Review and Herald, Vol. 29, No. 25. (6/4/1867)

Review and Herald

Jun 4, 1867

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 4, 1867

DUTIES OF THE FAMILY RELATION.

By Eld. James White

BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.

TEXT. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” Col. iii, 18-21.

The family relation dates back as far as Eden. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, and he gave him Eve. When all was holy, obedience and love were requisites of the divine plan in the relation of the members of families to each other; and since the curse fell upon the first family, which has been felt more heavily by all succeeding ones, and since the reign of sin and Satan has disturbed the happiness of this relation, the duty of obedience and love has increased in proportion to the departure from primitive holiness.

The apostle commences with the duty of woman. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord.” Here three things seem worthy of notice.

1. It was the woman who first sinned and fell. She was deceived by the devil in the form of a serpent. But the man was not deceived. With his eyes open through passion for his wife, he recklessly seized the forbidden fruit and fell with her. It is an unsettled question with many which of the two was the greater sinner. We simply notice the fact that Eve was first in the transgression and the submission of woman is first required.

2. Satan succeeded well with the first woman, and he has since found best success in marring the happiness of families, of churches, of neighborhoods, and of society generally by operating upon women. Jezebel and the witch of Endor are fair representatives of the former dispensation.

A fallen Saul said, “Send me a woman which hath a familiar spirit.” Why did he not say man? Spiritualism commenced with women. The two Misses Fox, of Hydesville, N. Y., were the first mediums, the very first to produce the raps. Through them many men, some of them of strong minds, have been deceived, and have fallen into the arms of the devil. And it is a fact that three-fourths of these mediums are women, and are the best mediums. They are silly women. “For of this sort,” says the apostle, “are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women.”

3. Notice the limitation in the required duty of the wife—“as it is fit in the Lord.” Is she a Christian? The first and highest claims upon her are from the Lord. The husband may command her to break God’s law, to violate his Sabbath. She should not submit to his unholy mandates. Never. With faith in a higher power, seeking to live in peace with her family, should she obey God rather than man. But is there not danger of her resisting the requirements of her husband, and carrying matters in this direction too far? The prophets resisted sin unto blood. If she goes further than they did, she may go too far. The apostles were free from fanaticism, and they resisted till all but John died martyrs. If she goes further than the apostles, she errs. Fifty millions of martyrs would not bow to the man of sin. They rest in hope. If she goes further than they, she carries matters too far.

Her husband may require of her that which may injure her constitution and prostrate her nervous system. Her first duty is obedience to the laws of God, second to the laws of her own being, and third to her husband. But in everything wherein she can please her husband and not violate the law of God and her own conscience, and endanger her family, she should for her good and theirs cheerfully submit.

The husband is required to love his wife, and not be bitter against her. This he should do because—

1. She is the gift of God, and if she be a good wife, he possesses the first and greatest earthly blessing.

2. Notwithstanding the sad misfortune of the first mother, and the manifest weaknesses of many of her daughters, the silken cord of love will lead her in the path of duty easier than it will men. But bitter words will sink with leaden weight into woman’s heart and discourage and sour her mind, and make her capable of returning them with equal bitterness.

3. The curse upon woman is heavier than upon man, which calls for love from him, and tender pity. To earn his bread by the sweat of his brow is often a pleasure to strong men, who can go forth to breathe the free air of heaven. To them, food, rest and sleep are ever sweet, while to the weaker of the two, the limits of her house, her care and pain in raising her family are often a terrible curse, calling for the noble, benevolent pity of a loving husband.

The apostle to the Ephesians, chap. v. 22-27, illustrates the duty of man and wife by a figure as high as Heaven.

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Here the husband is required to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The church should love their divine Head because—

1. He gave himself for the church, and died that they might have life eternal. So the husband gives himself to and for his wife, and, if necessary, should cheerfully endure suffering in order to alleviate hers.

2. Christ, who was rich, became poor, that the church might, through his poverty, become rich. We hear him say, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” So the husband should love his wife, though affliction and sickness on her part reduce them from affluence to poverty.

