Review and Herald, Vol. 28, No. 14. (9/4/1866)

Review and Herald

Sep 4, 1866

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 4, 1866

Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.

By Daniel T. Bourdeau

Matt. xx, 1-16.

THIS parable is often referred to, to prove that there will be no difference in the rewards of the righteous. It is claimed that inasmuch as those who had labored but one hour, received as much as those who had borne the heat and burden of the day, the righteous, who are represented by this parable, will all be rewarded alike, whether they have labored much, or little.

This cannot be the import of this parable. For if it conveyed such an idea, then it would clash with other plain declarations of Scripture, which state in unequivocal and unmistakable language that the righteous shall be rewarded according as their works shall be.

What then can be the idea that the Saviour designed to convey by this parable? In order to give a correct answer to this question, it will be necessary to bear in mind the following points:

1. The object of parables is not to teach new doctrines which are not elsewhere taught in the Scriptures, but to enforce truths already established and understood. For

2. When new doctrines are taught and established they should not be stated in figures of speech but in the plainest possible language, that their meaning may be easily understood.

3. We should not try to draw from every incident and circumstance of a parable, distinct and specific meaning, but should, by examining the connection and circumstances that called it forth, endeavor to keep in view the great truth or truths that the speaker is trying to illustrate and enforce.

4. Especially should we guard against deducing from a parable a doctrine which is contradicted by plain scriptures; and should harmonize parables with the general tenor of Holy Writ, and not have general and well-established principles and doctrines bend to ideas that were foreign to the mind of Inspiration when the parables were given.

With these thoughts before us, let us look at the connection of the parable under consideration, and at the circumstances which called it forth.

And we would first notice that the parable and the chapter commence with the word “for,” which shows that the Saviour is about to continue a subject that he has already introduced. In the previous chapter we have the case of the rich young man who came to Jesus to know what good thing he should do to inherit eternal life. Matt. xix. Mark informs us that when Jesus saw this young man he loved him. Mark x. Doubtless he was, in many respects, lovely and promising. Perhaps he had not been corrupted by many of the leading sins of his age, and had a sincere desire to be saved. Indeed, this can be inferred from his own language to Jesus, and from the fact that Jesus loved him. He thought he had kept the commandments, and doubtless he had tried to keep them as far as he understood them. But the test that he was subjected to by the Saviour showed that he had not kept all the commandments; for if he had, he would have loved the Lord supremely, and his neighbor as himself; and would have been willing to impart of his substance to those who needed it, that he might have treasure in Heaven, and to follow the Saviour according to his request.

Jesus in seeing the young man turn away sorrowful because he had great possessions, exclaimed that it was difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven; whereupon the disciples expressed surprise, saying, “Who then can be saved?” They doubtless thought as many do at the present time, that one who is rich in this world's goods is not obliged to labor hard, and has nothing to hinder him, in this direction, from serving the Lord; overlooking the danger of loving property to excess, and of not being willing to use it for the glory of God, and the good of others.

Jesus continued, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” That is to say, it is impossible for a rich man who selfishly clings to his riches to be saved. But if the rich will deny themselves, and sacrifice for the glory of God and the salvation of their fellow-men, it is possible for God to save them.

By this time, quick, discerning Peter seems to see the bearing of the Saviour’s remarks, and says unto him, “Behold we have forsaken all, and followed thee, what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Mark x, 29–31. Then the chapter terminates with these words of Christ: “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Then follows the parable which closes in nearly the same language, as follows: “So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few are chosen.” Verse 16.

This verse is a summing up of the instructions of the parable, which is illustrative of the difference between being called and being chosen; between the first and the last; those who are called to sacrifice but do not sacrifice, and those who are afterward called, and make their calling and election sure by sacrificing, and hence are properly called the “chosen” ones. This is seen in this life; and we understand that the burden of this parable applies here, in this probationary state.

Some in this life are called upon to sacrifice their means and strength to advance the cause of truth, and would be promoted and blessed, and instrumental of doing much good if they had heeded the Saviour’s call; but they are found to love their possessions more than the Lord, their fellow-men, and a treasure in Heaven. Others are called at a later hour, but heed the call, outstrip the first, and are blessed and promoted by the Lord in this life. This stirs up a spirit of jealousy in the first, who are professors of religion, and perhaps nominally keep the commandments, as the young man did, and can fall back on an old experience that they had years ago, when the Lord blessed them according to the light they had; and by finding fault with their brethren they murmur against the Lord, who rewards them even in this life, in some respects, according to their deeds.

