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Review and Herald, Vol. 42, No. 24.

THE JEWISH RABBI AND HIS SCHOLAR

Review and Herald

Nov 25, 1873

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 25, 1873

THE JEWISH RABBI AND HIS SCHOLAR.

By J. Cox

While musing on the subject of “the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” and endeavoring to compare spiritual things with spiritual; thought traveled back to ages past, and the following scene presented itself to the eye of the mind. We realized, while viewing it, some of the wonders of “the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that shall follow,” and were deeply impressed with the fact that God’s words of prophecy have hitherto been literally fulfilled.
Toward the close of the Jewish dispensation, in the days when Herod was on the throne of Judea, a Jewish rabbi, in the prime of life, and one of his favorite scholars, were slowly walking over the green slope of Olivet, and gazing with proud delight on the stately city and its noble temple. In the courts of the sanctuary many worshipers were assembled, and among them moved several of the sons of Aaron, clad in priestly vestments; while from the altar of burnt offering the smoke of the evening sacrifices rose slowly toward heaven. “Beloved master,” said the young Jew, “what mean those words of our great prophet Isaiah, ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us,’ and again, ‘He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth’? What is the import of that plaintive song of our royal bard, ‘They pierced my hands and my feet;’ ‘In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink;’ ‘They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, they look and stare upon me’? Of whom does our sublime prophet Zechariah speak, when he bids the daughter of Jerusalem rejoice, because ‘her King cometh, meek and lowly, having salvation, yet riding on an ass’s colt’? These, and many like holy texts, are mixed up with other words which we all believe refer to our long-expected King? But our glorious Messiah will not be a poor, afflicted, and despised man, from whom all hide their faces, and whom none esteem, like him of whom Isaiah speaks. Surely, these prophecies do not describe him!”
“They do not,” replied the Rabbi; “our Messiah will be a glorious, conquering Prince, whom God will make very high; who will tread down our foes, and exalt Israel to the highest pitch of worldly greatness. The words of Holy Writ you have cited contain bold figures of speech, and must in nowise be interpreted literally.”
“So I have thought, honored master, and yet it seemeth to me singular that we should take one part literally, and another part figuratively; but thus, doubtless, it must be, for the teachings of all our learned rabbis agree in this view.”
Two years after this conversation, beams of divine glory illumined the fields where David once fed his father’s flock; an angel’s voice proclaimed that the long-promised Messiah was actually arrived, and a multitude of celestial voices sang the noble anthem, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will toward men.” “Let us go to Bethlehem,” say the listening, awe-struck shepherds, “and see this thing which is come to pass.” Let us go likewise.
All Isaiah foretold is true to the letter; a virgin has conceived and borne a son. This is God’s sign in the height and in the depth, and henceforth we should never call anything improbable or impossible which God engages to do. Here is the “new thing in the earth,” and in due time he will “make all things new.”
Humanity and deity are united in one wondrous person—and that person is before us as an apparently weak and helpless infant. God has done that which is most contrary to nature, most above reason, most beyond all hope and thought of man, and here is a “sign,” or a pledge, that all his other words of prophecy connected with the incarnate One shall be as literally and minutely fulfilled as this is.
Thirty-three years more roll away, and a loud sound of rejoicing is heard on the very spot where the rabbi and his scholar had walked thirty-five years before. A mighty procession is moving over Olivet toward Jerusalem, and in the midst of this great host there is one of majestic mien and benign countenance, seated on an ass. The whole city is moved, saying, “Who is this?” This is Jesus of Nazareth, whom prophets foretold, whom angels worshiped, whom God has anointed. He is come to prove that the Holy Spirit intended that what Zechariah foretold should be understood literally.
A few days after this event, another multitude are gathered together in Jerusalem, and again a loud shout is heard. But how different the behavior and words of this vast assemblage. We are bewildered with their number, their murderous rage, and clamor. There seems no end to the procession.
“Still onward rolls the living flood, The heavens are rent with shouts of blood! And in the murderers’ furious van, Who totters on? A weary man! A cross upon his shoulders bound; His brow, his frame, one gushing wound.”
“He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” “He was a Lamb without spot;” yet, see, “he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,” even as the holy Isaiah predicted. This was no figure, but a fact—the fact, infinite in its nature, and glorious in its results—the principle of literal interpretation is established on Calvary, “Come and see.”
