Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1880
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
OFFERING OF STRANGE FIRE.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace."
The sons of Aaron did not take the sacred fire from the altar, which the Lord himself had kindled, and which he had commanded the priests to use when they offered incense before him. They took common fire, and put it in their censers, and put incense thereon. This was a transgression of God's express command, and his judgment speedily followed. Aaron's sons, who officiated in holy things, would not have thus transgressed if they had not indulged freely in the use of wine, and been partially intoxicated. They gratified the appetite, which debased their faculties, and disqualified them for their sacred office. Their intellects were beclouded, so that they did not have a realizing sense of the difference between the sacredness of the fire which God let fall from Heaven, and which was kept burning continually upon the altar, and the common fire, which he had said they should not use. If they had had the full and clear use of their reasoning powers, they would have recoiled with horror at the presumptuous transgression of God's positive commands. They had been especially favored of God in being of the number of elders who witnessed the glory of God in the mount. They understood that the most careful self-examination and sanctification were required on their part before presenting themselves in the sanctuary, where God's presence was manifested.
"And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people; but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses." The father of the men slain, and their brothers, were forbidden to manifest any signs of grief for the ones who had been justly punished of God. When Moses reminded Aaron of the words of the Lord, that he would be sanctified in them that came nigh to him, Aaron was silent. He knew that God was just; and he murmured not. His heart was grieved at the dreadful death of his sons while in their disobedience; yet, according to God's command, he made no expression of his sorrow, lest he should share the same fate of his sons, and the congregation also be infected with the spirit of unreconciliation, and God's wrath come upon them.
When the Israelites committed sin, and God punished them for their transgression, and the people mourned for the fate of the one punished, instead of sorrowing because God had been dishonored, the sympathizers were accounted equally guilty with the transgressor.
The Lord teaches us, in the directions given to Aaron, reconciliation to his just punishments, even if his wrath comes very nigh. He would have his people acknowledge the justness of his corrections, that others may fear. In these last days, many are liable to be self-deceived, and they are unable to see their own wrongs. If God, through his servants, reproves and rebukes the erring, there are those who stand ready to sympathize with those who deserve reproof. They will seek to lighten the burden which God compelled his servants to lay upon them. These sympathizers think they are performing a virtuous act by sympathizing with the one at fault, whose course may have greatly injured the cause of God. Such are deceived. They are only arraying themselves against God's servants, who have done his will, and against God himself, and are equally guilty with the transgressor. There are many erring souls who might have been saved if they had not been deceived by false sympathy.
"And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken by the hand of Moses."
There was given the same positive command as was given to our first parents, in regard to the tree of knowledge. God would impress upon all the necessity of strictly temperate habits in order to preserve in their full force all their powers, prepared for constant action. Satan has worked perseveringly to the one end, to compass the ruin of the world. Since his success on the point of appetite in Eden, in causing the fall of our first parents, he has plied this temptation to the human family with wonderful success. Intemperance weakens the physical powers, and debases the morals, so that eternal things are placed on a level with common. Satan exults as he looks upon his work. If he can lead astray the heads of families through appetite he is mostly sure of a harvest in their children, in their children's children to the third and fourth generation. He studies from cause to effect. Children generally have transmitted to them as a legacy, the appetite and passions of their parents, intensified. And often290these children grow up without any redeeming influences around them, but with unfavorable surroundings and examples. And they are weaker in physical and moral power than were their parents before them. Intemperance benumbs the sensibilities to that degree that physical, mental, and moral feebleness is the result, and right and wrong is not discerned.
