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Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 8.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

Feb 20, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1879

General Articles.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life.--No. 6.

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
TAKE the obituaries of the Bible, and we find them very different from our modern obituaries. Bible obituaries represent the pious dead as being asleep in the grave. Take the case of David, as one example out of many. "So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David." 1 Kings 2:10. What became of David? He slept with his fathers, and he was buried. It does not say his body slept; it says that David slept, and David was buried. Whatever constituted David was that which slept and that which was buried.
But some affirm that it was simply the body of David that slept, which is here called David. They affirm that another David went off to Heaven at the same time. Thus they virtually maintain that death converts one person into two! One David went into the sepulcher; another David was in Heaven. One David was asleep; another David was awake and living. Such is the absurd yet necessary conclusion to which men who accept the Scriptures as truth are led when they adopt the heathen idea that the soul or spirit separated from the body is the true man, or a man or person at all.
About one thousand years after David's death, Paul thus speaks of it:--"For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption." Acts 13:36. This is in harmony with the Old Testament record. David fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers. Peter, referring to the same thing, states it in even stronger language. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day." Acts 2:29.
The Patriarch David is dead and buried and with us to-day. But that is not all. He positively affirms that David had not gone to Heaven at that time. His words are: "For David is not ascended into the Heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand." Acts 2:34.
How shall we harmonize this with the theory that David went off to Heaven the very day he died? Peter's testimony is decisive, David is not ascended into the Heavens. This is just what we believe. David was asleep.
Moreover the Scriptures state that the dead know nothing of what is transpiring upon the earth, and that they are utterly without any thought or consciousness. Thus Job says, "But man dieth, and wasteth away." "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:14, 21. After he is dead, whether his sons are honored or brought low, he knows nothing of it. If men would believe this, it would take the foundation right away from Spiritualism.
Again David says, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. This is not in harmony with modern teachings, but it is what the word of God says,--the dead do not praise the Lord. Even clearer than this is the following statement. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:3, 4.
The very day a man dies, then his thoughts perish. Does not this teach the utter unconsciousness of the dead? Can a man be in Heaven and have no thought? Can he be in hell and not think? Yet this text does positively affirm that the very day a man dies his thoughts perish. Another scripture is, if possible, still more to the point. "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.
Here it is expressly stated, in so many words, that the dead know not anything. How can this be harmonized with the doctrine that the dead know everything? But a weak dodge is attempted here. It is said that it is merely the body that does not know anything. But how foolish it would be to assert that a dead carcass does not know anything! However, the next verse shows that it is the intellectual, thinking, feeling part of man that is referred to; for it says, "Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished." Could the soul be in Heaven and not love? Could it be in hell and not envy? And are not love and hatred the operations of the soul? The word of God not only that the dead know nothing, but they neither hate nor love. This passage is utterly irreconcilable with the pagan notion that the thinking intelligent man is conscious in death.
The Scriptures alway represent the dead as asleep. We will quote a few texts. Job, in his complaint, wished that he had died when first born. "For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest." Job 3:13. He argues that if he only had died he would have lain still and slept. Again he says, "For now shall I sleep in the dust." Job 7:21. Once more he says: "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth, and drieth up; So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12.
Here the same doctrine is stated. When a man dies he lies down in the dust, and shall not be awakened out of his sleep till the heavens be no more. So the prophet Isaiah says: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." Isa. 26:19. God's saints, then, are dwelling in the dust, from which they are to awake by and by. In harmony with this the angel said to Daniel, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan. 12:2. It will be noticed that it is said all the way through that the dead are asleep. They are not annihilated, not gone forever; they are simply slumbering till the resurrection. Then they will awake and put on glory and immortality.
Notice what Jesus said of the young maid that died,--"Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." Mark 5:39. She was dead in the ordinary sense of the word, that is, life and animation were suspended. She was a corpse, but she was only sleeping. If Jesus had not raised her she would have slept till the final resurrection. So Jesus says of Lazarus: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." John 11:11-14.
First he says: "Lazarus sleepeth." Then he explains this to mean, he is dead; so that to be dead is to be asleep. But after Lazarus had been dead four days, Jesus raised him. The believers in the immortality of the soul affirm that Lazarus' soul was not dead during that time, but had been to Heaven, and was called back again to reanimate the body. But why did not Lazarus tell of something he saw in Heaven during that time? On their views he had seen Adam and Methuselah and Noah and Samuel, and talked with them in the Heavenly land. What revelations of the other world he could have made! If his Jewish brethren believed this theory, why did not they ply him with questions concerning what he had seen? Yet, strangely, he never lisped a word of what he had seen in the other world, nor did any one think to ask him; and why not? Evidently because they had no faith in such a theory and he had no experience to that effect.
Paul in his great argument on the resurrection of the dead repeatedly affirms that they are now asleep. He says: "Some are fallen asleep." 1 Cor. 15:6. Again he says, "fallen asleep in Christ." Verse 18. Once more: Christ is now "become the first fruits of them that slept." Verse 20. Once more, "We shall not all sleep." Verse 51. To the Thessalonian brethren he says: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13.
Evidently these brethren had lost some very dear friends. They were in deep sorrow. Paul wishes to offer them consolation. He gives them the best he had. He told them that their dead friends were asleep. Then he proceeds to cheer them with the hope that though dead and asleep, they should awake and live again when Jesus comes. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:14-18.
This dear reader is the grand hope of the gospel. The dead are asleep; but Jesus is coming, the trumpet will sound, the dead will rise first, the living will be changed, and together they will all ascend to meet the Lord. The apostle adds that we are to comfort one another with these words, with this hope.

