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Review and Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 11

FAITH IN PROPHECY.

Review and Herald

Third-day, August 27, 1867

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, August 27, 1867

FAITH IN PROPHECY.

By Eld. R. F. Cottrell

BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.
TEXT. “O thoughtless men, and backward to believe things which have been all predicted by the prophets.” Luke xxiv, 25.—Campbell.
The importance of faith in the word of God will not be disputed by any who admit the truth of the Bible. Belief of the gospel is made a condition of salvation; and those who do not believe are to be condemned. We are also taught, by an apostle, that without faith it is impossible to please God. If faith is pleasing, unbelief must be displeasing to God.
Men have never been too forward, but always too backward, to believe. As it was anciently, so it is now—mankind are “slow to believe.” We, who live in the very dregs of time, at a period concerning which unbelief and iniquity are especially predicted, are no more ready to believe the testimony of God, than those whom the Lord Jesus so often reproved for their want of faith. “O ye of little faith,” he would say, “where is your faith;” “O fools, and slow of heart to believe.”
Those who will read carefully the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Hebrews, will see that the men of the greatest faith are most approved of God, and that unbelief is the sin that so easily besets us. Unbelief is the fruitful source of sin; and it besets every one of our fallen race. Hence we are especially warned of its sad effects.
The Israelites in the desert are set before us as an example of the dreadful consequences of unbelief, and we are warned most solemnly not to follow their pernicious example. Unbelief was the cause of all their sins and of the dreadful consequences. Says the apostle, “But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” And again, “Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Heb. iii, iv.
But the subject of our text is especially that of faith in prophecy. Not the faith that merely admits that the prophecies are true; but the faith that believes the fulfillment of them which we personally witness. Some will admit that every word of the prophecies of the Bible is true; but they do not profess to understand them. Consequently they derive no more benefit from those predictions which are being fulfilled before their eyes, than though these prophecies did not exist. Thus ignoring the prophecies, they are not benefited in the least by them. They lightly esteem the word of God, and slight the efforts of his Holy Spirit to enlighten them. They say the prophecies are dark, and thus contradict the testimony of an apostle, and disregard his exhortation, which is as follows: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” 2 Pet. i, 19. To say that we cannot understand the prophecies that relate to our own times, and cannot know when they are fulfilled, or whether they are fulfilled or not, is simply expressing our unbelief in the word and providence of God.
The reproof contained in our text was given by our Saviour to two of his disciples, as they were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, on the same day in which he had risen from the dead. As they in sadness were talking over their late experience and great disappointment, when he on whom they had believed as the promised Saviour, had been seized by wicked hands and slain, “Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? And one of them whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; and besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even as the women had said; but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
The argument of Jesus in this conversation is, that, had they heeded the prophecies and believed them, they need not have been thrown into doubt and perplexity at what had happened. That all these things had been foretold of him, and that instead of causing them to doubt that Jesus was the Christ, their faith should be confirmed by them. If Christ had not suffered these things, the scriptures which predicted them would have failed of fulfillment. Therefore he expounded to them those scriptures which so clearly foretold these things. The bloody offerings of the law of Moses typified Christ and prefigured his death. The prophets also had foretold it. See Ps. xxii, 1, 7, 8, 16, 18; Isa. liii, 7–9; Dan. ix, 26. His resurrection had also been predicted. See Ps. xvi, 9–11.
Had the disciples been heeding these prophecies and observing their fulfillment, they would not have been thrown into doubt and consternation, as they evidently were, by the crucifixion of Christ; nor would they have been “astonished” at the report of his resurrection. And when the Lord Jesus called their attention to these things, it is no wonder that their hearts, before bowed in sadness, burned within them; so that they could afterward say, “Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Verse 32.
A few days before the crucifixion, they were triumphantly shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, in fulfillment of Zech. ix, 9; now their hope had been crushed, so that they mournfully said, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” Poor souls! they did not understand that it was by his death that he was to redeem them. But they soon found that they were not utterly cast down. The work of their redemption was moving onward. Christ had died for their sins, and was risen again to plead before the throne for their justification. And they were not sorry that they shouted Hosanna, as the “King of Israel” rode into Jerusalem; for in that they had fulfilled a notable prophecy. Said the prophet, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zech. ix, 9.
