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Review and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 4

The Sermon.

Review and Herald

January 7, 1868

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · January 7, 1868

The Sermon.

By Eld. Albert Stone

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
PREACH THE WORD. 2 Tim. iv, 2.

THE WAGES OF SIN.

BY ELD. ALBERT STONE.
TEXT. Rom. vi, 23. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This text will lead us to speak
I. Of the nature of death.
1. Death, in whatever light it may be viewed, is an enemy to the race of man. It is a penalty inflicted on the whole race, on account of the sin of the first pair. It is a solemn testimony to all generations of God’s displeasure on account of sin. Its approach is heralded by dreadful diseases, and racking pains of body and derangement of mind. It takes in pieces, levels with the dust, and destroys the greatest piece of mechanism that the eyes of men ever beheld. It disrobes beauty, severs the strongest ties of affection, causes moans, tears, and mental agony, breaks the loving circle, wrenches from decrepid age and helpless infancy their only support; the beautiful voice, and the harmonious step are no more, and weeping mourners exclaim with one of old, “Bury my dead out of my sight.”
2. Death is not, as some suppose, complex in its nature, consisting of “death natural, death spiritual, and death eternal,” by which last is intended eternal conscious suffering under the displeasure of God. Such a view introduces confusion into the plan of salvation, thwarts the purpose of God, and makes the blood of Christ of no avail.
This will appear plain, if we consider one important truth, which by many, has been overlooked or forgotten, and that is, that original sin, as it is termed, or the sin of the first pair, which is the sole cause of death, finds no atonement in the blood of Christ. The plan of God contemplates no mercy, no pardon for that sin. The sentence, “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (“dying thou shalt die,” margin), whatever is intended by it, must be suffered by man in his own person.
Proof of the above is seen in the following facts:
1st. If atonement for original sin had been included in God’s plan of redeeming the world by his Son, then man would not have died; the execution of the sentence would have been stayed, and the race effectually and forever reprieved.
2d. But man dies and pays the debt in his own person. All men die; the righteous and the wicked, the old and the young, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the slave and his master, the hardened sinner and the harmless infant, all, all, without distinction, are called to meet the exaction, and satisfy the imperious demand, in their own persons.
Man dies, not because he has sinned personally, but because the first pair broke God’s prohibitory law. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (marginal, “in whom” all have sinned).
3dly. We inquire again, to what condition does death reduce the race of man? or, in other words, what does death take from man? Answer,
First, Probation. Man, when created, was placed in a state of probation for the achievement of a character, gifts and possessions, which, when achieved, would have placed the race in an exalted position. Properly speaking, he had no character, no confirmed mortality, or immortality, but was a candidate for either of these, and they could be developed only by his action toward law. The formation of character is man’s own work, not God’s. God gave to man a law which he broke, and thus became a sinner. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Now, the execution of this penalty, takes from man just what God gave him in the day when he created him, neither more nor less. He gave him, first, life; secondly, a kingly dominion. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Gen. ii, 7. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Gen. i, 26. In being deprived of life, he becomes just what he was before life was given, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Secondly. In losing his life he loses his dominion and inheritance. The curse of the Creator rests on man and on the world, and the whole creation groans and travails in unutterable agonies. The six days’ work of the Creator is spoiled. Sin reigns unto death, and, lost! lost! lost! is written on creation’s brow.
Now suppose for a moment that man is created in the possession of innate immortality; that he has a mortal body, and an immortal soul; that the threatening for disobedience includes not only the death of the body, but also that of the soul, by which is understood its eternal conscious punishment in the torments of hell. If such be the case, the conclusion is unavoidable that God has never revealed a plan by which such beings can be saved.
Do not forget that no atonement is made for original sin by the death of Christ. If, then, the threatening includes eternal conscious suffering, it follows that man cannot be saved by any plan which does not include in itself an atonement for original sin. The gospel of Christ can do nothing for men possessing natural immortality.
Again, if man possesses an immortal, deathless soul, and as God created all things that were created during the first six days of the world’s history, and consequently has not exercised his creative power since that time, it follows, as a matter of course, that the souls of the entire race of mankind, including the generations of the past and the future, have had a conscious existence since the world began. Who is prepared to credit such an absurdity? Yet the idea of man’s innate immortality shuts us up to this very faith; for as God is the Creator of all things, and as all things were created in six days, it follows that the souls of the entire race of man have had an active, intelligent, and conscious existence for nearly six thousand years. Common sense, and the experience of every person is a refutation of such a theory.
God’s plans are perfect, and in their executions, will prove to be without defect. But when men undertake to make improvements upon God’s plans, they will unavoidably introduce confusion.
Thus we see that fallen man lives, and dies, and goes into the grave, and there is where the gospel of redeeming grace finds him, with this one exception, viz.: that in the present life the children of God are regenerated, or begotten by the incorruptible seed, which is the word of God: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.” James i, 18. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.” 1 Pet. i, 23.