This is the purpose of Satan, to belittle the requirements of God, and make of none effect his holy law. The man of sin has placed a common working day in the very bosom of the decalogue and in doing this has thought to change the law of God and has thus exalted himself above God. Were the moral powers of man clear and vigorous they would not choose the common in the place of the sacred because it is more convenient to be in harmony with the world. The general disobedience of man does not change or detract one particle from the positive command to keep holy the seventh day, for God placed his sanctity upon that day. A principle of right and obedience to God are always and everywhere the only safe rule. The language of every God-fearing soul should be, Perish whatever may, gold, silver, houses, lands, reputation, but let me retain my integrity and the approval of God. The habit of doing wrong in breaking one of God's commandments will not lessen the guilt. There are habits contracted by bad example, or by bad influence before we have judgment to discern the right; or the force of reason may be so narcotized by indulgence of appetite in the use of tobacco, opium and liquor that wrong is not discerned. These slaves to appetite are completely under the dominion of their master, and unless evil habits are conquered, they will conquer and destroy.
Selfish gratification through the force of habit has reigned almost supreme in the hearts of the human family since the fall of Adam. Satan has slain his thousands and tens of thousands by causing them to think that God does not mean what he says. They venture to disobey, as did our first parents, and at last find the result is death. The Lord would garrison the hearts of the men of Israel in responsible positions, that they should preserve their reasoning powers, clear to discern between right and wrong in their dealings with the people, and this direct and solemn command was to reach from generation to generation to the close of time. Men who are instructing the people, and are in positions of trust should ever be men of strictly temperate habits; unless they are they will not be men of principle; for indulgence of the appetite perverts the senses. Those who have had advantages in education, trained by wise and God-fearing parents to strictly temperate habits, will generally be found trustworthy. They learn to bear the yoke in their youth.
The sons of Aaron although especially honored of God by being placed in important positions, were unfaithful. The yielding disposition of Aaron to indulgence of his children had given them characters that were inclined to self-gratification. They failed where they should have been strong. These men did not understand their own weakness and made a fatal mistake in the indulgence of appetite. The highest incentive presented before them to develop firmness and principle, and strictly temperate habits, that they might have a continual sense of the sacredness of the work which was given them. God was testing their character to bring into exercise the highest powers of the mind. But the habits of self-indulgence had a firmer hold on them than they had any idea of. It seemed a trifle to them to put the intoxicating draught to their lips; they had done it again and again until force of habit controlled them; and then elevation to responsible position did not have sufficient influence upon them to make them break a sinful custom. Had these sons been educated to courageous resolution, to self-control, they would have resisted the growing power of vicious habits. There is not a virtue nor a vice, not an act of body, nor of mind, to which we may not be chained down by the force of habit. Many promising young men have ruined themselves by one false step at the commencement of life in the formation of habits of intemperance. Here the neglect of parents is seen in the formation of the characters of their children. Notwithstanding the father had failed to do his duty, God would bring these sons in close connection with himself that he might instruct them as to his will and his way; but the reverence they had failed to give the father, led them to disregard the positive requirements of God.
THE RIVER OF DEATH.
By S. L. Maud Miles
THE river of death is dark and deep,
And none come back from its shore;
It hushes the song, and the echo sweet,
In its restless, turbulent roar.
A dark relentless foe is death;
It hurries away from our side
The dearest God gives—with a look and a breath,
They sink in its loathsome tide.
They come not back to this world of ours,
As the angels come and go—
Their thoughts are perished with their breath;
They know neither joy or woe.
But not forever will the prince of death,
Keep his captives still and bound;
For the morning cometh when they shall awake
To the trumpet's joyful sound.
Conqueror no longer! when He comes
Whose voice can raise the dead—
His power is o'er, when sleeping saints
Shall leave their dusty bed.
Then freed from the power of death and the grave,
The dead shall live once more—
Shall walk again on this beautiful earth,
As it was in the days of yore.
We shall meet again the loved and lost,
That death hid away from our sight;
We shall walk together the golden streets
Of that beautiful city of light.
We shall gaze upon Him, we have learned to love
More than all that earth could give;
We shall hear that voice of magical power
That hath bidden us look and live.
Aye, the river of death is dark and deep
And none come back from its shore,
But e'er long a voice will reach to its depths,
And the dead will slumber no more.
