PAUL in 2 Cor. 3, calls this dispensation, in comparison with the former, the "ministration of the Spirit." From this it appears that this dispensation was to be characterized by the out-pouring and influence of the Spirit of God. In the prophecy which brings it to view, Joel, 2: 28, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2: 17, the Lord says: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." The last days here signify the whole gospel dispensation; and they are the last when taken in connection with the whole history of the world from the time of its creation, six thousand years ago.
The effect of this out-pouring of the Spirit on all flesh was to be seen in the following results: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."
When we speak of the doctrine of the gifts of the Spirit, we simply mean the operation of the Spirit in the ways here indicated; and that the Spirit was designed to operate in this manner through this dispensation, much proof can be found in the New Testament. In his last commission to his disciples, Jesus said: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Mark, in recording this, shows the manner in which he would be with them: "And these signs shall follow them that believe." Verse 17. And again, verse 20: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following."
This was the way in which our Lord continued with his disciples, by the influence and operations of the Holy Spirit; and that this was to continue to the end, is certain from his own promise: "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."
Peter, on the day of Pentecost said to those who were convicted: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." This shows again that the promise of the Holy Ghost covers the whole dispensation and was to continue to the end.
Paul, in 1 Cor. 12, dwells upon this subject in full. He says: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." Verse 1. In verse 4, he continues: "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." Verse 6. "And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
Here it is very clearly stated that all the operations are the work of the same Spirit; they are simply the different channels through which it manifests its presence. Paul proceeds to illustrate this by reference to the human body, speaking of its different members, and the particular offices which these members are to perform; and in making this application at the conclusion of the chapter, he says: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some, in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, and after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
That these gifts were once in the church, all admit, for we are assured that God formally and officially set them in the church. And who has taken them out of the church? If God has done this should it not be recorded in as explicit a manner as that he once established them therein?
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul again takes up the subject. He says, Eph. 4: 11: "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." These gifts are called in verse 8, gifts which he gave unto men, "when he ascended up on high."
Now he states that the object of these gifts was for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
He states how long they are to continue. "Till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
From the end and object of these gifts, as here stated, it will be seen at once that they are just as much needed at one point in this dispensation as another; just as necessary in the closing up as in the beginning. Some say these gifts were needed when the gospel was first introduced, but the necessity having passed away, they are no longer demanded; but is not the unity of faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, and the attainment unto the measure of the stature and the fulness of Christ, still desirable in the Christian dispensation?
But if we may judge from the practices of the whole Christian world, they believe in only a partial abolition of these gifts of the Spirit. Do they not have evangelists? Do they not ordain pastors? Do they not believe in teachers? On what ground? Because Christ commanded his disciples to go forth and teach all nations and to continue this work even to the end of the world. But the commission did not limit the work to these branches, but promised the gift of the Spirit as we have already shown in its diversities of operations to the end of the world. If we take this ground, that the gifts have been taken from the church, that the operation of the Spirit in these special methods, was designed to cease, and has ceased, then we must no longer plead for evangelists, pastors, teachers, nor sustain by any special means, the work of the ministry.
If these gifts were to continue through the Christian dispensation, it is asked why we have not examples of their manifestations? We answer that there have been instances in every age of the operation of the Spirit in some of these marked and special ways. The reason of their being no more frequent is found in the occurrence of the great apostasy so plainly predicted in the Christian church. Men have departed from God. All Christendom has been sunk in the darkness of error and superstition with which the world has been flooded by the Romish church. The true children of God have been few and obscure.
For examples of the manifestations of these gifts in the Gospel age the reader is referred to books entitled "Miraculous Powers," and the "Spirit of God," published at the Review and Herald Office, Battle Creek, Mich.
It might be expected that so important an agency in the Christian church would be counterfeited by the powers of darkness; hence we have the injunction, "Try the spirits," and the warning that many false prophets have gone out into the world. We are called upon to discriminate carefully between the true and false. We are not to reject all gifts because some of them are counterfeited. We do not throw away money, or refuse its use, because there are counterfeits in the land. Everything valuable we must expect to be counterfeited. We guard ourselves by learning how to test the false by the true.
On the subject of the gifts our Lord gives us an infallible rule: "By their fruits ye shall know them." See Deut. 13: 1; 18: 21. If that which is predicted by the prophet comes not to pass, it is proof that he is not sent of God; but even if it does come to pass, if its tendency is to lead away from God, it is to be rejected as false. The spiritualists of these modern times, and the Mormons, furnish remarkable instances under these heads.
