Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 30, 1858
THE OLD EARTH.
Old mother earth is wan and pale,
Her face is wrinkled sore,
Her locks are blanched, her heart is cold,
Her garments stiff with gore;
With furrowed brow and dim sad eyes,
With trembling steps and slow,
She marks the course that first she trod,
Six thousand years ago!
The earth is old, the earth is cold,
She shivers and complains;
How many winters fierce and chill,
Have racked her limbs with pains!
Drear tempests, lightning, flood and flame
Have scarred her visage so,
That scarce we deem she shone so fair,
Six thousand years ago.
Yet comely was the youthful earth,
And lightly tripped along
To music from a starry choir,
Whose sweet, celestial song
Through nature's temple echoed wild,
And soft as streamlets' flow,
While sister spheres rejoiced with her,
Six thousand years ago!
And many happy children there
Upon her breast reclined,
The young earth smiled with aspect fair,
The heavens were bright and kind;
The azure cope above her head
In love seemed bending low;
O happy was the youthful earth,
Six thousand years ago!
Alas! those children of the earth
With hate began to burn,
And murder stained her beauteous robe,
And bade the young earth mourn.
And ages, heavy ages, still
Have bowed with gathering woe,
The form of her whose life was joy,
Six thousand years ago.
Old earth! drear earth! thy tender heart
Bewails thy chosen ones;
Thou look'st upon the myriad graves
That hide their gathered bones;
For them, by day and night, thy tears
Unceasingly must flow;
Death chilled the fountain head of life
Six thousand years ago!
Old earth! old earth! above thy head
The heavens are dark and chill,
The sun looks coldly on thee now,
The stars shine pale and still;
No more the heavenly symphonies
Through listening ether flow,
Which swelled upon creation's ear,
Six thousand years ago!
Weep not in bitter grief, O earth!
Weep not in hopelessness!
From out the heavens "a still, small voice"
Whispers returning peace.
Thy tears are precious in the sight
Of ONE who marks their flow,
Who purposes of mercy formed,
Six thousand years ago!
Thy days of grief are numbered all,
Their sum will soon be told,
The joy of youth, the smile of God,
Shall bless thee as of old;
Shall shed a purer, holier light
Upon thy peaceful brow,
Than beamed upon thy morning hour
Six thousand years ago!
Thy chosen ones shall live again,
A countless, tearless throng,
To wake creation's voice anew,
And swell the choral song.
Go earth! go wipe thy falling tears,
Forget thy heavy woe,
Hope died not with thy first born sons,
Six thousand years ago!
[Knickerbocker.
COMMUNICATION FROM ELD. S. A. TAFT.
By S. A. Taft
Bro. Smith: Suffer a word of explanation. In the Herald, Aug. 26th, reference is had to my visit at Lapeer not long since—and the "chagrin" or mortification of some Baptists living up there, touching my course, while in that village. The precise language is, "Alas for them! what must have been their chagrin to learn that Prof. Taft held to the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath, and man's entire mortality." The communication, I believe, is from Bro. Cornell. I do not accuse Bro. C. of misrepresentation. I do not think he intended anything of the kind; and yet the matter is hardly represented in its true light.
My visit to Lapeer was to preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. It had been arranged and contemplated long before the tent was struck in that place. I did not go there to take up on any controverted question whatever, but simply to preach Jesus, and as far as a short stay would permit, to make the acquaintance of the people. I therefore, on Sunday or First-day, preached twice, as stated by Bro. C., in the Court-house; but not a word was said about the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath, or any other Sabbath. Not a word was said about man's "entire" or partial "mortality." Indeed the question of man's nature did not come into the discussion at all—his relations did. How Bro. Cornell or any one else in Lapeer should have known my views upon those subjects, I know not—I told no one—no one asked me. As to my advice about a "war," I cannot say, I think though at that time no war had been waged—no public attack, to my knowledge, had then been made upon brethren Cornell and Lawrence. My advice, then, would have been superfluous; however, I would say to both parties, better let one another alone. It is a free country—how long it will remain such I cannot tell—not long I fear unless there is a change soon; and I go in for free speech. Because Bro. Cornell has struck his tent down beside me and gone to advocating his views, that is no reason why I should rail out against him. Brethren, treat one another as men and brethren. Truth gains nothing by such ebullitions of feeling. Oh, for the love and courtesy of the true, genuine sons of God.
