The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Jan 12, 1864
Israel, and Israel's Hope.
"Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." Isaiah xxvii, 6.
The beauties of spring-time—when the earth emerges from the chill frosts of winter, and vegetable life starts into new being, and the face of the earth covers itself with its green and variegated robes as the season advances—are a fit and lively emblem of the future life, and glories of the future state, when God's people and the globe itself shall be redeemed from under death and the curse, and placed
"Beyond the frost-chain and the fever."
As trees and plants are decked in sweet and fragrant and lovely flowers and blossoms, and their branches become loaded and pendent under the growing and ripening fruits of summer, by the returning sun and refreshing showers, so shall "the trees of righteousness," and the heavenly plants of the coming kingdom, "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit," on the return of the "Sun of Righteousness, with healing in his wings," and "the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." Then "the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." Then God's "people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places," and it shall be known how "blessed" are those who have "sown beside all waters." Though now the faithful slumber in death's cold, icy embrace, and lie entombed in the grave, the sepulchre, the dust of the earth, and depths of the sea; yet the voice of Him who is "the resurrection and the life" shall be heard by them, and they shall start into life, and come forth immortal and glorious to fill the face of the new-made world with fruit.
"All nature dies, and lives again;
The flowers that paint the field;
The trees that crown the mountain's brow,
And boughs and blossoms yield;
So to the dreary grave consigned,
Man sleeps in death's dark gloom
Until the final morning wake
The slumbers of the tomb."
Let us consider—
I. Who constitute Israel?
II. The promise comprised in the text.
"Israel" is a name signifying, "A prince of God." The first occasion of its use and application in the Scriptures was to Jacob, the father of the twelve patriarchs, who were the fathers of the twelve tribes. The name was given to Jacob by the angel with whom he wrestled by the brook Jabboc, until the break of day, and prevailed. The angel of the Lord inquired of him at that time, "What is thy name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then said the angel, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel" (marginal reading "A prince of God") for as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed." The signification and primary use of the name is thus determined: And Jacob became worthy of the title because of his all-conquering faith.
This is the sense given to the name by our Lord when on earth in the days of his flesh. He "saw Nathanael coming to him," and saith of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." In which language he also gives us to understand that some bear the title who are unworthy of it. The pure and faithful, alone, are to be considered true Israelites. When Nathanael in his surprise inquires, "Whence knowest thou me?" and Jesus replies, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee," the Saviour gave him and his disciples to understand not only his omniscience, but that Nathanael wrestling in prayer under that fig-tree, and there prevailing with God as did Jacob before him with the angel, entitled him to the name of Israel.
The apostle Paul uses the term in the same sense; and makes application of it only to the RIGHTEOUS of his own nation. "Who are Israelites? to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenant? Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect; for they are not all Israel which are of Israel." That is to say, the mere lineal descendants of Jacob are not Israel. Lineal descent alone does not constitute one an Israelite, or that class of persons Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption, glory, and covenants. And he adds: "Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children." The lineal descendants of Abraham, who may trace an unquestionable genealogy back to their ancient sire, are not to be regarded as Abraham's children in the sense of the Scriptures.
They may be his direct descendants, but not his seed, to whom the promises were made. "But the children of the promise are counted for the seed;" and these are the children of faith, as was Abraham. Saint Paul did not regard the unbelieving Jew in any age, a child of Abraham in the view of Scripture promise, or hope. The Jews in Chatham Square and Street, of the city of New York, who live unbelieving lives, and stand ready to filch the country purchaser out of his last penny by their covetousness, Saint Paul would not regard as "Israelites indeed," or the children of Abraham. And what would he say of these, or how regard that class of the nation who are disloyal, and traitors to this government, and are helping to tear down the beautiful temple of Christian liberty and religion? Would he, if he was on earth, say of those Jews of New Orleans, and the multitude flocking to the States in rebellion, for covetous and disloyal purposes, that they are "the seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promises?" Never! And we have a very poor and short-sighted comprehension and understanding of the Scriptures who regard such as his covenant people, or the Israel of God. The nation at large may be the seed of Abram; but not of Abraham, the father of the faithful. The Jews may lay claim, and Christian Judaizers for them, that they are "Abraham's seed" and "Israel;" but it is contrary to the teaching of the Bible. A class of unbelieving Jews came to the Saviour in his day, saying, "We be Abraham's seed." They were of the true and genuine genealogical stock—not "born of fornication," but of true and pure blood. And the Lord thus addresses them: "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God; this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do; he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him; he is a liar, and the father of it."