We have referred to a prophecy which speaks of this dispensation in general, and proves the existence of the gifts throughout the Gospel age. We have seen why they have been so little manifested; it is because of the great apostasy. Now as the Church comes out from the wilderness and the errors of the dark ages, by true and genuine reformation, we naturally conclude that the gifts will be restored and that this dispensation will close, as it commenced, with remarkable manifestations of the work of the Spirit of God.
In accordance with this we have prophecies which plainly point to the revival of the gifts in the closing days of this dispensation. See Rev. 12: 17: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." By the woman we are to understand the church; by her seed, the members of the church throughout this dispensation. Therefore the remnant of her seed can refer to only one body of people, the last generation of Christians upon the earth. These are characterized by keeping the commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ. In Rev. 19: 10, we have the definition of what is here called the "testimony of Jesus Christ." Said the angel to John, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This the reader will at once recognize as one of the gifts set in the church.
1 Cor. 1: 6, 7, shows that the church that are waiting for the coming of Christ are to come behind in no gift. The 5th chapter of 1 Thess. is evidently addressed to the church when the day of the Lord is about to come. In that chapter we have this instruction from the apostle: "Despise not prophesyings;" showing that these will then appear in the church. And we may reasonably infer that the prophecy of Joel 2: 1, 28, 31, quoted by Peter in Acts 2, being given in reference to the coming of the great day of the Lord would be fulfilled in as remarkable a manner as we draw near to that day, as it had been in any part of the Gospel dispensation. That the gift of prophecy is manifested according to the Scriptures in connection with the three angel's message we refer the reader to works published at the Review and Herald Office, entitled the "Spirit of Prophecy," and the "Testimony to the Church."
"MUCH IN LITTLE."
BRIEF TESTIMONIALS ON MAN'S PRESENT CONDITION, THE INTERMEDIATE STATE, FUTURE PUNISHMENT, ETC., FROM REPUTABLE AUTHORS.
AN ORTHODOX TRANSLATION.
MR. KITTO, author of a very popular and valuable work, called the "Religious Encyclopedia," under the term "Adam," makes the following suggestive criticism. One might almost believe that he dissented from the common notion of man's innate immortality. Hear him: "And Jehovah God formed the man (Heb., the Adam) dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living animal Some of our readers may be surprised at our having translated neh-phesh chayiah by 'living animal.' There are good interpreters and preachers who, confiding in the common translation, 'living soul,' have maintained that here is intimated a distinctive pre-eminence above the inferior animals, as possessed of an immaterial and immortal spirit. But, however true that distinction is, and supported by abundant argument from both philosophy and the Scriptures, we should be acting unfaithfully if we were to assume its being contained or implied in this passage."
CRITICISM FROM PROF. BUSH.
Prof. Bush, in his "Notes on Genesis," thus comments on Gen. 2: 7:—
"'Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.' Heb., 'breath of lives;' intimating, as some have supposed, that man possesses the vegetative life of plants, the sensitive life of animals, and that higher rational life which distinguishes humanity. Still, it is not certain that this is the import of the plural in this word, nor is it possible to say with confidence what it is. As to the action here attributed to the Creator, we are not to suppose that any such process was actually peformed by him as breathing into the nostrils of the inanimate clay which he had molded into the human form. This is evidently spoken after the manner of men; and we are merely to understand by it a special act of Omnipotence imparting the power of breathing, or respiration to the animal fabric that he had formed, in consequence of which it became quickened and converted to a 'living soul,' that is, a living sentient creature. This act is indicated by the phrase 'breathed into his nostrils,' because the function of respiration is chiefly visible in this part of the human frame."
And he concludes on this passage with the following honest admission: "Indeed, it may be remarked that the Scriptures generally afford much less explicit evidence of the existence of a sentient, immaterial principle in man, capable of living and acting separate from the body, than is usually supposed."
ORIGIN OF THE POPULAR DOCTRINE.
Mr. Pantom Ham, of Bristol, England, in writing of the immortality of the soul, says: "Let it be registered as the genuine genealogy, that Pagan Plato was its father, and the profligate Pope Leo its foster-father. Born and bred by the Pagan philosophy, the protege of Popery, this notion of the soul's immortality has become a pet dogma of popular Protestantism, which, with a strange forgetfulness of its low lineage, openly declares it to be the honorable offspring of a true orthodoxy!"
HORRID TEACHING.
The American Tract Society published a tract, No. 277, by Rev. James Saurin, which says: "The wicked (in the fire of hell) utter as many blasphemies against God as the happy souls in Heaven shout hallelujah to his praise!" To such teaching we answer in the words of the prophet: "Wo to them that utter error against the Lord," "Wo unto them that put darkness for light," "Wo unto the blind guides." Give us the "mind of Spirit," if it tears every creed in Christendom to atoms.