A selfish spirit kept them from sacrificing, and this same spirit leads them to murmur against the good man of the house, because their brethren are prospered.

This can by no means apply to the world to come; for the saints will then have no murmuring feelings toward the good man of the house. And it is evident that those who continue thus to murmur, without sacrificing, cannot be saved.

Again, those who murmur, do not make their calling and election sure. Therefore if the murmuring in the parable takes place in the world to come, and if those who murmur against the good man of the house are to have just as much as the rest, as some would have it, then the unrighteous are to have as much as the righteous, and have the privilege of finding fault with the Lord besides. This cannot be; therefore the parable does not prove what some say it does.

The idea that God will reward all the saved alike, irrespective of the amount of their labor here, and the doctrine that we are justified by faith alone, go hand in hand, and are the same in their future and tendency; both leading men to overlook the necessity of denying themselves, and to think that it matters not much how little they do, or how late they commence to labor for the Lord, provided they can believe and engage in the service of the Lord in time to barely get into the kingdom. But it is not so with the opposite doctrines, which lead us to work with zeal, hope, and courage, knowing that our labors will not be in vain in the sight of the Lord.

Dear brethren and sisters, shall we make a practical application of this parable to our own individual cases? We are all called upon to sacrifice in some way or other; and it is by no means necessary that the first should be last, if we heed the Saviour’s call, and labor with zeal, faithfulness, and disinterestedness in his vineyard. There is a great work before us. As the Saviour said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John iv, 35. All have a part to act here. All should work.

Let us labor, for it is in laboring that we overcome indifference, get zeal, and develop a holy character. All the Christian graces are acquired by laboring. It is in laboring that we shall save ourselves and others, and help swell the loud cry of the third angel’s message. It is in laboring that we will bring the latter rain with all its rich blessings to our thirsting souls. Let us labor while the day of mercy and probation lasts; for the dark night of trouble will soon come, in which we cannot work. Let us work for we have but a short time to work in, and a great work to perform. Let us work because the enemy works, and will overcome us if we are inactive. Let us work, for the Saviour says, “Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. xxii, 12. And let us so labor that no man shall take our crown.

D. T. BOURDEAU.

Buy The Truth.

“Go, thou in life's fair morning, Go, in thy bloom of youth, And buy for thine adorning, The precious boon of truth. Secure this heavenly treasure, And bind it on thy heart, And let no worldly pleasure, Ere cause it to depart.

Go, while the day star shineth, Go, while thy heart is light, Go, ere thy strength declineth, While every sense is bright. Sell all thou hast and buy it, 'Tis worth all earthly things, Rubies, and gold, and diamonds, Scepters, and crowns of kings.

Go, ere the cloud of sorrow, Steal o'er the bloom of youth! Defer not till to-morrow, Go now and buy the truth. Go, seek thy great Creator, Learn early to be wise! Go place upon the altar, A morning sacrifice!”

Our Trials.

By C. M. WILLIS

No one can expect to travel the journey of life through this unfriendly world without meeting with crosses. We never had a promise given of anything else. But we are very apt to overrate our trials. And very many of them arise from the stubbornness of our own unsubdued wills. We frequently hear people complaining, and sighing, “Oh my trials, my trials!; my burdens are greater than I can bear!” when they would come nearer to the real truth, were they to exclaim, “Oh my stubborn will; I cannot feel it best to patiently resign my all to the will of God!” At least, one-half the sting is gone the moment we school our hearts to bear them patiently, and make the best of ills we cannot cure. The real burden lies more in our unwillingness to be resigned to our lot, and our anxiety to order our own affairs as seemeth best to us, than in the real trial itself. The human mind is so constituted, that unless it is disciplined to appreciate the enjoyments of the present moment, they are apt to be overlooked, in our eagerness to secure something better in the dim, uncertain future. Could we learn a lesson from Paul, to be content with such things as we have; we should see numberless sources of pleasure on every hand, pleasure unenjoyed, because unnoticed, and therefore unappreciated. It would be a great help toward bearing crosses patiently, if we could always keep the fact before our eyes, that fretting and worrying never made a burden which we already have, any lighter; or ever secured the possession of a coveted enjoyment any sooner, or enhanced its value, when secured. We build castles in the air, gorgeous ones too; lined with gold, and bedecked with diamonds, and people them with fanciful beings of perfection, and then sigh and mourn because stern reality comes so far short of our wild, weird fancies. It seems meaningless and devoid of interest, to take a common-sense, practical view of our own future.

