Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 12, 1858
ISAIAH LXVI.
By John B. Frisbie
This chapter brings to view the coming of the Lord both at the beginning and end of the thousand years. We may learn this by comparing scripture with scripture.
From the fifth to the end of the fourteenth verse, we have the coming of the Lord and the destruction of the wicked, at the beginning of the thousand years, brought to view. Then from the fifteenth verse to the end of the twenty-fourth verse, we have the scenes after the thousand years.
Verse 5. The Lord . . shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Matt. xxiv, 30. Son of man coming. John xiv, 3. I will come again. Acts i, 11. This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 1 Thess. iv, 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. Heb ix, 28. And unto them that look for him, (Christ) shall he appear the second time.
Verse 6. A voice of the Lord. Jer. xxv, 30. The Lord shall roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation. Joel iii, 16. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem. Rev. xvi, 17. A great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. This locates the time.
Verse 7. A man child. Rev xii, 5. A man child. Christ.
Verse 8. Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? Is. xxvi, 19. Thy dead men shall live together, with my dead body shall they arise, . . . and the earth shall cast out the dead. Ezek. xxxvii, 12, 22. Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And I will make them one nation in the land. John v, 28, 29. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life. Rev. xx, 5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Col. i, 18. Christ was the firstborn from the dead. 1 Cor. xv, 23. Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. The earth's bringing forth a nation in one day, is the resurrection of God's people from their graves; and this is called a birth, as is the resurrection of Christ. "For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children." Zion here appears to be a figure of the people of God, referring back to the commencement of the gospel dispensation, during which time the subjects for this nation were to be brought in.
Verse 12. I will extend peace to her like a river; and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Acts. xv, 7-17. God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. Rom. ix, 23-30.
Verse 13. As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted IN JERUSALEM. This must refer to the saints in the New Jerusalem in heaven after the second appearing of Christ, and the first resurrection. Gal. iv, 26. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Isa. i, 10. John xiii, 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Chap. xiv, 2, 3. In my Father's house are many mansions; . . . I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself. Verse 12. I go unto my Father. Luke xi, 2. When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven. 1 Thess. iv, 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, &c.
Here the saints, dead and living, are caught up to meet their Lord in the clouds in the air; and according to the promise of Christ to Peter, they follow him whither he went, to heaven, to his Father's house. If this is not a promise of going to heaven when Jesus comes, I do not know what would be. But again: Heb xii, 22. But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. But ye are come unto: not that this has come to you. This city Abraham looked for. Heb. xi, 10, 16; xiii, 14; x, 34. Ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance. 1 Pet. i, 4. To an inheritance . . . reserved in heaven for you.
This is proof without going to the book of the Revelation. But let us turn and read a few quotations there. Rev iv, 1, 2, 5, 6; xv, 2. Sea of glass before the throne, and the saints on the sea, and the throne in heaven. Rev xix, 1. And after these things (the seven last plagues) I heard a great voice of much people in heaven. How could the voices of many people be heard in heaven, unless they went there, after the seven last plagues?
Verse 14. And his indignation towards his enemies. Here we have the destruction of all the ungodly in the seven last plagues. Rev xvi. Rev. xix, 15. Christ shall smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; same as Ps. i, 9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Verse 21. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. Now if the nations are dashed to pieces and the remnant slain, there cannot be any left.
Scenes at the end of the 1000 years. Verse 15. For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. Verse 16 For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
This is the same company whose carcasses are looked upon at the end of the thousand years. Verse 24. And they (the saints) shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm dieth not, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. That is, the all flesh, that comes up to worship, [verse 23,] when the earth is being purified, [verse 22,] and being made new.
Verse 18. I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory. Verse 19. And I will set a sign (Christ, Luke ii, 34) among them. Matt. xxv, 31, 32, 46. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment. This must be at the end of the one thousand years, as at this time the wicked receive their everlasting punishment. Rev. xx, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14. The rest of the dead live again when the thousand years are expired, and then Satan goes out to deceive the nations that are raised, and they then are gathered together to the battle against the saints, around the beloved city, and fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. And at this same time the great white throne appears (the same as in Matt. xxv, 31) and Christ who sits upon it. Then all the wicked die the second death.
