Earlier text: PRACTICAL THOUGHTSWomen's Educational Progress: Agricultural Schools and Cambridge Lectures
—There is steady progress all over the world in recognition of the claims of women to the best educational facilities. In France this spirit of progress has been carried into the domain of agriculture, and agricultural schools for girls have been established. One of the principal of these is that of Darnetel, near Rouen. It was started by a Sister of Charity and two little discharged prison-girls, with a capital of one franc, and is now worth $165,000. There are in this establishment 300 girls, from six to eighteen years of age. The farm, entirely cultivated by them, is over 400 acres in extent. The pupils are in great demand all over Normandy on account of their skill. They go out as stewards, gardeners, farm-managers, dairy-women, and laundresses. If they want a home, they can always return to Darnetel. In England many women are now attending the lectures in Cambridge; and an appeal has been made to the vice-chancellor of the university, praying that the Senate will grant to properly qualified women the right of admission to the examinations for university degrees. In this country the number of colleges and universities offering their lectures to women is yearly increasing. Speak Short: The Value of Condensation in Speaking and Writing
—An aged minister said to a young brother, “Speak short. The brethren will tell you if you don't speak long enough.” The counsel is good; good for speakers and good for hearers; good for writers and good for readers. Length without breadth and thickness is a very poor recommendation in a sermon, a prayer, or a newspaper article. The power of condensation, abridgment, and elimination of useless matter, is greatly to be coveted. When a man has five minutes in which to speak, he will usually consume one of them in telling the people what he is going to say, or in informing them that he has “been thinking” of something which he proposes to relate. If men who have something to say would say it, if those who have thoughts would speak them, and those who have something to write would write it, omitting prefaces, introductions, and useless and unmeaning remarks, much time and space would be saved with no loss to any one.—The Christian. Illiteracy and Education Efforts in Manchester
—Manchester, England, with a population of 500,000, has 50,000 adults that can neither read nor write. But earnest efforts are being made to better this unhappy condition of things. Attendance of children on the public schools is compulsory, and a large number of evening classes have been opened by the School Board. Owens College also has evening classes, where for a small fee a young man may pursue a thorough collegiate education, and take his degree at the London University. Wesleyan Missionary Publishes English-Zulu Dictionary
—Rev. Charles Roberts, a Wesleyan missionary to South Africa, is publishing in London an English-Zulu dictionary, which will give the Zulu equivalent for about 18,000 English words—another missionary contribution to literature and scholarship. No home study of the lesson can take the place of its examination in teachers' meeting. The best teacher in the world needs the help of his fellow-teachers in finding out what is in that lesson, and what others want to know about it. It is one thing to learn for one's self; it is quite another thing to learn for others. A teacher has to learn for others. To do this he must have the help of others. Many a teacher who has studied a lesson thoroughly by himself would find, on attending a teachers' meeting, that points to which he had given little attention, or which seemed simplest to him, were most puzzling to some of his fellow-teachers. And again, a point which he had quite overlooked in his studies would be brought into special prominence by the incisive question or the bright comment of another teacher. In fact, if a teacher knows everything about the lesson, he needs a comparison of his views with others, to show him the wants of those not so well prepared as himself, and to guard him against the danger of taking too much for granted as to the intelligence of his scholars. On the other hand, if a teacher does n't know everything about the lesson,—which is quite probable, however much he has studied it,—he is likely to gain in knowledge through the study of those who have been making a preparation quite apart from his own. A really good teacher always knows that he cannot prepare himself for his Sabbath duties so well without the aid of a teachers' meeting as with it. A teacher who thinks that he has nothing to gain from a teachers' meeting lacks as yet three things: how to study, how to learn, and how to teach.—S. S. Times. “A little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds.” Gen. 43:11. —To be a well-rounded Christian man or woman includes the highest graces of true gentility.—S. S. Times. —The little mishaps of each day, if pondered, may remind us of a neglected season of prayer, or a hasty word to the family at home.—Christian Observer. —At the final reckoning, the little things done in a loving Christian spirit will surprise us by the magnitude of the reward they bring.—Religious Herald. —That class of men whose business it is to carry elections has been the enemy of republics ever since republics began, and this class is coming into existence in this country in alarming numbers and power.—Joseph Cook. —The sixth commandment refers to our own lives as well as to those of others; and if we can carry on our business only by overdrawing the capital of our strength, it is plain that we should abridge our trade at almost any sacrifice, and seek a larger amount of rest.—W. M. Taylor, D. D. —A very learned man once asked Luther how he would be able in the day of Judgment to bear the responsibility of having rejected the opinions of so many learned men. With a smile he replied: “In this manner I will do it: Dear Lord Christ, I will say, I well knew that they were all learned men, but I acted so foolishly and had such confidence in thee, that thou, O Christ, wert more learned and wise than they and the whole world. If thou then didst deceive me, I am indeed deceived.” —Christian faith is, then, not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ, a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection; a recumbency upon him as our atonement and our life, as given for us, and living in us. It is a sure confidence which a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favor of God; and, in consequence thereof, a closing with him, and cleaving to him, as our “Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption;” or in one word, our Salvation.—John Wesley. BIBLE RELIGION.
