Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 15. (4/10/1879)

Signs of the Times

Apr 10, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1879

The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life.--No. 13.

By D. M. Canright

ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

But the statement is plain and explicit that the wicked shall be recompensed in the earth. Here we observe the same principle of justice that is carried out in worldly governments. A man is punished where he commits his crime. So with the wicked: the earth has beheld their crimes; it must also behold their reward. Peter bears decisive testimony on this point, in 2 Pet. 3:7-12: "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Here we see that Peter designates the day of judgment as the time, and the earth as the place, for the perdition (destruction, Web.) of ungodly men. In verses 10-12, he describes the condition of the earth at that time: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" Will the reader try to comprehend the scene here described? The atmospheric heavens are in flames, the whole earth is one vast lake of liquid fire, the rocks are melting with intense heat, the mountains run down, and all the elements of the earth are molten like lead. Everything that fire can consume is burned up. Paul, speaking of this event in Heb. 12:25, 29, says that those things which can be shaken are removed; but those which cannot, will remain. So Nah. 1:5: "The mountains quake at him [God], and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea the world, and all that dwell therein." Also Deut. 32:22: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."

So then at the judgment this earth is to be melted by intense fire and all its impurity will be consumed. Thus we think we have proved that the wicked will receive their punishment on the earth, where they have committed their crimes. If further testimony is required on this point, see Matt. 13:30, 40-43; Mal. 4; Dan. 2:35; &c.

IV. The third and connecting fence that we shall build is, That the wicked shall be burned up, entirely consumed, by the fire which melts and purifies the earth.

In Matt. 3:12, we read, "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Here we see that fire is introduced as the destroying agent. In Matt. 25:41, Jesus says, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Here it is definitely stated that the wicked will go into "fire." Again: "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched." Mark 9:43-46.

It is not only to be fire, but it will be a lake of fire. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:13-15. In chapter 21:8, we read, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Chapter 20:10, also declares that "the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false are." This lake of fire we have before proved to be on this earth. Thus we see the idea that the fire is the "remorse of conscience," is flatly contradicted by the Bible. It is a fire that "consumes," "devours," "burns up," the one which burns up the earth.

With these facts before us, let us now ascertain whether this fire that is hot enough to melt the earth, and dissolve the mountains, will burn up, consume, and devour, the wicked; or whether it will preserve them to all eternity. If the latter is to be the case, we shall expect to find the wicked compared to diamonds, granite, rocks, and other substances which will endure heat the longest. But what must be our conclusion if, on the contrary, we find them compared to the most combustible materials? Certainly we cannot conclude that they will exist in a lake of fire eternally.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED IS COMPARED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MOST PERISHABLE MATERIALS.

1. We find the wicked compared to chaff. "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12. Now if you want to know whether the wicked will be burned up or not, try an experiment according to the illustration here used; that is, take a handful of dry chaff, and cast it into a hot fire. What is the result? I think that I hear you answer, "It is burned up, certainly." Very well. Now if the language in the Bible means anything, we have here a good illustration of the end of the wicked.

2. They are compared to stubble. In Nahum 1:10, we read: "For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Here we have another illustration of the end of sinners. Go and set fire in your wheat stubble when it is "fully dry," and tell me the result. You say it is entirely burned up—reduced to ashes. Then I answer, in the words of the Bible, that the wicked "shall be devoured as [or in like manner to] stubble fully dry." And this takes place in the fire which burns the earth, as will be seen by verse five: "The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein." No wonder that corrupt sinners are consumed in such a fire as this!

3. They are compared to tares. In Matt. 13, we have the parable of the wheat and tares. Verse 30 says, "Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." In the explanation, Jesus says, "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Verses 40-42.

4. The wicked are compared to dried branches. "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:6. Here Jesus uses the illustration of a man pruning a vine, and burning up the limbs after they are dry. This certainly conveys to our minds anything but the idea of eternal existence.