As to man's nature, I premise, that my views and Bro. Cornell's are not at all alike. I believe and maintain—I have always done so—that man is a trinity in unity—soul, body and spirit. These three are one—not one in substance, but three. One in that sense that they are inseparably identified in the man. In the absence of either, there cannot be a perfect man. The body is the human organism. It is made up of solids and fluids, taken from the earth. It is of the earth, earthy. The spirit is the vital power that animates the human organism. It was breathed from God, and is endowed with the power of animation, assimilation and reparation. This agency in nature is fast becoming the Spiritualist's God. It is his Lord Jehovah. Spiritualists are doing for the Life Principle, what the French infidel did for Reason—deifying it. What that principle is in its ultimate essence, no human being can tell. In presence, however, is most manifest. The soul is the seat of the affections—volition, sensibility and will. Intelligence is here, not as the result of organization, but by virtue of the soul's creation, it was made to think, to feel, to act, and to will. These phenomena are manifested through the body. The body animated by the spirit is the instrument. The soul is the intelligent agent. These three united make the man. Each was the subject of God's volition; their union in one was the same, and their continuance is dependent upon the same Almighty Will. These distinctions in man's nature are clearly recognized in the word of God. "The word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit—the joints and marrow (body,) and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. iv, 12. "Fear not him who is able to kill the body and after that has no more that he can do; but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Luke xii, 4. Matt. x, 28. "So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Rom. vii, 25. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. v, 23. "For as the body without the spirit is dead; so faith without works is dead also." James ii, 26. Many other testimonies might be adduced; but these are directly to the point, and must suffice. Man, then, has a soul or mind, a body, and a spirit that animates that body. He is entirely the subject of God's creative power. He is not self-existent, but dependent. To talk therefore of man's necessary inherent immortality, is to remove him alike from being a subject of God's creation and from his control. Immortality cannot necessarily inhere, in only one being. There can be but one such being in the universe.
God only hath immortality. To suppose the contrary is to make us all Gods. Men are crazy on this immortality question—at one time confounding it with the doctrine of a future life—at another making it a necessary element of man's nature. The question of man's mortality or immortality, depends entirely upon the will of Him who made him, and must eternally so depend. God will never put a creature of his beyond his control. With him are the issues of life and death; and there they will forever remain. Immortality is purely a question of revelation. Reference then must be had to the word of God. This, and this alone must settle the question. The testimony of all the spirits in pandemonium or any other good or bad place, cannot answer the question—their testimony is not admissible. How can they testify on a question of such a nature. To attempt it is blank presumption.
The co-extensive conviction of the race also, is no valid ground of belief. It may be presumptive evidence, that God has at some time spoken upon this subject. It is of no avail, however, in the absence of a divine warrant. We must have the word of God. The same is true also of the desires146and aspirations of the soul itself, and these are very great. What though from a careful analysis of the powers and faculties of the soul, we find it adapted to endless progression. Still the question recurs, will it progress? God alone can answer. The make of the soul itself then, argues nothing conclusive upon the subject. We turn then to the Bible, and what is the result? Man's mortality stands out on every page. Death is determined upon all men; and so inexorable is the demand, that only two of all the millions of our race have escaped. "SIN entered into the world,"—awful fact, and death to sin. SIN—DEATH—"and so death," mortality "passed upon ALL MEN; for that ALL have sinned." Rom. v, 12. Man must die. Death is a penalty, a curse, and not a blessing. Its infliction consists in the expulsion of the vital power from the animated organization. This is true every where. Death is not alone the separation of soul and body, as is too often represented, but the forcible driving out of the life power from the body animated. This done, and the body is necessarily subjected to the laws of chemical action. Decomposition and decay is the result. This cannot be, just so long as the vital power animates the body. The presence of this power forbids the approach of all chemical affinities.
