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Review and Herald, Vol. 29, No. 9.

A LITTLE WHILE

Review and Herald

Feb 5, 1867

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 5, 1867

A LITTLE WHILE.

By John Matteson

BY ELD. JOHN MATTESON.
“A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.” John xvi, 16.
There is no subject of more thrilling interest and vital importance than the soon coming of our blessed Redeemer. In him center our best affections, and the brightest rays of hope cluster around the dawn of that day, which shall bring to our waiting hearts the bright and morning star. Then faith will be changed to joyful sight, and we shall behold Him whom we have adored, of whom we have talked, for whom we have waited. The thought that he is near is a joyful one. And the assurance that we shall behold the King in his beauty, and see the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, makes us tired of this dark world, and long for the appearing of Jesus.
In the text we have a sweet assurance of the fact that Jesus is not slack concerning his promises, but he will come again, and we shall certainly see him. And our minds are led out to consider that the fulfillment of these promises is now very near.
On this subject we shall endeavor to present: 1. The time of waiting. 2. The joyful meeting. 3. The reason why we must wait.
1. The time of waiting. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, a glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” And while Jesus dwelt among us, he faithfully fulfilled his mission, and instructed his followers in the heavenly things. “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” As long as he was with them he was their counsellor and joy. “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” Christ instructed and prepared his disciples for this time of fasting or waiting. While he was with them, their eyes beheld him, they handled him with their hands, and their ears heard his gracious words. But only a little while could he stay with them. “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me, and . . . . whither I go ye cannot come.” His home was not here. He must return to his Father’s house. There is his home, in the mansions of light and glory.
Must thou go away so soon, dear Saviour? Thy stay with us is so short. Can we now be favored with thy presence no longer? We have groaned and suffered, sweat and toiled. Generation after generation is swallowed up by that cruel monster, death. He is ready also to seize us. We had trusted that thou shouldst now deliver us. Thou hast come as our best friend to bless us, and thou hast the power of eternal life. Thy presence with us has been a light in darkness. Thou hast taken down our harps from the willows when we sat as mourning captives by the rivers of Babylon. Thy sweet melody has moved our hearts. Thou art he whom our soul loveth. And we verily believed that thou wouldest at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel. But now thou wilt leave us. We tremble and fear. Must our joys be turned into mourning, and our hopes so soon be blasted? Oh, no! we cannot endure the thought. Dear Saviour, stay. We beseech thee abide with us.
“Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.” “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.” “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.” “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
This is truly comforting. Our friend and master will not leave us forever. He will come again. We rejoice in the thought. Yet it may be a long while. Perhaps the promises of his coming may be delayed. We would like to know how long. How long, dear Lord, wilt thou tarry?
“A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall see me.” “Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, . . . A little while? We cannot tell what he saith.” “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and he said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now, therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Now the disciples began to understand the Saviour. And although in the hour of bereavement they were discouraged, yet, after his resurrection, Jesus continues to instruct them, with much patience, concerning the kingdom of God. And afterward the Comforter brought it all with renewed power to their minds. Then they understood clearly that “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Blessed thought! the waiting time is but for a moment. And concerning the time when they shall receive this glory, they were steadfastly and continually looking forward to the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he who is our life shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
That this waiting time is but a little while, is true as regards all the children of God since the time of our Saviour. Compared with the glorious eternity, it is very short. And all its tribulation is not to be compared with the exceeding joy of the world to come. Yet the waiting time often appears long to us, and the more so, the more earnestly we long to behold the coming King. “Thy kingdom come,” ascends from a thousand waiting hearts. The knee is bent, the face bedewed with tears. Sins are confessed, and a deep and daily experience sought. With contrite hearts God’s people plead for a preparation, and an inheritance with Jesus in his kingdom.
The waiting time is a time of groaning. The whole creation groaneth. The curse is resting more and more heavily upon man and beast. Iniquity abounds. Genuine love is more scarce. Wars and perplexities increase. Famine and pestilence stalk through the land. Oppression and tyranny rule. Fashions and passions, perverted appetites and corrupt habits, are worshiped and obeyed, like mighty idols. The fearful flood of sin threatens to swallow up all that remains of piety and godliness. There is no fear of God, no respect for his truth. Thousands of poor laborers, toiling beyond their strength, groan, being defrauded in their wages. Widows and fatherless, the sick and dying, the whole suffering humanity, groan. And we also groan in ourselves, and cry out, How long, O Lord, holy and true? It is true, the groans can last but a little while. Yet it is heart-sickening to hear and see all this misery, and to share in the imperfections of this lower world. But here we are, still groaning, waiting for the redemption of our bodies, and crying, How long, O Lord, how long?
The last days are a special time of waiting to the remnant of God’s people. When the first message was sounded, their expectations were raised high. This world with its joys looked dark, and a light from Heaven seemed to rest on God’s waiting people. Theylooked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And as light shone from this city, it appeared to be so near. Saints were aroused, and sinners converted unto God. The mighty proclamation, “Fear God, and give glory to him,” worked like a hammer that breaketh asunder the rocks. All eyes were directed toward the coming King. Evidences accumulated. The very work itself proved that the hand of God was in it. Yet they were disappointed for a little while. They must become a byword and a rock of offense to the wicked and scoffing multitude. The second and third angels’ messages must also be sounded. The remnant must learn to develop the patience of the saints. “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” The two-horned beast must perform his work of lying wonders and persecution. And the saints, on the other hand, must learn deep humility, and come into the unity of the faith. They must all be one, as the Father and the Son are one.
