More than eighty times is baptism referred to in the New Testament. As an ordinance, therefore, it is of no small importance. By a careful study of all the instances where it is commanded, observed, or referred to, we shall be able to learn what our Lord intended us to do in the premises. The surest way to correct our errors, and come to the knowledge of the truth, is to carefully study the word of God. We would advise every inquirer to read all the passages of Scripture which refer to baptism one by one, and mark each verse that gives any clue to the act the Saviour requires us to perform. If a verse is found that favors sprinkling, record the fact; if any favor pouring set them down; if any indicate that immersion was the law of Christ and apostolic custom, mark those down; and when the list is complete, when every text is examined, the truth will be plainly revealed, and the path of duty will be obvious. Having pursued that course, we find no statement, allusion, example, or intimation favorable to sprinkling, or pouring; but in all cases where the form of the act is, to any degree, specified or implied, immersion is that form.
We will cite a few examples. Mark 1: 5: “And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” This is a record of John's baptism, which he performed “in the river Jordan.” In verses 9 and 10, we have an account of our Lord's baptism by John in the same river: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.”
The example of our Saviour should have great weight with us; it is blessed to follow in his footsteps wherever we find them. Remembering that baptizo means to immerse, there is perfect harmony between this word and the act of our Lord; he was baptized “in the river Jordan,” and consequently not sprinkled, nor poured upon, but immersed. As he was baptized, he commanded all who believe on him to be baptized.
In Acts 8: 38, we find a description of an apostolic baptism. The Ethiopian eunuch believed on Jesus, and requested baptism. Philip acceded to his request, and the Spirit records what he did: “And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more.” There is no reference to this rite in any other part of the New Testament, which in any way favors, hints at, implies, or renders probable, any other form of baptism besides immersion. If we should read that persons were baptized on the housetop, out of a bowl, or with a spoonful of water, the case would be different. But we find no such instances; every record of the observance of the rite which gives any clue to the real act done, suggests and, indeed, necessitates, immersion. Is not that conclusive?
A query is raised in regard to the baptism of the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost. It is supposed that so many could not be baptized in one day. The supposition is the merest shadow; there was no more difficulty in baptizing 3,000 than 300. It is by no means certain that they were all baptized in one day. The fact is recorded that they were all baptized, but several days may have transpired before it was done. The essential point of the narrative is, that they believed, gladly received the word, and were baptized on their faith. Yet their baptism on that very day could have been easily performed. There were seventy disciples, and twelve apostles, making eighty-two administrators in all, ready to perform the duties of the hour. Divide three thousand into eighty-two parts, and we have less than thirty-seven candidates to each man. An administrator can baptize one a minute without haste, so that the three thousand could have been baptized in less than forty minutes.
In the epistles, baptism is referred to as a burial, and never under the figure of sprinkling. Rom. 6: 3–5: “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” The description of the baptism of the Romans will apply to all Christians. They were buried, planted with Christ. Biblical scholars, from the earliest ages of Christian history, with only two or three modern exceptions, have agreed that this passage refers to the primitive act of baptism, and accurately describes it. Christ Jesus was buried when he was baptized, and believers were buried with him, buried in the same manner in water, following his example, and obeying his command. Again, in Col. 2: 15, the same statement is repeated: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
Thus we may search the New Testament, examine every verse that alludes to this rite at all, and the allusions, descriptions, and attending circumstances, all imply, require, or are perfectly consistent with, immersion, and in no case do they imply, suggest, or point to any other mode. With a sincere desire, therefore, to obey the Lord, and walk carefully in his precepts and example, we should certainly go “down into the water,” and be “buried with Jesus Christ in baptism.” We urge this, not because much water is better than a little water, but wholly because this is the way our Saviour has appointed, and therefore the way his disciples should be eager to walk. It is not form, but obedience, that is important.—Baptist Union.
SPEAK SLOW AND LOW.
“A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”
One of the most successful commanders ever connected with the American Merchant Marine, one who had had a wide experience in many waters, as well as of many years, often said, “Carelessness is the cause of all the shipwrecks and accidents on the ocean.” That some one has failed to “speak slow and low,” would probably be found to be the cause of a large majority of the quarrels in the world. That difficulty which grew into a lawsuit, costing thousands of dollars, would have been prevented if either of the contending parties, especially the one most aggrieved, had so in patience possessed his or her soul as to speak slowly and in gentle tones. Another trouble which resulted in bloodshed would have left those involved resting under the blessing promised to “the peace-makers,” instead of the curse on the murderer, if some one had learned to “speak slow and low.”
