p. 139 | Review and Herald, Vol. 20, No. 18. (9/30/1862)

Review and Herald

Sep 30, 1862

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 30, 1862

Avenging of the Elect.

(Continued.)

THE SYMBOLIC IMAGE AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE STATE OF THE WORLD AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

If we may not understand the specific periods of prophecy—if the times and the seasons of the predicted events are still in the Father's own power—we ought, at least, to have a general comprehension of the revealed succession of prophetic events, so as to be able to determine, with a good degree of assurance, what links in the chain have already passed, and what are yet to pass, to bring the whole succession to the end.

If the great symbolic image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream could be conceived of—not as standing erect, but as lying prostrate, and stretching its prodigious length along through all the periods of the latter ages, as a huge continent in human shape, lying in the midst of the sea; and if we might in our imaginations go back to the notable promontory of the golden head, and from thence launch out on a voyage of two thousand and three hundred years, and sail along down that well-defined and rugged coast, until we double the divided cape of the clay and iron feet that terminate the vast prophetic continent, and separate the present dispensation from the one which is to follow, we should all undoubtedly be appalled at the certain relative nearness of the tremendous revolutions that shall suddenly terminate the succession of predicted political events, and usher in upon the apostate world its fearful destiny.

Reckoning from the commencement of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, according to Rollin, when he was associated with his father in the government, about one hundred years we shall sail along the titanic features of that golden head, until we arrive at the breast and arms of silver, when king Cyrus took and conquered Babylon.

Two hundred years more we sail along the Persian silver breast, until we arrive at the belly and sides, representing the Macedonian monarchy. Three hundred years we continue our voyage until we reach the rugged, iron coast of Rome—say about thirty years before the first advent of Christ. Between four and five hundred years more we coast along the iron legs and feet until we reach the toes of iron and clay, beyond which there is no further extension of the prophetic coast.

Now, so far as we may judge, in view of the relative proportion of things, it would seem as if our voyage should terminate at once, since there is no further extension of the image continent. We have arrived at the feet and toes, where the stone kingdom is to strike and dash the image to pieces, and become a mountain so as to fill the world. But such an event has not yet transpired, although more than twelve hundred years have elapsed since we reached the prophetic terminus of the image continent, so far as its extension is concerned; but not the terminus so far as relates to period or time. For we find in the parallel prophecy, in the seventh chapter, where the same general history of the four great empires is symbolized in the vision of the various beasts, that when the iron empire reaches the point at which we have arrived in our imaginary voyage, it is not to be immediately destroyed by collision with the stone, but is to be continued for a long time in that general state, so far as it respects its divided and diverse condition as the toes of iron and clay. For we learn that subsequently to the tenfold division of the fourth kingdom, and previously to its destruction by collision with the stone kingdom, the little-horn power is to come up after, and yet among, the ten horns, plucking up three of them, and waxing great, and having a look more stout than its fellows.

This little horn is to be a persecutor of the saints, and will continue its war and persecution for "a time and times and dividing of time;" that is, adopting the usual understanding of these measures, it will continue to practice and prosper for twelve hundred and sixty years, during all of which period the other horns, or the remaining toe kingdoms of the image, will, at least generally, be continued in existence until the time comes for the saints to obtain the kingdom. And this period is specifically described as being the time when "the Ancient of days came," and when the Son of man appears coming in the clouds of heaven, when the beast was slain, and his body given to the burning flame.

From this it plainly appears that the toe kingdoms that form the extremities of the symbolic image, or, to apply the symbol, the ten kingdoms which were formed out of the fourth kingdom where it was divided, are to continue during the same period as the little horn, which was to persecute the saints for "a time, times, and the dividing of time;" and this will bring the whole down to the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven to set up his kingdom, which, in the first beginning of it, as a stone, shall come into contact with the image as it will then appear, and suddenly and violently remove the whole from the face of the earth.