3. Christ is long-suffering and forgiving to the church. It is his delight to forgive the errors of his people. So should it be the delight of the husband to bear long with, and be forgiving toward, his wife. It should be his delight to exercise extreme patience toward her, if she be a feeble, godly woman, and cheer her heart by noble words of confidence, love and affection, though she errs.

Obedience is required of the wife, as the church should obey Christ. The church should obey her Lord because—

1. He is exalted. He is in the form of the great God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He laid aside, for a time, his glory, and took fallen nature in order to save his church. When redemption shall be completed, he will assume his former glory, and reign forever in the midst of his delighted people. What he has done for them, what he is doing, and what he has promised to do for his church should inspire obedience and love in them. The church should worship her Lord.

But do you inquire, “Would it not be idolatry to worship Christ the same as God?” We answer, Those who do worship him are found in good company; for “when he bringeth his first-begotten into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” We may worship only one God as the Creator, and one Christ as Redeemer. But we will not wander too far.

God has exalted the man, and made him the head of the family. And if he be what he should be, and what he may be through Christ, noble, kind and forgiving, and if the happiness of his family be his first and highest delight, he is worthy to be reverenced and loved by his wife. We did not say worshiped by her, though Sarah so far reverenced Abraham as to call him lord.

When Christians meet to humbly worship at the feet of the Redeemer, angels draw near, and their Lord bows his ear and reaches forth his hand to exalt them. Sarah’s reverence did not lead Abraham to exalt himself; but to exalt his wife. The more the wife seeks to obey and love a good husband, the more will he take pleasure in acts that will exalt her. And the longer they live together, the stronger will be the sanctified bond of union between them.

The apostle continues in the language of the text, to show the duty of children to their parents, and that of parents to their children. “Children obey your parents; for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord.” On this point we remark that children should obey their parents because—

1. They gave life and birth, and cared for them in their infant helplessness, and felt for their woes and wants as parents only can feel. They lead them to manhood and womanhood, and provide for their wants when they reach that point. They never forget them. And it is a remarkable fact that the affections of good parents entwine about their children closer and more strongly as age bears them to the tomb. In their last will they remember them, to divide the hard-earned inheritance among them. And God has heard the dying prayers of many a pious mother and converted her children. They are now still in death and the children look back upon their godly example with tearful pleasure.

But with many poor children this is the very hour that commences their heart-aches and their deep regrets, that they have not better prized and more strictly followed their godly precepts and examples. “Oh! for one hour to meet them again face to face, and ask of them pardon and their prayers!” But that hour they can never have.

But how long should children obey and honor their parents? Answer. Strict obedience should be observed to the requirements of parents as long as they are minors, and the duty to honor them never ceases. Children should reverently counsel with good parents, though age has made the heads of both as white as the frosts of winter. They should honor their parents.

1. God has commanded it. In not obeying the fifth commandment they violate not only the law of their parents, but the law of the great God, and expose themselves to his wrath.

2. They should honor their parents by keeping good company. When we see young men and women loose in their habits and conversation, and careless of the company they keep, we at once inquire, Did not their parents teach them better things?

3. They should ever honor them by dwelling upon their good qualities, and hiding, as far as possible, what they suppose to be failings in them.

4. By yielding their judgment to that of their parents, they should honor them. But is this always safe? Generally it is. And in the case of godly parents of sound minds, it is always safe. First, their judgment has ripened with their years. That of the children is green and imperfect. Second, The intellect of the children is not as good, and as sound as that of their parents, unless they are remarkable exceptions to the great fact that each successive generation grows weaker mentally, morally, and physically.

Children may have studied Natural Philosophy, English Grammar, Rhetoric, Latin and Greek, and may have taken lessons in music, and may look back upon their parents who thus indulge them, as being old-fashioned and ignorant, and quite unworthy to dictate them. But what service to them is Greek, Latin and music, in shunning the common vices of this age?

