Review and Herald, Vol. 18, No. 4. (6/18/1861)

Review and Herald

Jun 18, 1861

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 18, 1861

Mis-Quotations From Scripture.

By N. Y. Observer

THE articles on this subject which have appeared in the Observer, and are deserving of serious attention, might be greatly extended. No book is quoted so frequently as the Bible. An apposite and correct quotation from it, adds strength and beauty to editorial or essay, speech or sermon; in short to any literary production whatever. A misquotation from it, not only shocks the sensibilities of the accurate scholar, but impairs the effect of all the thoughts that are presented in connection with it. Even if the idea embodied in the quotation is preserved with the utmost exactness, a departure from verbal accuracy is always disagreeable.

Sometimes we hear quotations made as from the Bible which have not even a verbal similarity to any passage of scripture. "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," is such a quotation, but the error has been so frequently exposed that few now ascribe the sentence to any other than its real author—Sterne. Misquotations preserving some shadow of resemblance to the language of God's word are quite numerous and are often made.

"Spare the rod and spoil the child" has been quoted by many a good woman as scriptural authority for the chastisement of unruly children. An approximation to it may be found in Prov. xiii, 24: "He that spareth the rod hateth his son."

"As the tree falls so it lies," is frequently cited in discussion with Universalists, in connection with texts proving the unalterable condition of man after death. The true reading is, "If the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be." Eccl. xi, 3.

In the prayers offered in social meetings we often hear—"Thou hast said, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them, and that to bless them.'" The last clause of the sentence is a very scriptural inference from the preceding clause, but it was not said by Christ.

None are more liable to misquote the Bible than those who have the most frequent occasion to quote it. Intimate familiarity with the thought does not always ensure an exact recollection of the words. It was told by an aged clergyman, that at a meeting of an association of Congregational ministers, a candidate for licensure read a sermon from the words. "Work while the day lasts." The sermon was sound in doctrine, and free from rhetorical faults, but the old minister suggested to the candidate that he ought to write a companion sermon from the parallel passage, "Make hay while the sun shines." The astonished candidate soon learned, and never forgot, that the language of Christ as recorded in John ix, 4, is—"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day."

The true and only remedy for misquotation is never to cite a passage,—certainly never in writing,—without verifying it by "turning up" the passage and copying it directly from the book. A rigid adherence to this rule will save from many mortifying blunders. It has saved the writer from one in preparation of this very article.—N. Y. Observer.

Religious Journals at the South.

By Editor

ONE of the saddest results of the treasonable rebellion of the South, is the singular ophthalmia which has fallen on religious men and journals.

They do not, or will not, see the true issues involved in the struggle, and either mistake or misrepresent the position and aims of the national government. They seem to glory in breaking up the Union for which their fathers fought, and in trampling on the constitution which has been our common pride. They are ready even to renounce all grateful memories of our past history. Great allowance must be made for local prejudices and sectional partialities, but one is puzzled to understand how religious men can mistake utterly the relations between government and armed rebellion. So good and candid a man as James B. Taylor, of Richmond, writes to a Southern journal:—

"A war of aggression and invasion has been commenced by the North. A united South will occupy the defensive attitude."

A highway-robber once repelled indignantly the charge of murder. "I killed the man in self-defense," said he. "He attacked me furiously with a knife, and I was obliged to shoot him. No man ought to be blamed for defending himself." The plea sounded well, but farther inquiry proved that the highwayman began the quarrel, by seeking to rob a peaceful traveler, and when the man drew a knife in self-defense he was instantly shot. The incident illustrates exactly the "defensive" attitude of the South. Its rebellious leaders commenced a wholesale robbery of sub-treasuries, mints, forts, arsenals, and ships of war, in short, of everything within their reach. They were foiled in the attempt to seize Fort Sumpter by the loyal energy of Major Anderson. Irritated by his fidelity to the government, they surrounded the little garrison with batteries, and then refused all supplies, hoping to compel a surrender by starvation. The government could not allow its troops to perish without an attempt to relieve them, and at once announced to Gov. Pickens its intention to send in a supply of provisions. On this announcement the fort was attacked by an overwhelming force, and in violation of the common courtesies of war, a flag of truce was not respected when the fort was in flames, but the cannonading was more furious than before. When the news of the surrender of the fort reached the rebel cabinet at Montgomery, the secretary of war announced the purpose of the cabinet to follow up the blow by an immediate seizure of Washington.

