Your ShelfYour Projects

Review and Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 22

THE COUNSEL OF THE TRUE WITNESS.

Review and Herald

Third-day, November 12, 1867

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, November 12, 1867

THE COUNSEL OF THE TRUE WITNESS.

By Eld. C. O. Taylor

BY ELD. C. O. TAYLOR.
TEXT. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Rev. iii, 18.
There are a few thoughts and considerations to which I wish to call attention respecting the counsel to the last church. The importance of this counsel cannot be too highly considered. The results reach far into the future, covering all eternity. It is my buying and coming into possession of the things offered, that will make me rich, clothe, and give me eyesight. If I do not know what to buy, am I not as one beating the air, if I run at all? If I do not run, do I not get behind? If I put forth effort, should it not be in the right direction? If I am willing to buy, in every sense of the word, should I not know what to buy?
In answering the question, What does the gold represent? and in coming to our conclusions on this important subject, the following points are to be considered, namely:
We are to look at gold in all its qualities; then we are to find a Christian grace that will equal or excel it in all its qualities. If there is such a grace, and we can find it, then we have found the gold, and may buy. We apply this rule to the white raiment. We find that righteousness, wrought out for us in and by Jesus Christ, fits in all its parts. It covers our filthy rags; or by giving them away we get something better. So with the eyesalve. The Holy Ghost applies in all its particulars. It gives wisdom and sight. We should apply the same rule to the gold, and find a grace that will resemble it in as many points as possible. I have never seen but one grace that to my mind answered the purpose, and that is love. I wish to speak. I can do so only in this direction, and will, with love toward all that may differ from me.
In the examination of this point we ask, What is gold? 1. Refined gold, such as the text refers to, is one mineral. It is not a mixture of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, like Nebuchadnezzar’s image. This being the case, it does not represent graces, plural. I see some propriety in saying that the white raiment stands for graces, plural, for a garment is composed of different articles. The same with the eyesalve. It may be composed of different ingredients. Not so with refined gold. Therefore I do not understand how it can represent more graces than one. It would spoil the figure to make it do otherwise, and throw confusion into the principles of interpretation. The counsel to buy gold is nothing more than the general teachings of Christ and his apostles, if it represents the leading Christian graces, plural. If it is one grace, as gold is one mineral, and we can learn which that one is, then we shall know what to buy. In this respect, love fitly represents it. Love is one pure grace, independent of all others.
2. Gold is very ancient. Gen. ii, 11. The same can be said of love. It existed far back in the long ages of the past, dwelling in the bosom of the Father in the gift of his Son to die for our lost race.
3. Gold is the standard of coins, and of all commerce. So with love; it is the standard of action, it is the fulfilling of the law.
4. Gold is current in all countries, and at all times. The same with love. It takes with the high and low, rich and poor, even with one’s enemy. It is genuine in all climes and among all nations. It tames even the red man of the forest, causing him never to forget acts of love shown him.
5. Gold is very durable. It is written of love that it endureth forever.
6. Gold does not rust, canker, or decay, or at least, as little as any metal. The same, and more, can be said of love. It endures all time, all changes, all seasons. The more of trial, affliction, and persecution it gets, the brighter it shines, the more it increases. Many waters cannot quench it, neither can the flood drown it. Cant. viii, 7.
7. Gold is power. It is said of love that it is strong as death. Cant. viii, 6.
8. Gold is wealth. With it a man can prosper, can be outwardly happy. Love will produce the same result. God’s great hand of blessings is extended to those that love him. It reads that the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Prov. xiii, 22.
9. Gold is the best metal for gilding. It is written that love covereth all sins. Prov. x, 12.
10. Gold is order and perfection. One having it can have things to his taste, or liking. He can have everything orderly and in good shape. The same of love; it is the bond of perfectness. Col. iii, 14.
We could enlarge on all of the above cases. I only propose throwing out the leading idea, or state the case, or put up the frame, and let others finish the building.
II. In the further consideration of this question, I ask, What will gold do? and answer,
1. It will surround me with just such society as I wish. Love will do the same. With this principle in his heart, the child of God draws round him the good and the holy, and even the angels, just such society as he wants.
2. Gold will bring me the pleasures of earth. Love will also, and has brought me the joys of Heaven.
3. Gold will get me honor. With the love of God in one’s heart, he is raised to high esteem; he is exalted to a high rank or place.
4. Gold will win me fame. Love will do the same; it will bring my name to great and favorable report. It will place it on a record never to be blotted out so long as that love endures.
5. Gold will supply all the wants of this life. Love gives me the promise of all good in this and the life to come. The Lord hath all things. No good will be withheld from those that love him.