By James White
AN APPEAL TO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS. WITH a deep sense of the want of Bible religion among our people generally, we appeal to our readers upon the subject. We are pained with existing wrongs among us, and what is really alarming is the fact that these evils are increasing, and that spiritual life is departing. It is true that but very few are leaving our ranks. This, however, can afford little consolation when it is evident that our people, as a body, are getting a stronger hold on this world, and in about the same ratio their hold on Heaven is growing feebler. It is of no use to deny the fact that we are a backslidden people. God does not work with the proclamation of the present truth as in the earlier days of our cause. And the last message does not tell on the heart and life of converts as it did twenty years since. The increasing clearness and strength of our positions hold our people from renouncing the faith; but at the same time consecration to God and his cause is not maintained, and spiritual life is departing. In this state of things the inquiry comes up, What shall be done? Where is the remedy? After prayerfully and carefully considering the matter, we are confident that God's Spirit has led our mind to take a clear and Scriptural view of the fearful evils that exist among us, and that Bible religion is the only remedy. In returning fully to the Lord and to his living word, is our only hope. Bible religion is that which when carried out in the life accords with the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. This, we affirm, is the only kind worth having. The Bible speaks of “our religion,” “the Jews’ religion,” “vain” religion, and of “pure religion, and undefiled before God.” The latter is what we mean by Bible religion. The principles set forth in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are pure principles. That religion which consists in actions and devotions which have their basis in these principles, is pure religion. And all who from the heart put forth such actions and devotions will attain to purity of life and character, and to a pure Heaven at last. The apostle James speaks of pure religion and undefiled before God as though pure religion might be corrupted and defiled. And Peter speaks of those who “have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord,” and are again overcome. He states that it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness. And Paul in his epistle to Timothy, speaks of those who have “a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.” Bible religion is represented as being very rare in the last days, near the end, just prior to the second coming of Christ. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt. 24:12, 13. Christ here speaks of his second coming and the end of the world. Therefore, just prior to that event there will be general apostasy, because of the abounding of iniquity in the professed churches of Christ. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” 1 Tim. 4:1, 2. Bible religion will be extremely scarce at the time of the second advent of Christ. This idea is gathered from the parable of the importunate widow, and the significant inquiry of Christ, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1–8. He will find faith in a few, as in the days of Noah, when God poured a flood of waters around the world to wash it from its pollution; or when he sent fire and brimstone upon the cities of the plain in the days of Lot. But with the masses it will also be as then. The words of the divine Author of our holy religion must be regarded as the correct standard of pure religion. And it is our only safe course to receive the declarations of the Son of God as meaning all they say. It is risky beyond expression to discount on the teachings of Christ. And yet if his discourses to his disciples be received as meaning word for word what they say, they will unchristianize ninety-nine of every one hundred Protestant Christians of our time. It is only by discounting heavily on the words of the Son of God that these professed Christians make themselves believe that they are the children of the Lord. Some discount ten per cent, others twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, and not a few, in order to find any hope of Heaven, make the liberal discount on the words of Christ of ninety-nine per cent. But we solemnly believe that these persons are making a fearful mistake. And in the final settlement they will find out to their anguish that the only safe estimate of the words of the great Teacher, is one hundred per cent, or just what he says. Pure religion is Bible religion, or that religion which comes up to the standard of the testimony of the great Redeemer. Bible religion is a power in the land. The popular religion of the day, with all its vain philosophy, is powerless to move the minds and hearts of the people. Worthless converts are the fruits of a worthless gospel. All else ceases to have power on the mind and heart of the sinner, to work a sound conversion, resulting in the exhibition of pure religion, excepting the word of God. The powerless