We could give many cases in point illustrative of this subject, which are among either our experiences or our observations; some of them thrilling ones. Among the latter is the following:—
A young German professor of languages and mathematics, who had been an officer in the Prussian and also in the American army, had been thrown out of employment for political reasons. There was nothing against his ability, character, or faithfulness. By acting as security for another, he had lost his slender accumulation of money. Chiefly because he or his wife had not practiced speaking “slow and low,” in times when there was danger of misunderstandings, the troubles above recited, together with meddlesomeness on the part of others, had resulted in their separation. Their babe was in a public nursery, and neither father nor mother had means to care for it; and as he sat beside us in our office, he told us he had been compelled to fast the last two days. He further told us plainly that he had decided to get out of it all by committing suicide! He said it very quietly, but there was a look in his eye that showed he was thoroughly in earnest.
Rationalistic principles, of which his mind was full, prevented the highest reasons we could present from being effective, but after accepting our invitation to dinner, he returned in better spirits. He then opened his heart in relation to his early history. His father had been a prominent Protestant clergyman in Germany, as likewise four of his maternal uncles, one of the latter a missionary to South America. He also read us a portion of a letter recently received from his widowed mother, living in Pomerania, near the shores of the Baltic. The letter showed him to be the son of a Christian lady of a high order of mind and culture.
We induced him to write a kind note to his wife, inviting an interview there the next day. She accepted the invitation, but unwisely added terms of reproach for their trouble, which decided him not to meet her. We succeeded in overruling the decision, and that eventide had the pleasure of giving up our place of business to them for a conference alone, with the earnest injunction—aside to him—that “no matter what she said, he should ‘speak slow, and speak low.’”
We allowed the half hour promised them to treble; and when we returned they were seated close to each other. They were speaking in the language of la belle France, her native tongue, and we could not understand a word they said; but the tones were such as those to which the angels love to listen, and the looks on their faces such as spoke of the happiness found only in the bowers of the Prince of Peace.
The following day we received a letter from him saying, “I am saved. I am reconciled to my wife. God bless you.”
He and she had learned to “speak slow and low”—learned to use one of the keys to the treasures of “peace on earth, good will to men.”—Pres. Journal.
A Town Without Soldiers
I HAVE read of a certain regiment ordered to march into a small town (in the Tyrol, I think), and take it. It chanced that the place was settled by a colony who believed the gospel of Christ, and proved their faith by works. A courier from a neighboring village informed them that troops were advancing to take the town. They quietly answered, “If they will take it, they must.” Soldiers soon came riding in, with colors flying and fifes piping shrill defiance. They looked around for an enemy, and saw the farmer at his plow, the blacksmith at his anvil, and the women at their churns and spinning wheels. Babies crowded around to hear the music, and the boys ran out to see the pretty trainers, with feathers and bright buttons, the harlequins of the nineteenth century.
Of course, none of these were in a proper position to be shot at.
“Where are your soldiers?” asked they.
“We have none,” was the brief reply.
“But we have come to take the town.”
“Well, friends, it lies before you.”
“But is there here nobody to fight?”
“No; we are all Christians.”
Here was an emergency altogether unprovided for by military schools. This was a sort of resistance which no bullet could hit, a fortress perfectly bomb proof. The commander was perplexed.
“If there is nobody to fight with, of course we cannot fight,” said he. “It is impossible to take such a town as this.”
So he ordered his horses’ heads to be turned about, and they carried the human animals out of the village, as guiltless as when they entered, and perchance somewhat wiser.—Sel.
JUDAISM
The following paragraph from the St. Louis Christian, headed “Judaism,” shows on what class of arguments Sunday-keeping is based:—
“We have received a ‘Remonstrance from the West,’ against running Sunday excursion trains to Philadelphia. It has a great deal to say about ‘Sabbath-breaking,’ the ‘decalogue,’ the ‘fourth commandment,’ and refers to ‘Leviticus,’ and ‘Nehemiah,’ but says not one word about Jesus Christ, his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, the Lord’s day and the gospel. We shall never succeed in getting the Lord’s day respected by talking about the ‘Sabbath,’ the ‘law,’ and the ‘decalogue.’ Let us leave Judaism and come to the gospel.”
Make the Truth Very Disagreeable
MAKE the truth very disagreeable, and there will be found plenty of men ready to tell it.
OUR PUBLICATIONS.