Abraham, on the contrary, rejoiced by faith to see Christ's day, and was glad, and he was an honest man. This is not the character of the Jewish nation. They, for ages past, have hated and blasphemed the name of Christ, uttering maledictions and curses upon it, more than any other race or people; and their character is proverbial for cheating, lying, and covetousness. To them cannot belong "the adoption," "the glory," "the covenants" and "oracles of God;" but to those of that nation only who are like Abraham, Jacob and Nathanael, "Israelites, indeed, in whom there is no guile." "They which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God, nor 'God's peculiar people,' nor his 'covenant people,' as they are termed. They may be, as to the flesh, the descendants of Abraham and Jacob, but are not 'children of Israel,' nor 'of God,' nor of 'the promise,' in a scriptural sense.
Israel therefore constitutes those of that nation who are like Jacob of the Old Testament and Nathanael of the New. And we are ever to associate with the distinguished title, "A prince of God." None merit or deserve the name but those who prevail with God in faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." The unbelieving Jews of all ages have ever grieved him, and their carcasses have fallen in the wilderness and throughout all lands to the ends of the earth without50hope of "a better resurrection," and to whom he has sworn "that they should not enter into his rest."
What is true of the term "Israel," as applicable to God's people, is true also of the term "Jew." "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly," declares the apostle. "But he is a Jew which is one inwardly." Few in the Christian church read their Bibles with sufficient care to observe the true meaning of the words of divine revelation; and hence they regard the Jewish nation to be, as a nation, the peculiar favored people of God, to whom God still has respect above that of any other people, and to whom he is to fulfil great covenant mercies in the future. But I do not so regard God's relation to that people, or that there are any special promises to them in the future, above that of Gentile nations. The faithful of that nation are the specially favored of God; and a Scripture reference from my text teaches that "the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward." Isaiah xxxvii, 31.
Again: "Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for my servants' sakes that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there." Isaiah lxv, 8, 9. "The new wine in the cluster," "the seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah," are the "elect" of God, and his "servants" who shall "inherit" and "dwell" in his "mountains." So teaches the New Testament also. The apostle Paul thus quotes from the prophet in confirmation of the doctrine in reference to who constitute the Israel of God: "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved."
Having proven conclusively, that in all past ages, according to the sacred records, a remnant only of that nation were among the faithful, and the rest were unbelieving, he says, "Even so, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Also, under the figure of an "olive tree," with its dead branches, cut or "broken off," he presents Israel holy, both in the root and branches; and says, respecting the unbelieving Jews, "because of unbelief they were broken off." Romans xi. This had been predicted as seen in our contexts v. xi: "When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off, he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor." These unbelieving Jews, or "withered branches," are counted "enemies" for the believing Gentiles' sake, that they may take their places, being grafted into the parent tree. "The remnant," "the elect," the believing branches, are the "beloved for the Father's sake," and not the whole of the nation.
This leads me to the remark, in the second place, that all those of faith of all nations, are recognized as Israelites, as truly as those of Jewish extraction.
Any and all Gentile believers, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and prevail with him for the blessings of his grace, are entitled to the name Israel; for "as a prince have they power with God and with men." So reasons the great apostle of the Gentiles: "And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, when he hath called not of Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
"As he saith in Osee, I will call them, my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, that was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there they shall be called, the children of the living God. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith." Romans ix, 23–30. And in another epistle to the Gentile church he says, "Therefore remember, that ye being, in time past, Gentiles in the flesh; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world; but now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ; for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall of partition between us."
