Review and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 24. (6/10/1875)

Review and Herald

Jun 10, 1875

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 10, 1875

THE JUSTICE OF GOD

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE LAW OF GOD.—NO. 13.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

Closely and necessarily connected with the subjects of justification and judgment is that of

THE JUSTICE OF GOD.

Though it has been considered to some extent we cannot forbear a further brief consideration of it in this connection.

Paul says that Jesus Christ was set forth for the remission of sin, that God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

1. The apostles had opened this argument with the declaration that the doers of the law shall be justified. This shows the nature of the law; that it contains the elements necessary to justify a moral agent, and it is therefore moral, complete, and perfect, in every respect.

2. He says that men shall be judged by the law, in the great day, the day subsequent to the “day of salvation,” the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Paul before declared before the wise men of Athens that God “hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:31. And when he judges the world by his Son, who is now an advocate, he will judge them by the law.

3. He affirmed that they who keep the righteousness of the law are accepted with God, whether Jew or Gentile, while they who break the law dishonor God. Rom. 2:23–27.

4. He said that if the oracles of God which were committed to the Jews were made of no effect, God could not judge the world. Of course not, since sin is the transgression of the law, and the law is the measure of righteousness, and the rule of justification. Without it, sin could not be imputed; no one could be condemned or found guilty. How reasonable is it that men must be judged by the law, and that God could not judge the world if he suffered his law to fall.

5. He has expressly stated that all the world are presented guilty before God by the witness of the law, for all have sinned, and that the knowledge of sin is by the law.

6. Having found the whole world guilty by the light of the law, he shows that they can only be released from condemnation, and have “the righteousness of God” conferred upon them, by faith in Christ. But this righteousness is also witnessed by the law, because the law is perfect and holy, and requires righteousness of all men.

7. He shows that we are freed from condemnation and from sin “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Now we inquire, What would be the effect on the government of God if he should abolish such a law as his; and this in the face of a wicked rebellion waged against it? Certainly such a course on his part would give no evidence to the world that he was a just God. Justice on the part of a governor and a judge requires that he maintain the law, especially if the law itself is just. The judge who does not vindicate the law when it is transgressed is an unjust judge. The governor who will destroy a just law, or suffer it to be trampled upon without an effort to rescue it from violation, is an unjust governor. The advocate who will justify his client in the violation of a just law is the enemy of justice and of government.

Atonement, as Andrew Fuller well said, “has respect to justice, and justice to the law, or the revealed will of the sovereign, which has been violated; and the very design of the atonement is to repair the honor of the law.” This is true of the atonement of Christ, for it was his work to “magnify the law, and make it honorable,” to rescue it from the reproach which rebellion had cast upon it.

God could have rescued man from condemnation by simply abolishing the law which condemned him. But this, of course, would have been in disregard of justice, for the law was all the time perfect, just, and holy. The law is right, and man is wrong. There is a conflict between them. The law in strict justice demands the life of the sinner; for the wages of sin is death. How, then, can man be rescued from death, and God’s government be preserved, and his throne be free from reproach? But one way is possible. His dear Son, the mighty and the holy One, suffers death—the penalty of the law—to vindicate its claims, to show the strength of its obligations, and the impossibility of setting it aside to save any one from death. Through him we obtain pardon, and are restored to our allegiance to his Father. God accepts his sacrifice as a vindication of his own authority. Justice is honored, the law is maintained, and God may now be just and the justifier of all who accept Jesus as their sacrifice to the broken law. And this argument is closed with the most emphatic denial of the abolition of the law, and affirmation of its perpetuity: “Do we, then, make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.”

We rejoice that the law is not made void, because it is good. And not only this, but we rejoice that God will maintain and vindicate his justice. We rejoice that his justice is infinite, and that he will never suffer it to be dishonored. For in this we have an assurance of the stability of his word. If God would suffer a holy law to be trampled

down, and never rescue it from reproach; if he would abolish a perfect, spiritual law to serve the cause of guilty, death-deserving rebels, we could have no assurance of the stability of his government, we could place no dependence on any principle, however sacred. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut. 32:4.