—S. L. Maud Miles.
IT WILL BE MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS IN LENGTH
By R. F. Cottrell
THE DAY OF THE LORD. NO. 3.
IT WILL BE MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS IN LENGTH.
WE learn from Rev. 20:4, 5, that a thousand years intervene between the first and second resurrections. The first resurrection takes place at the second advent of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:22, 23. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." Verse 52. "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed." 1 Thess. 4:16. For the Lord 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." The testimony is explicit that those who are Christ's will be raised at his coming. The first resurrection includes all that are Christ's for the expression is general, and there is no exception. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." The blessed and the holy have part in the first resurrection. "All the wicked sleep in death for a thousand years after this—to the second resurrection. "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."
We have seen that the day of the Lord commences with the great day of his wrath before the second advent. That six of the seven vials, in which is filled up the wrath of God, are poured out before Christ's coming; for after the sixth vial, it is announced, "Behold I come as a thief." Consequently, the day of the Lord begins before the advent and first resurrection. Now if it can be shown that the day of the Lord extends beyond the second resurrection, or even to that event, our proposition will be proved, namely that, the day of the Lord is more than a thousand years long.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. 3:10.
Some have quoted the eighth verse of this chapter to prove that the day of the Lord would be just a thousand years in length; but the text does not affirm this. It merely states that what we deem a long period is not so regarded by the Lord. That he will not fail to fulfill his promise, though it may seem a long time to us, before it is done. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." This text says nothing of the day of the Lord. But the verse quoted above, verse 10, does; and I cite it in proof that the day of the Lord extends beyond the thousand years of Rev. 20.
The earth shall quake at the second advent; so that mountains and islands shall be moved out of their places. But there is no testimony to prove that the earth and its elements shall melt at that time. It is true that "the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire;" the earth may be burned to a great extent; (See Isa. 24:6;) but at that time the earth seems to be left in a chaotic state, and not melted. See Jer. 4:23-26. But the text affirms that the earth and elements shall melt with fervent heat in the day of the Lord. When will it take place? We pass over the thousand years and come to the second resurrection. The vast multitudes of the wicked stand again on the earth. Now Satan is loosed for a little season, and, seeing those revived who had been the subjects of his deception in their first life, he goes forth to deceive them once more. The countless host that cover the breadth of the earth, deceived and led by that ancient rebel leader who first broke peace in Heaven by seeding from the government of the Almighty, compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them. Thus they die a second time; and hence it is said, "This is the second death." A death without the hope of a resurrection. "A night that hath no morn beyond it, and no star." This is their final and utter perdition.
Now let us hear Peter again. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Verse 7. Both the judgment and perdition of the ungodly are recorded in Rev. 20. The "dead small and great," whose judgment is here recorded, are no other than all the wicked of the earth. The saints—all the blessed and holy—receive their judgment and enter upon their reward a thousand years before. At the time of the second resurrection, they will have "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. "Hence they are not among the dead that here stand in review before God.
It is to this scene of the final destruction of the wicked that Malachi refers, as the day that shall burn as an oven; when all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be burned up root and branch. Mal. 4. This is the utter "perdition of ungodly men"—all the ungodly. This cannot be before the second resurrection.
But this takes place in the day of the Lord; consequently the day of the Lord extends beyond the thousand years, covers the little season of Satan's last deception, and the time of the final perdition of ungodly men. Then the earth and elements shall melt. But beyond this the renewed earth shall appear. Says Peter, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
Thus the proposition is sustained, that the day of the Lord is more than a thousand years in duration, beginning before, and not ending till after, the thousand years of Rev. 20.
