We will now take our leave of Dr. Beard, and turn our attention to the examination of the subject affirmatively.
I will state some propositions, which, if sustained, will accomplish all I design here:—
1. Eternal life is promised conditionally, the condition being continuance in righteousness unto the end. Proof: Matt. 19: 16, 17: “Behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” The Saviour says: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” No one will deny that it was the young man’s duty to keep them to the end in order to enter into eternal life. Matt. 24: 13: “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” This needs no comment. Eze. 18: 24–26: “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned. In his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.”
I know it is contended that this kind is legal righteousness and has no reference to conversion. But in verse 20 it is shown to be that kind of sin that kills the soul, and from verse 27 we learn that he can save his soul alive by turning away from those sins. Verse 26 shows that this kind of sin reaches unto the second death. “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.” Now whether these sins are legal or not, they produce the same final end that the sins of an unconverted man produces (see Heb. 6: 8), viz., the loss of eternal life. So it is useless to try this dodge.
But I will now prove that it does refer to conversion. Verses 30, 31: “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” If these terms do not show true conversion, I despair of finding words to convey the idea. Repent—turn—cast away—make a new heart and a new spirit. This is decisive on the point.
2. Those who are converted to God, and who enjoy his favor, have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life while on this earth. Proof: Dan. 12: 1: “And at that time shall Michael stand up. . . . Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Here it is evident that no new names are written at the time of the Judgment; but destiny is decided by what was written before. Phil. 4: 3: “I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.” Luke 10: 20: “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.”
These texts need no comment. They are plain enough, and fully sustain the second proposition.
3. There is at least a possibility that some of these names will be blotted out. Proof: Rev. 3: 5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Ps. 69: 28. The Psalmist is speaking against his enemies in Israel, whose names were once written in the book of life, as we will show. He says: “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.” Ex. 32: 32, 33. Moses says: “Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” These were God’s chosen people, truly converted to God, as we shall soon show.
4. Those whose names are not found in the book of life at the Judgment suffer the second death. Rev. 20: 14, 15: “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire.” It is plain from these texts, first, that when a person is converted his name is enrolled in the book of life; secondly, that it will be retained there only on condition; thirdly, that if these conditions are not complied with, their names will be blotted out; fourthly, that if their names are not found in the book of life at the Judgment, they will suffer the second death.
I will now illustrate this by several examples. Saul of Kish was a converted man and a child of God, as the following facts will show: 1st, he was the anointed of the Lord. Samuel anointed him (1 Sam. 10: 1); 2d, God let his Spirit come upon him, and he prophesied; and 3d, he was a changed man. Verse 6. Read also verse 7, which says, “God is with thee.” In verse 6 it says that he should be turned into another man. In verse 7, God was with him. In verses 15 and 17, we read that Saul was little in his own sight when he was first anointed to be king.
These points prove Saul to have been a converted man. Now for his apostasy. It is summed up in 1 Chron. 10: 13, 14: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, and against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it; and inquired not of the Lord; therefore he slew him.” Surely he died in his sin.
Hear Christ on this point. John 8: 21: “Then said Jesus, . . . I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, ye cannot come.” So Saul is a lost, apostate man.
(To be continued.)
REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY READING THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
I ask myself, What was it in the character of Washington that won for him the unbounded esteem and admiration which he has ever since enjoyed? It certainly was not his great generalship; for he was far inferior to Napoleon, Alexander, or Caesar in this respect. Doubtless he was a good general; but other men, with the same resources, on many occasions would have done far better.
Was he the most profound of statesmen? He was not much of a speaker; but there were two traits of his character that very forcibly impressed my mind. The first was the real, solid, every-day goodness of his soul. It always shone out bright and clear above the characters of those around him, like the sun among the moon and stars. The second was his indomitable perseverance, his courage and unfailing faith that the right would finally prevail.