THE RESURRECTION.

Having seen that the Bible teaches that immortality is the gift of God, Rom. 6:23, to be bestowed alone upon those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for it, Rom. 2:6, 7; and that the dead both good and bad are dead and not alive, are silent in the dreamless, unconscious, profound sleep of the grave, we next look with anxiety for a ray of light that shall pierce the portals of the tomb, and light up the darkness of the dismal chambers of hades. The doctrine of the resurrection comes to us with the olive branch of assurance extended; and now we are prepared to hail it with joy as we realize the infinite importance that is attached to it as the only door of escape.
With the Bible view of man's nature and his condition in death before us, there must be a resurrection from the dead, or the race is lost. Abel and Cain, David and the prophets of Baal, saint and sinner, all alike are perished. We turn to the Bible to see if it attaches such importance to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; and as we might expect, in view of the perfect consistency of God's word, we find the resurrection taught all the way through, and that it was the hope of prophets, apostles, and holy men of God in all Bible times.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked through the resurrection to their reward. God promised them an inheritance. Gen. 13:14-17; 26:3, 4; 35:12. This inheritance embraced the whole world. Rom. 4:13. Abraham died without coming into possession, under this promise, of enough land to set his foot on. Acts 7:1-5. God did not intend by his promise that he should receive that inheritance in this life, but afterwards. Heb. 11:32-35. Abraham did not expect it in this life, but afterwards, Heb. 11:8. He looked forward to the time when the glorious city of God should be located on the earth, as the period when his hopes should be realized. Heb. 11:10. He did not expect to find his reward at death, but with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Samuel, the prophets, the martyrs, who were supported amid their sufferings by the hope of the resurrection. Heb. 11:32-35. He looked forward to the time when with Paul, and all the good since his day, he should receive his reward, and with them be made perfect, all at the same time. Paul, after naming many of the holy men of the past, says, "These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Verse 40. It is evident from this that the hopes of all these men centered in the resurrection.
Job has left upon the inspired page a testimony that is unmistakable. He raised the question, "If a man die shall he live again?" Job 14:14. He does not for a moment cherish the notion that the real man lives right on while simply the body dies; but he says, "If a man die, shall he live again?" What is the answer? "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." Job 14:14, 15. Job knew he should die, and then he knew there would follow a waiting time. Where is Job waiting? "If I wait," says he, "the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. But he knew that the time would come when the voice of the Redeemer should call. Then he would awake and respond and come forth. "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee."
The Saviour teaches the same thing:-- "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.
That senseless form that has lain in the grave for ages, now resumes its animation, begins to exercise the functions of life, hears, thinks, and comes out of the grave. So Job says, in another place, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Job 19:25, 26. Job had no idea that he, as an immaterial spirit, should ever see God; but he looked forward to the resurrection day when his dead body should be reanimated and come forth; and he declared that in his flesh should he see God. His hope was in the resurrection. Reader, the testimony already examined is sufficient to settle the whole question. It does positively show that the dead are utterly unconscious, that they are in the grave, and that they shall hear the voice of Christ at the resurrection morn, and come forth.