5. They are compared to fat of lambs. "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20. The illustration that David here employs is that of a sacrifice upon the altar, which is laid upon the fire—it gradually "consumes away" till it is gone. Not a particle of the "fat" is left. Dr. Clarke says: "As the fat is wholly consumed in sacrifices, by the fire on the altar, so shall they consume away in the fire of God's wrath." So will the wicked perish. In Zech. 14:12, their destruction is described without any figure.

6. The wicked are compared to thorns, briers, hay, wood, &c. "But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:8. "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." 1 Cor. 3:12, 13. If you can tell what will be the end of wood, hay, stubble, &c., when tried by fire, you can also tell what will be the end of the wicked; for both will be the same, or else the figure is not a good one.

To sum up all these declarations and illustrations, the wicked are to be dashed "in pieces like a potter's vessel;" Ps. 2:9; to be consumed "as the fat of lambs;" Ps. 37:20; to perish "like the beasts;" Ps. 94:20; to pass away "as a snail which melteth;" Ps. 58:8; to be driven away "as smoke is driven away," and to perish "as wax melteth before the fire;" Ps. 68:2; to be no more "as the whirlwind passeth;" Prov. 10:25. They "shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water, and . . . as tow;" Isa. 1:30, 31; "as the burnings of lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire;" Isa. 33:12; like moth and worm-eaten garments; Isa. 51:8; and "as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust." Isa. 5:24. They shall be burned as tares; Matt. 13:30; as dry branches; John 15:6; as wood and hay; 1 Cor. 3:12; as thorns and briers; Heb. 6:8. "They shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away." Hosea 13:3. "They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Ps. 37:2. "His roots shall be dried up, beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off;" Job. 18:16; and his light "shall be put out." Job. 18:5.

Now the question is, Do these comparisons and illustrations mean anything, or do they not? Were they given to instruct us, or to deceive us? If the wicked are to burn eternally in hell fire, then these comparisons certainly deceive us, as no such idea can be drawn from them. But if the wicked are really to be burned up, then all these illustrations are true to life, instructive, and forcible. Look forward to the time when this earth is one vast lake of fire; behold the wicked in all their natural corruption cast into this burning mass. Now answer me if they will not be burned up as chaff in a furnace. Prejudice may, with a blush for a reason, venture to assert, "No; I don't believe they will;" but inborn common sense will promptly answer, "Yes; they will."

Mal. 4 is very plain upon this subject: "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven." Has the Bible anywhere else spoken of such a day? It has, and calls it "the day of the Lord." "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. 3:10. When this takes place, will it not burn as an oven? Most assuredly it will.

We have now learned that the day spoken of by Malachi is the day of the Lord, and that the scenes referred to will transpire on the earth. Now what is to happen at that time? We will read on: "And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble." Here the wicked are again compared to stubble. Now what will be done with this stubble? Will it be preserved eternally? Answer. "And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Verse 1. Thus we see that they are to be burned up, root and branch, or, as Isaiah says, "both soul and body." Chap. 10:18. Peter says that when the earth shall melt with heat, "the works that are therein shall be burned up." Malachi tells us that wicked men also shall be burned up. Rev. 20:9, declares the same thing: "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

Now what is the condition of the wicked after they are "burned up root and branch"? Answer. "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4:3. Here we see that the burning up mentioned reduces the wicked to ashes. This is neither a figure, an illustration, nor a comparison, but a positive declaration of the end of the wicked. Now we can comprehend what the Bible means when it declares that the wicked shall "die," "perish," "be destroyed," &c., &c., as it does hundreds of times in the most positive manner.

THEY SHALL DIE.

To die is thus defined by Webster: "To cease to live; to expire; to decease; to perish."

Death, then, is a loss of life, a cessation of existence. In this sense it is familiarly and repeatedly used in the Bible. Take four examples. Speaking of the flood, it says: "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth." Gen. 7:21. Of his cattle, Jacob said: "If men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die." Gen. 33:13. Again: "And the fish that is in the river shall die." Ex. 7:18. Of Dorcas, it says: "It came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died." Acts 9:37. The simple meaning in these instances cannot be misunderstood. It means an utter loss of life. And so it is used in hundreds of places all through the Scriptures. This familiar word is the one which the Lord has chosen more frequently than any other to describe the end of the wicked.