The government, driven to decided action by such outrages, summoned an army of volunteers to defend the capital, and retake all stolen property. This act, essential to its very existence, our Richmond brother interprets as "a war of aggression and invasion commenced by the North," and softly says, "A united South will occupy a defensive attitude." It is an adroit way of "putting the question," but not quite honest. It has no censure for treason, but depreciates enforcement of the laws. Such logic would reward the highwayman and hang the sheriff. It would overlook Adam's plucking the fruit, and bewail his expulsion from the garden.

The North Carolina Presbyterian has an equally adroit way of "putting the question" from another point of view. It says:

"Like our revolutionary fathers, the people of the South are battling for constitutional liberty, for the right of self-government, and for freedom from oppressive rule."

This sounds well in self-justification, but so did the charge of the Jews against the Saviour that he had been guilty of "blasphemy" and of "stirring up the people." It is one thing to make charges, and quite another to prove them. The government, since its organization, with a few brief intervals, has been in the hands of southern men, and if there has been "oppressive rule," they have been its administrators. Mr. Stephens ought to be a reliable witness in the matter, and he testifies that there has been no oppression, but the South in the Union has attained a prosperity unrivaled in history. Mr. Botts challenges the whole South to specify a wrong inflicted by the government on a single citizen. As the avowed object of the Southern confederacy is to found an immense slave empire, our contemporary must mean to say, "The people of the South are battling for freedom to establish an oppressive rule."

The notions of "self-government" are quite as shadowy as those of oppressive rule. The American idea of self-government is a government of law, in which the people make, and execute, and modify the laws. But the ideas of the South are radically different. The people of the United States elected a president by the ballot box, but the South would not submit to the will of the majority. They claimed that the minority should be allowed to dictate to the majority. It is a cardinal principle in self-government, that the people make and approve the laws under which they live. But in the so-called Southern confederacy, the right of the people to have a voice in framing the government is utterly denied. A constitution has been formed, and the legislatures have refused to submit it to the vote of the people. It is made the law of the land without their consent, and this is "the right of self-government" for which they are said to be battling. But worse than this, the voice of the people has been disregarded, and their instructions disobeyed. In Virginia and Tennessee (and we believe also in North Carolina, for which the Presbyterian speaks), the people voted directly on the question of secession, and decided to remain in the Union, but in defiance of these votes, their legislatures and conventions have renounced allegiance to the Union, and placed the property and arms of their respective States under the immediate control of the Montgomery congress, and Virginia is now thronged with armed troops from the so-called Southern confederacy. If this is what our contemporary calls "constitutional liberty" and "the right of self-government," we may be pardoned for doubting if they are worth battling for.

We wish religious men at the South would look the issue now pending fairly in the face. It is not primarily a contest between sections, but a contest between government and anarchy, between constitutional order and mob law. A President is elected by the forms of the constitution, and the South rebels against the will of the people. The government seeks to administer the laws which it, in common with all citizens, has sworn to obey; and this enforcement of law which the South has not attempted in any constitutional way to repeal or modify, is called "oppression." The South, by open violence, seizes government property within its borders, and when the administration avows its purpose to reclaim its own, the cry is raised of "aggression and invasion." The South proscribes and imprisons government officers as traitors, banishes at the peril of life and loss of property, all loyal subjects of the Union; and when the government insists that its friends shall be protected, an alarm is raised that constitutional freedom is at stake.—Watchman and Reflector.

"LOVEST THOU ME?"