The Order of Events in the Judgment.
By John Nevins Andrews
NUMBER THREE.
We have seen that though the book of life is the final book of reference to determine who shall have part in the first resurrection, yet it must itself first be examined by the book of God's remembrance for the removal of every name that has not completed the work of overcoming.
1. The book called the "book of remembrance" is written expressly for the righteous, and is the book which shall determine, in their cases, the decision of the judgment. This book is particularly referred to in the following passages :—
Mal. 3 : 16-18: "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not."
Ps. 56 : 8: "Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?"
Neh. 13 : 14: "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof."
The book of God's remembrance mentioned in these texts pertains only to the righteous. Yet it appears to be a different book from the book of life. For though that book belongs alone to the righteous, it seems to be simply the record of their names (Luke 10 : 20; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3 : 5; 13 : 8; 17 : 8), while the book of remembrance is the record of their good deeds. Mal. 3:16-18; Ps. 56 : 8; Neh. 13 : 14. But should we conclude that the book of life is identical with the book of God's remembrance, it will not essentially change this argument. For it would still follow that the record of the good deeds of the righteous, if it shows that they have overcome all their faults, and perfected the graces of the Spirit of God in themselves, is that which determines that their names shall be retained in the book of life, and their sins blotted out of the books which record them. But if the record be not such that God can accept, then their names must be removed from that book (Ex. 32 : 32, 33; Ps. 69 : 28; Rev. 3 : 5), and the record of their good deeds also be blotted out to be no more remembered. Neh. 13 : 14; Eze. 3 : 20.
The book of God's remembrance contains the names of all who enter into the service of God, and of such only. Yet not every one of these does follow on to know him. Many that set out to overcome do not complete the work. That record, however, will show just how far they advanced in overcoming, and how and when they failed. As it contains simply the good deeds of the righteous, it will show their acts of repentance, confession, obedience, and sacrifice recorded therein. When the work is complete then this record shows them prepared for the examination of the judgment. This, therefore, is the book out of which the cases of the righteous are to be decided, and from whose record they are to be accounted worthy of that world and the resurrection from the dead.
2. The justification of the righteous in the judgment must precede that resurrection which is called "the resurrection of the just." Our Lord speaks of the resurrection of the righteous by this designation. Luke 14 : 14. Paul states that this resurrection shall be at the coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15 : 23, 51-54; 1 Thess. 4 : 16-18.
Matt. 12 : 36, 37: "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
The justification of the judgment must be when the righteous are accounted worthy of a part in the first resurrection. But before they are thus justified in the judgment they give account of their words. And this being true, it follows that God preserves a record of the words which we speak; also that our evil words are not blotted out until this account has been rendered. But the acquittal and the blotting out, of necessity, precede the gift of immortality to the righteous at the advent of our Lord.
3. The decision of the judgment in the case of the righteous must be when the blotting out of their sins takes place.
Eccl. 12 : 14: "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
God brings the conduct of men into the judgment by means of books of record. They are judged "out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20 : 12, 13.
But the sins of the righteous are blotted out before the coming of the Lord. Acts 3 : 19, 20. And it is manifest, that their sins cannot be brought into the judgment after they are thus blotted out. But the righteous are to be judged as really as are the wicked. Eccl. 3 : 17. It follows, therefore, that their judgment must be at the time of the blotting out of their sins.
For then there is an end made forever of the record of their transgressions. Now it is manifest that when this final work is wrought, it will pertain only to those who have fully repented of their sins, and have perfectly accomplished the work of overcoming. This work of blotting out sins brings our Lord's priesthood to an end. He must be priest till then. He is not needed as priest after that. But when our Lord does blot out the sins of his people he must present their cases individually before his Father and show from the "book of remembrance" that they have severally repented of their sins, and have completed their work of overcoming. Then the Father accepts the statement thus made and the evidence thus presented in the case of each one, and bids the Son to blot out the record of that person's sins. This is manifestly the very time and occasion at which the righteous are accounted worthy of the resurrection to immortality. Their sins are thus brought into the judgment through their High Priest, and through him the righteous render account of their sins to the Father. This account being accepted, their sins are blotted out, and themselves pronounced just before God. This is the justification of the judgment.
4. There is a time for blotting out the names of some from the book of life, and of confessing the names of the others before the Father.
Rev. 3 : 5: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."
