There still remain some points to be noticed in Eld. W.’s sixth affirmative. In trying to prove that Ex. 19, rather than 20, contains “the first covenant,” he says that “the first covenant was useless and void, because the people did not fulfill it; and this will apply to an agreement, but will not apply to a law.” (1) The facts, however, are that the first covenant expired by limitation (Gal. 3:19); and this puts a wholly different phase upon the matter. If non-fulfillment on the part of the people was to have been the cause of its termination, then there were frequent and much stronger reasons for its annulment long before Christ’s crucifixion, than at that time. (2) We may call the first covenant an agreement, if we will, yet it was also a law-covenant, for it was “enacted,” or “legislated.” This is by accommodation asserted of the new covenant, and so by implication of the “old.” Christ “is the mediator of the better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” “Was established” (Greek nemotheteetai, rendered “received the law,” in chap. 7:11), is translated by Conybeare, “is enacted,” and by Rotherham, “has been legislated.” Heb. 8:6. In this view of the first covenant, I have with me also the mature judgment of Conybeare, in his note on verse 9—“the covenant which I gave unto their fathers.” “It must be understood,” says he, “that the Greek word does not (like the English covenant) imply reciprocity. It properly means a legal disposition, and would perhaps be better translated dispensation, here. A covenant between two parties is expressed by a different term.” And thus are we irresistibly led to the decalogue as the first covenant.
(3) It was owing to the “faultiness” of the first covenant that it was abolished; that is, though it was well adapted to the Jewish age, it was “faulty” for the Christian age. We have already seen that it failed of perfection, when fully kept (Matt. 19:21); and Paul says, “If the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” Heb. 8:7. The “finding fault with them,” of the next verse, is altogether too slender a basis for so sweeping a conclusion as Bro. W. makes. He is certainly aware that the Greek construction is just as naturally expressed thus: “But finding fault, he saith unto them;” and this is Macknight’s version. Conybeare fully agrees with Macknight, and translates thus: “Whereas he findeth fault, and saith unto them.” He adds, in a note, “‘findeth fault’ refers to the preceding ‘faultless.’ The pronoun should be joined with ‘saith.’” The expression, “Because [Macknight, when] they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not,” is a brief allusion to the many defections of the Hebrews, and to the punishment from God which followed each estrangement, showing the necessity of having laws written upon the heart, and the “faultiness” of having them written on tables of stone and statute books.
What Eld. W. says concerning “the better promises” of the new covenant, has no practical bearing on the question before us.
What God, through Jeremiah, calls “my law,” he calls “my laws,” through Paul (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10). To hold that this refers to the ten commandments—no more and no less—is a bare assumption. We will not thus allow Eld. W. to transfer the Sabbath from the tables of stone into the hearts of Christians. I have no wish to deface the least iota of morality taught by the ten commandments; but I wish also to recognize the fact that God has a “law” which went “forth from Zion” (Isa. 2:3), which is “his” as well as that from Sinai. If the two were identical, standing because ordained of old, why was there a new “legislation”? Be it remembered, however, that the new law is one of “liberty.” And this law of liberty, when viewed as of God, may be called “the law of God.”
My remarks on Rom. 3:31, concerning the establishment of the entire Mosaic law in its “moral or basic principles,” have been ridiculed because they were misunderstood. I used “basic principles,” not as equivalent to “constitution” but as referring to every moral principle of the Mosaic code, whether in the ten commandments, or in other portions of the law.
This attempt at ridicule reminds me of another which I passed by as unworthy of notice, but, for the sake of some, ought perhaps to consider. I can see nothing “crude” in asserting that a man may be perfect and holy, as measured by a given law, whether the law itself be perfect or not. If the law is absolutely perfect, so will be the one obeying it; but if the law be defective, he is nevertheless perfect, as to that law, though imperfect, as measured by another and perfect law. But, says Bro. W., “if we have any means of determining that a law is imperfect, the same means will determine that a character must be imperfect that is conformed to that law.” True; but this is declaring a character imperfect by another law. And before God gave us the perfect standard of the gospel, men had no means of declaring either the Jews or their law imperfect or “faulty.”
