Review and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 3. (7/15/1875)

Review and Herald

Jul 15, 1875

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 15, 1875

The Resurrection.

By Geo. L. Butler

This subject has been considered from so many different standpoints, and at such length, that I cannot hope to bring from it anything especially new or striking. But there is still a necessity that it be considered often and carefully.

It is one of the great fundamental doctrines of revelation, and contains infinite comfort for loving hearts, furnishing as it does the connecting link between this life and the life which is to come. Its truth was clearly stated in the teachings of our Saviour, and its possibility and certainty demonstrated by his own resurrection. His coming forth out of the tomb a living conqueror caused a flood of light to illuminate its dark chambers, enabling us to see a clear pathway from this world through to the world beyond. Before this, all was impenetrable darkness, except as the prophets of old had caused rays of light to shine upon the future. But now we have the clearness of an accomplished fact upon which to found our faith. Christ has come forth from the tomb, bringing its keys with him. He says himself: “I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hades and of death.”

A scoffing world, led by a false philosophy, may proclaim its impossibility; a formal church may exchange its glorious promise for a ghostly faith of immaterial existence “beyond

the bounds of time and space” (which is, perhaps, as good a description of nothing and nowhere as human language can frame), but we will still cling to the faith of an actual, personal, bodily resurrection, such as our Lord teaches and illustrates. Here is the only rational hope of the church and the world. This alone shall give us at last the society of our risen Lord, the companionship of the good, the holy, the martyrs of all ages, and a reunion with our loved friends, whom death has snatched from our embrace. We want, then, to keep this in memory, to consider its precious lessons often, as a prime source of encouragement and hope while battling with sorrow and sin.

It is an interesting lesson indeed to consider the testimony of Holy Writ upon this delightful theme. How early in the experience of God’s people this glorious doctrine was clearly revealed to them, we are not specially informed. We have reason to believe it was very early, though not particularly mentioned in the historical books of the Old Testament. It is doubtless much the same with this as with the glorious doctrine of Christ’s second coming, the event which ushers in the resurrection and makes it possible. We find no statement in the lives of the ancient patriarchs, as recorded in the Pentateuch, that they had any knowledge of this. But the inspired apostle Jude in his short letter states the interesting fact that “Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.” This holy man was then an advent preacher in the fullest sense; and how natural and necessary the conclusion that he must have known of the resurrection, which was the complement of that event. Adam must have listened to the preaching of Enoch; for he was contemporary with him. These glorious doctrines, then, were known to the patriarchs.

We must not err in drawing conclusions concerning the knowledge of ancient worthies by taking it for granted that their knowledge only extended to what is recorded of them in the Pentateuch. That history is very brief. It covers thousands of years, and is all embraced in a few short chapters. One forcibly said that if we were to write a history of the United States upon our thumb nail, we should doubtless leave many things out; so in this case; we have but the barest outline of what they knew, or what they did. We have, doubtless, sufficient upon which to found the great plan of truth which is built upon these facts; but we must recollect that Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and no doubt many others, had communications from God more directly than we do.

It seems very clear to my mind that all the great facts of God’s truth were revealed to them from certain evidences given here and there throughout the Bible. We learn from the apostle Paul that Abraham “looked for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” In the book of Genesis nothing is said about this. So the apostle declares in regard to Isaac and Jacob, and many others. We read also in the apostle’s writings that the “gospel was preached to Abraham,” but there is nothing said directly about it in the history of his life. Who would have thought of taking the passage our Saviour quoted from Ex. 3: 6, to silence the skeptical Sadducees, and convince them from Moses’ writings that there was to be a resurrection of the body? From the manner in which our Saviour quotes and comments on the words, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” we should be justified in drawing the conclusion that Moses was well acquainted with the glorious hope of the resurrection of the dead. It must have been so, when we consider it was by faith that he left the riches and pleasures of Egypt, esteeming the reproach of Christ of more value than all of them, because he “had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” He could only hope to obtain this reward through the resurrection. He therefore believed in it. So, doubtless, did all these worthies.