The Day of His Wrath.

By Golden Censer

ONE of the advantages vouchsafed unto us by the gospel of grace is the tender mercies of a loving Saviour, and the offer of pardon and full salvation to all who will accept through Christ. It is the part of basest ingratitude to resist the heavenly entreaties, expostulations, invitations, and promises so lovingly, freely and mercifully held out to perishing, helpless man. We sometimes think that those who reject so great good, offered to them on so liberal conditions, do not fully comprehend or take in the magnitude of the atonement. Did they realize it in all its proportions, it would seem that no rational mind would give sleep to the eyelids until the soul’s safety was secured.

In this brief article, let us add beauty to the gospel picture, if possible, by presenting some of the considerations which will fill our minds and engage our thoughts when the “day of His wrath” shall appear. To enter more clearly into the thoughts under consideration we recommend the careful reading of the 6th chapter of Revelation. So terrible will be that day spoken of by the Revelator that the physical world shall be convulsed, the sun turned to blackness, the moon to blood, the stars fall from their orbits, the mountains be wrenched from their primal setting, the islands lashed, and the very heavens rolled together as a scroll. Men will be stricken with great fear, and in their terror will run to the mountains and caves, and will cry unto the rocks, saying, “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!” And what the wrath of the Lamb, the meek and lowly Jesus, can be in that day we do not know, unless it is to visit on those who have slighted his mercies and spurned his offers—the merited and justly deserved punishment.

But is it possible to take into the mind, and for the imagination to forecast, the terribleness of that day as it shall flash over the world in the twinkling of an eye! It will come at just such a time as men will least expect it; when the world’s great workshops shall be peopled with men, women, and children. No universal blast of death will have first swept across the earth, and depopulated it of its inhabitants. Living men and women and children will be all over the world when the day comes, as full of strength, health, vigor, activity, thought, forethought, as at any period since God first “breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.”

It will come when men are blind to its coming, each in his own blindness, asleep—each in his own dream. The astronomer will be calculating his eclipses for years to come—the physician will be studying his arts, to add length of days to man’s body—the philosopher, with his “philosophy falsely so called,” will be improving and enlightening his species—the politician will be planning beautiful schemes for man’s welfare in ages onward—the man of riches will be saying to his soul, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”—the “man that will be rich” will be toiling and laboring after his “filthy lucre,” rising up early and sitting up late—the man that “liveth in pleasure” will be sending for “the harp and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine,” to be in his “feast,” regarding “not the work of the Lord, neither considering the operation of his hands”—blind preachers will be speaking their smooth things and prophesying their deceits, each in his own delusion, but all of them blind men’s eyes to the day. The king, and the noble, and the magistrate, and the farmer, and the tradesman, and the laborer—the mean man, and the mighty man, the married and the unmarried, the people and the priest, the servant and the master, the maid and her mistress, the buyer and the seller, the lender and the borrower, the taker of usury and the giver of usury to him,—shall all be weaving their webs of distant years and distant things, turning time into eternity, thinking and speaking of time’s world as never-ending, at the very instant when the day of His wrath shall send the thoughtless and mercy-rejecting, and God-hating, and Christ-spurning, and rebellious, and heaven-defying multitudes on their knees imploring the mountains and the rocks to fall on them. And what a prayer of self-accusation, of self-reproach, and of despair, it will be!

But who can fathom the human heart save the Almighty? When the five cities of the plains were about to meet their doom, it is said of their inhabitants that they offered violence to the very angels who came as monitors of the impending doom. Whether the world shall be better or worse at that day than it is now is a question worthy of the profoundest thoughts of the ablest thinkers of the age. At all events, it will be bad enough. Doubtless there will be thousands and tens of thousands of living men, eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building—fluttering like the butterflies in a summer’s day about the perishing flowers of a perishing world—steeping all their senses in the earthly business of the passing hour—making everything a business, whether pleasure, daily avocation, or necessary labor. The farmer will be at his market, the planter with his trees, the builder at his house, the tradesman in his shop, the student at his books, the reveler at his feast, the gambler at his cards, the rake at his revels, the usurer at his gold, the nobleman at his pomp, the king at his court, the soldier in his camp, the laborer at his toil, the idler at his folly, the drunkard at his drink, the glutton at his meat! Each at his sin, each in his day-dream, each in his soul’s poison!

