Earlier text: The Sermon.Report of the Battle Creek Bible Class.
By W. C. G.
VERSE 33. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. Quest. What period of time would this cover, according to our reckoning? Ans. From 12 o'clock, noon, until about 3, P. M. Q. Was this darkness occasioned by an eclipse of the sun? A. It was not; an eclipse of the sun can take place only at new moon, and this was at the time of full moon, as we learn, both from history, and from the fact that the passover was eaten at the time of the full moon. Remark. It seems eminently fitting that an extraordinary darkness should accompany the death of our Lord as a remarkable light accompanied his birth. As he is the light of the world, in a spiritual sense, his advent was attended with an unusual illumination in the literal elements; so in his death, a darkness and gloom enshrouded the land, as emblematic of the moral darkness of the generation who could crucify the Son of God. VERSE 34. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Q. What language was this? A. A mixture of Hebrew and Syriac. Q. Were these words quoted, and where do they occur? Q. In what sense had God forsaken him? A. He was permitted to die, and although God may be present, even in death, yet, in a certain sense, he might be said to have forsaken him in permitting him to die. Remark. Several critical Greek scholars render the passage thus: “To what hast thou forsaken me?” or “To what manner of persons am I left?” The original will admit of this rendering, and those who adopt it contend quite earnestly for it on the ground that it is more in keeping with the character of our Saviour; that instead of betraying grief and fear at his own fate, as the common rendering would indicate, he expresses astonishment at the hard-heartedness and blindness of those into whose hands he had fallen. This rendering seems quite reasonable, and certainly is not objectionable. VERSE 35. And some of them that stood by, when they heard it said, Behold, he calleth Elias. Q. Who were those that stood by? A. The soldiers who participated in his crucifixion, and spectators who had assembled. Q. Why did they say, “He calleth Elias?” A. There was a general impression extant at that time that the prophet Elijah, or Elias, was about to appear as the forerunner of the Messiah, and it is possible that they thought he was calling him to appear and identify him as the true Messiah. Some have thought that they only pretended to misunderstand him, and said what they did in mockery and derision. VERSE 36. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. Q. How did it happen that vinegar was offered him? A. “That the scripture might be fulfilled.” Q. What scripture was fulfilled in their giving him vinegar to drink? Q. Ps. lxix, 21: “They gave me also gall for meat; and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.” Q. Where did they obtain the vinegar? A. From a vessel full which stood by. John xix, 20. This vinegar was probably a species of sour wine, which was used as the common drink of the Roman soldiery. Q. What was the reed used upon which the sponge was placed? A. A stalk of hyssop. John xix, 29. The hyssop grows in that country to the height of several feet. VERSE 37. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. Q. What is meant by giving up the ghost? A. Yielding up the breath, or vital spirit. As the “breath of life” gives vitality to the body, Gen. ii, 7, so its departure causes the death of the body. Q. What did he say prior to this? Q. What was meant by, “It is finished?” A. The great work which he came to do on the earth—to offer up his life for mankind. Not the work of redemption, for there were yet other steps to be taken to complete that work, but the first step in that plan, the provision of the offering, was now finished, by the death of the Son of God. Q. What is the signification of the other expression, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit”? A. Not, as some have supposed, that man has an immortal soul, or spirit, to exist in consciousness after death, but that, being about to yield up his spirit, or life, he would commit it into the care of his Father, who would give it to him again in the resurrection. As it was about to pass beyond his own control, what could be more appropriate than to commend it into the hands of One who would care for it? VERSE 38. And the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Q. What was the vail of the temple? A. The heavy curtain which separated the holy from the most holy place in the sanctuary. Q. What did its rending signify? A. That there was no longer any sacredness in the earthly sanctuary, the typical offerings having reached their antitype in the body of Christ. By supernatural power, the most holy place was thus exposed to view, showing that the Lord had now ceased to regard it as sacred. Q. What other display of divine power was manifested on this occasion? A. “The earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Matt. xxvii, 51–53. VERSE 39. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. Q. What is the office of a centurion? A. Commander of a hundred men. Named from centum, one hundred. Q. Did any besides the centurion make this confession? Q. What did the centurion do? Q. What did the spectators do? VERSES 40, 41. There were also women looking on afar off; among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome; who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. Q. Who was Mary Magdalene? A. The one out of whom Christ had cast seven devils. Q. Who was James the less? A. A kinsman of the Saviour's. Supposed to be the one referred to in Gal. i, 19, as “James, the Lord's brother.” There were two apostles by the name of James, one the son of Zebedee, the other the son of Alpheus, Mark iii, 17, 18 (or Cleophas, John xix, 25), the latter of whom was supposed to be James the less; or, as we would term it, James the younger, or junior. Q. What other woman of note was present? A. Mary, the mother of Christ. Q. Were any of