The Signs of the Times, vol. 13
January 20, 1887
“Safety in the Time of Trouble” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
Some time ago, in an article on the punishment of the wicked, we quoted Isaiah 33:14 as a text which is to some a stumbling-block in the way of their believing that the wicked are to be eternally destroyed. The text reads thus: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” The difficulty arises from the supposition that the prophet means, Who of us shall suffer from the devouring fire, or in other words, Who of us shall in the last day be found sinners? But that is not the idea of the text. The true meaning is found when we read the answer to these questions, which is found in verse 15: “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” From this we learn that the prophet does not mean to ask who among us shall be sinners; but who among us shall be righteous. And, therefore, when he says, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” he does not mean to ask who shall be punished with this fire, but who shall escape it. Thus the text has no reference whatever to eternal torment. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.1
But the question will be asked, How can it be said that the righteous shall dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings? This will be understood after we have quoted a few texts. The psalmist, speaking of the coming of the Lord, says: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Psalm 50:3. And again: “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” Psalm 97:3. In Habakkuk 3:3-6, we find the following: “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand; and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting.” From the sixteenth verse of this chapter we learn that this is the description of the time of trouble that shall just precede the coming of the Lord. It is the same that is referred to in the ninety-first psalm, where we read of the “terror by night,” the “pestilence that walketh in darkness,” the “destruction that wasteth at noonday,” and the plagues which the wicked shall suffer, and which the righteous will see although they shall be unharmed by them. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.2
Now if with these texts we read Joel 1:15-20, which also describes the time of trouble, we shall understand about the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings. That text reads thus:- SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.3
“Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” Read also Joel 2:1-3. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.4
We find from this text that just before the coming of the Lord, there is a time of trouble for the wicked, in which there is pestilence, and plagues, and devouring fire; and that the righteous witness these plagues that are poured out upon the wicked, but are protected. The enemies of the Lord will be consumed by the devouring fire, but those who are described in Isaiah 33:16, will be able to dwell with everlasting burnings. Of such a one Isaiah says: “He shall dwell on high;” David says, “He shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” While the meat is cut off because the corn is withered, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, “Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.” And while the wicked behold only a desolate wilderness he “shall behold the land that is very far off.” This last reference also shows that the time of the everlasting burnings is before the coming of the Lord. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.5
The thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah gives the result of this time of trouble. There it is said of the earth that “The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch” (verse 9); and to show that it is the same everlasting burnings that accomplishes this, verse ten says: “It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.” Now, to show that even this is limited in duration, and that the fire ceases to burn when that upon which it feeds is consumed, read the next chapter, especially the first two verses: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.6
Happy indeed will be the lot of the man who in that awful time of trouble can say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in him will I trust.” They who in this day of salvation wash their robes of character, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, can say in that day when God stands and measures the earth, scattering the everlasting hills, and causing the perpetual hills to bow: “God is our God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Psalm 46:1-3. Who would not wish for such confidence in a time when fearfulness surprises the hypocrites? W. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.7
“Sunday the First Day” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
A new subscriber asks how we know that Sunday is the first day of the week. We would reply that we know it in just the same way that we know that the day called Saturday is the seventh day of the week. It should be remembered that the names of the days of the week are of comparatively modern origin. Anciently the days were known only by their numbers, First, Second, etc., and this numbering is still adhered to and is universally understood, although it is more common now to speak of the days by the names that have been given to them, instead of by the numbers. The Sabbath is that which marks the week. God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, and he commanded man to rest on every succeeding seventh day, giving him permission to work the six intervening days. These periods of seven days are called weeks. Ever since the creation, there have been some who have kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, but for our purpose it is not necessary to go back further than the time of Christ. Christ and those who followed him kept the Sabbath according to the commandment. See Luke 4:16; 23:56. This was of course the seventh day. It was the same day which the Jews kept. The Jews have kept the same day from that time to this. We find them in all parts of the world, yet they are all agreed as to the observance of the Sabbath. This shows that the day which is now called Saturday is the true seventh day, the day which was observed by Christ and which is enjoined in the fourth commandment. The day which follows the seventh day is now called Sunday. Now if we turn to Matthew 28:1, we shall find that the day which immediately follows the seventh day Sabbath, is the first day of the week. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.8
