Review and Herald, Vol. 28, No. 2. (6/12/1866)

Review and Herald

Jun 12, 1866

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1866

The Visions---Objections Answered.

SEVENTH-DAY Adventists believe in the gifts of the Spirit. They believe that the varied operations of the Spirit of God, having been once expressly set in the church, 1 Cor. xii, Eph. iv, were designed to continue therein to the end, because they are not limited, and God has never withdrawn them from the church; just as they believed that the original blessing placed in the beginning upon the seventh day, is there still, because God never has withdrawn it, nor placed it upon any other day.

To them, the doctrine of Spiritual Gifts, as set forth in the chapters referred to, is as much a special doctrine of Revelation, as is the Sabbath, the Sanctuary, the State of the Dead, or the Second Advent. Taking the Scriptures to be in deed and in truth the word of God, they cannot reject it. They can as easily explain away the Sabbath, Baptism, and the Lord's supper, as the doctrine of Spiritual Gifts, and hence believe that to reject it, is to be guilty of error, and that to receive it, is essential to the unity of the faith.

In addition to this theoretical view of the subject, and in addition to the ordinary operations of the Spirit of God, they believe that they have in their midst a special manifestation, answering to one at least of these gifts which have been placed in the Christian church. This is found in the visions, as published in the works entitled, Experience and Views, Testimonies to the Church, and Spiritual Gifts, Vols. I--IV. Every test which can be brought to bear upon such manifestations, proves these genuine. The evidence which supports them, internal and external, is conclusive. They agree with the word of God, and with themselves. They are given, unless those best qualified to judge are invariably deceived, when the Spirit of God is especially present. They are free from the disgusting contortions and grimaces which attend the counterfeit manifestations of Spiritualism. Calm, dignified, impressive, they commend themselves to every beholder, as the very opposite of that which is false or fanatical. The instrument is herself above jugglery or deceit. The influence is not mesmeric; for this people, reprobating the use of that agency, studiously refuse to learn the principles of its application, or to have aught to do with its practical workings; besides, the hallucinations of a mesmerized subject embrace only such facts and scenes as previously exist in the mind of the mesmerizing power; but the visions take cognizance of persons and things, and bring to light facts known, not only by no person present, but not even by the one through whom the visions are given. They are not the effect of disease; for no disease has ever yet been known to have the effect of repeatedly suspending the functions of the lungs, heart, muscles, and every bodily sense, from fifteen to one hundred and eighty minutes, while in obedience to some influence which evidently had supreme possession of the mind, and in obedience to that alone, the eyes would see, the lips speak, and the limbs move.

Further, their fruit is such as to show that the source from which they spring, is the opposite of evil.

They tend to the purest morality. They discountenance every vice, and exhort to the practice of every virtue. They point out the perils through which we are to pass to the kingdom. They reveal the devices of Satan. They warn us against his snares. They have nipped in the bud, scheme after scheme of fanaticism which the enemy has tried to foist into our midst. They have exposed hidden iniquity, brought to light concealed wrongs, and laid bare the evil motives of the false-hearted. They have warded off dangers from the cause of truth upon every hand. They have aroused and re-aroused us to greater consecration to God, more zealous efforts for holiness of heart, and greater diligence in the cause and service of our Master.

They lead us to Christ. Like the Bible, they set him forth as the only hope and only Saviour of mankind. They portray before us in living characters, his holy life and his godly example, and with irresistible appeals, they urge us to follow in his steps.

They lead us to the Bible. They set forth that book, as the inspired and unalterable word of God. They exhort us to take that word as the man of our counsel, and the rule of our faith and practice. And with a compelling power, they entreat us to study long and diligently its pages, and become familiar with its teaching, for it is to judge us in the last day.

They have brought comfort and consolation to many hearts. They have strengthened the weak, encouraged the feeble, raised up the despondent. They have brought order out of confusion, made crooked places straight, and thrown light on what was dark and obscure. And no person with an unprejudiced mind, can read their stirring appeals for a pure and lofty morality, their exaltation of God and the Saviour, their denunciations of every evil, and their exhortations to everything that is holy and of good report, without being compelled to say, "These are not the words of him that hath a devil."

