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Review and Herald, Vol. 49, No. 16.

THE SAVIOUR AND THE LAW

Review and Herald

Apr 19, 1877

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 19, 1877

THE SAVIOUR AND THE LAW.

By R. M. Kilgore

BY ELD. R. M. KILGORE.
TEXT: “The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.
The prophet, in this chapter, is speaking about the mission of the Son of God, when he should come to accomplish the work which his Father gave him to do. In Matt. 12:17–20, Christ refers to this prophecy as being fulfilled in the work he was then doing. He was, therefore, the servant in whom the soul of the Lord delighted. The Father was well pleased because of the righteousness of his Son; for in him was no iniquity, neither was there guile found in his mouth. He came to do his Father’s will, He says: “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8.
The prophet declares that he will make the law honorable. It is not said that he will enact a new law, and make it honorable. No, not at all. It evidently refers to a law which he finds here when he comes—a law which men have disregarded, trampled upon, and broken. He came to do the will of God, and honor his law by obeying it. He said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” John 15:10.
He could not have made the law honorable by changing or abolishing it. This would have shown the law to be a dishonorable document, and also an imperfect one; but the Psalmist says, “The law of the Lord is perfect.” Ps. 19:7. He made the law honorable by taking his position in its favor, and declaring, in his first discourse, that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets. He says, “I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matt. 5:17. To fulfill a law, is to keep, to ratify, to establish, to make firm, to act out its requirements, to obey it. This will fulfill a law, founded on moral principles, and nothing else will; and since it is a duty for God’s intelligent creatures in all ages, every day and hour, to be moral, the law developing such principles can only be fulfilled by a perfect obedience to such a law. James strengthens this when he says, “If ye fulfill the royal law . . . ye do well;” “and whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of a transgression of the law.” Chap. 2:8, 10.
Christ solemnly affirms its perpetuity and immortality. Hear him: “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Verse 17. By the first “till” he carries the mind forward about two thousand years from his time, when the heavens and earth pass away. 2 Peter 3:10. And by the second “till” we are carried still beyond, to that time when the people shall be all righteous, and inherit the land forever. Isa. 60:21, and 66:22, 23. And when all shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest. Then, in the kingdom of God, will all the people be fulfilling perfectly the law of God. With this view there is some force to these words of Christ. But if as some affirm, the law was all fulfilled, and therefore ceased, at the cross, it would be a very queer kind of a climax for Christ to say, Verily, I say unto you, “till” about two thousand years, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till about three years from this time. And to make it more absurd, he should have added to this, I came not to destroy, but I came to abolish. But Christ did not so understand the meaning of the word fulfill. He came to John to be baptized, that he might “fulfill all righteousness.” Matt. 3:15; but he subsequently enjoins righteousness upon his disciples. “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:20. He requires his disciples to fulfill the rule of righteousness—of right doing—more perfectly than the Scribes and Pharisees had done. It certainly was not a new rule which he should give them, but the same one which the Scribes and Pharisees had, but failed to fulfill.
He will magnify the law. How? By changing it? By striking from it any of its requirements? This would be doing just the opposite. Instead of magnifying it, this would make it less. To magnify is to make any object look larger, to expand its proportions so that we can see that which we had not seen before.
A drop of water, placed under a magnifying glass, is seen to contain numbers of animalculæ invisible to the naked eye.—The most distant objects are discovered under the powerful lenses of the telescope; and yet, these objects are actually the same. The telescope does not add a particle of matter to the distant planet,—nor does the magnifying glass increase the number of living things in the drop of water. They simply reveal what is already there, and no more.
