Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 17, 1859
BIBLE DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
By D. W. Hull
BY D. W. HULL.
(Concluded.)
We have found thus far that the Father and Son are spoken of as two distinct persons; we shall now bring other passages bearing directly upon that point.
Phil. i, 13–15. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins; who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature.” No, says popular theology backed by the decision of popes, he is himself the invisible God.
Jude 4. “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here the only Lord God is distinguished from the Lord Jesus Christ. If ever language implies anything it certainly implies in this connection that the “only Lord God” is a distinct being from “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Phil. ii, 5–11 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God (very God, our opponents would read it) thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made (not his humanity, but he himself was made) in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death (No, says the Trinitarian, his body became obedient unto death, but the divine part never suffered) even the death of the cross. Wherefore (not his divine part, but) God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
This confession will result in the Father’s glory, but if every tongue should confess that a part of Jesus only was Lord whilst the other part was human it would not be the confession that Paul desired to result in the Father’s glory.
1 Pet. i, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” The reader should bear in mind that in all the passages quoted above, the Father and the Son are spoken of as separate beings. Jehovah is called not only the Father of Jesus Christ, but is also termed his God. Hear our Saviour while suffering upon the cross [Mark xv, 34]: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We not only find that our Saviour calls his Father his God but that God had forsaken him. It is here asserted by Trinitarians that the God-head had left him. If this is the case then Christ was alive after the God-head had left him. Then it was only the humanity that died and we have only a human sacrifice. Gal. i, 3, 4 “Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father AND from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, and our Father.” It would have been very easy here for Paul to have told the Galatians that Christ might deliver us from this present evil world according to his own will.
Heb. xiii, 20. “Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work,” &c. Here again God is spoken of as a distinct being from Jesus Christ. We learn here that while Jesus was dead, the God of peace was living, else he could not have raised Jesus from the dead.
Having examined all the important passages of scripture on this subject, we will now take our leave of this part of it and proceed to show that
Christ must needs die; and also what kind of a death he must die.
We have said that Christ must needs die. Our reason for this assertion, is, that man by transgression is subject to death; and unless there is a being who is not subject to death to pay the penalty, there is no hope of a resurrection. See 1 Cor. xv, 26. Adam by transgression entailed death upon the whole human race; Christ by his death brings them back to life again. But he does not restore immortality to those who live all their lives in transgression of God’s holy law.
Heb. ix, 27, 28; “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him will he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
Nothing short of the same death that men are subject to will ever bring a resurrection. Christ is here represented as an offering. If there was any part of the lamb that was offered that escaped out of the body, then did a part of Christ escape death. But we are told that Christ’s soul did not die. We remark that in order to pay the debt and restore men to life he must die the same death to which man is subject. If our Trinitarian friends are not careful they will have a compound of four elements instead of three; thus, Godhead (one) Humanity (two—soul and body), and holy ghost (one) which makes four.
Psa. xvi, 9, 10: “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh, also shall rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (or the grave) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” It would have been nonsense to say that Christ’s soul should not be left in sheol if it never was there. In proof that this has reference to Christ we refer the reader to Peter’s testimony; Acts ii, 25–27, 31, 34. “For David speaketh concerning him (Christ), I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.” Then comes the quotation above. He then goes on to show that it was not David because his sepulcher is with us to this day (an evidence that David’s soul was left in hell). He continues, “He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell (ᾅδης—the grave) neither did his flesh see corruption.” This was evidence that David had reference to Christ. But as further evidence, the Apostle continues, “For David is not ascended into the heavens.” We have evidence then, that either dead or alive, Christ’s soul entered the silent portals of the tomb.
Matt. xxvi, 38. “Then he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.” If this implies anything, we should infer that it would imply that the Saviour’s soul was subject to death. It would be the worst of nonsense to talk about a never-dying soul being sorrowful unto death. On this point we shall be obliged to quote again 2 Pet. iii, 18. “For Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being PUT TO DEATH IN THE FLESH.”
There is no chance of escape here: Christ’s soul and every part that dwelt in his flesh was put to death and buried in sheol, or hades. We now turn to Isa. liii; “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth.”202We might here remind the reader that a lamb when slain is not partly killed and partly kept alive, but totally deprived of life.