Negatively, they have never been known to counsel evil or devise wickedness. No instance can be found in which they have lowered the standard of morality. No one of their adherents has ever been led by them into paths of transgression and sin. They do not lead men to serve God less faithfully or to love him less fervently. They do not lead to any of the works of the flesh, nor make less devoted and faithful Christians of those who believe them. In not a single instance can any of the charges here mentioned, be sustained against them; and concerning them we may emphatically ask the question which Pilate put to the Jews in reference to the Saviour, "Why, what evil hath he done?"

Yet with all this array of good fruit which they are able to present, with all this innocency of any charge of evil that can be brought against them, they everywhere encounter the bitterest opposition. They are the object of the blindest prejudice, the intensest hate, and most malignant bitterness. Worldlings and formal professors of all denominations, join in one general outcry against them of vituperation and abuse. Many will go a long distance out of their way for the purpose of giving them an uncalled-for and malicious thrust. And false-hearted brethren in our own ranks make them the butt of their first attacks, as they launch off into apostasy and rebellion. Why is all this? Whence all this war against that of which no evil can be said? From the example of Cain who slew his brother, of the Jews who clamored for the blood of the innocent Saviour, of the infidel who storms with passion at the very name of Jesus, and from the principle of the carnal heart which is at enmity with everything that is holy and spiritual, we leave the reader to answer.

Some of those who so strenuously oppose the visions, have a series of objections which they offer in justification of their course. In these objections, they everywhere betray a consciousness of a painful scarcity of material; and hence there is throughout a labored effort to make the most of every little point that can be seized upon, and present it in a greatly magnified or perverted light. And finding even these limited, to make their objections appear respectable as to numbers, they go still further, and finding acts in the course of individuals which they construe to be contrary to the testimony of the visions, they incorporate them in as objections to the visions themselves! With this class of objections, of course we have nothing to do, in answering objections to the visions. Though every believer in them should grossly violate their teaching, it would have no bearing whatever on the question of their authenticity.

OBJECTION I. The Bible and the Bible Alone. The first and most general objection, and the one which contains the most specious fallacy, is the cry of "The Bible and the Bible Alone" as opposed to the visions. We do not receive the visions, say they; we have no need of them; the Bible is a sufficient rule of faith. We stand upon the Bible and the Bible alone. Such

declarations, in connection with outspoken denunciations of the visions, are most effectually calculated to warp the judgment of the unguarded, and fasten upon their minds the impression that to receive the visions is to reject the Bible, and to cling to the Bible is to discard the visions. A greater fallacy never existed. Look at the fields which they respectively occupy. The Bible is able to make us wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnish us unto all good works. Do the visions propose to invade this field, and erect a new standard, and give us another rule of faith and practice? Nothing of the kind. On the contrary, they are ever in harmony with the word, and ever refer to that as the test and standard. To the law and the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

But by taking our stand on the Bible, and the Bible alone, we bind ourselves to receive all that it teaches, and to acknowledge every agency which it assures us that God has placed in the Christian church. Now the Bible has something to say on the subject of visions. It tells us that the present dispensation is the "dispensation of the Spirit." It assures us that during this time, the Comforter, or Spirit of truth, would be with the true church to lead them into all truth. The prophecy to be fulfilled during the same time, is given us in these words: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." It tells us that this Spirit has certain distinct and definite channels through which it will operate; and that under its influence there will be "manifestations of wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues." 1 Cor. xii, 8--10. And hence when the prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit in this dispensation is announced, it is immediately added, "And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." "And also," continues Joel, "upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit," and Peter adds, as if it were an unfailing consequent, "And they shall prophesy." Acts ii, 16--18. Here are set before us the operations of the Spirit of God, and in these it is declared that the daughters as well as the sons, the handmaids as well as the servants, are to participate.

In making us wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnishing us unto all good works, the Bible is thus careful to instruct us as to the place which the Spirit of God is designed to fill, and the part which it is to act. It declares that the means by which the saints are to be perfected, the work of the ministry performed, and the body of Christ edified, till we all come into the unity of the faith, are these various operations of the Spirit of God, in connection with the word. Now is there any such thing as standing upon the Bible and the Bible alone, and yet rejecting these agencies? There certainly is not. Those who reject these things, and deny that God has made any provision for the instruction of his people in these days through the gifts of visions or prophecy in the church, just so far depart from their doctrine of the Bible and the Bible alone, and deny the Bible itself.