The counsel of their good mother and father will save them, while these acquirements may be the very means of their ruin. Let such children remember that they have been dealt with tenderly, and had many advantages which their parents could not have, and they are totally disqualified to meet the hardships of life, and make their way up to respectability amid the fearful perils of this last time. We would say to them, for your soul’s sake, your parents’ sake, and for Christ’s sake, cling to the parental arm as your only hope, and never be induced to break from it. The lack you feel of the want of it is because of your ignorance. Your parents may be totally ignorant of a few sciences which give you an outside polish, and yet far surpass you in a knowledge of the ways, requirements and dangers of life. The older you grow the more highly will you prize the judgment of your parents.

5. Children should honor their parents by being tender of their feelings and wants in their sickness. Nothing can so grieve a feeble parent as to have a son careless of his feelings and wants. Does he wish to hurry him to the grave? Then let him pursue such a murderous course. It is the duty of all well men and women to help the sick by comforting words and kind acts. How much more that of a child. And—

6. They should honor the death-bed of their parents by their presence, honor them by giving them a respectable burial, and honor their resting-place by a humble, marble slab, and by frequent visits to the place of those who have made them all they are in this world. In the history of the past, such children have had the smiles of Heaven, and the comforts of an approving conscience, and in return have generally been made happy by their children.

But the apostle does not pass by unnoticed the duty of fathers. He says, “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” Notice this one particular: mothers are not included in this injunction. It is true that some mothers scold and tease their children to anger. But it is also a fact that the tenderest and strongest earthly tie is between mother and child. How many a woman’s heart has bled to hear the withering language of a heartless father! In silence she bears it but seeks the first opportunity to soothe the feelings of the child. She may carry a cheerful face in the presence of her child, while her poor heart bleeds on.

A child provoked to anger becomes soured, and discouraged, and a spirit of “don’t care,” takes possession of him. Such children lose respect for their fathers and for themselves, and away they drift to certain ruin. A step-father is much to be dreaded. But there are mothers who are not clear in this matter, especially step-mothers. Partiality to her own offspring is bad; but if she has none, and never has felt the warm current of parental affection softening her own heart, and flowing out in streams of tenderness toward her own dear child, she is ill prepared to care as she should for another’s. Has she cast in her life-long interest at the marriage altar with one who has been stricken with sorrow, and then pledged herself to love him as long as they both shall live, and virtually pledged herself to care for his smitten flock? Here is a responsible, sacred trust.

We have known honorable exceptions. In one case a step-mother united with an unworthy man, cared for his son, who was but the second edition of his father, till she wore her life away and now sleeps in the grave. When we first knew him in 1853, he was a professed Christian, and as we stood beside the Genesee River, ready to lead his wife into its waters in the sacred rite of baptism, this professedly pious man stepped forward and threatened to spill our heart’s blood if we baptized his wife. The history of that son we have no heart to trace. We hope the father is reforming. Other step-mothers have imbittered the life of their husbands, and by their unworthy course have driven all their children either to the grave, or out into the wide world.

This should teach those bereft of their partners in this life a lesson of untold importance. Better remain single, and bear the double burden of life than to run the risk of increasing it three-fold.

But what shall that poor widow do? Answer. Be careful how she trusts her children to the care of one who is not their father. Is she a godly, worthy widow? Then we appeal to the church. What is pure religion? Let James reply, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Chap. i, 27. We are not to visit them and eat up what they have, and then dolefully dwell upon the death of the husband, and open her wounded heart afresh. But by cheerful words and visitations after a godly sort leave her comforted. Visit her with dresses for herself and her children, and with the good bounties of the earth under whose weight your granaries groan. Many a godly widow has been driven to unite herself to an unworthy man by sheer neglect and poverty.

Do you say the law provides for such? So it does. But look into your wife’s happy face, and to your innocent children, and for a moment reflect. How would you feel with some fatal disease upon you, and before you the prospect of their becoming paupers?

In conclusion, we would say, Parents, let responsibilities rest upon your children as fast as they can bear them; and never let them feel that to live in this world costs but a trifle. Let them bear their own weight as soon as they can, and never let them feel that they can rely upon your purse. If you wish to ruin your son let him have a free use of uncounted money. Where are the valuable men of this age? From those who have been blest with the inheritance of poverty. While the worthless are, to a great extent, the indulged sons of the wealthy.

But our hour has expired and we will close. May God bless you. Amen.

THE SAINTS' HOME.

