence that many who were innocent and unsuspecting attributed to the Spirit of the Lord. Those who followed their teachings were terribly deceived and led into the grossest errors. “I was shown that the daily lives of these men were in direct contrast with their profession. Under the garb of sanctification they were practicing the worst sins and deceiving God’s people. Their iniquity was all laid open before me, and I saw the fearful account that stood against them in the great book of records, and their terrible guilt in professing entire holiness; while their daily acts were hateful in the sight of God. Some time after this, the characters of these persons were developed before the people and the vision given in reference to them was fully vindicated. “During family prayer that night, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I was taken off in vision. A curtain was raised, and the cases of these men, and a few others in union with them, were clearly shown me. They were practising deception upon God’s people, meanwhile professing to be chosen servants of the Lord. It was shown me that the Lord would tear off the pious garb they had drawn around themselves, and disclose their dark designs and iniquitous deeds which some had scarcely thought of. We next returned to Springfield. On the way I fell from the wagon and so injured my side that I had to be carried into the house. That night my suffering was great. Sister Foss joined with me in pleading for God’s blessing, and for relief from pain. About midnight the blessing sought rested upon me. Those in the house were awakened by hearing my voice while in vision. This was the first time I had a view of the voice of God in connection with the time of trouble. “That night it was shown me that reproach was being brought upon the cause of God in Maine; his children were disheartened and scattered by a fanatical spirit. Persons in whom we had placed confidence, J. T. and J. H., under a cloak of godliness were casting fear among the trembling, conscientious ones. I saw that it was our duty to go and bear testimony in Maine. “We soon returned to Portland, and found the brethren in great discouragement and confusion. A meeting was appointed at the house of Sister Hanes155 that I might have an opportunity to relate what had been shown me. While praying for strength to discharge that painful duty, the Spirit of God rested upon me and I was taken off in vision, and in the presence of J. T., was again shown his ungodly course. Those present said I talked it out before him. After coming out of vision he said I was under a wrong influence. He acknowledged that the part of my testimony which had no reference to his course was right, but that which reproved his conduct was wrong. He said it would take a critical spiritual observer to detect the difference; that this was the same spirit that had always followed him to crush him. I was convinced that J. T. would from that time resist and oppose my testimony and would deceive souls to their ruin; my heart was oppressed as I thought of the cause of God which would be reproached through the influence of this man. I left the meeting in anguish of spirit, for I had a message for his wife, a message of comfort to her sorrowing heart. I found her weeping at home and grieving as though her heart would break. I related the vision of reproof given me for her husband which she confirmed. “We learned from united testimony, that honest, precious souls had been told by these fanatics that they were rejected of God. These cruel words coming from men whom they believed to be men of God wholly overthrew some, while others were much discouraged for a time; but comforting testimonies were given me of God from which gave them hope and courage. We also learned that these officious ones had been making my father’s house their home. J. T. and J. H. who were leaders in this rank fanaticism, followed impressions and professed to have burdens from God. These impressions and burdens the Lord had nothing to do with, for they led to corruption, instead of purity and holiness. “My parents were disgusted as they saw reason and judgment laid aside by them, and protested against their fanatical course. But finding that they could not be freed from this company, they closed their house, and left the city for Poland, where my two married sisters were living. This did not suit J. T., and when we arrived at Portland he told me that my father was a doomed man; that my mother and sisters might be saved, but my father would be lost. The reason offered was because my father would not give him possession of his house when he left it. We then went to Poland, where my parents rehearsed their trials, and mentioned incidents which occurred at Portland, all of which confirmed the vision given me in New Hampshire. “As I returned to Portland evidences increased of the desolating effects of fanaticism in Maine. The fanatical ones seemed to think that religion consisted in the greatest excitement and noise. They would talk in a manner to irritate unbelievers, and which would have an influence to cause them to hate them and the doctrines they taught. Then they would rejoice that they suffered persecution. Unbelievers could see no consistency in their course. The brethren in some places were prevented from assembling for meetings. The innocent suffered with the guilty. I carried a sad and heavy heart much of the time. It seemed so cruel that the cause of Christ should be injured by the course of these injudicious men. They were not only ruining their own souls, but placing a stigma upon the cause not easily removed. And Satan loved to have it so. It suited him well to see the truth handled by unsanctified men; to have it mixed with error, and then altogether trampled in the dust. He looked with triumph upon the confused, scattered state of God’s children. “J. T. labored with some