Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Dec 13, 1853
An Exhortation
By H. L. H.
From the Bible Examiner.
# AN EXHORTATION.
IN every important investigation of Christian doctrine there exists a danger of having our attention so fully occupied by the arguments sustaining a position that we forget the important results and practical inferences which are to be deduced from the doctrines when established.
The investigation of the doctrine of Life through Christ alone, is no exception to this general rule. Some men had always rather argue than exhort. They had rather strive than pray. They had rather preach than practice the truth, and apparently rather convert one man to their peculiar opinions than a score of men from the ways of sin to the paths of peace.
This is not right. Doctrines are of no use only as they are practiced. Men may go to perdition with their heads full of truth. To hold the truth and fight for it is one thing. To be sanctified through it is another. To preach the truth is one thing, but to do it for the sole object of saving perishing men requires a zeal, and faith, and love, which but few possess. Lord increase the number.
Brethren, how is it with us? Do we realize these things? Do we tell the truth as if we felt in our hearts? Do we labor warning every man and teaching every man that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus?
How is it, reader? Do you feel as you ought that he that converteth a sinner shall save a SOUL from DEATH? Then let your earnest endeavors for the salvation of men prove to all, that your faith is something more than a mere mockery—an idle phantom—a vain imagination.178Recollect also that the cause of truth, the honor of God, and the welfare of souls demands that you labor to disseminate this truth. It will not do to remain silent. We are not allowed the privilege of being inactive. We are not permitted to retain even the name of Christians among some who reject the gospel doctrines of life and immortality as revealed in the Scriptures. We are cast out. We are misrepresented and traduced. There is only one course to take. We must prepare for it.—The investigation must proceed and the public must understand that this matter is not disposed of by a curse, or dismissed from notice in silent contempt. This subject must be thoroughly canvassed, and if theologians wish to make head against it, they must become better acquainted with this controversy than they have been heretofore.
It must be the purpose of believers to urge the matter upon public consideration, not roughly and unkindly, but in the spirit and temper of Him who did not “strive” or “cry,” but yet who did not “fail” or become “discouraged.”
We need an unflinching purpose to do God’s will—an entire devotedness to his cause—a profound conviction that we are not to judge men or to fear their judgment—a spirit of sacrifice and a disposition to cast ourselves entirely upon God’s truth, thus becoming identified with it and dead indeed unto the world and alive to God and his cause.
Above all let us so live that men seeing our good works may glorify our Father in heaven. Let not truth be wounded in the house of its friends by unkind and unchristian conduct. While you maintain a readiness to give to every one that asketh of you a reason of the hope that is within you, let it be “with meekness and fear,” and let Christian patience characterize all your communications with those who may oppose themselves to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. "In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves," is as much a dictate of sound sense as of sound doctrine. Let not your neglect to make a practical application of the subjects under consideration, give countenance to the idea that these are only “opinions,” having no practical bearing upon earthly life—no living energy when applied to the events of this world as compared with that which is to come.
Remember that the “broad” road “leadeth to DESTRUCTION,” and can you be indifferent to the melancholy fact, that “many there be that go in thereat?” Have you no word of warning, of exhortation, of entreaty, to offer to them? Can you say to-day, or before the judgment seat of Christ, I am pure from the blood of all men? Remember the slumbering multitudes discern not the approaching sword; and shall you fail to give them warning? then shall God require at your hand their blood.
Remember he that winneth souls is wise. Will you be thus wise? Around you are those who may shine for ever as the brightness of the firmament. O, will you suffer them to go down to the “blackness of darkness for ever,” and yet neglect to turn their eyes away to the glad rising of the eternal morning, and the resplendent glories of perpetual day?
O, let these considerations excite us to laborious, constant, and energetic effort in the cause of God. Let us baptize our souls in the Love of God. Let us keep ourselves in it praying always in the Holy Ghost. Let us fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life.