When we come down to the poetical and prophetic writings, the references to this glorious theme are plainer. Job, who is supposed to have lived as long ago as in the time of Moses, seemed to be perfectly familiar with it. Hear him in the midst of his suffering and anguish burst forth in words powerful and weighty: “Oh, that my words were now written! oh, that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!” You must have something very important, Job, to desire all this pains taken to make it enduring. What can it be which can so inspire you in the midst of your pain and abject misery, sitting in the ashes, covered from crown to sole with terrible ulcers? It is what would now be called Adventism. “I know,” says this ancient worthy, that “my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.” Job 19: 23–27. Job evidently thought there was some importance attached to this matter. How is it that this ancient patriarch could be so positive in regard to this? We read of no revelation of it to him anywhere in any previous portion of the Scriptures. Ah! it came, as I have hinted, as a natural and necessary part of divine truth, without which a person could have very little knowledge of God and the plan of salvation.

David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, was comforted with this blessed hope: “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake in thy likeness.” Ps. 17: 15. He speaks also of the resurrection of Christ, and shows its importance as connected with this subject: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16: 10, 11. The resurrection of Christ, here brought to view, fully laid open the “path of life,” which was to lead David into the presence of God, and to the enjoyment of happiness forever at his right hand. He knew he could never behold his face in this world. It was only when he should “awake” from his long sleep, that his heart-longings could be “satisfied.” What a fullness of meaning there is in that word “satisfied.” I know of nothing in all revelation that quite equals it. Many are the beautiful and glorious descriptions of the blessings of that heavenly world contained in the volume of inspiration, but the thought that we shall be satisfied, that we shall want nothing more, that all the longings and yearnings of the heart will then be met, seems to embrace and swallow up all. This was to be accomplished through the rising up from the sleep of death. It was then he was to receive the likeness of his blessed Lord. We will speak more fully of that when we speak of the resurrection of Christ. GEO. L. BUTLER.

(To be Continued.)

A PSALM OR SONG FOR THE SABBATH DAY.

By A. C. BOURDEAU

This is the inspired title of the ninety-second psalm; and this fact alone would be a sufficient evidence that the psalmist had a sacred regard for the Sabbath. However, there are other instances in which this point is fully established. Psalms 19; 103; 111; and others, enforce in exalted terms God’s law and commandments, of which the Sabbath precept is a part; and the one hundred and nineteenth psalm, containing 176 verses—the longest chapter in the Bible—is an eight-fold acrostic on God’s moral law.

No doubt David frequented God’s house on the Sabbath day. “How amiable,” said he, “are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. . . . For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Ps. 84: 1–10.

Sabbath day signifies rest-day, which, in the Scriptures, is a name given to no other day than the seventh day, as a day of weekly recurrence. It is the day upon which God “rested” after having created the heavens and the earth, and the things therein, in six days; the day that he “blessed” (or extolled and gave success to), and “sanctified” (or set apart and appointed to a holy, sacred, or religious use), “because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made”; it is the day that he enjoins to be remembered and kept holy by the fourth precept of the decalogue; and it is the only day that was observed as a weekly Sabbath by the patriarchs, the prophets, our Saviour, the apostles, and the primitive Christian church. Therefore, the seventh day alone can truthfully and scripturally be called the “Sabbath of the Lord,” or the “Lord’s day.”

The sentiments in this psalm are deeply interesting, and well calculated to represent the true nature and object of the Sabbath; and especially to show the topics that should interest us above all others on that day in order to a proper observance of the same. Let us briefly notice them.

1. Verses 1–3: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.”

The Lord is our Creator, our preserver, and our kind benefactor; therefore, we should have him in grateful remembrance, and with our voices, and even upon musical instruments “with a solemn sound,” give songs of praise to his great name, and joyfully acknowledge him as the “Most High.” Truly this is good, and in perfect keeping with the spirit and letter of the Sabbath commandment. And what can be better calculated to elevate and to link us to God than to hold him uppermost in our thoughts and affections, and to dwell upon “his loving-kindness” and “his faithfulness” to the creatures of his hands? How manifold are his blessings to us in both temporal and spiritual things! How vast a field we may profitably survey with accents of thanksgiving and praise on our lips on God’s holy day!

