Review and Herald, Vol. 38, No. 2.
The Breadth of the Earth; or, the East and the WestPage 1
The Breadth of the Earth; or, the East and the West.
By John Nevins Andrews
EACH day of the week occupies twenty-four hours in passing any one place in its westward course around the earth. And each day begins earlier as we go east, and later as we go west. At the extreme limits of the east and the west, exists the day line which divides between the beginning and the termination of the course of day. Of necessity the two sides of this line are twenty-four hours apart. This has been fully shown in former articles. Because the east and the west touch each other of necessity on our globe, a mere line alone dividing between them, it is difficult for many persons to see that the difference between the east and the west sides of that line, is, in time, just the space requisite for the sun to go round the world; for there is a circuit to the sun as nature plainly teaches. And this fact is equally plain from revelation. Observe these remarkable words of David:
“In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the END OF THE HEAVEN, and HIS CIRCUIT unto the ENDS OF IT; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Ps. 19: 4–6. This text recognizes the fact that there is a circuit to the sun. It also recognizes the fact that the sun has of necessity a starting point in this circular journey, and also an end to that journey where it enters upon a new circuit. As the sun could not start from all points of his circular course of travel, there was of necessity some point the farthest east of all, at which his light was seen when he first set forth as the light bearer and the ruler of the day. This must be “the end of the heaven” from which his going forth takes place, and here must also be “the ends” of the heaven at which his circuit terminates. Now it is plain that a mere line or point is all that divides the two ends of this circuit, and that the difference between the two sides of this line is the space of time requisite for the sun to make the circuit from the west side of that line round the globe to the east side. In other words, there is a difference of twenty-four hours between the two sides of this line. We may state the case in a different light, as follows: Most atlases have one map representing the earth upon what is called Mercator’s projection. This presents the entire surface of the earth at one view like a sheet of writing paper, the length of the sheet representing the breadth of the earth from east to west, and the width of the sheet presenting the extent of the earth from north to south. Such a map does therefore represent the surface of the earth as a parallelogram or oblong square; the length representing the distance from east to west, or the circumference of the earth; the breadth representing the distance from the north pole to the south. A sheet of foolscap paper laid crosswise before the reader will give a good idea of the surface of the earth as presented upon this projection. It is true that this kind of map is not correct with respect to the polar regions because it is drawn upon the plan that the circumference of the earth at the poles is the same as at the equator. Every map of our globe, however, is of necessity distorted somewhere. But for the purpose for which we want it, this map is quite accurate. It presents the breadth of the earth from east to west, and the belt of the earth along the equator is sufficient for our purpose. If we conceive the surface of the earth thus spread out, it will be very easy to understand why the east edge of it is twenty-four hours in advance of its west edge; for it requires twenty-four hours for the sun to pass from the one to the other. It is therefore plain to every mind that the eastern and the western extremities of the surface of this map are just twenty-four hours apart. If now we take this sheet of paper and bring the two ends together, so that it shall resemble a joint of stove pipe, the case is still the same. The eastern and the western edges touch, and a line having no breadth is all that divides them. Yet as the sun starts from the one side of this line, and making the circuit of the earth reaches the other side of that line in twenty-four hours’ time, the two sides of that line are in time one whole day apart. It is in evident allusion to facts of this kind that the Lord thus addresses Job:
“Hast thou perceived the BREADTH OF THE EARTH? declare if thou knowest it all. Where is the way WHERE LIGHT DWELLETH? and as for darkness, where is the PLACE THEREOF, that thou shouldest take it to the BOUND THEREOF, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the HOUSE THEREOF? Knowest thou it, BECAUSE THOU WAST THEN BORN? or because the number of thy days is great?” Job 38: 18–21. “The breadth of the earth” is manifestly the circuit of the earth from east to west along which light and darkness make their way. “The way where light dwelleth” is the place from which it first set out on the circuit of our globe. “The bound of darkness” and “the house thereof” must represent that point or place at the eastern extremity of the darkness where God first began the work of dividing the light from the darkness. When it is added, “Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?” it is plain that the Almighty cites the mind of Job to the most ancient things; viz., to the events of the creation week. And, indeed, nearly all the previous portion of