“He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” We might ask, What was left of him after he was cut off? Suppose the body only was cut off, and the soul freed; then the only important part was not cut off. “And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,” &c. His soul was really made an offering for sin; this agrees with Peter’s testimony. “He was put to death in the flesh.” If the soul was the offering, it was the soul that was slain. “He shall see the travail of his soul (his “soul was sorrowful unto death”), and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Why? Because he hath POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH! And he was numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” This is so plain that it needs no comment.
If the reader will now turn to 1 Cor. xv, he will observe that Paul bases our whole hope upon the resurrection of Christ from the dead. “If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain,” says the apostle. Modern theology would answer, Not so Paul, for the only important part of Christ returned to heaven at death.
Just here we might anticipate an objection. It is asserted that Christ promised the thief that they would that day be together in paradise. Luke xxiii, 43. “Verily I say unto thee to day, shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The quotation as it stands above however, does not seem to imply so much. Christ only asserted on that day what he would do when he comes in his kingdom! As punctuation is no part of inspiration we have taken the liberty to alter the punctuation somewhat above. The reader will find the subject of Christ’s promise to the thief elaborately discussed in a work lately published at the Review Office, Battle Creek, Mich.
Let us now look at what the Saviour himself taught on this point. Matt. xii, 40. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” How was Jonah in the whale’s belly? Was his soul in heaven and his body in the whale’s belly? How is the Son of man to get into the heart of the earth? We are answered that his body went into the grave, but his soul, divinity or something, went off to paradise. But we have still more positive testimony on this point.
John xx, 17. “Jesus saith unto her, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” This was three days after the Lord’s promise to the thief. This surely is enough to settle the matter with the candid.
We trust we have now fairly investigated this subject having examined a majority of the scriptures referring to it. We have found positive testimony to show
That God is a personal being.
That Jesus Christ was his Son.
That he and his Father were distinct persons having one common interest, and
That Jesus Christ died soul and body and rose again.
May the Spirit of the living God wake the dear reader to a sense of his obligation to the Son of God, who has so dearly purchased our redemption with his own precious blood. Amen.
Lisbon, Iowa, Oct. 1859.
GOD'S SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.
Forsake me not, my God,
Thou God of my salvation!
Give me thy light, to be
My sure illumination.
My soul to folly turns,
Seeking she knows not what;
Oh! lead her to thyself—
My God, forsake me not!
Forsake me not, my God!
Take not thy Spirit from me;
And suffer not the might
Of sin to overcome me.
A father pitieth
The children he begot;
My Father, pity me;
My God, forsake me not!
Forsake me not, my God!
Thou God of life and power
Enliven, strengthen me,
In every evil hour;
And when the sinful fire
Within my heart is hot,
Be not thou far from me;
My God, forsake me not!
Forsake me not, my God!
Uphold me in my going;
That evermore I may
Please thee in all well-doing;
And that thy will, O Lord,
May never be forgot
In all my works and ways—
My God, forsake me not!
Forsake me not, my God!
I would be thine for ever;
Confirm me mightily
In every right endeavor.
And when my hour is come,
Cleaned from all stain and spot
Of sin, receive my soul;
My God, forsake me not!
SOFTENING HARD HEARTS.
By D. F. Newton
A hard heart? Have you? well friend, what will you do with this hard heart? Keep it, or take it to Jesus? The only remedy for a hard heart is Jesus! Jesus is the cure-all. No matter how hard your heart is, if hard as the nether millstone Jesus can soften it directly. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? If all the hardness of all hard hearts, were put into one heart, the blood of Jesus is sufficient to melt them down into perfect softness.
We know of no other remedy for hard hearts but Jesus. Some have tried and tried every way and all ways for five, ten, twenty, thirty years or more to soften them themselves but in vain—instead of being softer, they seem to grow harder, until they were constrained to cry out, "O wretched hard hearts, who shall deliver us from them?" Then as a last resort they were compelled to carry them to Jesus to have them softened into hearts of flesh.
