Signs of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 20. (5/15/1879)

Signs of the Times

May 15, 1879

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 15, 1879

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Ministry of Peter.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

Peter, in pursuance of his work, visited the saints at Lydda. There he healed Æneas, who had been confined to his bed for eight years with the palsy. "And Peter said unto him, Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; arise, and make thy bed. And he rose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda, and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord."

Joppa was near Lydda, and at that time Tabitha—called Dorcas by interpretation—lay there dead. She had been a worthy disciple of Jesus Christ, and her life had been characterized by deeds of charity and kindness to the poor and sorrowful, and by zeal in the cause of truth. Her death was a great loss; the infant church could not well spare her noble efforts. When the believers heard of the marvelous cures which Peter had performed in Lydda, they greatly desired him to come to Joppa. Messengers were sent to him to solicit his presence there.

"Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber; and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them." Peter had the weeping and wailing friends sent from the room. He then kneeled down, and prayed fervently to God to restore life and health to the pulseless body of Dorcas; "and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes; and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive." This great work of raising the dead to life was the means of converting many in Joppa to the faith of Jesus.

"There was a certain man in Cesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." Though Cornelius was a Roman, he had become acquainted with the true God, and had renounced idolatry. He was obedient to the will of God, and worshiped him with a true heart. He had not connected himself with the Jews, but was acquainted with, and obedient to, the moral law. He had not been circumcised, nor did he take part in the sacrificial offerings; he was therefore accounted by the Jews as unclean. He, however, sustained the Jewish cause by liberal donations, and was known far and near for his deeds of charity and benevolence. His righteous life made him of good repute, among both Jews and Gentiles.

Cornelius had not an understanding faith in Christ, although he believed the prophecies, and was looking for Messiah to come. Through his love and obedience to God, he was brought nigh unto him, and was prepared to receive the Saviour when he should be revealed to him. Condemnation comes by rejecting the light given. The centurion was a man of noble family, and held a position of high trust and honor; but these circumstances had not tended to subvert the noble attributes of his character. True goodness and greatness united to make him a man of moral worth. His influence was beneficial to all with whom he was brought in contact. He believed in the one God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He revered him, acknowledged his authority, and sought counsel of him in all the business of his life. He was faithful in his home duties as well as in his official responsibilities, and had erected the altar of God in his family. He dared not venture to carry out his plans, and bear the burden of his weighty responsibilities, without the help of God; therefore he prayed much and earnestly for that help. Faith marked all his works, and God regarded him for the purity of his actions, and his liberalities, and came near to him in word and Spirit.

While Cornelius was praying, God sent a celestial messenger to him, who addressed him by name. The centurion was afraid, yet knew that the angel was sent of God to instruct him, and said, "What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do."

Here again God showed his regard for the gospel ministry, and for his organized church. His angel was not the one to tell the story of the cross to Cornelius. A man, subject as himself to human frailties and temptations, was to instruct him concerning the crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour. The heavenly messenger was sent for the express purpose of putting Cornelius in connection with the ministry of God, who would teach him how he and his house could be saved.

Cornelius was gladly obedient to the message, and sent messengers at once to seek out Peter, according to the directions of the angel. The explicitness of these directions, in which was even named the occupation of the man with whom Peter was then making his home, evidences that Heaven is well acquainted with the history and business of men in every grade of life. God is cognizant of the daily employment of the humble laborer, as well as of that of the king upon his throne. And the avarice, cruelty, secret crimes, and selfishness of men are known to him, as well as their good deeds, charity, liberality, and kindness. Nothing is hidden from God.

Immediately after this interview with Cornelius, the angel went to Peter, who, very weary and hungry from journeying, was praying upon the housetop. While praying he was shown a vision, "and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth; wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice; and the vessel was received up again into heaven."

Here we may perceive the workings of God's plan to set the machinery in motion, whereby his will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. Peter had not yet preached the gospel to the Gentiles. Many of them had been interested listeners to the truths which he taught; but the middle wall of partition, which the death of Christ had broken down, still existed in the minds of the apostles, and excluded the Gentiles from the privileges of the gospel. The Greek Jews had received the labors of the apostles, and many of them had responded to those efforts by embracing the faith of Jesus; but the conversion of Cornelius was to be the first one of importance among the Gentiles.