success to turn my friends, and even my relatives, against me. Why did he do this? Because I had faithfully related that which was shown me respecting his unchristian course. He circulated falsehoods to destroy my influence and to justify himself. My lot seemed hard. Discouragements pressed heavily upon me; and the condition of God’s people so filled me with anguish that for two weeks I was prostrated with sickness. My friends thought I could not live; but brethren and sisters who sympathized with me in this affliction met to pray for me. I soon realized that earnest effectual prayer was being offered in my behalf. Prayer prevailed. The power of the strong foe was broken, and I was released, and immediately taken off in vision. In this view I saw that human influence should never afflict me again in like manner. If I felt a human influence affecting my testimony, no matter where I might be, I had only to cry to God, and an angel would be sent to my rescue. I already had one guardian angel attending me continually, but when necessary, the Lord would send another to strengthen, and raise me above the power of every earthly influence. Then I saw for the first time the glory of the new earth. “With Jesus at our head we all descended from the city down to this earth, on a great and mighty mountain, which could not bear Jesus up, and it parted asunder, and there was a vast plain. Then we looked up and saw the great city, with twelve foundation, twelve gates, three on each side, and an angel at each gate. We all cried out, ‘The city, the great city, it’s coming down from God out of heaven!’ And it came down and settled on the place where we stood. Then we began to look at the glorious things outside of the city. There I saw most beautiful houses, that had the appearance of silver, supported by four pillars set with pearls, most glorious to behold, which were to be inhabited by the saints, and in them was a golden shelf. I saw many of the saints go into the houses, take off their glittering crowns and lay them on the shelf, then go out into the field by the houses and do something with the beautiful flowers and trees growing spontaneously everywhere. A glorious light shone above their heads, and they were continually offering praises to God. “I saw a field of tall grass most glorious to behold; it was living green, and had a reflection of silver and gold, as it proudly waved to the glory of King Jesus. We entered a field full of all manner of beasts. The lion, the lamb, the leopard and the wolf were all together in perfect union. We passed through the midst of them, and they followed on peaceably after. Then we entered a wood, not like the dark woods we have here; but light and beautiful. The branches of the trees waved to and fro as though making obeisance to God. We passed through the woods, for we were on our way to Mount Zion. As we were traveling along, we met a company who were also gazing with delighted wonder at the glories of the place. I noticed red as a border on their garments; their crowns were brilliant and their robes were pure white. As we greeted them I asked Jesus who they were. He said they were martyrs who had been slain for him. With them was a great number of little ones who also had a hem of red on their garments. These, said Christ are children who were murdered for my sake and for the faith of their parents. “Mount Zion was just before us, and on the mount was a building which looked to me like a temple. About it were seven other mountains, on which grew roses and lilies. I saw the little ones climb, or if they chose, use their little wings and fly to the top of the mountains, and pluck the never-fading flowers. There were all kinds of trees to beautify the place; the box, pine, fir, olive, myrtle and pomegranate, and the fig tree, bowed down with the weight of its timely figs, made the place all over glorious. As we were about to enter the temple, Jesus raised his lovely eyes and said, Only the one hundred and forty-four thousand enter this place, and we shouted Alleluia. “The temple was supported by seven pillars, all of transparent gold, set with pearls most glorious. The things I saw there I can but faintly describe. Oh that I could talk in the language of Canaan, then could I tell something of the glory of the better world. I saw there tables of stone in which the names of the one hundred and forty-four thousand were engraved in letters of gold. After we beheld the glory of the temple, we went out, and Jesus left us, and went to the city. Soon we heard his lovely voice again, saying, ‘Come my people, you have come out of great tribulation, and have done my will, and suffered for me; come to the marriage supper; for I will gird myself and serve you.’ We shouted Alleluia, glory, and entered into the city. And I saw a table of pure silver, it was many miles in length, yet our eyes could extend over it. I saw the fruit of the tree of life, the manna, almonds, figs, pomegranates, grapes, and many other kinds of fruit. I asked Jesus to let me eat of the fruit. He said, Not now. Those who eat of the fruit of this land, go back to earth no more. But in a little while, if faithful, you shall both eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and drink of the water of the fountain. And he said, You must go back to earth again and relate to others what I have revealed to you. Then an angel bore me gently down to this dark world. “Brother Hyde, who was present during this vision, composed the following verses, which have gone the rounds of the religious papers, and have found a place in several hymn books. Those who have published, read, and sung them have little thought that they originated from a vision of a girl, persecuted for her humble testimony. “We have heard from the bright, the holy land,
We have heard, and our hearts are glad;
For we were a lonely pilgrim band,
And weary and worn and sad.