The Lord bears it no longer. His mouth has sent forth the word of all-desolating vengeance. The vengeance storm obeys, and gathers and thickens, and rolls on, and hangs over. One moment’s pause—the preachers are preaching—peradventure the sinners may repent. One moment’s pause—hark! the pause is terrible—hark! “A shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God!” And the world will roll in flames of living fires, while over the crash of burning worlds, the shrieks of startled and unprepared millions, a voice shall be heard—a voice louder than mighty thunders, louder than the lashing of ocean waves, more awful than dissolving elements: “TIME IS NO MORE!”

Oh! what a day of separation—instant and awful—will that day indeed be! Two of a household shall be in one bed, brothers, it may be, that have grown up together, eating of the same meat, and drinking of the same cup—two women of one village, sisters in neighborly love and kindness, shall be grinding corn in one mill, each for her little ones—two men of the same house of worship, dwelling together as brethren in unity, and making their daily labor good and pleasant by sharing it together, shall be working in one field;—and “one shall be taken,” “caught up to meet the Lord in the air,” and “the other shall be left.” Oh! then will the cry of those who are left, bitter and all-consuming, be, “Rocks and mountains, fall on us!” Our punishment is just, but our disappointment is more than we can endure; hide us; for the glory of the Lamb is but burning wrath to our guilty souls. Oh! the bitter lashings of these awakened consciences so often stifled and crushed, who shall be able to stand? O my soul, believe it not! But oh! be not deceived, the soul that spurned, rejected, and despised the bloody sweat of the Lamb of God in the garden of Gethsemane upon that eventful night when he cried, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;” or sneered at the sinless One as from the cross he cries, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” will

not be able to stand before the glories of our risen Lord—the King of glory.

But we forbear carrying this thought any farther. God be merciful to us sinners! May Heaven bless these few words to every unconverted reader. We are yet on mercy’s side of the grave. The day of His wrath is yet in the future, the invitations of the gospel are yet ours to accept. O Lamb of God, help us, help these poor hearts of ours to come to thee, and that right early, while it is yet to-day!—Golden Censer.

THE MEETING-PLACE.

By Bonar

[Republished by request.]

“The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” Isa. 35:10

Where the faded flower shall freshen— Freshen never more to fade; Where the shaded sky shall brighten— Brighten never more to shade; Where the sun-blaze never scorches, Where the star-beams cease to chill; Where no tempest stirs the echoes Of the wood, or wave, or hill; Where the morn shall wake in gladness, And the noon of joy prolong; Where the daylight dies in fragrance, ’Mid the burst of holy song, Brother, we shall meet and rest ’Mid the holy and the blest.

Where no shadow shall bewilder; Where life's vain parade is o'er; Where the sleep of sin is broken, And the dreamer dreams no more; Where no bond is ever severed, Partings, claspings, sob and moan, Midnight waking, twilight weeping, Heavy noontide—all are done; Where the child has found its mother, Where the mother finds the child; Where dear families are gathered That were scattered on the wild— Brother, we shall meet and rest ’Mid the holy and the blest.

Where a blasted world shall brighten, Underneath a bluer sphere, And a softer, gentler sunshine Shed its healing splendor here; Where earth's barren vales shall blossom, Putting on their robe of green, And a purer, fairer Eden Be where only wastes have been; Where a King, in kingly glory Such as earth has never known, Shall assume the righteous scepter, Claim and wear the holy crown— Brother, we shall meet and rest ’Mid the holy and the blest.

—Bonar.

Increasing Light.

(Continued.)