6. Gold will save life; will save men from death in this world. Cases often occur where their money saves men from the gallows. So love and mercy step forth, and, looking over Heaven’s high towers, pity our fallen race, and offer life to all. It is love that has said that man shall be redeemed. Love says, Live, for why will ye die?
7. Gold has a gathering influence. It brings much together. The same with love. It runs together, brings into one, makes one the people of God. It is the crowning, completing grace.
8. Gold brings into favor and notice. So love makes men abound in favor and notice, one toward another and toward all men. 1 Thess. iii, 12.
The above are some of the reasons why I think that the gold represents love. There are so many points of resemblance, where love will do for me in heavenly, what gold will do for me in earthly things. I still have other reasons than the above.
But stop! says my good brother, what is it about faith? I am inclined to that view. Well, in love, I say, I am not, and here are still other reasons why I believe the gold represents love and not faith.
1. Faith is not the first and leading grace; for this reason it is not represented by gold, the first and leading mineral.
2. Faith is an inherent principle. What we are called to buy, by nature we do not possess. Another has it for sale; we must buy of him. If we had it, there would be no need of buying. We think strange of a certain class that are seeking immortality, and at the same time professing to have it. So in this case. If by nature we have immortality, why seek for it? If by nature we have that represented by the gold, why buy it?
In endeavoring to establish this point, that faith is ours, and love is God’s, I call your attention to the definition of faith. Please examine Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. It is clear that all men have faith. It is possible for them to believe. One may be placed where he cannot believe for the want of evidence. Thus A. may not believe B., for he is not a man of truth. He can and does believe C., for he has never known him to utter a falsehood. He has the same power to believe B. In theology faith is to be exercised in another direction. Not toward, or in what man has said, but toward, and in what God has said. In this department, faith is differently defined, yet all centering in the one platform, the word of God. This is the kind referred to when it is said, Some shall depart from the faith, or, All men have not faith; or, The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and many other like expressions. All men have not this kind of faith. Still, if they would exercise the faith they use in everyday life, in matters of business, in what they hear and see, toward God, in his Word, it would be their salvation. We have the same power to believe God, that we have man. The difficulty in the former case is, we do not see the evidence. The reason we do not is that we do not look up; we do not inform ourselves; we do not take pains to know what God has said. Even when we are informed, faith may lie dormant. There is such a thing as a dead faith. The apostle in Gal. v, 6, tells us what will give it life; what will work it out. None of the seven churches are charged with a lack of faith, while some had departed from love.
3. I call attention to the Bible expressions of faith in connection with man. It is often said, “The faith;” “Thy faith;” “Your faith;” “Jesus seeing their faith;” “Thy faith hath made thee whole;” “Thy faith hath saved thee;” “Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men;” “I send to know your faith;” “The trial of your faith,” &c. By these and many other texts we learn that faith belongs to man. They have it already in possession. On the other hand, love is spoken of as follows: “His [God’s] love, ‘love of God,’” and the like expressions, teaching us that love is of the Lord. “Keep yourselves in the love of God;” “Direct your hearts into the love of God.”
4. The true and faithful Witness has not faith for sale. Faith is not a plant of Heaven. It belongs to man on probation. It is of the earth. It has its foundation in love. Love has paved the way for it to be exercised. It has laid the track, and faith may run. God has exercised love toward man. Man may now exercise faith in God. The two combined is salvation to the church; love on the part of God, faith on the part of man. This makes it possible for man to be saved. Man is required to love his Maker, his Redeemer. How can he do it? I answer, in the language of the Amen, Buy it. Not having this principle by nature, man has not love for God, his truth, his ways. Therefore the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. ii, 14. By nature he is brutish. 2 Pet. ii, 12. This principle he must buy of those having it for sale. The Amen has it, offers to sell, asks the church to buy. The heirship of those rich in faith, turns on their loving the promise. It is said, the kingdom is promised to those that love him. Please read James ii, 5.
With faith to remove mountains, a man may be nothing. This harmonizes with Rom. iv, where Paul is speaking of the heirship of Abraham. It was Abraham’s righteousness that made him an heir of the kingdom. And while the Jew said that it came through the law, Paul contended that it came through faith. Verse 9: “For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.” Verse 13: “For the promise that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” The law did not bring righteousness, but faith did. Verse 22: “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” Thus we see the benefit of the white raiment. It makes us children of God. “And if children, then heirs, . . . and joint-heirs with Christ.” Chap. viii, 17.
Then we have in Matt. xxiv, 12, almost a positive testimony that the gold is love. The same person is speaking; he has reference to the same time and people. On account of great wickedness, love grows cold, is dying out. How very timely the counsel to buy this grace of all graces.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