When his army was small, and the enemy’s large; when his soldiers were destitute, and the British well fed; when his men were deserting him, and the British were receiving recruits, he as firmly believed in the triumph of the cause of freedom and right as when success perched upon his banners. When battles went against him, when his men forsook him, when cautious ones began to fear and tremble and doubt, Washington stood unmoved. When others were in despair, when the dread night of adversity settled down like a funeral pall over all the colonies, and liberty seemed to be expiring with its last gasp, Washington never quailed, never spoke a discouraging word. If his own men left him and turned to another, if his enemies slandered him, he never faltered. Envious ones tried to undermine him and to blast his reputation, the government was ungrateful; but Washington went straight forward in the discharge of his duty when it seemed to bring upon him nothing but curses and opprobrium.
Not so with Arnold the traitor. I believe that Arnold was a much better general than Washington. He was a man of great ability. He struck terror to the hearts of the enemy everywhere he went. He was a host in himself. But when he found that he was not appreciated, when secret enemies slandered him, and his pride was wounded, instead of holding firmly on to the right, and standing by his post of duty, and waiting for time to vindicate his work, he allowed his pride and selfish feelings to warp his better judgment. Battles, and cannons, and swords he did not fear; the cause of patriotism and liberty he loved; but when his own comrades and fellow-officers did not appreciate him as he thought they should, then he failed. Feelings of wounded pride rankled in his bosom till he became an odious traitor, and endeavored to ruin the very cause for which he had fought.
Washington did the reverse of this. In adversity, in secret and open enmity,—no matter where he was placed,—all the reproach that could be heaped upon him never once turned him from the line of duty that he had marked out. This is what causes all to bow to him, and it is this that has caused the world to pronounce him the greatest man that ever lived.
Dear brethren, I have thought that the life and character of Washington suggests some profitable hints for us in our work. It is not the man of the greatest genius nor the most brilliant success that is of the greatest use in the cause; but it is the man who will ever stand at his post, and do his duty whether brethren smile or frown. Whether they appreciate or undervalue his labors, whether he is put forward or kept back, whether his success is great or small, whether the cause flourishes or languishes, ever and always he does his duty, is as unmoved as the everlasting hills.
We all admire such a spirit as this, and why? Simply because it is so very rare, and yet so valuable. Oh! why can we not have manhood and nobility of character to do and persevere in doing that which our sober and better judgment tells us is best and right? Why do we not cultivate those traits which in our hearts we know to be the noblest and best in the human character? But it is natural to get miffed and offended, and let our pride be wounded, and lay down our trust, cease to do our duty, and act like a petted, spoiled child; to stand back and say, “Let others try it, and see if they will do any better.” It is a shame for a man to act in that manner. It is a grievance to God and a sin against Heaven.
As I laid down the life of Washington, after finishing its perusal, I said, “O Lord, help me to be in the cause of God as was this man in the cause of liberty.”
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Our Basket.
“A little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds.” Gen. 43:11.
THERE is just now a great clamor and demand for “culture,” but it is not so much culture that is needed as discipline.—Shedd.
SET a guard on the outward senses. Thoughts and words are but preparative to deeds. Subdue thy flesh to the Spirit and discipline of God.
ADVICE AND AID.
He who gives much advice and little aid,
When on the heart woe’s heavy load is laid,
Is one who sweeps a cobweb from the wall,
And leaves the great black spider after all.
“WELL, madam,” said John Newton to one who was complaining of the imperfections of others, “if there were a perfect church on earth, it would cease to be so the moment you and I entered it.” And that remark still has a pertinent application for those who we fear won’t apply it.
MOTHER, your work is a hard one; but it pays. It costs something to be a good mother; it costs time, and devotedness, and self-sacrifice; but no love on earth is like that which a faithful mother wins and holds from a faithful son. That love is accumulating for you with every breath of generous Christian fidelity to the interests of your boy.
FORGIVENESS OF THOUGHT.—Do we not sometimes forget that the thoughts of our hearts may be as sinful as any acts of our lives? The Saviour has taught us that all sin commences there, that the angry thought is murder, that every passion in its embryonic state has in it all the elements of sinfulness which pertain to the completed act. When, then, we turn to God for “forgiveness of sins that are past,” we need to pray that our hearts may be cleansed, and that the sins of thought as well as of word and deed may be blotted out.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
L. Train: For a full explanation of the resurrection of Moses, see chapter entitled, The Transfiguration, in Man's Nature and Destiny.