As further proof that there has been no change in the reckoning of the days of the week, we have the fact that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, and that, from within two or three centuries after his resurrection up to the present time, the day of Christ’s resurrection has been quite generally observed in the Christian church. If you ask people why they keep Sunday, they will always tell you it is in honor of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week. And thus the keeping of Sunday is in itself evidence that those who observe Saturday are observing the true seventh day, and are therefore obeying the commandment of the Lord. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.9
“Churchly Iniquity” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12. These words were spoken by our Lord concerning a time just before, and reaching to, his second coming. It should serve as a complete refutation of the idea that the world will be converted, and that there will be a millennium of Christian joy and peace before the coming of the Lord. This verse not only teaches that iniquity will abound, but, with the next verse, shows that the iniquity will continue even until the end. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Whoever is saved when the end comes, will have “endured” something; his path will not have been one of ease, but he will have “come out of great tribulation.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.10
The same thing is taught by the apostle in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.11
This shows that the reason why those who shall be saved when the Lord comes, will have been called upon to “endure,” is because they will have passed through perilous times; and the reason why the times will be “perilous,” is “because iniquity shall abound.” It also shows that this abounding iniquity will be in the professed church, for it is committed by those who have “a form of godliness.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.12
Now, if we read carefully Matthew 24:12, we shall see that the iniquity there referred to is iniquity practiced under the garb of religion. “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The iniquity is committed by those who have love, and causes that love to decline. Surely, then, we shall have just the opposite of Christian joy and love in the world before the Lord comes; for not only is iniquity to abound, and perilous times to exist as a consequence, but this state of things is to be right in the church. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.13
But how can it be that such crimes as those mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 can exist in the church, when they are the very ones that now characterize men of the world? Easily enough, for the church and the world will be one. All the world will belong to the church. This will not be brought about in the good old way known to Paul and Luther and the Wesleys, namely, by conversion, but by Constitutional Amendment, a plan very similar to that adopted by Constantine and Charlemagne, who brought people into “the church” by thousands. Citizenship and church membership will be one and the same thing; and this will result in bringing into “the church” all the political hacks, ward politicians, “Boodle ringers,” and whoever has an itching pain for Government coin and influence, and his name is legion. The “love of many” will necessarily “wax cold” before they can lower the standard sufficiently to receive such ones into church fellowship; and contact with the same class will by no means tend to restore that which they have lost. SITI January 20, 1887, page 38.14
But before this state of things can be fully brought about, men must reject the truth of God, especially that which relates to the Sabbath. And because of their rejection of the truth, strong delusion will be sent upon them that they should believe a lie. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. This blindness will cause them to call evil good and darkness light, so that although iniquity will be abounding, they will say that all is well, the world is converted, and the temporal millennium has come. Then, as prophesied by Isaiah, they will say, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” And then, “when they shall say, Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction shall come upon them,” and they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Then the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth, and those who have exalted themselves shall be humbled, “and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.” May the Lord grant us grace to humble ourselves now, that in that day we may be exalted to a place at his right hand. W. SITI January 20, 1887, page 39.1
“A ‘Non Sequitur’” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
The Congregationalist of December 23 gives a brief notice of the Bible-class which is regularly held by Dr. Meredith, in Tremont Temple, Boston, noting especially the teaching of the last International lesson of the year. In this notice we find the following:- SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.1
“In teaching this lesson, as well as one or two others lately, Dr. Meredith has expressed the opinion that we are not living in the last days of the world, but says he expects it to continue for centuries and ages, adducing as evidence of this the immense quantity of coal and minerals of various kinds stored up in the bowels of the earth apparently for the use of mankind.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.2