By W. E. Littlewood

Into a desolate land, White with the drifted snow, Into a weary land Our truant footsteps go: Yet doth thy care, O Father! Ever thy wanderers keep; Still doth thy love, O Shepherd! Follow thy sheep.
Over the pathless wild Do I not see Him come? Him who shall bear me back, Him who shall lead me home? Listen! between the storm-gusts, Unto the straining ear, Comes not the cheering whisper: “Jesus is near?”
Over me he is bending! Now I can safely rest, Found at the last, and clinging Close to the Shepherd’s breast. So let me lie till the fold-bells Sound on the homeward track, And the rejoicing angels Welcome us back!
— W. E. Littlewood.

The Sermon.

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
PREACH THE WORD. 2 Tim. iv, 2.

THE COMING OF THE LORD.

By Rainbow

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous around about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.” (Ps. l, 3–6)
We stand on the eve of one of the greatest events the world has ever witnessed. Signs are multiplying on every side of us, compared with which there has been no parallel either in the history of the Church or the world. One of the greatest changes to both hangs upon this great event. It is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the second time in power and glory, to bring all things in subjection to himself, and to be “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Let us see what the Psalmist says of this event in the passage under consideration.
The first word is a striking one—“Our God.” It is the family word. None but the child can use it. That child is one of the family. He is related to his Heavenly Father. He has been redeemed and brought nigh by the blood of Christ. He is in the bonds of the everlasting covenant. He is a joint-heir with Christ. He can look up and say, “My beloved is mine and I am his.” He will be able to say with joy when the Lord shall descend from Heaven in flaming fire, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Yes, it is the family word. He who now puts into our lips the sweet words, “our Father,” enables us to look forward to that solemn hour and say, “our God.”
We are about to meditate on a solemn scene—God coming down to this earth in human form as a devouring fire, with storms and tempests raging around him. Oh! how necessary to be able to say before we gaze upon it, “our God!” What will it be if we cannot say “our God?” With what feelings of terror and alarm must it be viewed unless we can say in prospect, “our God?” Make sure of this, reader, before you go one step further. Only this can make you calm in the prospect and in the reality when it comes, to be able to say, “our God.” Therefore it is that the Holy Spirit puts this little word first on which we may dwell earnestly, soberly, searchingly—before we proceed to that which follows.
“Our God shall come and shall not keep silence.” In order clearly to understand what is meant here by God “not keeping silence,” we must refer to the closing part of the chapter, from the sixteenth verse to the twenty-second. “But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Here God reviews the character of the wicked in this dispensation. It is exactly what has been going on in our world for the last six thousand years. Men have been taking God’s covenant “in their mouth,” in other words, making a profession of religion, while, all the time, the power of religion has been absent. Underneath this profession, sin and iniquity of the worst form has been carried on. Men have really been “hating” God and casting his words behind them. “Theft,” “adultery,” “evil,” “deceit,” “false witness,” “slander”—have not all these things been going on in the world at a fearful speed? All this while God has “kept silence.” He has not interfered to strike men down in such acts with his arm of judgment, so men begin to say, “Where is God? Tush? doth God see?” If there be a God, why does he not interfere? Either there is none, or else he is “altogether such an one as ourselves.” Thus the world has gone on—the wicked “flourishing as a green bay tree,” the righteous returning with a “full cup” of tears, and God keeping silence. But it shall not always be so. “Our God shall come and shall not keep silence.” He shall come and “reprove” men, and “set” each act and deed “in order” “before the eyes” of the wicked. It is interesting to notice how nearly all the features of the wicked described in this chapter, and which history has endorsed as the dominant principles in the world, are again reproduced by the Holy Spirit in the third chapter of St. Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, and which are to be more prominently developed—as the flower from the bud—in the last days.
And what are to be the heralds of the coming? “A fire shall devour before him; and it shall be very tempestuous around about him.” Here again the Holy Spirit confirms this testimony by St. Paul: “And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.” Yes, from one end of Christendom to the other, one piercing cry shall rend the heavens, “Ye rocks and hills fall upon us and hide us from the presence of the Lamb.” The entreaty, earnest and loud, will then be heard from many a lip that now scorns the preaching of the Cross, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But “too late.” It shall be “very tempestuous.” The nations shall be at their wits’ end. The ties of nature and of society shall be set at naught. Men’s lusts and passions shall have unbridled course. They shall run to and fro. Knowledge shall increase. Men’s hearts on all sides will be “failing them for fear, looking after those things that are coming on the earth.” A few will lift up their heads in that universal wreck, and run calmly and joyfully, for they know their redemption is nigh, their hour of triumph at hand. Oh! to stand among that little band in that awful hour and be able to say, “our God!”