A. H. Robinson: You are right in your query on the wearing of gold. We believe it is wrong every way, being contrary to the express directions of the word of God. It is the outward index of a heart that is filled with vanity and pride; and we cannot see that it makes any difference if it is a gift. We would not smoke a cigar any quicker if a man should give it to us, than we would if we had to buy it with our own money.
Please explain the expression in Matt. 11:19: “Wisdom is justified of her children.” D. S. J.
The words were evidently spoken by Christ in vindication of himself and John the Baptist against the charge of the Pharisees. John did not eat and drink in the ordinary manner, and they charged him with having a devil. Christ was not so abstemious, and they charged him with being a glutton. Here were teachers of wisdom, greater than any the world had ever before seen; yet the Pharisees, by the course they took, showed that they were determined to cavil, pick flaws, and find fault, whatever course might be taken by these teachers. But Christ declares that the course they had taken was not contrary to, but in accordance with, true wisdom. It was appropriate for John to fast; it was just as appropriate for Christ to eat and drink. Their work and position were different, but both acted in accordance with true wisdom; and thus, to paraphrase the sentence, the children, or followers, of wisdom, as were both John and Christ, took a course which was justified by, or was in accordance with, the dictates of the highest wisdom.
ENCOURAGING FROM OHIO.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
Since I have been detained at home, I have received frequent letters from most of our laborers in Ohio. I am glad to say that nearly all of them are having a degree of success; and some are doing exceedingly well. Bro. Burrill and Mann have, by the blessing of God, brought out a company of toward forty, and are building a meeting-house. This is good.
During the winter, about a dozen have embraced the truth under Bro. St. John’s labors, and the best of it is, these are additions to other little companies. Bro. Bigelow has brought about half a dozen into the truth. These also are additions to a little company. Bro. Rupert has done excellent work. Quite a number have come into the truth under his labors during the fall and winter; two or three companies are ready to be organized.
Bro. Guilford writes that he has had an excellent interest; six or eight have embraced the truth, and still the interest continues. These also are additions to a little church. Bro. Gates and Underwood report a little company raised up. They also have a good interest in another place near by. Elders in different churches write me that their little companies are doing well, and, as far as we have heard, there is an increasing interest.
There are more preachers in the State who do not report. Dear brethren, please let us hear from you.
Our State secretary of the T. and M. society, J. B. Gregory, Bowling Green, has on hand about four hundred Annuals for 1879, which must be disposed of very soon. Librarians may have some on hand, and private individuals also. Now, brethren, we request you to take right hold of this, and distribute them immediately. If you cannot sell them, give them away; they will soon be useless. We request each librarian to order as many from Bro. Gregory as he can dispose of.
Once more we say to our brethren who made pledges at our last camp-meeting, that we are in need of $200 immediately. Please send what you can on your pledges. One of our wealthy brethren in Ohio offers to donate to the cause $200, provided some one will lend him $500 for a year or two. He will give the best of security and pay the usual interest. He is a wealthy brother, and will do just as he says, but he has not ready money at present. Who in Ohio will lend him this $500 to enable him to give us the $200? D. M. CANRIGHT.
OUR WORK IN FOREIGN LANDS.
By George I. Butler
THE reports recently published in the REVIEW from Norway and Italy are soul-inspiring. What can cheer the heart of those who really love the present truth so much as to see it going to the ends of the earth? For long, weary years we have been preaching that this truth must go to “peoples, nations, tongues, and kings;” that it must be proclaimed with a “loud voice.” Who can fail to see the beginning of the fulfillment of these predictions? Already Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Scotland, and Ireland, and even distant Egypt, are receiving the light of present truth by means of our tracts, books, and papers, or by the labors of the living preacher, and that quite extensively. In other countries besides these, in a less degree, souls are responding to the claims of precious truth and God’s holy law, and are themselves becoming avenues of light to others and fellow-helpers in this holy work. Missionary establishments are being planted firmly, periodicals in various tongues are already being published, others soon will be, and the attention of the reading world is being attracted to this novel doctrine. Well-tried and faithful men have charge of these missions, to act a leading part, and thoroughly instruct the later recruits to the cause of truth. This fact alone should give our people confidence in the success of the missionary work.