It is astonishing that Bible students will call such statements as this “evidence” that we are not in the last days. While we would not call Dr. Meredith a scoffer, he certainly is in the line of the fulfillment of Peter’s prophecy that in the last days men shall say, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:2), and thus himself furnishes evidence that we are in the last days. SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.3
The argument, for such we will call it by courtesy, is this: Because there is an abundance of fuel in the earth, therefore it must be consumed. It would be just as reasonable to say that because a man has enough wheat in his barn to last him ten years therefore he must of necessity live until he has consumed it all. The Doctor forgets that sometimes those things which are designed for the use of man are made the instruments of his destruction. SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.4
When the word was created it was a watery mass. Peter says it was “standing out of the water and in the water.” 2 Peter 3:5. By the word of the Lord the waters were gathered together unto one place and the dry land appeared. Much of this water was stored in the bowels of the earth. It was doubtless there for man’s use, just as now we draw from the earth water to supply our needs. Now suppose we imagine Noah preaching that in a few years the Lord would destroy the earth. Up speaks some wise philosopher and says: “That cannot be, for there are vast quantities of water stored up in the earth for man’s use, and the earth cannot be destroyed until all that water has been consumed. But the water supply can never be exhausted, and therefore the world can never be destroyed.” No doubt he would have been applauded by the people for his wisdom. Nevertheless, “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” 2 Peter 3:6. And the water which was stored within the earth, together with that which came from heaven, was the means by which the earth was destroyed. SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.5
The apostle says that those who deny the Lord’s soon coming are willingly ignorant of the facts which we have just related. He says: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7. In this we cannot fail to see that the apostle draws a comparison between the future destruction of the earth by fire, and its former destruction by water. Just as the water out of which the earth was formed, and which was stored within the earth, caused its destruction, even so now the combustible material stored within the earth, will, together with the fire that comes down from God out of heaven, cause the earth to be dissolved. SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.6
It is a very unsafe thing to draw conclusions from nature, contrary to the statements made in the Bible. It is true that God has abundant provision for the support of mankind on this earth for ages to come. But he has never pledged himself to support a people who are unworthy of support. When the people of the earth have forgotten him, or while professing to know him deny him by their works, he will count them as chaff fit only for the flames, and by the very things wherein they trust, he will destroy the world and them that dwell therein, and will create a new heavens and a new earth, wherein the righteous shall dwell. W. SITI January 20, 1887, page 40.7
“Lot’s Choice” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
The Commentary.
NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
(February 6.-Genesis 13:1-12.)
Though the place of Sodom and Gomorrah was as beautiful “as the garden of the Lord,” the people were so corrupt that neither earth nor Heaven could endure them but a little while longer. “The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners exceedingly before the Lord.” And “pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination.” Ezekiel 16:49, 50. This was the iniquity of Sodom. SITI January 20, 1887, page 42.1
And though Lot found the place beautiful, he found the people abominable; and his righteous soul was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” 2 Peter 2:7, 8. But “evil communications corrupt good manners.” And although Lot is given by the word of God the title of “just” and “righteous,” yet his family was so far influenced by the “evil communications” of those wicked people, that his wife did not escape destruction, and is daughters, though they escaped, showed themselves more thoroughly familiar with the wicked ways of Sodom than with the righteous ways of their father. “Lot’s choice” was a miserable choice. Worldly prosperity is no evidence of the fear of God, but rather tends to make the naturally corrupt heart still more corrupt. Let it be the aim of all to “walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, that we may all be partakers with him of the same promise in view of which he ever lived and walked. SITI January 20, 1887, page 43.1
“Good and Bad Angels” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
Those who accept the teachings of Spiritualism, seem to think that we are inconsistent when we say that the spirits with whom they communicate are spirits of devils. For, say they, we read of men who appeared to Abraham and to Lot, and that angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation, and such beings certainly cannot be spirits of devils. Of course they are not; but the angels who came to Abraham and Lot did not claim to be the spirits of their dead friends. The angels whom our heavenly Father sends to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, and who were sent to minister to Christ in the wilderness of temptation and in the garden, do not contradict God’s word, by saying that they are the spirits of men who died, when the Bible says that the dead know not anything. They are angels of light, and angels of darkness; angels who are pure and holy as when God created them, and angels who sinned, and thus lost their first estate. But none of these angels were ever men. They were created angels, and were never of the same nature as men. How may we know the difference between the good and the bad angels? Try them by the word of God. “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. If they contradict the Bible, or in any way throw discredit upon it, know that they are of the devil, who is a liar and the father of it. SITI January 20, 1887, page 43.2