Eld. W. must pardon me for reiterating the “crude” statement that the Messiahship of Jesus is the constitution of the Christian church. Against the conclusion of all his reasonings and analogies between the priesthood and kingship of Christ, and those of Aaron and David, I place the single declaration, “Upon this rock will I build my church.” That upon which we build is fundamental, organic, constitutional.
To argue the present obligation of the ten commandments, as given on Sinai, and hence of the Sabbath, from such passages as Rev. 11:19, and 15:5–8, surprises me. “And the temple of God was opened in Heaven,” would, by the same logic, prove the transfer of the Jewish temple from earth to Heaven, to say nothing of the fact that “the ark of his testament” contained the whole Mosaic code (Deut. 31:26), and so would prove nothing abolished! Then think of “lightnings,” “thunderings,” “great hail,” and of “earthquakes” in Heaven! Shall we next have a philosophy of the cause of these earthquakes?
Respecting the antitype of the tabernacle, I must regard Eld. W. as in error, by construing “heavenly,” in Heb. 8:5, as referring to a place rather than descriptive of condition; or, if it must refer to a place, of taking it in too narrow a sense. For
1. The most holy place of both the tabernacle and the temple was, in the narrower sense of the word, a type of Heaven (Heb. 6:19, 20; 9:8, 24), into which our High Priest has entered, not is to enter, at some future time.
2. The holy place was a type of the Christian church. Acts 15:16, 17; 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Tim. 3:15. As the high priest officiates “within the vail,” so the priests officiate in the holy place (Heb. 9:6, 7). Christians are priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9), hence the church is the holy place. This might be still further shown from the antitype of the furniture of the holy place, but I forbear, with the remark that if the “candlestick,” or seven-armed lampstand, typifies the Holy Spirit rather than the word of God, he is found in the church. 1 Cor. 3:16.
The stress Eld. W. lays on the plural of Heb. 9:24—“holy places”—with the purpose of proving both holy places to be in Heaven, results from insufficient attention to the subject. The Greeks often used the plural where, in English, only the singular is admissible. Thus the same word, and in the plural, too, is rendered sanctuary, in Heb. 8:2; 9:3; 13:11; and holy place, in chap. 9:12, 25. And just as the word “tabernacle” denotes sometimes both holy places, and at others, either one or the other of them (chap. 9:2, 3), so also does ta hagia—“the sanctuary,” or the holies.
3. The cleansing of “the sanctuary” (Dan. 8:14) has reference to affairs on earth, at the destruction of Mahometanism. For as the little horn of Dan. 7 is a symbol of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, so that of chap. 8 is of Mahometanism; this, their respective places of origin, and spheres of influence, prove.
Everything in the tabernacle was a type, not excepting the ark and its contents; for as such, or as given on Sinai, the ten commandments were positive. Therefore we conclude again, that to argue from the passages adduced by Eld. W. from Revelation, that by the ark and its contents these things are literally meant, is not only to proceed most arbitrarily, but is also wholly out of character without taking “the temple,” “the smoke,” “the hail,” “the lightning,” “the thunder,” “the earthquake,” &c., &c., as equally literal. This will suffice to show the absurdity of my brother’s interpretation of those passages in Revelation, without taking time to give a true exposition. Besides, it is too near the close of this proposition to enter on such foreign matters.
“The covenants and the giving of the law,” of Rom. 9:4, refer to the two or three covenants made with Abraham, “pertaining” to Israel, and to the “giving” to them of the law-covenant.
The “us,” to whom the lively oracles (Acts 7:38) were given, were Jews, among whom the circumcised Stephen classifies himself. The oracles were “living,” when given; and if they now (in this dispensation) live, it is in their moral aspect and as “all Scripture is profitable.”
The words, commanded to a “thousand generations,” are no stronger than “perpetual” or “everlasting,” predicated of the Aaronic priesthood (Ex. 40:12–15), the Passover and its feast (Ex. 12), circumcision (Gen. 17), the shew-bread (Lev. 24:5–9), and a number of other things; and it is just as credible that the former period has expired as that the latter have.