If any should say that they do not deny the doctrine of spiritual gifts as a Bible theory, but do not believe that the manifestations we now have are genuine, then this objection of the Bible and the Bible alone, is abandoned as opposed to the visions, and objections against them must be based on other grounds. Inasmuch as the Bible expressly provides for visions, no objection can be raised against any visions on the ground of the Bible and the Bible alone. It is all a fallacy. The only ground upon which any of them can be rejected, is to bring them to the word, the test, and show that their characteristics are not such as were to attend the genuine manifestations. And of this test we invite an application to the visions received among Seventh-day Adventists.

OBJ. 2. Adding to the Bible. It is objected again to the visions that they are an addition to the word of God, and hence come under the fearful denunciation of Rev. xxii, 18, "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Those who raise this objection, place themselves under obligation to show that the visions are an addition to the word of God; an obligation which they have never discharged. Whenever they will carefully consider the language, they will see that it has reference to the book of Revelation alone. That book was given when the mystery of iniquity was already at work. A time of apostasy and forgery was immediately to succeed. And it was to guard the purity of this book that this caution was given. Whoever should endeavor to foist in sentiments of his own into the book of Revelation, and palm them off upon the people as a part of the Revelation itself, he should be subject to the plagues written therein. And on the contrary, whoever should attempt to suppress any part of the testimony which God had placed therein as his genuine word, his name should be likewise taken from the book of life. But any subsequent instruction given by the Lord to his people through visions, dreams, tongues, or any of the operations of his Spirit, would no more be an addition to the book of Revelation, than the Revelation was an addition to the book of Daniel. If any think it would, they will please account for the fact, in harmony with their view, that the Gospel of John was written by inspiration at a later date than the book of Revelation; for this is a fact which can be most conclusively proved.

In harmony with the principle here advocated, we are expressly told in some of Paul's instruction which has undoubted reference to the last days, not to despise prophesyings, which does not mean the prophecies, but prophesying, or the exercise of the gift of prophecy, in the present tense. 1 Thess. v, 20.

OBJ. 3. Limited Extent of the Gifts. If these are genuine gifts of the Spirit, the question is asked, why are they not more extensive? why are they confined to one person, and that one a woman? To which we answer that it cannot be that the prophecy given by Joel, and repeated by Peter, was intended to allot to each division of the human race, male and female, those gifts, and none others, which they were respectively to enjoy. And inasmuch as both males and females are mentioned in the prophecy, we understand that all the different operations of the Spirit there mentioned, are to be exercised by them indiscriminately. Hence there is no prohibition against young women's seeing visions, in the fact that the prophecy says that young men shall see them, nor against young men's having dreams because it says old men are to have them. These both are among the means by which God sometimes sees fit to communicate prophetic knowledge, and in which both the sons and daughters are to participate; for your sons and your daughters, says the record, shall prophesy.

In regard to the limited extent of the visions, it is certainly nothing against their authenticity, that they are as yet confined to one individual. It is certainly a great advance over years preceding the proclamation of the Advent doctrine, that we have them at all. And if, in addition to this, we find that the people of God have been in exactly the same circumstances before, then certainly we ought not to regard this state of things as involving any difficulty over which there is occasion to stumble. We refer then to the time of Deborah, the prophetess, Judg. iv, 4, the only one through whom God at that time communicated instruction to his people; for they inquired of her; and that one a woman. See also a parallel case in the time of Huldah the prophetess. 2 Kings xxii, 14.

But those who object to the visions because now given through a woman, whereas the prophecy speaks of young men seeing them, may not all be aware that the first manifestations of this kind in connection with the Advent movement, were given to a young man. A person by the name of Foss, in the State of Maine, had visions at an earlier date than any of Sr. White's. But he refused to heed the instruction given him by the Spirit of the Lord, to go forth and make known what had been shown to him---refused to such a degree as to set up his will in the most positive manner that he would not do it. His feelings thereupon sinking to the very verge of despair, he concluded he would do anything rather than continue in that state of mind. But it was then too late. For when he attempted to relate what had been shown him, at a meeting appointed by himself for the purpose, he was unable, even with the most violent effort, to articulate a word. Since then the visions have been given through Sr. White, who, under a sense of the fearful responsibility resting upon her, has tried to make them known in faithfulness to whomsoever they might concern, meeting the scorn, hatred, and opposition that has always fallen to the lot of persons of such a calling, and oftentimes, even from the very ones from whom she was entitled to receive sympathy and support.