THE SADDEST FATE.

To touch a broken lute, To strike a jangled string, To strive with tones forever mute The dear old tune to sing,— What sadder fate could any heart befall? Alas! dear child, never to sing at all!
To sigh for pleasures flown, To weep for withered flowers; To count the blessings we have known, Lost with the vanished hours,— What sadder fate could any heart befall! Alas! dear child, ne'er to have known them all!
To dream of love and rest, To know the dream has past, To bear within an aching breast Only a void at last,— What sadder fate could any heart befall? Alas! dear child, ne'er to have loved at all!
To trust an unknown good, To hope, but all in vain; Over a far-off bliss to brood, Only to find it pain,— What sadder fate could any soul befall? Alas, dear child, never to hope at all!
—The Aldine.

There Shall No Evil Happen to the Just

THERE shall no evil happen to the just.

Confession and Restitution.

MR. D. L. MOODY, in an address in Chicago, spoke as follows: '"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;' and again, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'"
"You will find through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Old Testament, that it was when the people came near to God, and confessed their sins, that God put away their sin. When David came in repentance to the confession, 'I have sinned,' then God forgave him. When the prodigal came to the confession of trite confession, 'I have sinned against heaven,' God blessed him from heaven; he did not get the blessing until the confession came. We must then confess our sins. I think we are living in the days of sham—we may make pretense, but we do not confess all our sin. If my boy had done wrong I would do him injustice to forgive him till he had made a clean breast of it. My friends, let us all make clean work of it with our God. Let us not cover up anything. Let us have it out and be done with it, and then God will hear and answer.
"Then, following confession, we have got to make restitution. You know I am preaching a great deal more restitution than I used to. I think the opposite course is a sin that is keeping back blessing from the church of God, and is bringing great harm to us. If you have taken one dollar from a man, you ought to restore not only the dollar, but the interest. If by slander you have tried to ruin his character, you ought to go to him and do all you can to make restitution—to save his feelings and his character, and right yourself.
"A man came to me in one of the eastern cities last winter, and said: 'Mr. Moody, I want to become a Christian, but I can't pray. I have tried to, but it seems as if the heavens protest, and all is dark.' I probed him, and tried to find out the difficulty, and at last says I, 'Isn't there some sin you are covering up?' And the man colored to the roots of his hair, and said, 'Mr. Moody, I am a defaulter for $1500.' Says I, 'Why don't you confess?' He says, 'I am going into business, and am going to try and make it up. I have a lovely wife and family, and I can't confess. It would be the ruin of my family, and my ruin. I am just going into business, and expect to make that money and to pay it back. I don't know but I am wrong in that.' 'Yes,' says I, 'of course you can't pray, with that difficulty over you. Going into business with other men's money! Just been robbing men!'—'Oh! what shall I do!'—'Make restitution.' 'I can't; it would be the ruin of me.'—'How much have you got out of the $1500?' '$900; some day I'll pay back every dollar. I can't go to my employers and confess. They will put me into the courts.' I don't know whether they will or not.' He said he couldn't do it, and went away, wanting me to pray for him. 'How can I, if you are not willing to make restitution?' I told him I would pray that God wouldn't give him any sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids until he gave back that money.
"The next day he came back and said he could not sleep. 'Is there no other way out of this agony?'—'No; do the right thing and God will set you right.' He shrank from it. 'How can I do it? I am sure they will put me in the courts and it will ruin my family.' Says I, 'Do right and the Lord will remember you.' Finally he put into my hands $981.21 in a sealed envelope, and said: 'That money follows me, and I don't want it any longer. I have taken the last cent my wife and I have, and if my friends will not save me from the penitentiary it will be the death of us.'
"I went to his employers and got them into a room and told them the whole story. 'There is some of your money, and I don't think you ought to ruin him. I want you to deal in mercy with that man.' 'Deal in mercy? I guess we will,' said they. Tears ran down their cheeks, and I saw they would deal mercifully with him; and so I went down stairs and brought him up, and those three men got on their knees and prayed together. Friends rallied around him, and he has gone into business, and has been successful from that hour, and I received a letter from him not long ago telling of the joy and peace in God he has had since he confessed. Go likewise, and make restitution, if you want power in prayer, and want God to bless you. There is no use in confessing your sin if you do not make restitution. A question came up when talking about confession of sins. Can it be that I am going back to the confessional, to priestly absolution, and all that? Well, there are some sins that need to be confessed to the church. If I have sinned publicly and brought a scandal on the cause of Christ, I ought to confess publicly. If the offense is against my neighbor, I ought to confess to him, and other sins I ought to confess to God in private."