If by “the commandments of God,” in Rev. 14:12, one chooses to understand all the morality God has commanded, I shall not oppose him; but if he means to intimate that the ten commandments are the only commandments of God, or are referred to as given on Sinai, I shall accuse him of begging the essential point. Christ gave commandments of his own. John 14:21; 15:10–14; 1 John 2:3, 4. Christ’s commandments are often called the commandments of God; John 12:49, 50; 14:31; 1 Tim. 1:1; hence, there are commandments of God which are not of the law; see also 1 John 3:21–24; Rom. 16:26; Titus 1:3; and other places.
Nearly one half of Eld. W.’s last article is devoted to Hebrew criticisms. Much of what he has to say relates only to one argument of the second proposition, and could be yielded without detriment to the main point at issue between us. Were his “great plainness of speech” to be taken as argument, I should yield the point at once. For the sake of the common reader, I wish to point out such misstatements as he can be judge of, and by these he may know what value to place upon the rest.
1. I said nothing about “re-mention” in connection with the weekly Sabbath.
2. I did not “treat with raillery” his saying that Sabbath means rest, but used the word myself in that sense.
3. My statement about his “holding on” had no reference to his definition of Sabbath, but to his persistency in Hebrew criticisms, dragging the second proposition into the third, in the face of his profession of not thrusting his scholarship before the reader. And I might have added, in the face of his challenge to discuss the use of the Greek article before the word “law.”
4. He pronounced it egotism in me to accuse him of not understanding the Hebrew, when the fact is that I only paid him back in his own coin, as any one can see by reading his second affirmative. I wonder whether his style would have anything to do with making “Goliath die of envy”?
5. The criticisms on Ex. 24:12, I dispose of briefly by simply re-asserting my position, and an appeal to the learned reader for its justness.
With but a few remarks bearing more directly on his criticisms, I submit the case.
1. We need no array of instances where Sabbath is used without the article. I have before said that I was aware of such occurrences. His statement, that the predicate does not take the article, I disproved by good authority; and I might have adduced such examples as Ex. 9:27, “the righteous (party),” and 16:16, “the thing.” It matters not how often Sabbath occurs in the predicate without the article; the essential point is, Why is the article absent in Ex. 16:23? Had the Sabbath been a forgotten institution and there again insisted on, the article would be necessary; and its absence agrees with the universal custom of introducing a new institution in an indefinite way. “In the language of living intercourse, it is utterly impossible that the article should be omitted where it is decidedly necessary.”—Winer, Gram. p. 115.
I will further add, that if the Sabbath had been an existing institution during the Egyptian bondage, when the majority of the Hebrews served the Lord, the silence of the Scriptures would be wholly inexplicable, since nothing else would their task-service have so much interfered, and complaint on this point would have been severe and specific.
2. Seeing the necessity, on his supposition, of having the Sabbatic institution definitely named in Ex. 16:23, Eld. W. says, “The reader will remember that I claimed it definite under this rule,” i. e., that the predicate does not take the article. This is another instance of drawing the very opposite conclusion yielded by the facts in the case. “A substantive with an article may be the predicate as well as the subject of a proposition, since even the predicate may be conceived of as a definite individual.”—Winer, p. 114. That is, if the predicate has not the article, it is not definite.
3. Having signally failed in showing Ex. 16:23, parallel with Ex. 20:10, in the use of lamed, Eld. W. tries to draw chap. 16:25, into service. Unfortunately for him, however, that construction is often resorted to in place of the regular construct when “the first noun is indefinite and the second definite.” Green, §257, 2. Should he reply that this may be the case in Ex. 20:10, I answer, yes; but taken in its contextual connection, the case is altered. This, no doubt, determined the king’s translators to render the first passage indefinitely and the second definitely. But if Eld. W. should insist on treating both alike, making each indefinite, be it so; my point stands sure.
4. All that Eld. W. says in his paragraph marked 4 is made pointless by the fact that when lamed is used “in its possessive sense,” it “may be substituted for the construct relation.”—Green, §257.
5. The criticisms on Ex. 24:12, I dispose of briefly by simply re-asserting my position, and an appeal to the learned reader for its justness.
THE SABBATH ABOLISHED.
I. Turning again to negative arguments, I insist upon it that the Sabbath is a positive institution. (1) It is described by the same term, Sabbath, which describes other positive institutions. (2) It is moreover admitted that Sabbath often takes the article, when denoting the weekly institution, by way of pre-eminence over or emphatic distinction from the annual sabbaths. A moral and a positive institution are never distinguished in this way. And being positive, the Sabbath passed away with the other positive institutions of the old economy.