R. F. COTTRELL.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MORALITY.
"Irenæus," in a late issue of the New-York Observer, gives the following statement of some of the main points in the morality now taught by Romanists. It will well repay a perusal. He says:—
The Roman Catholic Tablet, of London, gives prominent insertion to a letter addressed by Leo XIII., the present Pope, to the Redemptorist Fathers Dujardin and Jacques, expressing his high approval of their labors in translating into French the works of S. Alphonsus Liguori. In this letter the Pope states that "these writings have been spread throughout the whole world, with the greatest profit to the Christian cause, and it is to be wished that they should become still more and more popular, and be placed in the hands of all. For with the greatest skill he directed and promoted the moral training of all, and they may be all perused by the faithful without any danger of stumbling."
What is the character of these works? In the Mechlin Edition of Liguori's Moral Theology, 1845, we find set forth a series of doctrines and principles, which injuriously affect the best interests of society, sap the foundations of morality, and outrage decency—principles of equivocation, lying, perjury, of "doing evil that good may come," and which inculcate as a duty the extermination of Protestants. Liguori informs us that the rules of the Congregation of the Index provide for the visitation of booksellers' shops and printing-offices, and amongst the prohibited books, the reading of which is forbidden under pain of excommunication, he names the Bible—"the Scriptures and books of controversies may not be permitted in the vernacular tongue; as also they cannot be read without permission" (Moral Theology, Vol. X., p. 236). Concerning dissimulation, Liguori says: "When you are not asked concerning the faith, not only is it lawful, but more conducive to the glory of God, and the utility of your neighbor, to cover the faith than to confess it; for example, if concealed among heretics, you may accomplish a greater amount of good" (Moral Theology, Vol. II., n. 14, p. 117). He teaches, also, the principle of doing evil that good may come. He says: "It is lawful to induce another to commit a less evil, that he may be impeded from a greater" (Vol. II., cap. 3, n. 77). Thus, as Liguori teaches, a man may supply an opportunity of stealing to his children or servants for the purpose of detection and punishment (Vol. II., n. 58, c. 2, pp. 176, 177). Servants also may lawfully assist and co-operate with their masters in the commission of crime, if they do so under fear of death or loss, "for example, lest he should be badly treated by his master, incur his displeasure, or be expelled from his house" (Vol. II., n. 66, c. 2). On Theft and Restitution, Liguori says: "It is certain that he who is in extreme want may steal the property of another" (Vol. III., n. 519, lib. 4, p. 237). Again he writes: "Note here the thirty-seventh proposition of Innocent XI., which said, 'Domestic servant men and women can steal from their own masters, for the purpose of compensating themselves for their own labor, which they judge to be greater than the salary they receive.'" He then goes on to say that a servant can compensate himself "if, from necessity, for the purpose, doubtless, of alleviating his own misery—he agrees upon a salary notably less than just. The reason is, because the pontifical decrees are not designed to lay servants under an unjust obligation" (Vol. III., n. 522, p. 245). Again, "A servant can, according to his own judgment, compensate himself for his labor, if he, without doubt, judge that he was deserving of a larger stipend" (Vol. III., n. 524, p. 246). On Equivocation, Liguori says: "A confessor can affirm, even with an oath, that he does not know of a sin heard in confession, understanding that he heard it as the minister of Christ and not as a man, as St. Thomas Aquinas, 2, 2, 9, 70, art. 1, ad. 1, Lug, disq. 22, teaches," who however, 75, explains, in another manner, the words, "he does not know it," through "a knowledge which may be made use of for the purpose of answering" (Vol. II., n. 163, p. 319). Again, "A poor man, absconding with goods for his own support, can answer the judge that he has nothing" (Vol. II., n. 158, p. 321). Again, "It is asked whether an adulteress can deny adultery to her husband," and Liguori answers this proposition, "If sacramentally she confessed adultery, she can answer, I am innocent of this crime, because by confession it was taken away" (Vol. II., n. 162, p. 322). On Oaths, Liguori, in considering the question, whether "he who swears without the intention of binding himself is under an obligation to keep his oath," answers, "Such an oath is not a true oath, both because it wants the necessary condition to the nature of a promissory oath, such as is the intention of binding one's self, and because an oath follows the nature of the promise which it confirms, as is certain from Busenbaum. But a promise without such an intention is not, indeed, a promise, but a mere purpose; therefore, the promise being evanescent, the oath is also such, and is considered as made without the intention of swearing, which certainly, as we have seen, is null and void. But if no oath exists, there is no obligation of fulfilling that oath" (Vol. II., p. 330). Again, he says: "He who hath sworn to a judge, that he would speak what he knew, is not bound to reveal concealed things" (Vol. II., p. 340).