(To be continued.)

I Give Unto Them Eternal Life.

By L. E. Millne

ETERNAL life, how rich the gift, To mortal man 'tis given; By Christ's own precious blood 'twas bought, Our great High Priest in Heaven.

Oh, precious thought, and can I gain, Through Christ my Lord, eternal life? Then will I strive with all my powers, And leave this world of sin and strife.

God's holy law, I will obey, The faith of Jesus keep, Continue patient in the way, Immortal life to seek.

Though friends so dear do me forsake, He stills the rising sigh, And wipes away the bitter tear, His coming now is nigh.

Oh, priceless boon, naught can compare, With God's own love to man, None but a God could e'er devise Salvation's wondrous plan.

Salvation, oh salvation's free, To all who will but come, There's "room enough" for you and me, In that celestial home. L. E. MILLNE.

Eld. R. F. Cottrell's Eleventh Reply.

By R. F. Cottrell

ELD. N. V. HULL:

Dear Brother,—By a failure in getting the RECORDER changed to my new address in season, your last comes to me a week later than usual. This will account for the delay.

Concerning the duration of future punishment, we shall have no controversy. We are agreed, that the final damnation and punishment of the wicked will be eternal. The judgment to condemnation is irreversible. From the sentence there is no reprieve, and from the punishment there is no restoration. Hence it is eternal. But in regard to the nature of the punishment, we may differ in part; not wholly, I trust. I shall hold that the torment of the wicked will eventuate in death, a death with no resurrection beyond it. This is eternal punishment.

The man that fails of securing eternal life, will "lose his own soul," or life, will "lose himself." Matt. viii, 35, 36; Luke ix, 24, 25. Loss or deprivation is punishment, as well as pain. The wicked are threatened with the loss of all things, even of life and being. This irreparable loss, this death without a resurrection, is their everlasting punishment. On the contrary, you will attempt to prove, I suppose, that the wicked will have eternal conscious suffering; that instead of losing life, they will have an endless life in torment.

Your first text contrasts eternal life with eternal punishment. From this it is reasonable to infer, that the punishment is the opposite of life, i. e., death, eternal death. In your remarks, you contrast happiness with punishment. Thus you vary from the text. This text defines the duration of the punishment, but does not reveal its nature, further than to clearly intimate that it is death. But your third text, 2 Thess. i, 7-10, defines the nature of this everlasting punishment. It is "everlasting destruction"—"who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." Destroy, when applied to men and animals, means "to put an end to life, to kill, to slay, to extirpate." This makes the matter clear, and shows the harmony of the Scriptures on this subject. But with the opposite view, it would be difficult to show how the soul—("the animal life,"—N. V. H.)—is lost. And surely an immortal life cannot be lost.

"Damnation," you truly remark, is contrasted with "life;" because it is a condemnation to death. "Eternal damnation" is the sentence of condemnation proceeding from the "eternal judgment." Not that the judgment will eternally be in session, nor that the sentence of condemnation will be forever passing and never be passed; but that they are irreversible and eternal in their consequences—resulting in the deprivation of life and being, with no hope of recovery.