By the vision of the sheet and its contents, let down from heaven, Peter was to be divested of his settled prejudices against the Gentiles; to understand that, through Christ, heathen nations were made partakers of the blessings and privileges of the Jews, and were to be thus benefited equally with them. Some have urged that this vision was to signify that God had removed his prohibition from the use of the flesh of animals which he had formerly pronounced unclean; and that therefore swine's flesh was fit for food. This is a very narrow, and altogether erroneous interpretation, and is plainly contradicted in the scriptural account of the vision and its consequences.

The vision of all manner of live beasts, which the sheet contained, and of which Peter was commanded to kill and eat, being assured that what God had cleansed should not be called common or unclean by him, was simply an illustration presenting to his mind the true position of the Gentiles; that by the death of Christ they were made fellow-heirs with the Israel of God. It conveyed to Peter both reproof and instruction. His labors had heretofore been confined entirely to the Jews; and he had looked upon the Gentiles as an unclean race, and excluded from the promises of God. His mind was now being led to comprehend the world-wide extent of the plan of God.

Even while he pondered over the vision, it was explained to him. "Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them."

It was a trying command to Peter; but he dared not act according to his own feelings, and therefore went down from his chamber, and received the messengers sent to him from Cornelius. They communicated their singular errand to the apostle, and, according to the direction he had just received from God, he at once agreed to accompany them on the morrow. He courteously entertained them that night, and in the morning set out with them for Cesarea, accompanied by six of his brethren, who were to be witnesses of all he should say or do while visiting the Gentiles; for he knew that he should be called to account for so direct an opposition to the Jewish faith and teachings.

It was nearly two days before the journey was ended and Cornelius had the glad privilege of opening his doors to a gospel minister, who, according to the assurance of God, should teach him and his house how they might be saved. While they were upon their errand, the centurion had gathered together as many of his relatives as were accessible, that they as well as he, might be instructed in the truth. When Peter arrived, a large company was gathered, eagerly waiting to listen to his words.

As Peter entered the house of the Gentile, Cornelius did not salute him as an ordinary visitor, but as one honored of Heaven, and sent to him by God. It is an Eastern custom to bow before a prince or other high dignitary, and for children to bow before their parents who are honored with positions of trust. But Cornelius, overwhelmed with reverence for the apostle who had been delegated by God, fell at his feet and worshiped him. Peter shrank with horror from this act of the centurion, and lifted him to his feet, saying, "Stand up; I myself also am a man." He then commenced to converse with him familiarly, in order to remove the sense of awe and extreme reverence with which the centurion regarded him.

Had Peter been invested with the authority and position accorded to him by the Roman Catholic Church, he would have encouraged, rather than have checked, the veneration of Cornelius. The so-called successors of Peter require kings and emperors to bow at their feet; but Peter himself claimed to be only an erring and fallible man.

JOSEPHUS UNRELIABLE

By Eld. D. M. Canright

The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life.--No. 18.

Eld. D. M. Canright.

JOSEPHUS UNRELIABLE.

To the foregoing Scriptural facts it is objected that Josephus says that the Pharisees did believe the immortality of the soul. To this we answer, 1. What Josephus does say about it is evidently intended by himself to be very vague, and capable of two meanings. —one to harmonize with the real doctrine of the Jews, the other to look like what the heathen philosopher taught. We will notice the reason for this.

2. If we interpret him to mean that the Jews did really hold to the proper immortality of the soul, it rests alone upon his assertion. No other ancient author can be brought to support him. Perhaps a passage in Tacitus may be construed as agreeing with Josephus; yet even this is quite susceptible of another meaning. It is supposed by some learned men that Tacitus drew his history of the Jews from Josephus; if so, of course he would follow him. Hence it stands alone upon Josephus' authority. 3. We have seen by the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha that the Jews did not believe the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Hence, Josephus would directly contradict them. Which would be the more reliable? 4. Josephus wrote his books after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. He wrote them among the Romans, and for the Romans to read; hence there was a temptation for him to bend and color Jewish doctrines to suit his heathen conquerors. There is but too much proof that he did this in many points.