Lovest thou me? Why doth the world allure And tempt thee with her false and fickle ways; Why dost thou cling to perils that endure, And shadow darkly all thine earthly days? Why hug ambition's phantom to thy heart, And climb o'er mammon's slippery ascent, And find thy spirit's chosen better part Beneath the lowly bending firmament?

Lovest thou me? Why in the temple's shrine, Deep in thy heart such idols do I see? Are gold, and treasure, comfort, ease supine, The fitting peers within thy soul for me? Are earthly loves, the truest, fondest, best, The only arks where thy affections hide? Where is the room within thy throbbing breast For Christ thy own Redeemer to abide?

Lovest thou me? Then gird mine armor on, And bravely hie thee to the field of life; Many have fallen in the fervid sun; It needeth warriors in the constant strife; Lift up thine eyes to Calvary's mount of grief, And view the cross blood-stained erected there; That sight shall give thy weary heart relief, And raise thee up a crown of life to wear.

Havoc of Life by War.

It is difficult to conceive what fearful havoc this custom has made of human life. Some of its incidental ravages seem to defy belief. It has at times entirely depopulated immense districts. In modern as well as ancient times, large tracts have been left so utterly desolate that one might pass from village to village, even from city to city, without finding a solitary inhabitant. The war of 1756, waged in the heart of Europe, left in one instance no less than twenty contiguous villages without a single man or beast. The thirty year's war, in the 17th century, reduced the population of Germany from 12,000,000 to 3,000,000—three-fourths; and that of Wurtemberg from 500,000 to 48,000—more than nine-tenths! Thirty thousand villages were destroyed; in many others the population entirely died out; and in districts once studded with towns and cities, there sprang up immense forests.

Look at the havoc of sieges—in that of Londonderry 12,000 soldiers, besides a vast number of inhabitants; in that of Paris in the 16th century, 30,000 victims of mere hunger; in that of Ismail, 40,000; of Vienna, 70,000; of Ostend, 120,000; of Mexico, 150,000; of Acre, 300,000; of Carthage, 700,000; of Jerusalem 1,000,000.

Mark the slaughter of single battles—at Lepanto, 25,000; at Austerlitz, 30,000; at Eylau, 60,000; at Waterloo and Quatre Bras, one engagement in fact, 100,000; at Borodino, 80,000; at Fontenoy, 100,000; at Arbela, 300,000; Chalons, 300,000 of Attila's army alone: 400,000, Usipetess slain by Julius Cæsar in one battle, 430,000 Germans in another.

Take only two cases more. The army of Xerxes, says Dr. Dick, must have amounted to 5,283,320, and if the attendants were one-third as great as common at the present time in Eastern countries, the sum total must have reached nearly 6,000,000. Yet in one year this vast multitude was reduced, though not entirely by death, to 300,000 fighting men, and of these only 3,000 escaped destruction. Jenghis-Khan, the terrible ravager of Asia, in the 13th century, shot 90,000 on the plains of Nesa, and massacred 200,000 at the storming of Charasm. In the district of Herot, he butchered 1,600,000, and in two cities, with their dependencies, 1,700,000. During his last twenty-seven years he is supposed by Chinese historians to have destroyed not less than 18,000,000—a sum total of 32,000,000 in forty-one years!

In any view, what a fell destroyer is war! Napoleon's wars sacrificed full six millions, and all the wars consequent on the French revolution, some nine or ten millions. The Spaniards are said to have destroyed in forty-two years more than twelve millions of American Indians. Grecian wars sacrificed 15,000,000; Jewish wars, 25,000,000; the wars of the Cæsars, 30,000,000; and in all the wars of the Romans before Julius Cæsar, 60,000,000; the wars of the Roman Empire, of the Saracens and the Turks, 60,000,000 each; those of the Tartars, 80,000,000; those of Africa, 100,000,000!