A little while and we must meet our Judge.—Are we ready? Have we warned those around us as we should? Have we sought for glory, and honor, and immortality, with the ardor worthy of such a matchless prize? If so let us patiently continue in the pursuit of the crown before us, but if not let us gird up our loins, shake the slumber from our souls, forsake our sin and worldliness, and strive with all our powers to gain eternal life.
Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 23d, 1853.
THE DECALOGUE
From the Wesleyan.
THE DECALOGUE.
MR. EDITOR:—With your consent and approval, I will give through the columns of your paper a synopsis of a series of discourses on the Decalogue, delivered on the afternoons of several sucessive Sabbaths to my congregation in Cleveland.
INTRODUCTION.—The ten commandments were written by God on two tables of stone, and given to Moses at the time of that memorable interview which he had with Jehovah on Mount Sinai.—They are not ten separate, unconnected principles or laws, but ten parts or divisions of the one great law which runs through the Bible and given to us by Christ in a still briefer compass. "Thou shalt love the Lord," &c. The first four of these, written upon the first table, define the immediate duties which man owes to God; the remaining six, on the second table, define the duties which man owes to his fellow.
In regard to the Old Testament Scripture containing the laws given to the Israelites and through them to us, there are several errors prevailing among men against which Christians should be fully guarded. Some of them I will here notice.
1st. It is said that "in many things, the Old Testament conflicts both in letter and spirit with the New; that the one encourages and justifies slavery, war, poiygamy, revenge and their kindred evils, while the other forbids these iniquities; that the New Testament presents a much purer morality than the Old." This idea is unvarnished infidelity, and tends to destroy man's faith in the Bible as the word of God; and as will appear by a careful reading of the Scriptures, is absolutely false. The same God is the Author of the Old and New Testament. The same Holy Spirit which guided the pen of Matthew and John, inspired Moses and Isaiah. The same principles of infinite benevolence which are so prominent in the writings of Paul and John are manifest in those of David and Jeremiah. As God is immutable and changeth not, so the truth of God is everlasting and changeth not.—Any real or apparent differences in God's dealings with men or nations are readily accounted for from the fact that guilt is measured by the degree of light enjoyed, and that Jehovah has not usually brought forth any great moral truth until men have been prepared to receive that truth. In the New Testament there is a fuller and clearer exhibition of the truth than the Old; yet there is no contravening of any great principle or law previously given. The fact that God did not rebuke evils which prevailed at one period, as he did those evils at another period, does not argue that God at the former time connived at the sins of men, but rather that men had not a clear perception of the evil. The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now he commandeth all men every where to repent.
If you examine either the moral, the judicial or the ceremonial laws of the Bible, you will find that the great law of love and truth runs through the whole. The moral is the perpetual, unchangeable rule of right and wrong; the violation of which under any dispensation is sin; harmonizing most fully with the teachings of Christ, or rather forming the basis on which all Christ's instructions are placed. We admire the golden rule given by Christ, "All things whatsoever ye would," &c., but it ought to be borne in mind that He himself tells us, "This is the law and the prophets." In the declaration we have Christ's testimony to the genuineness and authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Professing christians as well as infidels, have tried to prove that the Bible sanctions slavery and war, and polygamy; the latter making this an argument for the destruction of the Bible, and the former excusing it by telling us the law was intended for a dispensation dark and severe in its character, and requiring therefore a state of things not tolerated under the milder and more peaceful dispensation of the Gospel. Both are wrong and start from false premises. The Bible no where lends its high and solemn sanction to any form of moral evil.
The judicial law also including all those statutes by which justice was administered, stands and will stand the great defender of the rights of mankind. In proportion as the laws of nations have been formed after those given by Moses, have they given security to life, liberty and property. To say that the law of God given for the judicial government of Israel, gave license express or implied to do any thing inconsistent with the moral law, is to say that God authorized the commission of sin, and then passed a sentence of eternal retribution against the man who should do what he sanctions.