this remarkable chapter relates to the work of the creation. The earth at the beginning of its existence was in appearance like a vast body of water. Gen. 1: 1, 2. And it is in reference to this fact that the Creator in this chapter speaks of the earth at the moment when he called it into existence, as though the creation was the birth of the mighty ocean. Job 38: 4–8. And pursuing this figure still further, he presents the darkness which shrouded the entire globe for the first twelve hours of its existence, as the swaddling band of the new-born earth. Verse 9. We cannot therefore doubt that this chapter relates to the events of the creation, and that the bound of light and of darkness whence they make their way over the breadth of the earth is that day line which the Creator established when he began on the first day of time to divide the light from the darkness. The existence of the day line will be disputed by no one who will give the subject serious attention. But if there be such a line, say some, it should certainly be on the meridian of the garden of Eden; that is to say, this line extending from north to south should cross this garden. But this would have been to subject the dwellers in Eden to the most extreme inconvenience; for in the garden of God itself would exist a difference in time of twenty-four hours. The observance of the Sabbath would have been rendered difficult, and the constant derangement of dates would have been inevitable. But as we have seen, the location of this line through the midst of the ocean is attended by no real difficulties at all. And as the whole face of the earth was water when God at the creation of light established the day line, it is certain that God did in the first place fix this line through the water. On the third day God gathered the waters together into one place and caused the dry land to appear. In order to do this, he had to depress the bed of the ocean to receive the vast body of water which covered the face of the earth. And now observe how he states this act whereby he located the place of the water, when he says to Job, I “brake up for it MY DECREED PLACE, and set bars and doors.” Job 38: 10. As this line is a necessity in the economy of God, and as it cannot be established upon the habitable earth without the greatest inconvenience and perplexity, but can be thus established through the waters, and as it was established in the first place when water covered all the globe, we conclude that when God broke up his DECREED PLACE for the bed of the ocean, he caused that the place of that line should be the midst of the ocean, and that it should not be transferred from the water to the dry land, when the waters were gathered unto one place. As everything that God had made was very good, we may be sure that the location of the ocean was fixed with reference to the important purposes which it was to serve, one of these manifestly being that it should be the place for the bounds of the circuit of day. There are, indeed, since the deluge two oceans extending from north to south. But this line cannot be drawn through the Atlantic as we have seen heretofore, and can be drawn through the Pacific. Moreover, if this line were to be established through the Atlantic, as the course of day is westward, it would make the new world one day in time in advance of the old world, which is a manifest absurdity. But the providence of God has so ordered events that mankind have unconsciously but truly recognized the day line substantially where it exists; for the west shore of the Pacific is one day in advance of its eastern shore, a convincing proof that somewhere in the midst of that great body, this line is to be found. The bounds of the circuit of day were not therefore fixed at Eden, but in the midst of that ocean which lies to the east of it, and here it is that day begins earliest of all and latest of all, for here the east and the west come together. The line which divides these two extremes represents the time that is required for the sun to make the circuit from the west side of that line round the world to the east side. In other words, that line represents the space of twenty-four hours. This line, as has been shown in a former article, was established on the first day of time; but the garden of Eden was not planted, probably, till the sixth day. When we journey to the east our watches indicate that each day begins earlier than it does at the place we last left. This is because that we are tracing back the track of day toward its source. And in like manner when we journey westward, our watches indicate that we are following the track of day towards its termination. The changes which we make in our watches cause them to conform exactly to the course of day wherever we may be. And when we pass the day line, our change of one whole day in our numbering of the days of the week is because that one side of the day line is twenty-four hours in advance of the other as has been proved, and the reasons given. Our gain or loss of time, as we term it, in these several acts, simply keeps us with the people of each meridian that we cross. There are two bounds to each day; one fixed, the other movable. At the fixed bound, which is the day line, the transition from one day to another is taking place at each moment of every day. That is to say, as evening, or midnight, or morning, or noon, comes up to this line, and passes it, each changes in an instant to be the corresponding parts