Friends you who are burdened with hard hearts, why not go to Jesus at once, take them directly to this cure-all; Jesus is always ready, always able, always willing. He never turns away a single case of hard-heartedness. The remedy also is plain, simple, easy, sure. The conditions on which Jesus softens hard hearts are not difficult; besides, there is nothing to pay. Some physicians are exorbitant in their charges, so much so, the poor are unable to meet the expense of being cured. Not so with the heavenly physician. All Jesus requires is merely the grateful acceptance, a willing mind, a heart of submission and patient waiting.
"In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling."
"Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat; yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." *
The very moment you begin to feel your hearts are hard (and O what a blessing to feel and know this!) take them right to Jesus, quick! don't wait a moment to soften them yourselves by prayer, fasting, or doing penance; all this trying to soften your own hearts is labor lost, worse!—it is offensive to Jesus, it is taking the work that belongs to him out of his own hands. To soften hard hearts is Christ's work and not yours. Beware how you interfere or monopolize! Prayers, fastings, agonies, groans, tears of anguish and tears of blood will never take away these hard and stony hearts of yours, never! And those are physicians of no value who teach you to wait and try to get them softened before you go to the great Physician. What says the poet:
"Just as I am, without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God I come.
Just as I am thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon cleanse, relieve,
Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God I come."
This is it, the poet understood the Gospel way of softening hard hearts, the only way indeed. Friend, take yours to Jesus now, wait not, doubt not, fear not; take it to him, give it up to him to soften it in his own good way and pleasure. And when you have taken it to Jesus and laid it at his feet, don't be discouraged because you do not feel that it is softened immediately; leave it there on his altar; don't take it up, or so much as touch it; let it be. Jesus will take good care of it; let it be. Wait, have patience. Hold on, on! Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while and he that shall come, will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him! Hold on—on!
"O for a glance of heavenly day
To take this stubborn heart away,
And thaw with beams of love divine
This heart, this frozen heart of mine!"
"'Tis done, the great transaction's done,
I am the Lord's and he is mine!"
Jesus has taken away the stony heart and given a heart of flesh.
"O happy day that fixed my choice
On thee, my Saviour and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad."
D. F. NEWTON.
The Memorable Mount Horeb
THERE are many memorable mountains, but none are so much so as Horeb. Here the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Here the glory of God shone forth at the promulgation of the moral law. Here the rod in the hands of Moses brought water out of the smitten rock—which rock was a type of Christ. Here the weary hands of Moses were stayed by Aaron and Hur, which caused victory to perch upon the banner of Israel. Here the sage fasted twice forty days and forty nights. Here was he presented with the two tables of the law which he committed to God's covenant people. And it was on this mount that the eyes and heart of the prophet Elijah were gladdened by a celestial vision. Even by one of these events, Horeb would have been made memorable, how much more it is made so by seven such events!
A WAYWARD AND INCONSISTENT GENERATION.
MATT. xi, 16—19. In pursuing his theme, Jesus likened that generation, or people of his age, to "children sitting in the markets," pursuing their sports, and continually chiding each other for not playing their parts in order. Then as now, the children of cities and villages were accustomed to gather in the markets and other places of public resort for amusement. It seems that they frequently diverted themselves by playing festival and funeral; that is, acting over the then fashionable proceedings at weddings, funerals etc., in imitation of grown-up people. This was but natural. Music and dancing were indispensable accompaniments of all festive occasions in those days, and funerals were solemnized by groups of hired mourners whose office it was to respond to each other in loud wailings and lamentations. The children aped their seniors. The pipers piped, and the rest were expected to dance. One group mourned, and the rest were expected to wail and lament. But the children are sometimes wayward, contrary, careless or tired in their sports, and fell to reproaching each other for not keeping up their respective parts. It was frequently so with those of Galilee and Judea, in playing festival and funeral. Hence Jesus likened the churchmen of his time to such children. They played religion, rather than lived it, and were continually grumbling at others for not suiting themselves to their formalities and caprices. John the Baptist was no player at religion. He was sternly in earnest. The popular religionists could not endure his abstemiousness and moral strictness, and splenetically said, "He hath a devil"—is a demoniac. But the Son of man suited them no better. He was no religious playactor. He too was in earnest: though without any of John's dietetic abstemiousness. What then was his fault? He was the friend of publicans and sinners. He ate and drank with them familiarly, and preached vehemently against self-righteousness, Pharisaical display, pride, covetousness, retaliation, vindictive punishments, hatred of enemies, and hard heartedness toward the perishing classes. These characteristics were quite as offensive to these grown-up children, as John's. So they said of him, "Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!"—a loose, bad man! Thus it is always with those who play religion—the traditionist, formalists, sanctimonialists and externalists. They see nothing and do nothing spiritually—nothing in the light of great principles. Nothing pleases them that differs from their established fashion of religion, or that requires them to make any radical change in their conduct, habits and characters. They have some contemptuous imputation, epithet or nickname in store for every earnest reformer. But,203as Jesus said, “Wisdom is justified of her children; that is, the truly wise, judge wisely and approve of truth and righteousness wheresoever manifested. They look thro’ more externals and incidentals at the substance, principle, spirit and intrinsic nature of things, and make up judgment accordingly, regardless of hoary prejudice, popular caprice, or their own personal convenience. Let us pray that the children of Wisdom may be greatly multiplied.—Pract. Christian.