The prophecy required Jerusalem to rejoice greatly; they, though unconscious of it, had aided in its fulfillment. It required the daughter of Zion to shout; they had done so. “These things understood not his disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified [at the right hand of God, and had sent the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit, which was to bring all things to their remembrance,] then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.” John xii, 16.
But, alas! how suddenly were their expectations disappointed, and their hearts rent with anguish and grief, as they saw Him in whom their hopes were centered expiring in agony upon the shameful cross! As the blessed Saviour had before assured them, the world rejoiced, while they wept and lamented. Yes, they were sorrowful, but their sorrow was as suddenly turned into joy. See John xvi, 20, 21. When they found that Jesus was risen from the dead—that the “man child” was “born from the dead,” they remembered no more their anguish for joy. They could then say, in the language of Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us AGAIN unto a LIVELY HOPE by the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST from the dead.”
The lesson we wish to learn is, how to believe prophecy. How shall we know when prophecy is fulfilled? The first Christians believed a prophecy was fulfilled when the thing predicted was done. And they did not find themselves deceived. Can we do better than they by doubting, when we witness an event that has been predicted in prophecy? They were not too credulous, but too “slow to believe.” Is it wisdom in us to be slower? Will that which was foolish or inconsiderate in them, prove our greatest wisdom? Some pride themselves upon their wisdom in doubting. The first disciples were more ready to believe than we, and their backwardness to believe was their foolishness.
We should remember that God is the author of prophecy; and his veracity is pledged for its fulfillment. He is pledged not only to fulfill the prophecies, but to guard them against a false fulfillment; otherwise those who wish to please him by their faith might be deceived a hundred times. We come to this conclusion: It is safe to believe that a prophecy is fulfilled when the thing predicted is done. The prophecies are infallible; they are the word of God. There is no power in the universe, but the power of God, that is able to fulfill the least of the prophecies. Hence, when a thing predicted is done, we may know without a doubt that God has caused or permitted it to be done. It will take place in a way that the unbelieving world will think it happens by chance; but an unseen hand, an unerring Providence, is guiding and controlling events to the fulfillment of God’s word; or, in other words, infinite prescience has foreseen just what would take place. When the time comes for its fulfillment, should other instrumentalities fail, the very stones would cry out before the prophecy should fail of its accomplishment; but this never happens to be necessary. The chosen instrumentalities always fulfill the part assigned them. We must examine the prophecy very carefully in every particular, and when an event comes in exact harmony with the description given, it is the event intended—it is the fulfillment.
Those who have studied Daniel’s prophecies of the four great kingdoms, and have compared them with the history of the eastern world since they were given, can see how exactly the word of God has been fulfilled. The second, the third, and the fourth kingdoms arose as predicted, and each fulfilled exactly the specifications given concerning it. The fourth was divided into ten parts or kingdoms, as predicted, and then a singular power arose, “diverse from the others,” and three of the ten were removed to give it place, and this last power has done all that was predicted of it—has spoken words of blasphemy against God, has persecuted his saints, has attempted to change his times and laws, has reigned through the distinctly marked period of twelve hundred and sixty years, and now is in the consuming state predicted as it draws near to, and awaits, its end.
Now, all we have to do in regard to these prophecies, is to believe them—to believe that the events that have transpired in harmony with them are their fulfillment, and to believe that as all things have taken place as predicted, except the last, the destruction of the wicked powers of earth and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of God, so this also will assuredly follow.
Our Saviour predicted another class of signs to precede his coming in his kingdom. The sun and moon were to be darkened, and the stars were to fall as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when shaken of a mighty wind; and when these things are fulfilled, he requires us to know that his coming is near, even at the doors.
These signs have all taken place in the time and order predicted. Immediately after the days of the tribulation of the elect—the affliction of the church under the most cruel and long-continued persecution that ever was or ever will be—in A. D. 1780 the sun and moon were darkened without an eclipse, so that, in the language of an eye-witness, “it was midnight darkness at noon-day;” and the night following was as uncommonly dark though it was at full moon; and in 1833, the stars fell exactly in the manner described in the prophecy. What we have to do is, not to explain these things on some supposed natural principles, and try to convince ourselves that the prophecy has not been fulfilled, but to believe it. The prediction has certainly had its fulfillment; the things foretold have been done; the word of God has been verified. To believe is safe; to disbelieve is unsafe. Belief tends to salvation, unbelief to condemnation. We shall not be duped and our faith cheated, if, when prophecy is thus plainly and literally fulfilled, we believe it. The things predicted have been done. If we believe it and act accordingly, we have no further responsibility in the matter. The responsibility, then, rests with Him who gave the word. I am not afraid to trust him. Are you, my friends?
(Concluded next week.)