By James White
Our publishing work is the right arm of our strength in spreading abroad the last message. True, but little could be done in building up the cause by the publications alone; and it is as true that our ministers would build up very slowly without the publications. But when our ministers unite with their ministry the commendable work of colporteurs, and solicitors of subscriptions for our periodicals, it is then that they increase their usefulness and their strength to build up the cause of truth ten-fold. Under these circumstances our publications become the right arm of our strength.
With these facts full in view, we set at work a few years since to hold out every inducement for our people to engage in the circulation of our periodicals, tracts, and books. We have regarded the tract and missionary work as one of the very noblest and best, and have done all in our power to encourage it, by heavy discounts on publications, and in offers to send out the larger portion of our periodicals at times at half price.
But our motives have not always been understood, and our efforts have not been fully appreciated. We have put our periodicals to the poor, and to those who are investigating, at half-price, when paid by tract societies, or by the friends of the cause to send to their friends, to encourage our people to cheerfully pay full prices for themselves, and to obtain all the full-paying subscribers possible. We did not expect that our unparalleled liberality would be the cause of greatly reducing the lists of full-paying subscribers.
But not a few have looked only on the selfish side. And by different means many are paying half-price for our periodicals who have in time past paid full prices. And there are no good reasons why this change should take place. The selfish means used, and the small bare-faced tricks practiced by some, to take advantage of our liberal offers are a trifle disgusting. One man writes: “Here are fifty cents for the REFORMER to my brother one year. And you may stop my REFORMER, as I live so near to my brother that I can read his.”
Now this blessed man does not seem to comprehend the fact that the means by which we are able to send his brother the REFORMER at half-price is that he also takes the journal at full price. When we had 5,000 full-paying subscribers we could afford to send out the second 5,000 at half-price. But as our lists of full-paying subscribers have become very much reduced for want of proper co-operation by the professed friends of the REFORMER, we are deprived of the pleasure of offering this journal to the tract and missionary workers, and to those who wish to send it to their friends, at half-price.
During the period that the REFORMER has been furnished to Tract Societies, and to other parties, for half-price, we have published the journal at financial loss. At the last settlement, in April, the figures showed that expenditures for less than one year had exceeded receipts nearly three hundred dollars. At our request, and with the understanding that this half-pay should cease, the trustees of the S. D. A. Publishing Association took the journal off our hands, and had the liberality to go back in the settlement nearly one year, and assume the three hundred dollars loss, and not let it fall on us. This is the result of working so many of our full-pay subscribers into half-pay. We no longer publish the REFORMER. We have given that journal to our Publishing Association. And as President of the Association take the matter in hand to secure its support.
The REFORMER, at corresponding prices of other health journals, would be $1.50 a year. Our price is $1.00. With 5,000 full-pay subscribers it could just live at fifty cents for 5,000 more. But when full-pay is less than 4,000 and half-pay 6,000, and postage paid at that, the journal cannot live. We are grieved and humiliated that our liberality has not inspired a corresponding liberality in our patrons.
Much that we have said in the case of the REFORMER is also true respecting the REVIEW, INSTRUCTOR, and books. We engaged in the enterprise of widely circulating our periodicals and other publications with full expectation that all our friends would stand by us. In this we are sadly disappointed. The book fund is so far drained that we can give but one-fourth from it to the T. & M. Societies, and that only on tracts. And the largest discount we can give on the REVIEW, SIGNS, REFORMER and INSTRUCTOR to any party, is one-fourth; excepting on the REFORMER, where special agents are employed, and the REVIEW on four months trial.
It is a living shame that our liberal offers and sacrifices to spread the truth should have the effect to dampen the interest of our preachers and officers of our churches in obtaining full-pay subscribers. Our ministers have their small salaries, which in most cases are a liberal competency, and their expenses are paid. Under these circumstances, and with the facts before them that the Press is the right arm of our strength, it is right to expect of them, as fellow-laborers in the cause of Christ, that they will urge our papers upon the people everywhere at full prices, which, considering the fact that postage is paid by us, are very reasonable. And reasonable men and women will not ask them for less than the small sums named as the subscription prices, after they have become acquainted with their merits.
And we will here repeat what we have before stated, that the REVIEW is our church paper, while the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is designed for a pioneer sheet. The two papers will be prepared for these two distinct fields. We urge those who are able, to take both. The REVIEW will contain matter not so well suited to new fields, and we therefore urgently request our people, for the highest good of their friends to whom they would send one paper, that they do not send the REVIEW, and that they send the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, published at Oakland, Cal. While we are attending camp-meetings it is not possible for us to furnish sketches of Mrs. W.’s life, and other important matter which we have promised for the SIGNS. These will be resumed for the benefit of that paper as soon as possible.