They tell us the pilgrims have a dwelling there—
No longer are homeless ones;
And we know that the goodly land is fair,
Where life’s pure river runs.
“They say green fields are waving there,
That never a blight shall know;
And the deserts wild are blooming fair,
And the roses of Sharon grow.
There are lovely birds in the bowers green—
Their songs are blithe and sweet;
And their warblings gushing ever new,
The angel’s harpings greet.
“We have heard of the palms, the robes, the crowns,
And the silvery band in white;
Of the city fair with pearly gates,
All radiant with light. We have heard of the angels there, and saints,
With their harps of gold, how they sing;
Of the mount, with the fruitful tree of life,
Of the leaves that healing bring.
“The King of that country, he is fair,
He’s the joy and the light of the place;
In his beauty we shall behold him there,
And bask in his smiling face.
We’ll be there, we’ll be there in a little while;
We’ll join the pure and the blest;
We’ll have the palm, the robe, the crown,
And forever be at rest.”
J. W. The Two Covenants.
By Uriah Smith
“For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” Heb. 8:8. Perhaps all has now been said that need be said in this connection, respecting the old covenant. Every essential fact concerning it is clearly defined, and can easily be found. We have seen plainly brought to view the parties between whom this covenant was made, the time when it was made, what it contained, and the steps taken in its ratification. It was made between God and Israel, when that people came out of Egypt; it was the special arrangement between God and that people, whereby they became his peculiar treasure; the matter embraced in it was that privately communicated by the Lord to Moses, and by him written out in a book, called the book of the covenant; and it was dedicated with blood. The ten commandments were not, therefore, the old covenant because, (1.) They were in existence, and were just as much binding on men before as after the exode. (2.) They were never dedicated with blood. (3.) They were set forth by the Lord himself as antedating his covenant with Israel, being the primary and essential basis of the arrangement then entered into with them. We now turn to the subject of the new covenant, and shall pursue our inquiry under this head in the following channels: When was the new covenant announced? Why was it necessary that a new covenant should be made? By whom was it made? When was it made? With whom was it made? And what are its conditions and provisions? The new covenant was announced by Jeremiah six hundred and six years before Christ, in the following language:— “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:31–34. This language is explicit in answering nearly all the inquiries raised respecting the new covenant. Over six hundred years before Christ, it was announced that such a covenant would be made. And the reason for this covenant is announced; namely, because they had already virtually annulled the first arrangement, by breaking God’s covenant. Paul states this a little more fully in his letter to the Hebrews. He says, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold the days come saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” This covenant is declared to be faulty, not that there was anything wrong about it, in itself considered; but it was imperfect simply because its provisions were not ample enough, as we shall presently see, to meet the emergency which arose under it. And this is more than intimated in the next sentence: “For finding fault with them.” The fault, then, in reality, was with the people; and the fault with them was that they had broken God’s covenant, the ten commandments, and thus violated the conditions of the covenant made. Violating a law does not abolish the law, but it does break up or nullify any arrangement which is suspended upon the keeping of the law. Such was the effect of Israel’s transgression of the law. It did not abolish the law, but it did virtually abolish the old covenant, by releasing God from all obligations he had placed himself under on condition of their obedience. Well, suppose the people did break the ten commandments, was there not a remedy provided for such cases? They, by their transgressions against God, became sinners; but was there not provision for the removal of sin, so that they could come back into the same relation to God, as if they had not sinned? There was the difficulty. To be sure, they had their services, their rounds of ceremonies, and their offerings. There was plenty of blood provided; but it was only the blood of beasts. Paul gives us a true view of the situation when