The time of blotting out names from the book of life precedes the deliverance of the saints. For at the time of that event every one shall be delivered "that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12 : 1. Thus the fearful threatening of Ex. 32 : 32, 33; Ps. 69 : 28; Rev. 22 : 19; is executed in the removal of names from this book before the coming of Christ. Those who overcome are the ones who have their sins blotted out. But those who fail to overcome have their names stricken from the book of life. The examination of their record must, therefore, precede both these acts of blotting out, for the express purpose of determining whether they shall have their sins blotted out, or have their names removed from the book of life. We have seen that it is at this very point that the righteous give account of their sins through their High Priest, who, from the book of God's remembrance, shows that they have repented, confessed, forsaken, and overcome, of their sins. Also that they are thus acquitted and justified in order that they may have a part in the resurrection to immortality. Here is also the very act of the Saviour in confessing the names of his people before his Father and the holy angels, that shall close our Lord's priesthood and place his people where they shall be forever free from all their sins. For when the book of God's remembrance is found to prove that the person under examination is an overcomer, it is then the part of the Saviour to confess his name before his Father and the holy angels, and the part of the Father to give judgment that that person's sins be blotted out the record. Surely it is of some account to us that we have part in the fulfillment of the promise, "I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." Matt. 10 : 32; Luke 12 : 8; Rev. 3 : 5.
5. The righteous are not done with their sins till they have rendered account in the judgment. Eccl. 3 : 17; 12 : 14; Matt. 12 : 36, 37. The only account that they can render is to show that they have made perfect work of repentance and of overcoming. This must be done before they are blotted out of the record above. Our Advocate with the Father must hold his office till he has saved his people from their sins. John 2 : 1; Matt. 1 : 21. He cannot close this work till he has seen them accepted in the judgment. Whence it follows that his office of45Advocate will constrain him to confess their names before the tribunal of his Father, and to show that their sins should be removed from the books.
6. When our Lord has thus finished his work as priest, his people are prepared to stand in the sight of God without an atoning sacrifice. The following texts make this very clear :—
Micah 7 : 18, 19: "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
And David, using the past for the future, as is frequent in the prophets, says: "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Ps. 103 : 12.
Jeremiah, in the promise of the new covenant, says: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Chap. 31 : 34.
Paul, quoting Jeremiah, says: "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 8 : 12.
Isa. 43 : 25: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
Jer. 1 : 20: "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve."
When these prophetic declarations are accomplished we shall no longer need an Advocate, Intercessor, Mediator, or High Priest. Our sins will never after that exist even in the record of the court of heaven. Our lost innocence will then have been recovered, and we shall then be like to the angels of God who walk in their original uprightness.
7. The accomplishment of this work of blotting out the sins of those who overcome is marked by a declaration of awful solemnity.
Rev. 22 : 11, 12: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."
These words virtually announce the close of our Lord's work as High Priest. They cannot be uttered till he, as our Advocate, has secured the blotting out of the sins of his people at his Father's tribunal. Yet we have seen that this work of blotting out is accomplished before he comes the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb. 9 : 27, 28. The text under consideration is in exact harmony with these facts. The solemn announcement, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, . . . and he that is holy, let him be holy still," is followed by these words: "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." The final work of our Lord for the removal of his people's sins does therefore precede his return in the clouds of heaven to reward every man according to his works. J. N. A.
Baptism.
By James White
BEFORE leaving the subject it is proper that we consider what is termed re-baptism. This is necessary from the fact that there are not a few persons who, after seeing the relation which the law of God sustains to baptism, become dissatisfied with their baptism. And here we wish to state that the immersion of those who have been sprinkled or poured is not re-baptism, as such persons have not been baptized. The just causes of dissatisfaction with baptism are as follows:—
1. Those who were buried in baptism before they had experienced that conviction for sins which is represented by the apostle as death. Those who have been buried alive, and who are now slain by the law of God should be buried.
2. Those who were baptized by an unworthy administrator. If the candidate, however, moved in the fear of God according to best judgment and felt the approbation of God, the unworthiness of the administrator does not make the baptism a wrong on the part of the candidate. And yet, as, baptism, in the words of Peter, is the answer of a good conscience, if the sensitive conscience be troubled over the fact that unworthy hands administered the ordinance, that conscience should be fully satisfied by a re-baptism where all the circumstances are right.
3. Those who have turned away from the Lord since they were baptized, and have fallen into sins: The prophet says of such: “When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned. In his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sins that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” Eze. 18:24.
