p. 364 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 46. (11/16/1876)

Romish Mission.

THE Roman Catholics excel all other Christians in making proselytes. They have marvelous success as propagandists. It requires very little indeed to make a devout son of “holy mother Church.” Missionaries of that Church are sent into the world with their robes, their rosaries, and their crosses. An appeal is made to the senses, and baptism is the glorious consummation of their evangelizing labors. The word of God is not read or expounded. The cardinal doctrines of the gospel are not taught. The idolatrous rites and ceremonies of pagan people are scarcely interdicted or abolished. The civilization of the most degraded tribes and clans of heathen people is not materially improved.

Missionaries had been on the Pacific Coast three-quarters of a century before California became a portion of our territory. Most of the Indian tribes had been converted to Romanism, yet no school had been taught, nor were the tribes in the slightest degree improved in their morals and habits of living. Burrowing in the ground, and wretchedly filthy in their persons, they spent their weeks, months, and years in idleness, living like beasts, and as ignorant of the principles of the Christian religion as they were when the priests first landed upon these shores.

What is a religion worth that utterly fails to refine, purify, and elevate its votaries?

A native convert in China recently said to an English missionary:

“Twelve years ago we knew nothing about this doctrine; twelve years ago, though the Romanists had been here two hundred years, we had not the Bible; we did not know what the gospel was.”

What is true in China is true elsewhere. Only in Protestant Christian countries does the papal Church instruct her people. It is only where Protestantism predominates that Romish priests establish schools and inculcate principles of morality among the people. They do such work, not of choice, but of necessity.

The masses of adult citizens in Spain, in Italy, in Mexico and in Central and South America are unable to read. Not one out of five in the city of Rome knows the alphabet. The mummeries of the Church service—it were burlesque to call it worship—are faithfully taught; nothing more is deemed safe, since knowledge would lessen the priest’s power over his parishioners. “Ignorance is the mother of devotion!” An educated people can not long be hoodwinked by a corrupt hierarchy.—California Advocate.

A Recipe for Unbelief.

The recipe below was prescribed under the following circumstances. A brother whom the enemy harassed much with doubts, wrote to a friend and told him about his perplexities, and the seasons of gloomy thought through which he had to pass on account of the want of that satisfactory assurance of faith so indispensable to spiritual enjoyment, and added, “Send me a good recipe for unbelief.” His friend sent him the following prescription:—

“Take of cheerfulness, joy in the Holy Ghost, trust in God, confidence, reliance on God, patience, boasting in Christ, humility, of each gospel measure. But you must be careful or you might make a mistake in those excellent remedies. Levity is often mixed with, or mistaken for, cheerfulness; self-reliance with reliance on God; vain boasting with boasting in Christ. But especially must you be careful that nothing of the root of despair or doubt be mixed with humility. See that you get them all unadulterated. Put them into the mortar of self-denial; bray or beat them by fasting and prayer. Add a good portion of heavenly-mindedness. Season the whole well with Scripture promises, the more and the stronger the better. Mingle in a sufficient quantity of good works to give it consistency. Put all into the cup of atonement to give it healing virtue. Stretch forth the hand of faith, coming to the cross, and drink down at one draught the whole mixture. Take a good after dose of hidden manna and wine of the kingdom. Repeat unto yourself the words, ‘My Lord and my God,’ ‘For me the Saviour died, for me!’ Take plenty of exercise in the path of duty. Let your daily washings be in the ‘blood that cleanseth,’ with showers of the ‘baptism of the Holy Ghost.’ Warm up in the sunshine of God’s love . . . Never go out without having on the ‘whole armor of God,’ lest the enemy take advantage of you.”

“I think this will cure any ordinary case of unbelief—and indeed almost any other spiritual disease. Should, however, any symptoms of disease remain, add determination, perseverance, resignation to God’s will, and repeat the dose. Should the disease, or any of its symptoms, return, repeat the dose. Indeed, this prescription should always be on hand, and used daily. If the soul is kept continually under its influence, it helps in all ordinary cases, at least. Where this fails there must be some peculiar cause, which must be inquired into and remedied, and then the remedy applied. Thus the most inveterate case can be cured, especially if you add a few specifics for peculiarities.”

“Do you fully understand it? Do you think it will cure you? Let me hear how it works. You may have a few remedies of your own selection to add.”