PROMISES FOR THE DAY OF TRIAL.
God calls his own children to pass through a stern discipline. As gold is purified in the fire, so his beloved ones must be refined in the furnace of affliction. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, and the disciple cannot expect to be above the master. But all afflictions are made to work together for good, and the following paragraphs may comfort any passing through the deep waters:
The day of trial came and the blow, as usual, fell most heavily upon the mother. Her child was dead. In her troubles she hastened to the promises of God; and when asked if she found support from them, she answered, “What are the promises for, if not for such a season as this?”
The child of God is often called to walk in darkness. The further he proceeds, the greater is the darkness. The light of reason fails to guide him. He is confused, and the gloom within is tenfold that of the gloom without; for, “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!” He casts himself upon God, and receives—deliverance? no—nothing but a promise. “Fear not; when thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned: neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” And it is enough; “hath he said, and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
The promises of God give light; they are the Lord’s candles. When the Lord had delivered David out of the hands of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, he said, “Thou art my lamp (or candle,) O Lord, and the Lord will enlighten my darkness.”
A motherless boy was once asked if he would not like to have another mother to take care of him. He assented, and then added: “But my grandmother will take care of me, and she’ll do it, whether she is paid for it or not.” This was child-like. The experience of the past was to the lad a pledge for the future. Now to the Christian, the promises of God are pledges that, come what may, all will be well. In their past experience all his promises are endorsed as kept, so that they can say with the Apostle, “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.”
Is the night dark? Has the sun gone down, and is there no moon? Take, then, these pledges—these candles of the Lord—and let there be light in thy heart.
“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.”
“NO GOD TO GO TO.”
A FEW weeks ago, while far from home, I went up to the “house of the Lord” to worship with his people. When the hour came for the Sabbath-school, I entered a slip in which several ladies were seated, hoping to garner some good from that day’s exercises.
Just before the time for closing came, one member of the class, whose heart seemed all aglow with love for Jesus, and a desire for the salvation of precious souls, requested of the class that they should remember in prayer a dear friend who was deeply afflicted, and who, as she expressed it, “seemed to have no God to go to.”
“No God to go to!”—How the words lingered in my heart; I could not shake them off.
“No God to go to!” How dreadful the condition; and yet there are so many among the list of chosen friends on whose heart the name of the God who made them and loves them with pitying tenderness is not engraven. Thousands and thousands all over our world coldly turn from his proffered mercy, and live on, without “a God to go to.”
When never a cloud lowers upon your pathway, and all your hopes bud and bloom and come to ripened maturity with never a blight on their beauty, can you receive all, and never desire “a God to go to,” in the spirit of the Psalmist, who cried, “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice?”
Have you never a “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” to utter?
Alas, when the raindrops of grief shall fall heavy upon your heart, and the waves of some crushing agony come surging over your spirit, in that hour of utter desolation how will you feel the need of “a God to go to!”
