Review and Herald, Vol. 15, No. 7. (1/5/1860)

Review and Herald

Jan 5, 1860

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 5, 1860

INTERMEDIATE STATE.

By L. Maxson

BY L. MAXSON.

MUCH has been said, and many different views expressed of late, respecting the intermediate state of the dead, or some part of man, the immortal soul or deathless spirit, as some please to call it, which some and that number not a few, say continues to live right along in a conscious state of happiness or misery after we appear to die, and that that undefined region or place or state is the intermediate state between death and the resurrection; although many already deny the necessity of the resurrection, and that number is fast increasing as the natural result of such doctrine.

Modern Spiritualism is exerting its influence in the same direction. I think that the truth on that subject can be very easily ascertained by taking the plain common sense meaning of the word of God as our guide, instead of the traditions of men, received from heathen and Romish superstition, which serves only to mystify and darken the mind. I think the Bible speaks of only three places in which any part of the human family has a place, and these three places are heaven, earth and hell. Webster defines intermediate, lying or being in the middle place or degree between two extremes. And as heaven and hell appear to be the two opposite extremes, the earth must be the middle place or intermediate state.

On the earth is the place where we first find man, made of the dust of the earth with the breath of life breathed into his nostrils, and man became a living soul, a living man; and was to have dominion over all the earth, and every living creature on the earth; but on account of his transgressing the law of God, the sentence of death was pronounced against him that he should die and return to the dust from which he was taken; the whole man without any exception of any part of him; the same man that had sinned, endowed with all the power and faculty which he possessed, was sentenced to die and return to the dust; and there must have forever remained so, as far as we know, had it not been that before the execution of the sentence a Saviour or Redeemer was provided to take upon himself our nature. And as some of our popular theologians say, "He took the sinner's place and suffered the penalty that was due or was to be inflicted upon the sinner." So far I think they are correct.

Now let us see what kind of a death Christ suffered in order to pay the penalty due to Adam's sin, and that will decide the question with all reasonable men. Was it a literal, physical death? or was it a moral, a spiritual and eternal death, of misery in hell? Surely no sane man would say that Christ suffered a moral, spiritual, and eternal death, as penalty that was due to Adam's transgression. If that had been required he never could have accomplished it. So we see that the death that Adam was to die, was the same kind of death that Christ died; a death that could be accomplished; and not a death that never dies to all eternity.

Christ magnified the law of God by obeying it, and so opened a way whereby those that believe and obey the gospel, may be forgiven and find peace and pardon, and go down to the grave reconciled to God. Jesus Christ by suffering and dying for us, and going down into the grave and bursting the prison house of death by his own resurrection, has opened the way for a glorious resurrection for all of his redeemed; for all who die in the Lord or sleep in Jesus. We have no account in the Bible of natural immortality by virtue of creation. There is no such word in the Book as immortal soul, or deathless spirit, or the death that never dies. They are of heathen and Romish origin. Man in this state of existence is treated in the Bible as a mortal dying creature, of the earth, earthly.

2 Tim. i, 10. Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel. It was purchased by the blood and death of Christ. 1 Tim. vi, 16. "God only hath immortality," and those that receive it, receive it as a gift of God through Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of the dead, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. 1 Cor. xv.

In Rom. ii, 7, we are required to seek for immortality, which would be unmeaning if we already possessed it by virtue of creation. This earth is the place where man was created or made of the dust, and this is the place where we see him dying and returning to the dust; and this is very likely the intermediate state where he will remain until the resurrection morn.

In the dust of the grave is the place where men are found when Christ makes his second appearance to awake the sleeping dead. The prophet Daniel says, [xii, 2] "Them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Christ says [John v, 28] "For the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation."