his disciples present? A. “All his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off.” Luke xxiii, 49. VERSES 42, 43. And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph, of Arimathea, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. Q. What is meant by “even?” A. The approach of the Sabbath. Q. What is meant by “the preparation?” A. The day to prepare for the Sabbath. One upon which all the work for the Sabbath may be done, that nothing unnecessary may remain to be performed on that day. Q. What was Joseph's office, and his reputation as a man? Q. What is said of him with respect to his sentence against Christ? A. “The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them.” Luke xxiii, 51. Q. Was he a disciple of Jesus? VERSE 44. And Pilate marveled if he were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. Q. Why did Pilate marvel? A. Because those who were crucified usually lingered much longer, and he could hardly believe Christ was really dead. Q. Why did he call the centurion? A. To obtain an official answer. Q. Was this an important testimony, and why? A. It effectually settled the question of Christ's death, and left no room to say that he was taken down before he died, and therefore his resurrection was an imposition. VERSE 45. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. Q. What precaution did the Jews take with reference to the approaching Sabbath? A. In order that the bodies might not remain upon the cross, they besought Pilate that their legs might be broken. John xix, 31. Q. Why did they wish their legs broken? [The class were divided in opinion as to whether it was to hasten their death, or to prevent their escape when taken from the cross.] Q. Did they break the legs of Christ? A. They did not, as he was already dead. Q. What scripture was fulfilled in this? A. Ps. xxxiv, 20: “He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken.” Q. What did they do to Christ? A. They pierced his side with a spear. VERSES 46, 47. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. Q. Who assisted Joseph in this work? A. Nicodemus, who also brought about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes. A. The one who came to Jesus by night to learn the way of salvation. John iii. Q. What did the women do after beholding where Christ was laid? A. They returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment.” Luke xxiii, 56. A. They suddenly remembered that he had prophesied of his resurrection, and they went to Pilate, requesting him to take measures to prevent the disciples from stealing his body, and thus give grounds for the story of his resurrection. Accordingly a watch was set, the sepulcher made sure, and the stone sealed. In connection with this lesson, several questions were considered, which, together with the answers, will be given next week. W. C. G. Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne. PSALM XIV IN METER.
By J. K.
1. The foolish man hath said within his heart,
There is no God, who justice doth impart.
They are corrupt; their ways are wickedness;
Not one is there that doeth righteousness. 2. The Lord looked from his dwelling-place above,
And viewed the creatures of his care and love,
To see if there were any in the land,
Who did Jehovah seek and understand. 3. But all are filthy, all are gone aside,
Not one is there whose works in right abide. 4. Have all the workers of iniquity
No knowledge, that they do thus wickedly?
Who eat my people, as they bread would eat,
And call not on the Lord, a sure retreat. 5. There were they in great fear and sad affright,
For God is with the man who doeth right. 6. The counsel of the poor ye did despise,
Because his refuge in Jehovah lies. 7. Oh, that salvation's might and power untold,
Were come from Zion, Israel to uphold!
When God his captive people back shall bring,
Then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel sing. Are the Dead Conscious? No. 6.
By Editor
2 Cor. v, 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. THIS is the only real expression in this chapter from which an argument for the conscious state can be drawn. But we hold it to be wrong to take an isolated expression, and build upon it a great doctrine, without taking into consideration the general tenor of the context with which it stands connected. And what is the intent of Paul's discourse here? He is contrasting the temporal and eternal states. See previous chapter, verses 17, 18. “The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” “Our earthly house of this tabernacle;” and the “building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” of the first verse of chapter v, bring to view the same things. “For in this [in this state] we groan earnestly,” says he, “desiring to be clothed upon with our house from Heaven.” And this being clothed upon is explained in verse 4, to be the swallowing up of mortality in life. The same scene is brought to view in Rom. viii, 22, 23: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves [almost the same expression], waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Such are the scenes brought to view in 2 Cor. v, 1-10; but when they take place, or when it is that mortality is to be swallowed up of life, we are not informed. Paul elsewhere, however, tells us [see chapter xv of the first epistle to these same Corinthians]: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” Verse 53. When? “At the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Verse 52. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written; “Death is swallowed up in victory” [or mortality is swallowed up of life]. Verse 54. But what is meant by the “body” from which Paul desires to be absent? We answer, that, judging from the tenor of the whole argument, it must be a term to represent this mortal, groaning, travailing state. From this, to be sure, we are released by death; for the dead “rest from their labors;” but we cannot be present with the Lord till clothed upon with incorruption, as already shown.
Ed. ANTEDILUVIAN REMAINS.