We think we have conclusively proved that the Judgment message of Rev. 14:6–8 was due to the world in 1844, and has been given; that the rejection of that message has caused the moral fall of the religious world, as described by Paul in 2 Tim. 3:1–10, and also by the second angel of Rev. 14:8; and that the third angel follows them, with a message of warning against the worship of the beast and his image. It now becomes a matter of solemn moment to inquire what the worship and mark of the beast are, against which there is uttered so terrific a warning. No warning more terrible is found in the Bible. The sin against which it is uttered must therefore be a most heinous and Heaven-daring one, and will the world never know what this sin is? Impossible! God does not so deal with his creatures. He does not punish the wicked without their knowing, or having a full opportunity to know, for what cause the punishment is inflicted. Hence we argue that all may know, if they choose, what constitutes the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark.

The beast whose mark men are here warned against receiving is the one brought to view in Rev. 13:1–10, also in Dan. 7:25. That the reader may see that Daniel and John are speaking of the same power, we will notice six points of identity, as follows:—

	The little horn	The leopard beast
1.	The little horn was a blasphemous power.	The leopard beast of Rev. 13:6 was also a blasphemous power.
2.	The little horn made war against the saints and prevailed against them. Dan. 7:21.	The leopard beast also made war against the saints and overcame them. Rev. 13:7.
3.	The little horn had a mouth speaking great things. Dan. 9:8–20.	Of the leopard beast we read, Rev. 13:5: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.”
4.	The little horn arose, on the overthrow of the pagan form of the Roman empire.	The dragon, pagan Rome, gave the leopard beast his power, his seat, and great authority.
5.	Power was given to the little horn to continue for “a time and times and the dividing of time,” or 1260 years. Dan. 7:25.	To the leopard beast also power was given for 42 months, or 1260 years. Rev. 13:5.
6.	At the end of that definite period the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26.	At the end of the same period the leopard beast was to be led into captivity. Rev. 13:10.

Bonaparte fulfilled both prophecies in 1798, by capturing the pope. These points prove identity. For when we have in prophecy two symbols, as in this instance, representing powers that come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, maintain the same character, do the same work, exist the same length of time, and meet the same fate, those symbols represent the same identical power. Now all the particulars above specified do apply alike to the little horn of Dan. 7 and the leopard beast of Rev. 13, showing that these two symbols represent the same power. Hence, we understand that Papal Rome is the power brought to view. For a more full and extended view of this subject, we refer the reader to “Thoughts on Revelation,” published by the Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association, Battle Creek, Mich.

Daniel says, chap. 7:25, that the power symbolized by the little horn shall think to change times and laws. The papal church fulfilled this specification. As proof, we offer the following testimony from the catechism called the “Catholic Christian Instructed,” chap. 23:—

“Ques. What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy?”

“A. The Sunday, or our Lord’s day, which we observe by apostolic tradition, instead of the Sabbath.” Then follows the appointment of ten other feast days besides the feast of all saints.

“Q. What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday preferable to the ancient Sabbath which was the Saturday?”

“A. We have for it the authority of the Catholic Church and apostolic tradition.

“Q. Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath?” “A. The Scripture commands us to hear the church. . . . But neither [Paul, Luke or John] tells us that the first day of the week was to be henceforward the day of worship and the Christian Sabbath; so that truly the best authority we have for this is the testimony and ordinance of the church. And, therefore, those who pretend to be so religious of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of other festivals ordained by the same church authority, show that they act by humor, and not by reason and religion; since Sundays and holy days all stand upon the same foundation; viz., the ordinance of the church.”

“Q. What was the reason that the weekly Sabbath was changed from the Saturday to the Sunday?”

“A. Because our Lord fully accomplished the work of our redemption by rising from the dead on a Sunday and by sending down the Holy Ghost on a Sunday. As therefore the work of redemption was a greater work than that of creation, the primitive church thought the day on which this work was completely finished was more worthy their religious observation than that in which God rested from the creation, and should be properly called the Lord’s day.”

“Q. But has the church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?”