condition of the popular churches is accounted for on the ground that their standard of religion falls far below the Bible standard. And the conviction is pressing heavily on our mind that the answer to the inquiry, “Why do Seventh-day Adventists have no more power to move the world with the stirring truths they hold?” is found in the fact that they do not come up in their practical teachings, and in their lives and church discipline, to the plain teachings of Him whom they profess to follow. The time has fully come for an earnest appeal to the word of God. In that word is power. All else is powerless. Common sinners will be lost unless the word of God be laid upon their naked consciences. Popular professors will be lost unless the word be laid on their religious life, and the deception they are under be exposed. And Seventh-day Adventists are losing their love for the plain testimony from the Bible, and they must return to their first devotion and love for the word of God, or they will make the fatal mistake which others have made before them. J. W. CHRIST'S LITTLE ONES.
By James White
When the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” he called a “little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matt. 18:1–6. In briefly commenting upon these words of Christ, we notice these important points:— 1. It was on the occasion of a private interview between the Lord and his disciples that these words were spoken; hence the instruction was given for the benefit of the church of Christ to the close of probation. 2. While the disciples, doubtless, refer to a temporal kingdom, which they supposed Christ would establish in this world, the Lord, in the use of the phrase “kingdom of Heaven,” refers, sometimes to the kingdom of grace, or to the church established in this mortal state, and at other times to the future kingdom of glory. 3. The inquiry of the disciples, “Who shall be greatest?” is natural to the carnal mind. Even the intimate disciples of Christ were subject to this feeling. And they were excusable to some extent on account of their inexperience, and want of a clear understanding of the nature of the kingdom of Christ. But many in our time who have the words of Christ before them, and the history of those who would be lords over God’s heritage as a warning to them, are guilty of the most selfish feeling. These are hardly excusable in cherishing the carnal, selfish desire to be greatest in the church. 4. The rebuke of the Son of God is complete. The little child, unsophisticated and confiding in its innocence and feelings of dependence, is the beautiful emblem of the true subjects of the kingdom of grace. Such Christians lived in the time of our fathers. But in our day a strong spirit of irreligion, in the popular garb of progression, whether with spiritualists, or those infatuated professors who hold that we are just stepping upon the borders of the golden age, points back to those confiding followers of Jesus as superstitious, credulous, and far behind the times. Would God there were more confiding, old-fashioned, humble disciples of Christ in our time, illustrated by the Master, in the symbol of the innocent little child. 5. True Christians, young and old, are here called “little ones which believe in me.” These are not babes, but believing men and women, who have humbled themselves as a little child, and are truly converted. These may be plain and simple in manner, credulous and confiding, uneducated and unaccomplished, poor and old; but they are very precious in the sight of the Lord. He who receives one of these receives Christ. “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,” says the Master, “it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” J. W. It seems a strange question to discuss whether the third chapter of Second Peter is literal or figurative; but this discussion is forced upon us by the advocates of the “Age to Come.” They make no provision in their system for the radical change which is here described, and hence, to get over the testimony, must in some way, explain it away. Consistency would seem to indicate that we should interpret the Old Testament prophecies by the New Testament scriptures. These were written at a later date, are designed for Christians, and constitute the unfolding of that progressive plan set forth partially in the Old Testament. And whoever tries to interpret the Old Testament scriptures without reference to the New, is almost sure to go astray. We therefore say that the New Testament should be the governing book in the expositions of the prophecies of the former dispensation. The believers in the Age to Come seem inclined to reverse this order, and to take those prophecies which were written nearly a thousand years before Christ, and which they claim are to be fulfilled three thousand years after his time, and make an application of them, riding right over the modifying, literal, and explicit statements of the New Testament. They cannot admit that what Peter says concerning the destruction of the present heavens and earth is literal, but they go back to some obscure prophecy of the Old Testament, where some reference is made to an