The above, with other like texts, show how immortality is brought to light, and the process through which men have to pass in order to obtain it. By the first Adam, the light of immortality was obscured and put out just as it began to dawn upon him and upon his race through the tree of life which was planted in Eden, and to which he had access.
The inspired writers unite their testimony in describing fallen man as the creature of a moment. Thus Job xiv, 1, 2, 4, says: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flowerof the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Pet. i, 24, 25.
Thus the wages of sin is death—death to the whole man. In death he has no possessions, no enjoyments, hopes, or expectations, no knowledge, or wisdom, or life. Whatever were his endowments in life, either of body, soul, or spirit, they are buried with him in the grave, where he sleeps the long sleep of death. He has been tried, found guilty, punished, and discharged from service. The Creator has no further claims upon him, and he has no further duties to perform, or obligations to discharge.
Independent of the gospel plan, which is a revelation made subsequent to the fall of man, the power of death can never be broken, the door of his prison-house can not be opened, but
“Silence, death, and long despair, Reign in eternal darkness there.”
He waits no shout of victory, no voice of angel, or trump of God, to wake him from the sleep of death. To such a condition of man is the gospel of Christ adapted. We now come to speak,
II. Of some of the successive stages by which death is overcome, or destroyed, and eternal life obtained.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The gospel of Christ is the announcement of the free and merciful gift of God to men. It may be regarded simply as an appendage to human affairs, of which he could have had no knowledge, and to which he could make no claim. Angels could not foresee that God would rescue man from the grave. No attribute of the divine Creator would have been tarnished in the eyes of an intelligent universe, had he left rebellious man without help or hope. The tree of life is guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword, so he cannot immortalize himself in his rebellious state and live forever. He has nothing to do but die, to go back to that state from whence he came, and be no more.
But God created the world with a purpose to make it a permanent habitation of men,—of men who should bear his image, both personal and moral, that as an additional colony of his universe, it might add beauty and glory to his possessions. It could not be in harmony with the plan of God that this purpose should not be executed. And further, the excellency of his nature induced him to love his fallen children with the love of pity and compassion, which moved him to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The object for which Christ came into the world, was to save the world, in harmony with his Father’s broken law, and thus carry out in effect the original purpose of God by giving his life a ransom for the world. This done, and the sacrifice accepted, the race of man is again placed upon probation for eternal life. The second probationary state differs from the first in one important particular, viz., in the first, Adam was the representative of his race; in the second, each person stands or falls according to his personal deeds. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. xviii, 4.
The penalty for disobedience, in both instances, is the same; disobedience is punished with death, and the holy requirements of God are the test of character.
1. In the fullness of time the meek and lowly Saviour appeared in the manger of Bethlehem; the angel of the Lord announces his birth to the shepherds, saying, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;” for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is “Christ the Lord.” And suddenly the ultimate object of his advent is announced by heavenly messengers, viz.: “Peace on earth, and good will to men.” Luke ii, 10–14. The birth of Christ is an important step in the development and execution of the plan of redemption.
His baptism by John, his temptation by Satan, his public ministry, and the miracles which he did, were indications of his ultimate success and final ejectment of Satan from his usurped authority and power over the affairs of the world.
2. The death of Christ is also necessary, in order to give eternal life to his people. The testimony of inspiration is that the “whole world lieth in wickedness,” and that our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. 1 John v, 19; Gal. i, 4.
In order, therefore, to destroy death and him that hath the power of death, that is, the Devil, the Lord Jesus enters the grave, explores the dominions of death, and by his resurrection saps the foundation of Satan’s kingdom, and takes from him the key of death. He rises a conqueror over death, and brings life and immortality to light. 2 Tim. i, 8–10.
When Adam and Eve sinned, the hope of immortality for the race of man perished; its light was obscured; the tree of life was first guarded, then removed; and the light and hope of immortality were both buried in the grave with the first transgressors, and it can never have a resurrection, unless the second Adam, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, goes into the grave, and, with his own precious life, brings it forth again from its obscurity. This he has accomplished; and thereby made the attainment of immortality a possibility, and set it forth as the greatest of blessings, to be sought for and obtained by the children of men. Thus the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
3. This gift will be bestowed at the resurrection of the just. Then those who have been faithful unto death will receive a crown of life. Rev. ii, 10. Then that which has been sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption. “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. xv.
4. Those who receive the gift of life will receive an inheritance which will consist of,
1st, A new heaven and a new earth. “For behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.” Isa. lxv, 17. “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Pet. iii, 13. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. v, 5. “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. xxv, 34. “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah iv, 8.
2dly, Incorruptibility. “To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away.” 1 Pet. i, 4.
3dly, All things made new. “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” Rev. xxi, 5. “He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev. xxi, 7.
This subject teaches that life and death are set before us in the gospel, and that if we fail to obtain the one, we must endure the other. Reader, you are invited to join the life-seeking company. Amen.