LAST DAYS OF ISLAMISM.
A TRAVELER among the mountains of Asia Minor, who had pitched his tent not very far from the birthplace of the apostle to the Gentiles, in the province of Cilicia, was surprised the other day by a poor ignorant Turkish woman coming up to his door, and asking him if it was really true that the day of judgment was near. "On questioning her," he writes, "as to her reasons for making such an inquiry, I found that she had heard the villagers, especially the leading men, express the opinion that the last days of Islamism had come, and that the whole world is about to be judged for its wickedness. To-day I have had a long conversation with a Turkish cadi, or judge, the drift of whose conversation took the same direction. These two persons represent the extremes of society among the Turks, yet they are agreed as to the decadence, and probable collapse of the Turkish power. A large majority of the Turks are despondent. Their despondency is rather increased, than otherwise, by seeing their Christian neighbor hopeful, and increasing in prosperity. The Christians are looking in all directions to see what they can do to prepare themselves and their children for the new era that seems to be dawning upon them."—London Sunday at Home.
THE LESSON OF LOT.
By D. L. Moody
Now, if we let the Lord choose for us, he will choose better than we can for ourselves. But Lot wanted to choose for himself. I will venture to say, when he left Abraham, if you had talked to him about going to Sodom, he would have said: “Oh, no! Go down into Sodom? Do you think I would take my wife into Sodom? Do you think I would take my children down into Sodom—into that great city, with all its temptations? Not I!” But he pitched his tent toward Sodom—he looked toward the city—and it was not long before his business took him in there. He went down there perhaps to sell his cattle, and found there was a good market. Some of the leading men wanted him to go down there. He could make a great deal of money—could make it faster. When a man pitches his tent before Sodom, and looks in, it won't be long before he gets in there, tent and all.
His business took him there. “Business must be attended to—a man must attend to his business, you know.” “But then, it will be ruin to your family.” “Oh, well! I am going to get money, and then get out of it. When I get enough to retire, I will move back, and live on the plains of Abraham. But I must attend to my business first.” Many a man puts his business before his family. Business must be attended to, to get rich, let the consequences be what they will—let ruin and desolation come upon the family. I must accumulate wealth while I have the opportunity. Undoubtedly Lot reasoned in that way, as a great many people reason now.
Now he ought to have kept out of Sodom. He ought to have stayed on the plains, with the tent and altar; because all the time he was in Sodom we never hear of his having an altar there, nor of his calling on the God of Abraham. He was down there trying to make money, and not to worship.
In the sight of the world, Lot was one of the most successful business men of all Sodom. If you had gone in there a little while before destruction came upon it, and inquired about the place and its leading men, they would have told you that Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was one of the most successful men in all Sodom. He held office. We find him sitting at the gate, and that is a sign that he was an officer. Perhaps they made him a judge—a good, high-sounding name, “Judge Lot.” It is a good title. The world honored him—Sodom honored him; they liked him very well. Then he would have reasoned in this way: “Don't you see, I have got an influence by coming down here.” He was a man of great influence in the sight of the world—immense influence. They would have told you that he was one of the most influential men in all Sodom. He owned, perhaps, the best corner lots, and he may have had his name on them. If they had had a Congress in those days, he would have been a very popular man to send to Congress. He would have been “The honorable Mr. Lot, of Sodom.”