What, then will Christ do when he magnifies the law? Will he, like some of his professed disciples, place the law under the small end of the telescope, and thus throw it so far in the distance that no one can see it? No. Neither will he act the part of the tyrant, in history, who posted his law so high that his subjects could not read it, and then punished them because they would not obey him. But we shall expect to see him bring out points in the law which were invisible before. Every jot and tittle will look larger, and thus reveal to our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things contained in the law. Ps. 119:18.
Christ here takes up the smallest commandment in the law. “Thou shalt not kill,” as an example of his magnifying power. “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” The Jews had always supposed that to break this commandment, life had to be taken. They did not understand they were condemned by simply harboring anger and hatred in their hearts against another. They had failed to comprehend that “God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:14. They would not take up stones themselves and kill the Son of God, but they could stir up the Roman authorities by accusing him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation: he maketh himself a king, we have no king but Cæsar.” “Crucify him; crucify him.”
Then Pilate delivered him to the soldiers to be crucified. Who were the murderers of the Son of God? Pilate washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” Was he not guilty? And although the Jews did not drive the nails through his hands and feet, or thrust the spear into his side, were they not guilty of murder? Peter says to them, “Ye have killed the Prince of life;” and Stephen adds, “Ye have been now the betrayers and murderers of the Just One.” That malice and hatred which led them to clamor for the blood of Christ and to look, with such complacency upon their dark deed, was murder. “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” 1 John 3:15.
He takes another: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” When magnified it is seen to reach even to the thoughts of the heart. The Jews brought a woman to Christ, who had broken the commandment openly, and said, “Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might accuse him.” But he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” He arose and said, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” In view of this extension of this commandment, they discovered that they themselves were guilty of its violation; and, one by one, they went out condemned, leaving the woman alone with Christ, who said, “Go and sin no more.” He knew the hearts of those wicked Jews, and called them a “wicked and adulterous generation.”
That law which is “spiritual,” when magnified is “exceedingly broad.” It condemns every evil work, and approves every good deed. Gal. 5:19–23. The thoughts and intents of the heart, the dark and hidden acts of men, will be revealed “when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” Rom. 2:12–16; Eccl. 12:13, 14.
In this same discourse, Christ plainly expresses his views concerning another law—one that is not moral in its character, or in its nature universal. Instead of magnifying and enforcing it, he sets it aside, reverses its requirements, and gives other precepts in their place, thus showing a clear distinction between these two very different codes. He says, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Here is another example: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
Now, strange as it may appear, this very law which Christ did abolish, is, to-day, very generally obeyed; for many seem to think it is all right to hate their enemy, and would fain try to magnify that law which says, an eye for an eye, by taking two eyes for one, and in their zeal extracting two teeth instead of one; while the other law, which Christ did establish and magnify, they disobey.
New we are told that the Sabbath is merely a Jewish institution. Why, then, did not the Son of God, while commenting upon these two different codes, settle forever this troublesome question, thus: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. But I say unto you, that, after my resurrection, the first day shall be the Sabbath; for on that day I shall rise from the dead; wherefore, on it ye shall celebrate my resurrection”? This would have put a quietus upon this subject. Then indeed would the old “Jewish Sabbath” have been buried with Christ, and it never would have had a resurrection. This he could easily have done. Why was it not done? The answer is, “The Sabbath was made for man.” It belonged to that law of universal obligation, of which Christ said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17.