Let it be borne in mind that the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is offered to the Tract and Missionary Societies for $1.50 a year, and that it is designed expressly to go abroad everywhere to those who have yet to learn the facts relative to our views and our people. The REVIEW AND HERALD is our church paper, and will contain matter to meet the condition of the church, which will not be fully understood and appreciated by the outside world.
It has been urged by several of our laborers that the REVIEW and also the SIGNS should be offered to the people in those localities where interests have been raised by lectures given in tents or elsewhere for a short period, at a reduced price. We here state conditions, giving the parties interested their choice in the papers. We should, however, prefer the SIGNS, as that paper is giving a series of consecutive articles on our faith and hope and will be greatly improved in this respect in a few weeks. We offer the REVIEW or the SIGNS, postpaid, four months for fifty cents, as long as these terms can be confined to the labors of our preachers in new fields.
The Michigan Publishing Association has sunk thousands in its liberal discounts on periodicals and books, for want of corresponding liberality on the part of our patrons. And as we rally to regain our footing we appeal to our ministers and the officers of Tract Societies and churches, and to all our friends, to do all in their power to assist us in reviving our lists of full-paying subscribers. When this shall be done and such lists can be maintained, then our Association can furnish a limited amount at reasonable discounts. But the plan to furnish our periodicals at half their low prices, postage paid, without the most watchful and vigilant co-operation of all our ministers and people is one that we are forced to abandon in order to avert financial ruin. We have been obliged to go to the banks for help since this year commenced, for the first time in twenty years, and we now re-adjust matters with the design never to be compelled to take this step again.
JAMES WHITE, Pres. S. D. A. P. A.
MINISTERS’ REPORTS.
By James White
No part of the REVIEW AND HERALD is read with more lively interest than the “Progress Department.” Indeed the majority of our patrons read those columns first, and prize them most. Therefore, all concerned, both editors and writers, should do all in their power to make this precious portion of our good paper, what it should be.
The “Progress Department” is one of religious news. And when viewed in this light the importance of fresh matter will be understood. All reporters of progress should write frequently, and make their reports brief. Items of interest are wanted from each laborer weekly, or, at most, once in two weeks, instead of that spun-out, formal column containing the history of a minister’s life for the past three months. We can hardly conceive of anything more absurd than these reports covering from one to six months. This kind sounds to us nearly all alike, as if run in the same mold. We have not been able to read one in ten of them, from beginning to end, during the last four years.
There should be at least twenty-five brief, pithy, cheering reports in our good paper each week. The secular journalist calls for fresh news. He selects fresh news. And should some one send him a thin sketch of common incidents, covering several weeks, he would consign it to the moles and the bats. It is very seldom we see items of news in a weekly secular paper more than a few days old.
The object of the “Progress Department” is to give fresh news in the most readable form, and not that the minister may make a consecutive display of his circuitous routes, and the many towns in which he has preached the gospel, and so impress the reader with the great amount he is doing for the Lord by exhibiting on a large scale once a quarter.
We see no reasons why every live minister should not report as often as once in two weeks. A few lines, from two to ten or more, every week would be better. And we make the unqualified request that each tent be reported weekly. We do this in behalf of the many thousands that read our paper, and especially of those who cheerfully give of their means to support tent labor. And we here recommend, as a preventative of these old stale reports, that nothing be put into the “Progress Department” that is more than two weeks old, excepting when grown old, on its passage from Europe, or from distant parts of the Western Continent. We plead that the sheep and lambs have fresh feed. . . . J. W.
THE SANCTUARY.
By Uriah Smith
Twenty-ninth Paper.—Within the Vail.
We offered last week conclusive proof that Christ commenced his ministry in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and answered some objections which are offered against that view. A few more points remain to be noticed.
Paul's testimony in Heb. 6:19, 20, is quoted to prove that when Christ ascended he entered into the most holy place: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”
The claim here instituted is that “the vail,” within which Christ has entered, signifies the vail dividing between the holy and most holy places; and if Christ entered within that vail when he ascended, or if he was there when Paul wrote, he was in the most holy place.