Let those take heed who attempt the useless work of building up this demolished wall; they can only do it with "untempered mortar," which will have no endurance, and all their pains is but labor lost. ("Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God.") Concerning this mystery of the gospel, the apostle says, "By revelation He made known to me the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise by the gospel." Ephesians iii, 1–6. Those of faith, therefore, of all generations, and Gentile nations, are regarded as Israelites, and are incorporated into one body with the faithful of the Jewish nation, and together constitute the people of God, and "fellow heirs" to the same glorious promises in Christ. This presents us with the beautiful figure of the "olive tree" in its perfection as given by the apostle: "Some of the branches were broken off." (The unbelieving Jews,) "The wild olive tree grafted in," (the Gentile church,) and "partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree." Thus the beauty and perfection of the tree is preserved, and the Gentiles inherit with the Jews and the fathers all the covenant promises in Christ.
"Know ye therefore," says Saint Paul, "that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham; and the Scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed! So, then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. iii, 6–9.
"Israel" the complete and perfect "olive tree" of the Bible is constituted, therefore, of the faithful of all nations, and will "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."
(To be continued.)
Hymn for the Sabbath.
TUNE—"From Greenland's icy mountains."
Oh day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
Oh balm of care and sadness,
Most beautiful, most bright.
On thee, the high and lowly,
Bending before the throne,
Sing, Holy, holy, holy,
To the great Eternal One.
Thou art a port protected
From storms that round us rise,
A garden intersected
With streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain
In life's dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah's mountain,
We view our promised land.
Thou art a holy ladder,
There angels go and come;
Each Sabbath finds us gladder,
Nearer to Heaven, our home.
A day of sweet reflection
Thou art, a day of love;
A day to raise affection
From earth to things above.
New graces ever gaining
From this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining
To spirits of the blest;
To Holy Ghost be praises,
To Father and to Son;
The church her voice upraises
To thee, Eternal One.
An intrepid faith in prayer will always give it unction. Let the faith of apostles in the reality of prayer as a power with God take possession of a regenerate heart, and it is inconceivable that prayer should be to that heart a lifeless—duty. The joy of hope, at least, will vitalize the duty. The prospect of gaining an object, will always affect thus the expression of intense desire.
The feeling which will become spontaneous with a Christian, under the influence of such a trust, is this: “I come to my devotions this morning, on an errand of real life. This is no romance and no farce. I do not come here to go through a form of words. I have no hopeless desires to express. I have an object to gain. I have an end to accomplish. This is a business in which I am about to engage. An astronomer does not turn his telescope to the skies with a more reasonable hope of penetrating those distant heavens, than I have of reaching the mind of God, by lifting up my heart at the throne of grace. This is the privilege of my calling of God in Christ Jesus. Even my faltering voice is now to be heard in Heaven, and it is to put forth a power there, the results of which only God can know, and only eternity can develop. Therefore, O Lord! thy servant findeth it in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.”
“Good prayers,” says an old English divine, “never come weeping home. I am sure I shall receive either what I ask or what I should ask.” Such a habit of feeling as this will give to prayer that quality which Dr. Chalmers observed as being the characteristic of the prayers of Doddridge—that they had an intensely “business-like” spirit.
Observe how thoroughly this spirit is infused into the scriptural representation of the interior working of prayer in the counsels of God, respecting the prophet Daniel. The narrative is intelligible to a child; yet scarcely another passage in the Bible is so remarkable in its bearing upon the difficulties which our minds often generate out of the mystery of prayer. Almost the very mechanism of the plan of God, by which this invisible power enters into the execution of His decrees, is here laid open.