The ceremonial law also, though now canceled by the blood of Christ and nailed to the cross, partook of the same high, moral character, teaching under figures, types and shadows, the great truths which were necessary to bring men to the Saviour. The direct object of the forms and ceremonies of worship, was to make men more perfectly acquainted with Jesus, and to show them how a holy God would justify the rebellious. Thus then from the beginning to the end, the Bible forms a most perfect and harmonious system of divine truth, teaching man's obligations to an infinitely holy and perfect God, and his duties to his fellow-man.
2d. Again it is argued that "the Decalogue belongs to the legal order of things, and in its requirements and sanctions has been superceded by the Gospel:" upon this I observe:
1st. That no part of the moral law or ten commandments has ever been or ever can be set aside. The whole of the law composed of each and every part is binding on men of every age and every country through all time. The Saviour resolves the first table into what he denominates the first commandment. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength." The very nature of this command is such as that a covenant which would annul it—which would bring salvation and free men from obedience to it, would be a curse and not a blessing. The same is true of the second table which Christ calls the second commandment. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This carries with it a perpetual obligation.
2d. So far is the moral law from being abolished by the atonement, it has attained an infinitely greater power and higher obligation upon men, seeing that the atonement itself was made to sustain, magnify and make it honorable.
3d. The imperfection of man by which it is said he is rendered unable to obey, can furnish no excuse for imperfect obedience, or wanton violation, since the Holy Ghost has been given that man might be renewed, sanctified and fitted for obedience.
APPLICATION.—In the unchanging character of the law of God we learn,
1st. God's mercy endureth forever.
2d. The infinite fullness there is in Christ through whom the whole family of man though infinitely guilty, may obtain free pardon. The same rich veins of love which were opened by God's infinite mercy to save Israel of old, still course through a Saviour's body, and bear to all who receive Christ, a healing portion for every ill, and bliss and joy, inconceivable. Will you accept him and live?
NO REST.
Oh no! I cannot rest to-day,
There's work—there's work to do!
Work for the willing heart and hand,
Life's fleeting period through;
I must not loiter—must not sleep,
Save in the friendly night,
Which hideth with her mantling shade,
The labors of the light.
Oh no! I cannot rest to-day;
The human heart and mind,
In many a dark and sterile spot,
Is groping, halt and blind;
And there are burdens to be borne,
And fetters to be broke,
And trees of evil to hew down,
With many a toilsome stroke.
Oh no! I cannot rest to-day,
The foes are all around;
And some concealed in ambush lay,
And some dispute the ground.
Then let us gird the harness on,
To wrestle or to toil,
Assured the laborer yet shall reap
A timely, generous spoil.
What! shall the Almighty hand prepare
A world-broad ripened field,
And we, who live and move thereon,
The sickle shun to wield?
Then labor—labor every day,
Forgetting selfish sorrow;
This harvest hour alone is ours,
The storm may come to-morrow.
From the Wesleyan.
TOBACCO.
But tobacco has a moral history which has never yet been written; nor do I flatter myself that I am competent to write it, but I will do what I can to make a beginning.
Religion, for its full development, demands all our mental powers. We have already seen that this drug impairs them. It accordingly must follow, that, in proportion to their derangement, will be the defect of their action; so that, in this sense, it may be said with truth, that the person that uses tobacco, cannot be as good a Christian as he could be without it.
The ceaseless action of this stimulant upon the nerves, not only excites but irritates them. From this arises the fretfulness and peevishness of many persons, which they set down to the credit of nervous irritability; as though this, like some hereditary disease, owed its origin to some cause beyond their control. It is true, the peevishness and irritability of such persons arise from nervous affections; but that affection is not, as the coroners sometimes say of the death, the cause of which they are called to determine, "By the visitation of God;" the affliction of these people is not "by the visitation of God," but it arises from the gratification of their own vitiated appetites, it is the result of their own self-poisoning.