We know that others have had trials ever since the fall, and acknowledge this to be a vain world; we can see crosses in the pathway of those around us, but fail to realize that any exist for us until they are upon us; and then we wonder why we are afflicted, and let our minds dwell upon them and sink under them, till the mole-hill assumes the magnitude of a mountain. We desire ease, we seek for wealth, we covet fame, we nourish pride, we foster ambition, we cherish envy, malice, discontent, each and all of them sources of unhappiness; in fact, we strive for the prize in every manner but the lawful one, and then sigh and mourn because we cannot obtain it. Do we desire ease? Let us seek that which is incorruptible. Do we covet fame? Let us learn to seek that honor that cometh from above. We may cultivate contentment, by considering that for every bad, there might be a worse; and when we have a blessing removed, we may still be content, by appreciating more highly those that are left.

But many times it is dangerous to our spiritual welfare, to have our wishes gratified. Read the record which the Psalmist bears of the children of Israel. Psa. cvi. Speaking of the dealings of God with them and their murmurings against him, he witnesseth “that he gave them their requests, but sent leanness into their souls.” Who has not at times seen and felt this truth verified, both by their own experience, and the experience of others? Therefore, I again repeat, there is danger in having our worldly desires granted. This does not extend to spiritual affairs. We cannot ask too much, or receive too much of spiritual blessings. And even if the dangers extended to them, I fear most of us would have to arouse ourselves mightily, before we were exposed to them. We would incur the risk much sooner, in a worldly point of view.

Do not understand me to say there is no need of trials, or that they can all be avoided, though doubtless many can; trials are needful, and must be expected. But I do know they may be aggravated, by dwelling too much upon them. And I also know that they may be greatly relieved, by casting them on the Lord, and patiently biding his own good time. Could we have them all removed, and our wishes all granted, leanness of soul would assuredly follow, and in the end we sustain a great loss—even God’s approbating smile, eternal life, immortal glory. Ah! what mind that comprehends this great truth, but shrinks back appalled at the consequences! Could we but realize the importance and uses of trials, we should soon cease praying for their removal; but our most earnest prayer would be, “Thy will, O God, be done.” God grant that our eyes may be opened to see that his ways are the best ways.

C. M. WILLIS.

Charlotte, Mich.

I Know It Is Wicked.

By M. J. COTТRELL

“I BELIEVE it’s wicked, I know it is, to put so much cloth in dresses; but they are young and think they must have things as others do, and I suppose they must.” Thus spoke a mother to me a few days since. She was fixing over some beautiful dresses for her daughters. The dresses just cleared the floor, but it would not do to wear them thus; they must be long enough to lie on the floor. This mother thought it wicked to be so extravagant, still, because others did so, her daughters must also. Because it is the fashion to do things which are wicked, the multitude are willing to yield themselves servants of sin. Principle is yielded, time and talents; yea, even body and soul are sold to fashion. When people thus make fashion their god, to what extent will it not lead them? Where will they pause?

But why conjecture thus? Are not the majority of people now-a-days church members? Yes, church members, alas, we cannot say Christians. A Christian is like Christ; but the resemblance between the ways of church members, and Him who was meek and lowly, is so faint that it is ordinarily quite impossible to see where it is. They do not seem to feel that their sins had made stains which only can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus; that their hearts must be purified and made to reflect Christ’s image. They appear never to think of the agony Jesus endured for them; of the great sacrifice made by the Father in giving his only Son to die for them. They do not think of these things, and with deep repentance, humility, and love for Jesus, turn from the path of sin; but it is to be feared that they are led by fashion even here, and become church members because it is fashionable. Can it be that these devotees of fashion are led by Him who was despised and rejected of men? They talk about religion, have a form of godliness, but where is the power? The religion of Jesus carries a power with it, which will enable the possessor to follow out his or her convictions of right, even though it be contrary to fashion. Is it not so? or does it make a wrong thing right to have it become fashionable? It must be that this multitude who have united with the churches because “every body else was doing so,” do not carefully look to see where their path will lead them. If they fancy it leads to Heaven, they must have forgotten that Jesus said the way to life was straight, and narrow, and was found by only a few.