"If we take into consideration," says the learned Dr. Dick, "the number of not only those who have fallen in battle, but of those who have perished through the natural consequences of war, it will not perhaps be overrating the destruction of human life if I affirm that one-tenth of the human race has been destroyed by the ravagers of war; and, according to this estimate, more than fourteen thousand millions of human beings have been slaughtered in the wars since the beginning of the world." Edmund Burke went still further, and reckoned the sum total of its ravages, from the first, at no less than thirty-five thousand millions.

The True Purgatory.

[This story is excellent, notwithstanding it expresses some popular error. We give it because of the many good things said in it.—Ed.]

"Mother," said a dying girl in Ireland, "it's a dreadful thing to die?"

"It is that, my darling," the mother said, as she fondly gazed with tearful eye upon the fading cheek of her child; it is that. Oh that I could die instead! But you have confessed, and why are you still afraid?"

"Yes, I have confessed every sin I could remember, and I have got absolution, and I shall have the holy oil when I am just at the last, mother; but then I must be in the fires of purgatory soon, and you are very poor, mother."

The parent's quick affection caught the meaning of the words and their painful connection. "Ah, sure, I see it now," she said; "true for us, Mary, we are poor, but I'll work these fingers to the bone, but I'll get money for the masses, and will hasten the passage to heaven. My own Mary, namesake of the Blessed Virgin, do you think your lonely mother could rest till your soul is safe in glory? No, she will work by day and pray by night to the queen of heaven and all the saints for the peace of your soul; so be easy my darling and don't trouble for the masses any more at all."

"But it will be no peace to my soul to know you have to work hard to get masses said, my own loving mother. That's what makes it harder still to die."

"Sure, but may be you'll know nothing about it there darling; leave that all to the priest now, and say the prayers to the Virgin he bade you. That's what'll bring peace to your heart."

"No, it is all dark. I want to know where I am going, and more, a great deal more, than the priest would tell me. Mother," she added quickly, "I am thinking of the death of cousin Cathleen; she had no absolution, no unction, no masses, but she died so happy."

"She was a heretic, Mary, and knew nothing at all, so she died in her sins. Better as you are, dying in the holy faith of the church, and all her blessed rites, even if you don't feel so happy as poor Cathleen."

"Some words she said come over me now, mother: 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff comfort me.' What did she mean? I have no comfort, no staff. I am trembling in the dark, and see only great fires beyond, and am full of fear. Cathleen did not believe in purgatory."

"Hush now, Mary dear; sickness and pain have turned your mind from the right way; go to sleep and forget her, and trust in the blessed Virgin."

"Well, mother, I'll try; but I can't help thinking it must be a happier thing to go straight to heaven at once. I wish I could remember all Cathleen said about it."

"It is not for the likes of us to go straight to heaven at once, Mary; we must go the way the church directs."

"But sure it's a hard way, mother dear; I often fear that some who get into the fires of purgatory may never get out again."

"Now don't get distrustful of the masses, darling; but if the priest knew all you have been saying it would go hard with me to pay for so many. So now just leave thinking about it at all; and here's Pat will sit by you a while, till I run to mother and back."

Pat had come in and overheard part of the conversation, and now sat down by his sister's side with a heavy heart, for the doctor said she could not recover, and he had traveled from another part of the country to see her before her death.

"Mary," said he, when their mother had left them together, "what was that about cousin Cathleen?"

"Ah, Pat, I was wishing I could die as happy as she did, though it's true she had no absolution nor unction, nor didn't believe in purgatory, and thought she was going to heaven at once."

"But you wouldn't wish to die in error and sin, Mary?"

"No; but hush now, and I'll tell you Pat, that if ever there was an angel on earth, Cathleen was one, and I can't believe that her soul was in hell just because—"

"Because she believed on the blood and mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ," exclaimed Pat. "No, Mary, for that's just the reason she had no need to go there at all; and as for the unction, she had that too."

"What's this you're telling me? Why, sure she was called a heretic, and she had no blessing from the hands of the church."