MORE AND LESS.

One day more, one day less— Thus along our life we press. One day more of life is given, One day less we have to live, One day nearer now to Heaven, One day less now to the grave.
One day less, and one day more— Farther out, and nearer shore; Farther from the sailing day, Nearer to the canvas furled; Gliding from our youth away, Closer to another world.
One day more, and one day less. Oh! the solemn thoughts that press! One day's prayers again have risen, One day's prayers less to arise. Love we less our earthly prison? Long we more for purer skies?
One day less, and one day more. Weaker, stronger than before? Weaker to the chains of sin? Farther on the upward road? Weaker to the fears within? Stronger in the love of God?
One day more, and one day less. Less distrust, more righteousness? O that ever while we live, Stepping on from day to day, God would greater favors give, Wash more sinfulness away! —Prot. Churchman.

The Sermon.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom
PREACH THE WORD. 2 Tim. iv, 2.

WOMAN AND RELIGION.

By Ada Van Luven

The adaptation of the Christian religion to mankind is acknowledged by all those who have studied the wants of human nature. But more particularly does it seem congenial to the female character. Much has been said and written about the holy and elevating influence of woman; but it should be remembered that these expressions apply appropriately only to the influence of Christian women. Can the stream be pure if the fountain from which it flows be not so? Or can light radiate from an unilluminated body? No more can woman exert a holy and redeeming influence if her heart be not purified by communion with that which is holy and good. She may be beautiful as a poet's dream. Her mind may sparkle with the rich gems of thought. She may possess a long list of accomplishments fitting her for the easy gentility of the parlor; but if her heart be not cultivated, she is destitute of the highest charm of which her nature is susceptible. The fairest beings in creation without religion in the heart are like gathered dew-drops. The elements are there, but the sparkling is gone.
In every relation of life, woman needs the holy principles of religion, and the education which will fit her for her duties as a mother. She must feel her inability to train her children for eternity unassisted by that wisdom which is not of earth. What more beautiful sight than of a mother instilling into the youthful mind the holy truths of religion, or teaching the infant lips to lisp the name of Jesus! This may seem insignificant to those whose object and aim in life is to win for themselves a name among the gifted of earth; but not so to her who feels called to a destiny more lofty than a life of pleasure or gratified ambition. But it is the true woman's glory to do good. Her mission, to walk in the path of noble, unpretending usefulness. Her influence is more moral than intellectual, stretching out from home like the rays of a beautiful star, entering the abodes of poverty and want, and shedding abroad the sacred influence of hope and religion.
Selected for Review by ADA VAN LUVEN.
RELIEVE misfortune quickly. A man is like an egg, the longer he is kept in hot water the harder he is when taken out.—Senex Montanus.

THE CHAPLET OF ETERNAL LIFE.