There are some passages in the Bible which, when taken in separate and detached sentences, might convey a very different idea from what they do when taken in connection with the whole or with other passages which explain the subject more fully. For instance, see Eccl. xii, 7. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." In the original language the word breath is translated into our language, spirit. Webster defines spirit "primarily wind, air in motion; hence breath, animal excitement, life, mind." Breath, life, mind, health, strength, property, and all the blessings of life, are all the gift of God to us; and when he sees fit to take any or all of them away, it may be said that they return to God who gave them. Job says, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, and blessed be the name of the Lord."

When the life of man or any other living creature is taken away, we say they are dead. And Solomon says [Eccl. ix, 5, 6] "For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." David says, speaking of man [Ps. cxlavi], "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. vi, v. "In death there is no remembrance of thee." Ps. xvii, 15. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Ps. xlix, 15. "God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me." Acts ii, 26, 27. "My flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (the grave), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

Here we see Solomon, and David the man after God's own heart, testifying to the truth, that the dead know not anything; that in the very day that his breath goeth forth, his thoughts perish; they have no remembrance, their love and their hatred and their envy is all perished.

I would ask any rational man to tell me what there would be left of him, after such testimony, which could be in a conscious state before the resurrection of the dead. David was a firm believer in the resurrection. He being a prophet [Acts ii, 29, 30, 31], spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his flesh should rest in hope, and his soul would not be left in the grave; also of his own resurrection, that God would redeem his soul from the power of the grave; and that he should be satisfied when he awoke with his likeness. David died long before the gospel day and slept with his fathers. But Peter under the influence of the Holy Spirit on the day of pentecost said [Acts ii, 34], "David is not ascended into the heavens."

The Bible abounds with passages of scripture like these: John xiv, 2, 3. "I go to prepare a place for you; I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also." Luke xiv, 14. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Titus ii, 13. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ." Col. iii, 4. "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 1 John iii, 2. "Beloved now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." "Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are his at his coming." 1 Cor. xv, is almost the whole of it on the same subject. 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8. Paul just at the close of his life, speaks of a crown laid up for him and all that love his (Christ's) appearing, which the Lord would give him at that day. That was the time to which Paul was looking forward for his reward.

Christ has not chosen death as the door by which his saints are directly to enter heaven. But death is the door which opens into the grave, where death reigns victorious for a time. Death is the enemy of man and of Christ; it is the last enemy which God will destroy. Then comes the victory over death; when the Lord shall descend from heaven and the dead in Christ shall rise victorious to meet their Lord. Then will the door by which his saints are to enter heaven be plainly opened through Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead to a state of immortality and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. A prize at the end of the race, surely worth striving for!

The objector to the above views, brings forward as one of his strongest arguments Luke xxiii, 42, 43, where Jesus said to the dying thief, "to day thou shalt be with me in paradise." This is generally understood to be heaven. Now it cannot be possible that the penitent thief went from the cross to the paradise of God in heaven that very day; and if he had gone he would not have found Jesus there until after his resurrection; for he had first to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And after he had risen, he said [John xx, 17], "I am not yet ascended to my Father." Jesus did not say to the thief, Your immortal soul or spirit but thou, the person himself. Jesus had just said [Matt. xxvi, 38], "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death."

Well what did actually take place on that day? Did they not die and go down to the grave where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest? Or was it the pardoning love of Christ shed abroad in the penitent's heart, giving him a foretaste of heaven that day? I do not think that either of these cases could be the whole meaning. I do not think that any particular stress was meant to be put on the manner in which the day was spoken of. The prayer was, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." I think Jesus meant to answer his prayer just the same as though he had said I say unto you this day, when I come into my kingdom you shall be with me as one of my subjects; and that he should enter that kingdom in the same way that all the followers of Christ were to enter; that is through Christ the door, in the same way that Christ went; viz. the way of death, the grave, the resurrection of the dead and then his ascension to heaven. There I am willing to leave it.