If you have no hope in him who died on Calvary, seek him now, that through life and in death, in sunshine or cloud, in joy or sorrow, your everlasting trust may be in him who is ready to receive all who come unto him. A. M. L.— Am. Mess.
Individual Responsibility
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.—Ministers of the Gospel are often applied to by christian fathers, and husbands and brothers with such pleas as these: “Won’t you talk to my children, to my wife, to my sister, about their soul’s welfare? I can’t do it myself.” Some of these applicants have even been in honor in the church, and held positions of importance.
“I once had an elder of my church,” said a speaker, “come to me and implore me to go to his house, and talk to his children! I asked him if he did not do it himself. No; he didn’t like to do it; he couldn’t do it! He felt a backwardness, a hesitancy about it and he thought the work could much better be done by me! Said I to him, ‘Sir this is your work. The responsibility rests upon you. It’s not my business to take it from your shoulders. I cannot do it!’” Does not this reluctance, this stange fear to speak to our dear ones on such vital matters, reveal the secret of too many Christian homes? that we do not set such an example in our daily walk before our children as to recommend our religion?
The duty and privilege of this personal work for souls was strikingly illustrated by the speaker in the following incident:
“A clergyman stopping at my house last night told me this little incident: A lady came to her minister to ask him to talk to her husband about his soul’s salvation. She said she did not like to do it—could not do it herself. “But it’s your business to do it madam,” said her pastor. “Before this night passes you should talk with your husband and try to lead him to Christ. Will you do it?” She promised she would.
“She went home greatly troubled in mind. She went to bed. Still she had not courage to say a word to him. She did not dare to go to sleep because of her promise. She lay there hour after hour till near morning, awake, terribly distressed in mind, scarcely knowing what to do. Yet she did not dare to broach the subject. Presently, thinking her husband asleep she was surprised to hear him ask if she was asleep.
“‘No’ she replied.
“‘Well why dont you go to sleep? What’s the trouble?’
“She then related the cause—how anxious she was that he should become a christian.
“‘Why,’ said he, ‘I have been thinking on the subject for the last month or two, and I wondered you did not talk to me; I wanted you to do it; I thought it was your place. Let us pray now.’
“They kneeled by that bedside imploring divine pardon and acceptance, and before the light of day broke into that chamber, that husband’s heart was liberated—he had found peace in Christ.”
O how many just such cases there are! How many who want us to talk to them; who, if we will only stretch out the hand to them, will willingly, gladly grasp it and go with us to where Christ may be found!—Sunday School Times.
THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN.
“As the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west,” so shall be HIS coming—universally visible from the east even unto the west, and shining from heaven unto earth, yea, “every eye shall see him,” yea, “all the tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man,” Matt. xxiv. 30.—“As lightning cometh,” so shall be HIS coming, shining in the awful “brightness” of his own exceeding glory, yea, “all the tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,” Ver. 30. You have gazed upon an unclouded evening sky, and suddenly, in an instant, you have seen lightning shoot athwart it without any change therein—so shall be the coming of the Son of Man in HIS DAY. Or you have beheld the heavens and the earth, the trees and the fields, man and beast, the winged fowl and the busy insect, and the cattle on a thousand hills, rejoicing in the bright beams of the bridegroom-sun, and you have seen burst over you a storm of lightning, discharging itself in thunder, which, although it had gathered on and rolled on in visible preparation, has overtaken you suddenly, because the note of it had been unheeded by you or disbelieved in. So in HIS DAY shall be the coming of the Son of Man upon a heedless, unbelieving world.
“For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,” until the very day; no cessation of wickedness, and worldliness and wanton pleasure, no belief in the coming judgment, no looking for it—on they went, poor souls, eating and drinking and marrying, merry and light-hearted, singing and dancing, blind and heedless, like the moth to the candle, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, “and KNEW NOT until the flood came, and took them all away.” KNEW NOT! wretched men! KNEW NOT! Noah, and the seven other saved souls knew, knew it all “perfectly.” But THEY knew not—they cried “peace and safety,” and so “sudden destruction” came upon them; “so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” “Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that he may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Procrastination in Religion.