PROPHECY.

By Vesta N. Cudworth

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” 2 Peter, i, 12.
THE Scriptures span the vast outline From Eden's flower-gemmed shore, To where the bliss of a fadeless clime Is measured by time no more. Where the green palm tree lifts its head O'er lands redeemed by blood, And streams, like a silvery moonbeam, thread The Paradise of God.
Earth's not mentioned, and man forgot; With pens of living light The prophets have pictured the princely lot Of the heir, with a home so bright. Aye, pilgrim, lift thy tear-dimm'd eyes, For a “golden age” shall dawn; Thou shalt bask 'neath the light of its rosy skies, In the bliss of that glorious morn.
VESTA N. CUDWORTH.
Springfield, Mass.

OUR LAND AND ITS RELIGION.

[Bro. Smith: I clip this article from the Northwestern Christian Advocate, an organ of the Episcopal Methodists. As straws show which way the wind blows, does not this show that the crisis is near at hand when an image will be made to the beast? J. A. Gregory.]
The Northwestern of last week felt called upon to enter a solemn protest against the moral tone of the daily press of this city. We have repeatedly borne testimony to the intellectual strength and remarkable enterprise of our city papers. No journals this side of New York city equal them in these regards. Yet our regret is profound and overwhelming that they persist in assailing the great principles of Christian order and faith. We have pointed out the super-serviceable haste manifested in the service of a class of foreigners, mostly of German nationalities, who have caused it to be understood that their political suffrages can only be secured by a party consent to abolish the Christian Sabbath of this nation, and opening unrestricted traffic in intoxicating liquors. We have given our solemn warning that this demand will alienate the support of Christian men. The experiment was tried in New York. To please a clamorous German-infidel element, a disgraceful concession was made, and the election was lost to the Republican party. Our advices as to the outraged sentiment of the religious population of the State, the indignation of laity and clergy, of the men who voted, and paid and worked during the rebellion, enabled us, before the election, to predict the result as inevitable. In Iowa the position was reversed. The disaffected lager-beer men denounced the party and withdrew. The moral sense of religious men was appealed to, and the State was carried by an overwhelming majority, and that when it had to overcome the evil prestige of a previous unpopular administration. We cannot, perhaps, induce party-leaders to see that religious men are not to be bought and sold like meat in the shambles; we may not be able to stop them in their course of folly, but we warn them now, and once for all, that religious men will not submit to dictation; that they will not stand still and see the institutions of this land destroyed; that they are not owned by party-cliques, and that they mean to maintain the Christian Sabbath, and to withstand the encroachments of the rum-power; that they will do this if they are compelled to sunder every party tie, to go for the time being into a minority, and, driven to the wall, stand, defending the faith once delivered to the saints. We repeat this warning, and caution the leaders in the anti-Sunday, pro-liquor crusade, that we speak after due consideration, and with a knowledge of the sentiments of Protestant churches. We warn them further, that in the contest for the Sabbath it may so fall out that Roman Catholicism in America and Protestantism will be found side by side, for neither of these will consent to be marshaled by German atheists. We warn them once more, that in such a division, a mighty division of the German element of this land will be with us. These German whip-crackers, who assume the airs of plantation slave-drivers, have no mortgage on the brains, the hearts, the consciences of the thinking, industrious Germans of the country, whether Protestant or Catholic.
The anti-Sabbath crusade is an effort to overthrow the Christian religion, and this is the light in which all Christian men should look at it.
This is a Christian country. The foundations were laid in Christian faith and self-denial, and again and again, in the most solemn manner, has Christianity been recognized as the religion of the country—not as a creed, not as a form, not as something to be established and sustained by legal tithes, yet as the fundamental, essential, religious spirit of the nation.
Said Judge Story, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States:
“One of the beautiful traits of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is part of the common law, from which it seeks its sanction of its rights, and by which it endeavors to regulate its doctrines. And notwithstanding the specious objection of one of our distinguished statesmen, the boast is as true as it is beautiful. * It repudiates every act done in violation of its duties of perfect obligation. It pronouncesillegal every contract offensive to its morals. It recognizes with profound humility its holy days and festivals, and obeys them as dies non juridici. It still attaches to persons believing in its divine authority the highest degree of competency as witnesses.”
