Review and Herald, Vol. 3, No. 12.
EXTRACT FROM A DISCOURSE BY JOHN WESLEY,Page 1
EXTRACT FROM A DISCOURSE BY JOHN WESLEY,
By John Wesley
Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount.
"THINK not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 17-20. 1. "AMONG the multitude of reproaches which fell upon Him who was despised and rejected of men, it could not fail to be one, that he was a teacher of novelties, an introducer of a new religion. This might be affirmed with the more color, because many of the expressions he had used, were not common among the Jews; either they did not use them at all, or not in the same sense, not in so full and strong a meaning. Add to this, that the worshiping God in spirit and in truth, must always appear a new religion, to those who have hitherto known nothing but outside worship, nothing but the form of godliness. 2. And it is not improbable, some might hope it was so; that he was abolishing the old religion, and bringing in another; one which they might flatter themselves, would be an easier way to heaven. But our Lord refutes in these words both the vain hopes of the one, and the groundless calumnies of the other. I shall consider them in the same order as they lie, taking each verse for a distinct head of discourse. I. 1. And, first, 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.'
The ritual or ceremonial law, delivered by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the injunctions and ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and service of the temple, our Lord indeed did come to destroy, to dissolve and utterly abolish. To this bear all the apostles witness: not only Barnabas and Paul, who vehemently withstood those who taught, that Christians ought to keep the law of Moses: not only St. Peter, who termed the insisting on this, on the observance of the ritual law, a tempting God, and putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers, saith he, nor we were able to bear: but all the apostles, elders and brethren being assembled with one accord, declared, that to command them to keep this law, was to subvert their souls; and that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them, to lay no such burthens upon them. This hand-writing of ordinances our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to his cross. 2. But the moral law, contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he did not take away. It was not the design of his coming, to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven. The moral stands on an entirely different foundation, from the ceremonial or ritual law; which was only designed for a temporary restraint upon a disobedient and stiff-necked people: whereas this was from the beginning of the world: being written not on tables of stone, but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And however the letters once wrote by the finger of God, are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not be wholly blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil.—Every part of this law must remain in force, upon all mankind, and in all ages: as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change; but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other. 3. 'I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.' Some have conceived our Lord to mean, I am come to fulfill this, by my entire and perfect obedience to it. And it cannot be doubted but he did, in this sense, fulfill every part of it. But this does not appear to be what he intends here, being foreign to the scope of his present discourse. Without question his meaning in this place is (consistent with all that goes before and follows after) I am come to establish it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men. I am come to place in a full and clear view, whatsoever was dark or obscure therein. I am come to declare the true and full import of every part of it: to shew the length and breadth, the entire extent of every commandment contained therein; and the height and depth, the inconceivable purity and spirituality of it in all its branches. 4. And this our Lord has abundantly performed in the preceding and subsequent parts of the discourse before us: in which he has not introduced a new religion into the world, but the same which was from the beginning: a religion, the substance of which is without question, as old as the creation; being coeval with man, and having proceeded from God, at the very time when man became a living soul (the substance, I say, for some circumstances of it, now relate to man as a fallen creature.) A religion witnessed to, both by the law, and by the prophets in all succeeding generations. Yet was it never so fully explained, nor so thoroughly understood, till the Great Author of it, himself, condescended to give mankind this authentic comment on all the essential branches of it: at the same time declaring it should never be changed, but remain in force to the end of the world. II. 1. 'For verily I say unto you' (a solemn preface, which denotes both the importance and certainty of what is spoken) 'till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.' One jot—it is literally, not one Iota, not the most inconsiderable vowel; or one tittle, MIA KERAIA, one corner, or point of a consonant. It is a proverbial expression, which signifies that no one commandment contained in the moral law, nor the least part of one, however inconsiderable it might seem, should ever be disannulled. 'Shall in no wise pass from the law:' OU ME PARELTHE APO TOU NOMOU. The double negative here used, strengthens the sense, so as to admit of no contradiction. And the word PARELTHE, it may be observed, is not barely future; declaring what will be; but has likewise the force of an imperative; ordering what shall be. It is a word of authority, expressing the sovereign will and power of him that spake: of him whose word is the law of heaven and earth, and stands fast for ever and ever. 