Verse 19. I will send those that escape of them, &c. These are the saints, as may be seen by verse 22. So shall your seed and your name remain Verse 24. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses, or dead bodies. These are the wicked, resurrected dead who have been gathered and destroyed.
"Unto the nations that have not seen the glory of Christ, and they shall declare his glory among the Gentiles," (heathens.) These are the nations gathered to be consumed by fire. Verse 20. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering98unto the Lord out of all nations . . . to my holy mountain Jerusalem. Verse 22. For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord.
These look like scenes in the new earth and at the end of the thousand years, when the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to the new earth, as the capital of the kingdom of God. If we are right in our application of this chapter, much is made plain that was dark before.
Verse 21. And I will also take of them for priests, &c. Rev. i, 6, 7 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds shall wail because of him. When they which pierced Christ see him coming, it must be at the end of the 1000 years. Rev. v, 1. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the new earth. Then every creature living will praise God. Verse 13.
J. B. FRISBIE.
A CURIOUS ACROSTIC.
[We find the following curious piece of poetry in a late number of the Presbyterian Magazine. The initial capital letters spell, "My boast is in the glorious cross of Christ;" and the words in italic, when read from top to bottom and from the bottom to the top, make the Lord's Prayer.—N. Yorker.]
Make known the gospel truths, our Father, King;
Yield us thy grace, dear Father, from above;
Bless us with hearts which feelingly can sing
Our life thou art for ever, God of love,
Assuage our griefs in love for Christ, we pray,
Since the bright Prince of Heaven and glory died!
Took all our shame, and hallowed the display,
In first being man and then being crucified.
Stupendous God! thy grace and power make known
In Jesus' name, let all the world rejoice,
New labors in thy heavenly Kingdom own;
That blessed Kingdom, for thy saints the choice!
How vile to come to thee is all our cry,
Enemies to thy-self and all that's thine!
Graceless our will our lives, for vanity,
Loathing the truth, being evil in design,
O God thy will be done, from earth to heaven,
Reclining on the gospel let us live,
In earth, from sins deliver-ed and forgiven,
Oh, as thyself, but teach us to forgive,
Unless its power temptation doth destroy
Sure is our fall into the depths of woe;
Carnal in mind, we've not a glimpse of joy,
Raised against heaven, in us no hope can flow,
O give us grace and lead us on thy way;
Shine on us with thy love, and give us peace;
Self and this sin, which rise against us, slay;
Oh! grant each day our trespass-es may cease;
Forgive our evil deeds, that oft we do;
Convince us daily of them to our shame,
Help us with heavenly bread; forgive us too
Recurrent lusts, and we adore thy name,
In thy forgive-ness, we as saints can die,
Since, for us and our trespasses so high,
Thy son, our Saviour, blet on Calvary.
Baptism—Again.
By M. E. S.
We noticed a question proposed by "H. W. L." in No. 8, Vol. xii, of the Review: "How can baptism necessarily precede pardon or remission, when we must first die to sin and can receive the Holy Spirit through faith, and thus be members of the body of Christ without it?"—In answer to which, we would remark, that the difficulty seems to consist in a misconception of the phrase "dying to sin," and in the idea that the Holy Spirit can only be received in a justified state. We will first endeavor to show that faith is not the only condition of justification or pardon; 2ndly, that repentance is not, i. e., dying to sin—and that the reception of the Holy Spirit, so far as we understand Bible teachings, has nothing to do in the matter.