"No, but she got it in a quicker way—straight from the hand of the Lord himself. He spoke to her soul, Mary, and comforted her with assurance of his pardon and love. Do you think she needed anybody else to tell her after that? And she had the true unction of the Holy One, and knew all things that made her wise unto salvation; and what need of oils outside after that?"

Mary stared upon her brother with mingled feelings of fear and delight, at last exclaiming—

"Sure, brother, you're turned heretic too!"

"Well, never mind that; I don't care for nicknames at all; but I've been reading the Bible, Mary, God's own blessed book, full of such melting words to poor sinners as would melt your heart."

"But how did you get it? Does the priest know?"

"Sure I

didn't stop to ask him; but I got it of a 'reader,' as he called himself, and he said that in England every man might read the Bible if he liked, and the priests—but no, not priests—the pastors of the church were always delighted to read to the people out of a poor man's Bible. And I said to myself, 'I'm a true and loyal subject of the queen, and why may I not do as her other subjects do, and I have a Bible of my own? So I will;' and I did; for you know I was a bit of a scholar once. And I read and read; and some things were so pretty, and went so quick to the heart, that I couldn't stop any more if I'm burned for it. But I hasn't told mother yet."

'Poor mother! it will break her heart,' said Mary with a sigh. 'But now, Pat, I'm out of breath with listening to you, for longing to know what it is about purgatory you've read in the Bible.'

'Why, just as much as you see in that empty platter, and that's nothing at all; and I've searched from one end to the other; so make your heart easy, Mary, for you can't go to a place that isn't in God's creation. You shall go—and I'll promise you on the faith of the Holy Scriptures—straight to heaven at once, if you'll only do one thing.'

'What is it Pat? Oh, what is there I wouldn't do if I could? Is it to make a station?'

'No, no, not the like of such things as that; but if you'll listen, I'll read it in the beautiful words that they are;' and drawing from his pocket the precious little volume that had enlightened himself, the young Irishman read, 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' John iii. 16. 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, for the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.' Isa. liii, 5.

'Mary, do you think the Lord only suffered by halves, and only heals by halves? 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.' Isa. lv. 7. Is it to abundantly pardon to go to suffer torments in prison before we get it all, Mary?'

'Oh, sure, all this is strange to my ear, Pat; but true enough, they are beautiful words.'

'Stop I've got many a leaf turned down at the like; but its all about purgatory we're looking, and sure that brings us to the pith and marrow of it all. 'Wherefore when he cometh (that is, when Christ cometh) into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. By the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. For by one offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified.' Heb. x, 5-7, 10-14.

'Them that are sanctified, Pat, what's that? Isn't it to be sanctified that we go to purgatory?'

'No; 'for this is the covenant that I will make with them after these days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.' Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin,—no offering of your own sufferings my Mary, no masses for our mother to pay for. When the blessed Lord was going to be betrayed, before he was taken prisoner, he prayed for all his people, and in his prayer he said not a word of going through purgatory. And what was that? He said, 'Sanctify them by the truth; thy word is truth.' St. Paul said, 'Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the word.' And again, 'How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?' And to the Lord's people at Thessalonica he said, 'We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.' So, Mary, it's Christ's blood for us, and that's salvation out and out.'

'Oh, brother, sure you've sent for a blessing to my dying bed, to tell me these beautiful things, and all so easy and straight, and just as Cathleen used to say. But now what's the things I'm to do, Pat? You said if I'd do one thing.'

'Why, then, it's just this: Having, as the precious word says, 'a High Priest over the house of God,—that is the Lord Jesus, with the one offering of himself once offered—let us draw near in a true heart, with a full assurance of faith.' Heb. x, 21, 22. You must believe these things, and that will make them your own. 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,' now, at once; 'and being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;' and then you may rejoice in hope as it says, of the glory of God; for 'being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.' Oh, Mary, it's all of a piece; it's all like the word of God, worth loving and preserving forever. Now can you find it in your heart to trust what God says?'

'I'm afraid it's too good to be true.'