Take a few examples: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." "For his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." Eze. 18:4, 26. "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die." Eze. 33:14. "He that hateth reproof shall die," Prov. 15:10. "He that despiseth his ways shall die." Prov. 19:16. "The end of those things is death." "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:21, 23. "To be carnally minded is death." Rom. 8:6. "Shall save a soul from death." James 5:20. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. Death, then, simple, literal, and complete, is what the Bible everywhere declares to be the portion of the wicked.

THEY SHALL BE DESTROYED.

Destroy: "To demolish; to pull down; to bring to naught; to annihilate."—Webster. Destruction, then, is utter ruin, complete annihilation; and so it is used in the Bible. At the flood, the Lord said: "Every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." Gen. 7:4. Wild beasts shall "destroy your cattle." Lev. 26:22. "The trees . . . thou shalt destroy." Deut. 20:20. "He sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers." Matt. 22:7.

With a concordance, the reader can readily find scores of texts where the word destroy or destroyed is used as above, where there can be no question about its meaning. This strong but simple word the Lord has repeatedly used in naming the punishment of the wicked. Thus: "All the wicked will he destroy." Ps. 145:20. "I will early destroy all the wicked." Ps. 101:8. "Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. "The transgressors shall be destroyed together." Ps. 37:38. "All the workers of iniquity . . . shall be destroyed forever." Ps. 92:7. "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed." Prov. 13:13. "Is not destruction to the wicked?" Job. 31:3. "Destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity." Prov. 10:29. "The indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." Isa. 10:25. "Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Rom. 9:22. "Whose end is destruction." Phil. 3:19. "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9. How could language be more decisive as to the utter destruction of the wicked?

THEY SHALL PERISH.

Perish: "To die; to lose life in any manner; to be destroyed; to come to nothing." —Webster. Here is another word, the very strongest that can be found to denote an utter destruction, used many times to denote the end of the wicked.

Take a few passages to show its Bible usage. Of Saul, David said: "He shall descend into battle and perish." 1 Sam. 26:10. Of Jonah's gourd, it is said, "Which came up in a night, and perished in a night." Jonah 4:10. "And the bottles perish." Matt. 9:17. The "swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished." Matt. 8:32.

So, the Lord declares, the wicked shall end. "Let the wicked perish at the presence of God." Ps. 68:2. "But the wicked shall perish." Ps. 37:20. "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." John 3:15. "Thy money perish with thee." Acts 8:20. "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." Acts 13:41. "The cross is to them that perish foolishness." 1 Cor. 1:18. "In them that perish." 2 Cor. 2:15. "With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." 2 Thess. 2:10. "He that speaketh lies shall perish." Prov. 19:9. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3. "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." Rom. 2:12. "Shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Pet. 2:12. If this does not teach utter extinction, then language cannot do it.

THE LOVE OF GOD.

By David McCourt

WHAT in this path of life, so lone and drear, Beset by envy, hate, and woe, Can break the clouds of darkness that appear Oftimes to mortals here below? "Is there no help?" the lost and wretched cry; "Must life be lost, must man forever die?" Look up, ye helpless ones, to Heaven above; Bid darkness flee, and feel God's boundless love.

Oh! dark the scenes that often meet the gaze, Heart-stirring tones call forth the tear: O, Sin, we find no pleasure in thy ways, We know thy wages is the bier. That mighty chasm, horrid, deep, and broad, That frowns between the soul of man and God: Yet fear not, pilgrims, dark though it may be, The love of God can bridge that gulf for thee.

O, ye whose hearts are sunken deep in sin, Awake to Christ, he calls for thee, Fly to his arms, a holier life begin, And rise to immortality: Bid sin and all his mighty hosts depart, And yield to God thy undivided heart; While He imparts his Spirit, heavenly dove, An emblem of our Lord's undying love.