he says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission,” Heb. 9:22, and yet that it was “not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Not all the millions of offerings that were brought during the fifteen hundred years of that dispensation, nor all the rivers of blood that flowed around their consecrated altars, had removed a single sin; and unless something more effectual should be provided, all was lost. The new covenant undertakes to supply this deficiency, by providing a sacrifice which can take away sin; for the grand result of it, as expressed by Paul, is, that their unrighteousness would find mercy at the hands of God, and their sins and iniquities would be remembered no more. Prophecy, after announcing the fact that a new covenant would be made, again takes up the matter, and brings to view the minister, and the sacrifice. The prophet Daniel, speaking of the Messiah, says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” There can be no question that this refers to the new covenant. Sixty-nine of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9, were to extend to the manifestation of the Messiah. The last one of the seventy weeks was allotted to the work of the Messiah and his apostles for Daniel’s people. Our Lord carried on the work in person for the first half of that week. In the midst of the week he caused the sacrifice and oblation (of the Jewish service) to cease, by the offering up of himself, thus providing the new covenant sacrifice. The apostles then took up the work and carried it out the remaining half of the week.” Heb. 2:3. We now have before us the minister of the new covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice provided, his own blood, and the author of the new covenant, God, who made the first covenant of which Moses was minister. We now inquire, With whom was the new covenant made? Was it made with the Gentiles? Here is an important point on which a great deal of misapprehension seems to exist. The idea generally conveyed on this question is, that God at first made a covenant with Israel, but they finally proved to be such a hard-hearted, stiff-necked and reprobate race, that God determined to cast them off, and select a better class of people with whom to enter into relation; so he cast off the Jews, and made a covenant with the Gentiles. And this is probably why we so often hear the expression, “Show us where a Gentile is ever commanded to keep the Sabbath,” &c. What a short-sighted view does this betray! A more mistaken idea was never entertained. God never made, and never proposed to make, a covenant with the Gentiles. He has nothing whatever to do with the Gentiles, further than to hold them amenable to his government, and to open the way of mercy before them. So long as a man is a Gentile, he is in a Godless, hopeless state. And such is the state of every unconverted man. His condition must be changed before God can take him into favor with himself. U. S. Faith and Volition.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
THERE is a question of human rights which may be stated in the words of a lad which I chanced to hear a few days since. He was in earnest conversation with a man as they passed near me. Said he, “I think a man has a right to believe just what he is a mind to; and probably will too.” True faith, or faith in the truth of revelation, depends upon evidence. We may choose to search for the truth by carefully and candidly examining the evidences, or not. Here is where volition is exercised. But if we do thus examine the evidences on which truth rests, having an earnest desire to know the truth, faith is the certain result. We cannot truly be said to believe that of which there is no evidence. Men say they believe this or that, things for which they cannot produce the least evidence; but it is false; that is not faith which has no evidence to support it; and that which is supported by evidence is the truth. I do not believe as I do because I have a right to. I believe the Bible to be a divine revelation, as the necessary and unavoidable result of examining the evidences, willing only that truth should be truth. And I believe the particular doctrines taught in the Bible, because the record affirms them. That for which I have no “thus saith the Lord” is not a part of my faith. As to the right; men will search for truth, or they will not. Not desiring the truth, they may believe a lie, and consequently be condemned; because they received not the love of the truth. If this is right, then men have a right to believe as they please. But we accord to all the right we claim for ourselves. R. F. COTTRELL. The Order of Events in the Judgment.