There is now silence for a while; the yells are suspended; the innocent Victim has reached Calvary, and all are hushed to see whether He who so often saved others will save himself. No, he will not; he will drink the cup, bitter as it is, to its very dregs. He will travel unfalteringly through “that hour,” full of suffering, desertion, and agony, as he knows it to be. Amid that awful stillness, we hear the dull sounds of a mallet, accompanied with pleading tones of tenderness, “Father, forgive them!” His hands and his feet are pierced; mockers are around him also. Hark! they use the very words which David, a thousand years before, said they would use: “He trusted in God, let him deliver him.”
Six weary, wondrous hours pass away—hours fraught with eternal results, teeming with boundless blessings, and then a voice, whose tremulous tones tell of intense agony, is heard, saying, “I thirst.” Vinegar is at hand, and they present it to his parched lips; he receives it, just as the prophet said he would; and now he cries with a loud voice, “It is finished,” bows his head, and gives up the ghost. “It is finished.” Oh, our wondrous, loving, faithful Saviour! Let Heaven and earth take up the glorious words, and tell how completely, how gloriously, how literally, thou hast finished all! Thou hast “obtained eternal redemption for us!”
Come hither, thou old rabbi, and you, his scholar (if indeed ye be found among that crowd at Calvary); come hither with your holy book; come and study it under the cross. Say, are not the prophecies concerning an incarnate, lowly, dying Saviour true to the very letter? and will not even ye now say with the centurion, “Truly, this was the Son of God”? Come hither, also, ye Christian rabbis, who in these latter days teach the people that “Israel” means “the Church;” that “the Lord’s coming” means “providential interferences,” or “death,” or “the destruction of Jerusalem;” come hither, and learn, among the other great lessons of the cross, how literally God fulfills prophecy. Be ye sure, however you may interpret Scripture, that God will do as he hath said as regards unfulfilled prophecy. How unlikely did it appear to a proud, reasoning Jew, that the words of David, Isaiah, and Zechariah, would be literally fulfilled; there were plenty of human impossibilities in the way according to man’s opinion, but there were none with God. Do we well, then, with these facts to instruct us, and with the fearful example of the reasoning Jews to warn us—do we well to stagger at those “true sayings of God” which relate to the coming glory of Messiah, because of their apparent improbability? If God has said it, he will see to it. He is a God doing wonders as well as speaking them.
But we must not suppose that all who lived before the first advent of Christ allegorized the prediction, relating to his birth, character, and sufferings. These wondrous words, though but partially understood, were studied, no doubt, with deep interest by some; and we may conclude that salvation through the vicarious sacrifice of Him whom all types prefigured, was a fact present to the faith of many “who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” There were difficulties around this fact which they could not clearly see through; the events foretold they could not group in their true order; and objections might be raised by any captious mind which the wisest believers were unable to meet; but still believed, searched, waited, and at length He came, whose birth, life, death, and resurrection, threw a flood of light upon these then obscure prophecies, and we now see how very literal they all were. We take the key of the evangelist, and to our great joy find that it exactly fits the most complicated wards of the prophetic lock; we turn that key, enter the temple of truth, and find “Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.” Thus it will be in the future. When the Lord shall come again in his glory, many prophecies which now appear to us confused, and of which we only see (and that dimly) a general outline, and which many Christian teachers assert must be interpreted figuratively, will all appear as plain, and prove to be as literal, as those which were fulfilled at Bethlehem and Calvary. If we, then, as did the ancient Christians, “continue to wait for the Son of God from Heaven,” we shall not be ashamed.
In the New Testament, the second coming of Christ is mentioned about sixty times, and the day of the Lord about forty times. A good man recently observed at a public meeting, that he had calculated that for fifty-seven times the atonement was mentioned, the second advent was named sixty-seven times, and then asked, “Did the second advent receive the same place in our thoughts which it had in the New Testament?” How can this be, if Christians believe what some so positively assert, that it is a very far-off event—more than 1000, or as some say, 365,000 years distant? Before any Christian adopts the opinion of fallible men on this most important subject, we entreat him to search God’s word for himself, and that with earnest prayer for divine teaching; for a subject so largely and frequently dwelt upon in God’s word is evidently not a light matter in God’s estimation. The second coming of the Lord Jesus is the center of unfulfilled prophecy, even as his first coming was the center of all that was then accomplished. We firmly believe that to interpret prophecy without including His personal coming is to derange God’s order, and throw all into confusion.