Should any one who may read this be troubled with doubts, let him try the above prescription and see what virtue there is in it. It may deserve the name of “Panacea,” but it is not patented nor copyrighted. There is liberty to give it a wide circulation.—Chr. Standard and Home Journal.

Good Testimony for the Sabbath.

PROF. E. O. HAVEN, D. D., LL. D., former President of Michigan University, in his series of sermons on the decalogue, entitled “The Pillars of Truth,” affords us some good testimony against the false positions of those who are trying to put down the Bible Sabbath. On the perpetuity of the Sabbath he says:—

“Now our belief is that the whole of the decalogue is binding upon all men, and that, in the words of Christ, ‘The Sabbath was made for MAN,’ not for the Hebrews, but for all men.

“Now that Christ and his apostles assumed to nullify a commandment in the decalogue no man of sound judgment could believe. Repeatedly Christ acknowledged and asserted the divine authority of the decalogue. To repeal it would have been to set himself in direct contradiction to what he pronounced the law of God. Such a repeal, if conceivable, must have been open, direct, and formal, or it would not be believed. The facts seem to be, that the Sabbath is an institution founded upon man’s nature and God’s will, and therefore absolutely irrepealable.”—pp. 88, 91.

In regard to whether time has been lost, Prof. H. remarks:—

“The Jews claim that their Sabbath, our Saturday, is that day. This claim is generally acknowledged by Christians, though there are some who maintain that it can be chronologically demonstrated that, on account of some confusion, in time of disaster, and revolution, and ignorance, the Jews are themselves mistaken, and that the genuine Sabbath is our Sunday, wrongly called ‘the first day of the week.’

“There is no good reason, however, for denying that the Jewish Sabbath is the true seventh day, reckoning from the creation of man, and that the Christian Sunday is the first day of the Hebrew week, or of the genuine week.”—p. 89.

Sensationalists.

THERE are many ministers who have the reputation of being revivalists, who are mere sensationalists; who simply reach the emotional element of humanity, or the surface stratum of human nature, and the result is extensive, but of short duration. The work is only one-third done. Human sympathy has been aroused, but the judgment is left unenlightened, and the affections are not wedded to Christ. As human sympathy, standing alone, is a short-lived element, so converts who are reached only by this principle, soon relax into inactivity. This class of so-called revivalists will go into a community and lead one hundred into such a revival excitement, while another man, who probes deeper, gets hold of the reasoning faculties, and enlists the affections of the heart, may hold a meeting in another community, and attract less attention, produce less excitement, and get only ten to move; but at the end of a year it will be seen that the latter move has produced more good than the other. When men are moved by sympathy, they die when the fire of sympathy expires; but when men are moved by enlightened judgment and heart-felt affection, they are moved by a principle that does not easily die out; hence, they are not so liable to backslide. Give us the preachers that do their work thoroughly, even if they do not appear to be great revivalists. Never aspire to be a sensationalist, to be eulogized by men; but seek to do permanent good to please God.— Sel.

Following the Bible’s Direction

“A STORY is told of an old hunter in Michigan, who, when the country was new, got lost in the woods several times. He was told to buy a pocket compass, which he did, and a friend explained to him its use. He soon got lost and lay out as usual. When found, he was asked why he did not travel by the compass. He said that he did not dare to. He wished to go north, and he tried hard to make the thing point north, but it was no use; it would diddle, diddle, diddle, right around, and point south-east every time!” A good many people fail of the right direction in life for the same reason of the mishap of our Wolverine friend. They are afraid to take the Bible and follow just as it points.”—Church Union.

Watch for Christ’s Return

By D. L. Moody

I am one of those who believe we are living in perilous times, “when men are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” And the skeptics now say, “Where is the sign of Christ’s coming?” They laugh and cavil if we talk about God coming to judge the world. But the word of God tells us “the world is to be destroyed.” It was destroyed once by water. It will be destroyed again by fire. The apostle tells us to live spiritually and righteously, and keep our loins girded; to be watching, for we know not when Christ may personally return.—D. L. Moody.

“See Here, or See There.”

By John Nevins Andrews

“And they shall say to you, See here; or, See there; go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.” Luke 17 : 23, 24.

“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24 : 26, 27.