2. Verses 4, 5: “For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work, I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.”

The Lord should be praised for his great works, through which we are made glad, and by which we have the triumphant assurance that our Lord is the “living and true God.” He is seen and exalted as supreme through the works of his hands, and he vividly shows his intelligent creatures that his “thoughts are very deep.” This accords perfectly with the tenor of the fourth commandment. The Sabbath is God’s memorial. It is the sign, or seal of God, by which we may distinguish him from other beings or objects that are called gods, as being the “one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him” (1 Cor. 8: 4–6); and by which we may know that he is the Lord that sanctifies us. Eze. 20: 12, 20; Rev. 7: 2, 3; 14: 1. In keeping it we have the fact brought fresh to our remembrance that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Ex. 20: 8–11.

In Gen. 1 is given an account of the six days’ work of creation. The first three days cover the inorganic part, and the last three the organic. Perfect order is seen in God’s work. The creation of man comes in as the crowning and finishing touch, after everything had been made ready for his comfort and happiness. All God’s works had been pronounced “very good.” The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38: 7. (Doubtless many stars in the firmament are inhabited worlds. Heb. 1: 2; 11: 2; Ps. 19: 1–3.) The six days’ work of creation being ended, the Lord rested “on the seventh day from all his works”; and then he appointed the seventh day as the Sabbath, not only for a part of the human family, but “for man”—for Adam and all his posterity.

Here also we have an extensive field before us that we can survey in our meditations during the Sabbath hours. We have the creation of the universe, which embraces everything that is not God. Further, God not only gave a beginning to the existence of the universe at the creation; but, through laws that he then established, he continues that existence, and he is the only fountain of its present existence. Thus he magnifies his power and his own supreme majesty through all his works. Even the smallest spire of grass that grows proclaims that God, who alone can make it take root and spring forth from the ground, is the great First Cause, and stands high above all the conditions of created beings.

3. Verses 6–9: “A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever; but thou, Lord, art most high forevermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.”

Many, alas! seem to be void of reason and without understanding in regard to these things. They do not properly estimate the works of God, and they say in their hearts, “There is no God.” Ps. 14: 1. They speak and act as though he were self-derived and self-sustained; hence they fail to see God through the works of his hands. How can such see the importance of keeping the Sabbath? Can they feel the necessity of heeding the practical truths of God’s word, and of availing themselves of the means of grace that are proffered through our Saviour? We want faith in order to understand. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Heb. 11: 3.

The wicked, the workers of iniquity, and the proud and lofty, are the enemies of the Lord. The severe judgments pronounced upon them should serve as a warning to us, and should lead us to fear the Lord and to keep all his commandments. Though they “spring as the grass”—possess much wealth, hold high positions, or have high-sounding titles in the world, yet as they sow so shall they reap in the great day of retribution. Those who persistently disobey shall “perish,” be “scattered,” and be “destroyed forever.” But the Lord is “most high forevermore.” He is limited by no principle or power beyond himself. He is the Eternal.

4. Verses 10–15: “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn; I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

Horn, when used as a symbol, denotes power. Since the fall of our first parents, the great adversary has claimed the dominion that God gave to Adam at creation. He is the “prince of this world,” the “prince of the power of the air”; the wicked bear rule by this means, and oppress the righteous; and the power of God’s people is small in the earth. But, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the saints finally come off conquerors. At Christ’s appearing, while the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, etc., hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and cry to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne,” the resurrected and the living saints meet their Lord with joy, and go up to the mansions in their Father’s house, where, “exalted” and “anointed with fresh oil,” they reign with Christ as kings and priests a thousand years, and sit on thrones, judging the “world,” and judging even fallen “angels.” See Rev. 6: 15, 16; 1 Thess. 4: 13–17; John 14: 1–3; Rev. 20; and 1 Cor. 6: 1–3. When the thousand years are ended, the Lord places his feet upon the mount of Olives which cleaves in the midst; and a very great valley is formed (Zech. 14: 4), where the holy Jerusalem, which comes down from Heaven with all the saints, is located; the wicked dead are raised; Satan deceives them and gathers them to battle; they compass the camp of the saints, the beloved city; but in the sight of all the righteous, fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. Rev. 20. In that final conflagration the wicked are burned up root and branch (Mal. 4: 1); and the atmospheric heavens and the earth melt, and are dissolved, etc. But the new-earth state immediately follows (2 Pet. 3: 10–13), in which “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,” and “grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”