Some bring as an objection, Matt. xvii. "It is certain," say they "that Moses died, and we have no account of his resurrection; hence the spirit of Moses was consciously alive without his body, and what good reason is there for considering his case an exception from others who die?" I would say dear brother no good reason at all. Others who die are not consciously alive before the resurrection, as we have abundantly proved by the Bible. Jesus had just been telling his disciples "there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." And six days after he took three of them up into an high mountain and gave them to see in a vision something of his future glorified state, when he should come in his kingdom with his saints, which is represented here by himself, Moses and Elias. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Jesus calls it a vision.

Another objection. Rev. vi, 9, 10. "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and they cried with a loud voice saying, 'How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.' "Here" say they "are the spirits of the martyred saints appealing to the Judge of the quick and the dead, that he would avenge their blood on those then living on the earth." This passage is figurative, and these souls should be understood as speaking in the same way that the voice of Abel's blood cried from the ground for vengeance. See Matt. xxiii, 35. "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias whom you slew between the temple and the altar." The altar is the place where blood is shed; and from that place this voice came; and it should be understood as personified and speaking. It may be said at the present time, that the wrongs, sighs, and groans, and the blood of the murdered, downtrodden and oppressed millions of the African race are crying to heaven for vengeance on these United States.

One of the great reasons, no doubt of there being so many different opinions of the Bible and the future state, is owing to the erroneous opinions, traditions and superstitions of heathen philosophers respecting the natural immortality of the soul, which in the dark ages were brought in and advocated in the corrupt church of Rome. And in my opinion the use they have made of them has been a greater source of wealth to the Roman hierarchy, than the mines of California have been to America. They could easily make an ignorant and superstitious people believe that their friends who were dead, had immortal souls that were suffering in the flames of purgatory; and that they (the priests or pope) were able to pray them out, provided they would pay them large sums of money. Protestants came out of that corrupt church, but retained many of her errors.

Modern Spiritualism aided by the popular sentiment is doing more towards annulling the religion of the Bible, the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead and the general judgment, than any other feature of infidelity before it. Spiritualists have found a shorter way to heaven. Death is the gate to endless bliss, with them, and there is no need of the resurrection of the dead, and they do not believe in it. Many church members are already on that ground. May all the candid who wish for light examine the Scriptures in search of truth.

Alfred Center, N. Y. Dec. 1859.

THE MOUNTAINS OF LIFE.

THERE's land far away, 'mid the stars we are told, Where they know not the sorrows of time; Where the pure waters wander through valleys of gold, And life is a treasure sublime; 'Tis the land of our God, 'tis the home of our soul, Where ages of splendor eternally roll, Where the way-weary traveler reaches his goal, On the evergreen mountains of life.

Our gaze cannot soar to that beautiful land, But our visions have told of its bliss, And our souls by the gale from its gardens are fanned, When we faint in the deserts of this; And we sometimes have longed for its holy repose, When our worn hearts were torn with temptations and woes, And we've drank from the tide of the river that flows, From the evergreen mountains of life.

O! the stars never tread the blue heavens at night, But we think where the ransomed have trod, And the day never smiles from his palace of light, But we feel the bright smile of our God. We are traveling homeward, through changes and gloom, To a kingdom where pleasures unchangingly bloom, And our guide is the glory that shines through the tomb, From the evergreen mountains of life.

ALGERIUS.

By B. G.

Bro. Smith : The following brief account of the martyr Algerius, I copy from Fox's book of Martyrs, thinking the sweet spirit of true christianity breathed in his epistles may be of benefit, if you think best to give it a place in the Review.

B. G.

"About the same period Algerius a learned and accomplished student in the university of Padua embraced the reformed religion and was zealous in the conversion of others. For these proceedings he was accused of heresy to the pope, and being apprehended was committed to the prison at Venice where he wrote to his converts at Padua the following celebrated and beautiful epistle.

Dear Friends: I cannot omit this opportunity of letting you know the sincere pleasure I feel in my confinement; to suffer for Christ is delectable indeed; to undergo a little transitory pain in this world for his sake is cheaply purchasing a reversion of eternal glory in a life that is everlasting.