'One jot or tittle shall in no wise pass, till heaven and earth pass;' or as it is expressed immediately after, EOS AN PANTA GENETAI, till all (or rather all things) be fulfilled, till the consummation of all things. Here is therefore no room for that poor evasion (with which some have delighted themselves greatly) that 'no part of the law was to pass away, till all the law was fulfilled: but it has been fulfilled by Christ; and therefore now must pass, for the gospel to be established.' Not so; the word all does not mean all the law, but all things in the universe; as neither has the term fulfilled, any reference to the law, but to all things in heaven and earth. 2. From all this we may learn, that there is no contrariety at all, between the law and the gospel: that there is no need for the law to pass away, in order to the establishing the gospel. Indeed, neither of them supersedes the other, but they agree perfectly well together. Yea, the very same words, considered in different respects, are parts both of the law and of the gospel: if they are considered as commandments, they are parts of the law; if as promises, of the gospel.—Thus, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, when considered as a commandment, is a branch of the law; when regarded as a promise, is an essential part of the law, proposed by way of promises.—Accordingly, poverty of spirit, purity of heart, and whatever else is enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises. 3. There is therefore the closest connection that can be conceived, between the law and the gospel. On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and points us to the gospel: on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble or holy: we feel that we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that with man this is impossible. But we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us humble, meek and holy. We lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings; it is done unto us according to our faith; and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. We may yet further observe, that every command in holy writ, is only a covered promise. For by that solemn declaration, 'this is the covenant I will make after these days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws in your minds, and write them in your hearts.' God hath engaged to give whatsoever he commands.—Does he command us then to pray without ceasing? to rejoice evermore? to be holy as he is holy? It is90enough. He will work in us this very thing. It shall be unto us according to his word. But if these things are so, we cannot be at a loss what to think of those who in all ages of the church have undertaken to change or supersede some commands of God, as they professed, by the peculiar direction of his Spirit. Christ has here given us an infallible rule, whereby to judge of all such pretensions. Christianity, as it includes the whole moral law of God, both by way of injunction and of promise, if we will hear him, is designed of God, to be the last of all his dispensations. There is no other to come after this. This is to endure till the consummation of all things. Of consequence all such new revelations, are of Satan and not of God; and all pretences to another more perfect dispensation, fall to the ground, of course. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but this word shall not pass away. III. 1. 'Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.' Who, what are they, that make 'the preaching of the law' a character of reproach? Do they not see on whom the reproach must fall? on whose head it must light at last? Whosoever on this ground despiseth us, despiseth him that sent us. For did ever any man preach the law like him? even when he came not to condemn but to save the world; when he came purposely to bring life and immortality to light through the gospel? Can any preach the law more expressly, more rigorously, than Christ does in these words? And who is he that shall amend them? Who is he that shall instruct the Son of God how to preach? Who will teach him a better way of delivering the message which he hath received of the Father? 2. 'Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments,' or one of the least of these commandments—These commandments, we may observe, is a term used by our Lord as equivalent with the law, or the law and the prophets, which is the same thing, seeing the prophets added nothing to the law; but only declared, explained, or enforced it, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 'Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments'—especially if it be done wilfully or presumptuously: one,—for he that keepeth the whole law and thus offends in one point, is guilty of all.—The wrath of God abideth on him, as surely as if he had broken every one. So that no allowance is made of one darling lust; no reserve for one idol; no excuse for refraining from all besides, and only giving way to one bosom sin. What God demands is an entire obedience; we are to have an eye to all his commandments; otherwise we lose all the labor we take in keeping some, and our poor souls for ever and ever. 'One of these least,' or one of the least of these commandments. Here is another excuse cut off whereby many, who cannot deceive God, miserably deceive their own souls. 'This sin, saith the sinner, is it not a little one? Will not the Lord spare me in this thing? Surely he will not be extreme to mark this, since I do not offend in the greatest matters of the law.' Vain hope! speaking after the manner of men, we may term these great and those little commandments. But in reality, they are not so. If we use propriety of speech, there is no such thing as a little sin; every sin being a transgression of the holy and perfect law, and an affront of the great majesty of heaven. 'And shall teach men so'—In some sense it may be said, that whosoever openly breaks any commandment, teaches others to do the same; for example speaks, and many times louder than precept. In this sense it is apparent every open drunkard, is a teacher of drunkenness; every Sabbath-breaker is constantly teaching his neighbor to profane the day of the Lord. But this is not all: an habitual breaker of the law, is seldom content to stop here. He generally teaches other men to do so too, by word as well as example; especially when he hardeneth his neck and hateth to be reproved. Such a sinner soon commences an advocate for sin; he defends what he is resolved not to forsake.