of a new day. Thus the noon of seventh-day on the east side of that line, becomes the noon of first-day on crossing that line, and so of every part of the day. But the movable bound of each day is the evening or sunset, which makes the circuit of our globe taking the day in its train. At the movable bound of day, which is simply its forefront as it advances, the transition from one day to another takes place only at evening, which is ever on the wing westward. This movable bound, for it is rightly termed a bound, inasmuch as it divides between the advancing and the retiring day, passes us westward each evening, closing the old day and bringing us the new one; and this it does every twenty-four hours. A few words should be offered relative to the place of sunset, for some do not rightly understand this. Though sunset itself is the disappearance of the sun in the west, yet when we speak of this as closing the day, we have reference to the standpoint of the observer, rather than to the place of the sun. We see the sun to the west of us for the whole afternoon, but the line of sunset, i. e., the narrow tract in which the sun is in the act of disappearing, is east of us, and is approaching us from the east with the same swiftness that the sun is traveling in his westward circuit. The place of sunset, as marking the transition from one day to another, is, properly, the place where the observer stands at the time of the sun’s disappearance, and not the place at which the sun appears to set; for could you be at that point in the west at that instant you would see the sun still visible in the western heavens. Remember, therefore, that sunset approaches us from the east, though the sun itself is west of us some six hours before that sunset reaches our own standpoint from the east; and it is then at our place of observation the moment of transition from one day to another. But if we regard the western horizon, behind which the sun disappears, as the line of transition with us from one day to another there is never a moment when that transition is at our own standpoint; for though that transition line was east of us up to a certain point, it then passes us far to the west in a moment. But this is not true; for at every point in the sun’s westward circuit of the globe the transition from one day to another takes place, and this transition is always the standpoint of the observer who witnesses the disappearance of the sun in the west. We have seen that each day of the week makes the definite circuit of the globe; and that the change of one whole day in the count of those who simply cross the Pacific Ocean is due to the fact that there is in that ocean a day line, one side of which is twenty-four hours in advance of the other. This line is a necessary consequence of the fact that each day of the week makes the circuit of the earth, and must therefore have a starting point and a termination. For if we go east, our day begins earlier, and if we go west, it begins later; and the points where it begins earliest of all, and where it begins latest of all, are simply the two sides of the day line, which are twenty-four hours apart. And here observe that we do not mean that the sun rises at a different hour, either earlier or later by the clock, in consequence of our going east or west, but that each hour of the clock comes earlier in the east than in the west. And thus when the two extremes meet as they do at the day line, for instance, five o’clock or the hour of sunrise on seventh-day morning on the east side of the line is five o’clock or sunrise of first-day morning on the west side of that line. Thus the10eastern and the western extremes of our earth’s breadth are as a consequence of its globular form separated from each only by a mere line; but this represents the space of twenty-four hours. The time is short!
If thou wouldst work for God it must be now;
If thou wouldst win the garland for thy brow,
Redeem the time. Shake off earth’s sloth!
Go forth with staff in hand while yet ’tis day;
Set out with girded loins upon thy way—
Up, linger not. Fold not thy hands!
What has the pilgrim of the cross and crown
To do with luxury or couch of down?
On, pilgrim, on. Sheathe not the sword!
The battle lies before thee, and the prize
Hangs yonder, far above these earthly skies—
Fight the good fight. Life ebbs apace!
Fast crumbles down this house of mortal clay,
Fling not like dust thy precious hours away—
The end is near. Faint not, O man!
Follow the Master through the glorious strife,
Follow his footsteps till they end in life—
Be strong in him. With his reward
He comes, he tarries not, his day is near;
When least men look for him will he be here—
Prepare for him. Quar. Journal of Prophecy. The Great Speech in the Vatican.