By B. S. Barnes

Crown of everlasting life! Is it not worth striving for? Shall things of a moment, vanities, baubles, allure our attention from an unyielding purpose to urge our way on, and gain the chaplet of eternal life? The way is open before us. The plan of salvation is plain. Yes, thank God for a full and free salvation! “As the Father hath loved me,” says Christ “so have I loved you.” What! the love that God bore to his dear Son, the measure of Christ’s love to us fallen ones? Wondrous thought! Love deep and incomprehensible! “Thou art ever with me and all I have is thine.” How rich is the child of God, though poor in this world’s goods! Access to all of Heaven! O ye hungry, barren souls, could ye but catch one glimpse of the fullness of Christ, could ye but realize the gift he hath placed within your reach, ye would believe.
“If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” How plain the test of our love to God—keeping his words. How great the divine condescension, “We will make our abode with him.” Sweet is it to live in the divine companionship of our Creator. How easy to grieve the Holy Spirit, and become separated from Christ. God help us that we may walk with sacred awe, as did Moses before the burning bush.
Truly we have battles to fight, burdens to bear, endurance now; but palms of glory and crowns of victory just upon the other side. How slight is our suffering compared with what Jesus suffered for us! Precious Jesus! Fullness of joy! Well of salvation! Oh! for a faith to plunge into the ocean—fullness of his love, and to drink of the fountain of joy! Does it not encourage our weary hearts, to enjoy the blessed realization that God doth all things well? Tenderly he watches each step of the way his weary, burdened children tread. He brings them by the way that leads most direct to Heaven. But it is only by faith that we are able to appreciate the highway of the soul. Hence Lord increase our faith, and give us the elastic step of those who “run and are not weary.” Thank God! Sweet is it to run in the way of thy commandments. A starry crown is at the end of the race. It will be sweet to get home; and if we are saved, it will be all of Christ. Jerusalem, the city of God; and Christ its Shepherd, and we the sheep of his pasture. Our Shepherd will not live in glory, and leave us behind. No; he said he would come again and take us to himself—to himself. Sweet home of my soul how near! Ah! let us strike our harps of praise; for we are so near the crossing.
To those who persevere, the chaplet of eternal life will soon be given. Shall we be discouraged? Is there no balm in Gilead? Yes, let us rejoice and give thanks to our God and Saviour, there is hope, there is “balm in Gilead.” Our dispensation is one of forbearance; and Christ its surety. There is mercy; but only to the merciful. There are blessings in store; but only for the obedient. There is forgiveness; but only to the penitent. There is an altar that sanctifies; but only those who consecrate their all upon it. There is a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness; but for those only who bathe in it. Christ lives to make intercession; but for those only who plead his merits. The time wanes fast; and the great work of preparation will soon be done. Now is the time to make sure of the reward. God commands present obedience, present holiness, and present usefulness; and promises present blessings: even “while they are speaking I will hear.” The great business of the Christian, the salvation of souls, should be pursued with as much zeal as he pursues other objects. Talking and thinking about the circumstantials of one’s religion is not so important as the more direct work of saving souls. We must not have an up-town and a down-town dress, Sabbath piety and week-day formality. No; give me the religion that occupies but one ground, and it’s all staked on that. Give me a hope that is reduced to one anchor, and that struck in the Rock of Ages. How firm a basis is this for the trembling heart that finds no resting place in earth. Oh! how we cling to the sure Rock when everything is dashed upon the breakers of life.
All would be dark without Christ; through him we can gain the chaplet of eternal life, and live where “God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.”
B. S. BARNES. Battle Creek, Aug. 14, 1867.

BEHOLD! HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS.

By J. G. Gregory, M. A.