—He excuses the sin which he will not leave, and thus directly teaches every sin which he commits. 'He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven:' that is, shall have no part therein. He is a stranger to the kingdom of heaven which is on earth; he hath no portion in that inheritance: no share of that righteousness, and peace and joy, in the Holy Ghost. Nor by consequence can he have any part in the glory which shall be revealed. 4. 'But if those who even thus break and teach others to break, 'one of the least of these commandments, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,' shall have no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God; if even these shall be cast into outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth; then where will they appear, whom our Lord chiefly and primarily intends in these words? They who bearing the character of teachers sent from God, do nevertheless themselves break his commandments, and openly teach others so to do; being corrupt both in life and doctrine. 5. These are of several sorts. Of the first sort are they who live in some wilful, habitual sin. Now if an ordinary sinner teaches by his example how much more a sinful minister? Even if he does not attempt to defend, excuse or extenuate his sin. If he does, he is a murderer indeed, yea, the murder-general of his congregation. He peoples the regions of death. He is the choicest instrument of the prince of darkness. When he goes hence hell from beneath is moved to meet him at his coming. Nor can he sink into the bottomless pit, without dragging a multitude after him. 6. Next to these are the good-natured, good sort of men, who live an easy, harmless life, neither troubling themselves with outward sin, nor with inward holiness; men who are remarkable neither one way nor the other; neither for religion nor irreligion; who are very regular both in public and private; but do not pretend to be any stricter than their neighbors. A minister of this kind breaks, not one, or a few only of the least commandments of God; but all the great and weighty branches of his law, which relate to the power of godliness; and all that require us to pass the time of our sojourning in fear, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; to have our loins always girt and our lights burning; to strive or agonize to enter in at the strait gate. And he teaches men so by the whole form of his life, and the general tenor of his preaching; which uniformly tends to soothe those in their pleasing dream, who imagine themselves Christians and are not; to persuade all who attend upon his ministry, to sleep on and take their rest. No marvel therefore if both he and they that follow him, wake together in 'everlasting burnings.' 7. But above all these, in the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, are they who openly and explicitly judge the law itself, and speak evil of the law. Who teach men to break (LUSAI, to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least, or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke; who teach, without any cover, in so many words. 'What did our Lord do with the law? He abolished it.' 'There is but one duty, which is that of believing.' 'All commands are unfit for our times.' 'From any demand of the law no man is obliged now to go one step, to give away one farthing, to eat or omit one morsel.' This is indeed carrying matters with a high hand. This is withstanding our Lord to the face, and telling him, he understood not how to deliver the message on which he was sent. O Lord, lay not that sin to their charge! Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do! 8. The most surprising of all the circumstances, that attend this strong delusion, is that they who are given up to it, really believe that they honor Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are magnifying his office, while they are destroying his doctrine! Yea, they honor him just as Judas did, when he said, hail Master, and kissed him. And he may as justly say, to every one of them, 'Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?' It is no other than betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood and take away his crown; to set light by any part of his law, under pretence of advancing his gospel. Nor indeed can any one escape this charge, who preaches faith in any such manner as, either directly or indirectly, tends to set aside any branch of obedience; who preaches Christ so as to disannul or weaken in any wise the least of the commandments of God. 9. It is impossible indeed to have too high an esteem for the faith of God's elect. And we must all declare, 'By grace ye are saved through faith:—Not of works lest any man should boast.' We must cry aloud to every penitent sinner, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' But at the same time, we must take care to let all men know we esteem no faith but that which worketh by love; and that we are not saved by faith, unless so far as we are delivered from the power as well as the guilt of sin. And when we say, believe and thou shalt be saved, we do not mean, believe and thou shalt step from sin to heaven, without any holiness coming between; faith supplying the place of holiness. But believe and thou shalt be holy; believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt have peace and power together. Thou shalt have power from him in whom thou believest, to trample sin under thy feet; power to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and to serve him with all thy strength. Thou shalt have power, by patient continuance in well-doing, to seek for glory, and honor, and immortality. Thou shalt both do and teach all the commandments of God, from the least even to the greatest. Thou shalt teach them by thy life as well as thy words, and so be called great in the kingdom of heaven." O, LEND me the wings of a dove,
To fly from these regions of woe;
My hopes and my joys are above,
And thither my spirit would go.