Of this there is a certain degree of consciousness with most persons who use the "weed;" hence all, or nearly all of them have some malady which can only be cured by it, some ailment which it most astonishingly relieves, while the true reason, in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases in a thousand is, the person loves its effects. The disease is the pretense, the appetite is the fact. The disease is the excuse for the appetite or the habit, and is used to lull the moral sense. You seldom meet a person addicted to the habit of tobacco, who does not find it necessary to excuse him or herself for it. To my mind, this is a clear indication that such persons feel that they are doing something wrong. What is that wrong? It is not slander, theft, arson or murder; it does not appear so much a wrong against society, and yet, in the estimation of such persons, an excuse is needed. But the inquiry still presses us, why? Why, because there is something within which is constantly whispering, you are wrong. With such a man, in his meditations on the subject of his duty to himself, his neighbors, and his God, his tobacco will somehow always get between him and his best views on these subjects, while his happiness is greatly diminished by the vivid impression that his indulgence is wrong. He goes to his closet and prays for help to deny himself and take up every cross, and he has a vision of tobacco. He kneels at the altar to pray for some poor penitent, he exhorts the trembling sinner to renounce everything, to yield all for religion, to give up property, children, wife, and even his own life; he tells him that religion is better than all, that for it he should count everything as "dung and dross that he might win Christ"—he opens his mouth to pray for his poor stricken brother, when conscience, seeing that he is taken in his own argument, as in secret, cries to his soul, in a voice that startles him, "where is your TOBACCO?" And this sense of self-indulgence constantly cripples the powers of the Christian. It disarms him at the "throne of grace"—it destroys his confidence before God. When asking for purity of heart, or any other blessing from God, his confidence is lessened by what he feels of the weight of this outward pollution. When pleading for mental and moral discipline, he is at once confounded by the inquiry: "If you have not the moral courage to meet and vanquish a needless self-indulgence, a mere claim upon your appetite, how can you expect to succeed in matters claiming the highest efforts of the mind?—matters which sometimes demand resolutions, equal to the sacrifice of a right eye, or a right hand?" In this way, the victim of this drug is met at every step: his darling habit has first weakened him, making him nearly powerless, and then it stands over him like Bunyan’s "Giant Despair," a huge tormentor. He is affected with debility, irritability, excitability, and a great host of inabilities, with all these consequences. He may have the sympathy of his friends—they may commiserate his case, they call him unfortunate, they say something about a "mysterious Providence"—but after all, he is half maddened by the impression, distinct as any conscience ever made, and from which he finds it impossible to rid himself, that, instead of such kindness and commiseration, he deserves their reproach. For, what they term a misfortune is the result of his own deliberate, voluntary act, done in the face of light, and of clear and biting convictions—tobacco, darling tobacco, has done it all! He feels just as any man under the circumstances must feel—degraded and mean before man and his Maker. He loathes himself, and is without self-respect or self-confidence.
Let him abandon the habit for a little time, and he feels worse and worse; and as in the case with the poor drunkard, so with the victim of tobacco, he feels an almost irresistible drawing toward the tyrant which has so long held him captive. In a word, he has the delirium tremens, and feels that his only relief from the torturing vision of his brain, will be to sell himself, soul and body, to this imperious appetite. Under such an influence, what person can enjoy religion as well with as without it?—Selected.
Communication from Bro. Hewett.
By O. Hewett
[BROTHER HEWETT has put into our hands a lengthy communication, in which he says many good things. From it we take the following.]
Gathering with Jesus.
“He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Matt. xii, 30. By this we plainly see that there is a time when Jesus will be gathering in one, and others will be engaged in this same blessed work of gathering with him. “To every purpose which is under heaven there is a time and season.” Eccl. iii, 1. Said Jacob, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Gen. xlix, 10.