The chief state courts have in various ways recognized the same thing, have hailed Christianity as the Alma Mater of the country and its various commonwealths. In 1824, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reviewed the subject thoroughly on a trial for blasphemy.—See Sergeant & Rawle’s R., p. 394, &c.
“Christianity is and always has been a part of the common law of Pennsylvania; not Christianity founded on particular religious tenets; not Christianity with an established Church, and titles and spiritual courts; but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men.”
It quotes the first legislative act of the State, “The Great Law,” and comments at length, and we have only space for brief fragments:
“This wise legislature framed this wise legislation for a Christian country and a Christian people.” “Thus is the Christianity of the common law incorporated into the great law of Pennsylvania, and thus it is irrefragably proved that the laws and institutions of this State are built on the foundation of reverence for Christianity.” “Christianity is part of the common law of this State. It is not proclaimed by the commanding voice of any human superior, but expressed in the calm, mild accents of customary law. Its foundations are broad, and strong, and deep; they are laid in the authority, the interest, the affections of the people. Waiving all questions of hereafter, it is the purest system of morality, the firmest auxiliary and only stable support of all human laws.”
Omitting additional quotations from this opinion, turn to the decision of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. It was pronounced by Judge Parsons, an eminent jurist, one worthy to be accounted peer to Marshall, Story, and Kent, and will be found an unanswerable answer to the objections against any recognition of Christianity by the legislature. Chancellor Kent, in the appeal of the case of the State of New York vs. Ruggles, on conviction for blasphemy, laid down similar doctrine, and said, “Christianity, in its enlarged sense, as a religion revealed and taught in the Bible, is not unknown to our law.” In 1861, the Supreme Court of New York sustained and repeated the former decisions of the courts in that and other States in favor of Christianity. In considering more directly the “Sunday question,” we may refer to this decision at greater length, and will give but few extracts. The decision was rendered at the February term, 1861, in the case of Gustav Lindenmuller, Plaintiff in Error, convicted under the act of April, 1860, of giving dramatic representations on Sunday.
“Christianity is part of the common law of this State in the qualified sense that it is entitled to respect and protection as the acknowledged religion of the people. The right of unconstrained religious belief, and the proper expression of it, is guaranteed to all; but it must be exercised with strict regard to the equal rights of all others; and when belief or unbelief leads to acts which interfere with the rights of conscience of those who represent the religion of the country as established—not by law, but by immemorial consent and usage—these acts may be restrained by legislation. If Christianity were established by law, it would be a civil or political institution, which it is not. It is in fact the religion of the people, and ever has been, and has been so recognized from the first by constitutional conventions, legislatures, and courts of justice.”
Running through the State papers, the legislative proceedings, the judicial forms, and executive proclamations of our Republic is the recognition of Christianity as the religion of the people, “not ordained by law,” but accepted as such from the beginning. Under the great seal of the Continental Congress, were sent out declarations, praying through “the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ to obtain forgiveness and pardon for sins; that pure and undefiled religion may be universally diffused;” “that vice and irreligion may be banished, and virtue and piety established by grace;” “that the nation may be made a holy nation, and that the religion of our divine Redeemer, with all its benign influences, may cover the earth as the waters do the sea.”
The founders of the Republic held such a faith as this. It is as dear to their sons. They see that war is to be made upon it by moving against its institutions. They are sorry, but not despairing. They will be prudent, but inflexible. They will hate no jot of their privileges as American citizens at the dictation of a handful of men from over the sea, who hide the paucity of their numbers by effrontery, clamor and assumption. They will, “as far as lieth in them, live peaceably with all men,” but they will not give up Christian institutions. They will not consent that the agencies which have made this nation great and powerful, shall be overthrown.
I ONCE heard a conversation between a churchmember and an infidel. After arguments were urged at considerable length on both sides, the infidel observed to his friend that they might as well drop the subject of conversation; “for,” said he, “I do not believe a word that you say;” and, more than this, I am satisfied that you do not really believe it yourself; for, to my certain knowledge, you have not given, for the last twenty years, as much for the spread of Christianity—such as the building of churches, foreign and domestic missions, &c.,—as your last Durham cow cost.” “Why, sir, if I believed one-half of what you say you believe, I would make the church my rule for giving, and my farm the exception!”