'It's true, for it's in the Holy Bible, and God has said it; and the reason the priest doesn't believe it is clear, too, for such words go clean to upset his whole patchwork of absolution, masses and purgatory; but, Mary, just leave minding his reason, and turn to the Lord himself,—'Draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith;' it's faith you must get, and not masses, Mary. The offering is made, the blood is shed that must wash away all your sins, so that there is nothing to do but believe in Christ alone.'

'Faith, faith, what is it?'

'It's just believing the Lord, that he says true, and will do as he has promised, before you get the thing promised. Sure, Mary dear, you don't think I'd tell a lie?'

'No, that I do not, the kind brother that you've been to me, it's the soul of truth you always were.'

'Then think still better and higher of Christ that died for you; believe what he says at once. And then, Mary dear, if indeed you must leave us, if you must not stay any longer here, you will pass without fear through the shadowy valley, having the staff of truth to lean upon; and your happy spirit, absent from the body, shall be, for he says it, 'present with the Lord.''

'Oh, Pat, Cathleen might well be happy to learn all this; but you must say it all over and over again when mother is not by, for it's taking the thorns from the dying pillow one by one, and I do think I'll be able to believe it all. But what will the priest say? Perhaps he will curse me for a heretic, Pat;' and she shuddered at the thought.

'Och, but it'll do the most harm to himself then. Never fear. Be true, and hold fast by the Lord Jesus and his own words, and you need not fear what men can do.'

'And our poor mother, who loves the church and the Virgin, and so many saints, and believes in them all.'

'Ah, we must say something now and then out of the Word, that will catch her ear and win her heart, and above all, pray to God to enlighten her with the Holy Spirit, that she may know her darling is safe in glory when we are left lonely by the grave-side. Sure it's a blessed religion to comfort us all whether living or dying; and I only wish the sweet story was told from Ballycastle to Cape Clear, till every man, woman, and child should know that Jesus died for them, and for his sake God can have mercy on them that believe. Och, wouldn't Ireland be the happy land, then; for I know who would have to emigrate pretty quick, or turn and preach the gospel. It's the gospel we want, and then it's God's word and not mine that says, Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.'—Slightly abridged from the Tract Magazine.

Our Father.

"I WILL be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. vi, 18.

Tried Christian, thou art not an orphan! Thou hast a Father. God, in all the glory of his nature and perfections, is thy Father. He has adopted thee for his own. He has regenerated thee by his Spirit. He has called thee out of the world, and has promised to do a father's part by thee. He says, "I will be a Father unto you." Do you want advice? Consult your Father. Do you need supplies? Ask them of your Father. Are you tormented with cares? Cast them on your Father. Are you alarmed at foes? Cry unto your Father. Do your difficulties appear insurmountable? Appeal to your Father. God is not merely a Father in name; he has a father's nature. He not only calls us his sons and daughters, but wishes us to act towards him as such. We should exercise confidence in his love. We should trust in his word. We should appeal to his paternal heart. We should look for our supplies from his hand. In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we should let our requests be made known unto God. He loves to see us confide in his care, rely on his word, expect his communications, and acquiesce in his will. Believer, whatever trials may befall thee; whatever troubles may come upon thee; whatever enemies may rise up against thee; whatever changes may take place in thy circumstances, one thing can never befall thee: thou canst never be Fatherless, therefore thou canst never be friendless. Thou art God's child, however poor thy circumstances or trying thy path. What an unspeakable mercy!

"We are the children of God; and if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." Rom. viii, 16, 17.

A Greater Wonder than Blondin.

EVERY one who walks by faith is a greater wonder than Blondin on his tight rope. The line which supports the faith-walker is stretched over an abyss for more terrible than the basin and rapids of the Niagara. It is utterly invisible to sense; sometimes faith itself can hardly see it; impenetrable mists envelop the farther shore. Blondin accomplishes his feat by the force of iron muscle and an iron will, and cool, watchful self-reliance. They who walk by faith are generally full of fears and terrors; they utterly distrust themselves, and cast affrighted glances now at the abyss below, now to the dark shore beyond, and then upward for help and support. Here is one strong point of contrast: if Blondin's self-possession and self-reliance should fail him for an instant he would be in extreme peril. The moment the walker by faith relies on himself, he is gone, unless the mercy of God speedily prevent him. And yet while there is a great multitude, which no man can number, of men, women and children, old and young, weak and strong, who are perform this hard and perilous walk by faith, not one of the faithful shall fall away; all shall get safely over, and finish their course with joy, amidst the acclamations of angels on the other side.