“REVIVAL AND DOCTRINAL PREACHING.”

By Roswell F. Cottrell

The copied article under this heading in Review of March 15 I esteem highly. Preaching, to be of real value, must have its foundation in truth. When this foundation is laid, stirring appeals to arouse to action are in order. The fact that the teaching of truth is out of fashion in these days, assuming that the people do not need teaching, but merely arousing, is a good reason for insisting upon the necessity of doctrinal preaching. The people have become alarmingly ignorant, though fancying that they know all that is worth knowing, and merely emotional appeals and “rhetorical flourishes,” leave them in their ignorance, satisfied with their imperfect knowledge of the truth.
It is safe to follow apostolic example in the mode of preaching. It is well to read the discourses of Peter and Paul, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and preach in accordance with them. A model sermon is found in Acts 13:16–41. It consists of a statement of facts of God’s dealing with men in the past, his promises in prophecy and the fulfillment in the facts of the then present time, and concludes with a cautionary appeal and exhortation to faith in what God was doing in their day, making present truth important to be believed, as a proper motive to action. Ministers would do well to study this model.
It was revealed by the Spirit to the apostle Paul that the people in the last days would turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned to fables, therefore he solemnly charged Timothy to preach the word; and it is recorded for the instruction of all preachers to the very last day. When fables abound, doctrinal preaching is especially needed. I will conclude this writing by quoting Paul to Timothy on doctrinal preaching.
“I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, . . . that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.” Every sort of sin is set forth as being “contrary to sound doctrine.” “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” “Let the elders that rule well be countedworthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” “That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.” “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing,” &c. “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.” “And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” “Thou hast fully known my doctrine.” “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.” “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.”
If the predicted time is come, there is a pressing need of doctrinal preaching.
R. F. COTTRELL.

Evening Hymn.

By Faber

Sweet Saviour! Bless us ere we go; Thy word into our minds instill; And make our lukewarm hearts to glow With lowly love and fervent will.
The day is done; its hours have run; And thou hast taken count of all The scanty triumphs grace hath won, The broken vow, the frequent fall.
Grant us, dear Lord! from all our ways True absolution and release; And bless us more than in past days With purity and inward peace.
Do more than pardon—give us joy, Sweet fear and sober liberty, And loving hearts without alloy, That only long to be like Thee.
Labor is sweet, for Thou hast toiled; And care is light, for Thou hast cared; Let not our works with self be soiled, Nor in unsimple ways be snared.
For all we love—the poor, the sad, The sinful—unto Thee we call; O, let Thy mercy make us glad! Thou art our Jesus and our all. —Faber.

CATECHISM OF THE M. E. CHURCH ON THE LAW OF GOD.

By A. Smith

“85. What does God require of man?”
“Obedience to his revealed will. ‘Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.’ Eccl. 12:13. ‘What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, . . . and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?’ Deut. 10:12.”
“86. What is the rule of our obedience?”
“The moral law. ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ Matt. 19:17.”
“87. Where is the moral law given?”
“In the ten commandments. Ex. 20:1–17.”
The first three commandments are next given, verbatim, with proof texts.
“91. What is the fourth commandment?”
“‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’”
“‘Ye shall keep my Sabbath, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.’ Lev. 19:30. ‘Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein.’ Lev. 23:3. ‘It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’ Ex. 31:17. ‘God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.’ Gen. 2:3. ‘Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest.’ Ex. 23:12. ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father.’ Isa. 58:13, 14.”—No. 2, pp. 38–40.

SIN.

“30. What is sin?”
“Any transgression of the law of God. 1 John 3:4. ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin.’ Rom. 3:20. ‘Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.’ 1 John 3:4. ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.’ 1 John 3:8.”—No. 2, p. 18.
“103. Are all Christians under obligation to keep the law?”
“Yes; they are ‘not without law to God, but under the law to Christ.’ 1 Cor. 9:21. ‘Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.’ 1 Cor. 7:19. ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ Matt. 5:17, 18.”—No. 2, p. 43.

THE WORD OF GOD.

“76. Whence do we derive all correct knowledge of religious truth and duty?”
“From the Holy Bible.”
“78. What is the only sufficient rule of a Christian’s faith and practice?”
“The word of God, as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.”—No. 2, p. 35.
In this connection are given the following proof texts in full, to the last two of which I invite the reader’s special attention, as they are here used in support of Bible truth alone. Ps. 19:7; 2 Tim. 3:15; James 1:25; Gal. 1:8; Rev. 22:18.
I can find nothing in Nos. 1 and 2 concerning a change of the Sabbath; and number three I have not been able to procure. In the editor’s preface, he says: “It is not published as a child’s catechism merely, but as the Catechism of the Church, including both young and old.”
The manuscript of this work was examined and approved in 1851, by Bishop E. Hedding, N. Bangs, S. Olin, and J. Holdich. In the following year it was approved by a committee composed of Revs. Elias Bowen, Geo. Webber, and John H. Power. By a unanimous vote of the General Conference at the same time, the report of the committee was accepted, and the catechism ordered printed.
I have given the scripture texts in full for the benefit of those who may have to meet publicly Methodist opposers of the Bible Sabbath.
By the answers to questions 76 and 78 a Methodist minister might be held to Bible proof alone for a change of the Sabbath, and if they do otherwise, in the name of the Methodist church they are anathematized and cursed by Gal. 1:8 and Rev. 22:18. And as to the obligation of a Methodist to keep the commandments as given in Ex. 20:1–17, we have but to cite them to questions 86, 87, 91, and 103.
A. Smith.