“While I was speaking,” the prophet says, “Gabriel, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me, and said,
‘O Daniel, at the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved.’” What greater vividness could be given to the reality of prayer, even to its occult operation upon the divine decrees? No sooner do the words of supplication pass out from the lips, than the command is given to one of the presence-angels, “Go thou;” and he flies swiftly to the prostrate suppliant, and touches him bodily, and talks with him audibly, and assures him that his desire is given to him. “I am come to thee, O man greatly beloved; I am commissioned to instruct and to strengthen thee. I am delayed in my journey to thee, else I had come more speedily to thy relief; for one and twenty days the prince of Persia withstood me; but Michael came to help me; the archangel is leagued with me to execute the response to thy cry. I must return to fight that prince of Persia who would have restrained me from thee; unto thee am I sent. From the first day that thou didst set thy heart to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard; and I am come because of thy words. Again I say, O man greatly beloved! fear not; peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong.” Could any diagram of the working of prayer amidst the purposes of God, give to it a more vivid reality in our conception, than it receives from this little passage of dramatic narrative, which you will find, in substance, in the ninth and tenth chapters of the prophecy of Daniel?
I have sometimes tried to conceive a panorama of the history of one prayer. I have endeavored to follow it from its inception in a human mind, through its utterance by human lips; and in its flight up to the ear of Him who is its hearer because He has been also its inspirer; and on its journey around to the unnumbered points in the organism of His decrees which this feeble human voice reaches, and from which it entices a responsive vibration, because this also is a decree of as venerable antiquity as theirs; and in its return from those altitudes, with its golden train of blessings to which eternal counsels have paid tribute, at His bidding. I have endeavored to form some conception thus, of the methods by which this omnipotence of poor human speech gains its end, without a shock to the system of the universe, with not so much as a whit of change to the course of a leaf falling in the air. But how futile is the strain upon these puny faculties! How shadowy are the thoughts we get from any such attempt to master prayer! Do we not fall back with glad relief upon the magnitude of this fact of prayer, “beyond the stars heard,” and answered through these ministries of angels?
Human art has not yet succeeded in extending the electric telegraph around one globe. The combined science and skill and wealth of the nations have failed thus to connect the two continents. But yonder is a child, whose lisping tongue is every day doing more than that. In God’s administration of things, that child’s morning prayer is a mightier reality than that. It sets in motion agencies more secret, and more impalpable, and yet conscious agencies, whose chief vocation, so far as we know, is to minister at that child’s bidding. “Verily I say unto you, that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in Heaven.” Could we appreciate prayer, think you, as such a reality, such a power, so genuine, so vital a thing in the working of the divine plan, so free from trammel in its mystery, so much resembling the power of God because of its mystery, and yet could we find it to be in our own experience an insipid—duty?—Still Hour.
Heaven’s Attractions.
By Nevins
I HAVE been thinking of the attractions of heaven—what there is in heaven to draw souls to it. I thought of the place. Heaven has place. Christ says to his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you.” It is a part of the consolation with which he comforts them, that heaven is a place, and not a mere state. What a place it must be! Selected out of all the locations of the universe—the chosen spot of space. We see, even on earth, places of great beauty, and we can conceive of spots far more delightful than any we see. But what comparison can those bear to heaven, where51every thing exceeds whatever eye has seen or imagination conceived? The earthly paradise must have been a charming spot. But what was that to the heavenly? What the paradise assigned to the first Adam, who was of the earth, earthy, compared with that purchased by the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven? It is a “purchased possession.” The price it cost the purchaser every one knows. Now, having purchased it, he has gone to prepare it—to set it in order—to lay out his skill upon it. Oh what a place Jesus will make—has already made—heaven! The place should attract us.
Then I thought of the freedom of the place from the evils of earth. Not only what is in heaven, should attract us to it, but what is not there. And what is not there? There is no night there. Who does not want to go where no night is? No night—no natural night—none of its darkness, its damps, its drowsiness—and no moral night—no ignorance—no error—no misery—no sin. These all belong to the night; and there is no night in heaven. And why no night there? What shines there so perpetually? It is not any natural luminary. It is a moral radiance that lights up heaven. “The glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” No need have they there of other light. This shines every where and on all. All light is sweet, but no light is like this.