All the particles of the body, have been taken, by the life power, up out of their natural domain, and subjected to new laws and principles of action. Expel the vital principle, and the laws of chemical action at once assert their prerogatives, and set to work to tear down that beautiful structure reared by the spirit power for the benefit of the soul. The body goes back to its mother earth. Dust returns to dust again; the spirit to God who gave it. But the soul—that soul in which inheres the godlike faculties of judgment, reason, intelligence, memory, understanding and will—that soul in which is alone the consciousness of personal identity—the remembrance of all that has passed, whether it is good or bad—where is it? Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? That is the question. All are agreed as to the whereabouts of the body and the spirit; but the soul—where is that? To suppose that it is reduced to the same condition of the body alike the subject of chemical action, is to make them one in substance—than which nothing can be more distinct. Difference in phenomena argues a difference in substance. The phenomena of the soul are, thought, volition, sensibility, &c.; the phenomena of the body, that of all other material substances, impenetrability, extension, figure, divisibility &c. They are totally unlike; differing not in degree alone, but absolutely in kind. Therefore the substances are unlike, wholly and totally unlike, yet existing together, and in some instances in the closest juxtaposition as in the case of the soul and body. Death in this case compels a divorce of natures wedded for an eternal union. O, my soul, would to God this had never been. The future would be one of gloom and terror but for the doctrine of a glorious resurrection in Jesus Christ. Jesus has been through the dreadful valley, and now all along its dreary length light shines. There is now an effulgence above the brightness of the sun at midday. Life and immortality have been brought to light. Praise the Lord. But says one, you have not told us where the unclothed soul is. Where is it during the long interim between death and the resurrection? One word about this long interim. To the soul in its disembodied state, no such interim exists. It is an interim only to the living. We alone are conscious of dates, because we alone are in immediate contact with those circumstances that mark off intervals of time. In my humble judgment, to Abel the first man upon whom the penalty of death was inflicted, the interim between that eventful hour and his release by the power of God in the resurrection will have been but an instant—a thing of yesterday. To the above question three answers have been given. One says in heaven or hell; a second says in the grave; and still a third says in certain celestial spheres, or degrees of progression. Here is where I think men seek to be wise above what is written. The precise condition or circumstances of the soul in this intermediate, the Bible has nowhere told us. We should therefore be contented to know little. Nothing can be more certain, however, from the very nature of the casualty to which the soul has been subjected by death, than that it is in a state of violence. Dr. Chalmers says, "The fact of the resurrection proves that with man at least, the state of a disembodied spirit (soul) is a state of unnatural violence." An animated body is a necessary condition of the soul's activities and energies. The Christian Quarterly Review for 1855, page 407, a Baptist paper, says: "Of the condition of departed spirits (souls) we can form no idea. The Bible gives us no information as to the mode of their existence, and of their felicity. All that we know of the spirit (soul) is derived from consciousness and from its manifestation through and in connection with the body. At death the body is laid aside, and there is to be at the close of the present dispensation, a resurrection of the body. In the spirit (soul) he be, in the meanwhile wholly without a body! If so, it is impossible for us to form any idea of its condition."
That is my faith of an intermediate state. We know nothing at all about it; and therefore upon that question I am uniformly silent, saying nothing where I know so little. The Bible passes over this subject altogether. It uniformly passes directly from death to the resurrection; and therefore I have a great deal to say about the resurrection. It is a glorious truth. It opens the gate-way to endless bliss—bliss to all who believe on our Lord Jesus Christ, and perdition to all the finally impenitent. O let me enjoy the benefits of that grace that comes by faith on our Lord Jesus Christ! So much then for man's nature and the question of man's mortality. My faith is, that man has no necessary inherent immortality. His present life is forfeited and he must die. His future life depends entirely upon his relations to our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ is eternal life. And he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son, hath not life. 1 John v, 12. Reader, if you will have life, you must have Jesus Christ. My own views of that future death I shall never give. I have none. If you would know it, I can only refer you to God. I have no right to answer the question, What is the ultimate destiny of the wicked? I refer the inquirer to God.