The commandments of God have long been neglected. The Sabbath has been trampled under foot. But God will vindicate his own truth. His people will glorify him also in remembering the holy Sabbath of the Lord. And they must learn to do this not only outwardly, but from the heart. They must learn to spend the six days in such a way that their worship, and meditations, and prayers, on the Sabbath, can be approved by our heavenly Father, and cause angels to rejoice.
The faith of Jesus must also be brought out, clear and connected, and lived out daily and conscientiously. We must have the refreshing from the presence of the Lord. And ancient holiness, piety, love, and faith, must be revived. Thus, and thus only, can we be ready to meet our coming Lord. Only through a living experience and deep trials, can we be brought to cry night and day unto God for deliverance. Then the long night of sin will reach its deepest darkness, and the day of glory be right upon us. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold the judge standeth before the door.” “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
Brethren, we are in the time of waiting. Let us not grudge, but wait together, weep and pray together, labor and suffer together, until Jesus comes.
2. The joyful meeting. “Again a little while, and ye shall see me.” Jesus is coming. He is now standing before the door. Soon a cloud of glory will bring the coming King. Thousands of angels are coming with him. I shall meet him. I shall see him for myself. In my flesh shall I see God. Hush ye tattlers, and idlers, and scoffers. Cease, ye cares, and toils, and pains. Be still, O my soul, and wait for the Lord. Go ye rich men to your pleasures, ye gay to your festivals, and theatres, and mirth. Cry peace and safety, ye slumbering professors, and dream of coming glory, in your rich pews. Boast of your splendid buildings and popular theories, human fame and great numbers. I am going to a happier meeting. Your daubed walls shall not stand. But the truth of God shall stand. It is firm and eternal. Hearken and obey before it is too late, and go with us to this happy meeting.
We shall meet Jesus there. I want to see my Saviour above all others. I have never seen him. How does he look? He must be very glorious to behold. I tremble with anxious expectation at the thought. I cannot express my feelings. Will he give me a holy kiss and embrace me in his arms of love? I would stand away off behind all the rest. I am so unworthy. But oh! I want to be there. I want to look at that head which wore the crown of thorns for me, and hung down to death. I wish to behold the hands that were nailed to the cross, and take them in my hands. I stand amazed. Admiration, wonder, and love, fill my soul. I lift up mine eyes. They meet his. He knows me. He is acquainted with all my sins and wanderings. He also knows my struggles and prayers. He has fixed his eyes upon me. A flame of love is kindled within. He speaks. What a voice! Sweet and melodious, it sends a thrill of joy through every nerve. He calls my name. Thousands have been called before me. I see them standing at his right hand, with glittering crowns and white robes, and each one has a harp of gold. Is this a dream? No, no. It is a glorious reality. I go forward. With his own soft hand Jesus places the crown on my brow. Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah! He also bestows upon me the white robe and the golden harp. I look at Jesus, and then at my robe and harp. I want to shout and leap for joy, and sing and play, immediately. But hush, I must wait and sing with the rest. There is order in Heaven. I also receive a happy assurance of an eternal inheritance in the new earth. And then I take my place among the glorified. Now I know I am forever with the Lord. We were caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and have gone home to the city to be with Christ till the earth shall be renewed. Then we join in the rich and melodious songs of Heaven. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”
We shall meet with the angels there. They did minister to our wants while we were pilgrims. How happy we are to behold them face to face. To rejoice with them, and they with us. We feel thankful for their services, and they are happy in having done the will of God. Then we sing of redemption and pardon, and of the blood in which we washed our robes, and how we gained the victory over the world. And they listen with admiration. Then again we sing together, and make the arches of Heaven ring. All have joy and glory enough. All adore and worship the Father, and his Son, the illustrious Prince of Peace.
We shall be gathered home with the saints of all ages. The graves are opened. The dead arise. The living are changed in a moment. They go together to meet the Lord. Here are the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and their followers. The mother embraces her long-lost child. The faithful husband greets the wife who left him to mourn with his motherless children. Our beloved brother, who died so suddenly, and was called away from his sorrowing family, returns from the land of the enemy. It is but as yesterday, he cries, when I left you. And they, forgetting their tears, and groans, and restless nights, cry out, Glory to God. His name be praised forever. The humble servant who left wife, and children, and home, and toiled in a cold and frowning world to speak of Jesus, will also be there. And all who are faithful and love Jesus will be a happy, unbroken family in the kingdom.
Hark! There is a call, Come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here we sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. The Lord shall make his servants “sit down to meat, and shall come forth to serve them.” “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” Then we drink the new wine with Jesus in his Father’s kingdom. And like mighty thunderings we shout, “Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
3. The reason why we must wait. “Because I go to the Father.” Why did Christ go to the Father? “I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.” There was yet a great work to be done. Christ was to be an intercessor, or high priest before the throne of God, and minister in the heavenly sanctuary. And on the earth he would carry on the work by the Comforter or Holy Spirit, who should work with the word, and dwell in the hearts of his followers. The work must be carried on until the last saint is gathered in, the last stone placed in the spiritual temple. Still the work is going on. And as the end is nearing, and the perils of the last days are upon us, we need a deeper experience in the things of God.
Solemn scenes are before us. Awful vengeance is speedily coming upon the enemies of Christ. The little while, before Jesus’ coming, is nearly expired. Time is precious. Eternal interests are at stake. Our thoughts, and words, and actions, each day help to develop our character, and fit us up for the kingdom, or make us more ripe for destruction. May God help us to be in good earnest; to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that we may at last meet with Jesus, and wear a crown of glory in his peaceful domains.