In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we are told that when Jesus had spoken his last words to his disciples, “while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven, as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.” “This same Jesus,” then, who had arisen from the grave, who had been crucified, who had dwelt and ministered among the sons of men; who had been born of a human mother in Bethlehem;—this same Jesus shall most surely come again “in like manner” as he went. Descending instead of ascending; the clouds unfold to reveal his manhood instead of closing round about, to hide it from our sight.
But let us follow the Almighty Saviour by the steps of his descent. “The Man Christ Jesus” quits the Throne of Intercession at the right hand of Heaven, and advances toward the earth. The glory of the Father’s Majesty surrounds him. The holy angels bear him company. Thus, to an appointed place in heights above the world, he makes descent, and there a pause ensues. The trumpet sounds in hearing of the dead in Christ, and they arise from vaulted tomb, and earth, and stream, and sea, to meet him. It sounds, moreover, in the hearing of the living saints, that their frail mortal put on immortality, and that they ascend to be forever with the Lord. And they obey the summons.
But when the multitudes who have arisen and ascended to their Lord and are in his presence, what shall follow? Surely eye of man hath never seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived—the joy, the bliss, the glory! O think of the re-union of those loving ones the grave has so long severed! Husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and friends, united now to live and love forever! No more to shed a tear! no more to doubt, nor sin, nor suffer! No friend to cause another pang of grief to friend! The name of enemy unknown! All perfect peace, rest, joy, praise, glory, everlastingly. And the brightness!—Oh, the brightness of the hosts of Heaven! those holy angels, close attendants on the King of kings, each one so beautiful, so good, so full of love. To have such beings for companions! To converse on the marvels of redeeming grace! To hear their words declare the praise of their Lord and ours! How wonderful! But then again—more glorious still—the vision of the Almighty King! “The King in his beauty!” “The altogether lovely!” To gaze upon his glory now, would be beyond endurance. We cannot look upon the face of God and live. But then we shall have power to look upon him, and beholding him arrayed in all the brightness of the Father’s glory, shall have grace to praise him as holy angels do, and love him with a love which these alone can exercise whose once sin-ruined souls have been redeemed and saved.
But let us glance for a moment at ourselves as we shall be when thus we look upon, and love, and praise him. Ourselves—in new array—how changed! how wholly changed! this frail corruption having put on incorruption, and this weak mortal, immortality, no longer shall we bear the stamp of sin, or its sad consequences, but we shall be like the Lord. It is not said we shall be like the angels, but we shall be like the Lord—like Christ! washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, made holy by his Spirit, complete in him. Not only so, but more—we shall be glorified together with him in his own transcendent glory. “Sons, moreover, in his Sonship; Kings, in his Kingship;—Priests, in his Priesthood.” Oh, what a blissful sequel to the toils and griefs of earth! Can we now see our title clearly to this blessed state? Would this glory be our portion if the Lord were to come now! If not,—Oh, why not? Not because of any want of love or grace on God’s part. Far from it; for there is a full and free salvation through the faith of Jesus, offered to each sinner upon earth. Christ died for all, and God wills all men to be saved. Oh, search the Scriptures; see if such a thing can be as a believer in Christ Jesus lost. Nay, you will but search in vain. It cannot be; thank God. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so is the Redeemer lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Let us believe then, fellow travelers to eternity, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall live, yea, life is ours, a life which cannot end, it is the present—immediate—portion of the weakest child of faith.—J. G. Gregory, M. A.

HEED THE COUNSEL OF THE WITNESS. REV. iii, 14-19.

By Mary E. Haskell

AIR.—Annie Lisle.
Down to the time of trouble We are hasting fast, When probation’s hours so precious, Will have all been past. Soon Jesus will have finished Pleading for us all;— Soon the voices of mercy slighted, Nevermore will call.
CHORUS.—Heed the counsel of the Witness, And his each command, That when he shall cease his pleading You may safely stand.
How is it with us, brethren, Are our hearts in love, One as Jesus with the Father, In the courts above? Are our garments pure, unspotted By one stain of sin, Is the seal of Jesus’ favor Stamped on all within?
CHORUS.—Heed the Witness; search you deeply; Prove yourselves; be true; And with God’s whole armor girded, In his strength go through.
Perfect, pure—no spot or wrinkle, One in Jesus’ love We must be, if we would enter In his courts above. But if not—the thought how dreadful,— We must filthy be! And in dire dismay must perish! Lost, eternally!
CHORUS.—O be zealous, O be faithful, Make your calling sure; And with God’s whole armor girded, To the end endure.
Gird you for the mighty conflict. Still the hope is given, If you heed the faithful Witness, You may enter Heaven; For the true and faithful Witness Counsels us in love, And a few brief moments waiting, Pleads for us above.
CHORUS.—Then be zealous—heed the Witness, And his each command, That when he shall cease his pleading You may safely stand.
MARY E. HASKELL.

AN ELEGANT EXTRACT.

AND as we look yet further, we find everything subject to law in like manner. A great part of our globe, for example, is occupied by water, which comes before us in various forms. Let us think of it for a moment. The ocean, with its rolling billows, filling the soul with the sense of vastness and power—the waterfall—the majestic river—the babbling brook—the calm, smooth lake, reflecting the clear blue sky—the mountain rill, like a silver thread—the gushing fountain: behold one form it assumes. Look again and it is solid rock; clear, transparent, crystal rock: again, and that rock has changed its form, and is floating in the air as vapor, and forming clouds of every shape, and colored by the setting sun, constituting the glory of the heavens. Look again, and in the form of sparkling dew it gems every flower and every blade of grass; or it descends as a refreshing shower, and in falling presents us with the rainbow. But in all its wonderful and beautiful changes, whether you gaze on foaming billows, or listen to the music of the murmuring rill; whether you watch the regularly recurring tide, or trace the rain drops down a pane of window glass;—every particular of it is influenced, in every form it assumes, and at every instant, by invariable law.—Dabney on Future Punishment, p. 26.