“A. The commandments of God, as far as they contain his eternal law, are unalterable and indispensable, but as to whatever was only ceremonial, that ceases to oblige, since the Mosaic law was abrogated by Christ’s death. Hence, as far as the commandment obliges us to set aside some part of our time for the worship and service of our Creator, it is an unalterable and unchangeable precept of the eternal law, with which the church cannot dispense, but forasmuch as it prescribes the seventh day in particular for this purpose it is no more than a ceremonial precept of the old law, which obligeth not Christians, and therefore instead of the seventh day and other festivals appointed by the old law the church has prescribed the Sunday and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship, and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment instead of the ancient Sabbath.”

From the “Abridgement of Christian Doctrine,” we give the following question and answer:—

“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?”

“Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.”

Now we ask the candid reader, Does not this look like thinking to change the law of the Sabbath, or the obligation of the fourth commandment? Here, then, we have the mark of the beast, an institution put in the place of the original Sabbath of Jehovah, and brought forward by the Romish church itself as the badge and token of its power to change the law of the Most High. And he who, with this plain fact before him, deliberately yields to the claims of this antichristian power in opposition to the plain requirements of the fourth commandment of the Creator, thereby acknowledges the supremacy of the beast, worships him instead of the great Jehovah, and receives the mark of the beast instead of the seal of the living God.

Let me here remind the reader that Paul says, “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?” Rom. 6:16. Then how plain it must appear to all candid minds that if we, with this testimony before us, still continue to keep the first day of the week, or Sunday, we are obeying the papal church, and not the Lord, and therefore are subjects of the wrath of God.

John says, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. . . . And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live.” Rev. 13:11–14.

John here introduces a symbol of the United States. The two-horned beast must symbolize a separate and distinct power; for it is another beast. This is too evident to call for proof. The two-horned beast acts in the sight of the first beast, and in reference to him, not in connection with him. This is perfectly answered in the United States. For a more extended view of this subject, see the work entitled the “Three Messages, or the Two-Horned Beast,” published at the REVIEW Office, Battle Creek, Mich.

Reader, is it not a fact that in this government there is now a strong party arising, with the avowed object of securing an amendment to the Constitution, for the purpose of bringing about a Sunday-Sabbath reform? The organ of this party is the Christian Statesman, published at Philadelphia. As it is a fair exponent of the opinions and intentions of the leading spirits in the movement for the amendment, we give the following extract, which we think shows the real object of the party:—

“Two years ago, we printed the following telegram, dated at Washington, Dec. 4, and commented on it in the following terms, which we now emphatically repeat: ‘The trains yesterday and to-day brought large accessions to the number of congressmen and visitors already here. And by to-morrow morning it is expected that nearly every senator and member will have arrived.’ Thus the fact is heralded over the whole country that a large number of the members of the national Congress openly and wantonly indulge in common travel on the Sabbath. . . . And there are other reflections suggested by their conduct. Not one of those men who thus violated the Sabbath is fit to hold any official position in a Christian nation.

“. . . The interests of a nation can never be safe in the hands of Sabbath-breakers, and every one of these congressmen has done that for which, if our laws were right, he ought to be impeached and denounced.

“The sin of these congressmen is a national sin, because the nation has not said to them in the Constitution, the supreme rule for our public servants, We charge you to serve us in accordance with the higher law of God. These Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, are corporations created by the State and amenable to it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of these creatures which it calls into being. It is bound therefore to restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of the Sabbath by any corporation should work immediate forfeiture of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with which all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be of such character as to prevent any State from tolerating such infractions of fundamental moral law.

“Give us in the national Constitution the simple acknowledgment of the law of God as the supreme law of the nation, and all the results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured. Let no one say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently practical ends.”—Christian Statesman, vol. 6, No. 15.

Thus the amendment party are preparing to make the image to the beast, or to pass a Sunday law which will clothe the churches of America with authority to compel people to rest on Sunday. When this shall be accomplished, the image of the beast will be formed; for the papacy was a church clothed with civil power, and those who obey will be worshipers of the beast and his image.