II. The Sabbath is specially named as abrogated in Col. 2:16, 17.
III. The Sabbath is here also declared to be a type, finding its antitype in the Christian dispensation. And, as Paul says, when the substance comes, the shadow ceases.
IV. Gentile Christians were not required to keep the Sabbath. (1) It was nowhere enjoined upon them. (2) They were specially exempted from keeping the positive institutions of the law (Acts 15:23–29; 21:20–25). (3) They were particularly forbidden to observe Jewish days. “Ye observe days [weekly Sabbaths], and months [new moons], and times [the Jewish festivals, which included the annual sabbaths, Lev. 23.], and years [Sabbatic years]. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” Gal. 4:10, 11.
V. The Sabbath was “against us” and “contrary to us.” This we have seen to be true of the entire decalogue, in that positive aspect in which it was given to the Jews, but it is particularly true of the Sabbath.
1. The Sabbath had a relentless death-penalty attached to it (Ex. 31:14, 15; 35:2); and in this, it was “contrary to” the genius of a dispensation of grace.
2. No fire was to be kindled on the Sabbath. Ex. 35:1, 2. This marks the Sabbath as not intended for universal observance, owing to the coldness of some of the countries in which Christians often live. It is “against us.”
3. The Sabbath was a sign between God and the Jews (Eze. 20:12; Ex. 31:12–18), and so was part of the middle wall of partition which is broken down. Eph. 2:14.
Good Manners and Silence About Oneself
ONE of the most important rules of the science of good manners is an almost total silence in regard to yourself.
Meetings in Minnesota
Appointments.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand
Meetings in Minnesota.
As we see by our last REVIEW, that Bro. Canright intends to hold a general meeting at Greenwood Prairie, Minn., we would say that circumstances are such we wish to have the place for this meeting changed, if this notice reaches the Office in season. We wish to have the meeting held at Oronoco, Olmsted Co., Minnesota. Minn. Conf. Com. Medford, April 8, 1873.
I design to hold three or four meetings in Wisconsin, previous to the general camp-meetings. I desire that these may be general meetings as far as possible consistent with the hurrying season of the year. I hold them now because of an earnest desire to benefit the cause. I have not found time to have them before, and cannot see any other time for months in the future. We hope our brethren will make an earnest effort to attend them. I appoint as follows:— Monroe, Sabbath and Sunday, April 19, 20. Little Prairie, Sabbath and Sunday, April 26, 27. Hundred Mile Grove, Sabbath and Sunday, May 3, 4.
These meetings are to commence Sabbath evening. Come, brethren and sisters, and take hold zealously in the work of God. Geo. I. Butler.
The next quarterly meeting for Eaton Co., will be held at Potterville, April 26 and 27. All neighboring churches are invited. We hope to see a large gathering. It is designed to celebrate the ordinances. I expect to be present. By request. E. B. Lane.
Quarterly meeting of the church at Patricksburg, Owen Co., Ind., Sabbath and first-day, May 3 and 4. We invite all to attend this meeting that possibly can. Noah Carahoon.
The quarterly meeting of Dist. No. 7, Wisconsin, will be held in Plainfield, May 3 and 4, in connection with the quarterly meeting of the Fish Lake church. A general attendance is expected at this meeting. Bring your reports of work done in the Missionary cause. P. S. Thurston, Pres.
Monthly meeting with the church at the Reed meeting-house, Richmond, Me., commencing Friday evening, April 25, 1873, at 7 P. M., and holding over Sabbath and first-day. We wish to see a general gathering of the friends of the cause. Let all come having a mind to work. J. B. Goodrich.
Quarterly meeting for the church at Victory, Wis., first Sabbath and Sunday in May. G. C. Clark.
Tract and Missionary Work in the West.
By George I. Butler
FEELING an earnest interest in this branch of the work, I venture to speak once more concerning it.
