U ! A-BUE I(ev J.C.Jacoby.A./A. Glass JS-X^Q--. Book __L_xL2t_ Copyright N° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 1^ -iii^^ccnjXu U^ix/uu AROUND THE HOME TABLE Rtt J. C! .IACOBY. A.M., D. D. PASTOR OF THE TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. BOULDER. COLORADO mil IDELPHI tin: u rHERAN PI BU( \iion SOCIETY d& *V Copyright, 191 i, By J. C. JACOBY. ©CI. A 2 86] [>2 CONTENTS. WAGE i.'s Prbfac i: 5 Prefa, SECOND EDITION - Introduction q CHAPTER I. LTION OP THR SCRXPTUKBS 13 CHAPTER II. Tin-: iMM.iKTAi.irv OF tiik SOUI 43 CHAPTER III. 67 CHAPTER iv. 87 v 11 IPTBR V. Tin CHXLD1 117 CHAPTER vi. !■:. <>i< Tin. Lord's Sufpbr. i n CHAPTER VII. 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. The Relations of the Christian Home to the Church PAGi I 9 4 CHAPTER IX. Is there Salvation outside of the Church ? . . . 209 CHAPTER X. The Sabbath 224 CHAPTER XL True Manhood, or a Chapter for Young Men .... 249 CHAPTER XII. True Womanhood, or a Chapter for Young Women . 273 CHAPTER XIII. Marriage 294 CHAPTER XIV. The Future State of the Wicked 322 CHAPTER XV. Heaven 347 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Mich lias been said and written about the sub- of the following chapters. But the matter is cither in such voluminous form as not to be acces- sible to the ordinary home, or it is scattered so pro- miscuously about amid the great mass of literature — "here a little, and there a little" — that only hen.- and there bits of it reach the class of readers designed to be reached with this little volume. Though this is preeminently a literary age — an age in which it may truly be said, " of making xii. 12) many books there is no end," — yet Dot every home can be supposed to own a library. Many < an not afford it, others do Dot care for it. And yet it is commonly presumed that all Chris- tians ate, to a Certain extent, conversant with the fundamental doctrines and principles of their Christian profession. Whether we presume too much in this or not, is not for us to say. Suffice that Christian intelligence is illy admitted to be the preCUrSOl to .1 wlioh - (5) 6 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. some spiritual growth. The need of the age, there- fore, is a simpler and more specific treatment of the vital points of Christian doctrine and living. Hence, it is the author's purpose to place within the reach of every home that which is so vital to their highest interests, and to present it in such simple and practical form as to be easily compre- hended by the most ordinary reader. And if in so doing he can contribute anything toward the ame- lioration of God's people in their homes, and to the efficiency of their service there; or perchance lead some from their sins to peace with God, he will be more than satisfied. Respectfully yours, J. C. Jacobv. September, 1892. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION H of a preface than that of our first edition is entirely unnecessary except to say that this sec- ond edition is published in response to the numer- [nests for it. After a careful revision of the former text and a prefix of two chapters (The In- spiration of the Scriptures and The Immortality of the Son! 1 , both SO vital to the complete round tial to the larger range of Christian intelligence in the ordinary Christian home, we offer out readers our present edition in the ardent •.hat every reader may find it instructive, I inspiration t<> a nobler and more life. J. C. Jacoby. (7) INTRODUCTION. It was Bacon who said, "Reading makes the man." The contribution of our reading to the formation of character and to the use we make of it in our lives is undoubtedly greater than many Blippose. When every one's account is brought to the final settlement it will be discovered that the kind of reading we did counted in the scales for good or evil. Everybody is reading now. The t boy, the thoughtless girl, the criminal, young or older, alike will be found to be familiar with the soiled "paper cover," often full of excit- ing nr ad alas! how often of evil sugges- tion. How few realize what an insidious snare there is in much of the reading done to-day. | to thought oi passion. The in every instance must be put down to profit The reading in our homes Is really a vital thing. It> influence isoflen subtle. It does not sound a trumpet at it-- coming. Its touch is gentle, but when it is evil ita retribution often has the (9) IO INTRODUCTION. rage of a storm in it. Parents give attention to the education and the health of their children when they are often sadly indifferent about their reading. Quietly hundreds and thousands of the young to-day are becoming the victims of a kind of read- ing that is hostile to all that is noble and essential to right living. To say the least, it is often averse to anything that is serious and reverent. The appetite for that which is flippant, sometimes vulgar, in its suggestions, is having for many in this reading day, a keen edge put upon it. Like the drink habit, every day adds to the demand