It is true Paul said, "faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness;" Rom. iv, 9; but in verse 12, he speaks of "the steps of that faith of our father Abraham." Belief or faith alone, is but one act or step. Let James explain, Jas. ii, 9. "Was not Abraham, our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect." Faith and works constitute steps. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Then faith together with works (we will presently see what works they are) forms the ground of justification; but if faith be the only condition of pardon, then all who believe must be justified. But hear this same Apostle again: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? [It must profit everything if faith be the sole condition of salvation.] Can faith save him? Faith if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Now a dead thing can have no life to impart and no power to save. But James goes even further, and says, "The Devils also believe, and (thus become members of Christ's body? Yes if faith be alone necessary; for the Apostle declares they have it; but says he) tremble."
We are then led to inquire, what works impart life to faith by which it can secure justification? Does dying to sin, otherwise called repentance? In Rom. vi, where this figure of dying is used, it is carried still further: the Christian is represented as having been buried with Christ; and says Paul, "if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, (baptism,) we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." What right have we to stop short of the full import of the Apostle's teachings, and say if we believe, or die merely, without being buried, we shall be raised in the likeness of his resurrection, i. e., attain eternal life?
Again, were faith alone required on our part, why did not Peter tell the convicted so on the day of Pentecost? In listening to his teachings they believed, otherwise they would not have cried, "Men and brethren what shall we do?" Why did Peter reply, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." If they could receive pardon, or God could bestow it on the ground of faith alone? Why did he not say to them, "Your faith saves you." Dear brethren and sisters, let Bible instructions harmonize.
We endeavored in articles entitled, "Conditions of Salvation," to show that repentance cannot secure forgiveness,—that though we may believe and repent, i. e., die to sin, or turn from sin for all future time; yet, as God is just, he could not receive this as an atonement for past transgressions, because he required perfect obedience, past, present, and future. Repentance in itself has nothing to do with the death of Christ; it has to do with nothing but law; and a law once broken can never, in itself justify any person. Dying to sin and dying to the law, in the sense of suffering its penalty, we understand to be two quite different things. The former is a turning from our sins by righteousness; the latter a literal suffering of the penalty of sin, which is death itself.
Now faith and repentance, having no merit in themselves to atone for sin, can we not see that they can only obtain for us the imputation of the death of Christ by an especial provision of the Judge? Has he ever, in any place promised to remit sins on either or both of these conditions. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," so (conversely) to those who are out of him, there is ever condemnation; but are we any where said to believe or repent into him? Nowhere. What then has God appointed as the ultimate condition on our part by which he, the offended, will pardon transgression? See Gal. iii, 27. As many (no more) of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Again, 1 Cor. xii, 13. By one spirit are we all baptized into one body. If baptism be the door into the true church, which is here represented by the body of Christ, (and no other door is mentioned,) then it is evident we cannot enter the church or body except through this one door—baptism. Belief may lead us towards the door, (i. e. prepare us for receiving the imputed death of Jesus,) but never through it. Also, 1 Pet. iii, 21. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.
It may be asked, what then can be meant by being sealed with the Holy Spirit, after believing? We reply, the word belief seems in some instances to include the other conditions of justification. Instance, the commission, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." Mark xvi, 16; also Heb iv, 3; x, 39; Acts xiii, 39; ii, 44; iv, 32, &c. As faith without works is a dead faith, and not that recognized in the Bible as a condition of salvation; so living faith must include works, (these must be, whatever God requires as works, among which are repentance and baptism,) hence the latter must be embraced in the term faith when used as above, or in Eph. i, 13. But that the Holy Spirit is not confined to God's children, see numerous instances in the Old Testament. Thus the spirit of God came upon Saul king of Israel and he prophesied; and this even while he was persecuting David. Was it because God was pleased with his motives, or the course he was pursuing towards the man after his own heart? Note also the case of Balaam and the ass, and observe God gives the dumb animal even a tongue and words. We cite these instances simply, to show that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is no sign of justification on the part of the recipient. Who now may say that it cannot be given previous to remission of sins.
Indeed Christ says, Jno. vi, 44, no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And we conceive that God acts directly upon the hearts of men only through the influence of his Spirit; hence one office of the Holy Spirit is to reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
What proof then have we of justification in the fact of God's pouring out his Spirit on Peter's Gentile hearers previous to their baptism? If they were already in a pardoned state, why should Peter command them to be baptized? See Acts x, 44-48.