But what will the Lord do then? “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” * The Spirit of God confirms this testimony by St. Paul: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The word rendered “then,” in this passage, may be more correctly rendered “after that,” and shows us that some interval may elapse between the meeting of the dead saints and the living ones before they are taken up to meet the Lord in the air. The fond greeting, the loved embrace, the outburst of joy shall fill it up. Then all shall rise together at one and the same summons from on high, “and so shall we be ever with the Lord.” “Ever with the Lord!” Oh! the joy of those words! Here thought fails. The lips falter. The mind shrinks. Eternity alone can tell their depth. We wait to sound their meaning. Who would not say in such a world of sin, and sorrow, and death as this, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”
But mark the Psalmist’s words. Who are they that are called? “Gather my saints together unto me.” What an expressive word—“my saints!” How the Lord appropriates them as his own! “They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels.” What precious words—“my saints,” “my jewels!” What sinful, erring creatures we are! How do we daily and hourly provoke the Lord who loves us! What naughty children the Lord has to manage! How he may say of us as Moses said of Israel, “Ye have been rebellious against the Lord since the day that I knew you,” and yet, “my saints!” “my jewels!” Oh! what grace! what wondrous love!
But mark another word here. “Gather my saints.” “He shall gather the lambs in his arms.” He shall gather them as a shepherd his sheep in the hour of weakness and danger—the weak ones, the nervous ones, those who start at a shadow, and tremble at the fluttering of a leaf. They shall not be weak or nervous then. The frail body shall be dropped forever, and they shall be clasped in an embrace such as theyhave never known on the earth, to a bosom of infinite love.
But mark another word here. “Gather my saints together.” It is the family meeting. It is the grand re-union. It is the glad assembly. We shall not rise to meet the Lord individually—in isolation. We shall be gathered together. So the apostle speaks of our “gathering together unto him.” And again, “We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them.” No more separation. No more sects, or systems. All together! One mind, one heart, one joy, one glad meeting, without the shadow of a farewell greeting ever darkening its shores! What heart does not bound at the thought!
But mark yet one word more, the sweetest of all, “unto me.” Ah! what would all the others be without this? Nothing, nothing! The foam, the dust, the shadow, the air! What would that meeting be without Jesus? What is any meeting without him? The very notes of Heaven would be discord. Its jasper walls would be hideous. Its very air would be oppressive. It would all be dreariness, and darkness, and death. With his name every song is sweet. In his smile every countenance is bright. Every chord of the golden harps will vibrate with his praise. Every voice will be vocal with his name. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!—through eternity. For this the Lord himself prays: “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” Love can only be satisfied with the presence of its object. So with the Saviour. He longs for us. He waits for us. We must be with him. How can he be happy without us?
But who are these thus gathered? Mark it well, reader: “Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” They are those who have made a covenant with God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the blood-bought ones. They are those who have cast themselves—all sin and guilt, helpless and undone—on the finished work of the Lord Jesus. They are those who cry from the depths of their hearts:
“Other refuge have I none; Hangs my helpless soul to thee.”
Reader, have you done this? If you have not, you are not in that covenant. And if you are not in that covenant now, can you think of that meeting? You may hide this sad picture from your conscience, or, worse than all, charge your sin on God by a series of excuses. But it will not avail then. Mark the next verse: “The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself.” His righteous dealings will then be acknowledged by every lip, and be felt by every heart. Even the wicked shall be compelled to own it. And not only so, but righteousness shall be written on everything, as it never has been yet. And why? “For God is judge himself.” He shall be judge in the earth, and the result will be righteous judgment. Misrule, injustice, oppression, will all end then. “Righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”
And what is the practical lesson from all this for the world as well as for God’s people? There is a word for each one at the close of this chapter. “Ye that forget God, consider this.” Unconverted reader, weigh it well, lest God “tear thee in pieces.” The day is at hand. Consider. Fly to Jesus. He is your only hope. Out of him you are not safe for a moment. Be warned and haste to the refuge.
Christian, “order your conversation”—or citizenship—“aright.” Aim to glorify Jesus. Let his praise fill your heart. Let his image be clearly, decidedly, unmistakably written on every act of your life. Be whole-hearted for Christ. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”—Rainbow.