It is a very common remark when men are invited to listen to the Advent faith, that we are commanded not to follow the Lo heres, and the Lo theres. So men set the whole matter aside with this single answer, and seem to think they have well disposed of a very unpleasant subject. But is there any propriety in such an answer? That depends on one simple test. If the Advent message turns men from the revelation of Jesus in the clouds of heaven as the lightning shining from the east to the west, and sends them into the desert, or the secret chamber, then it is exactly such a Lo here as our Lord has warned us of. But this is not the case. The personal revelation of the Son of God in flaming fire in the clouds of heaven, is the Advent hope. Take that away, and Adventism is gone. When our Lord therefore bade his disciples shun the Lo heres, and Lo theres, that they might cleave to this great object of hope and expectation, he really made the Advent hope the one thing to which we should cleave, and warned us against all these systems that present a substitute for that hope.

The Shakers inform us that the Saviour came about 100 years since in the person of Ann Lee; and they bid us to come to them to see the kingdom of God.

The Swedenborgians have introduced the New-Jerusalem state, but it has nothing that satisfies our longing hearts. The coming of Christ and the resurrection are disposed of much to their satisfaction; but it does not answer our wants at all. “We wait yet another to come from above.”

The Oneida Community teaches that Christ came at the destruction of Jerusalem, which is to them good news. So they have set up a kingdom in which there is indeed no Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but one in which death reigns, and for the excellent reason that sin and the Devil reign there also.

The Spiritualists have found an excellent substitute for the coming of the Son of God. You can witness in their secret chambers the manifestation of familiar spirits, and if you are disposed to follow them, you can accept this in the place of the revelation of the Son of God as the lightning from the heaven above.

The Mormons invite us forth into the desert to witness their kingdom of God. But for two excellent reasons we shall not go. 1. We believe in the moral law. 2. We love the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the Son of God.

We cannot follow these Lo heres, or Lo theres. They are like Theudas and Judas that arose in the days of the first advent. Acts 5 : 34-37. Our hearts are filled with a longing desire to see that same Jesus, and we shall wait till the opening heavens reveal him. J. N. A.

To the Friends in California.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: Having labored among you and having become acquainted with most of you, I still feel a deep interest in your prosperity and in the success of the precious cause of the third angel's message on the Pacific Coast. I have not written as much for the SIGNS as I wished and designed to, but it is not for lack of interest in the work there. I have deeply regretted to learn that some have fallen into trials which they have allowed to lead them away from this work and people. No doubt they think they have cause for doing so and that they will now fare better. But we who have been longer in this work know that they are being deceived in this; and that they will either live to regret this step or give up the message entirely. I have been with the Seventh-day Adventists for eighteen years and have traveled and labored in every State where we have churches except in Oregon.

I have also been well acquainted with the work at Battle Creek during this time. So I have had a good opportunity to observe the working of the cause in all its branches. From Maine to California I know the parties, the churches, and the individuals who have from time to time, drawn off from the body on various pretexts. Most of these persons I know to have been unconsecrated, self-confident fault-finders. Several times quite formidable parties of these have drawn off and flourished for a short period. But, without an exception, the providence of God has blasted and scattered them till scarcely a fragment of them can be found. I have seen six different papers started by these parties in opposition to the body of our people. Five of them are dead and buried and the last one is just struggling for an existence. All the leading ministers who have engaged in these split offs have gone to ruin, having gone to the Spiritualists, the Universalists, or become entirely silent. Every few years they have to get a new set of hands as the old ones are all scattered, and each succeeding crop is weaker and smaller than the former.

Then those who, through opposition to us, manage for a while to work together, still are not at all united among themselves upon doctrine, discipline, or plan of labor. Each one has a theory of his own, each one a different doctrine, and each one glories in teaching and urging his own opinion. They have no head, no leader, no recognized authority among them. How can such a body maintain any church discipline or secure order and co-operation in work? They never have and never can do it. Hence they are as weak as a rope of sand and liable to go to pieces any day, as they have done time after time.

Furthermore, these persons have no definite message for the people, nothing around which to rally. They cannot accept the three messages without accepting our work for the last thirty years, and to do this of course would be death to them. Rejecting the third message, they must with it throw away the two-horned beast as fulfilled in our time. With the messages must go the sanctuary, the 2300 days, the work of father Miller, etc., etc., without end.

This leaves them with no definite position, ready to adopt such vagaries as the Age to Come, Non-Resurrection of the Wicked, no devil, the resurrection in the past, etc.