By L. D. SANTEE

“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. ii, 14.

As here I muse in this dark world of sadness, Where every evil reigns, My thoughts go forward with increasing gladness, To Canaan's happy plains.

The voice of nature there will rise in music, To God and to the Lamb, And there will wave in all their Eden beauty, The fig-tree and the palm.

There the new earth is filled with peace and glory, As waters fill the sea; And there is He who calmed, in sacred story, The storm on Galilee.

And the great city, ne'er with evil tarnished, Contains Jehovah's throne, Gold are its streets, and lo, its walls are garnished, With many a precious stone.

Haste, dearest Lord, the time of thy possession, I fain would join the blest; I'm weary of the warfare with transgression, I long to be at rest.

But hush my heart, hush all thy restless fearing, Thy work will soon be done, For Jesus, the chief shepherd, soon appearing, Will take his people home.

L. D SANTEE. McLean Co., Ill.

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.

SUNDAY LAW IN NEW YORK.

By A. H. L.

I ATTENDED the Anglo-German Sabbath meeting, which was held in Mr. Henry Ward Beecher’s “Plymouth Church,” Brooklyn, in behalf of the Sunday clause of the Metropolitan Excise Law. The meeting was well attended, by Germans mainly. The following was the order of the meeting:

Prayer by the Rev. John Bank.

Singing by the Congregation.

Opening remarks by Dr. Schaff, in German.

German address by the Rev. Edmund de Schweinitz of Bethlehem, Pa.

German address by Mr. R. W. Raymond.

English address by the Rev. Henry W. Beecher.

The singing was in German. The general tone of the meeting was candid and earnest. The speakers aimed to show that the “Sunday clause of the Metropolitan Excise Law” is not only constitutional, but is also calculated to directly lessen crime, and increase good order and morality; that it is no more an infringement on personal liberty to stop the sale of intoxicating drinks on Sunday, than it is to stop other sales and the transaction of other business. Only the “civil” phase of the question was discussed. All proceeded upon the assumption that Sunday is the Sabbath, and as such is to be protected.

In the evening, I attended the Anniversary of the New York Sabbath Committee, held at the Dutch Reformed Church, corner of Fifth-avenue and Twenty-ninth-st. The meeting was largely attended, by an intelligent audience. The President of the Committee, Norman White, Esq., presided. The meeting was addressed by the President, followed by Rev. Dr. Schaff, Rev. Dr. Ganse, Rev. Dr. Hastings, of N. Y.; also, by Rev. Dr. Patterson, of Chicago, Ill.

The remarks were earnest, spirited, pointed. I was much interested in those of Dr. Hastings, upon the general history of the Sabbath. They evinced an exactness and a familiarity with the question quite unusual. They also brought out the important truth, that the no-Sabbathism of the early Church was a prominent cause of its decline and degeneracy, and that the same fruits now sadly cover all church-ridden Europe. Dr. Patterson gave a sad picture of the drunkenness and debauchery on Sunday in Chicago, and made some sharp hits on stockholders who sit piously in church, while their employees work upon

railroads, the profits of which labor the stockholders pocket.

The doings of the Committee since its organization are briefly stated in the following, which, in the form of a four-page tract, entitled “Sabbath Leaflets,” was distributed throughout the church:

I. LABORS AND RESULTS.

Information gathered in regard to the Sunday Laws of New York, and the alarming extent of Sabbath Desecration.

Assembling of about one hundred Clergymen of all denominations, and their cordial co-operation in the work of the Committee, January, 1858.

Constant and frequent intercourse with the Metropolitan Police Department, securing their co-operation in the execution of the Sunday laws.

Memorial to the Mayor and Police Commissioners against the crying of Newspapers on Sunday, and effectual suppression of this intolerable nuisance, 1858.

Suppression of the Sunday pageant of the Fire Department at the Broderick funeral.

Effectual remonstrance against Sunday desecration in the Central Park.

Abolition of Sunday Theatres by the Sunday Theatre Act of 1860.

Protection of the Sabbath interest in the Army and Navy during the war, culminating in the issue of President Lincoln’s famous Sabbath Order to the army and navy, 1862.