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY.

By Ellen G. White

BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS AND SATAN AND HIS ANGELS.

CHAPTER SIX.

SETH AND ENOCH. BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
SETH was a worthy character, and was to take the place of Abel in right-doing. Yet he was a son of Adam, like sinful Cain, and inherited from the nature of Adam no more natural goodness than did Cain. He was born in sin, but by the grace of God, in receiving the faithful instruction of his father Adam, he honored the Lord in doing his will. He separated himself from the corrupt descendants of Cain, and labored, as Abel would have done had he lived, to turn the minds of sinful men to revere and obey God.
Enoch learned from the lips of Adam the painful story of the fall, and the precious story of God's condescending grace in the gift of his Son as the world's Redeemer. He believed and relied upon the promise given. Enoch was a holy man. He served God with singleness of heart. He realized the corruptions of the human family, and separated himself from the descendants of Cain, and reproved them for their great wickedness. There were those upon the earth who acknowledged God, who feared and worshiped him. Yet righteous Enoch was so distressed with the increasing wickedness of the ungodly that he would not daily associate with them, fearing that he should be affected by their infidelity, and that he might not ever regard God with that holy reverence which was due his exalted character. His soul was vexed as he daily beheld them trampling upon the authority of God. He chose to be separate from them, and spent much of his time in solitude, giving himself to reflection and prayer. He waited before God, and prayed to know his will more perfectly, that he might perform it. God communed with Enoch through his angels, and gave him divine instruction. He made known to him that he would not always bear with man in his rebellion—that it was his purpose to destroy the sinful race by bringing a flood of waters upon the earth.
The beautiful garden of Eden, from which our first parents had been driven, remained until God determined to destroy the earth by a flood. The Lord had planted that garden, and especially blessed it; and in his wonderful providence he withdrew it from the earth, and will return it again, more gloriously adorned than before it was removed. God purposed to preserve a specimen of his perfect work of creation free from the curse which sin had brought upon the earth.
The Lord opened more fully to Enoch the plan of salvation, and by the spirit of prophecy carried him down through the generations which should live after the flood, and showed him the great events connected with the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.
Enoch was troubled in regard to the dead. It seemed to him that the righteous and the wicked would go to the dust together, and that would be their end. He could not see the life of the just beyond the grave. In prophetic vision he was instructed in regard to the Son of God, who was to die man's sacrifice, and was shown the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, attended by the angelic host, to give life to the righteous dead, and ransom them from their graves. He also saw the corrupt state of the world at the time when Christ should appear the second time—that there would be a boastful, presumptuous, self-willed generation arrayed in rebellion against the law of God, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ, trampling upon his blood, and despising his atonement. He saw the righteous crowned with glory and honor, while the wicked were separated from the presence of the Lord, and consumed with fire.
Enoch faithfully rehearsed to the people all that had been revealed to him by the spirit of prophecy. Some believed his words, and turned from their wickedness to fear and worship God. Such often sought Enoch in his places of retreat, and he instructed them, and prayed for them that God would give them a knowledge of his will. He finally chose certain periods for retirement, and would not suffer the people to find him, for they interrupted his holy meditations and communion with God. He did not exclude himself at all times from the society of those who loved him and listened to his words of wisdom; neither did he separate himself wholly from the corrupt. He met with the righteous and the wicked at stated times, and labored to turn the ungodly from their evil course, and instruct them in the fear of God, while he taught those who had the knowledge of God to serve him more perfectly. He would remain with them as long as he could benefit them by his godly conversation and holy example, and then would withdraw himself for a season from all society—from the just, the scoffing and idolatrous, to remain in solitude, hungering and thirsting for communion with God, and that divine knowledge which he alone could give him.