LOST.

By H. F. PHELPS

This is a little word, composed of four letters, and when applied to material things is of little account; but when applied to the sinner, who can comprehend the meaning? Eternity alone can measure the full depths of its meaning. Lost! Sinner, would you be lost? Brother, sister, would you be lost? lost eternally? lost to the world? lost to yourself? Oh! then, flee to Jesus. Accept God’s plan. You are lost, utterly undone. Death and destruction are upon your track. The seeds of sin are sown in your heart. They are continually springing up, bearing fruit that will lead you to death. Yes, in your present condition you are lost, unless you have accepted, or unless you do accept, God’s own plan. You cannot make a plan of your own that will save you. The plan was laid long years ago. It was laid deep. Jesus was the sacrifice. His blood was spilt for you. It was freely spilled. In that blood is mercy, mercy for you. The way is easy. Jesus invites you. Mercy pleads. Sweet mercy still flows. Soon she will take her flight from this earth. How she lingers. Oh! sinner, backslider, lukewarm professor, will you not accept the offers of mercy? This precious blood may now avail for you. Good men wish your salvation. Angels are interested in your behalf. Angels weep for you. Jesus pities you. God, the Father, loves you—you, a rebel sinner. He loves you, and would fain save you. All Heaven is awake in your behalf.
But the Devil and evil angels desire your destruction. They whisper to you. They point to the pleasures of earth. They set snares for you. It is a siren song. Oh! listen not. Which will you heed? Jesus invites; you fain would heed. The baubles of earth look tempting; you must taste of their pleasures. You wait for a more convenient season. That season never comes. You pass on, waiting for the convenient season till the Judgment day. Jesus comes. You are found unprepared. You try to hide from his presence. Your face gathers blackness, from fear. You are unable to abide the day. If you had no time to pray before, now you can find time; now is your convenient season. Ah! says God, “I will mock when your fear cometh.” Jesus comes nearer to earth, with all his holy angels. The brightness of that dazzling throng you cannot endure. No wonder you flee to the mountains! Jesus utters his voice. The righteous dead arise. The living saints are changed. You see their glory. Then, if not before, you will know the meaning of that word, “Lost.”
Oh! then, I beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. Oh! turn from your evil ways, that you may be saved; saved from sin and its consequences; saved from the evils of this earth; saved from a tempting Devil; saved from the stings of a guilty conscience; saved from death and the grave, no more to die; saved from that lake of fire; saved from the second death; saved to all eternity.
Oh! the joys of the saved; the bliss of that state; the beauties of that place; the glories of the immortal world! who can compute, who can fathom them? Truly not the mind of mortal man. Our trials here will sink into insignificance there. We may try to compare our trials with our joys, but we cannot recall them.
Oh! who does not want an inheritance there? Who would not exchange worlds like this for a tithe of the enjoyment that world will afford. Bid farewell to the pleasures of earth. Forsake all. Find a refuge in Jesus. The storm is coming, is very near. Now is the time; then it will be too late. Heed the warning given, and all will be well.
H. F. PHELPS. Pine Island, Minn.

A RETROSPECT.