In a full-length portrait of Strossmayer, Bishop of Bosnia, the strongest points of expression are a very resolute though pleasant face, and a pair of top-boots, very large in the feet, very thick in the soles, and very square in the toes. The vision rises before me, as I turn from the opening scriptural argument of his great speech, to the second part, in which he proceeds to present to the unwilling ears of his “venerable brethren,” “the results of his historical researches”:— Finding no trace of the papacy in the apostle’s days, I said to myself, “I shall find what I am looking for in the annals of the church.” Well, then, I tell you frankly that I have been looking for a pope in the first four centuries, and have not found any! In confirmation of this proposition, the orator quotes those African councils (of one of which St. Augustine himself was secretary), which forbade, under penalty of excommunication, the practice of appealing to the see of Rome; the laws and canons which recognize the bishop of Rome simply as having precedence among his peers; the words of popes St. Gregory and Pelagius II., in which they denounce the assumption of the title universal bishop as impious and profane:— Do not these authorities (and I have a hundred more just as strong) prove as clear as the sun at noonday, that it was not until a very late date that the bishops of Rome came to be regarded as universal bishops and heads of the church? . . . Who is there but knows that councils were convoked by the emperors, without consultation with the bishop of Rome, and sometimes in opposition to his wishes? That Hosius, bishop of Cordova, presided in the first council of Nice, and drew up its canons? The same Hosius presided in the council of Sardis, to the exclusion of the legates of Julius, bishop of Rome. I will not press this further, venerable brethren, but pass on to the great argument which is alleged in proof of the primacy of the bishop of Rome. By the rock on which the holy church was built, you understand Peter. If this were true, it would be an end to the dispute. But the early fathers, who must surely have known something about it, did not think as we do on this point. The bishop proceeds to cite the fathers—Cyril, Hilary, Jerome, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Basil of Seleucia—as agreeing in the view that the rock was Peter’s faith, or the great truth to which he testified, and concludes with several emphatic and decisive expressions from Augustine: So far was this great bishop from believing that the church was built on St. Peter, that he said to his people in his thirteenth sermon: “Thou art Peter, and on this rock which thou hast confessed—this rock which thou hast acknowledged in declaring, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’—I will build my church—on myself; in that I am the Son of the living God, will I build it—on me, AND NOT ON THEE.” St. Augustine’s opinion on this famous text was the opinion of all Christendom in his day. To sum up, then, I have proved: 1. That Jesus gave to all the apostles the same power as to Peter. 2. That the apostles never recognized Peter as the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the infallible teacher of the church. 3. That Peter never thought of being pope, and never acted as pope. 4. That the councils of the first four centuries, while acknowledging the high dignity of the bishop of Rome, conceded to him only a pre-eminence of honor—never of power or jurisdiction. 5. That the holy fathers, in the famous passage, “Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church,” never understood that the church was built upon Peter (super Petrum), but upon the rock (super petram) that is the apostle’s confession of faith. I conclude triumphantly with history, with reason, with logic, with common sense, and with Christian conscience, that Jesus Christ conferred no supremacy whatever on St. Peter; and that if the bishops of Rome have come to be sovereigns of the church, it has only been by the process of confiscating, one by one, all the rights of the bishops. (Voices: Silence the impudent Protestant! Silence him!) I, an impudent Protestant? No! a thousand times, no! History is neither Catholic nor Anglican, nor Calvinist, nor Lutheran, nor Armenian, nor Schismatic-Greek, nor Ultramontane. It is what it is; that is, it is something mightier than all the decrees of the œcumenical councils. You may write falsely against it if you dare; but you can no more destroy it than you can throw down the Coliseum by pulling out a brickbat. If I have said anything which history disproves, confront me with history, and without a moment’s hesitation I will make the amende honorable. But be patient awhile, and you will find that I have not yet said the whole of what I have undertaken to say and must say. If the stake were waiting for me out on the great square of St. Peter’s, I could not be silent. I should be bound to go on. Bishop Dupanloup, in his famous observations on this Vatican Council, has said, and justly, that if we declare Pius IX. infallible, we are bound, as a natural and necessary inference, to hold all his predecessors as infallible. Well, now, my venerable brethren, hear how history lifts up her commanding voice to assure you that some popes have erred. You will have a good time protesting and denying, I promise you, in the face of such facts as these. We cannot transcribe the long catalogue, extending from Pope Victor in 192 to Pope Pius IX. in 1870, of popes who have contradicted themselves, or contradicted each other. And yet as the speaker claims, it is only a partial list. I should never get through, venerable brethren, if I were to lay before your eyes all the contradictions of the popes in their teachings. If, then, you proclaim the infallibility of the present pope, you will be forced either to prove what is impossible, that the popes have not contradicted themselves, or to declare that it is revealed to you by the Holy Ghost, that papal infallibility dates only from the year 1870. Will you have the courage to do it? The public may perhaps pass by, with indifference, theological questions, the importance of which they do not apprehend. But however indifferent they may be to principles, they are not at all indifferent to facts. Don’t be deluded! If you decree the dogma of papal infallibility, our antagonists, the Protestants, will leap into the breach with all the more boldness for the fact that they will have history on their side and against us, while we shall have, to oppose them, nothing but our negations. What can we say to them when they begin to march out before the public the line of the bishops of Rome from Lucas down to his holiness Pius IX.