We ask especial attention to the fact that the principle of interpretation adopted by those who expect the Lord to come in person and set up a visible, universal kingdom, is the very same as that which God himself has furnished in his past fulfillment of prophecy. They expect unfulfilled predictions to be accomplished in God’s time, just as literally as those which God has already fulfilled; making the same allowance for figure and symbol in their interpretations, as God hath already done in his fulfillings.
What can be more scriptural or reasonable than this principle? Christianity itself is based on the literal fulfillment of prophecy. Luther has well said, “Let the Christian reader first seek to find out the literal meaning of the word of God; for this, and this alone, is the whole foundation of Christian faith and theology.” The figurative mode of interpretation, now so generally applied to the prophecies, may be traced to the “schoolmen” and later “fathers,” among whom Origen stands chief. “Origen” (who held many very dangerous errors) “laid down,” says Professor Porter, of America, “the broad principle that the Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written.” Surely, this is the very principle which the opponents of Pre-Millennialism now adopt with reference to unfulfilled prophecies. The substance of what they say is, You must in nowise understand the Jewish prophets to mean what they in such plain words affirm in so many places. . . .
Reader, look at some specimens of this method of dealing with Scripture, and say, Will such things bear the light of the day that is coming to try every man’s work? The Lord Jesus thus predicts his personal coming: “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matt. 24:30.) This, we are told, is a figurative description of Titus and the Roman armies coming to destroy Jerusalem. His warning words respecting his advent are, “Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 24:13.) These solemn words are commonly applied to death. In describing the overwhelming judgments that are coming on his enemies, the Redeemer says, “Their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments, and I will stain all my raiment, for the day of vengeance is in my heart.” (Isa. 63:1–3.) This passage is generally interpreted as a figurative description of the sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane. God’s own interpretation is found in Rev. 19:19–21. Again, Rev. 20:4–6, ends with these plain words, “This is the first resurrection.” But this divine declaration is unceremoniously pushed aside, and this explanation is asserted to mean that “the principles of the martyrs will be revived.” But how can “principles of the martyrs” be revived in a state of victory and holiness, at a time, too, when persecution and temptation from Satan will not exist? The youngest Christian, one would think, would be able to detect and refute such learned perversions, yet “many such like things learned men do.”
To those who are just beginning to study the subject, we would say, Let it be well borne in mind that the main point to be first examined (for it is the great difference between Pre-Millennialists and Post-Millennialists) is, will the personal coming of Christ precede his glorious universal kingdom on earth, or will it be deferred till afterward? Many texts which in plain words declare the former, are found in God’s word; but where are the texts, where is there a single passage, which asserts the latter, or even fairly implies it?
Believers in the Pre-Millennial doctrine are not to be scared from it by any human reasoning, nor even by the ridicule sometimes heaped upon them in consequence of the hastiness or mistakes of its advocates. Their firm conviction is, that the doctrine of the Lord’s coming in person to set up his universal kingdom pervades God’s word from beginning to end, even as do the deity and atonement of Christ. Therefore, charges of absurdities, improbabilities, and impossibilities, weigh no more with them than the ravings of the skeptic or the reasonings of the neologian weigh with orthodox believers, when the historical parts of God’s word, or the foundations of Christianity, are assailed. Yet it seems very strange to believers in the literal fulfillment of prophecy that their brethren should receive, without hesitation, as facts, what Moses the historian has written in Genesis and Exodus, and then treat the unfulfilled prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, and John, as figurative. Yet Christians do this whose salvation and hopes grow out of the literal fulfillment of prophecy. The judicious Hooker has well observed, “I hold it for a most infallible rule in the exposition of sacred Scripture, that where a literal construction will stand, the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst. There is nothing more dangerous and delusive than that art which changeth the meaning of words, as alchemy doth, or would do, the substance of metals, making of anything what it listeth, and bringing in the end all truth to nothing.”—Rev. J. Cox, England.