We understand that names among God’s people anciently were significant of the character of the individual. Thus Shiloh, peace, abundance, peace-maker with God, quiet, in peace, safe, happy. God is the great creator, and his Son Jesus (Saviour) the express image of his person, is our peace, [Eph. ii, 14,] our peace-maker with God. Says the Son of God, “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matt. v, 9. Then if we are peace-makers, we are gathering with Jesus; and unless we are gathering with him, we are scattering abroad, contrary to the word and work of God, and Jesus will have to say of us, as he did to the first house of Israel, when he wept over them, and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” Here let me learn. “Ask now the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.” Job, xii, 7. The hen seeing the approach of danger, gives the alarm to her scattered brood, and they run or fly for their lives, and make haste to get under her wings. She perils her own life, she endures the storm of heaven upon her own body to save her precious charge. Who will not learn from this humble lesson to gather with Jesus and abide under the shadow of his wings. Ps. xvii, 8.
“Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings.” Now we would ask every soul to look at this figure, viz., “keep me as the apple of the eye.” What is there that we are more careful to keep than the ball or apple of the eye? This is part of one of the prayers of David, made in the Holy Ghost. Do we pray like this? yea, rather, do we live it out by doing unto others as we would they should do unto us? Now if we truly love our brother, our neighbor, as we do ourself, the same earnest desire for their well-being will be felt as we feel for ourselves. “Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice?” Well what does she say? “Unto you, O man, I call, and my voice is unto the sons of179men.” Prov. i, 4. “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness.” What is righteousness? “For ever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” Ps. cxix, 89. “My tongue shall speak of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. cxix, 172. But say some, Jesus abolished those commandments. But the same old guide says: “Hearken unto me ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged; look unto Abraham your father, [“If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii, 29.] and unto Sarah that bare you.” Why look to Abraham? For “I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” But Lord, why did you do this to Abraham? “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Gen. xxvi, 5. “For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Hearken unto me my people, and give ear unto me O my nation, for a law shall proceed (future) from me and I will make my judgments to rest for a light of the people.
My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.” Isa. li, 1-8. So we see that God commanded that his law shall not be abolished.
Again, says wisdom, “My son keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.” Now we have seen that God loves them that love him, and keep his word, and he will keep them as the apple of the eye. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Rev. iii, 10. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” 2 Pet. ii, 9. “Whoso keepeth the commandment, shall feel no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.” Eccl. viii, 5. “He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.”
Under the law of Moses, the law of types, which God directed Moses to write, we find on all great and important occasions, the trumpet gave a certain sound, and all Israel were gathered to the sanctuary of God, where he held communion with his people, and directed them. See Ex. xxv, 22. And God has commanded us, by the mouth of his holy prophets, to remember that law of types, when we see the day approaching that shall burn as an oven, when all the wicked will be destroyed, root and branch. Mal. iv. And why remember it then? The reason is made perfectly clear by Paul's letter to the Hebrews, where he teaches that that Sanctuary was a figure of the one in heaven, of which the Lord Jesus is minister, and great high priest. Now if the New Testament testimony is the testament of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and as such, has been sent to all nations for the obedience of faith, if it is such, and we have received it as such, then we have set to our seal that God is true. John iii, 33. Do we receive the Lord Jesus as the only one by whom we can be saved? If we do, our only salvation depends on our obedience to him. Said the voice from heaven, “hear ye him.” And we have in plain words from the mouth of the Son of God, what will come to us if we hear and obey his sayings. See Matt. vii, 24-29. “And the word whom ye hear is not mine, but the Father's that sent me.” John xiv, 24. Now if we have received Jesus' testimony, we have also set to our seal that God is true. Here is a rule by which we can examine ourselves.