No longer linger in the gloom of night, In paths of sin to grope thy way: Arise and seek the fount of living light, The sunshine of eternal day: Arise, and fairer scenes will greet thine eyes, Sweet glimpses of thy home beyond the skies; Delay not, the accepted hour has come, Slight not God's love, He calls thee now, Come home.

Then onward pilgrims, tread the heavenly path, Though strait and narrow be the way; Fear not the threatening wars of Satan's wrath, Look up to Heaven, and trust and pray: Soon will thy pilgrimage draw to a close, Thou shalt be crowned victorious o'er thy foes: Then changed to life and immortality, Shalt sing God's love throughout eternity.

DAVID MCCOURT.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

By Ellen G. White

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS AND SATAN AND HIS ANGELS.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

ISAAC.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

THE Canaanites were idolaters, and the Lord had commanded that his people should not intermarry with them, lest they should be led into idolatry. Abraham was old, and he expected soon to die. Isaac was yet unmarried. Abraham was afraid of the corrupting influence surrounding his son, and was anxious to have a wife selected for him who would not lead him from God. He committed this matter to his faithful, experienced servant who ruled over all that he had. Abraham required his servant to make a solemn oath to him before the Lord, that he would not take a wife for Isaac of the Canaanites, but that he would go to Abraham's kindred, who believed in the true God, and select a wife for the young man. He charged him not to take Isaac to the country from which he came; for they were nearly all affected with idolatry. If he could not find a wife for Isaac who would leave her kindred and come where he was, then he should be clear of the oath which he had made. This important matter was not left with Isaac, for him to select for himself, independent of his father. Abraham tells his servant that God will send his angel before him to direct him in his choice.

The servant, taking with him ten camels and numerous presents for the intended wife and her relatives, started on his long journey up toward Damascus, and then on to the fertile plains that border on the great river of the East. Bethuel, the nephew of Abraham, was the owner of large flocks, but he dwelt in a town or city, to the wells outside of which the women were in the habit of resorting for water, and to which the servant of Abraham now drew near. It was an anxious time with the man; the happiness of the whole family in Canaan depended on the choice which he made, and how was he to choose wisely among those who were entire strangers to him? He remembered his master's words, that God would send his angel with him; and he prayed earnestly that certain evidence might be given him, he might not err in the matter.

His prayer was answered. Among the maidens gathered at the well he particularly noticed the engaging manners and courteous conduct of Rebekah, and he received the desired evidence that she was the one whom God had been pleased to select to become Isaac's wife. Full of joy the man inquired of her parentage, and on learning that she was the daughter of Bethuel, he “bowed down his head, and worshiped the Lord.” The maiden immediately informed her brother Laban of what had occurred, and they hastened to invite to their home the servant, with his attendants and the camels. Before he would partake of food, the servant told his errand, his prayer at the well, and the answer, with all the circumstances attending it. Then he said, “And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” The answer was, “The thing proceedeth from the Lord; we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee; take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.”

After all had been arranged, and the consent of the family had been obtained, Rebekah herself was consulted as to whether she would go with the servant of Abraham a great distance from her father's house, to become the wife of Isaac. She believed, from the circumstances that had taken place, that God's hand had selected her to become Isaac's wife, and she said, “I will go.”

The servant, knowing that his master would rejoice at the success of his mission, was impatient to be gone; and they immediately set out on the homeward journey. Abraham dwelt at Beersheba, and Isaac, who had been attending to the flocks in the adjoining country, had returned to his father's tent to await the arrival of the messenger from Haran. “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide; and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this, that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master; therefore she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. And he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.”

In ancient times marriage contracts were generally made by the parents, yet no compulsion was used to make persons marry those whom they could not love. But the children had confidence in the judgment of their parents, and followed their counsel, and bestowed their affections upon those whom their God-fearing, experienced parents chose for them. It was considered a crime to follow a course contrary to this.