Who can believe that such a confused babel as that with such a history can be the special work of God, the last warning to a doomed world! Nonsense and insanity. Dear brethren and sisters, I know that the great mass of our people who have not seen the effects of these rebellions as we have, do not have any proper appreciation of the order, the unity, the strength, and the harmony of the work among us. There is nothing like it in the world. Our track is a straight one. We have not been led this way, and that way, and then another, into one error, and then out of that into a worse one, crossing our own track every year or two. No, thank God, that has been no part of our history. We have gone straight forward with the same definite aim from the first.

To whom, under God, are we indebted for all this? I believe, yes, I know, to the very ones with whom the most fault has been found, the very ones whom God raised up in the beginning to start the work, whom he has sustained and led all the way. In the past I, like many others, have had trials with Bro. White and found fault with Sr. White. But I have come to see things in quite a different light. I believe I am effectually, thoroughly, and forever cured of that. The trouble is not on that side of the house.

Dear brethren, be very cautious how you leave the old ship for some new craft that may come along. All such have capsized so far, and these new ones are of the same material with no more able hands to manage them. Do not let little trials and some apparent difficulty separate you from the work. Hold on, do the best you can, and wait for the Lord to make these things all plain. Hoping that God may bless you, I remain,

Your brother in the message,

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Denver, Mo., Nov. 5, 1876.

The Breath of Lives.

By John H. Waggoner

Not long since, I heard a funeral sermon preached by a minister of the M. E. church, who mentioned that in Gen. 2 : 7, “the breath of lives” (plural) is said to have been given to man, and he affirmed that a two-fold life was given to him, or, rather, two lives, one of the body and one of the soul or spirit. And then he challenged the world to prove that it did not mean that man was possessed of immortality or an immortal soul! But “the world” probably thought it was unbecoming to accept a challenge at a funeral, as it certainly was to give one, and therefore it very properly held its peace.

It may be worth while to look at this point to see if any conclusion can be rightfully drawn from this text in favor of natural immortality.

1. The man who became a living soul, not to whom an immortal soul was imparted, was made of the dust of the ground. It was into this man, made of dust, that the breath of lives was breathed.

2. That nothing can be claimed on the term “living soul” is proved in that the same term is applied to the creeping things of the earth, in the first chapter of Genesis.

3. That the plural—lives—is not decisive of man’s immortality is shown in Gen. 6 : 17, and 7 : 21, 22, wherein the same form of expression is used in reference to the lower animals. The last cited text is very strong—“the breath of the spirit of lives,” applied both to man and to other animals.

4. It must be admitted that man was deprived of access to the tree of life in order to the execution of the sentence that he should die; that is, he was deprived of the means of perpetuating his life. Said the Lord, “Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden.”

5. It is clearly shown by this that if man had been permitted to eat of the tree of life, he would have lived forever, or have been immortal; and that he could not continue to live because not permitted to eat of that tree.

6. But the word life in the phrase, “tree of life,” is always in the Hebrew in the plural; literally, tree of lives; and therefore if the plural in the breath of lives proves that two lives were given to man, the plural in the tree of lives proves that the continuance of these lives was suspended on his partaking of the tree. If he had a plurality of lives, yet when he was shut out from the tree of lives lest he should live forever, evidently both or all his lives were involved in the loss.

7. Therefore it is seen that it is not enough for the advocates of natural immortality to merely show that lives, plural, is found in Gen. 2 : 7, nor to assert that immortal life was imparted; but it must be proved that one of his lives was immortal or eternal, and that it could not be affected by his being deprived of the tree of lives, which is contrary to the obvious meaning of Gen. 3 : 22–24.

8. To fairly prove a point from the Hebrew it is necessary to understand somewhat the idioms of the language and to recognize its peculiarities of construction. Thus Psa. 66 : 9 reads, literally, He “holdeth our soul in lives;” and Prov. 14 : 30, “A sound heart is the lives of the flesh.” These surely do not indicate that the soul has a mortal life with its immortal life, nor that the flesh has an immortal with its mortal life. We think no one would be bold enough to assume a plurality of beings from the words of the Lord to Cain, “The voice of thy brother’s bloods crieth unto me from the ground.” Or, if it is claimed, it must then be admitted that both these lives were in his blood. Com. Lev. 17 : 11, 14. These are mere peculiarities of the Hebrew from which no proof can be drawn either for or against any doctrine. The translators, aware of this, have wisely given the correct idea of the original without trying to transfer the idioms of that language into the English which would confuse without profit.