M. J. COTТRELL.

Rochester, N. Y.

Moral Pitfalls to be Shunned.

By Editor

Some time since an article on the subject of dress, from a stated correspondent, found its way to our columns, and elicited sundry responses, good, just and timely, but too numerous to publish. We have not dismissed the subject from thought, or deemed it of small moment, but the question, How can existing evils in this regard best be counteracted? is still unmet.

It cannot be expected or desired that the taste of all classes should conform to one style or color, but we hope the time may yet come when women of good sense and correct principles, will observe plainness and simplicity of dress, ignoring all fashions that pander only to a love of vanity, display and extravagance.

The thoughtful mind is made sad and sorrowful by the observations of an evening hour in the parlor of any fashionable hotel, at most of our summer resorts. To look for a moment at the evolutions of the execrable round dance—a gentleman, perhaps a libertine, lifting the dress of a young lady and holding it with scrupulous care, lest it impede the motion of the light, fantastic toe; while his attitude and that of his fair partner are as offensive to true delicacy as some of the pen-pictures of Eugene Sue!

Mothers, and their young, innocent daughters, if not participants, are lookers on. Similar scenes are enacted and re-enacted before the gaze of thousands, night after night, and the amount of dressing and decoration required for these occasions is sufficient to engross the thought and time needed for higher aims, to the utter exclusion of whatsoever things are true, lovely and of good report.

The views expressed in the following well-written article, in the Evangelist, are timely. We are glad to see the facts alluded to, duly noticed by the press generally, both secular and religious.—Advocate and Guardian.

REBUKE FROM THE RIGHT QUARTER.—One of the most demoralizing things of the present day, is the style of female dress, adopted by people who consider themselves the very “pinks of fashion.” It is demoralizing both from its extravagance and its immodesty. It costs a fortune to pay for the toilet of one of these exquisites, which is got up regardless of expense. The laces and jewelry, and fripperies of every kind that a fashionable lady puts on her person to go to a ball or a grand party, would support a poor family for a year. This is a very moderate estimate. Indeed, nine-tenths of the ministers of the gospel in this country preach from one year’s end to the other for less than is thrown away on the gaudy wings of one of those butterflies of society. The effect, as might be supposed, is terrible. Many a man is ruined—is made a bankrupt and a beggar, by trying to support the extravagance of his wife and daughters. Ah, worse than this—many of those daughters, bred to elegance and soft effeminacy, are brought to shame by this education of folly. They cannot toil, neither do they spin, and not a few, at last, after feebly struggling against temptation, sell their souls to keep up a little longer a life of idleness and luxury. But we forbear—we shut our eyes to that gulf of infamy in which so many daughters of beauty and fashion sink, and are lost forever.

But many of these new styles of dress are demoralizing—not only from their costliness, but their indecency. Women appear in public with bare arms and necks, exposing themselves to the stare of vulgar men, in a way that, to say the least, is extremely indelicate.

In Paris the thing has run riot, and women that call themselves respectable appear in fashionable drawing

rooms in a costume that would better become Fanny Ellsler on the stage. We are glad to see that some of the ladies of high rank in Paris feel proper disgust at such exhibitions. We read in the foreign papers that at a late entertainment, given by Madam Troplong, wife of one of the Ministers of the Emperor, a lady appeared in a costume so grossly indecent that Madam Troplong felt it due to her own self-respect to resent it as an insult, and at once ordered the servant to show her to her carriage! These disgusting fashions have not made as much progress in England, but they are beginning to appear there, and we are glad to see that they are promptly rebuked by the highest lady in the land. It is reported that the Queen has expressed herself very strongly respecting that style of female attire which appears to have been copied from the frequenters of the lowest Parisian theaters. The story is, that a person was recently presented in a costume so unusually indecent, that her Majesty, with that true genuine taste that has always characterized her, gave evident indications of her disgust at such an exhibition; and at once directed that the person should never be received again.