I long with my Saviour to rest,
Beyond the assault of my foes,
And lean with a smile on his breast;
No pillow can yield such repose. How pleased and how blest should I be
To gaze on his beauteous face;
While love and compassion to me
Lend every expression a grace.
No cloud should bewilder my sight.
No sigh from my heart should arise;
But filled with extatic delight,
All tears should be wiped from my eyes. Ah, then I should cease to offend
The Saviour I love and adore;
His grace, without limit or end,
Should reign in my heart evermore.
All pure as the angels above,
Each thought should exult in his name;
Each passion resigned to his love,
With rapture his name should proclaim. THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST.
Now put by the side of this text another on this point from his discourse at the ninth hour of the same day, [Acts iii, 19.] "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Here he exhorts to repentance and conversion. (Turning away from sins.) For what purpose? "That your sins may be (future) blotted out." Every one can see that the blotting out of sins does not take place at repentance and conversion; but follows, and must of necessity be preceded by them. Repentance, conversion and baptism had then become imperative duties in the present tense; and when performed, those doing them "washed away," [Acts xxii, 16] remitted, or sent away from them their sins; [Acts ii, 28;] and of course are forgiven and have received the atonement; but they had not received it entire at that time, because their sins were not yet blotted out. How far then had they advanced in the reconciling process? Just so far as the individual under the law had, when he had confessed his sin, brought his victim to the door of the tabernacle, laid his hand upon it and slain it, and the priest had with its blood entered the Holy, and sprinkled it before the vail and upon the altar, and thus made an atonement for him, and he was forgiven. Only that was the type, and this the reality. That was prepared for the cleansing of the great day of atonement, this for the blotting out of sins when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus. Hence, "by whom we have now received the atonement" is the same as "by whom we have received forgiveness of sin." At this point the man is made free from sin. The Lamb on Calvary's cross is our victim slain. "Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant" "in the heavens" is our interceding High Priest, making atonement with his own blood, by, and with which he entered there. The essence of the process is the same as in the "shadow." 1. Convinced of sin. 2. Repentance and confession. 3. Present the Divine sacrifice, bleeding. This done in faith and sincerity we can do no more, no more is required. Then in the heavenly Sanctuary our High Priest, with his own blood, makes the atonement and we are forgiven. 1 Pet. ii, 24. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." See, also, Matt. viii, 17; Isa. liii, 4—12. His body is the "one sacrifice"91for repenting mortals, to which their sins are imputed, and through whose blood in the hands of the living active Priest they are conveyed to the heavenly Sanctuary. That was offered "once for all," "on the tree;" and all who would avail themselves of its merits, must, through faith, there receive it as theirs, bleeding at the hands of sinful mortals like themselves. After thus obtaining the atonement of forgiveness we must maintain good works, not the deeds of the law; but being dead to sin should live unto righteousness. This work we all understand to be peculiar to the Gospel Dispensation. An inferential objection arises, which in many minds overwhelms any amount of Bible argument on this point. It is, New Jerusalem cannot be defiled, hence needs no cleansing; therefore New Jerusalem is not the Sanctuary. A very summary process of inferential deduction truly, especially for those who have said so much on the insufficiency of mere inferential testimony. We would advise them to review the grounds of their faith, and see how many and strong arguments they have for the earth or Palestine being the Sanctuary, and how many objections to the Sanctuary of the new covenant being where its Priest is, that are not entirely inferential; and then in place of their inferences, take the plain testimony of the Word and teach it. But how was the Sanctuary defiled? The Sanctuary of the Old Testament, being on earth, could be, and was, defiled in various ways—by an unclean person entering it. "She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled."—Lev. xii, 4. It could be profaned by the high priest going out of it, while the anointing oil was upon him, for the dead; [Lev. xxi, 12;] by a man's negotiating to purify himself. Num. xvii, 20. All the chief of the priests and of the people polluted it by transgressing very much after all the abominations of the heathen. Chap. xxxvi, 14. "Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, [idolatry,] therefore will I diminish thee." Eze. v, 11. "Moreover, this they have done unto me; they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths: for when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it." Eze. xxiii, 38, 39. "Her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have done violence to the law." Zeph. iii, 4. Antiochus polluted it by offering swine flesh upon its altar. Mac. From these texts we can clearly see, that it was moral rather than, physical uncleanness that defiled the sanctuary in the sight of the Lord. True, it did become physically unclean, but that uncleanness had to be removed before the atonement was made by which it was reconciled or cleansed. See Chap. ii, 29. And that, we have seen was the law of cleansing; [Lev. xii—xv;] the object must be made visibly clean, so to speak, so that we would call it clean, to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood. Now no one supposes that New Jerusalem is unclean, or ever has been, as its type was, when overrun, desecrated and desolated by Syrian, Chaldean or Roman soldiery, or trod by wicked priests. Even if it were, the removing of such defilement would not be the cleansing it was to undergo at the end of the 2300 days. The Sanctuary was unclean in some sense, or else it would not need to be cleansed; and it must in some way have received its uncleanness from man. Removed, as the heavenly Sanctuary is from the midst of mortals, and entered only by our Forerunner, Jesus, made an High Priest, it can only be defiled by mortals through his agency, and for them cleansed by the same agency. The legal, typical process of defiling and cleansing the sanctuary, through the agency of the priest, has been examined. With that in our minds, let us go to the New Testament. Paul says, [Col. i, 19, 20,] "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made [margin, making] peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven." When things on earth are spoken of in connection or contrast with things in heaven, no one can understand them all to be in the same place. Things in heaven are to be reconciled as well as things on earth. If they needed reconciling they were unreconciled; if unreconciled, then unclean in some sense in his sight. The blood of Christ is the means, and Christ himself the agent of reconciling to the Father both the things in heaven and the things on earth. People have an idea that in heaven, where our Saviour has gone, every thing is, and always was perfect beyond change or improvement. But he said, "in my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." He went into heaven, and Paul says that the building of God, an house not made with hands, is in the heavens. 2 Cor. v, 1. For what did he go to his Father's house? "To prepare a place for you." Then it was unprepared and when he has prepared it, he will come again and take us to himself. Again, [Heb. ix, 23] "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." What were the patterns? "The tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry," [verse 21,] which constituted the worldly sanctuary. Verse 1. What were the heavenly things themselves?—The greater and more perfect tabernacle [verse 11] and the good things and the holy things. [Verses 11, 12.] These are all in heaven itself. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself." Verse 24. Paul here shows that it was as necessary to purify the heavenly things, as it was to purify their patterns, the worldly. THE next event of that day after the Sanctuary was cleansed, was putting all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel upon the head of the Scape-goat and sending him away into a land not inhabited, or of separation. It is supposed by almost every one that this goat typified Christ in some of his offices, and that the type was fulfilled at the first Advent. From this opinion I must differ; because, 1st. That goat was not sent away till after the High Priest had made an end of cleansing the Sanctuary; [Lev. xvi, 20, 21;] hence, that event cannot meet its antitype till after the end of the 2300 days. 2d. It was sent away from Israel into the wilderness, a land not inhabited, to receive them. If our blessed Saviour is its antitype, he also must be sent away, not his body alone, but soul and body, for the goat was sent away alive, from, not to, nor into his people; neither into heaven, for that is not a wilderness or land not inhabited. 3d. It received and retained all the iniquities of Israel; but when Christ appears the second time, he will be without sin. 4th. The goat received the iniquities from the hands of the priest and he sent it away. As Christ is the priest, the goat must be something else besides himself, and which he can send away. 5th. This was one of two goats, chosen for that day, one was the Lord's and offered for a sin offering; but the other was not called the Lord's, neither offered as a sacrifice. Its only office was to receive the iniquities from the priest after he had cleansed the Sanctuary from them, and bear them into a land not inhabited, leaving the Sanctuary, priest and people behind, and free from their iniquities. Lev. xvi, 7—10, 22. 