Here are a few testimonies from eminent men upon this point. Says the "New American Cyclopedia" : "Pride in the ancient glories of his nation, awe of the greatness and power of Rome, personal vanity, and a tendency to unbounded flattery of the Flavian family, appear with equal prominence in his writings." Art. Josephus. This criticism is none too severe on him. The learned Dr. Knapp, in his "Christian Theology," says: "The doctrine of the resurrection of the body was therefore common among the Jews at the time of Christ and the apostles. Vide Matt. 22; Luke 20; Acts 23: 6-8. So, in John 11: 24, the Jewess Martha speaks of the resurrection of the dead as a thing well known and common. Josephus indeed (Antiq. 18: 2,) expresses himself doubtfully with regard to the Pharisees: 'They believe that the soul is immortal, and can easily return to life (anabiosai);' and again (Bell Jud. II, 7), 'They maintain that the souls of the pious pass into other bodies (metabaineni eis eteronsoma).' Here Josephus, in his usual manner, so designedly represents the Jewish doctrine, that the Greeks and Romans, to whom the resurrection of the body appeared absurd, should suppose the transmigration of souls to be intended, while at the same time, the Jews should understand that the resurrection of the dead was spoken of." Again: "Josephus carefully avoids the words anastasis and anistemi when he describes the doctrine

of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and expresses himself ambiguously, in order not to displease the Greeks and Romans, for whom he principally wrote, and to whom the doctrine of the resurrection of the body would appear, not only new, but, according to the principles of the philosophy prevailing among them, offensive and absurd." Pp. 530, 531.

By this we see that there was a strong temptation for Josephus to dissemble and prevaricate on the subject before us. That he did this, is proved clearly. How much confidence can we place in the testimony of such a man? Mosheim says that Josephus "is very inconsistent with himself in the account which he gives of them [the Pharisees], as may easily be perceived by any one who will compare together the different passages relating to them in his works. It would also prove a task of some difficulty to reconcile everything which he says concerning the opinions of the Pharisees, with what is recorded of them in the writings of the New Testament." Commentaries, Vol. I, Chap. ii, Sec. 11, Note 2, p. 64. He tries to reconcile it by supposing that the Pharisees were not fixed and settled in their opinions. But evidently the real facts are, Josephus was trying to cover up the truth.

Dr. Jorton also remarks: "In his antiquities, Josephus takes too great liberties with sacred history, and accommodates it too much to the taste of the Gentiles, which yet probably he did to recommend his oppressed and unhappy nation to the favor of the Greeks and Romans." "May it not have been the time-serving policy which suggested the flattery which he addressed to Vespasian, as before related, and even induced him in spite of his accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, to represent his patron, though a heathen and a stranger, as the promised Messiah!" Rem. on Eccl. Hist., Vol. 1, p. 21, and Note.

A man who will so grossly pervert God's word, is not to be relied upon. Dr. A. Clarke, in giving Josephus' account of the Pharisees' doctrine of the soul, says: "But it is very likely that Josephus has not told the whole truth here!" Com. on John 9:2. The great Bochart, referring to Josephus' "Wars of the Jews," Book 6, Chap. x, Sec. 1, says: "There are in this clause of Josephus many mistakes as words." Whiston's Josephus, p. 761. Dean Prideaux thus observes: "Sacred writ, as being dictated by the Holy Spirit of God, must ever be of infallible truth, which cannot be said of the writings of Josephus. For they have in them many great and manifest mistakes. . . For therein he frequently varies from Scripture, history, and common sense." Con. of O. and N. T., Vol. 1, Part 1, b. 5, 302. Another writer observes: "It must be owned that in his account of the Scripture times, he has taken a bold liberty to vary from the Bible, to add, alter, retrench, and even sometimes contradict it." Quoted by Hudson's Future Life p. 335. Pococke remarks: "If we have not cited Josephus, it is no wonder; since, in giving the views of the sects he names respecting the other world, he seems to have used words better suited to the fashions and the ears of the Greeks and Romans, than such as a scholar of the Jewish law would understand, or deem expressive of his meaning." 2d. p. 335.