As to the perpetuity of the Sabbath, I have only to repeat what I have already said. Nor a word was said upon the subject: still, Bro. Smith, with your consent, I will say a word. This question of the Sabbath involves two distinct propositions:—(1) The obligation to sabbatize;—(2) The time when. Both are of divine appointment, with this difference: the obligation is moral, founded in the very nature of man's relations to God—the time is positive, founded alone on the divine will. The obligation is perpetual, binding alike upon universal intelligence. Not only all men, but all the angels of God, and devils as well, are under obligation to sabbatize. To sabbatize, is not alone to remember holy-day; it is to pay devout homage and worship to Almighty God. It is to come before the Lord in the manner, and at the time prescribed by himself. It is to rest with a heart lifted to God in devout gratitude for all his mercies and benefits. For this universal worship of God there must be a time. It would not do to impose the obligation, and then leave each to the selection of his own time. That would introduce endless confusion. It would practically nullify the obligation. Hence, if God imposed the obligation, he must specify the time when it will be proper for his creatures to meet the responsibility. This he has done, and this he must continue to do.
In the beginning it pleased God to make choice of his own rest-day. This stood at the close of the first week of time. He blessed it and sanctified it, that is, set it apart to holy purposes. It henceforth became the Sabbath, that is, the time when it would be proper for men to sabbatize; and must continue until God sees fit to make choice of another time. The Sabbath institution, and the time for sabbatizing are one, and inseparable. Hence the command, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is the command to sabbatize. It is the worded form of the obligation imposed by the relations of the creature to the Creator. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath; that is, that time was set apart for man's benefit. It is his time to sabbatize, and do all other works of necessity and mercy. As to whether God has ever seen fit to make choice of any other time than the first mentioned or not, is a question. He has a right to do so, if he sees fit. And to do so would in no way interfere with the fourth commandment. The obligation could be as well met on any other day than the seventh, if God so determined. The fourth commandment has in it two elements:—(1) It imposes the obligation to sabbatize—to do all implied in that great work, and to do it in a proper manner;—(2) It designates the time appropriated to that work, and assigns a reason why that time was preferred to every other; because it was the Lord's rest-day. For that reason he blessed and hallowed it. Has God made choice of another day? The answer to this question can be sought only in the word of God. It is merely a matter of revelation. If preference has been given to another time, we may expect to find the world duly advertised of the fact. God's will in the latter case should be as explicit as in the former; else there will be confusion. What are the facts? To me there is no evidence of a change by divine appointment, and therefore the perpetuity of the original institution. That the early eastern christian churches all observed the original time for sabbatizing is a matter of positive church history: Neander says: [Church History, Vol. 1, page 296:] "Though they admitted, with the rest—the festival of Sunday, yet they retained also that of the Sabbath. Not so with the early Western Gentile churches; between the two there was a striking difference. Whether this arose at, or not until after the apostles' time is a matter of doubt. The presumption is, however, that in all the earlier christian churches, uniformity pretty generally prevailed."
I might pursue this subject to much greater length, but I forbear. I have already occupied more space than I ought. My views and Bro. Cornell's in many respects are not at all alike. I don't go his doctrine of man's nature at all, and how what I said in Lapeer could be, in any way construed into a confirmation of what was presented in the tent, I cannot tell. The notes numbered 1, 2, 3, &c., are all correct. "Denied that Jesus Christ has two distinct natures, human and divine," demands a passing notice. I deny the conjunction of nature theory, and maintain the doctrine of one personality and one nature in two states, that is, I believe that the actual pre-existent divine nature of the blessed Jesus was really made humanity. The Word was made flesh, really in everything except his personal identity and original consciousness, converted into humanity, to the intent that he as the God-man, might suffer the penalty affixed to the law of God. It was the original pre-existent Christ that suffered and died for man the creature's sin, and not a substituted humanity. That Christ that had glory with the Father before the world was; that was tempted in all points like as I am, yet without sin, is my Saviour. He is my all and in all. I know no other. May he quickly come to be admired in all his saints. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. But I must stop. Brethren, I love the Lord, Amen. My soul replies, Amen.
Yours for the truth. S. A. Taft.
Oxford, Sept. 15th, 1858.
Is the Seventh Day of the Jewish week, the Christian Sabbath?
By John S. Williams
THE only reliable source of evidence in determining this question is the sacred Scriptures of divine truth. Is the seventh day the patriarchal Sabbath? Is it in accordance with the original Sabbath as instituted by God himself? Here the seventh day keepers affirm and we deny.