It seems to be during this long period of persecution and suffering of the saints that God exercises the long forbearance which is so frequently alluded to in the Scriptures, when God suffers long with the ungodly, and extends the day of salvation to them, as we may say, for a thousand years. During this long delay, "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise;" but he waits forbearingly with the wicked, being not willing that any should perish. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night," and they shall not escape. God will avenge his elect according to his covenant. And "he will avenge them speedily, though he bear long with them." As, in his long forbearance, "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years," so, when the cup of iniquity is full, and the time arrives to avenge his elect, "a short work will the Lord make in the earth;" "a thousand years as one day," in the swiftness and concentrated terrificness of his work of vengeance, when "the great day of his wrath is come."

But, to return from this seeming digression, and to resume our imaginary voyage again, let us remind you that we are still coasting about among those clay and iron image toes, in the final extremities that terminate the present dispensation, and in the very spot in relative time and space where the now dispensation is to be suddenly ushered in by the stone kingdom smiting the image upon the feet, in the last extremity, beyond which there is to be no further development.

There is foul weather breeding in the heavens. The troubled sea gives unmistakable omens of an approaching storm, such as has never yet hurled its seething billows along the symbolic coast.

But the same divine determination that has so signally and minutely fulfilled the prophecies thus far, will not fail to accomplish all that remains to be completed. To us belong faith, admiration, and wonder. To God belong power, goodness, faithfulness, and the eternal glory that shall result for the complete fulfillment of all his purposes.

A REVOLUTION IN THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

To account for the foretold unpreparedness of the world, permit your attention to be directed for a little to several things which are so well authenticated as to place them beyond a rational doubt. The first thing we notice is, that there has been, since the earlier periods of the Christian age, a general reversal in the manner of interpreting the prophecies that relate to the coming and kingdom of Christ. In the primitive Christian church it was generally understood that there would be no millennium until the second coming of Christ. From authentic primitive church history, extending from the apostle John down to the third century, it seems to be established beyond dispute that it was generally held and taught that the second advent would be pre-millennial. And the early Christians professed to have received from the apostles, or from their immediate successors, this method of interpreting the millennial prophecies. All the inspired predictions of the church's ultimate triumph and glory were explained in harmony with this essential doctrine. They believed that the millennial kingdom was a literal kingdom, located here upon the earth, which, at the coming of Christ they supposed would be renovated by fire, restored to the Eden state, and appropriately

fitted for the residence of the risen saints, who should live and reign with Christ a thousand years previous to the general resurrection and the general judgment.

There is a thrilling interest in these primitive Christian views, when it is remembered that the greatest, and best, and most reliable, and honorable of the bishops and martyrs of the primitive church, held and taught these views as apostolic and scriptural. Among the disciples of St. John, who sat at his feet, and learned theology from his own lips, was Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and a martyr for Christ. Polycarp could not have been ignorant of his inspired master's views of so important a matter as the nature of the millennium, and whether it would be after or before the coming of the Lord. He held, in the main, at least, the primitive millennial doctrine, a cardinal feature of which was, that the Lord would come to a wicked world to destroy the impenitent, to raise the righteous dead, and to reign personally with his saints upon the earth.

This holy martyr bishop, who was, as we have every reason to believe, instructed by John himself, thus relates how he became familiar with the views and teachings of the apostles, whom, as it will appear from the extract, he styled "the elders." He says, "But I shall not regret to subjoin to my interpretations, also for your benefit, whatsoever I have at any time accurately ascertained and treasured up in my memory, as I have received it from the elders, and have recorded it in order to give additional confirmation to the truth by my testimony. For I have never, like many, delighted to hear those that tell many things, but those that teach the truth; neither those that record foreign precepts, but those that are given from the Lord to our faith, and that come from the truth itself. But if I met any one who had been a follower of the elders anywhere, I made it a point to inquire what were the declarations of the elders: what was said by Andrew, Peter, or Philip; what by Thomas, James, John, Matthew, or any other disciples of our Lord. For I do not think that I derived so much benefit from books as from the living voice of those that are still surviving."—Eusebius' Eccl. Hist., b. iii, chap. 39.