If we grant this claim, some conclusions follow which demand consideration. If there is a vail dividing between the holy and most holy places, which the foregoing claim admits, then there is somewhere a holy place as well as a most holy. But if the most holy is all Heaven where Christ has entered, then what and where is the holy place? It must be something outside of Heaven. Then what is it? Is it this earth, as some contend? If it is anything outside of Heaven it must be; for this is the only place with which we have anything to do this side of Heaven. Then what is the vail dividing between earth and Heaven? Why are not our opponents thoughtful enough to give us some light on such points as these?
But, further, the holy place in the sanctuary was twice as large as the most holy; and if the earth is the holy place of the true sanctuary, and Heaven the most holy, it follows, the proportion being maintained, that this little diminutive earth, of which it would take three hundred and fifty-two thousand to equal the bulk of the sun, is twice as large as all Heaven!
And, still further, in fulfillment of the type, Christ must perform a portion of his ministry in the holy place. If this is the earth, he should have performed a portion of his ministry here. But Paul says explicitly that he could not be a priest upon earth; for there was another order of priests appointed to do all the work of this kind that was to be done on the earth. Heb. 8:4. And he says again that while the earthly tabernacle stood, while any service of that kind was performed here, the way into the holy places, both the holy and the most holy
of the heavenly sanctuary, was not made manifest or laid open. Heb. 9:8.
We have already seen how this idea that Christ entered into the most holy place at his ascension, and commenced the work of cleansing the sanctuary, disarranges the period of 2300 days, that great central pillar of the prophecies. It throws the whole system of prophetic interpretation into inextricable confusion. It even destroys the Messiahship of Christ by throwing the 70 weeks far back into the former dispensation. If these two pillars, the 70 weeks and 2300 days, can be wrenched from their foundations in the temple of truth, as Samson lifted the pillars of the Philistine temple, the whole structure falls, and Biblical interpreters of every school are involved in the ruin.
And what is the reason for all this? Why call the vail in Heb. 6:19, the second vail? Simply to avoid the conclusion that the Lord is doing any special work either in Heaven or on earth at the present time; for if the sanctuary is not now being cleansed, the position and work of our Lord differ in no respect from what they have been the past 1800 years; and the past advent movement is all a failure. But if there is nothing to the past movement, there is certainly nothing to the present. Thus men labor hard to give the devil the whole field, and exhibit themselves as the victims of the thinnest of all delusions.
We inquire, then, Does the word vail in Heb. 6:19, mean the second vail? We answer, No; and this we will prove to the satisfaction of every candid mind. There are but two words rendered vail in the New Testament. These are κάλυμμα and καταπέτασμα. The first occurs four times only, in verses 13, 14, 15 and 16 of 2 Cor. 3, referring to the vail over Moses' face. The second is used six times, once each by Matthew, Mark and Luke, all in reference to the vail of the temple which was rent in twain when Christ expired upon the cross, Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45; and three times by Paul in the book of Hebrews: 6:19; 9:3; and 10:20. Is there anything peculiar in Paul's use of this word in Hebrews? Yes; when he means the second vail he specifies it. Heb. 9:3: “And after the second vail, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all.” Now if the term “the vail” was used to signify invariably the second vail, why did Paul use the term second? Why did he not say, here, simply, “And after the vail?” Because a second must imply a first, and he well understood that there was at the entrance to the tabernacle a hanging, which was just as much a vail as that which divided between the holy and the most holy; and to carry out his purpose of instruction in reference to the sanctuary, which is one of Paul's great objects in the book of Hebrews, he accurately distinguishes between the two, and when he means the second, he says the second.
This word, vail, καταπέτασμα, is defined in Robinson's Gr. Lex. of New Testament as follows: “A covering, vail, which hangs down. In Sept. a vail, curtain, of the tabernacle and temple, of which there were two, viz., one at the entrance of the outer sanctuary, Heb. מָסָךְ, Sept. καταπέτασμα, Ex. 26:36; 40:5. Jos. B. J. 5. 5. 4; and the other before the holy of holies, separating it from the outer sanctuary.”