9. It is neither frank nor honorable to draw a conclusion from an expression or a word in the original which a harmony of the original plainly contradicts. But if they who put forth the claim referred to, do not know what the harmony of the original is, it does not increase our respect for their frankness or ability to hear them “challenge the world” to meet them on a point on which they are so evidently ignorant.

10. The more this subject is examined the more evident it appears that man is a weak, perishing mortal, entirely dependent on Jesus Christ for eternal life, which will be given to the righteous in the first resurrection, over which “the second death hath no power;” and that men, instead of exalting themselves and boasting of their strength and glory, would do well to acknowledge that they are vanity, and of the dust, and pray as one of old, “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.” May a sense of our frailty lead us to seek “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” J. H. WAGGONER.

Is the Soul Immortal?—No. 12.

By C. W. Stone

“AND fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” Matt. 10:28. This scripture is supposed to contain all the much needed evidence that the soul lives right on when the body dies, and furthermore, that the soul must live forever, for it is here said to be something that can not be killed. The righteous, therefore, go to Heaven at death, and the wicked at death are consigned to the lake of fire where they are to be tormented forever.

Let us candidly examine and see if this text affirms all this. It does seem to affirm that man is not able to kill the soul; and as it is evident that man can kill the body, does it not prove that the soul lives on after the body dies? This would seem to be the conclusion, but things are not always as they seem. Before examining this text further, let us see if there is not a text or two in the Bible that affirms that souls have been killed by man. Lev. 24:17. “He that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.” The Hebrew has it, “he that killeth any soul,” or “smiteth the life.” Turn to Num. 31:19. “Whosoever hath killed any person,” Hebrew, neh-phesh, soul. Whosoever had killed any soul was to do certain acts to purify himself. Deut. 27:25 says, “Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person.” The word person here is the same Hebrew word as above. So we see that the soul can be killed by man. One or two more examples and we return to the text. Read Joshua 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39; and 11:11, where it is recorded that Joshua took several cities, in each case destroying all the souls therein with the edge of the sword.

By this time, the reader will admit, and perhaps claim, that the original word for soul is sometimes applied to the body, the whole man, as in some of the cases cited. It does. It also applies to the life as in Lev. 24:17, cited above. Let it be remembered that the word neh-phesh, from which the word soul is translated in the Old Testament, is rendered soul, life, person, mind, body, and in various other ways. We will now return to Matt. 10:28.

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” If we had read the text clear through in the first place, we might have come to one conclusion,—that there is One who is able to destroy the soul, therefore it is not indestructible. If it be urged here that destroy in this verse does not mean destroy, we ask in reply, In what theological dictionary is to destroy defined, to put in fire-proof state of preservation? One thing is certain, namely, the word destroy has the same force in the latter part of the sentence as kill has in the former part. Fear not them that kill the body, but can not kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to kill both soul and body in hell. We are not to fear God simply because he can destroy the soul in hell—there would be no reason for fearing him in that simply—but we are to fear him because he can and will destroy soul and body in hell, unless we are found pardoned and blameless before him.

Suppose then that the soul does survive the death of the body, the text puts a check on the idea of its immortality by declaring that God can destroy it in hell. The doctrine of eternal misery finds no support in language that talks destruction. But we will not suppose such an absurdity, nor does the language of the text require that we should. We have carefully examined the history of man’s creation, his death sentence after sinning, some of the testimony of Job, David, Solomon, and others, the case of the Saviour’s promise to the thief, and his parable of the rich man and Lazarus; and in all of our search we have found no immortal soul, no part going to Heaven at death; but, on the contrary, wherever we have looked (and we have been examining what our opponents regard as their best texts) we have found that man is a unit, and though he has body, soul, spirit, might, mind, and strength, yet none of these is capable of existing alone.

We notice also that the destruction in hell, spoken of in the passage under consideration, is not affirmed of an immaterial soul or a soul of any kind separate from the body. Notice that point. “Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The soul and body are to be destroyed together. This cannot be until after the resurrection, when, according to the views of our opponents, the soul again enters the body; or, according to our view, when the body is raised and again becomes a living soul. But this point of difference is of no note now,—the destruction of verse 28 is upon the whole man according to either view. Now let us turn to

Luke, and hear how he expresses the same sentiment. Luke 12:4, 5. “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.”