Who among us that has a spark of spiritual life can read the recent reports from our beloved Bro. Matteson in distant Norway, and the appeal of Bro. and Sr. White in behalf of his mission, without his soul being stirred with deep emotions? Who can read of what is being done in dark and benighted Italy, in the very “kingdom of the beast,” without the same feelings? What momentous results are likely to come from the publication of our papers and tracts in the languages of those great nations, Germany and France,—the French, the polite language of every court in Europe, the German, the native tongue of the kingdom which is probably the strongest of any in the world, a kingdom whose subjects are scattered to the ends of the earth. Who can consider the possible and probable effects of the mission to England that our dear Bro. Loughborough is now establishing, without the deepest interest? England is the heart of that great empire “upon which the sun never sets.” It sends out its pulsations to Canada, the West Indies, the islands of the Pacific, China, the Indian empire, and South Africa, and its ships go to the “ends of the earth.” In all these countries where colonies of English-speaking people live, they look to the mother island with affection, and are more ready to receive instruction through and from her than from any other source. When this mission is fully started, thousands of our publications will go out in these various directions. Souls will be reached in every part of the world.
The missions we have now started are the nuclei around which will gather the principal means for the enlightenment of the world with the rays of present truth. The Scandinavian nations and races will receive light through the mission to Denmark and Norway. The German, French, and Italian nations can perhaps be as well reached through liberal Switzerland as from any other source. The English-speaking races outside of the United States will naturally draw from Old England their spiritual instruction. And what an important part of the world these include—the most important and influential nations existing in our world. Other agencies will no doubt arise, and other movements be made; but these will be the principal ones, and others will most likely draw from them. No doubt Russia and the Asiatic nations will receive light and truth through their own languages, but these will never be so important as those mentioned. Thus the great cause seems to be taking shape to accomplish that which is predicted of it. By such means the earth will be “lightened with the glory” of God’s message,77when the Lord shall pour upon his people his Holy Spirit.
As an individual, looking back five or six years to the time when appeals were being made in behalf of our school at Battle Creek as a means by which to educate persons for these missionary fields, I can only exclaim, “What hath God wrought!”
Whether that instrumentality has accomplished all it might in this direction, we will not say. But the foreign work has been growing in importance yearly till the outlines of a mighty work are now clearly seen. Then we had not a single missionary laboring in the old world. The perplexities connected with learning those languages and publishing in them were all untried. Experience in bearing burdens new and strange was all to be obtained. The sorrows and privations connected with such a mission were all unknown. The habits and customs of a foreign society were as yet new and strange. All these experiences are important steps hardly thought of by the superficial reader, but full of value as well as pain to those who pass through them.
Adoniram Judson in his mission to Burmah did not get a score of believers in half as many years, but thousands afterward embraced the gospel in consequence of those early labors so apparently fruitless. So with every great movement for God and humanity. The first steps seem slow and weak, and accomplish apparently little. Many a reformer, like Huss and Wickliffe, has been as faithful as Luther, and has sowed seed which afterward showed a luxuriant growth. Though their labor seemed to amount to but little, it was all necessary to the great result. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, who “spake as never man spake,” and did mighty works never seen by mortal eyes before, left comparatively few disciples at his death; but in the fullness of time the seed which he had sown, watered by the Spirit of God, sprung up, and thousands were converted in a day. In our own day the great antislavery movement was a feeble plant. Its early teachers were despised and hooted at. Its leaders were rotten-egged, their presses were thrown into the river, and in some cases their lives were taken. They were few and far between. But they kept at their work,—sowed their seed. The more their enemies worked to put them down, the faster their cause progressed; and in less than a lifetime slavery was gone.