Purchase of a rare Sabbath Library of 146 volumes.

Suppression of Sunday Parades in honor of volunteers returning from the seat of war, June, 1863.

National Sabbath Convention at Saratoga, August, 1863.

Over one hundred Sermons on the better observance of Sunday, preached by the Secretary in nearly all the German and many of the English churches of New York and surrounding cities, 1854–1866.

Seven German Mass Meetings, held from 1859 to 1867 for the better observance of the Sabbath in New York, Williamsburg, and Brooklyn, committing a large number of our German citizens to the American custom of Sabbath observance.

Suppression of the Sunday liquor and beer traffic by the Metropolitan Excise Law of 1866.

Assistance and encouragement given to Sabbath societies and movements in other States, and in Europe, by a liberal distribution of Sabbath documents, by correspondence and personal efforts.

In connection with these movements of the Committee, two very important Legal Decisions were rendered by the Supreme Court in 1861, and by the Court of Appeals in 1866, fully sustaining the Constitutionality of our Sunday laws, and of the new Metropolitan Excise Act.

II. PUBLICATIONS.

1. Thirty-three original Sabbath Documents, touching on the more important practical aspects of the Sabbath question.

2. A volume of Sermons on the History, Authority, Duties, Benefits, and civil relations of the Christian Sabbath, preached at the request of the Committee, and published by the Carters, 1863, which has had a large sale.

3. Gilfillan’s work on the Sabbath, 1863, of which over ten thousand copies have been distributed gratuitously among the clergy of the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Protestant Episcopal, Congregational, and other denominations, mainly by special donations.

4. In connection with these publications should also be mentioned several Sabbath Leaflets and statistical tables, from two to four pages each, and a very large number of articles prepared from time to time for the secular and religious papers of the city in defense of the interests of the civil and sacred Sabbath, many of which had great effect on public opinion at critical junctures of the Sabbath question.

The New York Sabbath Committee is a strong one, and well supported. It means work. By the remarks of last evening, it looks beyond the suppression of the Sunday liquor-traffic for its ultimate work. The “Puritan Sabbath” must be protected and sustained, was the oft-repeated sentiment. These things are the guarantee of future agitation. This will bring men steadily back, and up, to the higher, scriptural idea of the Sabbath. When a certain point is reached, men will begin to inquire after the divine, as well as the civil law, for Sunday observance. Now, men take it for granted that Sunday is the Sabbath. This cannot long continue. The Bible will be searched. History will be unlocked. Then men will see that Sunday-keeping has never been more than a church custom; and that Puritanism, while it adopted the spirit, still made a false and fatal application of the letter and essence of the Sabbath Law. All this will greatly aid our work. It will drive leaders and people to look at the points we now plead for. The present movement is the deciding one as regards the “Puritan Sabbath.” If its failing fortunes are not now retrieved, they never can be. It is as the up-starting of a patient, awakened by the consciousness that his own life-pulse is failing. Will it regain the place and power which it has lost? No. If there be any certainty in the fruitage of principles or the logic of events, it will not. Born of the best blood of the old-world Reformation, and developed under the most favorable circumstances in the new, everything has been in its favor. Nevertheless, it has begun steadily to decline. In times past, its validity has been little questioned. This, and the vigor of its youth, have covered its unscripturalness and weakness. But as years advance, and agitation and thought try it, this weakness, like a hidden scrofula, is developed. True, it was greatly in advance of the no-Sabbathism which preceded it. Still, it was only a partial reform. As such, it has done its work. A new line of defence must be taken—God’s line, in letter as well as in spirit. This we are pleading for. To this the eternal arm will drive the Church. The reformatory spirit which guides good men in the Sunday-law movement, cannot, logically, stop short of this.

We rejoice in what the New York Sabbath Committee and its coadjutors are doing. We commend their earnestness, and do not question their honesty. But we believe they see only half the results which await them and the American Church. God grant that, when the ultimate choice between “no-Sabbath,” and—not the “Puritan,” but—God’s Sabbath shall come, they may be as ready to accept the whole truth, as they now are to press the influences which will largely aid in bringing them to it.—A. H. L., in Sabbath Recorder.