TELL IT TO JESUS.

Go tell it to Jesus, each joy and each woe, Go tell him each trial, each want and each care; No home is too humble, no calling too low, For the love of the Saviour to find its way there.
Go tell it to Jesus, and pray for his aid, As man speaks to man to the “Son of man” speak. Why art thou so fearful? Oh! be not afraid, For strong is thy Helper, though thou art most weak.
Go tell it to Jesus, whatever it be; He is ready to help, if we trust but his love; And his sorrow or pain which brings trouble to thee, Is known to the Friend of the friendless above.
Go tell it to Jesus; he grieves with thy grief; And if thou art happy, he joys in thy joy; His comforts alone give thee lasting relief, And the pleasures of holiness have no alloy.
Go tell it to Jesus; pour out thy full heart; Pray on—nothing doubting—for Christ bids thee pray; And sinful and wayward and poor though thou art, Refreshed from on high thou shalt go on thy way. —Sel.

An Emperor on Theology.

THE NEW YORK POST says: According to a dispatch from Berlin, published in the English papers, the pope of Rome sent in August last a very curious letter to the emperor, William of Germany—a letter in which the venerable pontiff has forgotten to use his customary elegance of epistolary diction. In this letter, the pope complains that the emperor's government has lately adopted measures which aim more and more at the destruction of Catholicism, and he adds:—
“I am informed that your Majesty does not countenance the proceedings of your government, and does not approve the harshness of the measures adopted against the Catholic religion. If, then, it be true that your Majesty does not approve thereof—and the letters which your august Majesty has addressed to me formerly might sufficiently demonstrate that you cannot approve that which is now occurring—if, I say, your Majesty does not approve your government continuing in the path it has chosen of further extending its rigorous measures against the religion of Jesus Christ, whereby the latter is most injuriously affected, will your Majesty, then, not become convinced that these measures have no other object than that of undermining your Majesty's own throne? I speak with frankness, for my banner is truth. I speak in order to fulfill one of my duties, which consists in telling the truth to all, even to those who are not Catholics, for every one who has been baptized belongs in some way or other—which to define more precisely would be here out of place—belongs, I say, to the pope. I cherish the conviction that your Majesty will receive my observations with your usual goodness, and will adopt the measures necessary in the present case. “While offering to your most gracious Majesty the expression of my devotion and esteem, I pray to God that he may infold your Majesty and myself in one and the same bond of mercy. Pio.”
To this the emperor replies that the pope is misinformed as to the aid and scope of the measures of the German government; complains of the organization within his realm of political intrigues in which Roman Catholic priests are prominent; and though he does not consider it his mission “to investigate the causes by which the clergy and the faithful of one Christian denomination can be induced actively to assist the enemies of all law,” he announces his determination to protect eternal peace, and preserve the authority of his government by worldly means. The emperor then gives utterance to the following singular expressions:—
“I willingly entertain the hope that your Holiness, upon being informed of the true position of affairs, will use your authority to put an end to the agitation carried on amid deplorable distortion of the truth and abuse of priestly authority. The religion of Jesus Christ has, as I attest to your Holiness before God, nothing to do with these intrigues any more than has truth, to whose banner, invoked by your Holiness, I unreservedly subscribe.
“There is one more expression in the letter of your Holiness which I cannot pass over without contradiction, although it is not based upon previous information, but upon the belief of your Holiness—namely, the expression that every one who has received baptism belongs to the pope. The evangelical creed, which, as must be known to your Holiness, I, like my ancestors and the majority of my subjects, profess, does not permit us to accept, in our relations with God, any other mediator than our Lord Jesus Christ. The difference in belief does not prevent me from living in peace with those who do not share mine. And offering your Holiness the expression of my personal devotion and esteem, I, etc.
“WILLIAM.”
Here, then, is presented the extraordinary spectacle of a Protestant monarch offering theological information to the infallible pope! Where, oh! where are the “thunders of the Vatican”? What a different scene is this from that offered by another German Emperor—in the days of the “Holy Roman Empire”—who was glad to hold the horse of the pontiff, and help him to dismount! Times have changed indeed.

A Mother’s Sorrow.