FORTITUDE.

By M. E. GUILFORD.

I am tired and weary; fain would I lay down The weapons of warfare, and take the bright crown, Be robed in pure white, sing the conqueror's song, Shout glory to God with the angelic throng. But trials await me; I will not repine, But cry Abba Father, "Thy will, but not mine." Yea, prove my love for thee and help me to stand, Till my robes are made white in the blood of the Lamb.
I am tired and weary; yet onward! still on! My motto shall be, till the victory is won; Nor lay down my armor, the conflict give o'er, Till safely I stand on the glorified shore, Where, free from all trouble, all sorrow, and pain, With saints and bright angels I ever shall reign, Earth's tempests and storms I will bravely endure; Be firm to the end, and redemption secure.
M. E. GUILFORD. Castalia, O.

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.

Geology and the Bible;

By D. T. BOURDEAU

Or, A Pre-Adamic Age of Our World Doubtful.

Geology is “the science of the structure and materials of the earth.” Genuine Geology is as true as the Bible, and it does not contradict the Bible; for truth cannot contradict truth. Yet it is strange that some should pretend that there is a discrepancy between this science and the Bible; and it is stranger still that some professing to believe the Bible, should adopt views purporting to be based on Geology, which are antagonistic to plain Bible facts, and yet claim that there is harmony between their views and the Bible.
These inconsistencies arise from the fact that all that passes for Geology is not Geology. Geology as a science is only in its infancy, and there is much that claims to be Geology, which is but an abuse of that science, and, to use the language of an apostle, is “science falsely so-called.” Of this science we should beware, especially as its tendency is to lead us away from the Scriptures of truth.
And in our judgment there can be no greater and more dangerous abuse of Geology, than the idea which makes this science teach that our world is more than six thousand years old; that there was a pre-Adamic age consisting of immense periods of time, represented by the six days of creation, during which there lived mammoth beasts, and a race of human beings much larger than men now living, indicated by huge skeletons, occasionally found in the bosom of the earth. We consider that this view is dangerous for the following reasons:
1. It contradicts the Bible record of creation, which says that in six days, and not six immense periods of time, God made heaven and earth and all that in them is. See Gen. 1, and the fourth commandment. Mark! the Bible says that God made heaven and earth, as well as all that in them is, in six days. It is in the beginning of the first day, therefore, that God created the heaven and the earth, as spoken of in Gen. i, 1.
One very important feature of history which is to be handed down to posterity, is that it be written in plain language, and free from expressions which would lead the reader astray; and when God causes a history to be written, he will, of course, characterize it with this essential qualification. Consequently, when Moses, actuated by the Spirit of God, called those periods in which Jehovah wrought, days, he simply meant days, and nothing else. Again, the days of creation were composed of the “evening and the morning,” just as our days are.
But the same term which is used to denote the length of the periods in which God wrought, is also used to denote the length of the period in which he rested. If, therefore, the six days of creation were immense periods of time, or millions of years, the seventh day was also an immense period of time. And as Adam was created on the sixth day, he must have lived a part of an immense period of time, one whole immense period, the seventh day, and hundreds of years besides. How much would this make? One million of years, at least. But the Record says, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” Gen. v, 5.
2. The idea of a pre-Adamic period of our world, as above described, is also dangerous in that it leads men to overlook the degeneracy of our race, the idea of a flood in which perished a mighty and long-lived race, and the idea that men were once larger and stronger than they now are, as can be seen by tracing back the pages of history, whether sacred or secular, and by our own experience. All know, or shouldknow, that this generation is inferior in strength and build to former ones, and that the race is still degenerating; so that the achievements of this age are not owing to the unwonted physical or mental power of its inhabitants, but to the benefits of the experience of all past ages, as well as of the present.