OBEDIENCE TO GOD.

By N. W. Vincent

Our Maker is pleased with prompt, trustful obedience. Just as a child shows respect to his parents and teachers by doing cheerfully and faithfully exactly what they bid him, so we honor God when we truly obey him. “This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3.
All transgression of God’s law is sin. By it, Satan and his host lost Heaven. By it, Adam and Eve lost Eden. By sin, the first death came into the world. And on account of it, the second death will be suffered by the enemies of God. While disobeying any divine precept knowingly, we are walking in the steps of Satan, in the broad, fashionable road whose terminus will be the lake of fire. “The wages of sin is death;” but since Jesus, the just and holy, the pitying Son of God, has died in our stead, our sins, though red like crimson, may be as white as snow. Isa. 1:18.
Obedience to the faith of Jesus will lead us to break off our transgressions with sorrow and contrition of spirit, to come to Jesus in earnest prayer and self-yielding, to believe the gospel and be baptized; to be dead to sin and to live to righteousness.
When our hearts are purified through faith in the blood of Christ, and the hope of his kingdom, we then delight in the law of God. We will delight to know God’s will, for we will be willing to do it. We will seek after his commandments; we will make haste and delay not to keep them. Our love to God in Christ Jesus will lead us to choose his way, and our sincere desire to please him will incline us to walk therein. Hos. 14:9. This narrow, unfashionable way leads to life. Matt. 19:17. Rev. 22:14.
Let us walk in it, dear reader, that with our fellow travelers, all who wholly follow God like Caleb and Joshua, we may ere long be partakers of the heavenly inheritance. N. W. VINCENT.

MY TIMES ARE IN THINE HAND.

By Jos. Clarke

DAVID had been called of God, and set apart by the prophet Samuel, at an early age, as the anointed king of Israel. Almost at the commencement of his career, he found he had before him a life of difficulty and of peril; and he lost no time in placing his cause in the hands of a merciful and faithful God, who was amply able to defend his cause.
Nothing can exceed the devotion and love David felt and expressed as he penned his Psalms. Some of these are expressive of love and praise and adoration; others are full of sorrow and contrition for his departures from God and his sad wanderings in the ways of the world. Others express his heartfelt petitions for protection in time of danger, from foes who lay in wait at every turn in life, to destroy his character and his prospects or his life.
In all these varieties of trial, he learned to look to God alone for the aid he might need; and he found the help he called for; and he gave to God thanks daily for the answers he received to his prayers. In the exercise of humble faith in all the walks of private and public life, David is without an equal in history; and the constant practice he kept up throughout his life, of confiding his difficulties and burdens to God, and the relief and help he obtained, served daily to increase his confidence in God. This humble faith grew more and more strong as he advanced in years; and the words we have taken as a text present to us at once the unshaken confidence David felt in his heavenly Father, as to his life, which was so often placed in peril.
My life, my all, my years, are in thine hand. As David made this exclamation his mind rested in calm, settled faith upon God. It was his custom, as he retired to his lonely couch at night, whether in youth, as a humble shepherd, or as he, in after-life, reposed in caves and dens of the mountains when hunted by his foes, or upon the battle field, or when among conspirators, to commit his life to the keeping of God.
It is truly refreshing to witness the complete triumph of faith in such circumstances as this; and to appreciate it in any degree, one should be very familiar with the history of David’s life. This one feature that we present at this time will illustrate others. My times are in thine hand. Thou art to decide in this thing. Man may plan to destroy David. Absalom, Saul, Goliath, may decree that David is to fall. The kings of the earth may arise to fulfill the decree; but if God decree that David is to live on, then enemies decree in vain.
Could we all, in all the varied walks in life, say as David said, “My times are in thine hand,” how happy for us! This calm, confiding faith supports the soul in every trial. Jos. CLARKE.