We are now in the sowing time. The seeds of truth are being scattered. These foreign missions are establishing themselves in the most important parts of the world, under the direction of God’s own tried servants, men of judgment, experience, and ability. Here we see “the beginning of the end.” About four years have passed since our first missionary set foot in Europe, and what progress we already see. The unbelief of our people must be terrible if they cannot see the hand of God in all this. Here is a work for us to sustain by our influence and means. May God bless with his richest, choicest blessings our dear brethren who have left all the dearest ties on earth to proclaim in a land of strangers the truth of God for these times. May he help us as a people to see the bearing of these things, and do what we can to sustain his servants who have them in charge. The Lord has not called us out to perish, but his truth will triumph gloriously, and if we are faithful we shall triumph with it. Let us cheer up, brethren, all along the line. The Lord is coming soon. The prophecies concerning the extent of our work are in process of fulfillment. Let us do what we can to help forward the cause of truth.
GEO. I. BUTLER.
A SHORT CATECHISM.
LET BOTH GROW TOGETHER TILL THE HARVEST.
What does Christ say in the parable of the wheat and tares, Matt. 13: 24-30?—“Let both grow together until the harvest.”
Both what?—The wheat and tares.
What is represented by the wheat?—The children of the kingdom, or righteous and godly persons. Verses 38, 43.
What is represented by the tares?—The children of the wicked one, or wicked, ungodly persons. Verses 38, 41.
Where do they grow together?—In the field. The householder “sowed good seed in his field.”
What is the field?—“The field is the world.” Verse 38.
Is not the field the church?—“The field is the world.”
Is it not some particular people, place, or dispensation?—“The field is the world.”
Is there anything but tares and wheat in the field?—Nothing.
How many of the wicked are represented by the tares?—“The field is the world.”
Who is the householder who prepared his field?—God.
What is the field?—“The field is the world.”
When did God prepare it?—When he made the world.
When did he sow the good seed?—When he set in motion those agencies through which he designed that the world should become filled with righteous beings.
How did he do it?—He made man in his own image and likeness, innocent and upright, gave him the advantage of every favorable circumstance and golden opportunity, hedged him in with law, and guarded him with all needful instruction and warning, and designed that he and all his posterity should be pure wheat, to be gathered into the heavenly garner when sufficiently ripened by standing the test of a requisite period of probation.
Who was the enemy that sowed the tares?—The devil.
When did he sow them?—When he introduced sin into our world, and all those seeds of evil through which men have become wicked and made themselves tares.
When the blade had sprung up and brought forth fruit, that is, was so far developed as to show the unmistakable marks of wheat, what appeared also?—The tares.
Illustrate this. It is illustrated by the first two individuals born into this world. Abel, governed by principles of loyalty, righteousness, and truth, was wheat. But Cain then gave place to principles of disloyalty, envy, hatred, and murder. “The tares appeared also.” And from that day to this there have been in this field tares and wheat,—Cain-ites and Abel-ites. And there have been more of the former than of the latter. The tares have sometimes almost choked out the wheat. The world is in a terribly tare-y condition at the present time; and when the tares are gathered into bundles to burn, they will furnish a good many bundles and make an awful fire.
Who are the servants whom the householder employs to care for his field?—The angels. “The reapers are the angels.” Verse 39.
When the tares are separated from the wheat at the harvest, who will do the work?—The angels.
If, when the tares first appeared and the servants said, “Wilt thou that we go and gather them up?” the Lord had said, “Yes, gather them up,” who would have done the work?—The angels.
Have men anything to do in the work of rooting up the tares?—Nothing.
Has this any reference to the question of rejecting unworthy members from the church?—Not any.
Why cannot the church be the field?—Because the field must be prepared, and the good seed must be sown and spring up and produce wheat before there can be a church. The church is the wheat; and the wheat is not the field.
In reference to the subject of the sanctuary, and the investigative Judgment which we teach is now going forward, a question sometimes arises in substance as follows:—
A man's influence for good or evil, as exerted through his example, teachings, and life, is felt, and helps to mold the characters of others as long as time shall last. How, then, when his case comes up in the investigative Judgment, can he be judged for his deeds and life, before the results or effects of that life have ceased?