When we therefore find mammoth human skeletons, we need not trace them to a pre-Adamic age, neither need we overlook Geology, nor have Geology contradict the Bible. But both Geology and the Bible speak to us with one harmonious voice, telling us that we are sadly fallen and degenerate; that there was once a flood; that God is just and will punish the violators of his laws.
In the light of this view, we can read the following extracts from an old work entitled “The Wonders of Nature and Providence,” with thrilling interest. In speaking of the period before the flood, the writer says, on pp. 67, 68,
“First, in the book of Genesis, 6th chapter, verse 4th, it is said, there were giants in the earth in those days! This was previous to the deluge, and the inhabitants of that time lived to the age of many hundred years. There can be no doubt that the people of that age possessed a hardiness of constitution, and a robustness of person, quite unknown to the present inhabitants of any part of the globe. From this very circumstance of longer date of life, greater magnitude of person might be expected as the natural result. If so, where then is the absurdity of supposing them to be, in general, persons of greater stature? If at the present day, there are found persons who are exceptions to the common size of men, of which Dr. Adam Clarke, of London, gives us the account, in his Scripture comment upon the subject of giants; viz.; that ‘he had known a young man who measured eight feet and six inches in height. . . . If, therefore, at this day such a monster of a man is known to exist, how much more may we say, and with confidence too, that in those ages when men lived longer on the earth, there were exceptions to the general size of men of a more monstrous and astonishing description?’ The author then proceeds to give a Bible account of giants and nations of giants in olden times, in which men are proved to have been from eight to fifteen feet high.
On pp. 65, 66, the author refers to a “memoir read before the academy of sciences at Rouen, in which M. Le Cat gives the following account of giants:”
“Profane historians have given seven feet of height to Hercules, their first hero. . . . The giant who was shown in Rouen in 1735, measured eight feet and some inches. The emperor, Maximin, was of that size; Shenkins and Platernus, physicians of the seventeenth century, saw several of that size, and Giropius saw a girl who was ten feet high. The body of Orestus, according to the Greeks, was eleven feet and a half; the giant Galbers, brought from Arabia to Rome under Claudius Cæsar, was near ten feet, and the bones of Lecondella and Pusia, keepers of the garden of Sallust, were but six inches shorter. Funnam, a Scotchman who lived in the time of Eugene II., king of Scotland, measured eleven feet and a half; and Jacob Le Maire, in his voyage to the straits of Magellan, reports that on the 17th of December, 1615, they found at Port Desire several graves covered with stones; and having the curiosity to remove the stones, they discovered human skeletons of ten and eleven feet long. . . . Rioland, a celebrated anatomist, who wrote in 1614, says, that some years before there was to be seen in the suburbs of St Germain the tomb of the giant Isoret, who was twenty feet high. In Rouen, in 1509, in digging in the ditches near the Dominicans, they found a tomb containing a skeleton whose skull held a bushel of corn. . . . Platernus, a famous physician, declares that he saw at Lucerne the true human bones of a subject which must have been at least nineteen feet high.”
Huge skeletons have also been found in this continent, from the coast of the Atlantic in the East, to the wide-spread prairies in the far West. Quite recently a “charnel house” is said to have been found in the stone quarries on the east bank of the Connecticut, showing that men were once larger than they are now. See Central Christian Advocate of Nov. 14, 1866. Facts of the same nature might be greatly multiplied. But let these suffice for the present.
D. T. BOURDEAU.