As to your fifth proposition, I shall not deny that there will be degrees in future rewards and punishments. By the use of the term "merit," I presume you do not intend to say that the righteous merit what they are to receive. Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Rom. vi, 23. They will receive more than they merit. But you will be slow to take the ground that God will inflict on the wicked more than the just demerit of their sins. "The wages of sin is death." In this respect, the punishment of the sinner and the reward of the righteous, are not parallel. The sinner earns all he receives; it is his wages justly due. Can finite man, in a brief life, merit an eternity of bliss or misery? Let the word of God decide. The righteous person merits nothing; he is an "unprofitable servant;" but God freely gives him life, eternal life, that which all mankind have forfeited by sin. Life was freely given to man at first. He lost it by sin; he has no right to it; he has nothing with which to purchase it. It is offered on condition of faith and obedience; but it is all of God's free grace; if God give him back a right to the tree of life, it is the "gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Every prayer indited by the Holy Spirit will surely be answered. The prayers of David the son of Jesse were thus indited. He prayed, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." The effect of this prayer has never been realized; for there has always been a multitude of sinners on the earth unconsumed, ever since the prayer was uttered. But it will be answered. The time will come when there will not be a sinner on the earth. Where will they be? They will "be no more." Be, means to exist.

As ever yours,

R. F. COTTRELL.

NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN.

By N. V. Hull

DISCUSSION BETWEEN ELD. N. V. HULL, SEVENTH-DAY BAPTIST, AND ELD. R. F. COTTRELL, SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST.

(Continued from Review No. 22, Vol. xxvii.)

Elder Hull's Eleventh Article.

ELD. R. F. COTTRELL,

Dear Brother,—In proceeding to the second division of the subject we have under discussion, I have thought best simply to reproduce my first statement of it, as follows:

PROPOSITION FOURTH.

That in the future state, the happiness of the righteous and the misery of the wicked will be co-extensive.

Proof.

Matt. xxv, 46. "And these (the wicked) shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Here the terms describing the duration of the punishment of the wicked, and the happiness of the righteous, are the same.

John v, 28, 29. "Wonder not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and will come forth, those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Here you have "life" and "damnation" so contrasted as to necessitate the idea of equal duration.

2 Thess. i, 7-10. "And to you who are afflicted, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all those who believe (because our testimony among you is believed) in that day." In this instance, the punishment is to be an everlasting destruction, which, I take it, is equal to eternal destruction.

PROPOSITION FIFTH.

That both the happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, will in a degree correspond to the merits of the one, and the demerits of the other.

Proof.

Luke xii, 47, 48. "And that servant who knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, will receive few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much will be required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

James iv, 17. "Therefore to him who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

I take it that these passages fairly establish the idea of degrees in guilt, and in rewards and punishments.

N. V. HULL.

The Tongue.

“It ’pears like I can’t do nothin’ but sin in dis world,” said a colored man to me a little while ago, when urged to be a Christian. How many professing Christians there are who indeed say, “It ’pears like I can’t do anything with this tongue of mine but sin.” The Bible says, “The tongue can no man tame.” See James iii, 8. True enough, but there is One, dear brother, dear sister, who can tame this unruly member, that so often bears witness that “it is set on fire of hell.” To go to the root of the matter, all your powers of body and soul have not yet been consecrated, or God’s bit would ere this have been put into your mouth. You must give all to the Lord, even your tongue, and then watch, for God himself will not help you if you do not watch. As for me, I desire not a religion that cannot control my tongue so that though a servant should speak disrespectfully and perplex me, I can return a soft answer or none; so that if even my husband should be exacting and thoughtless I can easily refrain from the (as I once thought) just reply; so that if my children should try my patience to the last point of endurance, I can, instead of pouring the oil of anger on their fiery natures, lift my heart to God for strength, and wisely divert their attention, forgetting not, at the precious twilight hour, to point out the wrong, directing them to my blessed Saviour. Then they will not say or think, “Mother provokes, mother quarrels;” then eloquently will my example plead for the religion of Him who was meek and lowly in heart.

Mother!—almost divine priestess of the family temple!—govern thy tongue!

War.

By Rufus Stephens

GIVE me the money that has been spent in war, and I will purchase every foot of land upon the globe. I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens would be proud. I will build a school house on every hill-side, and every valley over the whole earth; I will build an academy in every town, and endow it; a college in every State, and fill it with professors; I will crown every hill with a place of worship, consecrated to the promulgation of the gospel of peace; I will support in every pulpit an able teacher of righteousness, so that on every Sabbath morning, the chime on one hill should answer to the chime on another round the earth's wide circumference! and the voice of prayer, and the song of praise, should ascend like a universal holocaust of Heaven.—Rufus Stephens.

Chosen in the Furnace.