A COMPANY of ladies, assembled in a parlor, were one day talking about their different troubles. Each one had something to say about her own trials. But there was one in the company, pale and sad-looking, who for a while said nothing. Suddenly rousing herself at last, she said:
“My friends, you don’t any of you know what trouble is.”
“Will you please, Mrs. Gray,” said the kind voice of one who knew her story, “tell the ladies what you call trouble?”
“I will, if you desire it; for in the words of the prophet, ‘I am the one who hath seen affliction.’
“My parents were very well off, and my girlhood was surrounded by all the comforts of life. Every wish of my heart was gratified, and I was cheerful and happy.
“At the age of nineteen I married one whom I loved more than all the world besides. Our home was retired, but the sun never shone upon a lovelier spot, or a happier household. Years rolled on peacefully. Five lovely children sat around our table, and a little curly head still nestled in my bosom. One night, about sundown, a fierce, black storm came on. For many hours the rain poured down incessantly. Morning dawned, but still the elements raged. The country around was overflowed. The little stream near our dwelling became a foaming torrent. Before we were aware of it, our house was surrounded by water. I managed, with my babe, to reach a little elevated spot, where the thick foliage of a few spreading trees afforded some protection, while my husband and sons strove to save what they could of our property. At last, a fearful surge swept away my husband, and he never rose again. Ladies, no one ever loved a husband more; but THAT was not trouble.
“Presently my sons saw their danger, and the struggle for life became the only consideration. They were as brave, loving boys as ever blessed a mother’s heart, and I watched their efforts to escape with such agony as only mothers can feel. They were so far off that I could not speak to them; but I could see them closing nearer and nearer to each other, as their little island grew smaller and smaller.
“The swollen river raged fearfully around the huge trees. Dead branches, upturned trunks, wrecks of houses, drowning cattle, and masses of rubbish, all went floating past us. My boys waved their hands to me, and then pointed upward. I knew it was their farewell signal, and you, mothers, can imagine my anguish. I saw them perish—all perish.
“I hugged my baby close to my heart; and when the water rose to my feet, I climbed into the low branches of the tree. I was saved.
“My baby was all that I had left on earth. I labored day and night to support him and myself, and sought to train him in the right way; but as he grew older, evil companions won him away from me. He ceased to care for his mother’s counsels. He became fond of drinking. And at last, one night, when heated with wine, he took the life of a fellow-creature, and ended his days on the gallows! That was trouble, my friends, such as I hope the Lord in mercy may spare you from ever knowing.”
Boys, can you bear to think that you might bring such sorrow on your father or mother? Be on your guard against the giant intemperance. Let wine and intoxicating liquors alone.—Sel.

How to Store Treasures in Heaven.

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Matt. 6:20.
We learn from the parable of the hidden treasure that the people among whom the Saviour lived, when he was on earth, frequently buried their treasures in the earth to prevent their being stolen by thieves; and the Saviour took advantage of this fact to tell them of a better place to store their treasure, viz.: in Heaven. And he gave them the reason why it was the better place, viz.: that the moth and the rust could not corrupt it, nor thieves break through nor steal it.
But the question at once arises, How can I store my wealth in Heaven? If our readers will turn to the last part of the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel by Matthew, they will find one way of doing it clearly presented, viz.: that giving it to the poor is giving it to Christ. His words are: “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” This explains another declaration, viz.: that “he that hath pity on the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given him will he pay again.” An old preacher once preached on this text in behalf of a charitable institution. It is said, instead of waiting to the end of an hour’s sermon before taking up the collection, he took it up before he began the discourse, and after he had said: “My friends, here is your duty, ‘give to the poor.’ 2. Here is your security, ‘it is a loan to the Lord.’ If you like the security, invest your funds.” It is said he got a liberal collection. And now we want to say to you that the security is good. No danger that anything given to the poor for Jesus’ sake will ever be lost. It will always be found safe in the bank of Heaven. Here, banks often break, and those who had stored their wealth in them become poor. One who had this experience said truly, “I have saved nothing but what I gave away to the cause of Christ;” all except that was lost by the failure of the bank.
Much more can we lay up treasure in Heaven by making sacrifices to save the souls of men. A voice from Heaven proclaimed, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” Aye, it is even said of the tears of God’s people that they are all put into God’s bottle and noted in his book. (Ps. 56:8.) And if their tears are not lost, we do not believe the words of their lips nor the labor of their hands will be lost. A missionary teacher in India was sitting beside the bed of a dying convert. He asked him what he would do when he got to Heaven. He replied: “I shall first wait to see Jesus.” “And what next?” “I shall come back and wait at the gate until you come; then I will take you to him and tell him you were the means of leading me to trust in his name.” Ah, such a possibility shows how our labors for Christ will reproduce themselves in the kingdom above. The Sabbath-school teacher, who there finds her scholars saved, will have such joy as will enable her to say, “Truly, what I gave to, and what I did for, Christ, is here found with interest.”—Church at Home.