Your Evenings,

By Etta Booth

Fathers, husbands, brothers, where and how do you spend your evenings? At home with your families? Do you help to make home happy and cheerful after your day's toil is done, choosing for your society those whom you have sworn to love, cherish, and protect? Do you, by your presence—that which your wife above all earthly things prizes most highly— cheer her whose labors cease not, but who cheerfully toils on from early rising to the late hours of the night, to keep yourself, your little ones, and your homes tidy and comfortable? Do you appreciate home with all its comforts and enjoyments, realizing that it is what the world cannot give? Do you say by your acts that you love your family better than all else earthly besides? Do you strive to have your influence felt and known for good? Do you strive to make yourself a pattern to be loved, honored, and imitated? Or do you merely make home a stopping place, convenient to eat and sleep in? Are the sacred precincts of home a reservoir for all the bitterness of your heart and the outpourings of your uncontrolled disposition? Do you find home convenient only when sickness and calamity befall you?
Fathers! husbands! brothers! sons! is not your time spent somewhere where it ought not to be? Are you mingling with the gay, with the ungodly, with the “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,” and not separating yourself from “the unclean?” Do your jests sound as high, your laugh ring as loudly as that of the inveterate bacchanal and the most irreligious, around the public fireside? You profess Christ and the teachings of the meek and lowly; but could the attentive ear detect it? Leaving unquestioned the circumstances that brought you among the men of sin, would the stranger know that you had ever tasted the pure waters of life—been bought with a price and born again?
Ah! you are parleying with the Evil One at the expense of your soul; you are compromising with the Devil, and may make one concession too many. The Evil One tries to make you believe you are not doing wrong; but your path is fearful, and God pities you. Will you not accept his love? O let its sanctifying influence shed its rays upon your wasting soul! You want to do right, you mean to do better, and have often felt condemned. Why then will you not begin just now? Grieve not the tender Spirit from you. Begin with a determination, and you will find home happy. It cannot be cheerful unless you help make it so. Put away selfishness; try your Bible and your religion, and you will succeed. ETTA BOOTH.

Love, God, and Now

THE sweetest word in our language is Love. The greatest word in our language is God. The word expressing the shortest time is Now. The three make the sweetest duty man can perform.

Work While the Day Lasts.

By Angelina J. Edmunds

There are many points of faith which are encouraging to the professor, but it will do us no good to believe all the present truth, unless we have corresponding works. It is needful that the Christian should have faith, but a man is not justified by faith only.
Dear reader, you sometimes wonder why your heart is not filled with the sweet, melting Spirit of God, as it was when you first believed the truth. Are you as zealous of good works as you then were? or are you growing cold and formal? You then believed there was one God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested the seventh; you commenced keeping the Sabbath, and by your works you were justified; our heavenly Father was well pleased, and blessed you abundantly.
You believe that Jesus entered the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, that the judgment commenced with the righteous dead, and will soon end with the righteous living, that the remnant who are sealed will be pronounced by Him a holy people; but he that is filthy will be so still. While this is your faith, are you, by your works, proving to others that you believe what you profess? If you are not, you surely will die a spiritual death. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? can faith save him? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” Jesus proved by his works to the unbelieving Pharisee, that he was the Son of God. “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” We cannot move along like the world who think of nothing but “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” and finally have a home with the pure. Who could expect a home in that happy land, without first “cleansing himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit?” without living soberly and righteously in this present evil world?
Do not lag behind and look with suspicion upon the work of God. Come forward, and with the messengers put your shoulder to the wheel. Arise, awake from that death-like stupor, and help speed on the last message of mercy to a dying world. Show by your lives of self-denial at home, and the giving of your means to help spread the truth abroad, that you believe what you profess. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
I feel solemn when I think the angels will soon cease pleading. To those who are slow to work it will be said, “They are joined to their idols, let them alone.” Oh! I entreat of you, be not satisfied with a mere form of religion. In the last days there shall be a class of professors, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” Such only carry darkness with them. I hope all the dear ones now keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, will awake to their true condition before High Heaven. Be not discouraged if you are exceeding sinful, for “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
“Wake up brother, wake up sister, Seek, oh seek, this holy state! None but holy ones can enter Through the pure celestial gate.”
Angelina J. Edmunds.
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Bible and Tradition Contrasted.