LET those who have made up their minds to follow Christ not expect things great and smooth upon earth. God has prepared better things for you which though not pleasant are beneficial. He is good—he is wise, and he has chosen for you. He has chosen contrary to your desires, but he will some day bring you to approve of his choice. Remember when you are murmuring against him, you are murmuring against your own good. "It has pleased the Father to give you the kingdom," and the crosses too. When your names were written in his book, the crosses also, in number and kind were written. "I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished."

The Pope's Last Address.

A French Catholic journal gives the text of a singular reply recently made by the Pope to an address presented to him in the name of a vast number of strangers sojourning in Rome. What above all struck his hearers, it is reported, on this occasion, was the "majestic rebuke" delivered by the Pope to those "Catholics, whether lay or ecclesiastic," who have the pretension to offer him advice, or show him the path he ought to pursue.

"I alone," he said, "despite my unworthiness, am the successor of the apostles, the vicar of Jesus Christ; I alone have the mission to guide and direct the bark of Peter: I am the way, the truth, and the life. They who are with me are with the Church: they who are not with me, are out of the Church—they are out of the way, the truth, and the life. Let men well understand this, that they be not deceived or led astray by soidistant Catholics, who desire and teach something quite different from what the head of the Church desires and teaches."

The Continental Quarrel.

Having agreed to disarm, neither Prussia or Austria has disarmed, nor has any principle pointing to a settlement of the international difficulty been established. So, on the Italian side, Austria disclaims and Italy disclaims any but defensive purposes; yet both governments are hastening levies of men and expediting all manner of warlike preparations, as if the great battle of Armageddon were to be fought forthwith. In the meantime, the French emperor has announced his entire neutrality. There is uncertain talk of a general congress.

Potato Rot Caused by Insects

It is said that investigations into the nature of the potato rot have brought to light the fact, that it is created by insects imperceptible to the eye, but innumerable in quantity, which lay their eggs in the stem and send the virus down to the root. A little black speck the size of a pin-head, under the microscope, turns out to be full two hundred ferocious animals of the beetle form and shape.

The Wicked Shall Not Be

Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be.

The Great End of Life

“ETERNAL salvation is the great end of life. Get what you will, if you lose this, you have lost the purpose of existence.”

Mourning at the Judgment Seat.

Did you ever think what a fearful day of revealing that last solemn day will be for the hypocrite? There are some professed followers of Christ, who have been living on for years outwardly in many respects religious men, who have been conscious all the time that the reputation which they gained from men was a falsehood. That their profession and outside religion were a mere cheat. Though they have succeeded in hoodwinking their fellow men, they have never deceived God. They seemed all the time to be in the way to Heaven, but they knew all the time they were traveling the road to hell. And now they go up to the judgment with a lie in their right hand, "Have we not eaten and drank in Thy presence?" But God will take the lie away from them, and answer in fearful tones—"I never knew you!"

Oh, impositions, deceits, lies, are fearful things to carry up to the judgment bar.

In view of that great day of revelation, what manner of persons ought we to be?

How carefully should we separate from our conduct all dishonesty, all double-dealing, that we may be here what we shall wish to appear there.

But perhaps, the saddest among the sad scenes of that day, will be the separations which will take place between those who were united here in the tenderest bonds of affection, as each goes to his own place. Who can witness unmoved, the eternal farewells between parents saved, and children lost. What eye could look on, as inexorable justice tore away, perhaps a father, a husband, a wife, a beloved child, from all the loving sympathies and tender offices of those most dear. Oh, will not this consideration quicken our zeal and earnestness to labor, that all our own beloved ones should be brought into the same safe fold with us, that we may rise from our graves and go up together an unbroken household, and together stand acquitted before that dread tribunal, together wend our way to the heavenly mansions?

"Oh there'll be mourning, mourning, At the judgment seat of Christ," when you see those who have been associated with you all your life long, welcomed with songs of rejoicing into the kingdom of Christ, "and you yourselves shut out." Will you not seek the same Saviour while yet the lamp of life is burning?

Warnings About Profanity and the Soul

Take heed of being infected with the breath of a profane heart.

Let the body wait upon the soul, and both wait upon God.

The 2300 Days.