And not only no night there, but “no more curse.” Christ redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them. And “no more death.” The last enemy is overcome at last. Each as he enters the place, shouts victoriously, “O death—O grave!” “Neither sorrow.” It is here. O yes. It is here—around, within. We hear it; we see it; and at length we feel it. But it is not there. “Nor crying”—no expression of grief. “Neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” And what becomes of tears? Are they left to dry up? Nay, God wipes them away. And this is a sure sign they will never return. What shall cause weeping, when he wipes away tears?
I have not said there is no sin in heaven. I have not thought that necessary. If sin was there, night would be there, and the curse, and death, and all the other evils—the train of sin. These are not there. Therefore sin is not. No, “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
What is there then, since these are not? Day is there—and there is the blessing that maketh rich—and there is life, immortality—and since no sorrow, joy—“fullness of joy—joy unspeakable”—and smiles where tears were—and there they rest, not from their labors only, but from cares, and doubts, and fears. And glory is there, an “exceeding and eternal weight.”
Then I thought of the society. It is composed of the elite of the Universe. The various orders of angels who kept their first estate—as humble as they are high—not ashamed of men. Why should they be, when the Lord of angels is not ashamed to call us brethren? The excellent of the earth also will be there—all the choice spirits of every age and nation—the first man—the first martyr—the translated patriarch—the survivor of the deluge—the friend of God, and his juniors, Isaac and Israel—Moses, the lawgiver, and Joshua the leader of the host—the pious kings—the prophets—the evangelists and apostles, Paul, John—the martyrs—the reformers—the Puritan fathers—the missionaries, Swartz, Brainerd, Martyn—Carey and Morrison.
Is that all? Where will be he who used to keep “father, mother,”—thy child? Passing out of your hands, passed he not into those of Jesus? Yes, you suffered him. If any other than Jesus had said, “Suffer them to come unto me,” you would have said, No. Death does not forever quench those recently struck sparks of intelligence. Jesus is not going to lose one of those little brilliants. All shall be in his crown.
Perhaps thou hast a brother, or a sister who will be there; that should draw you toward heaven. Perhaps a mother—she whose eye wept while it watched over thee, until at length it grew dim, and closed. Took she not in her cold hand, thine, while yet her heart was warm, and said she not, “I am going to Jesus. Follow me there?” Perhaps one nearer, dearer than child, than brother, than mother—the nearest, dearest will be there. Shall I say who? Christian female, thy husband, Christian father, the young mother of thy babes. He is not. She is not. Has heaven no attractions? Heaven is gaining in attractions every day. True, the principal attractions continue the same. But the lesser ones multiply. Some have attractions there now, which they had not but a few months ago. Earth is losing. How fast it has been losing of late! But earth’s losses are heaven’s gains. They who have left so many dwelling places of earth desolate, will be in their Father’s house in heaven. What if they shall not return to us? We shall go to them. That is better.
But the principal attractions I have not yet mentioned. There is our Father—our heavenly Father, whom we have so often addressed as such in prayer. He that nourished and brought us up, and has borne us on—he that has watched over us with an eye that never sleeps, and provided for us with a hand that never tires; and who can pity too. We have never seen our heavenly Father. But there he reveals himself. There he smiles; and the nations of the saved walk in the light of his countenance.
And there is he, to depart and be with whom Paul desired, as being “far better” than to live. There is his glorified humanity. If not having seen, we love him; and in him, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, what will be the love and the joy when “we shall see him as he is?” There is he.
Heaven has attractions—many, and strong—and yet who would think it? How few feel and obey the heavenly attraction! How much more powerfully earth acts upon us! How unwilling we are to leave it even for heaven! — Nevins.
The Purified Earth Shall Abide Forever.
It shall feel the blight and evils of sin no more. The yoke of bondage under which it now groans, shall be broken and cast aside. The curse shall be lifted off. It shall no longer be subject to vanity. It shall serve only and effectually, the real ends for which it was created. It does not do so now. It never has done so. It is in bondage, dark, heavy and bitter. It groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Then the hour of its deliverance shall come. It has groaned with man beneath the curse. With him it shall rejoice in deliverance from its power. It has shared the ruins of the fall. It shall exult in the greater blessings of redemption. And because it shall share the glory of this restoration when Christ comes, it is called upon to shout for joy in the hour of his appearing.