Man can kill, and then his work is done; he can not harm the dead. But God, after he hath killed once, hath power to cast into hell, or, as Matthew has it, is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Here is brought very plainly to view the second death of the wicked, which occurs unto “both soul and body,” and which can not take place until after the resurrection. Let us now for a moment consider what this hell is. The word as used in the N. T. comes from three different Greek words, hades, ge-enna, and tartaroo. The first is used to denote the general receptacle of the dead, and is translated hell and grave. It might properly be translated grave in every instance. It occurs, in all, eleven times, as follows:—

Matt. 11:23, shalt be brought down to hell; 16:18, the gates of hell shall not prevail. Luke 10:15, shalt be thrust down to hell; 16:23, in hell he lift up his eyes. Acts 2:27, wilt not leave my soul in hell; 31, his soul was not left in hell. 1 Cor. 15:55, O grave, where is thy victory? Rev. 1:18, have the keys of hell and of death; 6:8, was Death, and Hell followed; 20:13, death and hell delivered up the dead; 14, death and hell were cast into.

This is the word that corresponds to the sheol of the O. T., of which we spoke in discussing the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in number 10.

The second word, ge-enna, is used twelve times. It is the name of a valley south of Jerusalem, the valley of Hinnom, called Gehenna, or Ge-enna, at first made infamous by idolatrous services performed there. All the filth and offal of the city, dead bodies, &c., were brought thither and consumed in fires perpetually burning, i. e., burning as long as there was anything to burn, which was about all the time.—See Cottage Bible, note on 2 Kings 23:10. With this place the Jews were well acquainted, therefore they were well prepared to comprehend the meaning when in the New Testament this valley is used as a figure of that place where the wicked will finally be burned up, body and soul, root and branch. No burning gehenna, or hell, now exists, nor will exist, until the wicked are raised and come up around the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire comes down from God and devours them (Rev. 20), melting the elements with fervent heat, 2 Pet. 3:7, 10. Then will there be a “lake of fire;” and like the fires of the valley of Gehenna, the fire thereof shall not be quenched as long as there is fuel for it to prey upon,—until soul and body be destroyed in gehenna. Gehenna occurs as follows:—

Matt. 5:22, shall be in danger of hell fire—[Greek, shall be in danger of the fire of the valley of Hinnom]; 29, whole body should be cast into hell; 30, whole body should be cast into hell; 10:28, to destroy both soul and body in hell; 18:9, two eyes to be cast into hell fire; 23:15, more the child of hell than yourselves; 33, can ye escape the damnation of hell? Mark 9:43, having two hands to go into hell; 45, having two feet to be cast into hell; 47, having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Luke 12:5, hath power to cast into hell. Jas. 3:6, and it is set on fire of hell.

Tartaroo, the third word, is used but once. It represents the morally dark abode of Satan and his angels in the earth’s atmosphere or on its surface. It has no reference to any dark cavern or gloomy den in the interior of the earth—the devil don’t spend his time in so obscure a place. He is “going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.” Job 1:7. Tartaroo occurs in 2 Pet. 2:4, thus: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell,” &c.

We have now a definite idea of the kind of destruction spoken of in Matt. 10:28, and of the hell in which it is to be accomplished; and it is evident that it is wrought upon “soul and body” after the resurrection. Now what are the facts upon which our Saviour bases his language in this verse? Evidently these: One man can kill another. That is the most that he can do in that direction. He may cut and mutilate the dead body, or even burn it; but that will not harm the dead man; his thoughts are perished, he knows not anything. He has merely shortened his days—the man would have died some time, anyway; but this one thing he can not do,—he can not prevent that man’s rising from the dead. He can stop his life till the resurrection, but he cannot destroy it; it will spring forth again. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15. But God can do more. He can and will raise that man from the dead; and then he can and will, if the man is wicked, destroy soul and body in hell. The text proves in the clearest language that the soul is destructible, mortal.

But what does the first part of the verse mean,—“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul?” It is a form of expression which means just what Luke means when he reports the same expression thus: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” Luke 12:4. As we have shown, the original for soul is often rendered life. It is so rendered in the N. T. about thirty-eight times. Now we have also shown by numerous scriptures that the soul can be killed by man; and when we get a right understanding of this passage in Matt. 10:28, we shall find the scriptures harmonious. We think the true meaning is this: Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, to destroy or put a final end to life, or to prevent any future life; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, thus putting an end to life, from which there is no redemption.