“SABBATH AT THE POLLS.”

By A. H. L.

To the Editor of the Sabbath Recorder:
THE following, under the above heading, from the New York Observer of Oct. 10, 1867, is worthy of careful notice:
“It is now said that the German Anti-Sabbath population in California went en masse for the Democratic ticket, with the understanding that the new Legislature would repeal the Sunday laws.
“In this city, the Germans are said to have proclaimed that they will ignore politics and vote for no candidate who does not pledge himself to oppose the Sunday laws. This will bring the question directly to an issue before the people. It suggests the duty to all political parties to put up only good men for office, on whom all friends of the Sabbath may unite. It will cost a great struggle to maintain the rights of the community to their day of rest, but the end is worth the struggle. When a German holiday takes the place of the Christian Sabbath in New York, the work of demoralization will go on much more rapidly than even now. But it shall not, until a battle has been fought, compared with which all former moral contests in this country have been child’s play.”
The last sentence of this is significant. It is, too—perhaps unwittingly—deeply prophetic. The moral contests in which the American people have been heretofore trained have been those in which human rights have been most prominent. Such contests are full of grandeur and glory, and worthy the Christlike spirit of the martyr. The present phase of the “Sabbath Reform” contest may not be more grand, or fuller of interest, than others that have gone before it, or are now coupled with it. But there is something behind all this political phase, which will in time over-top it, and sink it into insignificance. True, indeed, it is, that former contests have “been child’s play,” compared with what is before us; for in this we must finally come to deal directly with the question of God’s right to be obeyed by his children, his right to his Sabbath, and the honor, reverence and love which can only come from its observance. The coming reform—now too far advanced to be turned back—will be more than the reform represented by “Excise Laws” and “Sunday Car Bills,” the mere suppression or restriction of the irreligious. It will be a radical reform of the church, an upheaving and overturning of the religious and ecclesiastical strata of the whole American people. The assumption that the Sunday is sacred—as the Sabbath upon which the present movements are postulated—must give way, as the pressure is brought to bear, and the church must learn that whatever God has spoken she may not safely question. That the Puritan theory concerning Sunday is unscriptural, every man knows who has carefully canvassed the subject. The constant efforts of its adherents to find new grounds of support, and new modes of defense, are proof of this. The care with which they avoid direct appeals to the “Word,” is proof of the same. Hence it is, that every new effort to build upon this platform will only hasten its downfall. Sunday laws may, and probably will, for a time, succeed—will grow more and more stringent. But the reaction will hasten, and be the more complete. The intervening ground being passed over, the final contest must be between God’s Sabbath and No Sabbath. The “Anglo-American Sabbath” will be long dead before the final issue comes. The many good and earnest men who are now seeking to defend it, enlightened by the developments of the contest, will leave it, and strike hands with the whole truth—with the “letter” of the law. They will have learned that the “letter” is but the faithful expression of the “spirit.”
Meanwhile the above bugle-note is cheering. It tells of awakening. It is a sort of reveille. The bone and sinew of the party which it calls to action is right in design on this question. But the battle must begin where it is beginning, in order to teach that party the weakness of its present position. Its sturdy strugglings destroy the structure on which it stands. Not till then can it be induced to look for a better. Thus all things are working well. We have cause for encouragement—though it be no “child’s play” that is before us. We are entering the highest development of reform—that in which law is supreme, and freedom perfect through obedience. Gird and wait, watch and strike.—A. H. L. in Sabbath Recorder.
Oct. 13, 1867.
NEVER ALONE.—A pious cottager residing in the center of a long and dreary heath, being asked by a visitor, “Are you not sometimes afraid in your lonely situation, especially in the winter?” replied: “Oh! no, for Faith shuts the door at night and Mercy opens it in the morning.”
BE punctual and methodical in business, and never procrastinate.