THE BIBLE THE KEY TO THE HEART.

If I had a lock of very complicated construction, and there was only one key that would unlock it, I should feel very sure that key was made by one who understood the construction of that lock. So when I find that, notwithstanding all the windings and mysteries of the human heart, the Bible and the Bible only, is adapted to it throughout, and is able to penetrate its most secret recesses, I am constrained to believe the Bible was made by him who "alone knoweth the hearts of the children of men."—Webster.

PERSONALITY OF GOD.

Man was made in the image of God. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Gen. i, 26, 27.

Those who deny the personality of God say that "image" here does not mean physical form, but moral image, and they make this the grand starting point to prove the immortality of all men. The argument stands thus:

1. Man was made in God's moral image.

2. God is an immortal being.

3. Therefore all men are immortal.

But this mode of reasoning proves too much. Let us see.

1. Man was made in God's moral image.

2. God is an omnipotent being.

3. Therefore, man is omnipotent.

And so we might prove man omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent as well as immortal, and clothe him with all the attributes of the Deity. That which proves too much, proves nothing to the point, therefore the premise that the image of God means his moral image is false.

As proof that God is a person, hear his own words to Moses: "And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen." Ex. xxxiii, 21-23.

Here God tells Moses that he shall see his form. To say that God made it appear to Moses that he saw his form when he has no form, is charging God with adding to falsehood a sort of juggling deception upon his servant Moses.

The skeptic thinks he sees a contradiction between verse 11, which says that the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, and verse 20, which states that Moses could not see his face. But let Num. xii, 5-8 remove the difficulty. "And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful to all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently."

The great and dreadful God came down, wrapped in a cloud of glory. This cloud could be seen, but not that face which possesses more dazzling brightness than a thousand suns. Under these circumstances Moses was permitted to draw near and converse with God face to face, or mouth to mouth, even apparently.

Says the prophet Daniel, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hairs of his head like the pure wool; his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." Chap. vii, 9.

"I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom." Verses 13, 14.

Here is a sublime description of the action of two personages; viz., God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ. Deny their personality, and there is not a distinct idea in these quotations from Daniel. In connection with this quotation read the Apostle's declaration that the Son was in the express image of his Father's person.

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." Heb. i, 1-3.

We here add the testimony of Christ on this subject. "And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape." John v, 37. To say that the Father has not a personal shape seems the most pointed contradiction of plain Scripture terms.

Objection. "God is a Spirit." Answer. Angels are also spirits , yet those that visited Abram and Lot, lay down, ate, and took hold of Lot's hand. They were spirit beings. So is God a Spirit being.

Obj. God is everywhere. Proof. Ps. cxxxix, 1-8. He is as much in every place as in any one place.

Ans. 1. God is everywhere by virtue of his omniscience, as will be seen by the very words of David referred to above. Verses 1-6. "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it."

2. God is everywhere by virtue of his Spirit, which is his representative, and is manifested wherever he pleases, as will be seen by the very words the objector claims, referred to above. Verses 7-10. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."

God is in heaven. This we are taught in the Lord's prayer. "Our Father which art in heaven." Matt. vi, 9; Luke xi, 2. But if God, who is in heaven, is as much in every place as he is in any one place, then heaven is also as much in every place as it is in any one place, and the idea of going to heaven is all a mistake. We see all in heaven. And the Lord's prayer according to this foggy theology simply means, Our Father which art everywhere, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is everywhere, &c.

(To be continued.)

Continue reading: “BLESSED