Bro. Haskell starts West this week to hold the meetings appointed for Iowa. The leading brethren there, all of them earnest workers in the cause, have felt the need of help in getting the Tract Society as a system into working order. They have acted very sensibly in making a public call for the very man best qualified to help them, in this branch of the work, to come to their assistance. We expect these meetings in Iowa will help the tract enterprise forward very much, and enable the brethren to make great progress.
The work of collecting the delinquencies on our periodicals, and renewing subscriptions, is a most important item to be attended to. Owing to the influence of these societies in New England, this matter is just about finished up there, while in New York and Ohio, where they were put in motion last year, they are in good progress, while in the West, but little has been done. Bro. H. goes to Iowa with proper blanks to help forward this work, and to give such instruction as is needed. While Iowa is waking up in this matter, we have wondered whether the officers of these societies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, felt any need of assistance and instruction. Bro. H. is prepared to spend two weeks in Illinois, three weeks in Wisconsin, and two weeks in Minnesota, if desired. It may be said that spring is not the best season of the year to attend to this business. Suppose this be all granted. Is it not better to get a good start this spring by making a special effort, and have these in working order through the summer months, than it is to put it off till fall and lose all this time? It seems so to us. Then when fall comes, perhaps Bro. H. can come again and give the work a fresh impetus. We want to see this work move forward this year. We have no time to loiter away. Now if the officers of these societies desire the assistance of Bro. H. in these Conferences, let them write to him immediately at Knoxville or Osceola, Iowa, and say so, and give the places where they want these meetings held. If a general attendance of the brethren and sisters cannot be expected, if the officers of the society, especially the President and Secretary can be present the first meeting, great good can be done. They will then be prepared to instruct others. We hope our brethren will see the importance of striking in at the right time. GEO. I. BUTLER.
News and Miscellany.
“Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
The Cloud in the East.
The intelligence just flashed across the Atlantic of the new attitude assumed by the Servian government toward the Porte in refusing to pay the usual tribute of $1,000,000, may seem in itself insignificant, but the possible results of that act are by no means to be regarded in such a light. Should Turkey determine to enforce its payment and send, as it is said she intends to do, an armed force for that purpose, she will with her own hand again unloose that terrible European bete noir, of the Eastern question. A very general misapprehension prevails in regard to the strength of the Servian army. The gazetteers and encyclopedias generally state that the regular force does not exceed two thousand men, with a militia force of forty thousand, but recent European statistical reports state that, with the exception of Germany, Servia has the most perfect military organization on the continent. In 1865 the Prussian system was introduced into the country, and it is now possible to place, at short notice, 150,000 troops, armed with breech-loading rifles, in the field, and to re-enforce that force, within one month, by fifty thousand reserves. With the peculiar configuration of the country to aid them, this number might successfully oppose an army of half a million, a greater force than Turkey would be able to send against them. With the possibilities and probabilities that attach to the future action of both powers, further news from that part of the world will be awaited with anxiety.—Boston Globe.
Increase of Crime in New York.
The certainty of Foster’s execution does not seem to have any salutary influence in lessening crime in New York. On Sunday night, March 30, a young man waiting for a car in the upper part of Madison avenue, was assaulted by two men. He escaped, and jumping on the car, appealed to the conductor and passengers for protection from the ruffians who followed him. His appeal was in vain, the cowardly passengers being afraid to interfere, while the brutes drew their knives and attacked him, cutting off one of his ears and otherwise injuring him, until he succeeded in escaping from the car. His assailants again overtook him, knocked him down, and robbed him, doing their work with utter disregard to the existence of policeman or passengers. On the next day, three drunken men attacked a German saloon-keeper, knocked him down, beat him terribly, fatally stabbed his wife and a neighbor who came to his assistance, then, leaving the saloon, stabbed a man who was passing, and finally made their escape, leaving no trace to their identity. The same night, a gang of roughs attacked the passengers in a horse-car on Third avenue, and a lively skirmish with revolvers took place, during which the conductor and a passenger were shot, and the roughs escaped. In addition to these acts of violence, there was an unusual amount of thieving, issuing of forged railroad bonds, and other crimes.
Resurrection of Napoleonism.