Hence I have found honey in the entrails of a lion; a paradise in a prison; tranquility in the house of sorrow; where others weep I rejoice, where others tremble and faint I find strength and courage. The Almighty alone confers these favors on me. Be his the glory and the praise.

How different do I find myself from what I was before I embraced the truth in its purity. I was then dark, doubtful and in dread; I am now enlightened, certain, and full of joy. He that was far from me is present with me. He comforts my spirit, heals my grief, strengthens my mind, refreshes my heart, and fortifies my soul.

Learn therefore how merciful and amiable the Lord is who supports his servants under temptations; expels their sorrows, lightens their afflictions, and even visits them with his glorious presence in the gloom of a dismal dungeon.

Your sincere friend,

ALGERIUS.

The pope being informed of Algerius' great learning and abilities sent for him to Rome and tried by every means to win him to his purpose. But finding his endeavors hopeless he ordered him to be burnt.

FAITH.

How lucid the exposition of faith as given in that "Roll-call of the dead,"—the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews! "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It is the "substance"—that which is placed under, the ground, the basis, the foundation; and hence the firm confidence, answering to the actual existence—"of things hoped for." Or, to take the other branch of the definition, it is the "evidence of things not seen;" the evincing or bringing to light, and hence the proof of them; being equivalent to, or supplying the place of, actual demonstration. As if it had been said, We do not see the objects of the future world,—God, angels, the redeemed, the crowns of righteousness, the robes of glory,—but to him who has faith they are not unreal and imaginary, but positive realities; this faith answering for their very substance, presenting them in bold relief, and influencing its possessor just as if he saw them with his natural eyes.

It is the very nature of faith to give an uncontrolable efficacy to objects invisible and distant. All must allow that the things which God has revealed would have a mighty influence upon us, if they were actually visible and present. To faith they are visible. To faith they are present too. Faith removes the distance, and makes them present realities. So that things which are not seen, and things which are to take place thousands of ages hence, excite the same emotions, and have the same practical influence, as though they were actually visible, and actually present. They are equally interesting to us, as if they were present; for they will be present; and we shall experience them and feel them, when happiness will be as dear to us, and misery as dreadful, as they are now. They deserve our regard, therefore, just as though they were present. So that, if the infinite excellences of God, and the employments and pleasures of heaven are sufficient to move the hearts and govern the actions of angels who are now there, they are sufficient to move and govern us. If the transactions of the Judgment day, if the glorious appearing of the Lord from heaven, the assembling of the universe before him, the disclosure of the secrets of all hearts, the final sentence, the blessedness of the righteous, and the horror and despair of the wicked, will be sufficient to arrest the attention, and touch the feelings, and move all the active powers of those who will be present on that momentous occasion; they are sufficient to arrest our attention, to touch our feelings and move all our powers of action now; and just so far as we have faith, they will do it.

Men generally look at things which are seen. Sensible objects govern their affections, and limit the sphere of their observation. But faith shifts the scene. As to the grand, governing objects of

the human mind, and the motives to action, it puts them in a new world. It spreads a shroud over the things of time and sense, and opens to view things unseen and eternal.

A WISE VIEW OF THE PAST.

A WRITER has said, “Some men glide among events like sand in a glass, bearing no trace of what they have passed through. They are no wiser for a hundred lessons, no more modest for a hundred failures, no more cautious for a hundred errors. Others pass through events like waters through the soil, carrying with them a tinge of all they traverse. On some life is lost; no circumstance can make them wiser. On others no event falls fruitless; there is for them no improvement and instruction in all things. To the unwise the past is an exploded match, that has flashed and missed, and is useless. To the wise the past is a steady light, shedding beams in the path of the future.”