His character is thus set forth in McClintock's and Strong's Cyclopedia. "Holding in the main the abstract doctrine of a Pharisee, but with the principle and temper of a Herodian, he strove to accommodate his religion to heathen tastes and prejudices; and this by actual commission, no less than by a rationalistic system of modification. . . 'In spite of his constant assertions,' says Fawar, 'he can have had no real respect for the writings which he so largely illustrates. If he had felt, as a Jew, any deep or religious appreciation of the Old Testament history, which he professes to follow, he would not have tampered with it as he does, mixing it with pseudo-philosophical fancies. . . The worst charge, however against him is his constant attempt, by alterations and suppressions (and especially by a rationalistic method of dealing with miracles, which contrasts strangely with his credulous fancies) to make Jewish history palatable to Greeks and Romans.'" Art. Josephus.

Numerous testimonies to the same effect might be given. Every careful reader of Josephus must see that these testimonies are true. Hence, little or no confidence can be placed in him on such a subject as the one before us. It was the very subject above all others upon which Josephus would be anxious to represent the ideas of his brethren as in harmony with the doctrines of those Romans who believe in a future life. These philosophers mocked at the idea of a resurrection of the dead, but held that there would be a future life through the immortality of the soul. Hence, as Dr. Knapp says, Josephus "so designedly represents the Jewish doctrine, that the Greeks and Romans, to whom the resurrection of the body appears absurd, should suppose the transmigration of souls to be intended, while at the same time the Jews should understand that the resurrection of the dead was spoken of."

Now hear what Josephus does say of the Pharisees: "They also believe that souls have an immortal vigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according to they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again." Antiquities, B. 18. Ch. 2, Sec. 3. And, "They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men are only removed into other bodies,—but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment." Wars of the Jews. B. 2, Ch. 8, Sec. 14.

The reader will notice the following points: 1. These souls are "under the earth," not in Heaven. 2. What he means by the "immortal vigor" which souls have in them he explains to mean that they "have power to revive and live again." This is the resurrection. Carefully examined, this is all the immortality he attributes to the soul, viz., that it shall revive and live again. We believe in this kind of immortality. But the Sadducees denied all this. They said that there was no future life of any kind. The whole man utterly perished in death. There would be no re-living of the soul, spirit, or body—no resurrection. But the Pharisees said that death was only a sleep. The soul would revive and live again. This is just what Josephus says, only he colors it some with philosophical, instead of scriptural language. 3. The phrase "immortality of the soul" among ancient authors frequently means only a future life, without any reference to what we now mean by the technical term, "the immortality of the soul." As we have seen, all the philosophers who taught a future life, taught it through the immortality of the soul. So it came to pass among the heathens that to deny the immortality of the soul was to deny a future life. Hence to accommodate themselves to the understanding of the heathens, some of the early fathers used the term, "immortality of the soul" to represent the future life which Christians hoped for through the resurrection. Josephus plainly uses it in that accommodated sense.

The "Discourse Concerning Hades," found in his works, it should be remarked, is unquestionably spurious. Kitto, in his "Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature," says:— "Josephus himself, in the discourse ascribed to him on hades, speaks of a subterranean region, a lake of unquenchable fire, everlasting punishment, and of a worm never dying (Secs. 2, 6); but that homily, as Whiston calls it, abounds with other evidence that its author was a Christian." Alger says:— "The fragment entitled, 'Concerning Hades,' formerly attributed to Josephus, is now acknowledged on all sides to be a gross forgery." Future Life, part 1, ch. 8, p. 103.

It is a well-settled fact, then, that the writings of Josephus are not to be implicitly relied upon as giving a correct account of Jewish belief, especially when it was for his interest to dissemble to please the Romans, as it very manifestly was on the question of the nature of the soul. We must therefore go to the sure word of God, to find what was the faith of God's people at that time.

THE SABBATH.

FRESH glides the brook and grows the gale, Yet yonder halts the quiet mill: The whirling wheel, the rushing sail, How motionless and still!

Six days of toil, poor child of Cain, Thy strength the slave of want may be; The seventh thy limbs escape the chain— For God hath made them free!

Ah! tender was the law that gave This holy respite to the breast: To breathe the gale, to watch the wind, And know the wheel may rest!

But where the waves the gentlest glide, What image charms to light thine eyes? The spire reflected on the tide Invites thee to the skies.

To teach the soul its noblest worth The rest from mortal toil is given; Go snatch the brief reprieve from earth, And pass—a guest to Heaven.

They tell thee, in their dreaming school, Of power from old dominion hurled, When rich and poor, with juster rule Shall share the altered world.