TWO GREAT STORMS.

[Perhaps some of the readers of the Review will be interested in the following from the Cornhill Magazine. It seems more remarkable, as the first of the great storms occurred in 1780, the same year with the Dark Day. These remarkable signs of the end of time were only five years, or about that time, from the date of the great earthquake in Lisbon. W. P.]
The most terrible storm which has, perhaps, ever occurred is that which has been called the Great Storm. It occurred, or rather its worst effects were experienced, on October 10, 1780. Generated probably in mid-Atlantic, not far from the equator, it was first felt in Barbadoes, where trees and houses were blown down. Capt. Maury, in his “Physical Geography of the Sea,” gives a rather exaggerated account of the effects produced by this storm in Barbadoes, apparently from memory, some of the details being like, but not quite the same, as those actually recorded.
He says, “The bark was blown from the trees, and the fruits of the earth destroyed; the very bottom and depths of the sea were uprooted—forts and castles were washed away, and their great guns carried in the air like chaff.” The bark of trees was removed, but, it is believed, rather through the effects of electric action than by the power of the wind. Cannon, also, were driven along the batteries, and flung over into the fosse, but not “carried in the air like chaff.” At Martinique the storm overtook a French transport fleet, and entirely destroyed it. There were forty vessels, conveying 4,000 soldiers, and the Governor of Martinique reported their fate to the French Government in three words: “The vessels disappeared.” Nine thousand persons perished at Martinique and 1,000 at St. Pierre, where not a house was left standing. St. Domingo, St. Vincent, St. Eustache, and Porto Rico were next visited and devastated, while scarcely a single vessel near this part of the cyclone’s track was afloat on Oct. 11. At Port Royal, thecathedral, seven churches, and 1,400 houses were blown down, and 1,600 sick and wounded persons were buried beneath the ruins of the hospital. At the Bermudas fifty British ships were driven ashore, two line-of-battle ships went down at sea, and 22,000 persons perished.
Perhaps the most remarkable effects of the storm in this portion of its course were those experienced in the Leeward Isles. The hurricane drove a twelve-pounder cannon a distance of 400 feet. Those who lived in the Government Building took refuge in the central part, where circular walls, nearly a yard thick, seemed to afford promise of safety. But at 11:30 o’clock the wind had broken down parts of these walls, and lifted off the roof. Terrified, they sought refuge in the cellarage, but before long the water had risen there to the height of more than a yard, and they were driven into the battery, where they placed themselves behind the heavier cannons, some of which were driven from their place by the force of the wind. When day broke, the country looked as if it had been blasted by fire; not a leaf, scarce even a branch, remained upon the trees. As in great floods a common terror preserves peace among animals which usually war upon each other, so during the great storm human passions were for the time quelled by the fiercer war of the elements.
Among the ships destroyed at Martinique were two English war-ships. Twenty-five sailors who survived, surrendered themselves prisoners to the Marquis of Bouillé, the Governor of the island. But he sent them to St. Lucie, writing to the English governor of that island that “he was unwilling to retain as prisoners men who had fallen into his hands during a disaster from which so many had suffered.”
The great storm of 1780 must not be confounded with the storm remembered for many years in Great Britain as the Great Storm. The latter occurred November 26, 1703, and its worst effects were experienced not as usual in the tropics, but in Western Europe. The reader will remember Macaulay’s reference to it in his essay on the “Life and Writings of Addison.” In his famous poem, “The Campaign,” Addison has compared Marlborough to an angel guiding the whirlwind. “We must point out,” writes Macaulay, “one circumstance which appears to have escaped all the critics. The extraordinary effect which this simile produced when it first appeared, and which to the following generation appeared inexplicable, is doubtless to be chiefly attributed to a line which most readers now regard as a feeble parenthesis:
‘Such as, of late, o’er pale Britannia passed.’
“Addison spoke, not of a storm, but of The Storm. The great tempest of November, 1703, the only tempest which in our latitude has equaled the rage of a tropical hurricane, had left a dreadful recollection in the minds of all men. No other tempest was ever in this country the occasion of a parliamentary address or of a public fast. Whole fleets had been cast away. Large mansions had been blown down. One prelate had been buried beneath the ruins of his palace. London and Bristol had presented the appearance of cities just sacked. Hundreds of families were still in mourning. The prostrate trunks of large trees, and the ruins of houses, still attested, in all the Southern counties, the fury of the blast.”
He strangely omits to mention one of the most striking events connected with the terrible storm,—the destruction of the Eddystone Lighthouse. Winstanley, the architect of the first Eddystone Lighthouse, was confident that it could resist the fiercest storm which ever blew, and expressed a hope that he might be in it when such a storm raged. On November 26 he arrived with a party of men who were engaged to repair the building. The great storm soon after began to blow, and raged throughout the night. On the morning of the 27th no trace of the lighthouse was to be seen.