In coming to the Lord and his church the sinner takes three steps; the first is repentance, the second is faith, the third is baptism. The backslider by his apostasy takes these three steps backward. God remembers these righteous acts in him no more. He is virtually an unbaptized person. Now what shall be done in his case after he shall take the first step over again in true repentance, and the second in faith in the pardoning love of Christ? Shall he go back and patch his old dead baptism on to the living acts of renewed repentance and faith? God forbid! As he is virtually an unbaptized soul let him, now that he is slain by the law under the last message, be buried with his Lord in baptism.
But right here some will start back at the idea of being re-immersed. The question is sometimes asked: “Who ever heard of re-baptism?” Well, dear reader, you shall now hear of it, and that too, on the highest authority. Paul at Ephesus inquires of certain disciples: “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what, then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 19:2–5.
Here is re-baptism. These persons had been baptized by John, and now they are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The baptism of John was valid and right in its time, and re-baptism did not invalidate it; but here was an advance of light and truth demanding a new baptism by those who walked in that light. And why, may not an advance of truth and light on our part call for re-baptism? We solemnly believe that burial in baptism is in the highest degree proper in those who take the advance position in the last message and who die a death such as they never before experienced. In the case of the disciples their advance was from truth to a greater truth; from light to a greater light; but our advance is from error to truth, from darkness to light. Was re-baptism called for under the circumstances existing eighteen centuries since? Why may not the call for it be more imperative in those who see the relation which the law of God and baptism hold to conversion?
But this is a tender subject, and should not be urged upon any one. Doubtless all who were buried in baptism before they were slain by the law will be re-baptized. Those who have been immersed in all good conscience are admitted to our churches without re-baptism. Such very generally, however, soon feel it to be their duty to receive baptism again. We would here repeat that none should be urged. Those who, receiving a genuine re-conversion, and are led by the Spirit of God, are very soon led into the water. To those who get up an unsanctified feeling of opposition to re-baptism we would say, you show too much evidence of life to be buried. Wait until the truth of God and the Spirit of God works in you that change which may be more properly illustrated by death, than by burial. J. W.
The California Christian Advocate on Baptism.
By James White
The editor of the Advocate makes the following uncandid remarks relative to our recent article in the Signs on baptism:—
“The Signs of the Times in a long article on immersion gives the case of Philip and the Eunuch in support of the immersion theory. The Eunuch was reading that portion of the prophecy which relates to Christ. Two or three verses were quoted—and Philip expounded the word. Then the Eunuch declared his readiness to be baptized, when a little rill was seen by the roadside—there was no pool nor river there.
“Our cotemporary seems surprised that the newly enlightened Ethiopian should speak of baptism.
“It asks: But why is this novice speaking of baptism? The record does not state that Philip had as much as mentioned the ordinance. It is evident however, that in preaching Jesus Philip had introduced baptism or the Eunuch would not have thought of it. Philip preached Jesus. His text was in Isaiah which speaks of his humiliation and death.
“We can explain the matter to our dear brother; there is nothing remarkable about it. In the sixth verse preceding the scripture quoted, this statement is made: ‘So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider.’ The conversion of the nations to Christ was foretold, the subjects initiated by sprinkling, all of which Philip no doubt explained to the Eunuch. An unfortunate text for Brother White.”
The gentleman has not disproved a single position we took in the article. He evidently did not expect to do anything of the kind, but entered into a sort of trifling over one of Heaven's most solemn ordinances. How does he know that Philip and the Eunuch came to only a little rill? How does he know that Philip sprinkled the young disciple? He was not present. Did they both go down into a little rill and come up out of a little rill? We solemnly protest against thus trifling with sacred things. The candid reader will not be at a loss to judge discreetly between the overwhelming evidence from our humble pen in favor of immersion, and the trifling of one who assumes the most responsible position in the M. E. church on the Pacific Coast. The words sprinkle and sprinkling do occur in the Bible. We read of the blood of sprinkling. And God says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean; but the editor knows very well that the sprinkling of a babe or an adult does not cleanse them in any sense whatever. The blood of Christ alone cleanses from sin. J. W.
Switzerland.
By James White
We have received an interesting letter from Elder Andrews, in which he states that he has received a very important letter from Brother Ribton of Italy. He states that this dear brother, though under financial embarrassment, is doing nobly. He is preaching constantly, and receiving accessions to the little army of Sabbath-keepers about them.
Brother Ribton calls for a paper in the Italian language. Brother Andrews is disposed to assist him in the work of publishing, and asks our advice as to size of sheet, etc. We think the size of the Signs of the Times, four or six numbers a year would be advisable, in case the needed means are provided. We take this method of responding to Elder Andrew's letter to us; and we earnestly pray that success may attend this effort. J. W.
The Pure Tone of Righteousness
Righteousness hath a pure tone, recognized by its possessors.