We submit these hastily thrown out reflections to the candid considerations of the correspondent, hoping they may give a little light, if not, that we may be ourselves corrected.
Mauston, Wis.
M. E. S.
Views Meriting Consideration.
By A. Worth
THE present age is remarkable for its moral, physical and intellectual activity. And to the looker on, it seems as though the world was rising to a higher point of moral power, than has ever yet been marked on the chart of time. Thousands are rejoicing over this success, and are predicting a happier day for our world; yet many are stopping to inquire, whether the great religious movements of the present day, are likely to secure a permanent elevation of our race. To this latter class, I confess I belong.
The present religious interest has been compared to the "great awakening," though doubtless its foundations are broader, reaching a vastly greater number of people, spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. For years past, the religious press, has reported revivals in nearly every quarter of the Republic; and one would suppose that the nation was steadily increasing in moral power; but the facts in the case will not sustain the conclusion. Many have often inquired into the reason why the revivals of past years have resulted in so little permanent success. My opinion is, their instability has resulted from a settled determination on the part of time-serving ministers, not to mingle any reformatory truth, with the preaching under which these revivals take place. I will not dispute the fact of their conversion; but their religious teachers point out a course of moral apathy to them after they are converted, which leads them back to the world. The cry of, "keep politics out of the pulpit," is heard from desk to desk; and he is regarded most pious, who gives the earliest and loudest blast,—one who teaches his converts, like priest and Levite, to pass by on the other side.
The great want of the world is, to learn that duty is ours, and that consequences belong to God. Facts that are every day elicited, sustain the above named positions.
A revival of religion was going on in a town, a short distance from here, and it was said to be one of the best they had ever seen. An anti-slavery minister came along and delivered a single discourse, and for speaking a word for the oppressed millions of our land, the revival was spoiled, and the brethren went about the next day saying their feelings were hurt. A short time ago I was called upon to preach in a Methodist congregation where a great work of grace was said to be going on; and just before I entered the desk, the class-leader desired to speak with me. He said he did not want any thing said on the subject of slavery, because he wanted the revival to go on; and the cowardly spirit manifested in the above instances, doubtless exerts more or less influence in many of the great revivals of the present day.
Now Mr. Editor, I enter my protest against all such revivals. If preaching the simple gospel truth, that "God hath made of one blood, all nations of men," will kill a revival, let it be killed, and buried a thousand miles under the ground, rather than curse the world with a religion which sanctions villainy, the vilest that ever saw the sun. The history of the past, demonstrates the fact, that a nation is never better than its religion; and unless we can get ministers of the gospel to take an advance position, we may as well give up the struggle in despair.
But I desire to call attention to a point I have already named, and that is, we may seriously question whether the great revivals of the present day, will result in a permanent elevation of our race.
In support of the above position, it may be said that whatever a nation's religion sanctions, it is impossible to overthrow,—until you bring that nation to see its guilt. That the religion of this nation sanctions slavery, is plain. Slaveholders, and their soulless apologists, are elevated to the highest offices99in the people's power to bestow, and Reverend Clergymen defend slavery from the Bible, and prove it to be a heaven-ordained institution from the golden rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." And when individuals, led on by the higher instincts of humanity and religion, seek to proclaim the whole gospel,—churches roll across their path, and block up the way. And when some bold and fearless minister proclaims the gospel command,—"break every yoke and let the oppressed go free," christian America responds with the united voice of a thousand pulpits, that two hundred years of legislation has sanctioned and sanctified the right of property in man!
But it may be said, that anti-slavery churches have shared largely in these revivals; but the same may be said of pro-slavery churches, as well as those who profess to occupy neutral ground on the subject; and these being in the majority, the chances are against success.