But while this is being done, God is sending forth the third angel’s message; thereby bringing about a reform on the true Bible Sabbath, and warning the people everywhere against the worship of the beast and his image. He is also bringing out a people in every place where the warning goes, who keep all the commandments of God—and who, if faithful to the end, will stand at last with the Lamb on Mount Zion, having the Lamb’s Father’s name in their foreheads. Rev. 14:1. This name is found in the fourth commandment, which describes him as Creator of heaven and earth. Therefore, God says the Sabbath is a sign between him and the children of Israel, the people of God, forever.

(To be continued.)

The Christ Alphabet.

EVERY letter in our alphabet furnishes the initial of some title or titles given to Christ in the Sacred Scriptures. The following rhythmical arrangement to show this fact we find in an exchange:—

A is for Advocate, Alpha, Amen; All titles of Jesus the Saviour of men. 1 John 2:1; Rev. 1:8; 3:14.

B is for Bridegroom, for Bishop, for Bread; The soul that receives him with manna is fed. Matt. 25:1; 1 Peter 2:25; John 6:35.

C is for Captain, for Chief Corner stone. And safe is the man that buildeth thereon. Eph. 2:20; Heb. 2:10; 1 Peter 2:6.

D is for Day-Star, Deliverer, Door; Who enters this way shall have life evermore. 2 Peter 1:19; Rom. 11:26; John 10:9.

E ’s the Everlasting Father, who stands Inviting his creatures with wide, open hands. Isa. 9:6; 55:1.

F is for Faithful; and true is the name, For he who doth bear it is ever the same. Rev. 19:2.

G is for Governor, God over all, Who offers salvation to great and to small. Ps. 22:28; Rom. 9:5.

H is for Holy and Harmless High Priest, Who bids us by faith on his flesh and blood feast. Heb. 7:26.

I is Immanuel, bringing God near; The Son whom we worship and serve without fear. Isa. 7:14.

J is for Jesus, for Judge, and for Just; Happy are those who in him put their trust. Matt. 1:21; James 5:9; Acts 3:14.

K is for King; and as such he shall reign, When death is destroyed, and his enemies slain. 1 Tim. 6:15; 1 Cor. 15:25.

L is for Lamb, for Lord, and for Lion, The meek Galilean, the Ruler of Zion. John 1:29; 20:13; Rev. 5:5a.

M is Messiah, the promised of old, By good men expected, by prophets foretold. John 1:41.

N is for Nazarene; humble the name; But glory shall crown it, and scatter its shame. Matt. 2:23.

O is Omega, the End and the Last, For he shall endure when ages are past. Rev. 22:13.

P is Passover, Prophet, and Priest; May peace the world o’er and good-will be increased. 1 Cor. 5:7; John 7:40; Heb. 8:1.

Q is a Quickening Spirit, we read, The Second Man Adam, the woman’s pure seed. 1 Cor. 15:45,

R is our Refuge, our Rock of defense; Not sorrow nor Satan shall drive us from thence. Jer. 16:19; 1 Cor. 10:4.

S is for Saviour, for Shepherd, for Shield. With the Sword of the Spirit the saint takes the field. Titus 1:4; 1 Peter 2:25; Prov. 30:5.

T is for Teacher, whose lessons are Truth, Unto him let us cry as the guide of our youth. John 3:2; 14:6.

U ’s that Unspeakable gift from above, The Father sent down in his infinite love. 2 Cor. 9:16.

V is the Vine, and its branches we are; If abiding in Him, much fruit shall we bear. John 15:1.

W ’s for Wonderful, for Witness, for Word; The way to be saved, but from which we have erred. Isa. 9:6; Rev. 3:14; 19:13.

X, our example in trial or pain; With him if we suffer, with Him we shall reign. 1 Peter 2:21.

Y is the Yoke that His followers wear; By his help we are able the burden to bear. Matt. 11:29.

Z was his Zeal, and it wrapped Him around. May we put it on, and in goodness abound. Isa. 59:17.