Enoch continued to grow more heavenly while communing with God. His face was radiant with a holy light which would remain upon his countenance while instructing those who would hear his words of wisdom. His dignified appearance struck the people with awe. The Lord loved Enoch, because he steadfastly followed him, and abhorred iniquity, and earnestly sought a more perfect knowledge of his will, that he might perform it. He yearned to unite himself still more closely to God, whom he feared, reverenced, and adored. The Lord would not permit Enoch to die like other men, but sent his angels to take him to Heaven without seeing death. In the presence of the righteous and the wicked, Enoch was removed from them. Those who loved him thought that God might have left him in some of his places of retirement; but after seeking diligently, and being unable to find him, they reported that he was not, for God took him.
By the blessings and honors which be bestowed upon Enoch, the Lord teaches a lesson of the greatest importance, that all will be rewarded, who by faith rely upon the promised Sacrifice, and faithfully obey God's commandments. Here, again, two classes are represented which were to exist until the second coming of Christ—the righteous and the rebellious. God will remember the righteous, who fear him. On account of his dear Son, he will respect and honor them, and give them everlasting life. But the wicked, who trample upon his authority, he will destroy from the earth, and as though they had not been.
After Adam's fall from a state of perfect happiness to a condition of sin and misery, there was danger that man would become discouraged, and inquire, "What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord," since a heavy curse is resting upon the human race, and death is the portion of us all? But the instructions which God gave to Adam, and fully exemplified by Enoch, cleared away the gloom and darkness, and gave hope to man, that as through Adam came death, through Jesus, the promised Redeemer, would come life and immortality.
In the case of Enoch, the desponding faithful were taught that, while living among a corrupt and sinful people, who were in open and daring rebellion against their Creator, if they would obey him, and have faith in the promised Redeemer, they would work righteousness like the faithful Enoch, be accepted of God, and finally exalted to his heavenly throne.
Enoch, separating himself from the world, and spending much of his time in prayer and in communion with God, represents God's loyal people in the last days, who will be separate from the world. Unrighteousness will prevail to a dreadful extent upon the earth. Men will give themselves up to follow every imagination of their corrupt hearts, and carry out their deceptive philosophy, and rebel against the authority of high Heaven.
God's people will separate themselves from the unrighteous practices of those around them, and will seek for purity of thought, and holy conformity to his will, until his divine image will be reflected in them. Like Enoch, they will be fitting for translation to Heaven. While they endeavor to instruct and warn the world, they will not conform to the spirit and customs of unbelievers, but will condemn them by their holy conversation and godly example. Enoch's translation to Heaven just before the destruction of the world by a flood, represents the translation of all the living righteous from the earth previous to its destruction by fire. The saints will be glorified in the presence of those who have hated them for their loyal obedience to God's righteous commandments.
Enoch instructed his family in regard to the flood. Methuselah, the son of Enoch, listened to the preaching of his grandson Noah, who faithfully warned the inhabitants of the old world that a flood of waters was coming upon the earth. Methuselah and his sons and his grandsons lived in the time of the building of the ark. They, with others, received instruction from Noah, and assisted him in his work.
Seth was one of more noble stature than Cain or Abel, and resembled Adam more than did any of his other sons. The descendants of Seth separated themselves from the wicked descendants of Cain. They cherished the knowledge of God's will, while the ungodly race of Cain had no respect for God and his sacred commandments. But when men multiplied upon the earth, the children of Seth saw that the daughters of the descendants of Cain were very beautiful, and they departed from God and displeased him by taking wives as they chose of the idolatrous race of Cain.