Again. Of all God’s purposes it is true, that “whatever God doeth it shall be forever.” Eccl. iii, 4. Why, that is planning like a God! I know, we are often told that this world is like a scaffolding, set up to aid in the erection of God’s spiritual temple, and when this end is gained, it is like the scaffolding to be taken down. It has served its purpose. It will be needed no more.
Well, brethren, this may do very well for a figure, a license of speech. My answer is, it is not so written. It contradicts the word of God. It is therefore false. God himself says: “Thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Isa. xlv, 18.
He who makes an article, knows why he made it. Here is the declaration of the Almighty maker of heaven and earth. He tells us why he made it. He makes known the purpose which he had in view in its formation. He hath established it. It cannot therefore, be moved. He made it to be inhabited, not destroyed, and that purpose shall be gained. It shall be carried triumphantly through. He underwrites for it in the words, “I am the Lord.” Who can stay his hand? His own omnipotence is the pledge, that his sovereign will shall be accomplished.
And so again, we read of the earth which he hath established forever. Ps. ciii, 1. And, to the same import we are assured, that he laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. Ps. civ, 5. And again, “Thou hast established the earth and it abideth.” Ps. cxix, 90. And so the covenant with Noah for the preservation of the earth, was for perpetual generations.
In all these passages, there is nothing like destruction. Their teaching is clearly and incontrovertibly, as far removed from it as possible. And so we read: “Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” Ps. lxxxii, 8. What does that mean? How inherit? Is not the world his by creation? Has he not, therefore, a sovereign right to it? Generally he has. How, then, can he inherit it?
In consequence of redemption, the earth was doomed to destruction because of sin. It was a forfeit world. Destruction was its lawful doom. But Christ came. He undertook to restore the authority of God upon it, without loss to the honor of his government. For this he died. Henceforth, the earth on which he suffered, became a part of his purchased possession. It is his by the terms of the everlasting covenant. On it his throne is to be forever set up. It is his now by inheritance; i. e., it comes to him, as a part of that which he redeemed. No, brethren, no! It is not for the earth on which the Redeemer trod, to be blotted out of being. It is consecrated for evermore. It witnessed his humiliation. It shall look on his infinite exaltation. It saw his name cast out as evil. It shall hail it, as the name that is above every name. It sustained his cross. It shall yet be bright with the glory of his crown. Bethlehem and Galilee and Calvary, shall yet be spots of loftiest renown.
When the consequences of man’s sin are stayed, when the scroll of prophecy is fully unrolled, dwellers in other worlds shall flock to this, to look into the wondrous story of redemption through the blood of Jesus! The manger, the cross and the tomb, shall be the central marvels of the universe, through all the periods of the everlasting ages. Here, they shall say—he was laid in the manger. Here, he sat wearied at Jacob’s well. Here, he was tempted of the devil. Here, he was transfigured on the Mount. Here, he hung on the cross, and here he lay down in the tomb!
And thus the earth abideth forever, as a part of the purchased inheritance of his people. Its redemption price is the blood of Jesus. And so, his promise is that they shall inherit the earth. They do not do so now. Often they are the poor of this world. But the day is fast coming when they shall enter on their inheritance. They shall put on their robes of glorious royalty. And when the kings and conquerors of earth are rooted out and forgotten, they shall be in everlasting remembrance. Their inheritance shall be forever. The Bible, therefore, abounds with statements of this truth. Thus in one single psalm—the thirty-seventh, we meet with no less than seven distinct declarations of it. They are such as: “The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever.” Now, what does the continued repetition of this truth mean? Wherefore, is it so repeatedly affirmed? Does it not teach us, that however we may be disposed to regard the mind of God, it is a great, a fixed and glorious theme, worthy of being advanced to a front place in our regard. It is vain to strive to deny it. There it is clear and plain and unmistakable in its outlines. If you turn from it in one part, it meets you in another. It is in vain to strive to evade it. Its sense is transparency itself. Not now, do the people of God, “dwell in the land forever.” Often, they have in it no temporary home. Not now is their inheritance in it forever. Death cuts them off, even as others. But they shall yet possess it for their everlasting home, and, observe, they inherit it. They are heirs of the world. It comes to them through the line of another. Its descent to them is through the work of Jesus. They are “joint heirs” with him. The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.