What a contrast to the course now pursued by many children! Instead of showing reverence and due honor for their parents, by consulting them, and having the advantages of their experienced judgment in choosing for them, they move hastily in the matter, and are controlled by fancy and impulse rather than the fear of God. It is often the case that they contract marriage without even the knowledge of their parents. And, in many instances, the lives of parents are imbittered by the hasty marriages of their children, because the son-in-law or the daughter-in-law feels under no obligation to make them happy.

Abraham saw and realized the influence which an idolatrous wife would exert upon her husband. He would not have Isaac imperil his moral and religious character by connecting with a woman who was unacquainted with God. His eldest son had contracted an unhappy marriage. Ishmael's home was made miserable, his children were undisciplined, and their characters were uncourteous and disrespectful. They were not taught the knowledge of God. Abraham was unwilling that Isaac should run the risk of taking a wife of the heathen nations. He had marked the unhappy course of others, and the result of connecting with companions who knew not and feared not God, from the days of Cain to his own time.

However pure and correct the principles of the God-fearing, the society of an irreligious companion has an influence to lead away from God. Therefore, Abraham was determined on this point, that Isaac should marry one of his own nation. The women of other nations, many of them, attractive because of their beauty; but they lacked beauty of character. Abraham knew that true dignity, true elevation is to be found only in those who love and fear God. There is a debasement upon the entire character of the godless, who follow the imagination of their own hearts, and are filled with their own devices. But those who make God their trust, who are elevated by his grace, obedient to his requirements, seeking his glory, fearing his displeasure, will receive his blessing. They will have that hope and courage, that dignity, calmness, and self-possession, which only those can have who are connected with God. Abraham had maintained an habitual trust in God. The impress of such character is reproduced in their children. Yet Abraham saw that in Isaac there was a disposition to be yielding. He was a firm believer in God, but if connected with one of opposite character he would be in danger of losing his adherence to right, to avoid disagreeable consequences.

Evil associates include more than the immoral and profane. Connection with one who is known to be irreligious is contrary to God's order, and cannot fail to draw the soul away from Him. Those who have not the fear of God before them, who are not seeking to live in obedience to him, although they may be moral, intellectual, apparently refined, fashionable, wealthy, are not the ones for Christians to form a marriage alliance with. However agreeable their society may be, however entertaining their conversation, the word of God is plain upon the point; the Christian should not connect with them.

Those who enter the marriage relation while unconverted should not after conversion leave their unbelieving companions. Whatever their religious character may be, they must remain faithful, kind, and true toward them; yet they should acknowledge the claims of God above any earthly relationship, serving them with fidelity, even though the inconvenience, trials, and persecutions may arise for the sake of Christ and the truth. This persevering fidelity to truth and duty may have a sanctifying influence upon the unbelieving companion. But marriages formed under the understanding with unbelievers are forbidden by the word of God. The suit may be urged by the unbeliever, and inclination may plead that it be accepted; and inclination frequently triumphs; but Satan has the victory; temptation has not been resisted, and in nine cases out of ten both parties are lost to Christ.

There is a willing blindness in regard to the result of human action, the consequence of which reaches far into the future of man's existence. A life of bitterness and woe is before those who venture to disregard God's commands; but they pass heedlessly on, rashly taking solemn vows upon them, the believer binding up his life interest with an unbeliever. Domestic life and domestic relation are to be shared by those two, one professedly obeying God, and the other living in disregard of his requirements. How can two walk together, except they be agreed? If a woman respects not the claims of God, pays no heed to the bonds which bind her to religion, how can she be expected to be faithful to the law which binds her to her husband?

Young men and women sometimes manifest great independence upon the subject of marriage, as though the Lord had nothing to do with them, or they with the Lord, in that matter. They seem to think that it is purely a matter of their own, which neither God nor their parents should in any wise control, that the bestowal of their affections is a matter in which self alone should be consulted. Such make a serious mistake; and a few years of marriage experience generally teaches them that it is a miserable mistake. This is the great reason of so many unhappy marriages, in which there is so little true, generous love, and so little exercise of noble forbearance, toward each other. These often behave in their own homes more like pettish children, than the dignified, affectionate husband and wife.