Is Any More Required?

While the Rev. Richard Knill resided in Russia he engaged a Russian young woman named Erena as servant; and the following is the account he gives of her:
"When she first came to us she could read a little, and my wife encouraged her to persevere, and for this purpose a Psalter and Testament were given to her. She seemed to take great delight in reading, and we were gratified to perceive how she improved every spare moment for this sacred employ. The first time she evinced any emotion was one evening when she had been reading the history of Cornelius. She came to my wife with an anxious and inquiring look, and said, 'Please to explain this to me: Cornelius fasted, prayed to God always, and gave much alms to the people; yet he was commanded to send for Peter to obtain information what he ought to do. Pray how is this? What could he do more? Is any more required of us than to pray, give alms, and keep the fast?'"
"Mrs. Knill answered, 'If something more had not been necessary, the angel would not have commanded it; therefore proceed with the narrative, and mark what Peter said.' She proceeded; and when she read these words, 'To Him gave all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins,' the young woman was overcome. She burst into a flood of tears, and soon exclaimed, 'Now I see it! it is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that we obtain forgiveness of sins.' From that day to this, her delight was in the Scriptures. Her diligence in business, and her zeal for the salvation of her relatives, made her very highly esteemed by us; and, as far as we can judge, she adorned the doctrine of God her Saviour in all things. She proved a great treasure in the family."
To this question the professed moralist should give heed. Not one in a thousand who expect to stand in the judgment because they have lived upright lives, without faith in Christ, has so good a record as inspiration gives to Cornelius. How many failures have been marked by the eye of the infinitely holy and just One; and yet they have cared nothing for the all-important question of "the remission of sins that are past." What folly for a sinner to talk of being justified by his own righteousness! How precious the news to a fallen race, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness. Christ and him crucified. Christ only, is the sinner's hope. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

Provoking a Preacher to Anger.

A man was once employed to provoke a certain preacher to anger, and he undertook the task in the following manner:—
"Sir," said he, "you are a fool!"
"I know that," said the preacher, "and knew it some time before you mentioned it to me."
"You are ignorant."
"I know that, and have been trying to be clear from it by learning to know myself."
"You are not fit to preach."
"I know that, and daily wonder that God should bless an instrument so unfit for such an important work."
"You ought to be carried out of town, to have justice done you."
"I know that, and, according to justice, out of the world too, for I long ago forfeited my life."
"You are not worthy of the notice of any respectable character on earth."
"I know that, and yet these are the only characters who take any respectable notice of me."
"You are not worth talking to, or with."
"I know that, and it is singular that you should acknowledge it, and then spend your time in acting contrary to what you say is true."
"I never saw such a person as you are."
"I know that; but I cannot say so of you, for your father's children are numerous, and there is a family likeness through the whole."

Prayer, Key of the Day

PRAYER should be the key of the day, and the lock of the night.
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