Another serious objection to such revivals is, the religious teachers who control them, point out a course of duty, made up of apathy, and indifference to the real interests of humanity, which if followed out, will ruin the young convert's usefulness, in trying to build up the interests of true religion. They are told to keep religion out of politics,—to obey the laws of the land,—and not to disturb the peace and harmony of the State, or of Church either. Such teaching is to all intents and purposes infidelity; for it is a settled principle of the divine administration, that religious prosperity shall be in proportion to the efforts we make for the salvation of the world. If a class of young converts were before me for instruction, as to the duties God requires at their hands, and the best course to pursue to guard against instability, I would point them to the unredressed woes of humanity. The sacred forms of four millions of enslaved beings, as well as the dark and damning evils which gush from the fiery fountains of intemperance! And I would bid them rush to the rescue.
In doing this, a thousand noble impulses would leap into existence in their hearts, and under their united efforts, the triple wailing, rising from slavery, war, and intemperance, would die away, and they would realize that hurling despots from thrones of power, and wiping away humanity's scalding tears, would give permanency and stability to their principles and profession.
A feeling of melancholy and gloom steals over me, as I think that a revival of the religion of this nation, is only deepening the death-wail of humanity, and enabling demons to feed on the virtue, life, hopes, and blood, of the crushed millions that slavery plunges in the dark starless night of oppression, and binds with unrelenting chains. Let us gird on the armor afresh, in the anti-slavery enterprise, and pray that heaven may quickly send the jubilee.
A. WORTH.
Economy, Indiana.
Why Not To-day?
By Rale
Reader, you hope very likely to be a real Christian some time, and fit to go to heaven. You hope to repent and believe on Christ, and have a good hope before you die. But why not to-day?
What is to prevent you? Why should you wait any longer? Why not this day awake and call up on your God, and resolve that you will sleep no longer? I set before you Jesus Christ the Saviour, who died to make atonement for sinners, Jesus who is able to save to the uttermost, Jesus willing to receive. The hand that was nailed to the cross, is held out to you in mercy. The eye that wept over Jerusalem, is looking on you with pity. The voice that has said to many a wanderer, "Thy sins are forgiven," is saying to you, "Come unto me." Go to Jesus first and foremost, if you would know what step to take. Think not to wait for repentance and faith and a new heart, but go to him just as you are. O, awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light. Why not to-day?
Sun, moon, and stars are all witnessing against you; they continue according to God's ordinances, and you are ever transgressing them. The grass, the birds, the very worms of the earth, are all witnessing against you; they fill their place in the creation, and you do not. Sabbaths and ordinances are continually witnessing against you; they are ever proclaiming that there is a God and a judgment, and you are living as though there were none.
The tears and prayers of godly relations are witnessing against you; others are sorrowfully thinking you have a soul, though you seem to forget it. The very gravestones that you see every week are witnessing against you; they are silently witnessing, "Life is uncertain, time is short, the resurrection is yet to come, the Lord is at hand." All, all are saying. Awake, awake, awake! O, reader, the time past may surely suffice you to have slept. Awake to be wise. Awake to be safe. Awake to be happy. And why not to-day?—Rale.
Christianity.
By William Wilberforce
Religion may be considered as the implantation of a vigorous, active principle; it is seated in the heart, where its authority is recognized as supreme, whence by degrees it expells whatever is opposed to it, and where it gradually brings all the affections and desires under its complete control. But though the heart be its special residence, every endeavor and pursuit must acknowledge its presence, and whatever does not or will not or cannot receive its sacred stamp, is to be condemned, and is to be at once abstained from and abandoned. It is like the principle of vitality, which communicates its influence to the smallest and remotest fibers of the frame.
Christianity calls her professors to a state of diligence, watchfulness and active services. None have a right to be idle. Not to speak of that great work which we all have to accomplish, and surely the whole attention of a short and precarious life is not more than an eternal interest may well require, where is it that, in such a world as this, health, and leisure, and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate? Shall ambition and avarice never sleep. Shall they never want objects on which to fasten? Shall they be so observant to discover, so acute to discern, so eager, so patient to pursue, and shall the benevolence of Christians want employment?