PROPHECY FULFILLED.—SIGNS OF THE END.

By Chas. B. Reynolds

On every hand the signs of the end multiply. The prophet Isaiah warns us: “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever [margin, latter day], that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord.” Isa. 30:8, 9. This is everywhere fulfilled by professed Christians’ coming to our ministers and urging them to stop preaching so much about the law. “Just preach practical sermons,” say they, “preach Jesus, and let the law, especially the Sabbath, alone.” But now we find it is authoritatively declared. We copy the following item from The Living Issue, of Mar. 27, 1877: “At Walsall, England, it has been decided to exclude the ten commandments from the religious teaching in the board schools, on the ground that difficulties would arise in explaining the fourth and seventh commandments to children. The passage from the New Testament has been substituted, running, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,’” etc.
We are nearing the end. Lord help us to be in earnest in self-sacrificing efforts to spread the light of present truth, that we can consistently pray, “Thy kingdom come.” How much we need a mission in England! May the Lord open the way.
CHAS. B. REYNOLDS.

THE LORD SPEAKS.

By J. M. Gallemore

“How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” Ex. 16: 28.
The above is the language of the Lord addressed to his chosen nation, after he had led them out of that Egyptian bondage under which they were held, and had commenced to feed them with that spiritual bread that came from heaven. The occasion of this language by the Lord to his people, all are familiar with. Having led them out of their state of bondage, and brought them where they could keep his commandments, he is now ready to test them, and this he does on the Sabbath commandment. See Ex. 16: 4, 5.
God is leading his people to-day through a wilderness of woe, trials, and troubles. Like the children of Israel, they are traveling to a better land. And now that the salvation of the Lord is near to be revealed; now that the people of God are beginning to look up, knowing that their redemption is near, knowing that the promised return of their absent Saviour is close at hand, and viewing as they do, by an eye of faith, the promised rich inheritance, is it at all strange that God is again applying his test, and proving his people, before they are permitted to enter upon the promised inheritance? His test is the same,—his holy Sabbath. He again speaks, and his language is the same: “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?”
The fourth commandment, the one that enjoins God’s Sabbath, the one that bears the seal of God, the commandment that says the seventh day is the Sabbath (or rest) of the Lord God, is the only one that the professed people of God are particularly rebelling against, and for which they are offering a substitute. And now that they are from under the iron heel of that presuming and exacting power which most certainly invented this substitute (the papacy) and in a land where they can worship God without fear or molestation, God is surely testing them as he did his people of old. The testing time has come, though many of God’s people, who are dull of hearing, and hard to understand, have not yet realized it. But is it not time they were awakening, and opening their eyes to the light that is in this day being shed upon God’s revealed will?
May the veil of darkness be torn away, and may the light of truth shine in. We are living in an especially testing time. God’s Sabbath is his test. How many will stand the test we cannot tell. But we know that not all who came out of Egypt were found worthy to enter Canaan. We know that the narration of the journeying of the children of Israel to the promised land was given for our benefit, upon whom the ends of the world are come. The things that befell them are for our admonition. Will we profit by them?
May the Lord help us to do so. May he help us to keep his commandments; and may we keep them in spirit as well as in letter, a thing which we shall not be able to do until we are brought from under the bondage of sin, until we have become dead to sin and alive to Christ. When this is accomplished, then shall we be enabled to exclaim with the psalmist David, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”
J. M. GALLEMORE.