The foregoing may be taken as a favorable specimen of the manner in which the primitive millennialists obtained and taught these distinctive views. They did not discover, fancy, or invent them: they claimed to have received them, directly or indirectly, from the holy apostles. If any confidence can be placed in facts so well authenticated that few, if any, well-instructed men are willing to deny them, then it must appear that the apostles and their more immediate successors were literalists in their interpretation of the prophecies of the personal reign of Christ, that they were millennialists in their creed, and looked forward to the second coming of the Lord Jesus as the appointed time for receiving their crowns, and the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. They looked forward to the return of the Lord to the earth in his kingly character, and the then immediate renovation of the earth, as the time when Abraham, and his heirs through Christ, should inherit the earth. This would be the time, as they understood the prophecies, when those glowing descriptions of Messiah and his kingdom, which abound in the prophetic Scriptures, should be fully realized. This, then, in brief, was the general faith in respect to these things in the early ages of the Christian church.

Not until the time of Origen, the magic allegorist, of whom Dr. Adam Clarke has said that "on his plan of interpretation the sacred writings may be obliged to say anything, everything or nothing, according to the fancy, peculiar creed, or caprice of the interpreter;" not until Origen in the third century assailed the millennial doctrine, and allegorized the millennial prophecies so as to mean something very different from what they seemed to teach, and from what, until that time, they had generally been supposed to teach—not until then was any other method of exegesis adopted in the Church, as being truly apostolic and scriptural.

But through the learned and ingenious, and, withal, pleasing, speculations of the wonderful allegorist, and others of a similar type, the old apostolic doctrine of the millennium gradually sunk under the growing disfavor of the new school of theologians, and a new faith, founded on new principles of exegesis, became more and more prevalent and popular, until the primitive faith was the exception, and not the general belief.

More or less in connection with this, as it would seem, the Papacy was gradually developed, and finally enthroned itself in the midst of the ambitious and rapidly degenerating church. The Roman bishop assumed to be the earthly vicegerent of the Lord Jesus Christ; the Catholic church was his visible kingdom; the universal spread and triumph of the church would be the fulfillment of all the predictions of the triumph and glory of the kingdom of Christ in the earth.

To effect this desirable and foredestined result, the vicegerent of the King of kings and Lord of lords, claimed not only the spiritual sword that prevails by love, but the temporal sword that prevails by force, in order to hasten the day of the establishment of the kingdom of God throughout the world. To bring and to keep all the nations in visible unity with the Catholic church, so that there should be one Lord, one faith, one baptism, as things were then understood, was the settled policy and standing order of the ambitious prelates of Rome. No other views of the Scriptures were to be tolerated. Henceforth these principles of Scripture exegesis were to be maintained. Doubt or dissent was infidelity or disobedience to the church of Christ. Even as early as the year 376, in the council at Rome under pope Damasus, the primitive and apostolic doctrines of the millennium were formally censured and condemned as heresy. At the same time the writings of the primitive Christian fathers—the more immediate successors of the apostles—who taught the millennarian doctrines were suppressed. Among the primitive authors who fell under the Romish ban, so far as we can gather from history, were Papias, Nepos, Sulpicius, and Victorinus, who seem to have been very prominent in the primitive Christian church. And we must recollect that, as nearly all the places of trust and power were soon after under the control of the aspiring Roman church, and as it would be natural for that church to justify its own conduct toward those whom it disapproved and condemned, we are not obliged to yield implicit confidence to all the traditions and professedly authentic histories of what is claimed to have been the foolishness and extravagances of those primitive bishops and martyrs, whom it became necessary to depreciate and misrepresent, in order to justify the persecution that condemned them. Let it here suffice to say, that since those earlier primitive times, when the millennial faith was generally prevalent in the church, a great revolution in exegesis and doctrine has succeeded, and the primitive faith is almost universally banished from the earth.

A REVOLUTION IN THE PRIMITIVE PROTESTANT FAITH.