HOME

“I long to see home,” says the sailor, from the mast-head, when the ship rocks to and fro from the violence of the storm. “I must hurry home,” says the mother, whose heart is on her baby in the cradle. “Don’t stop me; I am going home,” says the bright-eyed girl, skipping along the footpath. And, “Almost home,” says the dying Christian; “I shall soon be home, and then no more sighing forever.” “Almost home.”

My Old School-Master.

IN a sketch of the Rev. Cyrus Comstock, by his first teacher, occurs a fine passage upon the value of the brief religious lessons contained in the old Webster's Spelling Book.

Prof. Lewis writes:—

Let it be pardoned, then, as an old man's prejudice, when I compare the school books of the present day with the spelling book of Noah Webster, and especially the first reading lessons, so perfectly meeting the child's mind, without any loss of their innate sublimity—so child-like, I may say, yet never childish—drawing up the young soul to their own light without any lowering to a puerile standard or to that flat nonsense presented in some modern specimens that might be cited, and aiming to lead the child to think for himself. Those first reading lessons of Webster's Spelling Book are never to be forgotten.

It was sixty-six years ago that I took my first reading lesson, but the scene comes up in all its freshness—the young class just standing upon the threshold of that mysterious art, that first introduction to words seen as well as heard, to words as objective things, bringing with them something of a higher spirit, or as representatives of universal intelligence. I see them again, those slender forms, their voices are in my ears, the child's slow monotone as he points his finger along the line, pronouncing each monosyllable with equal emphasis, and now and then looking up to the grave face bending over him, solemnly intent upon the momentous work in which he is engaged: “No man may put off the law of God.” That was the first line I ever read, and the second was like unto it: “My joy is in His law all the day. Oh! may I not go in the way of ill men. He who came to save us will wash us from all sin. I will be glad in his name.”

It was the dawning of immortal truth. How much of precious meaning in these few words! How sublime they are! How self-revealing! We did understand it. Men who caricature and talk about parrot lessons and words without ideas may declaim as they will, we did understand it. The terms revealed themselves to us without the sham of object lessons or any puerile illustrations. That word law; it is probable that it had never before fallen upon my ears. I may perhaps have heard men talk of “going to law,” but it conveyed no intelligence. Surely I had never before read it in a book, or looked it up in a dictionary; but as then used in that living connection, I did understand it. It fell upon the mind with light and power. No clearer idea of it have I since received.

I had heard of God. The great name was uttered in the recital of the oral infant catechism. It was connected with that mysterious question, Who made you? but this was a new revelation of Him. In the accompanying monosyllables, clearer than in many a sermon, the ideas of power, omnipotence, obligation and necessity, revealed themselves: “No man may put it off.”

In the words that followed, “My joy is in His law all the day,” there was a rational light as well as a joy. We truly yielded the approbation indicated. We rejoiced in the law after the inward man. We consented to the law that it was good, as human nature is compelled to do, even after it feels the awakened law of sin warring and ruling in its members.

“Oh, let me not go in the way of ill men.” This third line brought up the idea, the embryo idea it may be, of the great divergency—the two roads, then beginning to part, but with their ends so immeasurably distant—the way of virtue and the way of vice, the upward toiling, and the smooth, downward path, to use the language of Hesiod's old picture, made so many centuries ago; or Solomon's way of life and way of death; or the still more vivid representation of our Saviour, the broad and the narrow way, the way of righteousness and the way of ill men. We were thus early taught to pray for deliverance from the way of danger, or the one in which our feet might so easily incline to run.

“He who came to save us.” It was not a mere sound. We did attach a precious meaning to that name; and along with it came the closely suggestive ideas of salvation, of cleansing, purity, and deliverance from sin. As I have said, it may have been in their embryo state; but they were all there present to the soul in some spiritual form, and with some degree of spiritual power, when we said, “I will be glad in his name.” These impressions may have been feeble and faint, indeed, but they were more precious, even in their dawning, than all the practical instruction of our utilitarian school-books, with all their boasted freedom from dogmas, and all their contempt for mere rote instruction.—Prof. Taylor Lewis.

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