6th. The Hebrew name of the scape-goat, as will be seen from the margin of verse 8, is "Azazel." On this verse, Wm. Jenks, in his Comp. Com., has the following remarks: ["Scape-goat.] See diff. opin. in Bochart. Spencer, after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil; and so Rosenmüller, whom see. The Syriac has Azazel, the angel [Strougone] who revolted." 7th. At the appearing of Christ, as taught from Rev. xx, Satan is to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, which act and place are significantly symbolized by the ancient High Priest sending the scape-goat into a separate and uninhabited wilderness. 8th. Thus we have the Scripture, the definition of the name in two ancient languages, both spoken at the same time, and the oldest opinion of the Christians in favor of regarding the scape-goat as a type of Satan. In the common use of the term, men always associate it with something mean, calling the greatest villains and refugees from justice, scape-goats. Ignorance of the law and its meaning is the only possible origin that can be assigned for the opinion that the scape-goat was a type of Christ. Because it is said, "The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited," Lev. xvi, 21. And John said, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh [margin, beareth] away the sin of the world," it is concluded without further thought that the former was a type of the latter. But a little attention to the law will show that the sins were borne from the people by the priest, and from the priest by the goat. 1st. They are imparted to the victim. 2d. The priest bore them in its blood to the Sanctuary.—3d. After cleansing them from it on the 10th of the seventh month, he bore them to the scape-goat. 4th. The goat finally bore them away beyond the camp of Israel to the wilderness. This was the legal process, and when fulfilled, the author of sins will have received them back again, (but the ungodly will bear their own sins,) and his head will have been bruised by the seed of the woman; the "strong man armed" will have been bound by a stronger than he, "and his house (the grave) spoiled of its goods (the saints.") Matt. xii, 29; Lev. xi, 21, 22. The thousand years imprisonment of Satan will have begun, and the saints will have entered upon their millennial reign with Christ. The Sanctuary must be cleansed before Christ appears; because, 1. He "was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Now as his last act in bearing the sins of many is to bear them from the Sanctuary after he has cleansed it, and as he does not appear till after having borne the sins of many, and then without sin; it is manifest that the Sanctuary must be cleansed before he appears. The Sanctuary must be cleansed before the resurrection, for the Lord has provided a comforting message for his people, telling them that it is done.—"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare (appointed time, margin) is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins," Isa. xl, 1, 2. Jerusalem and the Lord's people are here spoken of, as the Sanctuary and host are in Dan. viii. His people, when Jerusalem's appointed time is accomplished, are affected and are to be comforted by telling them that her iniquity is pardoned. This must be New Jerusalem, for there was never any time set for pardoning the iniquity of Old Jerusalem which must have had iniquity of some kind and from some source, else she could not be pardoned of it. The fact that the Lord has commanded to comfort his people by telling them that Jerusalem's iniquity is pardoned, is proof positive that she had iniquity, and that it will be removed before his people, are delivered and enter her with songs and everlasting joy. This message is similar to that in Isa. lii, 9. After the good and peaceful tidings have been published, saying unto Zion, Thy God reigneth, it is declared, "The Lord has comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem."—Jerusalem was in a state from which she had to be redeemed, and that before the resurrection; for the next verse says, "All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Bro. Andrews' Review of O. R. L. C. in pamphlet form has been delayed partly on account of the sickness of our Foreman, Bro. L. V. Masten. We shall get it out as soon as possible.—We will give seasonable notice of the time, that it will be ready. We think large quantities of this Work should be sent out East and West as soon as it is ready. Those who wish to assist us, will please send in their means now, if convenient.