These are truthful words. A glance at the busy throng of men, in the thoroughfares of life, prove that thousands are no wiser nor better for having lived. The years, as they roll around, have neither voice nor language, lessons nor warnings, for them. They see no good therein. They hear no sound of Providence in the din of life. They feel no throb of joy that Jehovah reigns. The past is a blank leaf of Nature’s volume, without a line to be read, or a character to be interpreted. Perhaps they have experienced similar joy and sorrow again and again, without so much as asking what it means, or whether it has any meaning at all. Disappointment succeeds disappointment, loss, is added to loss, sickness to sickness, and death to death, and still they never learn. The dullest merchant was never half so dull in learning from his secular experience. The most stupid mechanic was never half so stupid in profiting by his success or failure. The most reckless speculator was never half so reckless of his interests and hopes.

Here we may learn from the conduct of successful men in their trades and professions. Wise men learn something every day to profit them in their secular pursuits. The wise statesman derives some of his most practical and valuable lessons from the rise and fall of nations. The wise laborer avails himself of all the improvements of past days, in connection with his particular handiwork, to aid him in his calling. The wise merchant, in seasons of financial pressure, reverts to other crises experienced long ago, to enable him to meet present adversity. Is it less important to view the past with teachable spirits, in order to be qualified to live or die? When a fortune is sacrificed in a single day, shall man derive no other lesson from it than that of greater shrewdness in future? Or shall he rather learn that “riches take to themselves wings and fly away,” and that the only durable riches are spiritual and eternal. When his thoughts turn backward, shall he recognize only good and bad luck, as the worldling calls it, or shall he see the footsteps of Jehovah, and learn that “He putteth down one and setteth up another?” When he recalls hours of bodily suffering, shall he behold only the dire disease that wasted away his strength, or perceive, with grateful heart, the Almighty arm that raised him up to health? When recollection is busy over the drooping form of a loved one who has gone, shall he think only of inexorable death, or shall his thoughts rise to him by whom the “last enemy” shall be destroyed? These are thoughts that wisdom bids us ponder.

In contrast with the thoughtless multitude who live but never learn, how beautiful the childlike faith of those righteous few to whom the past is replete with lessons from on high! To them every event and every moment of life has moral and spiritual significance. God is in all their experience. Their joys and their sorrows are alike ordered by infinite wisdom and goodness. They see God in the minutest event as well as in the most important—in a cup of cold water and the gift of pardon. It is he who sends the ten thousand little comforts that make up life, as well as the great gush of joy that sometimes pours like a river through the soul. Nothing is too small for him to notice—nothing too great for him to give.

Blessed past to these children of faith and trust! There are Bethels, Zoars, pillars of cloud and walls of fire, all along the track of years, to remind them of the everlasting Guide, as oft as memory recalls the past. Earthly possessions may have been scattered to the winds; earthly hopes may have perished like summer flowers; dear friends may have gone to the grave; and a thousand sad experiences may have marked the passing year; but it is all right, since every occurrence is a teacher of wisdom from him who doeth all things well. Blessed past! we say again, to the trusting heart. Though worldly men may pronounce it worthless, the Christian cannot afford to live without its stern reality and friendly voice.—Sel.

“NONE BUT CHRIST; NONE BUT CHRIST.”

By J. B.

THE world thinks little of Christ, and cares little for him. Scepticism looks towards him with a cold indifference or a dubious mind. Philosophy occupies too mystical a place and moves in spheres too ethereal to stoop to the contemplation of the GREAT FACT of the universe. The self-righteous are to themselves the beau-ideal of all excellency; and will not behold in the “express image of the Father” any thing superior to the graces which adorn their own characters. Various and multiplied are the fallen ones of earth, who, though Christ came to bless them in turning every one of them from their iniquities, will not deign to give Him the look of faith and the life of obedience. They will not have him to reign over them. They turn him out of their synagogues, out of their prayers, out of their sermons, out of their books, out of their families. They are emphatically “without CHRIST in the world.”