He was a man the world delighted to honor; for it delights to honor that kind of a man—a man of great influence! But I want to call your attention to one thing—he was there twenty years and never got a convert. That is a man of influence! Look around, and see where the worldly Christians are. How many souls are they winning to Jesus Christ? Are they the men that are building up Christ's kingdom? I tell you, those men are doing more to tear it down than any other class.
Lot was so identified with Sodom, and so much like the men of Sodom, that when he came to testify for the God of Abraham, do you think they would take his testimony? Not a word of it. Mrs. Lot, his wife, moved in the very highest circle, probably. If she rode out, she had the very best turnout. If they had theatres in those days, you would have found her at the theatre. Her children, of course, were in the world, and they had to be like the world. Of course, they danced. They were what you call dancing Christians, theatre-going Christians. If a nice opera comes along on the prayer-meeting night, they are all there—they are not at the prayer-meeting. Ah! you smile; but the church is full of them to-day. We have our Lots. Twenty long years he stayed down there in Sodom; and when the messengers of God visited him, what did they find? I would be ashamed to read it to you; it would bring a tinge of red to your cheeks. A child of God down there in Sodom! A child of God in such a dark place as that! It had been a long time since Lot had seen any messengers from Heaven. When he was back on the plains with Abraham, with the tent and altar, they visited the tent, and he was quite familiar with them; he had often seen them talking to his uncle. But he had been down there in the mists and fogs of Sodom and had not seen those angels. But late one afternoon two of them made their appearance at the gate. He was there, sitting in his place of office, and he knew them. He invited them to his house. Most of you know what took place. The Sodomites rose up against them. Lot tried to quiet them, and they mocked him. “This stranger coming here to dictate us?” Where is his testimony? They didn't receive it.
Men tell us they want to get influence over the world, and are going to reach the world in that way. Do they reach it in that way? Do worldly Christians reach the world? The world reaches them, and pulls them down. They don't pull the world up. It is the separated man—it is Abraham, with the tent and the altar—that is out of the mist and fog of Sodom, that is going to do Sodom good; not the men down in Sodom, living like Sodom. Separation is what we want to-day. We want the men of God to come out from the world.
And these two men found such a horrible state of things, they said to Lot: “Have you got any other children in Sodom besides these two daughters here in this house?” And they found that two of his daughters had been given away to the Sodomites. Think of it! He had got rich—got money—Sodom’s money—but two of his daughters had to be given to those Sodomites—those men living in such awful sin, and such awful wickedness. What do we see to-day? Fathers and mothers giving their daughters to ungodly men, drinking men, gambling men, licentious men, men whose hearts are as black as hell; but they have a little money, and hold a little position, and drive fast horses. Professed Christians! And that is the worst of it—Lot professed to be a servant of the most high God, living down here, in Sodom.—D. L. Moody.
ABRAHAM DAVENPORT.
By John Greenleaf Whittier
HARTFORD, MAY 19, 1780.
In the old days (a custom laid aside
With breeches and cocked hats) the people sent
Their wisest men to make the public laws.
And so, from a brown homestead, where the Sound
Drinks the small tribute of the Mianus,
Waved over by the woods of Rippowams,
And hallowed by pure lives and tranquil deaths,
Stamford sent up to the councils of the State
Wisdom and grace in Abraham Davenport.
'Twas on a May-day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred and eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness, like the night
In a day of which the Norland sages tell—
The twilights of the gods. The low-hung sky
Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim
Was fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs
The crater's sides from the red hell below.
Birds ceased to sing, and all the barn-yard fowls
Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars
Lowed, and looked homeward; bats on leathern wings
Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died;
Men prayed and women wept; all tears grew sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ
Might look from the rent clouds, not as he looked
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern
As justice and inexorable Law.
Meanwhile in the old State House, dim as ghosts,
Sat the lawgivers of Connecticut,
Trembling beneath their legislative robes.