Let it be admitted that the seventh day of the week is the Jewish Sabbath; or in other words that those who contend for the hallowed use of the seventh day of the week, are correct, according to the time of the Jewish Sabbath at the time our Saviour made his appearance in the world. But does it147therefore follow that this was the original, or the patriarchal Sabbath, or that it was intended to be of universal and perpetual obligation on all christians throughout all time, and in all places where christianity is to be embraced!
Our Seventh-day friends sometimes demand, in what we have regarded as a kind of supercilious and dogmatical manner, and with an air of seeming triumph, just one single passage of scripture in which God ever authorized any change in the time of keeping the Sabbath. Now the Scriptures fully authorize us to claim that the original Sabbath commenced in the morning and not in the evening, as the Jews were in the habit of reckoning. Let us see if God himself did not allow the Jews to reckon their Sabbath from evening to evening. "From even to even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath," Lev. xxiii, 32. The above passage of scripture will warrant us in saying that God himself did authorize a change to the extent of half a day at least.
We think no one will presume to contend that God either commenced or ended the work of creation in the evening; and let it be particularly noted that at whatever hour he commenced his work, at that very hour he ended it. Hence the sacred historian says, "The evening and the morning were the first day," &c.
Let us now look for a moment at the Jewish method of regulating time. They had no way of dividing their year into months but by the phases of the moon. Now as the sun and moon were not created until the fourth day, it appears manifest that the Sabbath in the first moon of time would occur respectively on the 3d, 10th, 17th, and 24th days of the first month.
A little thought and attention are requisite just at this point, in order to have a correct understanding of what we mean. In order if possible to give our readers a clear idea of this matter, let it be recollected that the moon, so to speak, is not as old as time by at least four days. Hence while the original Sabbath occurred on the seventh day of time, it occurred on the third &c., days of the month, as stated above.
The great Jewish legislator requested Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice. Now it is certain they started on the fourteenth day of the month, and crossed the Red sea on the seventeenth, and we very respectfully submit if this be not in accordance with the original institution of the Sabbath. In all probability the Israelites passed over the Red sea just about the time God finished the magnificent work of creation, and also about the precise hour and on the same day of the month on which our Saviour arose from the dead, of which the crossing over the Red sea was undoubtedly typical.
Notice particularly that the passover was to be killed on the fourteenth day of the month; then just so many days were to intervene between that and the Sabbath day. Now let us carry this great national festival down to the days of Christ, when he as "our passover was to be sacrificed for us." "Then came the days of unleavened bread when the passover must be killed." Luke xxii, 7. This according to specific enactment of God was to be on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan; and no matter into what mistakes or errors the Jews might have fallen, our Saviour doubtless knew and observed the correct time, for he "came to fulfill the law." Hence we notice that he arose from the dead on the seventeenth day of the month, or what the Jews called the first day of the week; and that the same length of time intervened between the time he celebrated his own death, and the time he arose from the dead; and the time that was allowed to intervene between the killing of the passover and the Jewish Sabbath.
Let us go back again to the law, and we shall find that the wave sheaf was to be presented to the priest on the first day of the week after the passover sabbath; and as this was to represent, or rather to typify the resurrection of Christ, is it not highly probable to say the least of it, that the type and antitype would thus far coincide with each other.
It seems that the Jews had by some means or other got wrong in their reckoning, because their sabbath at the crucifixion fell on the sixteenth instead of the seventeenth day of the month, according to the original institution. We are fully aware that God incorporated into the decalogue, the observance of the seventh day—that it was written with the finger of God. But no christian is now so insane as to contend for the observance of the Jewish Sabbath as they observed it. Now let us see if there be not a very strong intimation given us that the Jewish Sabbath was to be abolished. Our Saviour, on the Sabbath day plucked the ears of corn and gave them to his disciples, which was unlawful for any to eat thereof until the wave sheaf had been presented to the priest. No one will allow that our Saviour was compelled to this from absolute necessity; for he who fed the hungry thousands in the wilderness, could have supplied his own wants and likewise those of his disciples. Why then did he do this thing? We answer, manifestly to show that he had abolished the Jewish priesthood, and transferred it to his own disciples, constituting them his future priests; and this is what doubtless so enraged the bigoted, Scribes and Pharisees.
Let these things be specially borne in mind; for with the disannalling of the Jewish priesthood, away went the Jewish Sabbath also. There being a change of the priesthood, there is of necessity a change of the law.