European Convulsions.

Dr. Wm. Leask, editor of an able English monthly entitled, The Rainbow, in his August number thus speaks concerning the convulsions now agitating Europe.

It is not too much to believe that the state of the world at the present time is disposing many thoughtful men to look a little more closely into the Holy Scriptures. If so, they will find that revelation has a great deal more to do with this world than is generally imagined. It has long been assumed that if we know the way of salvation and are prepared for Heaven, we have secured the chief if not really the exclusive object of revelation. Men have been spoken to as if the great work of life was to learn how to die; they have been addressed as “immortal souls,” and the business of the pulpit has been to fit them for a disembodied state and an immensely distant Heaven. The world we live in, that by right of inheritance, by ransom, and by unfailing covenant, belongs to Jesus Christ our Lord, and upon which creative beneficence has lavished wondrous beauty and grandeur, has either been referred to as a thing of no permanent consequence, or ignored entirely as unworthy of mention when the gospel of salvation was the topic of discourse. Those grave systems of theology, from which the ministry generally, consciously or otherwise, draws its inspiration, are so much taken up with the relative positions of law and grace, and their scientific arrangement, that they have no time to tell us of the bright future of the very world where law and grace have both been manifested. We are not going to talk disparagingly of any of the weighty topics of systematic theology, nor is it possible for us to overstate the importance we attach to the salvation of a single individual; but we believe, and therefore must teach, that the priceless book which reveals Jesus as seeking the lost, and shepherding the flock, also reveals him as the chosen and anointed King, destined to rule the nations that are now and have so long been distracted, torn, and plagued by the sword and fire of horrible war. Creation groans, being burdened.

Human governments are all conspicuous and disastrous failures,—a fact which declares as plainly as a fact can, that the divinely appointed Ruler of humanity has not yet received his scepter from the Ancient of Days. “Men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth.” Many students of prophecy—and some of the most cautious of them in the pages of this magazine—have pointed to the present year as one likely to bring forth events of the most startling character. That 1866 would not come without at least unprecedented European convulsions was foreseen and declared. Already the correctness of the data on which this conclusion was founded is placed beyond doubt; but there is more to come, for the horizon darkens and the complications increase as we move onward.

We beseech men not to deceive themselves any longer with the notion that either art, science, commerce, diplomacy, or the preaching of the gospel, or all united, will bring about a peaceful millennium, either to the world or the church. That day comes not until the Lord Jesus returns from Heaven to earth to rule the world in righteousness. Every prediction bearing on the time of the end admonishes us that the period of that return is near. We speak without the slightest hesitancy when we say that mighty and marvelous changes are at hand. Assuredly, if Christians saw a thousandth part of the issues involved in the pre-millennial coming of their beloved Lord, they would do all in their power to make that glorious, yet terrible fact known—glorious to his friends, terrible to his foes. We are doing our utmost both to herald the dawn and sound the alarm, but we should have a host of willing helpers if the truth on this great subject were generally known. There is no mission in existence at this moment so important as that on which we are engaged. We speak emphatically and advisedly.

“THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH.” Brethren! help us to proclaim that.

Tobacco.

By T. Trall

EFFECT ON THE MORALS.