After what has been said respecting the revolution in the primitive Christian faith, the reader may not be quite prepared to receive the declaration, that a still greater revolution in faith has taken place since the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. And this is the second of those well-authenticated things that we are prepared to consider, in our endeavor to account for the predicted unpreparedness of the world for the second coming of Christ. In pursuing this branch of our general theme, it will be perfectly easy to establish the affirmation that the original Protestant faith, in respect to the general subject of the coming of Christ, and its relation to the millennium, has become nearly or quite as obsolete and unpopular, as was the case respecting the primitive Christian faith, in about the same length of time after its general establishment in the church.

All that is required of the reader is, to pay strict attention to the facts in the case, and not yield to the temptation to doubt and refuse to be convinced, on account of the alarming and humiliating conclusion to which these facts will unavoidably conduct him. In pursuing this branch of our general subject, the writer gladly acknowledges his obligations to a work entitled, "The Voice of the Church," etc., by D. T. Taylor.

It is greatly interesting to observe how proportional to the increase of Scripture light, after the long night of Romish darkness, was the revival and increase of the primitive Christian faith concerning the millennium, among the early reformers of the Protestant Reformation. Wickliffe, "the morning star of the Reformation," had light enough to discover and expose the Romish perversion of the primitive millennial faith. Whatever may have been his convictions respecting the millennium, one thing is certain: he abandoned all hope of the conversion of the world previous to the coming of Christ. As nearly as can be ascertained, he considered the thousand years as having already passed, and was constantly looking for the coming of the Lord to judge the world.

Of Tyndale's view of the millennium, we are not particularly informed. But from the fact that he was a rigid literalist in his interpretation of the Scriptures, as well as from the fact that his method of expounding the Scriptures, brought him into direct collision with the Romish church, we may with safety conclude that he maintained the primitive faith, inasmuch, also, as he adopted the primitive method of interpretation. Speaking of his principle of interpreting the Scriptures, he says, "No man dare abide the literal sense of the text, but under a protestation, if it shall please the pope. Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the Scripture hath but one sense, and that is the literal sense; and that literal sense is the root and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth, whereunto if thou cleave, thou canst never err nor go out of the way. . . . . . The greatest cause of which captivity and decay of faith, and this blindness wherein we are now, sprang first from allegories; for Origen and the doctors of his time drew all the Scripture into allegory, inasmuch that twenty doctors expounded one text twenty different ways, as children make descant upon plain song. Yea, they are come unto such blindness that they not only say the literal sense profiteth not, but also that it is hurtful and killeth the soul."—Works, vol. i, p. 307.

Latimer and Ridley, both bishops and martyrs for the Protestant faith, boldly renounced the popular Romish view, and distinctly announced their confident belief in the nearness of the second coming of Christ. They did not look for any millennium previous to the judgment advent. And what was true of these few early reformers among the English church divines, was equally true of very many others whose venerated names have come down to us with the savor of a godly life, and, in many instances, with the glory of a martyr's death. It is not to be denied, however, that many Protestant divines entertained the opinion that the millennium began under Constantine; and that consequently they were living during the "little season" that should elapse between the close of the thousand years and the final judgment. The only use that this treatise intends to make of such testimonies—and it is a very important use—is to show that the original Protestant faith, like the primitive Christian faith, entirely discarded the Origenian and Romish faith, that the world would be converted previously to the second coming of Christ. Hence the effect of the Scripture admonitions on this subject was the antipode of what it is now.

Among the early English divines probably there was not one more extensively and more justly admired and venerated for his vast learning and superior character, than Joseph Mede, "the illustrious Mede," as he has been denominated. He was a true millennarian of the primitive stamp; and his interpretations of the scriptures relating to this subject have never been surpassed for clearness, consistency, and primitive simplicity. He looked for no millennium before the coming of the Lord. It would be highly gratifying to fill many of these pages with extracts from the writings of England's greatest early Protestant divine, but self-denial must be exercised. A single extract may suffice to indicate his views respecting the subject under discussion. Writing on the first resurrection, as taught in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, among many other things of similar import he says: "When at first I perceived that millennium to be a state of the church consequent to the times of the beast, I was averse to the proper acceptation of that resurrection, taking it for a rising of the church from a dead estate; yet afterwards, more seriously considering and weighing all things, I found no ground or footing for any