In the typical Sanctuary were two trumpets made of one piece of silver, kept and blown by the priests. A certain sound gave notice to the people to prepare for the event, whatever it might be. Just so here; a certain sound has been given, and is still being given. Spirit of prophecy said, in making the vision plain, “the dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure.” The Lord is gathering and searching out his sheep on every mountain and hill where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day. His sheep hear his voice, and they follow him, and he gives unto them eternal life. O, he is the good Shepherd, he owns, having bought them with his blood; laid down his precious life for them, then he ascended up, and entered the heavenly Sanctuary, from thence his voice is heard. A gathering sound through the third angel, till we all are gathered into the unity of the faith, and are made one in Jesus Christ. Now how is this being done? It is not by power, nor by might; but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. And in order to be gathering with Jesus, we must have our hearts right in the sight of God, that the Holy Spirit may descend upon us and do its office, viz., reprove us of all our sins, and secure a resting place in the heart and abide with us for ever.
The sign by which Jesus was known of John, was that the Holy Spirit, descended upon him; and rested upon him. Nothing is prayed for so much, perhaps, as the Spirit of God; but we receive not, because we ask amiss, to consume upon our lusts. We love what we call a blessing; but, alas, when the reproof comes in to cleanse our hearts, and purify us so that the Spirit can dwell in us for ever; there is no rest for it, no more than there was for Noah's dove.
O that we may all see, that when we refuse to suffer the Comforter, whom the Father sends in Jesus name, to do the work assigned it by God, we deny Jesus and inasmuch as we deny the name of Jesus, we have not the Father. “He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward.” What is the reward of a prophet? They will be rewarded with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in God's everlasting kingdom. Luke xiii, 28. “And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.” What is a righteous man's reward? Then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God. Then shall he say to the righteous: “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom,” &c. Matt. xxv, 34-37. Even Balaam, who saw these things, cried out concerning the righteous, “Let my last end be like his.”
But some say, you are self-righteous. Well we do not mean to be self-righteous, like the Pharisee. Luke xviii, 9-14. Jesus spake this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others. There were certain that were great sticklers for God's law, that when Jesus reproved them, were offended. They had not even the first principle of the law of God, the love of God, and were destitute of the second great principle, love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus was then acting the part of a neighbor to them, in every sense of the word, like the good Samaritan. See Luke x, 33. Said he, who of the three was neighbor to him that fell among thieves? Suppose he that showed mercy, was the answer. Said Jesus, go thou and do likewise. Now Jesus was doing the work of a neighbor, and they hated him, and thereby broke the law, and were guilty of all. Our profession, like theirs, may be high as heaven, but without truth, in the spirit of love and meekness, we are like sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal. Self-righteousness and the doctrines and commandments of men we are leaving for ever.
May God help us to look unto Jesus, who kept all his Father's commandments, and to walk even as he walked. He perfectly kept them, and in honor of that law, his blood was spilt. Blessed be God for ever. Hence he that turns and breaks the holy commandment, after receiving and tasting the heavenly gift, treads under foot the Son of God, which is crucifying him afresh. O. HEWETT.
A Crown of Righteousness
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8.
THE study of unfulfilled prophecy is by many condemned as unwise and dangerous. In so doing, however, they condemn what God approves, for the study of prophecy is enforced by precept,--"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." It is stimulated by example,180"of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."--And it is encouraged by promise--"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand." Having thus precept, example, and promise, why should any hesitate to study diligently the Volume of Prophecy? Secret things, indeed, belong unto the Lord, but what he has revealed is no longer secret. We must not be wise above what is written, but we ought to be wise up to what is written, and especially when so much is written about these latter times in which we live.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.--Amos iii, 7.
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant.--Ps. xxv. 14.
Spiritual Mediums.
By Dr. Lynd
THE following texts will show what the Bible teaches in regard to spiritual mediums.
In Ex. xxii, 18, God says: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
In Lev. xx, 6, it is written: "The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and I will cut him off from among his people."
In Deut. xviii, 9-12, the Lord says: "When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord; and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee."
These passages show the fact that a class of persons such as are named, have existed.
Witches were persons who professed that they had familiar spirits of the invisible world, with whom they were in communication, and through whom they were able to exercise supernatural knowledge and power.
There are nine different kinds of divination mentioned in Scripture. One of these is, by consulting spirits to foretell future events. It is known by the name Python. They were all, however, condemned, as involving an idolatrous departure from the true God.