Let no one forget that as our Saviour arose from the dead on the first day of the Jewish week, so likewise every subsequent special manifestation to his disciples occurred on the first day of the week. That priesthood which he had so significantly transferred to them in the act of plucking the first fruits and giving to his disciples, thus wrestling it from the Jewish priest, was afterwards confirmed to them on the first day of the week, when he appeared and said unto them, "Whatever ye bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven" &c. Now if the apostles ever bound the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, or the seventh day of the week on the converts to christianity, we most respectfully ask where it is written!
It is by no means important for us to show how or when the Jews lost the correct reckoning. Perhaps in the valley of Ajalon, when the sun and moon stood still about the space of a whole day. If they called that two days, God called it but one day, (* which is the fact in the case) then any one may plainly perceive how they got wrong in their reckoning. We do not affirm that this was the way in which they did get wrong; but one thing is very apparent, viz., had our Saviour arisen on the Jewish Sabbath, there would have been but little opportunity to investigate the evidences on which you now rely for this glorious truth in our holy christianity. Thus we perceive, all things were ordered by an all-wise Being.
In conclusion: we have written the above at the request of a seventh-day preacher, with the assurance that it should appear in their periodical, together with such criticisms as might be deemed requisite. And as I have confined myself exclusively to the Scriptures, if any one choose to review this brief article, I hope he will confine himself to the same. If not, I desire that neither the article nor any notice of it may ever appear before the public.
JOHN S. WILLIAMS.
Monroe, Green Co., Wis., Sept. 10th, 1858.
NOTE. We confess that our Correspondent has the advantage of us, in going, in some places, entirely beyond our depth, or else in being somewhat obscure in the expression of his ideas. If Brn. Ingraham, Waggoner, or Cottrell can appreciate the force of the reasoning, and wish to offer some criticisms thereon, the columns of the REVIEW are open for them.—ED.
S E L E C T I O N S.
My Reins also Instruct Me in the Night Season.
One day I had been studying on the subject of prayer with reference to the duties of the following Sabbath. I felt oppressed with the ruinous consequences of a prayerless life. My heart was burdened with the thought, but how to illustrate it, I did not so easily find. Upon retiring for the night, the subject was not forgotten.
In the visions of the night, I seemed to be awake and present at a scene that made my frame quiver with a fright that reminded me of Job's words: "When I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions." I awoke and remembered one had said, "My reins also instruct me in the night season." I was, I thought, near a railroad depot, looking at a train of passenger cars that was rapidly nearing the place where I stood. I thought I could see the engineer so clearly in the face as to read in it a most determined resolution to reach a given point near me by a given second. Soon I saw the cars were off the track, and the whole train in the utmost danger of being dashed to atoms. I saw the engineer set his teeth together more firmly and put on more steam. A massive oak stood between the engineer and the point for which he was making with mad desperation. An instant before the engine reached the tree, I could see the mad-man grind his teeth and suddenly put on the full force of steam. The engine seemed instinct with life to dash foremost at the oak, as if to annihilate it. I seemed to expect to see the oak dashed into a spray of shivers, as with a thunder blow. The fearful crash is over! the train, not the oak, suddenly falls into fragments. The steam and scalding water enveloped as with a baptism of death those already in death's agonies. I looked upon the quivering arms and broken skulls, and woke almost stupified with horror, but what a voice ringing in my ears:—"The man without prayer! The man without prayer!" So oppressed was I at first with the seeming reality of the awful destruction, several minutes passed before I fully gained my consciousness, and still others passed before I took up in reflection what had so deeply impressed the eyes and ears of the soul. "The man without prayer! The man without prayer!" I soon however, saw that horrid scene of death failed to present the strongest features of the death-scene to which every prayerless man is hastening with the speed of time's flight. O that he were but rushing in his headlong haste, alone! But the train, the long train freighted with the souls of others, who can forget that!
As sure as God is on the throne, every prayerless man is wrong. His train is off the track.—He is still putting on steam. Soon will he dash against the eternal foundations of that throne, and those foundations will not be shivered. I determined to cry at the top of my voice as long as I live, to every prayerless man, "Stop! stop! Your train is off!"