BRO. W. BRUIN writes: "I have troubled myself for some time about Daniel viii, 14. I could not feel at home with your calculations, and the theory based upon them. I find in the Hebrew not yamim, as in chapter xii, 11, 12, yamim, but evening and morning, (erev boker) as in verse 26, where it is literally translated in the English version the evening and the morning. The same we meet in Gen. i, 5; literally, and it had been (erev) evening, and it had been (boker) morning, the first day! So we get, according to the original, 1150 literal days! Not prophetic days! How is that?"

REMARKS.

On the question here introduced, there are a number of sources from which light may be obtained. If the expression "evening and morning" is synonymous with the word "day," then we can attach to it a prophetic signification, the same as to the latter, and it becomes a matter of complete indifference which is used.

1. On the definition of these words we find the following in Gesenius. Under the word evening, he gives the expression "evening and morning" (geh-rev boh-ker, according to the spelling given in the Hebrew Concordance) and defines it, "a day and night, that is, the civil day of 24 hours. Dan. viii, 14." The word "day" (yohm) is defined by the same author as follows: "Day, so called from the diurnal heat. Spoken of the natural day from the rising to the setting of the sun, opp. the night; also of the civil day, or 24 hours which includes the night."

2. Gesenius makes the expression "evening and morning" as above, equivalent to the Greek νυχθήμερον, a word which Liddell and Scott define as meaning, "A day and night, the space of 24 hours."

3. The Greek word for day, ἡμέρα corresponding to the Hebrew yohm, is defined by Robinson thus: "A day, i. e., the time from one sunrise or sunset to another, the same as νυχθήμερον."

4. In Gen. i, 5, we read that the evening and the morning (geh-rev boh-ker) were the first day (yohm).

5. Dr. Hales in his Analysis of Chronology, Vol. i, p. 10, says: "The earliest measure of Time on record is the Day. In that most ancient and venerable account of the Creation by Moses, the process is marked by the operations of each day. The 'evening and the morning were the first day,' &c. Gen. i, 5, &c. Here the word 'day' denotes the Civil or Calendar day of 24 hours, including 'the evening' or natural night, and 'the morning' or natural day; while the sun is either below or above the horizon of any place, in the course of the earth's diurnal rotation, between two successive appulsnes of the same meridian to the sun; corresponding, therefore, to a solar day in astronomy.

"It is remarkable, that the 'evening,' or natural night, precedes the 'morning,' or natural day, in the Mosaic account. Hence the Hebrew compound 'Evening-morning,' is used by the prophet Daniel, to denote a civil day, in his famous chronological prophecy of the 2300 days, Dan. viii, 14. And also the Greek compound νυχθήμερον, to denote the same. And hence Hesiod, the eldest of the Greek poets that have reached us, represents the occultation of the Pleiades as lasting νυκτας τε και ήματα τεσσαράκοντα, 'forty nights and days,' i. e., calendar days. And following the primeval order, the ancient Gauls and Germans, counted times and seasons by the number of nights, not of days; as we learn from Cæsar and Tacitus; a usage still retained by their descendants; for in old French, anuit signifies to-day; and in English, sevennight, fortnight, 'seven days,' 'fourteen days.' Thus is sacred history verified by primitive tradition, handed down to the present times; 'the night seeming to usher in the day.'"

6. The Septuagint in Dan. viii, 14, expresses the word days in the text, the same as in verses 11 and 12 of chap. xii, showing how the seventy learned Jews understood the original Hebrew, two hundred and eighty-five years before Christ.

From all these authorities, it is impossible to conclude otherwise than that, although the literal Hebrew of Dan. viii, 14, is "evening morning," according to the margin, it means precisely the same as though the other expression for day (yohm) had there been used. That the expression is symbolic, each day standing for a year, is proved by two considerations: 1. Being in the midst of a symbolic prophecy, the days must be considered symbolic, unless we have the most positive reasons to show that they are literal; which we have not. 2. The days are evidently given to cover very nearly the whole duration of all the kingdoms mentioned in the prophecy; but taken as literal days, amounting to about six years and a half, they would not cover a portion that would be worth mentioning of the existence of even the first empire. They must therefore denote 2300 years, as all expositors agree.

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