sense but for the literal." His biographer says, "He tried all ways imaginable to place the millennium elsewhere than after the literal first resurrection, and if it were possible, to begin it at the reign of Constantine. But after all his striving, he was forced to yield," &c. "Yet thus much," continues Mr. Mede, "I conceive the text seems to imply that these saints of the first resurrection should reign here on earth in the New Jerusalem in a state of beatitude and glory, partaking of divine presence and vision of Christ their king; as it were, in a heaven upon earth, or new paradise, unchangeable," etc. "I make this state of the church to belong to the second advent of Christ, or day of the great judgment, when Christ shall appear in the clouds of heaven to destroy all the professed enemies of his church and kingdom, and deliver the creature from that bondage of corruption brought upon it for the sin of man," etc.

This "illustrious Mede" has been styled "One of the profoundest biblical scholars of the English church, of whom it was said, that in the explication of the mysterious passages of scripture, 'he discerned the day before others had opened their eyes;'"]" "and whose works," to quote the language of another, "have done more to revive the study of the prophecies, and to promote the millennarian doctrine, than those perhaps of any other man."—Buck.

(To be Continued.)

The Happy Land.

You speak to me of skies of radiant splendor, Of the faint sighing of the perfumed breeze, Of music's notes, rich, exquisite and tender, Stealing along the tranquil, moonlit seas: Yet never hath the might of song or story Such joys depicted, or such marvels shown As wait us in that land of bliss and glory, The happy land where partings are unknown!

On earth I feel that we must part forever— In my loved Isle I may not cease to dwell Until I reach that better land, which never Hath echoed to the mournful word—'farewell!' Hope's gentle light to cheer my path is given, Oh! may you strive to make that hope your own, And, at our parting, fix your hope on Heaven, The only land where partings are unknown!

Proclamation by the President.

By Abraham Lincoln

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA—A PROCLAMATION. I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the purpose of practically restoring the Constitution, and the relations between the United States and the people thereof in the States in which that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure, tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of the slave States so-called, the people whereof may not be then in rebellion against the United States, and all which States shall then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits.

That the efforts to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.

That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves, within any State or any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward and forever free. The Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons or any of them in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation designate the States and parts of the States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall be in rebellion against the United States, and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by a member chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony be deemed evidence that such State, and the people thereof, have not been in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled, “An Act to make an additional article of war,” approved March 13, 1862, which act is in the words and figures following : “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the U. S. in Congress assembled, that hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such :

“ARTICLE 1. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any person to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due. Any officer who shall be found guilty by a court martial of violating this article, shall be dismissed from the service.

“SECTION 2. And be it further enacted that this act shall take effect from and after its passage.”

Also to the 9th and 10th sections of “An Act entitled, An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes,” approved July 13, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following :

“SECTION 9. And be it further enacted that all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, and escaping from such persons, and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons on, or being within, any place occupied by rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces the United States shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.

“SECTION 10. And be it further enacted that no slave escaping into any State or territory, or the District of Columbia, from any of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive slave shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, and has not been in arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid or comfort thereto, and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.”

And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons engaged in the military or naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited.

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall, upon the restoration of the constitutional relations between the United States, and their respective States and people, if the relation shall have been suspended or disturbed, be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, on this the twenty-second of Sept., in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

Signed, ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President, WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Infidelity and the Future.

By W. M. Roe

On starting to one of my appointments recently, after taking a seat in a railroad coach, I was acosted by a gentlemen who inquired if I was engaged in preaching. I responded in the affirmative. With an air of indignity he then said, "I am using all my influence against the Bible. I believe that Jesus Christ was a base impostor, and I hesitate not to affirm my conviction that all those who call themselves Christians are the veriest hypocrites and knaves." After he had expatiated at some length upon what he was pleased to denominate the evils of Christianity, I begged the privilege of asking him one question. "What, sir," said I, "are your prospects beyond the hour of dissolution?" He sneeringly replied, "I have no concern about the future."