Isaac had been trained in the fear of God to a life of obedience. And when he was forty years old, he submitted to have the God-fearing, experienced servant of his father choose for him. He believed that God would direct in regard to his obtaining a wife.

Children now from fifteen to twenty years of age generally consider themselves competent to make their own choice, without the consent of their parents. And they would look with astonishment, if it should be proposed to them to move in the fear of God, and make the matter a subject of prayer. Isaac's case is left on record, as an example for children in after generations, especially those who profess to fear God.

The course which Abraham pursued in the education of Isaac, that caused him to love a life of noble obedience, is recorded for the benefit of parents, and should lead them to command their households after them. They should instruct their children to yield to, and respect their authority. And they should feel that a responsibility rests upon them to guide the affections of their children, that they may be placed upon persons who in their judgment would be suitable companions for their sons and their daughters. It is a sad fact that Satan controls the affections of the young to a great extent. And some parents feel that the affections should not be guided or restrained. The course pursued by Abraham is a rebuke to all such.

Speaking Too Soon.

By Dr. Howard Crosby

It has been common to say that Scripture makes a mistake in speaking of the ant as storing up its food, that in reality it only stores up its eggs; but Colonel Sykes discovered at Poonah a species of ants (Atta Providens) which regularly stores up the seeds of millet for its food in stormy weather. The objectors did not know enough when they corrected the science of Scripture. They have been equally premature when they have objected to the Scripture statement regarding the ostrich abandoning its eggs, for late researches have proved that the ostrich quits her eggs during the day, and abandons them altogether if there has been any intrusion upon them, thus furnishing an admirable type of carelessness regarding offspring.—Dr. Howard Crosby.

The Desolation of Babylon.

It is usual for travelers to dwell upon the utter desolation of Babylon, and to paint its site as a strip of desert, especially woe-begone and unfertile. But the eloquent gentlemen who dwell upon this aspect of the place could not have seen it in the middle of April. The date groves and gardens along the banks of the Euphrates are then things of beauty in their fresh spring verdure, and the plain itself is laid down with crops. Irrigation canals cross it here and there and give trouble to the horseman. No grass grows upon the mounds, and there are patches of the level white with the niter which is to be found here as in other parts of Mesopotamia; but the surface of the soil is, on the whole, green and pleasant to the eye. The glad waters of the river flow on in the bright morning sunshine, with palm and mulberry hanging over its banks, drinking in sap and life. The great city which counted its population by millions, and filled the world with renown not yet forgotten, has disappeared under the dust of twenty centuries, but nature is as fresh and jocund as when Babylon was still unbuilt. Birds sing overhead in the pleasant spring air; butterflies flutter about in search of flowers; balmy odors regale the sense. It is difficult under the circumstances to feel as one perhaps ought to feel for the great capital which once cumbered this ground. Nature does not mourn for it, and it is hard to be sad at the bidding of sentiment when the bright spring hides its grave.—Through Asiatic Turkey.

Ascending Above Moral Difficulties

INFINITE toil will not enable you to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little you may look over it altogether. So it is with our moral improvement; we wrestle fiercely with a vicious habit, which would have no hold upon us should we ascend into a higher atmosphere.

SABBATON:

By Uriah Smith

AN EXPOSITION OF MATT. 28: 1, AND PARALLEL PASSAGES.

(Concluded.)

THE SABBATH BETWEEN.

SOME suppose that evidence is found in Acts 13: 42, for Sunday-keeping. The text reads: "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." The margin says, "In the week between, or, in the Sabbath between." The word rendered "next" is metaxu, and is defined by Greenfield: "Between; Matt. 23: 35, &c. ; ho metaxu, intervening time, en to metaxu, sc. chrono, in the meantime, meanwhile, John 4: 31; by turns, mutually, Rom. 2: 12; ho metaxu, subsequent, following, succeeding, next. Acts 13: 42."