This is indeed an insuperable objection to the view that a man is judged as soon as he dies. In that case a large portion, perhaps much the larger portion, of the evil influence of some persons is either left out of the count, or the Lord is obliged to anticipate in their judgment.
This difficulty we conceive is entirely obviated in our views of the investigative Judgment of the heavenly sanctuary. The natural order would seem to be that the work should commence with the first generation of men, and come down through succeeding generations in consecutive order to the end. And we know that of all the earlier generations of men there are none, with but exceedingly few exceptions, whose influence has not for generations been as dead as their bodies. The account with such persons can be at once closed up, and the decision of the Judgment rendered.
This is especially the case with the wicked. It strikes us as something a little remarkable, as we think upon it. If we go back only three or four generations from our own time, how many ungodly persons can be named whose teachings, life, or example is exerting a pernicious influence on the world to-day? It is marvelous how soon the influence of the wicked is cut off. With the righteous it is not wholly so; for even Abel, with many of the ancient worthies who are set forth as examples, and all Bible writers, are to the present day exerting an influence upon multitudes for good. Perhaps a few ancient heathen philosophers may be counted on the other side.
But giving this the widest scope possible, it is seen at once that but very few of those who have long been dead are wielding any potent influence over the human family at the present time. And if the number were ten times as great as it is, it would involve no difficulty; for we can readily see how easy and appropriate a thing it would be to count that man, in the Judgment work, whose influence is still alive and active among men, as himself still with the living, and leave his case to be decided with the cases of the living, at the very close of the sanctuary work and of probation.
But, further, we are to consider that the investigative work in the sanctuary is not for the purpose of tracing out the full guilt of the sinner and determining the degree of his punishment, but simply to decide the question whether, taking into account his deeds to that point where his probation ended, he should be assigned a place with the righteous or the wicked. And this is all that need be determined in this Judgment, all else being left till after the coming of Christ, to that Judgment of the thousand years, 1 Cor. 6: 2, 3; Rev. 20: 4, in which the cases of the wicked will all be examined, their deeds, and the influence of them while time lasted, be taken into the account, and the punishment to be rendered in the second death be accurately adjusted to the degree of their guilt.
ITALY AND EGYPT.
THE following extract from a letter written by Dr. Ribton from Alexandria, Egypt, has been forwarded to us by our friends in Switzerland. We will not, by any introductory remarks, keep the reader from its wonderful statements, which show how manifestly the hand of God is at work in those countries. The letter is dated Jan. 10.
“I arrived at Alexandria on the 7th, after a voyage so exceptionally favorable that it showed clearly that the hand of the Lord was with me.
“Were I to live a thousand years I could never forget the scene we had on New Year's evening before my departure. All the brethren assembled for a farewell meeting, and the affection they manifested was something beyond description—a depth of love which only those of the household of faith can comprehend. It was a scene of general weeping, and greatly affected me for the next day.
“I found the little church in Alexandria in a very promising condition. Our Bro. Rupp, full of the Spirit of God, has done wonders, and had he the time at his disposal, and the necessary means, he could have done very much more. I shall now, under Divine direction, endeavor to aid him with all the energy that God gives me. This town is full of Italians, and it is certainly a relief to be able to preach to them without being exposed to stone-throwing, and without the necessity of a guard of police at the door. We have a young Israelite, converted under Bro. Rupp's ministry, now a candidate for baptism, and upon whom the Spirit of God has fallen. He speaks Italian and Arabic equally well. In order to work up our meetings, I am employing him to go around among the Italians with hand-bills, and I hope very soon, with his aid, to open a series of Arabic meetings. He says the Arabs and Copts listen to him willingly, and will gladly come to hear the preaching of the word as we present it.
“I hope to write you more news from here, and good news, after another week.
“The news I have received from Naples gives me much consolation. The meeting on last Sabbath was well attended, and was conducted with much fervor by Bro. Tongobardi, an educated lawyer who has lately fully embraced the truth, and who now acts as leader of the church.”
A QUESTIONABLE READING.
By G. W. A.