THE SECOND ADVENT.

And will he come again who once in weakness Upon the accursed cross resigned his breath,— Who patiently, in gentleness and meekness, ‘Midst scoffing foes, bowed to the stroke of death? Say will he come again—how strange the story! With trumpet blast, and power, and angels’ glory?
His life on earth was full of grief and sadness, Beset with falsehood, violence and guile; His pathway seldom was illumined by gladness: He wept, but he was never known to smile. His own received him not: with fury burning, They gnashed their teeth, his love and mercy spurning.
At his command the leprosy departed, The fever fled, and health returned again; He spake! and from the grave the dead upstarted! The lame were cured, the sick relieved from pain; While to the very poorest of the nation Was preached the glorious gospel of salvation.
Toiling on foot across Judea’s mountains, Ranging the dusty paths of Galilee, Weary and faint beside Samaria’s fountains, Healing and blessing all, the Saviour see. And what was his reward for all this goodness? Hatred, ingratitude, contempt and rudeness.
How strange! How passing wonderful! And is it To be believed that he, the Son of God, Shall e’er again this cursed earth revisit? And, stranger still, shall make it his abode? That he, the Mightiest, will be delighted To dwell with those by whom he has been slighted?
Believed? Undoubtedly. The word was spoken Ere yet he left this world of grief and pain, That word which never, never can be broken,— “Be not dismayed, for I will come again, You to myself forevermore receiving, In glorious mansions built for the believing.”
Oh, glorious promise! He who once ascended From Olive’s Mount up to the throne above, Shall come again, by angel bands attended, To reign on earth in glory, peace and love. His faithful friends no more from him to sever, Shall reign with him forever and forever.
Then pain shall be no more, sighing and sadness Shall flee away, and violence and wrong; Death shall expire, the earth shall smile with gladness, And universal nature burst in song. The raptured saints, with grace and love abounding, Shall shout for joy, their shouts through Heaven resounding.
Hail to the coming King, the Lord’s Anointed, Who truth and righteousness doth aye maintain! Hail to the happy time, the time appointed, When he will take the mighty power and reign! Oh, watch and pray, ye saints, and nothing fearing, Look for his bright and glorious appearing. —Advent Herald.
  • This would be so, if the object of the present agitation on the Sabbath question was to discover the truth, rather than to uphold a cherished dogma of the church. But does not the history of error abundantly show that when it is necessary to call in the law for the support of an unscriptural tenet, the less scripture there is for it, the more stringent and persistent the legal enactments?—Ed. Review.

THE INFIDEL SILENCED.—

Bishop C—— was traveling in a stage coach, while visiting through his diocese, when a pert upstart of a fellow began to berate the Bible. The good Bishop was closely muffled up in the corner, with his hat drawn over his eyes, and apparently asleep. The young skeptic was dilating on the inconsistency of the Bible with the recent discoveries of science, when the Bishop roused himself, and asked him to specify some instance of such inconsistency. The ready response was, “The first chapter of Genesis.” “Ah!” said the Bishop, who had discovered the shallowness of the young man, “have you ever read the explanation of that account of the creation in the 25th chapter of the book of Jaazaniah?” “Yes,” said the man, “I have read it carefully;” and, in my opinion, it utterly fails of meeting the real point!” The laugh that followed silenced the discomfited infidel, and the Bishop retired.