Necromancy means divining by means of the dead. They professed the art of raising up the ghosts of deceased persons, to get information from them. Those who practised the art, were, by the law of God, to be put to death. (See Lev. xx, 27.)
The Scriptures teach us that God is the only true God; that the revelation of invisible and future things in his word is worthy of all honor; and those who profess, by means of familiar spirits, or by calling up the departed spirits of men, to gain information, and those who seek them as mediums of such knowledge, are an abomination to the Lord, and are seduced from their allegiance to the only true God, and from suitable veneration for his word.
It makes no difference whether the profession is justified by the facts or not. It makes no difference whether it be done professedly, by means of a league with the powers of darkness, or by science, the whole is unlawful and abomination in the sight of God.
He has placed a barrier between us and the spirit world, which, even if we could, we attempt to pass at our peril. Under the Levitical dispensation, it was punishable with death. Under the present dispensation, it will receive its appropriate punishment, not by legal statute, but by the hand of God, through the physical laws that govern the universe. No man can violate the laws of heaven, physical or moral, with impunity. DR. LYND.
GOSPEL ORDER.
By Editor
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1 Cor. xiv, 33.
It is the opinion of the mass of professors of religion, that human creeds are indispensable to the maintenance of gospel order. They seem to think that without creeds all would be confusion in the church. But what is the real condition of the churches with all their creeds to aid them? They are in a condition but little less than perfect confusion. And is it not a fact that creed-making has produced the Babel confusion now existing among them? If it has, and it is evidently a clear case, then why talk of a human creed being indispensable to the maintenance of gospel order?
Look at any one of the religious sects, and you will see divisions of the most unhappy character. And it is a common thing to see members of the same church divided in sentiment and in feelings; and discord and confusion existing among them. It is evident, therefore, that human creeds do fail to accomplish the work for which men plead their necessity. Then as they are not sufficient to secure unity, purity, and order in the church, why plead for them? Why not discard them, and at once cast these things which do not answer the end for which they are made to the moles and to the bats?
"But," says one, "is the church of Christ to be left without a rule of faith?" We answer, that she is provided with a creed that is sufficient. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii, 16, 17.
Let us look at the character of this creed. It is "given by inspiration of God," therefore it is perfect.
It is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." How full!—How complete is this creed! Why need the church have more than this? Then see its object. "That the man of God may be perfect." With it, he is "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Then let the church of Christ take the Bible for their only creed, believe its plain teaching, obey its injunctions, and for them it will accomplish the very work for which it was designed. "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. lv, 10, 11.
We go for order and strict discipline in the church of Christ. And while we reject all human creeds, or platforms, which have failed to effect the order set forth in the gospel, we take the Bible, the perfect rule of faith and practice, given by inspiration of God. This shall be our platform on which to stand, our creed and discipline. This will not fail to accomplish the work "whereto it was sent." It came from above. It has its origin in the councils of heaven.—Its author is the God of "peace" and order; while the strange confusion of man-made creeds spring from this world, and have their origin in the brains of poor erring mortals. "As the heavens are higher than the earth," so is our creed, which is the word of God, higher in perfection and real worth than all human creeds.
We have no idea that it is a small thing to arrive at, and preserve gospel order in the church; yet the work must be, and will be accomplished. If the friends of Christ, the friends of truth and good order, act well their part, the Lord will help, and work gloriously among us. It will be a work of labor, of care and mental suffering to those who are called to take the watch-care of the flock, who watch for souls as those who must give an account. Such have awful responsibilities resting upon them. O, who is sufficient for these things!
That there may be union and order in the church, it is of the highest importance that those who go forth as religious teachers should be in perfect union; union of sentiment and of action. The reverse would produce division and confusion among the precious flock. He who enters upon the work of the gospel ministry, must be called of God, a man of experience, a holy man of God.
In our next we will speak upon the calling, qualifications and duties of a gospel minister.