No truth in philosophy is better established than the fact that bodily purity and true morality hold intimate and reciprocal relations. Try if you can to entertain the idea of a gluttonous eater, a wine-bibber, or a tobacco-user, in connection with holiness of heart. There is something unnatural, revolting, repulsive, in the association. Just as the bodily appetences, and the outward senses are depraved, does the inner man, the moral nature become gross. The pure spirit will not, cannot dwell in a filthy tenement. There is a natural correspondence between material and spiritual things, so that the quality of one denotes the character of the other. Suppose some blasphemer's tongue should assert that the apostles, who in the days of our Saviour’s presence went about teaching the way of life, were addicted to the practice of chewing some nauseous weed as a means of sensuous enjoyment, would not the whole Christian world be shocked at the foul aspersion? A professor of religion and slave of tobacco may mean well, but a hallucination pervades his moral nature, exactly in proportion to the amount of tobacco he consumes. He may have an intellectual consciousness of right and wrong, but the moral sense is blunted; he does not feel duty if he sees it; nor does he feel truth as he perceives it. He may acknowledge, with all candor and sincerity, that tobacco-using is a pernicious custom, morally wrong; yet he may find an impulse within, a law of his members artificially produced, prompting him with insatiate cravings to continue the practice, and this artificial law may be stronger than his natural reason and conscience combined. Is not an infraction of any one of God's laws a transgression and a sin? And if a man habitually lives in the transgression of one of God's laws, will not the transition be easy and natural to the violation of other laws? And lastly, how can any man stand up as a moral teacher, who in his own conduct commends to his fellow-creatures a life of continual transgression against the laws of his being?—T. TRALL, in Earnest Christian.

The Christian's Hope:

By WM. PEPPER.

AIR: “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.”

In this weary world I wait, Thinking of this promise dear, Given by our Lord when he was here with men; How he told of his return, To remove all care, and fear, And redeem all those who should be free from sin.

CHO. Yes, yes, yes, the time is nearing, When the trumpet it shall sound, Oh then let us be prepared, Waiting for the happy day, That we all may with the righteous then be

Oh this world is dark and drear, Satan still seeks to allure, Many snares he sets to trap us far and wide; But if we but trust the Lord, He will help us to endure, Only let us in his promised word confide.

CHO.

So we here will watch and wait, Looking for that happy day, When the Saviour shall appear to claim his own; Then what joy ’twill be for those Who their Saviour still obey, For no sin, nor sorrow, there will e’er be known.

CHO.

WM. PEPPER.

Croakers.

THERE is a moral for all faithless and complaining farmers, in the following anecdote, which it may be profitable for them to consider:

An eccentric lawyer, named Burgess, many years ago, lived in a New England village, and became quite famous for his “skeptical notions.” Attending a town-meeting, after its adjournment he lingered among the groups of substantial farmer deacons who composed it, and listened to the prevailing conversation. The bad weather, the fly, the rot, the drouth, and the wet, were duly discussed, when some one turned to Burgess and asked, “How comes on your garden?”

“I never plant anything,” replied Burgess, with a solemn face; “I am afraid even to put a potato in the ground.”

“It’s no wonder,” groaned one of the most eminently pious persons present, “It’s no wonder; for a man who does not believe in revealed religion, could not expect to have his labors blessed.”

“I am not afraid of failing in a reward for my work,” replied Burgess; “but I am afraid that agricultural labor would make me profane. If I planted a single potato, what would be the result? Why I should get up in the morning, look about and growl: ‘It’s going to rain, and it will ruin my potato!’ then I should in dry weather, say: ‘The drouth will kill my potato; then I should be unhappy because the ‘rot’ might destroy my potato; in fact, gentlemen,” concluded Burgess, in a solemn manner, “I should be afraid to do anything that would induce me constantly to distrust Providence.”

The reproof was keenly felt by many present; and for months afterward, the farmers, with a fear of Burgess before their eyes, talked of the blessings, rather than the evils attending their daily labors.

Preaching Christ Plainly

BERNARD, preaching one day very scholastically, the learned thanked him, but not the godly; but when another day, he preached plainly, the good people came blessing God for him, and gave him many thanks, at which some scholars wondered: “Ah,” said he, “yesterday I preached Christ. It is not learning, but teaching; not the wisdom of words, but the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit that is welcome to the saints.”

A SERMON SPOILED, AND YET IMPROVED.

An anecdote told of the life of a dissenting minister has a fair claim to the admiration of every priest who is in earnest. There was a minister who it appears, had obtained no small reputation among his brethren for his eloquence generally, and more particularly for the logical sequence and the “impressive conclusions” of his sermons. On some great occasion he was appointed to preach in the open air, and he had deeply interested his auditors through a long discourse. Just before the conclusion he was observed to hesitate, and then in a rambling manner he recapitulated part of what had been already said until he reached a very lame and impotent finale. At the subsequent dinner, when the preacher’s health was proposed, “Brother,” said one of the ministers present, “we must all, I am sure, have been charmed by your discourse; but, if I may hazard the observation, I thought that at the conclusion you lost the thread of your argument, and hardly equalled your ordinary eloquence.” “If I must tell you the reason,” was the reply, “thus it was. Just as I was about to conclude, I saw a poor man running up to the place, hot and dusty, and eager to hear. ‘Speak a word to him,’ said conscience. ‘You will spoil your sermon if you do,’ said pride. And I did spoil it, I know; but I may have done him good.”