"It is the Lord's Great Day! Let us adjourn,"
Some said; and then, as if with one accord,
All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport,
He rose, slow cleaving with his steady voice
The intolerable hush. "This well may be
The Day of Judgment which the world awaits;
But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord's command
To occupy till he come. So at the post
Where He hath set me in his Providence,
I choose, for one, to meet him face to face—
No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls;
And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,
Let God do His work, we will see to ours.
Bring in the candles." And they brought them in.
Then by the flaring lights the Speaker read.
Albeit with husky voice and shaking hands,
An act to amend an act to regulate
The shad and alewive fisheries. Whereupon
Wisely and well spake Abraham Davenport,
Straight to the question, with no figure of speech
Save the ten Arab signs, yet not without
The shrewd dry humor natural to the man;
His awe-struck colleagues listening all the while,
Between the pauses of his argument,
To hear the thunder of the wrath of God
Break from the hollow trumpet of the cloud.
And there he stands in memory to this day,
Erect, self-poised, a rugged face, half seen
Against the background of unnatural dark,
A witness to the ages as they pass,
That simple duty hath no place for fear.
—John Greenleaf Whittier.
BETTER THAN SILVER AND GOLD.
"SILVER and gold have I none," said Peter to the cripple at the Beautiful gate of the temple; "but such as I have give I thee." The helpless man extended his long, thin hand for a penny; but instead, received a perfect cure.
Silver and gold are good in their places, and are not to be despised; but there is something better. They secure to us the comforts and luxuries of life, take away the fear of want and dependence, afford means of culture and refinement and are an instrument in blessing and saving mankind.
Life is better than silver and gold. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Money, watches, jewelry, are worth nothing when the steamer is sinking, or the flames pursue a man.
Health is better than silver and gold. Disease is bribed with heavy sums. The best skill of nations, and the climate of the world, are tried at any expense.
An unbroken family is better than silver and gold. Often a man would deed away all his property to save the life of a beloved wife or the child, while the life is fading away with a rapidity which his wealth cannot stay.
Innocence and peace of mind are better than silver and gold. Many a man, after some great sin, would buy back at heavy cost, his former state; but sin and Satan laugh at his hoard of gold. They have got his virtue and peace, and will not sell at any price.
Salvation is better than silver and gold. It is the costliest thing in the universe, but it is not for sale. Every drop of Christ's blood is worth more than a globe of gold. Many a man thinks he is willing to give half he is worth to save his soul; but salvation cannot be bought. A man with a room full of gold may perish, and another be saved who does not leave two coins to close his eyelids with.
There will be no use for silver and gold in heaven. We read of streets of gold, and crowns of gold, but of no coin to purchase the various and tempting forms of bliss. Friends put no pockets in their shroud, and the white robes of the redeemed will need none, for there is no money wanted to secure admission to the choicest scenes in the holy city.
Let the man who has silver and gold turn a portion of it into comfort to the poor, and spiritual life of the lost, and it will be invested where death cannot part him from it, nor the fires of the last day melt it.
Let the man who has no silver or gold, if he is a Christain, rejoice that he has something better; and if not a Christian, let him at once secure nothing what will make him a rich man for time and for eternity.—Zion's Watchman.
MARKING TIME.
Two sailors happened to be on a military parade ground when the soldiers were at drill, going through the evolution of marking time. One observed the other watching the movement of the company very attentively, with eyes fixed and arms akimbo, asked him what he thought of it. "Well, Jack," replied his comrade, "I am thinking there must be a pretty strong tide running this morning for these poor fellows have been pulling away for this half-hour, and have not got an inch ahead yet."
We fear that in many of our churches and Sabbath-schools this is a kind of movement that is very common. There is activity, regular and orderly a "going through the motions" according to the latest edition of the manual, but no real progress, nor any special thought of it. Each service is only a "performance," and the leading idea is to have it artistically "rendered." The proprieties may be preserved, but there is no lofty conception of an ultimate end, no glimpse of a glorious goal, no steadfast pressing forward to it with utmost strain of faculty; there is only a martinet issuing orders, and a company "marking time."—Baptist Teacher.