“Men Never Become Angels” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
Little children used to be taught to sing, “I want to be an angel.” It was a vain wish, but they didn’t know any better. Man was made “a little lower than the angels.” Those who are counted worthy of a part in the first resurrection, will be made “equal unto the angels.” Luke 20:35, 36. They will be equal unto the angels only in that they cannot die any more. But equality does not mean identity, but the contrary. If we say that one thing is equal to another, we indicate that there are two distinct things. So when the Lord said the righteous will in the resurrection be equal unto the angels, he indicated most emphatically that they would not be angels. SITI January 20, 1887, page 43.3
“But,” says an objector, “Moses and Elias were seen on the mount; how do you account for their presence there if the dead are unconscious and do not become ministering angels?” Easily enough. Elias never died but was translated without seeing death. Moses died and was buried by the Lord, by whom he was afterwards raised from the dead. That he was raised is proved by two things: 1. Christ and Satan disputed about the body of Moses. Jude 9. Satan has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14), and therefore claims all the dead as his lawful prey. Christ has been through the grave, bringing with him its keys (Revelation 1:18), and therefore he has the power to divide the spoil with Satan. See Isaiah 53:12. That is, he will take from Satan those servants of Christ whom Satan has claimed as his own. So Christ took his faithful servant Moses, referring Satan to the Father, as the vindication of his right to do so. 2. The Bible plainly declares that the dead know not anything, and that their thoughts perish as soon as the breath goes forth. It further expressly states that the dead cannot converse with the living unless they are first raised from the dead. Therefore we know that when Moses appeared on the mount of transfiguration, it was not as an angel, nor as the spirit of a dead man, but as a man who had been dead and had been raised to life. SITI January 20, 1887, page 43.4
“Back Page” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
Last Sabbath, January 15, the Oakland Church had the pleasure of listening to a sermon by Elder W. P. Curtis, lately from Kansas. The discourse was based on Matthew 16:19, and was an outline of the fundamental principles of the doctrine of the true church of Christ, with a statement of the danger to which the church has been and is exposed, and a description of the final triumph of the faithful. On Sunday, January 16, Brother Curtis and family sailed for Australia on the steamer Alameda. He will stop at Honolulu a month or two, to help along the work there. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.1
Not long ago several of the clergy of Chicago, yielding to the argument (?) that “to the pure all things are pure,” and to an invitation to of the National Opera Company, attended the performance of certain ballets that they might, as the invitation ran, “give a fair opinion as to whether the dance, as present with artistic refinement in the American Opera ballet, is not an attractive, artistic, and morally innocuous adjunct to the opera.” It is almost needless to say that no sooner had these men yielded to this operatic sophistry than they were told by the friends of the ballet that they “went there to satisfy their curiosity and see what it looked like;” that “the excuse that they desired to inform themselves that they might more forcibly condemn it, is too thin;” that they knew very well before they went what they would see, “for it is a matter of conceited, undisputed, universal knowledge. Yet they went there to see whether it was better not!” and finally, that having gone themselves they could not well object to their parishioners going. All of which should be a lesson to the clergy of Chicago. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.2
The Christian Standard says of the request of the thief on the cross, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42):- SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.3
“He had no doubt reference to the kingdom as it will be manifested at the second coming of Christ-the kingdom of the glorified, though he had no clear conception of its nature.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.4
Nobody can tell how clear a conception he may have had of the kingdom of Christ, but it is certain that in his request he had reference to the second coming of Christ. This truth is more clearly marked by Griesbach’s text, which reads, “Remember me in the day of thy coming.” And since Christ’s coming in his kingdom is at his second coming (Matthew 25:31) we see that the thief made his request intelligently. What Christ promised was simply that his desire should be fulfilled. An emphatic declaration was made to the effect that when Christ should come the second time the thief should then be with him; he should be remembered. The word “to-day” simply makes the declaration the more emphatic. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.5
In the trial of Professor Smythe, of Andover, for heresy, Professor Baldwin, of Yale College, one of the counsel for the defense, is reported by the Independent as follows:- SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.6
“The doctrine of probation after death, Professor Baldwin maintained, has already done much, and was destined to do more, to overcome agnosticism, the most hurtful error which prevails at the present day among men.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.7
An “agnostic” is one who does not believe anything, and doesn’t profess to know anything although he really thinks that he knows more than all the world beside. Professor Baldwin says that the doctrine of probation after death has converted men from agnosticism. That is, they believe it, and therefore they can no longer be called agnostics. How convenient it is to be able to invent doctrines that will take infidelity away from men whether they will or not. Thus, the doctrine of probation after death tells the sinner that if he doesn’t repent in this life, he will be all right, because another “chance” will be given him after death. This, being in accordance with his desires, is of course readily accepted. In this way the “larger hope” converts men. We submit that it is better to be an agnostic than to believe a lie; for the man who believes a lie rests satisfied with his condition and cannot be moved. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.8