By J. L. Baker
[Bro. Smith: The following I copy from Thomas Dick, LL. D. J. L. Baker.] Thus, we have single mountains which, from their structure, can be considered only as remnants of great formations, or of great continents no longer in existence. Mount Meisner, in Hesse, six miles long and three broad, rises about 1800 feet above its base, and 2100 above the sea, overtopping all the neighboring hills from 40 to 50 miles around. The lowest part of the mountain consists of the same shell, limestone, and sandstone, which exist in the adjacent country. Above these are, first, a bed of sand, then, a bed of fossil wood, 100 feet thick at some points, and the whole is covered by a mass of basalt, 500 feet in hight. On considering these facts, it is impossible to avoid concluding that this mountain which now overtops the neighboring country, occupied at one time, the bottom of a cavity in the midst of higher lands. The vast mass of fossil wood could not all have grown there, but must have been transported by water from a more elevated surface, and lodged in what was then a hollow. The basalt, which covers the wood, must also have flowed in a current from a higher site; but the soil over which both the wood and basalt passed, has been swept away leaving this mountain as a solitary memorial, to attest its existence. Thus, also, on the side of Mount Jura, next the Alps, where no other mountain interposes, there are found vast blocks of granite (some of 1000 cubic yards) at the hight of more than 2000 feet above the Lake of Geneva. These blocks are foreign to the rocks among which they lie, and have, evidently, come from the opposite chain of the Alps; but the land which constituted the inclined plane over which they were rolled or transported, has been worn away, and the valley of lower Switzerland, with its lakes, now occupies its place. Transported masses of primitive rocks, of the same description, are found scattered over the north of Germany, which Van Buch ascertained by their characters to belong to the mountains of Scandinavia; and which, therefore, carry us back to a period when an elevated continent occupying the basin of the Baltic, connected Saxony with Norway. —Sup. to Ency. Brit., Vol. 6. More than thirty different species of animals have been found imbedded in the secondary strata, no living examples of which are now to be found in any quarter of the globe. Among the most remarkable of these are the following: 1. The Mammoth, which bears a certain resemblance to the elephant, but is much larger, and differs considerably in the size and form of the tusks, jaws, and grinders. The fossil remains of this animal are more abundant in Siberia than in other countries; there being scarcely a spot from the river Dan to Kamtschatka, in which they have not been found. Not only single bones and perfect skeletons of this animal are frequently to be met with; but, in a late instance, the whole animal was found preserved in ice. This animal was discovered on the banks of the frozen ocean, near the mouth of the river Jena, in 1799; and in 1805, Mr. Adams got it conveyed over a space of 7000 miles to Petersburgh, where it is deposited in the Museum. The flesh, skin, and hair were completely preserved, and even the eyes were entire. It was provided with a long mane, and the body was covered with hair. This hair was of different qualities. There were stiff, black bristles from 12 to 15 inches long, and these belonged to the tail, mane, and ears. Other bristles were from 9 to 10 inches long, and of a brown color; and besides these, there was a coarse wool, from 3 to 5 inches long, of a pale yellow color. This mammoth was a male; it measured 9 feet 4 inches in hight, and was 16 feet 4 inches long without including the tusks. The tusks measured along the curve, 9 feet 6 inches; and the two together weigh 360 lbs. avoirdupois. The head alone without the tusks, weighs 414 lbs. avoirdupois. The remains of this animal have been found, likewise, in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, England, and in many places through the continent onward to the Arctic Ocean. 2. The Megatherium. A complete skeleton of this colossal species was found in diluvial soil, near Buenos Ayres, and sent to Madrid. The specimen is 14 feet long and 7 Spanish feet in hight. 3. The great Mastodon of the Ohio. This species appears to have been as tall as the elephant, but with longer and thicker limbs. It had tusks like the elephant, and appears to have lived on roots. Its remains abound in America, particularly on the banks of the Ohio. 4. The Tapir, which also abounds in America. The one named Gigantic Tapir, is about 18 feet long, and 12 feet high. EFFECTS OF THE REBELLION IN CHINA.—
A traveler in China, speaking of the awful carnage in the Tae-ping rebellion, states that a belt of land four hundred miles long and two hundred wide is literally without an inhabitant; and a district that once yielded 90,000 chests of tea per annum is now a desert waste. Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting images from all around. Remember that an impious or profane thought uttered by a parent's lips, may operate upon the young heart like a careless spray of water, thrown upon polished steel, staining it with rust which no scouring can efface. WE cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the approach of coming day, nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return of warm sunshine and a cloudless sky. WHY WAS THE SABBATH CHANGED?
By Jesse Hiestand
This question is often asked, and as the Scriptures are silent in regard to any change, we must seek elsewhere for a reason. To ascertain, then, why, or for what reason or purpose the day was changed, we must apply to those who changed it, and they will be found in that numerous and popular family connection which was charged by our Lord with making void God's law by their traditions, and teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. The most probable object or design of those who changed it, was, first, to so accommodate their religion to Pagan forms and customs as to secure popularity and avoid persecutions. So far as history gives any light on the question, by whom it was changed, we learn that the professed Christians, who had in many other things become greatly corrupted, some three hundred years after the organization of the gospel church, changed it. These nominal professors of Christianity, who have assumed to be the church, in compliance with the superstitions of the Pagans, who worshiped the sun, and by whom the first day had been set apart as a holy day, and called Sunday, or the day dedicated to the sun, adopted it as the Christian Sabbath; and their adoption of it has been followed by Protestants. JESSE HIESTAND.
Palestine, Ill.