By J. A. GREGORY

“In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”—God.
“Thou shalt not surely die.”—Satan.
“The soul that sinneth it shall die.”—God.
The soul that sinneth it shall not die, but shall live forever, or have eternal life in misery.—Man.
The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.—Paul.
The wages of sin is not death, but eternal life in misery without Jesus Christ.—Man.
He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son hath not life.—Christ.
He that hath not the Son hath life inherent in himself, and will live forever without Christ.—Man.
And this is the record that God hath given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son.—John.
We have no need of any such record or information, for we have this life in us of ourselves.—Man.
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.—Paul.
Christ has not brought life and immortality to light through the gospel; for a man knows that he has life and immortality abiding in him without Christ or his gospel.—Man.
Who art thou, O vain man, that repliest against God? Know this, that God only hath immortality. 1 Tim. vi, 15, 16.
J. A. GREGORY.
Durand, Wis.

Authenticity of the Mosaic Record.

THE formation of man, with all his full-grown powers of body and mind—primeval rectitude, federal character and fall—the promised Saviour and his predicted victories—the patriarchal age—the deluge—the foundation of the new world—the settlement of the mother country—the division of the earth—the confusion of tongues, and the dispersion—the early settlement of Egypt—the rise and fall of the Assyrian empire, even to the names of all its successive princes from the first to the last—the origin, peculiarities, and overthrow of the Hebrew state—the progress and decline of Canaan, Persia, and Media,—are all familiar topics of Biblical history. Ancient cities, too,—Thebes—the No-Ammi of Nahum—Nineveh, Jerusalem, Babylon, with all that rendered them the wonders of the world, would be traced to the remote darkness of the fabulous age, but for the Old Testament. The only authentic history of these remote events and kingdoms is in the pentateuch and in the prophets. Before the days of Moses, there were no historical records either in Assyria, Egypt, Phœnicia, Chaldea, or Greece. No other historian has lived at so remote a period as the exodus from Egypt. Dr. Winder shows, at considerable length, that Moses is the only man who had any considerable materials for Egyptian history; as the ancient learning of Egypt must have been chiefly lost by the excision of the first-born and the disasters of the Red sea. Since the priests, the more common depositaries of learning, usually attended in their wars, the people who were left behind must have been chiefly the common people: so that for a long time after this disaster, Egypt was involved in ignorance and darkness; nor is this nation subsequently mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures until the reign of Solomon. “Moses was the father of history.” Infidels have affirmed, there were astronomical calculations in Babylon that reached back to a period much farther than the Mosaic history; which, therefore, if true, invalidate the entire account given by Moses. This assertion has received a very conclusive refutation from the astronomical calculations of Bedford. But there is a fact stated by Gillies, in his history of Greece, that confirms the calculations of Bedford. This historian states, that, after the conquest of Babylon by Alexander, he “eagerly demanded the astronomical calculations that had been carefully preserved in that ancient capital about nineteen centuries. By the order of Alexander, they were faithfully transcribed and transmitted to Aristotle,” who was the preceptor of this prince. And “they re-mounted to twenty-two hundred and thirty-four years beyond the Christian era,” a period not even so remote as the deluge. There is no history that can be so safely relied on, or that is so ancient, as the Mosaic history. Every other attempt at history, until the reigns of David and Solomon, is but a mass of shapeless, re-arranged tradition, as corrupt as it is fabulous. Long after this time, indeed, the pages of writers, esteemed the most authentic, are disfigured by absurd and disgusting fictions. This defect in the annals of earlier times must be everywhere and deeply felt, if we exclude the information obtained from the Bible. There only is the deficiency supplied. Sanchoniathon, Berosus, Ctesias, and Manetho are the oldest human historians; “but Moses was five hundred years before the first, and more than a thousand before the last.”—Sears’ Hist. Bible.
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