abundant yield of wheat, or the wonderful productions of the vine, and the fertility of the soil, and find no trouble in making that all literal, even though they233 have to wait three thousand years for the fulfillment, and override some of the plainest declarations of Scripture which stand in their way. They wish the third chapter of Second Peter to teach this, That when the Lord comes, his judgments, revealed by fire, will neither be very extensive nor very long in duration; but that while some of his enemies will be destroyed by the means here described, others will be spared to hear the gospel, and be converted, and when they have been turned to God, this will constitute the new heavens and the new earth which are promised. Neither are they willing that the earth should be so entirely renovated that the precise locality of Palestine should not preserve its present geographical position, and all its essential features. Hence, they find it necessary to make these expressions concerning the passing away of the heavens with a great noise, the melting of the elements and the earth itself, and the burning up of the works therein, to be mystical or figurative expressions, setting forth only a work to be accomplished among men. But a more offensive system of mysticism it would be hard to find. Another writer of that school, seeing that the language is too plain to be mystified or spiritualized, admits that it describes literal scenes, but claims that these are only local in their application. Every declaration of the context, and every law of language, leads us to the conclusion that this chapter is to be literally fulfilled. Reference is made to the antediluvian world. The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. This certainly signifies, not simply the drowning of the inhabitants of the world, but the literal and absolute overflowing of the land with water. The heavens and the earth which are now are just as literal as the heavens and the earth before the flood; and these are “kept in store, reserved unto fire,” says Peter,—fire, just as literal as the ancient water,—“against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” But, reasons one of the writers of the theory we are reviewing, the flood only caused the people to perish, and did not destroy the constitution of the earth, so the fire threatened by Peter will only affect the people, and not the earth. But even this is an admission fatal to their theory; for if it destroys the wicked from the earth as fully as the flood destroyed the ungodly antediluvians, it will take every one but the righteous; and where, then, are there any nations to be subjugated by the preaching of the gospel and the kingdom of Christ? But that it means something more than simply the people is evident from the phraseology of verse 7: “The heavens and the earth, which are now, are kept in store, reserved unto” this fire. Who are kept in store? Are there any wicked nations, are there any wicked people now being preserved and kept to the fire of the great day? Certainly not; but this earth itself, this planet, is reserved to the fire of this day of Judgment. This will not annihilate the earth, nor destroy its substance, and is no contradiction of that ancient declaration of God, that the foundations of the earth are laid forever. But it is a process which will thoroughly renovate, melt, and renew the whole face of nature. This sublime scene is again described when John says in Rev. 20:11, “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was no place found for them.” And it is not necessary that the renewed earth should bear many, if any, of the geographical features of the earth in its present condition; for in the city which comes down from God out of heaven, to be located here, as the metropolis of this earth, will be Mount Zion, and the everlasting throne of the Son of David. But we caution the reader to beware of any theory which obliges us to spiritualize so plain and literal a prophecy as 2 Peter 3. If we may be allowed to treat this prophecy thus, we may spiritualize all others, and go back at once to the deepest fog of the dark ages, ACKNOWLEDGMENT
By John Nevins Andrews
We have to-day received a package from the REVIEW Office, containing a quantity of our German paper and of the Danish and Swedish papers; also some publications in English, such as the Health and Temperance Annual, the Youth’s Instructor, and Good Health. We have besides received a patent lithogram for the copying of letters, which, on trial, promises to do excellent work. We are greatly encouraged and cheered by the reception of these things, which will add much to our means of usefulness. The inhabitants of Basle are mostly Germans, though a large proportion are able to read the French language. We have commenced a systematic effort to place some of our publications in German and copies of our French paper in most of the families of the city, which involves a large amount of work. The copies of our German paper will be very timely to use in connection with our French paper. But the most serious task is the writing of letters to those who receive our publications. It seems like something