Miseries of Self-Importance.

By W. M. Taylor

OBSERVE how self-importance makes a man moody and unhappy. He who is always thinking of his own excellencies renders himself thereby unfit to enjoy the good of others, and is prone to imagine that every token of affection given to another is an insult offered to himself. Hence he is touchy, sensitive, irritable, and envious. He takes offense when none is meant, and even when those around him are not thinking of him at all. He interprets their conduct as if it were studiously discourteous, and goes through the world smarting from wounds which have sprung not so much from neglect of others as from his own overwhelming conceit.
There is no surer way to make ourselves miserable than to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. It isolates us from all about us. It cuts us off alike from human sympathy and divine assistance. It makes us very Ishmaels, with our hands against every man and every man's hands apparently against us. It gives a jaundiced hue to the behavior of those who, so far from meaning to do evil to us, have our best interests at heart, and love us with self-sacrificing affection. The man who has a wound about him, no matter where it may be, feels it to be always in his way. Let him do what he will, or go where he may, he cannot move himself but he is conscious of its pain. In like manner, he who has this feeling of self-importance is continually smarting. Somebody has always been slighting him. He is continually complaining of having been insulted, and when honor is given to another, he feels nothing but that he has been overlooked. Thus he shuts himself out from every festival, and mopes most of all when others are merry. May God deliver us from this idolatry of self, on whose altar all true nobleness and real happiness are completely immolated.—Rev. W. M. Taylor.

Only a Minute too Late.

MANY children, and grown people too, have a habit of saying, when anything needs to be done, “In a minute.” Often the minute grows to five, ten, or fifteen, and sometimes the duty is quite forgotten.
A traveler was once sailing down the river Nile in Egypt. He was in a small boat, and often landed to look at the old temples on its banks, and gather flowers. In eastern countries, the cities are still enclosed by walls for protection, as they were in olden times. In this happier land no such defense is needed. The gates in the wall are closed at sunset and opened at daylight. A gun is fired as the signal for closing the gates.
The traveler intended to sail next morning, and still had to get his passport; but he thought there was time enough; so he lingered along in this way till the sunset’s golden light was reflected on the water. When the bright tints faded, he realized that he might indeed be late, and felt alarmed. The rowers hastened to the boat with all their strength; he sprang on shore and ran toward the city. When within a little distance, he saw the flash and heard the report of a gun, and an instant afterward the gate was closed. He had to take what poor shelter he could find for the night. The ship sailed early next morning, and without him, as he could not get his passport in season. His friends at home, who were expecting him by that vessel, were disappointed, and the delay was a loss and trouble to himself.
“Only a minute too late,” is sometimes as bad as an hour.

Be Your Own Executor.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Methodist furnishes the following interesting item. Here is something to think of, and an example worthy of imitation:—
I have just had a peep into a good man’s will, and to my great delight read therein a provision for the payment of $1500 annually to the Board of Church Extension, until his executors should pay over to said Board the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. That is grand, but the best part of it remains to be told. This provision is only for security. The maker of the will designs to pay the principal during his lifetime, if he is spared a few years. God grant that he may be spared, and that continued prosperity may attend him. He has given us a good programme, which it would be well for Christian business men as far as possible to adopt. “Make your will, and then as far as possible execute it yourself.” Will the Board of Church Extension, or some other mighty enterprise, five, ten, or twenty-five thousand dollars, and pay it while you live. That is capital.

Controlling Anger and Looking Ahead in Life

HE who can suppress a moment’s anger may prevent days of sorrow.
LIFE is a journey, where every one is either looking backward or forward.

The Genuineness of the Book of Daniel.