But there are a remnant of the children of men who know more, and act wiser, and who honor Christ according to the true dignity of his character, his work, his relations, and his offices. They give him the pre-eminence in all things. They crown him Lord of all their thoughts, their affections, their desires, their principles, their actions. He is to them the portion of their cup, and the goodly heritage which the Lord Jehovah bestows upon them. He is the fairest among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely; the bright and morning star; the rose of Sharon; the lily of the valley; the garden of spices; the paradise of earth; their sun to lighten them; their provision to supply their wants: in one word, he is their all in all. How rich, how blessed, how exalted, how secure are they! These are the sons of the Lord Almighty; the heirs of glory; the kings and princes of Heaven. All things are theirs, they are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.

Well may they say, “None but Christ, none but Christ.” For all that they have, and all that they are, they owe to him. They are forgiven through his atonement; cleansed by his blood; comforted, guided, strengthened by his Spirit, instructed by his word, and accompanied by his presence. In the storm and tempest he is their peace. In the conflicts of earth’s battle-field, he is the captain of their salvation. In the sorrows of the heart, he is their solace and joy. In the poverties of life, he is their riches of grace and goodness. In their wanderings, he is their leader back to paths of safety. In their bereavements, he is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. In their temptations, he makes a way for their escape. In their afflictions, he is afflicted. In their dying hour, he is the strength of their heart, and their portion forever.

O yes, it is then that the soul cries out, “None but Christ, none but Christ.” This was the language of one of the noble army of martyrs as he stood in the consuming fire. It was the sentiment and experience of Paul as he lay imprisoned in the Roman dungeon. It was what Wesley felt in his life: None but Christ to me be given, None but Christ in earth or heaven; and what he repeated at his death: “I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me:" It is what myriads of holy souls express in their songs of devotion, “You may have all this world, but give me Jesus.”

Reader, will you not join in the choir? Will you not close in with Jesus? Will you not choose the only good, the only wise, the only beautiful, the only Saviour, the only friend, the only Mediator? Will you not now, henceforth, and forever, exclaim: “None but Christ! none but Christ?”

J. B. — Guide to Holiness.

THE PIETY OF CHILDHOOD.

We know no lovelier object of vision than the face of a healthful child, just at the period when intelligence and affection begin to inspire its features.

The evil passions have, as yet, left no trace of their power upon it; care and anxiety have destroyed no line of beauty; selfishness has given no repulsive expression to any movement of its delicate organs. But probably that peculiar loveliness of expression depends most upon simplicity of character, as contrasted with either complexity or duplicity.

The child has no excessive consciousness; no intense reflectiveness; both of which cause that shyness, embarrassment, diffidence, and the want of openness in the countenance so often seen in young persons. The heart at first plays freely within; and feeling gushes forth like a mountain rill fearless and unconstrained. All that, is soon to be exchanged for the formal observance of rules and proprieties. Then if the man ever returns to this simplicity, it will be by some kind of regeneration. He must be converted, to become as a little child in anything that is desirable. If, for instance he becomes a true orator, he must return to the same bold, unconscious utterance of his emotions. If he becomes a confirmed Christian, he must act out heavenly principles with the same spontaneity and freedom as a child. There are many orators who speak very correctly; but who never utter such music to the human soul, nor beam such thrilling glances as are heard and felt from the lips and eye of a little child. There is many a good man whose goodness puts him in a strait-jacket. It makes him stiff and his friends uncomfortable. The difficulty lies here; while his principles govern him, they have not become a part of himself. But in a little child, every act and word is like the bursting forth of a flower; it is the result of life, not of reflection and rule. The child has no artificial manners resulting from rules not yet incorporated in the soul, but merely inscribed on its outer walls.—Sel.

Frederick Douglass and the Falling Stars

I LEFT Baltimore for St. Michaels in the month of March, 1833. I know the year because it was the one succeeding the first cholera in Baltimore, and was the year also of that strange phenomenon, when the heavens seemed about to part with its starry train. I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe-struck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about day-break when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion at the moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of man; and in my then state of mind, I was prepared to hail him as my friend and deliverer. I had read, that the “stars shall fall from heaven;” and they were now falling. I was suffering much in my mind. It did seem that every time the young tendrils of my affection became attached, they were rudely broken by some unnatural outside power; and I was beginning to look away to heaven for the rest denied me on earth.—Autobiography of Frederick Douglass, p. 186.