Make Haste to Keep God’s Commandments
If you see any thing your duty, the sooner you attend to it the better: David says, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments." Follow his example.
Who Can Obey Them?
Twice the Lord solemnly enjoined upon Israel, the following requirement: "Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord." Lev. xix, 30; xxvi, 2. This was spoken to Israel at a time when the world was given up to its idolatry, and the Lord had separated them from the rest of mankind as his people, and made them the depositaries of his truth. Under these circumstances, it must be evident that whatever instructions the Lord gave them, as his people, independent of their particular situation, and the typical nature of their dispensation, are equally applicable to his people everywhere, and in all time. But these directions did not grow out of the fact that the children of Israel were for a time sojourners in the wilderness, nor out of the typical nature of their religious services. They were given to them simply as his people, and the reason upon which they are based is declared to be, because he was their Lord. None, therefore, who profess to be the people of the Lord, can claim exemption from this injunction, on the ground of a change of dispensation, or a variation of circumstances; for it is not dependent upon any of these things. The Lord once enjoined upon his people certain things, on conditions independent of all local circumstances, or the variations of time and place; and this injunction must still rest upon those who claim to be the people of the Lord, or who claim him as their God. He is not so fickle as to enjoin upon one age, the observance and reverence of certain things, on the ground of his own glory, and then permit another age to dishonor and trample them under foot. Hence the injunction, "Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary," is still binding upon the people of God.
We may argue the perpetuity of this requirement on other ground: thus, so long as an institution exists, all laws and instructions relating thereto, which are not local and temporary in their nature, exist also; but we need enter into no argument with the readers of this paper, to show that the Sabbath still exists, demanding our strict and sincere observance, and that this dispensation has a sanctuary, the glorious antitype above, which should be reverenced by all the people.
Here, then, are two objects which the Lord sets before us, as peculiarly dear and precious to him. They are his own, "my Sabbaths, my sanctuary." He would have us, for his sake, respect and love them.
But who can do this? Pass your eye over christendom and see how the enemy has worked to mar the divine plans and harmony in this respect. What class of people with the present system of belief, can keep the Sabbath and reverence the Sanctuary?
The greater portion of the people we behold keeping Sunday, an institution which is not the Sabbath of the Lord, and cannot be observed in obedience to the fourth commandment. These certainly cannot, without changing the day of their observance, heed the injunction which says, Ye shall keep my Sabbaths.
We behold another class, who do not believe there is any Sabbath; the Sabbath has been done away, abolished, nailed to the cross. They certainly cannot be fulfilling the requirement to keep the Lord's Sabbath.
Still worse, if possible, is it in regard to the Sanctuary. That holy dwelling-place of God, has for ages been lost from sight entirely. People generally have no idea of any such object. And when brought before the mind, enforced with all the plain declarations of the apostle Paul on the subject in the book of Hebrews, they can with difficulty be made to see it, while the majority utterly refuse to believe in the existence of any such place. Can they reverence the sanctuary, who do not believe in its existence?
Nevertheless there is a class who can heed this plain requirement of the Lord—a class who can keep the Sabbath and reverence the sanctuary—a class who believe in the Sabbath in all its immutability and holiness, and in the sanctuary in all its glory—and that class is Seventh-day Adventists. We know of no other; for although certain others keep the Sabbath, the sanctuary is still buried up with them beneath the rubbish of tradition.
Thus the present truth produces harmony in every part of the word of God. None who believe in that, find any commands to which they are prevented by their theory from yielding obedience. We can keep them just as we find them. Do we sufficiently value such a truth? Do we regard with sufficient interest the two great objects that shine like stars of the first magnitude in this glorious constellation? The Sabbath and the sanctuary! Let us keep the one and reverence the other.