“The ‘Larger Hope’” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
The “larger hope” is being much talked about now. This “larger hope” is that if men do not accept Christ in this life, they will have a chance to repent after death. It is no new thing. Satan set before Eve a “larger hope” than the Lord did. He persuaded her to believe that she would be much better off if she went outside of God’s command. She soon found out her mistake. The antediluvians cherished a “larger hope” than Noah did. He, poor credulous soul, thought that if he did get into the ark he wouldn’t be drowned. Their hope was not so circumscribed. Their free minds took a much wider range, and they thought that they would be saved enough if they ignored the ark. But “the flood came, and destroyed them all.” The men of Sodom were not so narrow in their beliefs as Lot was. He believed that his only hope lay in flight from the city. They had a “larger hope,” and therefore would not put themselves to the trouble to flee. “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Those who cherish this “larger hope” will then find out their mistake. “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” This hope is large enough to take in the whole creation; “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This hope is limited to this life, for when Christ comes the second time it is “without sin, unto salvation.” Nevertheless, the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and whosoever will may take the water of life as a gift. Who could ask for any larger hope than this? Well might the apostle exclaim: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.9
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your hope in his excellent work!
What more could he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Saviour for a refuge have fled?”
SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.10
“Bible Justice Vindicated” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
In a Spiritualist paper we find the following quotation from Pascal:- SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.11
“Nothing appears so revolting to reason as to say that the first man should impart guilt to those who, from their extreme distance from the source of evil, seem incapable of such a participation. This transmission seems to us not only unnatural, but unjust. For what can be more repugnant to the rules of our despicable justice than to condemn eternally an infant, yet irresponsible, for an offense in which he appears to have so little share, that was committed 6,000 years before he came into existence?” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.12
Doubtless many besides Spiritualists will adopt that language as their own, and will fancy that in so doing they are bringing an unanswerable argument against the doctrines of Christianity. But everybody who has read the Bible to any purpose knows full well that it does not teach that either infants or adults are condemned for an offense committed either 6,000 years or half as many minutes before they were born. Neither is one person condemned for the offense of another, no matter when that offense is committed. The Bible plainly declares:- SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.13
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” Ezekiel 18:20. And the same thing was taught to the Jews in their earliest history. Thus: “The father shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Deuteronomy 24:16. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.14
The Bible nowhere countenances the idea that one person shall suffer for the offense of another. But it does recognize the fact that a stream cannot rise higher than its source. If Adam had retained his purity, he would have begotten children with tendencies to right doing; but having fallen, his posterity must necessarily be born with tendencies to evil. This evil nature with which all men are born, is strengthened by evil practices, so that although “by one man sin came into the world,” death justly passed upon all men, “for that all have sinned.” To those who charge the Bible with partiality and injustice it may always be said: “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.15
“‘The Gospel Manual’” The Signs of the Times, 13, 3.
E. J. Waggoner
Such is the title of an excellent little book, a copy of which we received some days ago from the author, Rev. Samuel Slocombe. As described by the title page, the book is “an arrangment of the four Gospels into one continuous record of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, with notes and appendix.” Unlike some other works of the same nature, this book does not give all the four Gospels; that is, where two or more of the evangelists have recorded the same thing, only the fullest account is given. But while this may be an objection to a critical student, there are no doubt many who will be pleased with the simplicity of the work. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.16
The appendix contains some interesting thoughts on the “characteristics of the Gospels,” besides “brief notes, mostly chronological,” which are explanatory rather than a controversial, and are “indicative,” the author says, “of the reason for adopting a particular course in the presence of conflicting views.” SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.17
The convenient size of the book, 192 pp., five and one-half by six and one-half inches, and the price, from fifty cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents, according to binding, together with some of the features before mentioned, will no doubt make it quite popular. It can be obtained of George C. McConnell, 757 Market St., San Francisco. SITI January 20, 1887, page 48.18