By John Nevins Andrews
Rev. 15 : 5–7. “And after that I looked, and, Behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” This opening of the heavenly temple which is followed by the pouring out of the unmingled wrath of God, is an event connected with the closing up of human probation. And it is certain that we have in this case, the opening of the holiest of all, here called the tabernacle of the testimony. The expression, “tabernacle of the testimony,” is a familiar term taken from the Old Testament, and is precisely equivalent to “tabernacle of the ten commandments.” In proof of this, take the use of this term in the Bible. We begin with the first use of the Hebrew word, qehdooth, and trace it through the books of Moses. Thus it occurs for the first time in Ex. 16 : 34 : “Aaron laid it up before the testimony.” That is to say, he laid up the pot of manna before the ark of the ten commandments. See Heb. 9 : 4. The next is Ex. 25 : 16 : “Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” This was the ten commandments. See Ex. 31 : 18 ; Deut. 10 : 4, 5. Again, Ex. 25 : 21, “In the ark thou shalt put the testimony,” i. e., the ten commandments. See 1 Kings 8 : 9. And now the ark itself takes its name from what was put in it. Ex. 25 : 22 : “The two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Ex. 26 : 33, 34 : “And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony; and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.” Here we have the ark of the ten commandments assigned to the most holy place of the tabernacle, and the mercy-seat placed over the ark. Presently we shall find that this testimony gives name to the tabernacle itself. As we read onward we find in Ex. 27 : 21 ; 30 : 6, 26, 36 ; 31 : 7, 18 ; 32 : 15 ; 34 : 29, the terms “testimony,” “tables of the testimony,” “ark of the testimony,” each time, by testimony, meaning definitely the ten commandments. The term, “tabernacle of testimony,” occurs for the first time in Ex. 38 : 21. Thus we see that the testimony of the Almighty gives name to the tables on which it was written; to the ark in which the tables were placed; and to the tabernacle itself, whose second apartment received the ark. Next, we thrice read of the ark of the testimony, Ex. 39 : 35 ; 40 : 3, 5. And now we are brought to the acts of Moses in setting up the sanctuary. It is said, Ex. 40 : 20 : “He took and put the testimony into the ark,” i. e., he put the law of God therein. Then he placed the ark itself within the tabernacle, and covered the ark of the testimony by hanging up the second vail. Ex. 40 : 21. In Lev. 16 : 13, the mercy-seat is said to be upon the testimony. In Lev. 24 : 3, the vail which hides the ark is called the vail of the testimony. Next, we read of the tabernacle of the testimony in Num. 1 : 50, 53. Next, of the ark of the testimony, Num. 4 : 5 ; 7 : 89 ; Josh. 4 : 16. Next, of the tent of the testimony, Num. 9 : 15, and of the testimony itself, Num. 17 : 10. Next, of the tabernacle of witness, or testimony (for the two words are synonymous), Num. 10 : 11 ; 17 : 7, 8 ; 18 : 2. In all these texts it is certain that the ten commandments are called the testimony, and that they give name to the tables, to the ark, to the vail, and to the tabernacle, especially to the second apartment. This term has therefore a well-defined meaning in the Scriptures. By the testimony, the tables of the testimony, the ark of the testimony, the vail of the testimony, and the tabernacle of the testimony, are meant respectively the ten commandments (Ex. 31 : 18) ; the tables of the ten commandments (Ex. 32 : 15) ; the ark of the ten commandments (Ex. 40 : 20) ; the vail of the ten commandments (Ex. 40 : 21 ; Lev. 24 : 3) ; and the tabernacle of the ten commandments, Num. 9 : 15 ; 10 : 11. The term, “tabernacle of witness,” or “testimony,” does therefore definitely signify the tabernacle of the ten commandments. Now it is remarkable that this term occurs twice in the New Testament. In Acts 7 : 44, the tabernacle of witness, i. e., of the ten commandments, is mentioned, referring to the earthly sanctuary. And in Rev. 15 : 5, the heavenly sanctuary is designated by this same term, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven; and we have proved conclusively that this is equivalent to the temple of the tabernacle of the ten commandments in heaven. This text is therefore a plain reference to the most holy place of the heavenly temple, and to the law of God deposited therein, which gives name to the building. This apartment of the heavenly temple is opened just prior to the pouring out of the plagues. But we have a second statement of the opening of the most holy place of the temple in heaven. Thus we read of the events under the seventh trumpet: Rev. 11 : 19 : “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”
Here is disclosed to our view the second apartment of the heavenly temple, and here is shown the grand central object, which gives name to the tabernacle itself. It is the ark of God, sometimes called the ark of the covenant, or testament (Num. 10 : 33 ; Heb. 9 : 4) and sometimes the ark of the testimony, Ex. 25 : 22. It is because the heavenly temple contains the ark of God’s testimony that it is itself called the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. And the ark itself is not empty; It contains what Rev. 11 : 19, calls God’s testament, and what Rev. 15 : 5, calls “the testimony in heaven.” And these two terms must signify the ten commandments, and cannot signify anything else. The existence of the temple in heaven, and the fact that it has two holy places like the sanctuary of the first covenant, have been clearly proved. The judgment work in the second apartment remains to engage our attention. J. N. A.