Mankind are in general deplorably ignorant of their true state; and there are few who have any adequate conception of the real strength of the ties by which they are bound to the several objects of their attachment, or who are aware how small a share of their regard is possessed by those concerns on which it ought to be supremely fixed.
But God requires to set up his throne in the heart, and to reign in it without a rival; if he be kept out of his right it matters not by what competition. The result may be more avowed or more secret; it may be the treason of deliberate preference, or of inconsiderate levity. We may be the subjects of a more or of a less creditable master; we may be employed in services more gross or more refined: but whether the slaves of avarice, or sensuality, or dissipation, or sloth, or the votaries of ambition, of taste or of fashion; whether supremely governed by vanity and self-love, by the desire of literary fame or of military glory, we are alike estranged from the dominion of our rightful Sovereign.
He who bowed the knee to the god of medicine or of eloquence, was no less an idolater than the worshippers of the deified patrons of lewdness or of theft. In the several cases which we have here specified, the external acts indeed are different, but in principle the disaffection is the same; and we must prepare to meet the punishment of rebels on that tremendous day, when all false colors shall be done away, and there being no longer any room for the evasions of worldly sophistry, or the smooth plausibilities of worldly language, "That which is often highly esteemed among men, shall appear to have been abomination in the sight of God."
[Wilberforce.
FLOODS AND TORNADOES.
The present is peculiarly a season of terrific aerial visitations. It would seem as if “the prince of the power of the air,” was doing his utmost to set heaven, earth and the sea in commotion. About four o'clock on last Monday afternoon, this city and vicinity were pretty severely handled by this aerial tyrant, wind, rain, hail, thunder and lightning all combining to produce terrific effects. One hundred and fifty feet of the Flint Glass Company's Works at Hunter's point, were blown down, burying twenty-five operatives in their ruins. Only two, however were killed. Rev. Mr. Hoyt's church, (Episcopal,) which was nearly completed, was razed to the foundation at a loss of $15,000. The roof of the Seventh Avenue stages' stables was blown down, one man being killed and another at the same place struck with lightning. Two men on West 17th-street were dangerously injured by a falling chimney. The chimney of the Methodist Book Concern was blown over crushing the roof of a contiguous house, and injuring an old lady. Fences were blown down, ships dragged their anchors, and an unknown amount of mischief was done in various ways. It was a mere gust, lasting only about a half an hour, when all was bright and beautiful again.
At Baltimore and vicinity in the storm and flood on the 9th ult., not less than twenty bridges were carried away, a horse and carriage were swept into the water, two negro women and a white man were drowned, and many stores were flooded. A large number of fishing-smacks off the coast of Newfoundland have been destroyed by a storm, and it is supposed that 300 fishermen have perished. In Niagara Co., all the water-courses are overflowed and lowland crops injured, to the great dismay of the farming interest. The canal is greatly endangered. Great injury has also been done by the rain in Illinois and other Western States. At Dubuque the Mississippi rose three feet in twenty-four hours, and at Boonville the Missouri rose four and a half feet in a day.
Much apprehension is felt at St. Louis lest the Mississippi should forsake them by cutting for itself a new channel through Illinois.
Bloody Island opposite the city was nearly submerged, Cahokia, a French settlement a few miles below shared the same fate. The storm of the 12th of June almost laid the whole prairie land of the400West under water. The Wabash and all other valleys are converted into lakes. The river has risen so high above its banks, that every wharf and levee, beginning with that of St. Louis, is under water.
On the upper part of the river, the papers contain accounts of twelve towns or villages which are either partially or wholly destroyed or submerged. Cairo is a mere wreck; the Illinois Central Company must have lost their workshops, stores, cars, track and wood.
It is estimated that in Louisiana alone the loss of sugar caused by the inundation, is equal to $3,000,000, and that of cotton $4,000,000, and that the total damage by this Spring's inundation is not less than twenty five millions of dollars.—N. Y. Chronicle.