—? Oh! if they all had but been such as Pius IX., we could beat them all along the line. But alas, alas! it is very different from this. (Cries of, Silence, silence! Enough, enough!) Don’t cry out so, my right-reverend brethren! To show such alarm at the facts of history, is tantamount to giving up all for lost. For if you were to pour over it all the waters of the Tiber, you could not wash out a single page. Suffer me to speak, and I will be as brief as the importance of the subject will permit. The bishop then proceeds with the subject of papal immoralities—as he had with the subject of papal heresies and contradictions—in chronological order. Passing over the horrible indictment which he draws against the pope and court of Rome, we come to his inferences:— To sum up, then: if you declare the infallibility of the present bishop of Rome, you will be held bound to prove the infallibility of all his predecessors, without a single exception. But can you do this, with history lying open and showing as clear as sunshine that the popes have erred in their teachings? Can you do it, and maintain that popes who were guilty of avarice, of incest, of murder, of simony, were nevertheless vicars of Jesus Christ? O venerable brethren, to maintain this monstrous thing would be to betray Christ worse than Judas did. It would be flinging mud in his face! (Outcries of, “Down with him from the rostrum! Hush! hush! Silence the heretic!”) Venerable brethren, you are making this outcry. But would it not be a more dignified course to weigh my reasons and my proofs in the balance of the sanctuary? Believe me, you cannot make history over again. There it stands, and there it will stand forever, to protest mightily against the dogma of papal infallibility. You may proclaim it unanimously, but you will have to do without one vote, and that is mine. The eyes of true believers are upon us; they look to us for the remedy of the numberless evils by which the church is dishonored. Shall we disappoint their hopes? What account could we give to God, if we should let slip this solemn opportunity which he has given us for preserving the integrity of the true faith? Let us hold it fast, my brethren; let us arm ourselves with a holy courage; let us put forth one mighty and generous effort; let us turn to the teachings of the apostles, for aside from these we have nothing but error, darkness, and false tradition. Let us make use of our reason and understanding by taking the apostles and the prophets as our sole infallible teachers on that greatest of all questions, “What shall I do to be saved?” This being decided, we shall have got the foundation laid for our dogmatic system. Setting our feet firmly on the solid and changeless rock of the holy Scriptures inspired of God, we will go boldly forth against the world, and like the apostle Paul, in the presence of the free-thinkers, we will know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. We will conquer by the preaching of the foolishness of the cross, as Paul conquered the orators of Greece and Rome, and the church of Rome will have its own glorious ’89! (Clamorous outcries: “Down with him! Put him out! the Protestant! the Calvinist! the traitor to the church!”) These outcries of yours, right reverend sirs, do not frighten me at all. If my words are warm, my head is cool. I am neither of Luther nor of Calvin, neither of Paul nor of Apollos, but of Christ. (Renewed outcries: “Anathema! Anathema! upon the apostate!”) Anathema! gentlemen! Anathema! You know perfectly well that you are not protesting against me, but against the holy apostles, under whose protection I would that this council might place the church. Ah! if, bound about with their grave clothes, they were to come forth from their sepulchres, would they speak to you in any different strain from mine? What answer will you make them, when out of their writings I tell you that the papacy has departed from that gospel of the Son of God which they preached with such courage, and sealed with their generous blood? Will you have the hardihood to say to them: “We prefer to your instructions those of our popes, our Bellarmines, our Ignatius Loyolas”? No, no! a thousand times no! unless you have closed your ears that you may not hear, and blinded your eyes that you may not see, and made gross your hearts that you may not understand. Ah! if He who sitteth in the Heavens is disposed to make heavy his hand on us, as once on Pharaoh, he has no need to suffer the troops of Garibaldi to sack the Eternal City; he need only let us go on to make Pius IX. a god, as we have made the blessed virgin a goddess. Pause, oh, pause, my venerable brethren, on that hateful and absurd declivity on which you find yourselves. Save the church from the shipwreck that threatens her, by seeking in the Holy Scriptures alone the rule of faith which we must believe and profess. I have spoken. God be my helper!—The Congregationalist. Moral Courage.