The death of Napoleon III. should have been the death of Napoleonism. But no; with a faith worthy of a better object, it is now announced by a recent correspondent of the Rainbow that, as Napoleon I. was the only man who possessed all the qualifications and characteristics required of the “man of sin,” “antichrist,” etc., he is to rise from the dead and become the great scourge of the church and world. Well, this is certainly laughing at difficulties. It would seem that if men were born to do a work, they would not die without accomplishing it. If they failed in the first life, they might in the second. And, then, if Providence had assigned them a mission, it would seem as if they ought to have arrived on time, and not come too soon for its fulfillment.
A recognition of the work of the past would save all this speculation. Centuries of blood and waste to the church of God were not overlooked by the prophets, to point out a trouble of a few months’ duration. The prophecies should not be so cramped in their application. They treat more of offices and nations than individuals. They have a comprehensive fulfillment which may be studied in the light of history, and deductions made therefrom. The great powers of prophecy are in the past. The “man of sin” . . . will soon be destroyed by the “brightness of his [Christ’s] coming.” Let us, then, look for Christ instead of antichrist; the Man of righteousness instead of the “man of sin.”—Herald of Life.
Central America.
TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE.
Aspinwall, via. Havanna, April 10.—The city of San Salvador, Central America, has been destroyed by an earthquake. Eight hundred persons perished, and $12,000,000 worth of property was destroyed. The earthquake was followed by conflagrations, and many buildings were burned. For a few days, slight shocks of earthquake occurred, but no serious apprehensions were entertained. It was on the afternoon of the 4th of March, about 4:30 o’clock, almost without warning, that a great part of the city was reduced to little more than ruins. The ground heaved as a ship in a gale;
TERRIBLE THUNDERINGS
burst from under foot; walls tottered and were rent in many places with wide crevices; roofs, tiles, etc., were precipitated to the ground, and lamps, pitchers, basins, glass, etc., were overturned and broken. Three violent shocks followed in succession, and the servants commenced to scream piteously and could not be pacified. Wild birds flew to houses, horses grew frantic in their stables, and dogs, howling, slunk for protection. Every few minutes shakings of less violence occurred.
THE SCENE BEGGARS DESCRIPTION.
Ruined houses, panic-stricken people, men, women, and children fleeing to the fields, with valuables hastily collected; then the ringing of the alarm bells and beating of drums, calling all the soldiers under arms, for in San Salvador, murder and pillage accompany the confusion of great earthquakes; and as the frightened citizens leave the towns, the dusky Indians from the forests
PROWL FOR PREY
into it, only checked by the bayonets of the government troops. These were posted in squads at short distances all over San Salvador.
THE POPE SERIOUSLY ILL.
New York, April 11.—A special to the New York World, dated Rome, April 11, says the pope is suffering from rheumatic fever and ulceration of the leg. His illness is extremely serious.
The English Coal Famine.
A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette says: “The death-rate rises week by week. Meetings are held among the cotton manufacturers of the north to determine on short time. Some factories are actually stopped. Railways are raising their terms for traffic. The companies who work ocean steamers are preparing to reduce the speed and the frequency of their voyages, and to raise their freights. Indignation meetings, very blind and unpractical, are being held in various places to deplore the high price of coal, and to denounce all whom the speakers fancy are concerned in causing it. Furnaces in the busiest districts are being blown out daily; and even at the recently advanced rates, iron cannot be produced without loss at the actual prices of coal and materials.” The decline in price in London and at other points in the vicinity of mines is attributed chiefly to the actual or threatened reduction of the demand in consequence of the check to commercial and manufacturing activity, a danger which if not averted will impair the wealth and prosperity of the nation by reducing the demand for labor and throwing thousands of workmen out of employment. It is estimated that the rise in coal has loaded down the productive industry of the country with the enormous additional burden of $250,000,000 per annum.
Sunday in Japan.