1. This is all the material with which they are furnished by this text. How do they manipulate it into proof for a first-day Sabbath? That the day in which Paul delivered the discourse of which this verse is a part, was the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, as stated in verse 14, is on all hands conceded. Now, granting that metaxu here means between (which is only one of its meanings), and that the request was that another meeting should be held on the Sabbath between, how does this prove that the first day of the week is here intended? The first day is not named; no day of the week is specified; and nothing is proved for the first day over any other of the days of the week.

2. The term sabbaton is applied in the New Testament to only three objects: 1st. The Sabbath proper, the last day of each week. 2d. The space of time included between these Sabbaths, or the sabbaths of the Jews. Our friends will not claim that Acts 13: 42, refers to any ceremonial sabbath. They contend that it does not refer to the Sabbath upon the last day of the week, as observed by the Jews. It must, then, in this instance, mean the only other thing to which it is ever applied, namely, the space between, or the whole week, as the margin of our common version reads, "In the week between." But this would prove nothing for a first-day Sabbath.

3. If it means as is claimed, a Sabbath between, then we inquire, Between what? Between two seventh-day Sabbaths certainly; between that Sabbath on which Paul spoke and the next one like it. But what was there between these? There were six whole days of the week. And if one of these is a Sabbath between, who will tell us which one it is? This text neither tells nor intimates. It does not therefore look well for our friends to assume it too positively.

4. We inquire further, Who were the ones who made this request of Paul? Answer. The Gentiles. They were neither Jews nor Christians. They could not have been keeping the Sunday in honor of Christ's resurrection, or in any sense as a Christian institution; for they made no profession of the Christian religion. This is proof positive that their request had no reference to the observance of the first day as a Christian Sabbath.

5. For these reasons, metaxu cannot here have the meaning of between, but that of next, subsequent, next in order, following; and we do no violence to the language by giving it this definition; for it has this meaning equally with the other. So Dr. Bloomfield says: "The sense expressed in our common version is, no doubt, the true one. It is adopted by the best recent commentators and confirmed by the ancient versions."

6. Having seen that there is no proof in verse 42 for a first-day Sabbath, we come now to verse 44, which forever annihilates the first-day claim by showing what day that next Sabbath was, namely, the next seventh day of the week. For we read: "And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." This record shows how Paul complied with the request of those Gentiles, and so determines what that request was. They did not ask him to speak on one day, and he speak on another. No; this "next Sabbath" of verse 44, on which Paul spoke, was the "next Sabbath" of verse 42, on which they requested him to speak. And does any one say that this was the Sabbath between? Let us see if it was. It is claimed on verse 42 that it was the Sabbath between because the word metaxu is used, which, among others, has that meaning. Now if this had been what the writer of the Acts designed to teach, he would have used in verse 44, this same word metaxu, which sometimes means between; or, more probably, he would use some stronger word which always has this meaning. But so far from this, he uses a word which never has this meaning. The word used in this case is erchomeno, a participle from the verb erchomai, which means primarily, to come. So here it is the coming or next Sabbath, and so far as we have been able to learn is uniformly so translated. So Bloomfield says that the supposition that verse 42 means some intermediate week day is refuted by verse 44.

But was not the envy of the Jews stirred, as mentioned in verse 45, because they saw a new Sabbath supplanting the one they had always observed? Nothing of this kind is stated. But it says that when they saw the multitudes they were filled with envy. They were envious that the preaching of the gospel should call forth such crowds, while their own worship excited comparatively little attention. It is truly surprising that any one should urge such an argument as this in proof of a change of the Sabbath.

It is not singular that first-day advocates should be anxious to dispose of this case; for, as it stands, it effectually cuts off the claim that Paul made use of the seventh day for the purpose of getting the ears of the Jews, inasmuch as this meeting on the Sabbath pertained wholly to the Gentiles. But they do their cause no service by the method of argument which they adopt. U. S.

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