By Wm. Penniman
THIS principle is very essential to enable one to withstand the trials and difficulties of life. True moral courage will remove mountains which stand in the way of progress. All great reformers have had a good share of this quality, and it has enabled them to “face the music” of many a hard-fought battle with error. In these last days when Satan has so much power, those who do not possess this principle, and do not cultivate it, will not be able to stand the test. That young man or woman who knows that it is wrong to go to a theater yet does not resist the temptation and refuse to comply with the invitation of friends, lacks moral courage. They may say they have never attended one and wish to learn something. Alas! that man should long for such knowledge. Those things which he never ought to know he is desirous of knowing, and willingly remains ignorant of what he should know. Poor excuse for yielding to temptation! The man who cannot resist the social glass, the cigar, or chew of tobacco with a friend, lacks this principle. That brother or sister who will not heed the injunction, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,” is in danger of apostasy, and should cultivate moral courage. The man who has been awakened by the Spirit of the Lord to seek salvation, and has become interested in present truth, and knows it is his duty to keep God’s law, knows that he is trampling upon his Sabbath, acknowledges that the whole law is binding, and would be ashamed to be caught stealing a horse; yet this same man has not the moral courage to keep the Sabbath because it is not popular, or his wife may oppose him, and he has not the bravery to resist her. There are many of this class. May God help them to arouse, is my prayer. Oh! that I could speak to them with the voice of an angel, and with a “tongue of fire,” that every word might burn. In the spirit of Christ I would try to constrain them to awake, put on their strength, and no longer consult with flesh and blood when their duty to God is clear. If necessary, we should have the moral courage to forsake all for God, and we shall have the reward. Our Saviour said, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel’s, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution, and in the world to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29, 30. Wm. Penniman. Who composed the following description of the Bible was never known. It was found in Westminster Abbey, nameless and dateless:— A nation would be truly happy if it were governed by no other laws than those of this blessed book. It is so complete a system that nothing can be added to it. It contains everything needful to be known or done. It affords a copy for a king and a rule for a subject. It gives instruction to a senate, authority and direction to a magistrate. It cautions a witness, requires an impartial verdict of a jury, and furnishes the judge with his sentence. It sets the husband as the lord of a household, the wife as a mistress of the table—tells him how to rule and her how to manage. It entitles parents to honor, and enjoins obedience on children. It prescribes and limits the sway of the sovereign, the ruler, and authority of the master—commands the subject to honor, and servants to obey, and promises the blessings and protection of the Almighty to all that walk by its rules. It promises food and raiment, and limits the use of both. It points out a faithful and eternal guardian to the departing husband and father—tells him with whom to leave his fatherless children, and whom his widow is to trust—and promises a father to the former and a husband to the latter. It teaches a man to set his house in order, and know his will; it appoints a dowry for his wife, and entails the right of the first born, and shows how the young branches shall be left. It defends the right of all, and reveals vengeance to every defaulter, overreacher, and trespasser. It is the first book and the oldest book in the world. It contains the choicest matter—gives the best instruction—affords the greatest pleasure and satisfaction that were ever enjoyed. It contains the best laws and most profound mysteries that were ever penned; it brings the best comforts to the inquiring and disconsolate. It exhibits life and immortality from everlasting, and shows the way to glory. It is a brief recital of all that is to come. It settles all matters in debate, resolves all doubts, and eases the mind and conscience of all their scruples. It reveals the only true and living God, and shows the way to him, and sets aside all other gods, and describes the vanity of them and of those that trust in such; in short, it is a book of laws, to show right and wrong; a book of wisdom, that condemns all folly and makes the foolish wise; a book of truth, that detects all lies and confronts all errors; and a book of life, that shows the way from everlasting death. It contains the most ancient antiquities, strange events, wonderful occurrences, heroic deeds, and unparalleled wars. It describes the celestial, terrestrial, and infernal worlds, and the origin of the angelic myriads, human tribes, and devilish legions. Search the Scriptures.—Sel. MAXIMS.—The devil tries to destroy the Christian's hope, while truth and conscience disturb the hypocrite's. There are two kinds of hypocrites—legal and evangelical. The legal trusts in work—the evangelical in discoveries. DRINK no kinds of intoxicating liquors. Unintentional Admissions.
By Jos. Clarke
A LATE New-York paper, (N. Y. Times) in commenting upon some singular manifestation, has the following important admission lightly but truthfully spoken:— “In more common-place regions than Nevada, a spectacle of the earth vomiting forth steam from a hundred fissures would be considered remarkable, and to the average mind a speedy cessation of the alarming jets would seem very desirable. But use creates necessity, and the good people around Virginia City feel as much perturbation at the sudden stoppage of their steam-boat springs as elsewhere might be caused by their beginning. “Steam,” impressively says a local journal, “has rushed from these crevices and flues ever since the eyes of white men first rested upon the spot,” and now that the phenomenon has ceased to show itself, the gravest consequences are apprehended by the denizens of the neighborhood. A grand explosion of the world is the mildest result looked forward to by the editor of the Virginia City Enterprise. Let us hope that when the blow does come he may meet it with proper fortitude, so that “ ‘Si fractus illabatur orbis,’
Impavidum ferient ruinæ. “In other parts of the country, nature has been acting in no less erratic and unaccountable a manner. Scarcely in the memory of man have earthquakes been more general, tornadoes more frequent or more fierce, or floods more destructive. Never at any time have we had more wonderful seers prophesying evil to come.” At this time when men contend that every thing earthly is improving, such a testimony is of much weight.
JOS. CLARKE.