Recipe for Spiritual Health
RECIPE FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH.—Both bodily and spiritual health are desirable. Both are exposed to injury from many causes. When the injury is not too deep and extensive, both may be recovered. What is the course to be pursued in order to secure spiritual health?
1. You must take exercise. You must walk daily in the vineyard of God's Church. You must work in the vineyard of God's Church. You must bathe in the fountain of redeeming blood. In a word, you must exercise all the graces of the Spirit.
2. You must pay attention to your diet. You must be careful about your food. Bread and water are sufficient; the bread of life and the waters of salvation. These satisfy and sanctify; they make healthy, and keep healthy. You must take sufficient. A little will keep you living, but much is necessary to health. This food you must take regularly, for regularity is important. You cannot prosper and be in health unless you live upon Christ, and live upon him every day.
3. A little medicine is necessary; in some cases a good deal. This is made up of the bitter herbs of disappointments, losses, crosses, temptations, bereavements, troubles, and trials of various sorts. The medicine is very unpleasant, but very profitable. Unless taken, and taken pretty freely, you will be laid up with idleness, carelessness, anxiety; pride or selfishness. Your heavenly Father prepares this medicine. Divine Providence presents it. You must take it, and expect benefit from it.
4. You must keep your mind free from anxious trouble. In order to this you must live in peace with God; be content with your lot, and trust the promises.
SAVING ORDINANCE.
Much has been said about this or that being a "saving ordinance." The question is asked, Do you believe baptism is a saving ordinance? Is the Sabbath a saving ordinance? Now what do you mean by this unscriptural phrase? Do you mean that there is some certain act, which if a man do, he will certainly enter into the kingdom of heaven? If so, a wicked man may perform that act, and his life of sin will not prevent his salvation. I know of no saving ordinance, but to begin to serve the Lord, and persevere in his service to the end of our probation.
But, my friend, I think I discover the design of your enquiries. You wish to know if you cannot be saved without obeying these institutions of the Lord. You say, Supposing a person is on his death bed, and cannot be baptized, can he not obtain pardon and salvation? I reply, "Supposing" he can? what is that to you? God commands you to repent and be baptized. The best course you can take is to obey this command, before you are laid upon a death bed; and not argue, from the long-suffering and tender mercy of the Lord, that his commands are non-essential. The judgment will reveal how many death-bed repentances were effectual, and how many were not. Those that have known the will of God and did it not, while in life and health, may repent, so far as sorrow and regret are repentance, when it is too late to find pardon.
But men have seemed to discover that these outward acts of obedience are "non-essentials." Those who think so, to act consistently with their faith would lay them aside as useless. Then what would be left to distinguish their religion from any and every false religion? Pagans have faith and inward religion; yes, and they have prayers also. What outward acts distinguish the faith in Christ from all others, but the very ones that the professed followers of Christ have called non-essentials? What else speaks a faith in a crucified, buried and risen Saviour?
Again, what outward act places an unmistakable mark upon the worshiper of the true God—the Maker of the heavens and earth—but the keeping of that institution which commemorates his creative work, and his rest upon the seventh day?
Thus the world have called the only distinguishing institutions of the true religion, non-essentials. And when we exhort to obedience to any of these, they enquire, Do you believe it is a saving ordinance?
The word of the Lord requires, 1. faith. 2. obedience. Without faith there can be no acceptable obedience. Without faith it is impossible to please God. And this faith is simply a full and unwavering belief.
"For he that cometh to God must believe." Faith then is the first requirement; it is the main spring of all our actions. Hence, the gospel is called "the faith." But salvation is not promised to faith alone. Such faith is dead. We must be "obedient to the faith." He that said believe, said also repent; and he that said repent said also be baptized. Moreover, this same Jesus requires us to walk in newness of life, by keeping all the commandments of his Father.
No man has a right to say that any one of these requirements is non-essential; that it is not a "saving ordinance;" or that it has no place in the plan of salvation. Faith and obedience are equally required; and not only so, but a perseverance in the same to the end of our probation. I know of no other "saving ordinance."
R. F. C.
Trifles That Divide Christians
TRIFLES often alienate affections, and separate Christians; self-denial is a cure for this and many other diseases : devils triumph when Christians disagree, and feast when they divide.