Spirit of the Psalms.
Amongst all compositions, these alone deserve the name of sacred lyrics. These alone contain a poetry that meets the spiritual nature in all its moods and all its wants, which strengthens virtue with glorious exhortations, gives angelic eloquence to prayer, and almost rises to the seraph's joy in praise. In distress and fear, they breathe the low, sad murmur of complaint; in penitence, they groan with the agony of the troubled soul. They have a gentle music for the peace of faith; in adoration, they ascend to the glory of creation and the majesty of God. For assemblies or for solitude, for all that gladdens and all that grieves, for our heaviness and despair, for our remorse and our redemption, we find in these divine harmonies the loud or low expression. Great has been their power in the world. They resounded amidst the courts of the tabernacle; they floated through the lofty and solemn spaces of the temple. They were sung with glory in the halls of Zion; they were sung with sorrow by the streams of Babel. And when Israel had passed away, the harp of David was still awakened in the church of Christ. In all the eras and ages of that church, from the hymn which first it whispered in an upper chamber, until its anthems filled the earth, the inspiration of the royal prophet has enraptured its devotions and ennobled its rituals. Chorused by the winds of heaven, they have swelled through God's own temple of the sky and stars; they have rolled over the broad deserts of Asia, in the matins and vespers of ten thousand hermits. They have rung through the deep valleys of the Alps, in the sobbing voices of the forlorn Waldenses; through the steeps and caves of Scottish Highlands, in the rude chantings of the Scottish Covenanters; through the woods and wilds of primitive America, in the heroic hallelujahs of the early Pilgrims.—Banner of the Cov.
SHADOWS OF THINGS TO COME.
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Col. ii, 16, 17.
When we have taken the position that there was nothing typical in the weekly Sabbath of the Lord, nothing which prefigured the work of Christ, no shadow, the body of which was of him, it has been asked why it could not be typical as well as the ceremonial sabbaths to which we claim that exclusive reference is made in the text above quoted. What is there, it has been asked, typical in a ceremonial sabbath more than in the weekly? The one was to be a holy convocation, so was the other; in the one there was to be no servile work done, neither in the other; if one was typical, why not the other?
Well, let us see. There were three feasts in the year in which all the males were to appear before the Lord. Ex. xxiii, 14-17. To these we think reference is made in the text in the term holy-day, which is translated from heorte, which means a feast. Connected with these feasts were seven yearly sabbaths, or days in which holy convocations should be held, and no servile work be done. Lev. xxiii. There were two of these connected with the Passover—on the first and seventh days of the feast of unleavened bread. Lev. xxiii, 7, 8. Let it be marked that these two sabbaths were connected with the Passover, and were dependent on it for their existence. But Christ is the antitype of the paschal lamb. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. 1 Cor. v, 7. When he made his offering, what became of the Passover? It ceased of course. And when the Passover ceased, what became of the sabbaths connected with it? They could not of course longer exist. This is the principle which runs through all these ceremonial sabbaths, indissolubly connecting them with something that is typical, and meets its antitype in the work of Christ.
The third yearly sabbath was in the feast of weeks, on the fiftieth day after the waving of the first-fruits. But Christ was the antitype of the wave-sheaf, and the feast of Pentecost met its antitype fifty days thereafter.
The fourth sabbath occurred on the first day of the seventh month, a memorial of blowing of trumpets; the fifth, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement, now meeting its antitype in the work of our great High Priest, in the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary.
There were two more sabbaths connected with the feast of tabernacles, on the first and eighth days. The antitype of this feast we think will be found in the great “ingathering” of the Lord’s harvest. 1 Cor. xv, 23.
But the Sabbath of the Lord stands upon no such basis as this. It is an absolute and independent institution. It is as old as the world, and commemorates an event which equally concerns every individual of the human race; and none, unless they wish it, need be troubled with confounding it with the ceremonial and shadowy yearly sabbaths of the former dispensation.