TZEH-LEM, or IMAGE

By G. W. A.

In the first chapter of Genesis we have a statement that God made man in his own image and after his own likeness. See chap. i, 26, 27. This account is often siezed upon by our opponents, as good proof that man has a deathless spirit or some immortal principle dwelling within. The argument with them is this: "God is a being without body or parts," man is made in his likeness and image, therefore man must be in the moral likeness and moral image of his Creator. There are many conclusive reasons which may be advanced against this species of argument. We might argue that Jesus Christ is "in the form of God," Jesus Christ after his resurrection had "flesh and bones," man is in the image of Jesus Christ, therefore God is a personal being. This would be good argument, and quite satisfactory in itself; but there is another kind of testimony on this question which I have never heard advanced. It is the Bible use of the Hebrew words rendered image and likeness in the account of the formation of man. By the help of the Englishman's Hebrew Concordance (a work of great value, imported from London) we give the complete use of both words. The Hebrew terms for image and likeness are tzeh-lem and d'mooth, and from their use the reader may judge whether they import a moral signification. The following is their complete use, the words in italic being their translation. G. W. A.

TZEH-LEM, or IMAGE.

Gen. i, 26. Let us make man in our image. 27. God created man in his (own) image, in the image of God created he him; v, 3. in his own likeness, after his image; ix, 6. in the image of God made he man. Nu. xxxiii, 52. destroy all their molten images 1 Sam. vi, 5. images of your emerods, and images of your mice, 11. the images of their emerods 2 Kings xi, 18. his images brake they in pieces 2 Ch. xxiii, 17. and brake his altars and his images, Ps. xxxix, 6. man walketh in a vain show: (marg. an image.) lxxiii, 20. thou shalt despise their images, Eze. vii, 20. but they made the images of their abominations xvi, 17. madest to thyself images of men xxiii, 14. the images of the Chaldeans Amos v, 26. Moloch and Chiun, your images Dan. ii, 31. and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness

This image's head (was) of fine gold
which smote the image upon his feet.
and the stone that smote the image.

iii, 1. the king made an image of gold,

to come to the dedication of the image.
unto the dedication of the image

— and they stood before the image.

and worship the golden image
(and) worshipped the golden image
and worship the golden image.
nor worship the golden image,
nor worship the golden image,
fall down and worship the image,
nor worship the golden image
and the form of his visage was changed.

[It will be seen by the above that tzeh-lem in every instance but Dan. iii, 19, except those in which it refers to man's being in the image of God, is applied to images made with hands, and can have reference to nothing but the physical form. The reader may judge whether its use in Gen. i & ix, are exceptions.]

D'MOOTH, or LIKENESS.

Gen. i, 26. in our image, after our likeness; v, 1. in the likeness of God made he him; 3. begat (a son) in his own likeness 2 Kin. xvi, 10. the fashion of the altar, 2 Chron. iv, 3. And under it (was) the similitude of Ps. lviii, 4. like the poison of a serpent; (marg. according to the likeness of) Isa. xiii, 4. like as of a great people; (marg. the likeness of.) xl, 18. or what likeness will ye compare unto Eze. i, 5. the likeness of four living creatures — they had the likeness of a man,

As for the likeness of their faces
As for the likeness of the living
and they four had one likeness;
And the likeness of the firmament
over their heads (was) the likeness of

— the likeness of the throne (was) the likeness as the appearance of a man 28. the likeness of the glory of the Lord, viii, 2. a likeness as the appearance of fire; Eze. x, 1. the likeness of a throne

the four had one likeness
and the likeness of the hands
And the likeness of their faces

xxiii, 15. after the manner of the Babylonians Dan. x, 16. like the similitude of the sons of men

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