NOTE. We doubt not that, in the language of the foregoing, the “present movement is the deciding one as regards the ‘Puritan Sabbath;’” and when Scripture fails it, and History fails it, as both assuredly will, for it finds no support in either, the inevitable resort will be to the strong arm of the law.—Ed.

LINE UPON LINE.

By Jos. Clark.

How we need to be continually reminded of our duty to God and his cause; and how good it is to read from week to week, the lessons of temperance, holiness, and purity, which adorn the pages of the periodicals, which issue from the S. D. Advent press, at Battle Creek.

We do not realize how soon our life as a people would decay, were it not for the various agencies put forth by the good providence of God, in our behalf, as a people.

Weekly, we have the Review, laden with faithful rebukes, and kind admonitions, and instructions, and words of encouragement; and monthly, the Health Reformer appears, cheerfully advocating temperance, health, and purity; and now semi-monthly the little ones are to have the Instructor, to point them to a better country.

Weekly, too, the Sabbath arrives, regularly as the march of time, bringing with it, the fragrance of Eden, and reminding us of what we were in the first estate, and what we shall be, if faithful, in the final settlement of earth's great misfortune, and affliction.

Occasionally, too, the servants of God visit us, and bring to us good tidings of peace; and the joys of the blissful hope of Paradise arise; and we in faith look forward to the time, when our hope shall be lost in the glorious reality.

Retreating to our more secluded privileges, we find the prayer and social meeting, where all unite in sincere and humble worship, and hearts are melted in sweet and holy communion with God, and his people, and mercy distills its dewy showers upon the lowly worshipers, who forget that the world despise them, as they in faith's powerful glass, see the pearly gates, from the Delectable Mountains, and almost imagine themselves already on the shores of the river of life, and already crowned and blest.

Retreating further still, we find ourselves in our place of retirement, where we go to plead with God, and ask his aid and protection, his courage and strength; or we sit at our fireside, where the family altar has been erected, and many a gracious answer to prayer has demonstrated beyond a doubt, that it was not in vain we had kept the holy fire still burning.

Again, we enjoy the social conversation of brethren, whose hearts have long glowed with divine love; and again our hearts swell with gratitude to God, that we are not alone; or, we open the pages of the divine word, and read what was written by prophets, and kings, and apostles in ancient days for our benefit, and we can hardly contain ourselves for joy, that God is so mindful of his people. As we write, we feel the sweet influence of his Spirit, and deeply we feel that he teaches us, like a faithful teacher, “Line upon Line.”

Jos. Clark.

The Startling Cry.

By F. W. Krummacher

THE Lord cometh! The heart of many an one thrills at this call. He thinks of the approaching and complete establishment of the Lord's kingdom upon earth; and he sighs, “Ah, didst thou but come!” Yes, our heart also joins in this longing of eighteen hundred years; for even so long has it been in the church, not like a flood of water, which is gradually lost in the sand beneath, but like a stream, which, the nearer it draws to its destination, rolls onward with greater power. How many a prophetic omen has there been, that the grand moment of jubilee is not far distant. We already perceive signs of the publication of the Gospel in all the world; that of the shaken foundations of the Mohammedanism; that of the re-emergement of the Beast from the abyss; that of the decline from Christ and his word, extending through the world; and that of the powerful errors of the Antichristian spirit, acquiring domination over the cultivation of genius; of the idolization of men, and of many more similar signs.

Never did the church witness such a constellation of signs of the near coming of Christ as now. ‘The branches of the fig-trees are full of sap; and the summer is at hand.’ Assuredly I am not ignorant that a portion of the church has become gradually weary of the long tarrying, and has fallen into doubt. You also shake your head and are of the opinion that we have long talked of ‘the last time.’ Well use this language, and increase the number of the existing signs by this new one. Add that of the foolish virgins, who shortly before the midnight hour maintained ‘the Lord would not come for a long time.’ So also in the days of Noah. They ate, they drank, they wooed and were wooed, and inscribed over the festivity-decorated gate of their dwellings, “Peace! Peace! There is no danger!” But then, however, the depths suddenly burst open, and the floods rushed forth at the command of the eternal wrath. Only Noah and those with him watched and were preserved; upon every one else destruction came with the swiftness of a whirlwind. The Lord cometh! Oh, were he already here! How do we long for his revelation in these dark times!’