OUR OCCUPATION.

By Eliza H. Morton

Some people seem to think that Christians should take no interest in worldly matters. This I think is a mistake. Christ says “occupy till I come,” and certainly as long as we are in the world we must use the things of the world. Occupation prevents sin. “An idle brain is Satan’s workshop;” therefore, it is for our spiritual good to keep employed. I do not mean by this that the Christian should become so engrossed in his business as to neglect his hours of prayer or meditation, or so fill his mind with worldly thoughts as to leave “no room for Jesus there.” The mind can, in a measure, be upon heavenly things while the hands are employed with temporal affairs. The farmer can see the goodness of God as manifested in the return of seed-time and harvest, and recognize the beneficence of the all-wise Being as displayed in the beauties of nature, and the comforts which are derived from the fruit of the ground.
The carpenter can remember that the Saviour of the world learned and practiced that trade. The teacher can think of Him who “taught as never man taught,” and we all can see some connection between our business and the work of Jehovah in creating the world to be inhabited. If we are consecrated to God, then our occupation will be the means of helping us on in the divine life. It may not be asked in the Judgment what occupation we followed when on earth; but it may be asked what effect our work had upon our hearts and lives and what influence upon the hearts and lives of others.
Let us, then, not become tired of our work and sick of the world, but let us perform well what our hands find to do, improve the time, live above the world while we mingle with it, set such an example and speak such words as shall show to others that we indeed “have been with Jesus.” “If we are faithful,” in this world, “in that which is least” we shall, by and by, have the true riches entrusted to our care, and when the Master returns, receive a reward rich and full, even an inheritance glorious and eternal.
ELIZA H. MORTON.

THE INSTINCT OF WILD GEESE.

THE St. Louis Republican says: “Dr. Lankford, who returned a day or two since from the southeastern part of the State, mentions the following curious fact in natural history. He gives the statement on the authority of W. R. Smith, a leading farmer and miller living near Morley, Scott County, Mo. About a year ago Mr. Smith captured two young wild geese, and raised them with the balance of his domestic goslings. The wild ones became quite tame, and took kindly to the changes of civilized life. They adapted their habits to the ordinary delights of the barnyard, and swam in the pond with the tame geese, without showing a disposition to go on a wild goose chase. At length, about the 4th of November, the weather began to change, and after being domesticated some eight months the wild fellows, prompted by an instinct to seek a more sunny clime on the approach of winter, spread their wings to the breeze, and started on a migratory tour, flying southward. Their departure was natural and to be expected. After an absence of two months, early in January, great was Mr. Smith’s surprise to find, on getting up one morning, that the two wild geese had returned to their old haunts on his farm. They not only returned, but eleven more wild geese came with them as visitors, which they piloted safely from some southern bayou. The new-comers made themselves at home and were fed and fondled by the children. They come up to the mill at feeding time to get their rations, and gabble all together, and put on all the airs of civilized geese who have had a good moral training.”
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