Palm trees are said to be the most beautiful of trees; some of them grow to the height of a hundred feet, and bear yearly fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each weighing nearly twenty pounds. They fitly represent the saints in the immortal state, when they are arrayed in beauty—clad in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads and harps in their hands.

The cedar of Lebanon is described as being tall, and spreading; and by some, as being most esteemed and imperishable. Cedars used for beams and roofs of buildings have lasted from four hundred to eleven hundred and seventy-eight years. The tree is an evergreen. The first pair in Eden, and those who lived to the good old age of nearly one thousand years, attained, doubtless, to a much higher stature than men and women do at the present time. The human family have greatly degenerated. The saved in the resurrection embrace all the righteous, including little children, in every age of the world, who, while they vary in stature, are clad with immortality. Yet in a prophecy which applies after the great burning day, a thousand years after the saints are made immortal, we read, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Mal. 4: 2. “Healing” here cannot mean a recovering from sickness of any kind; but, as I understand, it refers to growth in stature. And in a prophecy which applies when the new Jerusalem, in which is the tree of life, is on the new earth, we read, “And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22: 2.

Now we can readily see how the cedar of Lebanon may fitly represent the saints growing up to a full stature, when they shall be “fat and green” (margin); and “shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Yes, the beautiful, holy throng shall continue while the new heavens and the new earth shall remain; and during a long eternity they shall come to worship before the Lord “from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another.” Isa. 66: 22, 23.

Dear friends, it pays to love and serve the Lord. We have seen that, in contrast with the severe judgments on the evil-doers as seen in their final punishment, there are rich blessings to be bestowed on the righteous when they are rewarded for well-doing; and that, the Lord, in his dealing with the children of men, both with the evil and with the good, vindicates his own exalted uprightness, and evinces that he is the rock and support of his obedient children, and that there is “no unrighteousness in him.”

A. C. BOURDEAU.

AFTER THE STORM.

By Sel.

AFTER the storm, a calm; After the bruise, a balm; For the ill brings good, in the Lord's own time, And the sigh becomes the psalm.

After the drought, the dew; After the cloud, the blue; For the sky will smile, in the sun's good time, And the earth grow glad and new.

Bloom is the heir of blight, Dawn is the child of night, And the rolling change of the busy world Bids the wrong yield back the right.

Under the fount of ill Many a cup doth fill; And the patient lip, though it drinketh oft, Finds only the bitter still.

Truth seemeth oft to sleep, Blessings so slow to reap, 'Till the hours of waiting are weary to bear, And the courage is hard to keep!

Nevertheless, I know Out of the darkness must grow, Sooner or later, whatever is fair, Since the heavens have willed it so. —Sel.

Scientists and the Bible.

By Millenarian

It has been the boast of a certain class of scientists that the Bible was in conflict with the truths of science, and that it could not stand the test of rigid scientific criticism. Indeed, the class aforesaid have deemed it essential to their profession to have it well understood that the Bible and Christianity belonged to the age of superstition and ignorance. We have heard these things from our boyhood, and have been at a loss to know why it was that men who stood as the interpreters of nature and her laws should openly denounce the Bible and its doctrines. It is certain that every moral precept, every spiritual truth, and the most rational and consistent views of God and a future life, have been set forth with a power beyond the ordinary grasp of the human mind.

We have been led to make these remarks in view of certain papers read at the American Scientific Association at Portland. To show the absurdity and folly of those who claim to be above the authority of the Book, and who glory in the wisdom of this world, we shall here summarize some of the leading views set forth in the meeting aforesaid.