Ah, thought I, how callous, how unfeeling, and how depraved must be the heart of that man who can thus speak in reference to the grave and eternity. "I have no concern about the future." Such indeed is the language of infidelity. Kind reader, are you a parent? Still fresh in your memory are the many happy hours you spent with that prattling, darling child of yours, which was indeed the pride of your heart and the solace of your soul. You well remember the sweet accents that greeted your ears and gladdened your heart as that loved one lisped the endearing appellations of "Pa" and "Ma." With retrospective view, you love to see those gentle smiles, soft as the tints of spring, that cheered your lonely hours, and fitly betokened the innocence of your playful little child. But where is that loved one now? With the death-damp cold upon its brow, with palsied limbs and pulseless heart, it sleeps now in the cheerless house of the mouldering dead. Torn from your fond embrace by the cruel and relentless hand of death, it has gone to that bourne whence no traveler returns.

As you stand by the dusty bed of death where repose the ashes of the loved departed one, can you then say in truthfulness, "I have no concern about the future?" Many indeed who read these lines will recall to mind the fond reminiscences of a mother's solicitude and a father's care, whose kind counsels they enjoy no more. Those amiable and affectionate parents have finished their career on earth, and entered the dark portals of the grave. Clad in the habiliments of the tomb, in awful silence they sleep among their kindred dead. They are deaf now to the emoluments and honors of the world, they heed not the voice of joy and gladness. They are unmoved by the conflict of nations, and the booming artillery of earth. The fearful approach of the destructive tornado with its deafening peals of thunder and vivid glare of forked lightnings that blaze athwart the heavens, arouses them not from the repose of death. When spring, with all her wonted charms of beauty and loveliness returns, they still sleep on. When the sear and yellow leaf betokens the arrival of autumnal frosts, which invest the forests with a melancholy hue, they are still held under the dominion of the fell Destroyer. The weeping willow that bends in solemn mien over their sleeping dust may attract the attention of the passers by, but their tongues are cold and mute in death. They heed not even the sad sighs of the wailing winds that sing the requiem of the departing year. As you pensively stand by the sacred spot where the mouldering remains now rest, and fond memories of bygone days come crowding upon the mind, bringing fresh to view the lovely scenes of your youth when blessed with parental care and instruction, can you, gentle reader, then truthfully exclaim, "I have no concern about the future?" We doubt indeed if any sane person lives who does not occasionally, at least, feel a deep anxiety with regard to his eternal destination in the great unbounded future.

He who rejects the divine origin of the Bible is deprived of the highest aspirations that ever animated the human soul. "Without God and without hope in the world," no pleasing prospect meets his gaze beyond the confines of the noisome grave. Enveloped in the darkness of unbelief, his hopes extend not beyond the hour of his approaching dissolution. He takes with his dying friends the parting hand with no cheering prospect of a happy re-union beyond the gloomy vale of death. The raven wings of gloom and despair brood over his eternal destination in the future.

How different the prospect that cheers the Christian as he journeys through life's uneven ways. With unfaltering confidence in the unfailing promises of Heaven, he rejoices in the divine assurance that though "his earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, he has a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Implicit faith in the sacred and lofty claims of Jesus of Nazareth has dispelled the terrors of death, and cast a heavenly radiance over the dismal mansions of the grave. He is a pilgrim in the present world, but he seeks an everlasting abode in the midst of the Paradise of God. He beholds the resplendent glories of the eternal world, and rejoices in the pleasing hope of a speedy admission into the peaceful realms of immortal glory. He bids adieu to

his friends on earth with the full anticipation of a happy greeting upon the fair banks of eternal deliverance where joy is unmixed with grief, and where pleasure is uninterrupted by pain.

Who that is not mentally deranged, would prefer the gloom of Infidelity to the bright and glorious hopes inspired by faith in the immaculate Son of God? W. M. Roe.—Weekly Christian Record.

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