CHRISTIAN HOLINESS.

CHRISTIANITY requires holiness of the most elevated kind, but connects this holiness with the deepest humility. “Be ye holy for I am holy.” “Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” The Scriptures recognize not as a thing of any value, that negative kind of virtue, which consists in doing no harm. To leave undone what we ought to do, is as really sin, as to do what we ought not. Accordingly, the Christian’s faith is represented, not merely as faith which preserves him from evil, but which “works by love.” The Christian’s love is described, not as love which evaporates in empty professions, but which constrains him to live not to himself, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. The servant who had one talent entrusted to him which he neglected to improve, is declared to be a “wicked and slothful servant;” not because he had wasted that talent, but because he had made no improvement of the trust. The blessed Saviour describes myriads as condemned to destruction with the Devil and his angels, not for crimes they had perpetrated, but for the neglect of duties they should have performed.
When the different virtues that should adorn the Christian character are compared to fruit, this fruit is represented as indispensably necessary. This lesson is indicated by the Lord in various expressive ways. He taught it by the parable of the fig-tree planted in the vineyard. The owner sought fruit not leaves; and his forbearance was extended to the tree, under the hope of its producing fruit. The great Husbandman expects the fruits of piety; and the leaves of a fair profession will not be valued when the fruit is wanting. By an expressive miracle the Lord taught the same important lesson, when he said to the barren fig-tree, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever.”
Many professors of religion appear satisfied if they disgrace not their profession by flagrant inconsistency; yet, let such consider that the fig-tree in the vineyard was not ordered to be cut down because it bore pernicious fruit, but because it bore no fruit. The tree which withered at Jesus’ word, was not blasted because it was covered with poisonous berries, but because it had nothing but leaves. As the adorable Jesus thus declares that his followers will produce the fruits of holiness, he also declares that this will not be in a small and inconsiderable degree. When he compares himself to a vine, and his disciples to the branches, he says of those disciples, “He that abideth in me and I in him, bringeth forth much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit.”
In the parable of the sower, he describes his disciples as producing thirty, sixty, and some a hundred fold; some rising to piety much more elevated than others; yet while some yield a hundred fold, those who yield the least yield thirty fold. This is no inconsiderable increase. Conformable to these representations are the divine admonitions: “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” “Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.”—Selected for Review from Pike’s Guide.

LIVE FOR SOMETHING.

By Dr. Chalmers

Thousands of men breathe, move, and live, pass off the stage of life, and are heard of no more. Why? None were blessed by them; none could point to them as the means of their redemption: not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke could be recalled, and so they perished; their light went out in darkness, and they were not remembered more than the insects of yesterday. Will you thus live and die? O man, live for something! Do good and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name by kindness, love, and mercy, on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten. No, your name, your deeds, will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind, as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as bright on the earth as the stars of heaven.—Dr. Chalmers.

The Commentary.

Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne.

Infidel Objections to the Bible Answered. No. 10.