Prof. Young, the most eminent living student of solar physics, read a paper on the sun. That body, he argued, is a gigantic bubble, whose crust is gradually thickening, and whose size is diminishing. There is a constant loss of heat, which will end in its extinction as a producer of warmth and light. . . . It will grow smaller and more compressed, and become surrounded by this crust until it will be so hidden and muffled as to be practically excluded from the economy of the universe. The result will be intense cold and darkness, a cessation of all animal life, and an immediate return to original chaos.

This gentleman, having effectually put out the sun by his wonderful scientific discoveries, gave place to Geo. J. G. Barnard, who described the interior of the earth as a molten fluid. The tenure of the world's existence, therefore, is exceedingly uncertain. Any greatly disturbing influence—the breaking out of a volcano, any change in its surface that would render it brittle, the impact of a heavy meteor or comet—may, in a moment, immolate it, leading humanity to whirling death amid the horrors of inorganic space. The third paper was read by Mr. H. F. Walling, on the “Dissipation of Energy,” as follows: “Since the days of the ancients it has been known that all motion is gradually developed by friction, and must finally cease unless maintained by external power.” The heat power of the sun, which he regarded as the motive power of the earth, is being exhausted by the prodigious lavishness of its expenditure. It is supposed, he said, that the satellites will fall into planets, planets into suns, and suns into a common center, after which “darkness, silence, and death will reign.”

Prof. F. B. Hough then followed with a paper in which he foretold a perpetual drought, the result of a clearing off of the forests. Land will become unwatered and, consequently, sterile; crops will lessen in volume until the arid and treeless plains refuse to respond to the incitement of the farmer; universal famine will ensue, and the world will be entirely depopulated by starvation.

The new president of the association, Dr. Le Conte, read a paper on the enormous increase and destructiveness of injurious insects. The doctor went so far as to say that the plague of insects would be greater than that of ancient Egypt, and that man himself would be eaten by them.

The above summary presents the views of five leading scientists of the American Association. These men, like the philosophers at Athens, have spent their time either to tell or to hear some new thing. Well might Paul say, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col. 2:8. These scientists have devised a variety of ways by which to annihilate the earth and all animal existence. The one would have man freeze to death, another would have him starve, and another would have him eaten up by voracious insects. Laying aside the many palpable contradictions set forth by these harbingers of coming woe, we must emphatically deny one and all of these wild and extravagant notions. These men, in their search after strange and unheard-of theories, seem to forget that the universe is controlled by an all-wise Creator, by whom are all things, and who upholds all things by the word of his power. Truly, the world by wisdom knows not God. Speculation takes the place of sober common-sense, and extravagant theories are promulgated regardless of a great First Cause.

Scientists are the men who deplore fanaticism among religionists, and regret that men are groping their way in ignorance of the natural universe, and yet they are as changeable as the seasons of the year, and as foolish in many of their views as the Babel builders of old.

Human philosophy has always been opposed to the word and promises of God. Abraham was pronounced a fanatic for accepting the unity of God instead of the idolatry of his times. Moses was opposed by the combined wisdom of Egypt. Christ was rejected by those who claimed the keys of knowledge, and Paul was denounced as a vain babbler at Mars' Hill. Indeed, there has ever been an impassable gulf between the simple and Heaven-born truths of the Christian religion and the world's politics and philosophy. When men accept the truths of Revelation, they have little to fear from the “wreck of matter” or “the crash of worlds” of the poets and scientists.

We do not wish to be understood as depreciating science, but we do protest against so much wild speculation as to the final destiny of the physical universe. As long as we believe in the existence of an all-wise Creator, whose power and wisdom are infinite, and who has projected a plan, the magnitude of which is infinitely above the ken of finite man, so long must we reject, as unworthy the name of science, those fine-spun theories which augur only starvation and death to the race of man.

The apostle's letters to the Corinthians are a most perfect commentary upon these unreasonable and unscriptural theories. In conclusion, we say in the language of the apostle, “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so-called.” 1 Tim. 6:20.—Millenarian.