In entering upon the study of lessons in the book of Daniel, it is important to have some definite knowledge in respect to its genuineness, authenticity, and divine authority. The fact that we find a book included in the Sacred Canon, and generally accepted by the church, is strong presumptive evidence of its right to be there, and of its true character. But this fact ought not to be the extent of the teacher’s information upon the subject. An inquiring young Bible scholar will naturally wish to know the reasons for counting the book genuine and true.
As there has been some confusion among the earlier writers on the evidences of Christianity, in regard to the use of the words genuineness and authenticity, it will be well to explain them. A book is genuine, if it was written when, where, and by whom, it claims to have been penned; it is authentic, if its contents are truthful, and can be relied on in matters of which it professes to speak; it is of divine authority, if it was written by direction of God, and under his special guidance.
That the book of Daniel was written by the person whose name it bears, and at the time of the long captivity of the Jews in Babylon, was not disputed until about the third century after Christ.
Some of the proofs of its genuineness are: (1) Copies of the book are mentioned as in existence several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. (2) It was included in the Hebrew Sacred Canon. (3) Christ refers to it as a reliable prophecy. (Matt. 24 : 15.)
About the third century, Porphyry, a bitter enemy of Christianity, first sought to discredit the book, by maintaining that it was spurious, having been composed at a much later date than the captivity, by some uninspired writer, who falsely assumed the name of the prophet. This objection was answered at the time, but it has been revived again by the German and other skeptical writers. Their supposed proof of this assertion rests chiefly upon the minuteness and accuracy of the predictions in the book, which correspond so exactly with history that they claim it must have been written after the events had happened.
The particularity and exactness of detail with which the events are mentioned may readily be admitted, and if it can be shown that this account was written before they occurred, then, upon the testimony of these writers themselves, the book is proved to be all that it claims.
These writers assert that it was written during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, about B. C. 170. But later investigations have quite satisfactorily established the fact that a “Greek version of Daniel was made during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, more than seventy years before the accession of Epiphanes.” (2) Passages of the book of Daniel are referred to by Jesus, the son of Sirach, who must have written as early as B. C. 180, or before the time of Epiphanes. (3) Josephus states that Daniel’s prophecies were shown to Alexander the Great in B. C. 332, and inclined him to treat the Jews with special favor. These facts are proved by testimony of the most trustworthy character, and never have been successfully called in question.
A weak argument against the genuineness of the book of Daniel has been founded upon the fact that it is written in Hebrew and Chaldee, with an intermingling of Greek words, which it is claimed indicates a later age than the time of the captivity.
But this fact, on the contrary, is one of the strongest incidental proofs that it belongs to that time. Like the books of Ezra and Jeremiah, being written partly in Hebrew and partly in Chaldee, is a peculiarity which could only occur when the two languages were currently spoken by the Jews, and is found only in the writings of about the time of the captivity.
And the changes in the language of the book occur where they might most naturally be expected. The introduction is written in Hebrew; with the answer of the Chaldeans (chap. 2 : 4,) the language changes to Aramaic or Chaldee, and it is used until the close of the seventh chapter. The writer then resumes the Hebrew, which is retained to the close of the book.
These changes are such as would be most likely to be made by one who was writing, not for the learned Jews at a later date, but for the common people, during the Babylonian captivity. It would be most natural for the writer to begin such a narrative in his native language, the Hebrew, but when he attempted to give the speeches at court, or to relate the proceedings there, the language spoken at a court, and which was understood by the Jews generally, would be more natural, and hence he uses the Chaldee. Again, when the personal introduction of Daniel as the writer of the text is given, and the restoration of the Jews and the future dealings of God with them, are subjects of record, the native Hebrew is the language best adapted for writing upon these themes, and, therefore, it is selected by the author of this book. The great similarity in the subject of the seventh and of the second chapters, and the writer’s formal introduction of himself in the eighth chapter, are sufficient to account for continuing the Chaldee in the seventh chapter.
In regard to the intermingling of Greek words in its composition, it is sufficient to remark that only ten such words have been cited by the objectors, and only four of these are shown to be of Greek origin. These are the names of four musical instruments, said to be in use in Babylon at that time. Nor is the use of these words a fact at all surprising, since the intercourse of the East and the West was such that a Greek, the brother of Alcaeus, had already gained distinction “at the furtherest end of the world, aiding the Babylonians.”
A learned English writer observes, “It is far more difficult to explain the composition of Daniel in the Maccabean period, than to connect the peculiarities which it exhibits with the exigencies of the return.” “The peculiarities of language, the acquaintances with Eastern manners and history, the reception into the canon the phenomena of the Alexandrine version,” the Oriental characters and scenes, all point to the genuineness of the book, and prove beyond a doubt that it was written by the author whose name it bears, and at the time of the captivity at Babylon.—S. S. World.
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