The Missionary Herald, of Boston, noticing the changes that have recently taken place in Japan, says that the numerous and ancient holidays are abolished, and Sunday substituted in their place. This is not so much of a change as it might at first seem, as it is only putting one heathen festival in place of another. The extract does not say whether the Sunday is to be put to its original use as a festival of the sun, or to the Roman Catholic use as a substitute for the Sabbath. As Japan is not yet, however, even nominally Christian, we are doubtless to have an example of the observance of Sunday in its original character as a heathen festival. The Herald says:—
“And now, to close the year, comes a list of changes, great and sudden enough to startle the sleep of a Rip Van Winkle. Japan has heretofore had a variable year, using the lunar months; but with January 1, 1873, she is to start even with the world, and keep with her hereafter. The numerous and ancient holidays of the empire, on which they worshiped at their temples and shrines, are all abolished, except New Year’s day, and the birthday of the Mikado; and Sunday is substituted for them. Officials are all to dress in foreign uniform, all the old laws are to be revised and printed in a foreign language, and all new ones are to be printed in the official daily newspaper of the capital.
To Correspondents.
W. F. THOMAS: In the expression, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for,” in Heb. 11:1, the word substance is from hupostasis, and is defined by Greenfield as follows: “Something placed under; a basis, foundation; by metonymy a certain persuasion, firm or implicit confidence, constancy. Heb. 3:14; confidence, that is assured expectation, confident anticipation, 2 Cor. 9:4; 11:17; Heb. 11:1; hypostasis, substance, essence, being, something of which we can say it is, opposed to phantasia, mere appearance, Heb. 1:3.”
Ancient Vandal Territory in Africa and the Roman Empire
J. CRANDALL: That part of the territory of Africa which constituted the kingdom of the Vandals, was not known or occupied as a part of the civilized world, till it became a portion of the Roman Empire. It is therefore reckoned as one of the ten divisions into which that empire was divided.
Beast, False Prophet, and the Lake of Fire
By A. Smith
A. SMITH: We do not understand that the wicked at the end of the thousand years will be distinguished into nationalities, but are spoken of under the general terms Gog and Magog. The time when the beast and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire, Rev. 19:20, is therefore at the commencement of the thousand years, when as distinct power or nationalities they are destroyed. And this destruction is called a lake of fire because it is similar to the judgment inflicted at the end of the thousand years, and accomplished largely by the same means. This judgment ceasing in the destruction of the wicked, the lake of fire exists no more till the end of the thousand years, when a repetition of the judgments on the grand scale of the destruction of all the resurrected wicked, revives the name, and produces a scene which above all others may be called the lake of fire. In Rev. 20:10, the word, are, is a supplied word. The sense is, “were cast,” instead of “are.” Then the text would read, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were cast; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” That is, the devil and all his followers now suffer an eternal destruction such as was visited temporarily upon the beast and false prophet at the commencement of the thousand years. They are cast into such a lake of fire as the beast and false prophet “were cast” into a thousand years before.
Tune Criticism and Poetry Publication Note
B. F. TERRY: The tune is too near like one in common use, and not improved by the change. The poetry we will publish.
Manuscripts on Temperance and Sabbath Change Received
D. T. Bourdeau: The manuscripts on “Temperance” and “How the Sabbath was Changed,” were received. They were acknowledged by letters which it seems you did not receive.
Do not Cut down the Peach Trees.
By J. H. W.
This morning a friend told me that the peach trees were killed; not the fruit buds only, but the trees. Some may be, but that they are, to any great extent, I do not believe. My object in writing this note is to caution against trusting to present appearances, and cutting down valuable trees. The spring is not the time to judge of the condition of a peach tree under the circumstances. The wood under the bark may look dark and dead, and still the tree be alive. More than this; the tree may be so injured by cold that it has not strength to put out leaves in the spring, and still not be killed. Wait until August; if there is any vitality in the tree, it will show it in that month by putting out leaves. If it does not leaf out in August, you may safely cut it down as a cumberer of the ground.
This is no guess work, but the result of observation. I have seen peach trees cut down, supposed to be dead, that put out leaves in the brush pile; and I have seen trees, pronounced dead by all who saw them, leaf out in August, and bear fruit the next year. I have known such trees to bear several crops before a young orchard could be raised to good bearing size.
It requires some faith and patience to let them stand through the spring and early summer with no appearance of life. But none who wait till August to test the matter will regret it. If some are killed, others may be saved by waiting. J. H. W.
Notice to the Churches of the Minn. Conf.
By H. F. Phelps
The third quarter of our Conference year closed the last of March. I hope to hear from every one. Send in your reports. There are two or three I have not yet heard from this year.
H. F. Phelps, Sec’y.
The Review and Herald.
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