Alas! Since time itself began, That fable hath but fooled the hour; Each age that ripens power in man But subjects man to power.

Yet every day in seven at least, One bright republic shall be known; Man's world awhile hath surely ceased, When God proclaims his own.

—English Paper.

Man's Responsibility for His Belief.

By Editor

THERE are very many apparently good and honest people, who appear to be most sincere in their belief, who yet differ from what is manifestly taught in the Bible. To rank these with unbelievers who can have no part in the kingdom of God, seems to many to be severe, uncharitable, and bigoted. But the question of man's responsibility for his belief, and consequent guiltiness, if he does not come to the light, is well treated in the following lines. A willful rejection of the light when it is seen, or a neglect to come where the light may be seen, are there shown to be alike criminal.

That there are many honest souls who are yet in darkness, and have thus far incurred no guilt by being so, is doubtless true. But no man passes through life, without his opportunities; and for these he becomes responsible. If there are any who, like us, have had in times past, perplexing queries arise in their own minds concerning this matter, we think they will not find a perusal of the article unprofitable.

The lurking, specious, soul-destroying error, "No matter what a man believes, if he is only sincere," is ably exposed by Dr. Chalmers in a letter to a female friend:—

"Lord Byron's assertion, that 'man is not responsible for his belief,' seems to have proceeded from the imagination that belief is in no case voluntary. Now, it is very true that we are only responsible for what is voluntary, and it is also true that we cannot believe without evidence. But then it is a very possible thing that a doctrine may possess the most abundant evidence, and yet not be believed, because we choose to shut our eyes against it; and our unbelief in this case is owing, not to the want of evidence, but of the evidence not being attended to. Grant enough for the refutation of Lord Byron's principle, if attention be a voluntary act. One attends to a subject because he chooses; or he does not attend because he so chooses. It is the fact of the attention being given or withheld, which forms the thing that is to be morally reckoned with. And if the attention has been withheld when it ought to have been given, for this we are the subjects of a rightful condemnation.

"It is enough to make unbelief a thing of choice, and a thing of affection, that we have power over the direction of our noticing and investigating faculties. You are not to blame if you have not found some valuable article that you have in an apartment of the thickest darkness; but you are to blame if you might have opened the shutters, or lighted a candle so as to have admitted enough of light for the discovery. Neither are you to blame if you find not the hidden treasure of the gospel, provided it is beyond the reach of all your strenuousness, and of every expedient that can be used for its discovery; but you are to blame if you have not gone in quest of it, or if you have willfully and determinedly shut your eyes against it, or if you have not stirred up those powers of your mind over which the mind has a voluntary control, to the inquiring after it. The Discerner of the heart will see where the lurking prejudice lies, and make it manifest of all who remain in darkness—of all who have not come to Christ, that they were not willing to come.

"Christianity lays no unreasonable service on men—and far less, that service which were most unreasonable of all, the homage of your belief, without affording such evidence, as, if attended to, will constrain the belief. Our religion has its proofs, and it has also its probabilities. Its proofs can only be gotten at by patient and laborious inquiry; and when they are so gotten at, they carry the belief along with them. Its probabilities, again, may, some of them, be seen at first sight; and though not enough to compel belief, yet they form a sufficient claim upon our attention. They form that sort of recognition which entitles Christianity at least to a fair and full trial; and, if not worthy at once of a place in our creed, it is worthy of a further hearing. Now, all I want is, that hearing of Christianity shall be studied; that the Bible shall be read with patience, and prayer, and moral earnestness; and on the principle that he who seeketh findeth. I have no apprehension of such a course not terminating in a full and steadfast conviction that the Bible is an authentic messenger from Heaven to earth, and contains in it the record of God's will for man's salvation."

Thought-Hives.

By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

EVERY man we meet is a walking thought-hive. To our eye it is hidden; but to God's eye it is a hive of transparent glass. For there is not a thought in our hearts, but lo! oh Lord, thou knowest it altogether! The thoughts which nestle within us, and issue from us in language and in actions, determine our moral character: "As a man thinketh in his heart; so is he."