Some time since a brother wrote to the Review asking for an explanation in regard to a reading of Rev. 22:14, which differs essentially from the common version. The text says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” The reading referred to is, “Blessed are they that have washed their robes.”
To this we would say, There is a material difference between the two readings, but which is the older and better one is purely a matter of textual criticism.
In regard to this passage, Dean Alford, the well-known English critic, in his “Notes for English Readers,” says: “The difference in the two readings is curious, being in the original that between Poiountes tas entolas auton, keeping the commandments of him, and Plunontes tas stolas auton, washing the robes of them;” And he adds: “Either of which might easily be mistaken for the other.”
Dean Alford has edited a Greek New Testament from the old manuscripts, and his note is of value, as it shows how such a reading might occur; for to both the eye and ear these two readings are quite similar.
William Greenfield, A. M., the able editor of the Greek New Testament now commonly used, has marked the reading in question as “inferior to the received text.”
The Syriac New Testament confirms the common version, and reads, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” It is interesting to add that this old version, according to Horne, Michaelis, and not a few other critics, was made in the last part of the FIRST CENTURY, and has been handed down to us through a line entirely independent of the Greek New Testament. When we remember that the apostle John wrote the Apocalypse and his gospel in the very close of the first century, the reading of the Syriac version becomes intensely interesting.
The papal manuscript B, in the library at Rome, reads, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” This is an important witness. See further remarks in the Scotch Commentary, by Jamieson and Fausset.
The Coptic version, made in the third century for the Christians of Egypt, reads as above, thus further confirming our time-honored translation.
Tertullian, an old Latin church father, of North Africa, born so early as A. D. 160, is a powerful witness for the received reading. In the “Writings of Tertullian,” vol. iii. p. 109, he gives the text in question thus: “Blessed are they who act according to the precepts, that they may have power over the tree of life, and over the gates, for entering into the holy city.” Such a witness is of nearly the same importance as a New-Testament manuscript of the same date.
And, finally, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, A. D. 248, reads the text exactly the same as our good old translation. From “The Writings of Cyprian,” vol. ii. p. 122, we copy his exact words thus: “Blessed are they that do his commandments.”
It should here be remarked that the testimony of Cyprian antedates every New-Testament manuscript by a hundred years, and the use of the text in question by Tertullian is more than a century earlier still.
Now, let it be noted that all the above are very early ancient testimonies. Also, such able critics as Dr. Adam Clarke, the well-known commentator, and Dr. Bloomfield, who edited a Greek New Testament with English notes, take no notice of this entirely different reading. And the revised German Testament of Luther, the French of Martin, the Swedish, Italian, Danish, Holland, and Portuguese versions, with a long list of English translations, and the Latin version of Arius Montanus, edited by Leusden, all confirm the good old reading which says: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
G. W. A.
IS GOD DEAD?
By S. B. Whitney
This question, once propounded by Sojourner Truth to Mr. Douglass when he gave evidence of declining faith in Providence, was recently suggested to my mind by a very different circumstance, as the following will clearly show.
A few days since, while in conversation with a no-day Adventist upon the law and covenants, the seventh chapter of Romans was alluded to, and I asked him what he understood the first husband to be. He replied, “God; for he says he was an husband unto them.” Now Paul says, “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.” Rom. 7: 2. Then if God was the first husband, and we are loosed from the law by the death of the first husband, it follows that God is dead. This is a new way of proving the abolition of the law of God, but it shows the terrible extremity to which the opponents of that law are driven to find something with which to support their theory.
Another evidence on the same point is the contradictory nature of the positions taken by them. For instance, one man in this place says, in opposing the Sabbath, that the ten commandments are so strict that no man can keep them an hour. Another says they are so slack that they were designed, and were only fit, for a civil code for the Jews, and were altogether of too low a type as a rule for the Christian. Thus it would almost seem that the opposers of God’s law are bereft of their reason, and in their insane attacks upon it are left to devour one another’s positions. At least, the lovers of that law have nothing to fear from such efforts, and may labor with courage and earnestness for the propagation of its principles, and wait patiently for God to vindicate his own cause.