Notes on Genesis.

THE SABBATH.

Chap. xxix, 27. Fulfil her week and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
The week, here mentioned, was that of the marriage-feast; and did not relate to the years Jacob afterward served. The division of time by weeks, intimates that some regard was paid to the Sabbath.—Scott.

JACOB’S SHRUNKEN SINEW.

Chap. xxxii, 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Sinew.] The ischiatic, “which is upon the hollow of the thigh,” extending through the femur and crus to the ankles, called the tendo Achillis. Rosenm. Shrunk.] ‘Gr. was benumbed, or waxed feeble. The permanent seat of injury we believe to have been the tendinous ligament, connecting the thigh bone with the hip joint.’ Bush. ‘The Jews are so scrupulous as to abstain from all the tendons (nervi) of the hinder part of animals.’ Rosenm. By this peculiarity they appear to have been distinguished among the heathen; for, agreeably to Dr. Morrison’s journal, cited in the Chinese Repos, he was informed by a Mohammedan, that at Kae-fung Foo, in Honan, there are a few families denominated Teaeou-kin-keou, or the sect that plucks out the sinew.’—Jenks.

JUDAH’S FEAR.

Chap. xxxvii, 26. And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
He expresses no concern to get the sin pardoned, only about the shame, to prevent that. Many are more solicitous to preserve their reputation with men, than to secure the favor of God and a clear conscience; lest we be shamed, goes farther with them, than lest we be damned.—Henry.

IMPORTANT USE OF BIBLE WORDS.

Chap. xl, 12. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
Are three days.] That is, signify three days. The Heb. has no word answering to our terms, denotes, signifies, represents; but they say, such a thing is, for signifies or denotes. Hence the words of our Lord are explained ‘This is my body; this cup is the, &c., i. e. represents, signifies.’—Boothroyd. A death blow to the doctrine of transubstantiation.—Jenks.

MAN STEALING.

Verse 15. For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
Stolen.] ‘Did not the Ishmaelites buy him? They did, but it was of those who had no right to sell him, and therefore it was in reality stealing him. Such would be the purchase of a child, by a kidnapper of an unprincipled nurse: and such is the purchase of slaves to this day on the coast of Africa.—Fuller.

GOD’S PROVIDENCE.

Verses 16, 17. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the uppermost basket was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
Had the baker told his dream first, the butler might have been discouraged, and have never told his; nor in this case would Joseph ever have been mentioned in the house of Pharaoh. Thus without destroying the freedom of human actions, does God control and dispose them, for the accomplishment of his own wise and holy purposes.’—Boothroyd. See Chap. xli, 9.

KINE OUT OF THE RIVER.

Chap. xli, 2. And behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favoured kine and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
Kine came up out of the river.] The cattle (of the buffalo kind, which alone are now used in agriculture, &c. in Egypt) spend much of the day immersed all but the nostrils in the waters of the Nile, to escape the heat and insects, which swarm in that country. A traveler seeing them come up out of the river, is forcibly reminded of this ancient description. See also Jolliffe.

WHY JOSEPH SHAVED HIMSELF.

Verse 14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
Shaved.] ‘The Egyptians were not wont to let their beards grow as the Hebrews did; but shaved them, except in mourning or captivity.’ See Herodotus. Rosenm.

THE MAGICIANS CONDEMNED.

Verse 16. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Thus Joseph spake of the Lord and his statutes before kings and was not ashamed. By this modest and pious answer he tacitly condemned the pretended skill of the magicians, and endeavored to draw the king himself ‘from lying vanities to the living God;’ at the same time, renouncing all pretensions to superior sagacity.—Scott.

THE MIRACULOUS HARVEST.

Verse 47. And in the seven plentiful years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
An uncommon and vast increase. Scott.
A memorial of this remarkable event is preserved in a very ancient Egyptian coin, on which is represented a man reaping an abundant harvest.

The Commentary.

Tell me the meaning of Scriptures. One gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams.—M'Cheyne.
Continue reading: Infidel Objections to the Bible Answered. No. 20.