Are Rumsellers Worth Saving?

By Editor

SEVEN years ago, Francis Murphy kept a saloon in the city of Portland. Two or three years later his home was the damp cell of a prison. To-day he is one of the foremost men in the “Reformed Men’s Clubs” of America, and the originator of the first “Temperance Camp-meeting,” which has just closed in triumphant success its session at Orchard Beach, Maine. Francis Murphy is to-day the peer of John B. Gough as a temperance orator. God has given him a tongue of silver and a heart big with sympathy and tenderness, so that men should be struck with amazement at the grandeur of the diamond clutched by human fingers out of the sewers.

There is a plank in the platform of this journal upon which is inscribed the legend, “There is no man or woman too low or wretched to be reached by the love of the Son of God.” Capt. Sturdevant, of Allen Mission, Portland (God bless him), had these words cut deep in his own heart, four years ago, as he kneeled on the cold stone prison floor and poured into Frank Murphy’s aching heart, “We will help you, and God will help you.” It has been often said, “For the rum-drinker, the velvet hand of love; for the rum-seller, the iron hand of law.” We would say rather, Let law be used only as the last resort when love has been hopelessly spurned.

Our Rights.

By F. R. Richmond

It is often remarked, even by those professing to be followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, that it is our privilege to stand up for our rights. Can we be justified in what is commonly called standing up for our rights? What rights have we? All we ever had were given us; but these have been forfeited by our transgression of the law of the Giver, and we are now entirely dependent for all we have upon Him who has humbled himself by leaving the realms of glory, taking upon himself our fallen nature, and dying in agony to restore what we had lost. In view, then, of our unworthiness and dependency, it behooves us to be very modest in asserting our rights.

We shall find that enjoyment of life is largely increased by submitting to others as occasion may seem to make it necessary, even though we may be sometimes wronged by so doing. Standing up for supposed rights has been the cause of much trouble in this world; it was the beginning of rebellion in the universe of God, whence there has sprung all the misery that surrounds us. Difficulties in families, hard feelings in neighborhoods, trials in churches, lawsuits, and wars, might be avoided if every individual would heed the injunction of Paul to the Philippians: “But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

As there are many who have given themselves up to selfishness, and will not only contend for what belongs to them, but for all they can obtain, regardless of the sufferings of others, it will be impossible for a few to bring about a perfect state of peace and happiness in this world by yielding to others; but by doing so, the followers of Christ can at least be at peace among themselves, and, to a great extent, with the world. There would be no trouble caused by every one's persisting in having all that belongs to him, if he would contend for no more; but we cannot determine just how far our rights extend, especially as nearly all of us have more or less selfishness; and those who are determined to maintain their rights are apt to forget that others have rights as well as they.

If our affections are on things above, and not on things on the earth, we need not mind it when we are misused or “run over.” Look at the humiliation and submission of Jesus in his trial before Pilate and Herod; though his rights extended over the whole universe, and it was in his power to maintain them, he was led as “a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” Is it not required of us to follow his example? “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”

The example of David in his dealings with Saul is worthy of imitation. Although David had been anointed king, and knew that the kingdom was his, he did nothing to wrench it from Saul, but suffered himself to be persecuted without retaliating when it was in his power to do so. Also the example of Paul, who says: “Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things.” In his sermon on the mount, the Saviour says: “But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.”

If we could only realize the glory of the reward that awaits the righteous, and have our hearts fully in the work of preparing ourselves for it, and helping others to gain it, we would consider the affairs of this life of too little importance to receive much of our attention, nor would we waste our time in contending for what we might claim as our full share of them. Paul, in reproving the Corinthians for their disorderly course, says: “Now therefore there is utterly a

fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” There are similar teachings all through the New Testament, also in the Old; see Prov. 20:22; 24:29; Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28–30; &c.

It may be trying for us to take it patiently when we are wronged; but there is a blessing for those who do so; and it will not be long before we shall receive that blessing, if we hold out to the end.

F. R. RICHMOND.

Brightwood, Mass.

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