very providential that this lithogram should come to hand at the very moment when we begin to feel deeply the need of something of the kind to aid us in this work. It seems the more providential in that we have not asked help of this kind from any of our friends, and have only presented our wants before God that he would aid us in this undertaking. But our work is not confined to Basle. It embraces all French Switzerland, and, to some extent, France and all countries where the French language is spoken. For the present we do comparatively little for other countries, for two reasons: 1. That we have a much larger number of addresses in Switzerland than we can possibly use for some time to come; and 2. That the postage to other countries being two and a half times as great as to places in Switzerland, we have been compelled, for want of means to pay the postage, to confine this branch of the work mainly to Switzerland. We have carefully put by a quantity of each of our back numbers for binding. Besides this, we have several hundred copies of each number which we are using in the following manner: We send four numbers in succession, inclosing in the first number a letter stating that we still publish our paper, and that we send these back numbers gratuitously as specimens of our journal. After this, we send a late number, and with it a letter inviting the receiver to become a subscriber. Much of the blessing of God has seemed to attend this effort. I hoped to do much the past winter in public labor. I commenced in feebleness, but with the hope that God’s blessing would sustain me; but heavy burdens which I did not anticipate came upon me, in addition to those I already bore, and my health and strength completely gave way. I cannot find words to express my sorrow that I should be obliged to remain at Basle, when everything demanded my active efforts in the field. It has seemed doubtful at some times this winter whether I should ever rally, but I now feel encouraged to believe that a change is taking place for the better. Though I have nearly lost the winter so far as my plan for public labor is concerned, and though I have suffered much anguish of spirit, yet, in other respects, I feel that the winter has not been lost. We have undertaken an extensive tract and missionary work, and I have bestowed much labor on the preparation of matter for our French paper. Besides this, I have seen the necessity of learning patience, and of humbling myself before God in view of my own faults. But I designed only to express our gratitude for the things received from Battle Creek. They seem to be especially providential in view of the work that we are now doing. We have much reason to believe that the publications we are sending through Switzerland are accomplishing an important work. Basle, March 7, 1880. J. N. A. AN ILLUSTRATION.
By Editor
Some one has of late been trying to gratify a little petty and ill-disguised spite against the REVIEW and its managers, by sending to various papers in Michigan an article based on falsehood and filled with malice, intended to place our paper in an unfavorable light and injure its influence and its work. It is pitiful to see papers, through heedlessness, if nothing worse, made the tools of designing men; and we are very sure if they knew the utterly groundless and unjust nature of the work which they are thus set about, and how little it disturbs the object of attack, they would not waste any space or printer’s ink in that direction. The situation is so well set forth in a story told by “Bob Burdette” about a little dog he found barking up a tree in the woods, that we give the story in preference to anything we might say on the subject:— “The tree was about two hundred feet high. The dog would probably stand about thirteen inches from the floor. He tried to climb that tree. He barked as though his throat was all the rams’ horns of Jericho. He was after that squirrel, which was just as far out of his reach as the clouds. And the squirrel wasn’t paying any attention to the dog, and, indeed, didn’t know what he was barking at. I am not positive that it had not gone off into another tree an hour ago, and was away off in another part of the woods, down near the county line. So I patted the dog’s head as I came away, and said to him,— “Carlo, keep it up. It seems to do you a heap of good, and it doesn’t bother the squirrel a particle. So keep it up; you can never climb the tree; you will never catch the squirrel; when he wants to come down, he will come down another way, and you will not see him. He will live just as long, and be just as happy with your noise as without it. It occupies your mind, and it doesn’t distract his; and it shows a very human trait in you, Carlo. I have known men just like you, men who spend their lives doing just what you are doing—barking at people who were out of their reach. Keep it up, Carlo, good dog.” A correspondent asks when and by whom the practice of crucifixion was abolished. The origin of this mode of punishment is traditionally ascribed to Semiramis. It was in use among the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, the Persians, the