—F. W. Krummacher.

SELF-DEPENDENCE.

Many an unwise parent works hard, and lives sparingly all his life for the purpose of leaving enough to give his children a start in the world, as it is called. Setting a young man afloat with money left him by relatives, is like tying a bladder under the arms of one who cannot swim; ten chances to one he will lose his bladders and go down to the bottom. Teach him to swim, and he will not need the bladders. Give your child a good education. See to it that his morals are pure, his mind cultivated, and his whole nature made subservient to the laws which govern man, and you will have given what will be of more value than the wealth of the Indies. You have given him a start which no misfortune can deprive him of. The earlier you teach him to depend upon his own resources and the blessing of God, the better.

Questions and Answers on Bible Subjects.

The Tarrying Time.

Question. Do you consider that the tarrying time of the parable of the ten virgins, Matt. xxv, ended in 1844? S. A. D. of Mich.

Answer. Yes. “We believe we are past the events in our history represented by that parable, as far as to the twelfth verse of the chapter. It is true that we are now in a tarrying time in one sense, that is, a time of waiting, and of the patience of the saints, but not the specific tarrying time of the parable which ended with the event represented by the coming of the bridegroom in verse 10. On this point we design to offer some thoughts through the Review soon.”

The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.

Question. What is meant by the bride, Rev. xxi, 9, 10? Is it the city? the saints? or both? S. A. D. of Mich.

Answer. On this point our views are expressed in the following from “Thoughts on Revelation,” pp. 307-311.

Verse 9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

This testimony is positive that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The angel told John distinctly that he would show him the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and we may be sure that he did not practice upon him a piece of deception, but fulfilled his promise to the very letter; but all that he did show him, was the New Jerusalem. It would be unnecessary to offer a word of proof that this city is not the church, were it not that popular theology has so mystified the Scriptures as to give it this application. This city, then, cannot be the church, because it would be absurd to talk of the church’s lying four square, and having a north side, a south side, an east side, and a west side. It would be absurd to talk of its having a wall great and high, and in that wall twelve gates, three looking toward each of the four points of compass. Indeed, the whole description which we have of the city in this chapter would be more or less an absurdity, as applied to the church.

Again, Paul in Galatians speaks of the same city, and says that it is the mother of us all, referring to the church. The church, then, is not the city itself, but the children of the city. And verse 24 of the chapter under comment speaks of the nations of the saved who walk in the light of this city. These nations which are the saved, and on earth constitute the church, are distinct from the city, in the light of which they walk. Hence we believe the city is a literal city, built of all the precious materials here described.

But how can this be the bride, the Lamb’s wife? Answer. Inspiration has seen fit to speak of it under this figure, and with us that should be sufficient. The figure is first introduced in Isa. liv. The new-covenant city is there brought to view. It is represented as being desolate, while the old covenant was in force, and the Lord’s care was confined to the Jews and old Jerusalem, but it is said to her that the children of the desolate shall be many more than the children of the married wife. It is said further to her, “Thy Maker is thy husband,” and the closing promise of the Lord to this city, contains a very similar description to the one which we have here in Revelation; namely, “I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones, and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” It is this very promise to which Paul refers, and upon which he comments in Galatians, when he says, “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Here, then, Paul makes an inspired application of Isaiah’s prophecy, which cannot be mistaken.

In addition to this we have the positive testimony of this twenty-first chapter of Revelation before us, on this point. With this view there is harmony throughout. We have Christ as the Father of his people, Isa. ix, 6, the Jerusalem above is called our mother, and we are the children; and under the figure of the marriage, we have Christ as the Bridegroom, the city as the bride, and we, the church, are the guests. There is no confusion of parties here. But the popular view which makes the city the church, and the church the bride, exhibits the inexcusable confusion of making the church to be at the same time, both mother and children, and both bride and guests.

Continue reading: Notes on Genesis

DUTIES OF THE FAMILY RELATION.*