A man is known by the company he keeps. So the thoughts which we harbor within us, and which go out through the doors of our mouths and our hands, determine our real characters. A holy man gives house-room only to pure, noble, and godly thoughts, and he is constantly striving to bar up the door and window against foul and wicked intruders; out of the treasure-house within him, proceed all the beautiful deeds and white-winged words that are a blessing unto others. Habitual thinking determines a man as either Christ's or Satan's. A sensualist is only a filthy thinker. The walls of his mind are hung around with lascivious pictures; his inmost soul is a brothel. Do a man's thoughts run continually upon the bottle? Then he is a drunkard. Does another man's thought-hive send out its winged messengers every hour to gather honey from God's Word, and his world of nature? Then he is a devout and happy being: in such a man, God dwelleth by his Spirit. One of the highest spiritual luxuries is the enjoyment of pure, and exhilarating and sublime thoughts; to such a devout and happy thinker, a prison would be a palace. "I thought of Jesus," said holy Rutherford, "until every stone in the wall of my cell shone like a ruby." Wherefore let us keep our hearts—our thought-hives—with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of our life. And no one can handle the pitch of a wicked, or obscene, or abominable thought for any considerable time, without being fatally defiled thereby.

There is no greater torment than to be an unclean, or an intensely selfish, or a corrupt thinker: this is the genuine demoniac possession. Such is "grievously vexed with a devil." To go through some men's hearts would be like a walk through Sing Sing penitentiary. Every room has a rascal in it. Out of such hearts proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, covetousness, pride, blasphemy. What a hell in advance, to be doomed to live in such a habitation of the devil! To be such a man is the "everlasting punishment" of the lost.

All thoughts have their germs. To kill a sin the surest way is to kill it in the egg. At the very moment when a wicked thought is born, is the right time to strangle it. These little snakes soon become the anacondas that strangle conscience, and destroy character. How important, too, is the nursing into active life and strength of every good and holy suggestion and aspiration. A noble career depends on the treatment given to the infant ideas that are born in the soul. The best of these are the direct product of the Holy Spirit. To quench a good thought is to "quench the Spirit;" and the everlasting damnation of millions has been the result of this very sin against infinite love.—Rev. T. L. Cuyler in Evangelist.

The Bible.

Who composed the following description of the Bible we may never know. It was found in Westminster Abbey nameless and dateless, but nevertheless it contains counsel to the Jews and wholesome laws for the erring sons of Adam.

A nation would be truly happy if it were governed by no other laws than those contained in this blessed book. It contains everything needful to be known or done. It gives instruction to a senate, authority and directness to a magistrate.

It cautions a witness, requires an impartial verdict from a jury, and supplies the judge with his sentence.

It sets the husband as the lord of the household, and the wife as the mistress of the table, tells him how to rule and her as well how to manage.

It entails honor to parents and enjoins obedience in children.

It prescribes and limits the sway of the sovereign, the rule of the authority of the master, commands the subjects to honor, and the servant to obey, and promises the blessing and protection of the Almighty to all that walk by its rule.

It gives directions for weddings and burials. It promises food and raiment and limits the use of both.

It points out a faithful and eternal guardian to the departing husband and father; tells him in whom his widow is to trust, and promises a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow.

It teaches a man to set his house in order, and how to make his will; it appoints a dowry for his wife and entails the right of the first-born, and shows how the young branches be left.

It defends the rights of all, and reveals vengeance to every defaulter, overreacher, and trespasser.

It is the first, best book.

It contains the choicest matter—gives the best instruction—affords the greatest degree of pleasure we have enjoyed.

It contains the best laws and most profound mysteries that were ever penned; and it brings the very best of comforts to the inquiring disconsolate.

It is a brief recital of all that is to come.

It exhibits life and immortality from the everlasting, and shows the way to glory.

It settles all matters in debate, relieves all doubts, and eases the mind and conscience of all scruples.—Sel.

True Popularity and Hypocrisy

It was finely said by Socrates that the shortest and most direct road to popularity is "for a man to be the same that he wishes to be taken for." People are egregiously mistaken if they think they can ever attain to popularity by hypocrisy, by mere outside appearances, and by disguising not only their language but their looks. True popularity takes deep root, and spreads itself wide; but the false falls away like blossoms; for nothing that is false can be lasting.

The Greater Miracle of the Bible

MEN deny that miracles were wrought by Christ; but who can deny the greater miracle of his life and death? They may deny the miracles of the whole Bible, but who can destroy the standing miracle of the Bible itself?

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