Assyrians, Scythians, Indians, Germans, and was very frequent, from the earliest times, among the Greeks and Romans. It was abolished by Constantine in the latter part of his reign, between the years 324 and 337. Sozomen, in his ecclesiastical history, page 16, speaking of Constantine says: “He abolished the law which had prevailed among the Romans of putting criminals to death by crucifixion.” SOME flatter themselves that they are the friends of God and on their way to Heaven, while they willingly neglect and evade the payment of their debts. All their profession will amount to nothing in the sight of God. An apostle says, “Having your conversation [commerce, trade, dealing,] honest among the Gentiles.” The Christian religion has done but very little for that person who has not learned to be honest in deal. One who will try to avoid the payment of just dues, may talk religion; but it is only a hollow sound, like the “sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal.” My brother, “Render to all their dues,” if you would pass within those gates of pearl where there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life. See Rev. 21:27. R. F. C. Every Human Being Has a Distinct Character
—No process is so fatal as that which would cast all men in one mold. Every human being is intended to have a character of his own, to be what no other is, to do what no other can do. Our common nature is to be unfolded in unbounded diversities. It is rich enough for infinite manifestations. It is to wear innumerable forms of beauty and glory. Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influences to exert, which are peculiarly his, and which no conscience but his own can teach. Let him not enslave his conscience to others, but act with the freedom, strength, and dignity of one whose highest law is in his own breast.—Channing. THE FIRST RESURRECTION.
By John Nevins Andrews
The first resurrection is brought to view in Rev. 20:4-6. It takes place at the commencement of the thousand years, six times mentioned in as many consecutive verses in Rev. 20:2-7. During this period of a thousand years, those who have part in the first resurrection unite with Christ in the judgment of the wicked. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:1-3; Dan. 7:22. Another resurrection is brought to view in Rev. 20:5, where it is said that the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. Those who are not raised at the commencement of the thousand years will not be raised till the end of that period. Thus it is seen that there are two future resurrections,—one at the commencement and one at the end of the thousand years. But may there not be several other resurrections besides these? We answer, No. There can be no resurrection before that one which John calls the first, unless it be of some individuals. He had this vision in A. D. 96. If a resurrection intervened between the time when this vision was given and the resurrection at the commencement of the thousand years, then the resurrection which John calls the first resurrection is not the first, but the second. But the Spirit of God, when it gave John this vision, chose this term to designate the resurrection which will take place at the commencement of the thousand years, and by this term “first resurrection,” it has made it certain that no resurrection will precede it. There can be no resurrection during the thousand years; for the Spirit of God says of those not raised at the commencement of that period that they lived not again till the thousand years were finished. But this proves that when the thousand years shall be finished the rest of the dead will all live again. There is therefore a first and a second resurrection. There will be no resurrection before the first, and there can be none after the second; for the second brings up those left by the first, or, as John expresses it, it is “the rest of the dead” who live again at the end of the thousand years. We have, then, this important fact clearly established: There will be two future resurrections separated by the period of one thousand years. The first resurrection will bring up only those who are “blessed and holy.” Rev. 20:6. The second resurrection will bring up all the unjust; for it brings up “the rest of the dead.” Verse 5. The first resurrection is at the commencement of the thousand years, but at what epoch do the thousand years commence? We can answer this question by reference to an important fact. Those who are Christ’s will be raised from the dead when he descends from Heaven at the sound of the last trumpet. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15:21-23, 51, 52. As there are only two future resurrections, the resurrection at the coming of Christ must be either the one at the commencement of the thousand years or the one at the end of that period. But the resurrection at the coming of Christ brings up only the just, which is the case with the first resurrection, while the resurrection at the end of the thousand years brings up all the unjust. It is therefore certain that the thousand years commence with the coming of Christ; for the resurrection at the coming of Christ is identical with what John calls the first resurrection, and cannot possibly be the same as the resurrection at the end of that period. But while it is true that the first resurrection brings up only those who are “blessed and holy” (Rev. 20:6), is it certain that all who are blessed and holy will have part in it? Does not verse 4 imply that only the martyrs will rise in the first resurrection? We answer that, if it be limited to the martyrs, it must, by the same reasoning, be limited to a particular class of the martyrs; for it speaks of those who are beheaded, and makes no mention of those burned at the stake, or thrown to wild beasts, or stoned, or cast into the sea, or starved in prison, or killed by lingering tortures in the Inquisition. But in the case of the martyrs one class is taken for the whole number; those who are beheaded representing all who are put to death for Christ. The martyrs, however, are not the only class that have part in the first resurrection. Verse 4, if literally translated, brings to view all the righteous dead. It should read thus: “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, AND WHOEVER [Greek καὶ οἵτινες,] had not worshiped the beast,” etc. Dr. Bloomfield in his Greek Testament, and Mr. Elliott in his Commentary on the Apocalypse, call attention to the fact that the literal translation of this verse, as here given, shows that besides the martyrs a second class is mentioned as having part in the first resurrection; viz., all who have not worshiped the beast. And these two classes really include all the dead in Christ, or perhaps we should say these two classes represent all the martyrs and all others who have died in Christ. Thus the first resurrection brings up all the “blessed and holy,” and must therefore take place at the coming of Christ; for “the dead in Christ,” or “those that are Christ’s,” are raised at his coming. 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. Certainly if those who are Christ’s are raised at his coming, every one who has part in the first resurrection must rise at that time. We see, therefore, that the resurrection at the coming of Christ brings up all the saints, and is the same as the resurrection at the commencement of the thousand years. The resurrection of the rest of the dead at the end of that period is therefore the resurrection of none but those who have died in their sins. It is therefore with the strictest propriety that the Bible designates these two resurrections by different names. One is called the resurrection to life; the other, the resurrection to damnation. John 5:29. (Martin.) One is the resurrection of the just; the other is the resurrection of the unjust. Acts 24:15; Luke 14:14. One is called the better resurrection, or first resurrection; the other is the resurrection of the rest of the dead. Heb. 11:35; Rev. 20:4-6. The first is the resurrection which Paul sought to attain, and in which all the saints shall be counted worthy to have part. Phil. 3:11; Luke 20:35. The subjects of the other will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan. 12:2. Those who have part in the first resurrection unite with Christ in the work of Judgment, and this honor is promised to the saints in general, which indicates that the first resurrection relates to all the righteous dead. Rev. 20:4; 1 Cor. 6:3; Dan. 7:22. Thus it has been shown that there will be two resurrections, the one that of the just at the coming of Christ, the other that of the unjust one thousand years later. But to this it is objected that all the dead will be raised at the same moment, because Christ says (John 5:28, 29), that the time, or hour (Greek, ὥρα), cometh when all the dead will come forth. But in immediate connection with this declaration Christ uses this same Greek word which we translate hour, or time, to signify the entire gospel dispensation, of more than eighteen hundred years. Thus he said to the woman of Samaria that the hour was coming when they should neither in Samaria nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. And he added, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-23. Again he said (John 5:25), “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” That hour had commenced in Christ’s time, and it is not yet finished. We can therefore well understand that the hour, or time, of John 5:28, harmonizes perfectly with the statement of Rev. 20:4-6, that a thousand years intervenes between the two resurrections. After the second resurrection, Satan will gather all the wicked in one vast army against the city of God. The human family will then become one vast assembly, all the righteous being within the city, and all the wicked around it. Then fire from God out of heaven will descend upon the unjust, and devour them. Or we may state the case thus: The first clause of verse 4 brings to view those who shall take part with Christ in the Judgment. But we know from 1 Cor. 6:2, 3; Dan. 7:22, that all the saints participate in this. The first clause of Rev. 20:4 does, therefore, relate to all the saints, while the second and third clauses present two representative classes, viz., those beheaded and those who had not worshiped the beast.