“This Generation.”

By Roswell Fenner Cottrell

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When her branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Matt. xxiv, 32-34.

The generation here spoken of cannot be the people living at the time when Jesus uttered these words; for the things promised were not fulfilled in their day. The signs in the sun, moon and stars were not seen during the lifetime of that generation, neither did the Son of man appear to them, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. These facts have induced some to interpret the “generation” as meaning the race of the Jews. They have not passed away or become extinct as a people, and will not till the second coming of the Lord.

This position may be perfectly satisfactory to some minds, but when carefully examined with the context, it will appear to be only an evasion of the evident meaning and design of our Saviour’s words. Our Lord was teaching that when certain signs in heaven should appear, his coming would be near, and the declaration that the generation referred to would not pass away, was evidently intended to assure the hearts of believers concerning the nearness of the day of his coming. When the signs predicted are fulfilled, his coming is near. How near? “Even at the doors.” How near is that? “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” To say that the race of the Jews would not pass away till these things were fulfilled, would have no bearing upon the nearness of the advent. They would, in all probability, exist a thousand years to come, should time continue. The Saviour would not introduce such foreign and irrelevant matter into his discourse. He did not break the thread of his connected discourse by putting in the assertion, that the Jews would exist on the earth till the second advent, solemnly affirming it by the use of the “amen,” or “verily,” just to lengthen out his discourse and make the Bible a larger book. This solemn asseveration has some bearing on the subject of discourse; but the fact that any certain race of men would exist throughout the whole dispensation, i. e. for more than eighteen hundred years, is an idea so foreign to what our Saviour was saying, that it could give no assurance of the approach of the advent, whether near or remote, or that the event would ever come at all.

The Saviour’s declaration concerning the generation mentioned, certainly had a direct bearing upon his subject, and, if so, he must mean to affirm that the generation, or mass of mankind, existing on earth at the time referred to, would not pass, before his glorious coming in the clouds of heaven. He evidently used the term generation as it is most commonly used in the Scriptures. I give one example; “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.”

The Saviour’s word being true, he did not mean the generation living at the time the prophecy was given; for the signs and events did not appear to that generation. But the present generation are witnesses of the fulfillment of these signs. This then is the generation which is not to pass, but is to see the glorious coming of the Lord.

Jesus spoke to his disciples as to the whole Christian family throughout the dispensation. He told them of events that would transpire long after those who then listened to his voice would be dead, even down to the end. And as he passes down the stream of time, he comes to the period of the appearing of the signs in the heavens, which are followed by his glorious coming. “Now,” said he, “learn a parable of the fig-tree.” Its putting forth is a sure precursor of summer. Then in making the application, he said, “So likewise ye.” Who are intended by “ye?” those who then heard his voice but never saw the signs, or those who should live at the time of their occurrence and should see them? The next words answer this question, namely, “When ye shall see all these things.” By the term, ye, that part of the Christian family are addressed who live at the time of the fulfillment of the signs. The first disciples never saw them, nor any others, till we come down to 1780-1833. In 1833, the last of the three great signs appeared. The words of our Saviour come directly to us, who are witnesses that these signs have appeared. “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” How near is that? “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” This is perfectly rational and easy; and I can see no other rational interpretation of the language. In like manner Paul uses the term, we, to represent the Christians who will be living at the time of the coming of Christ and the resurrection. Said he, “We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” 1 Thess. iv, 15.

The conclusion is, the last generation of earth is here. The signs have appeared, and the Son of God will come to this generation. Let us now earnestly make the inquiry, “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” Let us make the necessary preparation now, lest we be of that number who shall flee to hide from his presence, saying to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?”

R. F. COTTRELL.

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