God cannot Lie.—It is impossible for God to lie. Heb. vi, 18.
God Lies by Proxy; He sends forth Lying Spirits to Deceive.—For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. 2 Thess. ii, 11. Now, therefore, behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. 1 Kings xxii, 23. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. Ezek. xiv, 9.
The principal difficulty here, is involved in the language of 1 Kings xxii, 23. An explanation of this will relieve from embarrassment all the rest. On this point, therefore, we quote the following testimonies: Horne, Introduction, Vol. i, p. 566, says:
“It has been asserted from 1 Kings xxii, that Jehovah kept false prophets as well as true ones. The most common attention to the context will show that this assertion is as false as it is malignant. For, in the first place, the four hundred prophets mentioned in that chapter (verse 6.) were pretended prophets whom the wicked king of Israel had in his pay, and who knew how to suit his humor and to flatter his vanity, all agreeing in the same fawning compliances and in the same treacherous counsels which pleased for the present, but ultimately proved fatal. They are emphatically termed by Micaiah (verse 23.) Ahab's prophets, notwithstanding they professed to be the Lord's prophets, prophesying in his name, and, secondly, the address of Micaiah to the two confederated kings in verses 19–23, is not a real representation of any thing done in the heavenly world, as if the Almighty were at a loss for expedients or had any hand in the sins of his creatures; but it is a mere parable, and only tells in figurative language what was in the womb of providence, the events which were shortly to take place, and the permission on the part of God, for these agents to act. Micaiah did not choose to tell the angry and impious Ahab, that all his prophets were liars; but he represents the whole by this parable, and says the same truths in language equally forcible but less offensive.”
The Scriptures represent the Almighty as a God of truth and faithfulness; but he is charged by the opposers of divine revelation with being guilty of falsehood, by inspiring prophets with false messages, and by violating his promises. The grossness of such assertions is sufficiently disgusting, but it is the duty of a Christian advocate fully to meet them and to expose all their falsehood.
In the first place, With regard to the charge of inspiring prophets with false messages (which is founded on 1 Kings xxii, 23, 28, Jer. iv, 10, and Ezek. xiv, 9.) we remark that it is a known idiom of the Hebrew language, to express things in an imperative and active form, which are to be understood only permissively. So where the devils besought CHRIST that he would suffer them to enter into the herd of swine he said unto them, Go; (Matt. viii, 31.) he did not command, but permitted them. And so in John xiii, 27, where our Saviour says to Judas, What thou dost, do quickly, we are not to understand that he commanded him to betray him, though that seemed to be expressed in the form. So likewise here, where an evil spirit offered himself to be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophet, and God says Go forth and do so; this only signifies a permission, and not a command. And so (Jer. iv, 10.) where the prophet complains that God had greatly deceived the people, saying, they should have peace, when the sword reacheth to the soul; we are to understand this no otherwise, but that God permitted the false prophets to deceive them, prophesying peace to them, as appears by the history. (Eze. xiv, 9.) I the LORD have deceived that prophet, that is, permitted him to be deceived, and to deceive the people, as a just judgment upon them for their infidelity with respect to his true prophets. This he threatens at the 5th verse, I will take the house of Israel in their own heart because they are all estranged from me through their idols; because they have chosen to themselves false gods, I will suffer them to be deceived with false prophets; and that this is the meaning, appears by the threatening added, and I will stretch out my hand upon him and I will destroy him from the midst of my people: now God will not punish that of which he is the author.
That text (Jer. xx, 7.) Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived, signifies no more, but that he had mistaken the promise of God to him, who when he gave him his commission, told him he would be with him, by which he understood that no evil should come to him, and now he was become a derision and the people mocked him; and in his passion and weakness, he breaks forth into this expression, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; whereas it was his own mistake of the meaning of God's promise, which was not, that he should not meet with scorn, and opposition, and persecution, but that they should not prevail against him, as we may see at the latter end of the first chapter.—Tillotson's Works, vol. vi. p. 506. London, 1820.
Although the foregoing testimony sufficiently explains all the passages in question, the reader will be pleased to see the following from Dr. Clarke on 1 Kings xxii, 22, 23:
“Verse 22. Go forth and do so.] This is no more than, God has permitted the spirit of lying to influence the whole of thy prophets; and he now, by my mouth, apprises thee of this, that thou mayest not go and fall at Ramoth-gilead. Never was a man more circumstantially and fairly warned; he had counsels from the God of truth, and counsels from the spirit of falsity; he obstinately forsook the former and followed the latter. He was shown by this parable how every thing was going on, and that all was under the control and direction of God, and that still it was possible for him to make that God his friend whom by his continual transgressions he had made his enemy; but he would not: his blood was therefore upon his own head.
Verse 23. The Lord hath put a lying spirit! He hath permitted or suffered a lying spirit to influence thy prophets. Is it requisite again to remind the reader that the Scriptures repeatedly represent God as doing what, in the course of his providence, he only permits or suffers to be done? Nothing can be done in Heaven, in earth, or hell, but either by his immediate energy or permission. This is the reason why the Scripture speaks as above.”
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