By M. M. Stowell

Another year is numbered with the past, And who can tell but it may be the last, That ere on them its parting ray will shed, Ere they are numbered with the silent dead.
Another year fraught with temptations sore Has passed away beyond this mortal shore, What record will it bear on pinions bright, For me, as now it takes its upward flight?
How have I borne the trials that were giv'n To purify, and make me fit for Heav'n? Have they been meekly borne, or have I felt That God has not in mercy with me dealt?
Another year! how quick its hours have flown! Another year of tender mercies shown, Mercies to us who so unfaithful prove, To Him who never chastens but in love.
Another year! nor yet probation ends. But still the invitation wide extends, To come to Christ, who shed his precious blood, To reconcile poor fallen man to God.
Another year which, in its onward roll, Has hurried thousands to their final goal. Has sowed destruction, both on sea and land, And brought distress to many a household band.
Many who were, one year ago to-night, Buoyant with hope and expectations bright, Have bid adieu to all they loved so well, And to the monster death have victims fell.
Perhaps before another year shall close, As many more in death will find repose, Some without peace in Christ, while some will be, Resting in hope of immortality.
Another year! and still my life is spared, How many blessings I this year have shared. Have I at any time unthankful been, Or have I in them all God's goodness seen?
O heavenly Father, give me grace to bear, The ills which I the coming year must share. Should I be spared its closing hours to see, More like my blessed Saviour may I be.
M. M. STOWELL.
RESPECT THE AGED.—Many an old person has the pain—not bodily, but sharper still—of feeling himself in the way. Some one wants his place. His very chair in the chimney corner is grudged him. He is a burden to son or daughter. The very arm that props him is taken away from some productive labor. As he sits at the table, his own guests are too idle or too unkind to make him a sharer in their mirth. They grudge the trouble of that raised voice which alone could make him one of them; and when he speaks it is only to be put aside as ignorant or despised, as old-fashioned and obsolete. Oh, little do younger persons know their power of giving pain or pleasure! It is a pain for any man, still in the world, to be made to feel that he is no longer of it, to be driven in upon his own little world of conscious isolation and buried enjoyment. But this is his condition! and if any fretfulness or querulousness of temper has aggravated it—if others love him not because he is not amiable—shall we pity that condition the less—shall we upbraid it with that fault which is itself the worst part of it?

ONE SIN MAY DESTROY THE SOUL.

Many planks, well pinned and calked, make the ship to float; one, but one leak not stopped, will sink it; one wound strikes Goliath dead as well as three-and-twenty did Cæsar; one Delilah will do Sampson as much spite as the Philistines; one wheel broken spoils the whole clock; one vein's bleeding will let out all the vitals as well as more; one fly will spoil a whole box of ointment; bitter herb, all the pottage; one Achan was a trouble to all Israel; one Jonah, if faulty, is lading too heavy for a whole ship. Thus one sin is enough to procure God's anger, and too much for one man to commit; and if God then take an account of one sin, let men have a care of all sin.

Are the Dead Conscious? No. 3.

By Editor

Eccl. iii, 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
THIS text is made the basis of an opinion that Solomon believed that man had a spirit capable of a separate, conscious existence in death. But do our friends not perceive that the beasts also are said to have a spirit, and if it follows from that expression, that man’s spirit is conscious after death, the same is also true of the beast? Do they not know, also, that the word rendered spirit in both cases is roo-ach, the very same word that is, in the text but one before, rendered breath: “they have all one breath?” Now let us examine the context. Solomon expresses a desire in verse 18, that the sons of men may see that they themselves are beasts. Not that he intended that man is in no respect superior to a beast; for he is, in many respects; in his organization, in his reasoning faculties, and infinitely so in his future prospects, if righteous. But he simply means, as we learn from verse 19, that in one respect—in respect to death—man possesses no superiority over the other orders of animated existence. “For,” he says, “that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man [in this respect] hath no pre-eminence above a beast. All go unto one place, [if, then, men go to Heaven, beasts go there with them] all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” After having thus expressly declared that the life of man and beast, and their condition in death, are exactly alike, can we suppose that he means in the very next verse to contradict all he has said before, and there is a difference? We cannot. It is therefore but reasonable to conclude that the translation of this passage as given by John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, is correct; namely, “Who knoweth the spirit of man (an sursum ascendat) whether it goeth upward,” &c. The Douay Bible renders the passage thus: “Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?” To this agree the Septuagint, Vulgate, Chaldee Paraphrase, and Syriac version. Also the German translation made by Martin Luther. Such a view, that man’s spirit went up and the beast’s down, was doubtless prevalent in the heathen world, in the days of Solomon. After stating, therefore, the facts in the case, he inquires, Who knows that this heathen sentiment is true, that man’s spirit goes up, and the beast’s down? He had declared that they all went to one place. Who can contradict it?
Ed.
Continue reading: Report of the Battle Creek Bible Class.