Here is good testimony that the same word is used to designate both hangings, the one at the door, and the other in the interior of the sanctuary. In the Hebrew, in Ex. 35:12; 39:34; 40:21; and Num. 4:5, both the terms that are used for hanging and vail are joined together to designate the inner vail before the most holy place, and it is called the vail of the covering. The Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature by M'Clintock and Strong, under the term “Hanging,” says:—
“The hanging was a curtain or covering (as the word radically means, and as it is sometimes rendered) to close an entrance. It was made of variegated stuff wrought with needlework (compare Esth. 1:5), and (in one instance at least) was hung on five pillars of acacia wood. The term is applied to a series of curtains suspended before the successive openings of entrance into the tabernacle and its parts. Of these, the first hung before the entrance to the court of the tabernacle (Ex. 27:15; 38:18; Num. 4:26); the second before the door of the tabernacle (Ex. 26:36; 37:39:38); and the third before the entrance to the most holy place, called more fully vail of the covering. Ex. 35:12; 39:34; 40:21.”
We have now before us sufficient evidence that the covering of the outer entrance to the tabernacle was a vail, as well as that which hung before the most holy place. The same Greek word, and the same Hebrew word, are applied to both.29
The point now to be ascertained is, In what sense does Paul use the term the vail? All hangs on the answer to this question, as he is the one who makes use of the language now under examination. As we have seen, with the single exception of the three references by the evangelists to the vail on the day of the crucifixion, Paul is the only New Testament writer who makes use of the term. And in accordance with the accuracy with which he is writing he finds it necessary to discriminate between the two. And inasmuch as he once specifies the second vail when he refers to that, we must understand him as referring to the first vail when not thus specified. To understand otherwise, is to charge Paul with a degree of looseness in his writings altogether unpardonable in a man of his ability and education, and altogether unaccountable in one who wrote moreover by the inspiration of God.
We therefore assert that it matters not how other writers use the term. The evangelists by the vail may mean the second vail, as they doubtless do; and if other writers had used it in the same sense a thousand times, it would in nowise affect the case in hand; for Paul has shown us plainly how he uses the term, and that is all we have to know to understand his writings in reference to it. And when he means the second he says the second, and when he does not specify, he means the only remaining one, which is the first.
Now to show finally and conclusively that this is so, we quote Heb. 10:19, 20: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest [Greek, holies, plural,] by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh.” Paul here assures us that Christ by his flesh, his sacrifice, has consecrated a new and living way for us through the vail. And into what does that way through the vail lead? Into the holy places, plural, both of them, the holy as well as the most holy. Therefore to go into the holy place or first apartment is to go through or within the vail, as Paul uses the term. And this passage is exactly parallel with Heb. 6:19, 20. Christ, our forerunner, is entered within the vail to make this living way for us into the holy places. But Christ does not minister, nor open the way for us, in both of the places at once. This would outrage all order and do violence to the type. He ministers in the first apartment till the prophetic days expire, then goes within the second vail to accomplish the last division of his solemn work, which is to cleanse the sanctuary, and make once for all a disposition of the sins of those who have sought pardon through his blood.
Here are harmony, reason and Scripture, these three, and the greatest of these is Scripture. Why will persons willfully shut their eyes to the light? U. S.
OUR NEW PAPER.
By John Nevins Andrews; D. T. Boudreau
The larger part of the matter for our first number is now in type and made up into pages. We think it will be a choice number. We had thought to publish a sheet of the same size as the REVIEW before its enlargement, but have gladly accepted the generous advice of the General Conference Committee and shall issue a sheet of the present size of the REVIEW and the SIGNS. Our printer has a stock of paper of suitable size for such a sheet as we thought to publish; but not large enough for the sheet we now think to issue. It therefore becomes necessary to order paper from the mill and the manufacturer could not fill our order for some ten days. Perhaps the delay is no greater than is necessary for our part of the work; for very great labor and care are demanded, under the circumstances, on the part of those who prepare the matter and correct it as it comes from the printer. We have not a moment of leisure, and in fact we feel so deep an interest in this sacred work that we desire no leisure, only as we would find time for other important duties.
If the providence of God favors our effort, we will have a quantity of our sheet at Battle Creek by, or before, the 10th of August next. No doubt errors will be found in the work and failures in the matter of good taste. But while some of these will be because of our deficiencies, others will be occasioned by the impossibility of obtaining at the present time some of the things which we should choose to use. We are grateful for the long patience of our brethren in America, while waiting for us to make this important advance in the work. We are also grateful for the excellent counsel of the General Conference Committee and for their generous assistance.
We now expect to print our first number the first week in July, and hope hereafter to be on time each month. We shall be grateful for communications from the friends of truth in America, whether written in French or in English. Nothing will have a more cheering influence upon the cause in Europe than a record of the progress of the work in different places in America. We ask the assistance of those who love the cause of truth. We believe that God will crown our efforts with success. We feel that God is helping in our work, and we are hopeful in him.