C. W. STONE.

A Word to Beginners.

By R. F. Cottrell

To those who have had but a short experience in the cause of present truth, it may not be improper for one who has the benefit of twenty-five years of experience and observation in connection with this last message, to offer advice.

All should understand that the main point in conversion to God, is submission to his will. The spirit of submission yields the very sweetest enjoyment. We are not called to submission to popes or any uninspired men. This is becoming well understood; but by many the idea of liberty is carried to an extreme, resulting in anarchy and disorder. On the contrary, the work of God is always a work of order. “God is not the author of confusion.” Confusion belongs to Babylon, out of which God calls his people, at the time when her plagues are about to come. If they are called out of a state of confusion, they are called to a state of unity and order; and if it is “a voice from heaven” that calls them out, the inspiration of God accompanies the message. Without this inspiration the people of God could not be brought out of the reigning confusion and united in the last message, and so prepared for the advent of Christ.

Therefore, when we embrace this message, we receive it “as it is in truth the word of God,” and “not as the word of men.” See 1 Thess. 2: 13. If God is not in this work it is the greatest delusion of the age, much more deceptive and dangerous to believers in revelation than Spiritualism, because it is built upon the plainest teachings of the Bible; whereas it is the work of Spiritualism to overthrow the Bible. And if it is of God, submission to its teachings is submission to God, and not to men. If God is our leader, it is safe to follow. It is safe to walk in all the light that has come to us with this message. For example, the light in regard to health reform is connected with, and cannot be separated from, the present work. To heed the teachings of the health reform is for our good; not to heed them is dangerous. Those who reject or neglect the health reform do so at their peril. It is of God, and consequently for our good. And those who do not wish to backslide should be careful to accept of all the light God has given.

During the past twenty-five years, numbers have nominally embraced this message, who only accepted it in part; and when they have essayed to correct its errors, and, in their zeal, have been led to openly oppose the inspiration of the message, they have invariably backslidden; while those who have walked in all the light have held on their course, growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is according to experience and observation as far as my knowledge extends, and as far as I have been able to learn.

Now the evidences of the truthfulness of our mission are increasing, while the time in which to prove our faithfulness is shortening. Therefore the young in the cause should learn from the experience of others in the past, and not hazard the trial of experimenting as others have done. You have not time to be thrown away in proving the matter in your own personal experience. Accept of the truth, the whole truth, and walk in the light, all the light you can get; and you will find it profitable and safe. Be assured, it will be for your best good.

I have mentioned the health reform as a sample. Those who only embrace it in part, and make no effort to come up fully to the great principles of reform, are not advancing in spiritual life. Those are most spiritually minded who are conscientiously striving to walk in all the light. And this is a demonstration that the introduction of the health reform among us is of God.

My dear friends, have faith in God, have faith in his word, have faith in his work. As far as possible, and as fast as is consistent, walk in all the light; knowing that in so doing, you are submitting to God, and not to men; and that you personally will be the gainer, and God will be glorified in your salvation.

R. F. COTTRELL.

Trust in God and Do the Right.

By E. T. Bedee

YES; why not? The Lord has promised to save those that put their trust in Him, Ps. 37: 40, and to be a stronghold in the day of trouble.

"Well," says one, "I would like to do right. I would like to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, but it would cause so much trouble and division in my family." Ah! but stop, my dear reader! Whose fault is it that there is division? Certainly it is not with those that keep God's commandments. No blame can be attached to those that do right.

Do you say that you cannot observe the seventh day of the week, because you could not get a living? Perhaps your employer would discharge you, and then where would your daily bread come from? Oh, the short-sightedness of mortal man!

What! can we be excused from keeping God's holy law on any pretext whatever?

My brother, could you bring such an excuse before the bar of God, in the day of Judgment? Oh, be entreated to trust not in such a sandy foundation!

It is the father of lies that brings doubts, darkness, and magnifies the difficulties. Trust in God. Stand for the right. He that seeth the sparrows fall, will he not take care of you?

May God help both reader and writer to so keep God's law that we "may have right to the tree of life; and may enter in through the gates into the city."

"Courage, brother! do not stumble, Though thy path is dark as night, There is a star to guide the humble; Trust in God and do the right." E. T. BEDEE.

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