By Manning
MEN are ever beguiling themselves with the dream that they shall be one day what they are not now ; they balance their present consciousness of a low worldly life and of a mind heavy and dull to spiritual things, with the lazy thought that some day God will bring home to them in power the realities of faith in Christ. So men dream away their lives in pleasures, sloth, trade, or study. Who is there that has not at some time secretly indulged the soothing flattery, that the staid gravity of age, when youth is quelled, or the leisure of retirement, when the fret of busy life is over, or, it may be, the inevitable pains and griefs which are man's inheritance, shall one day break up in his heart the now sealed fountain of repentance, and make, at last, his religion a reality? Who has not allayed the uneasy consciousness of a meager religion with the hope of a future change? Who has not thus been mocked by the enemy of man?—Manning.
Joy Over a Repenting Sinner
WHAT a marvelous idea, that a sinner should excite harmony in heaven! yet every repenting sinner does this: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
CLOSE OF THE VOLUME.
By Editor
THIS week closes the fourteenth volume of the REVIEW. Fourteen volumes! Probably the friends of this little sheet who saw its first entrance upon its humble mission, were not looking for time to continue till it should reach half this number. Yet the Lord is not slack concerning his promises; it is only his long-suffering, his unwillingness that any should perish, that leads him to extend the time of earth's probation, another and yet another year.
In taking a retrospect of this work, we see nothing discouraging. What can be discouraging in a cause which is the Lord's? Think of the agencies at work in its promulgation! These may indeed appear limited and insignificant to the world. The dull vision of carnal eyes has no power to penetrate beyond the contracted limits of feeble sense. It is only to the eye of faith that the cause of truth appears in its heavenly beauty, and its unseen but irresistible strength. God has a work to accomplish in the earth; and that cause to which he imparts the energy of his Holy Spirit, and of his angels which excel in power, who shall hinder?
It is no marvel if as individuals or as a church we are not always on the mountain top; for there are valleys as well as hills in our earthly pilgrimage; and to pass through these is no sign of retrogression. If we only march straight forward, and emerge from the valley on the right side, we shall find the ascent will lead us to a higher eminence than we have ever attained before.
The side of the distant mountain looks like a smooth and even ascent. We approach and find it broken and rugged; and as we wend our way up its weary sides, we find ourselves shut in by many a ravine from all the surrounding prospect. But the next ascent brings us to a higher eminence, gives us a wider range of vision; and we behold a broader landscape spread out beneath our feet. So it is with us in the path of truth: each succeeding eminence we gain is higher than the last; it gives us a clearer view of our position; and so after all, despite the roughness of the way, we find our path, as we are assured concerning the path of the just, growing brighter and brighter; and our hope is quickened in anticipation of the "perfect day."
From the commencement to the present time, the work has been steadily onward, the light of truth has been steadily increasing, and our position becoming more and more accurately defined. In these respects we occupy to-day, a position in advance of any previous time in our history. No, there is nothing discouraging in the work of the Lord. If he occasionally sifts his people, it is that he may keep them pure; for, as a brother lately remarked, "the power of the church stands in its purity, not in its numbers."
The signs of the times are still bearing their solemn testimony to the age of the world in which we are living. Trouble and perplexity hold revel on every hand. In Europe the peace so unexpectedly and unfairly concluded, bids fair to be of short continuance. War is inseparable from their future prospects; and all things seem preparing for another of those throes which mark the approach of the nations to their great destruction.
The political horizon of our own country is also increasingly stormy. The late affair at Harper's Ferry—the abortive attempt at insurrection by Capt. Brown—has rolled a wave of perturbation over the whole heart of the South. It was in itself a comparatively small matter; but it was to them like a spark in a powder-mill. At the thoughts of what it might portend, they stood aghast. The spark was quenched before it had kindled to an explosion; but who shall tell what we may next expect? or who, save the student of prophecy and the child of God, may know for what to prepare?
For the many kind words of sympathy and encouragement received, we return our thanks to our numerous friends. With some, during the past volume, we have parted company; with more we have formed new acquaintances; and we hope during the coming volume, to form connections with a still larger number, as, hungering for the word of life, they rally around the standard of truth.