made for more, until in not a few cases, debauch and ruin follow. Any book that offsets or would in any way counteract this evil should be heartily welcomed in the homes of the people. The author of "Around The Home Table" has furnished such a book. It is not a theological treatise, but it is decidedly Christian and scriptural from the first to the last page. In doctrine it is strong and safe. Its mission is to impart instruction very much needed. What better could father or mother do than to read aloud a portion of it on each Lord's Day. A single page of it every morning, along with the open Bible, would furnish a wholesome INTRODUCTION. II lion and a safeguard tor all the responsi- bilities and happenings of the day. The style of the book is simple and pleasing. Its chapters are timely and adapted to all. The aged and the young alike will find a sufficient help in it under all conditions. It has in it a devotional element. Thoughtfully read it will edify the Christian, im- part wise counsel to the perplexed, quicken the : :nce of the erring, and enkindle an urgent in those who have grown weary in well-lj control they vibrated as the the harp in the hands of the musician: ce of mechanism touched by 1 hand." I h . mother has put it, the Bible, every word of it, every •. i- the dinet utl the Mosl >f inspiration which 1 6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. we mention here is that the writers of the Bible spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost— the Holy Ghost dictating only the thought but not the word. According to this theory the Holy Ghost so completely filled and controlled the minds of the writers with the thought to be expressed that they could not err — it was virtually and truly the mind of God expressed in words by human lips and penned by human hands. By this theory no diffi- culty is found in accounting for the idiosyncrasies of the respective writers. But without detaining our readers with a discussion of the relative merits of these two theories, one thing to our mind is evi- dent, namely, that God moved and directed these men to give to the world a correct revelation of His will, plans and purposes, so that men need not err if they would know and do His will. Hence we feel inclined to give attention to the more prac- tical side of this subject by giving some reasons for believing the truth of the Scriptures, " All Scrip- ture is given by inspiration of God." Why do we believe that the Bible is inspired? This is the im- portant question. The declarations at the head of this chapter are not mere assertions. They are stubborn facts. But now that our readers may feel sure that their faith in the Bible as an inspired Book is well grounded let us look at the Bible. INSPIRATION OK THE SCRIPTURES. IJ I. As an Inexhaustible Treasury of Truth. John Quincy Adams once said: "In whatever light we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an and inexhaustible mine of knowledge irtue." Another has said: " The scholarship of the ages has gone to the Bible for light and information on all subjects." Philosophers, as- :ier> and scientists alike have gone to this lc of Books" for the fundamental laws and principles underlying their respective lines of work. Tlie philosopher has found in it all the fundamental principles lor the best system of philosophy; the astronomer has found in it the great laws and prin- ciples of the solar system; and the scientists have to her mill-- of truth to satiate their desire for the true pri:. 11 science. Or as another laid: "Tin- great body of modern scientists the Bible their refuge. It is the mighty ship in which they have ploughed their way through aCC and >ailed over all its tossing ft is the great depository of all truth. The - tiled modern science, j nay, the who!. ■all have fled to the Bible omrnon tn all truth, 1 ' And what is 2 l8 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. most wonderful about it all is that the strongest and keenest minds which have ever blest the world with their research have, with life-long efforts, endeavored to fathom the depths and bounds of the truth of the Bible, at last to stand in utter amazement at the as yet unexplored mines of truth. And having been . thus subjected to the most scrutinizing research, the Bible still remains the same inexhaustible treasury of truth, discover- ing to the world daily truths new and fresh — truths equally wonderful and inspiring as any ever before discovered. No human mind has ever yet looked to the bottom of this mine of truth. It is said that the learned Dr. Charles Elliott was a life-long and persistent Bible student, and when in his seventy-seventh year, just a month before his death, having read the Old Testament through in three weeks, while intently reading his Bible one day his daughter asked him, "Father, what are you reading?" he promptly replied, "I'm reading the news, daughter." To him the Bible was, after a life-long research, a book of news. Professor Dana says : "The grand old book of God still stands, and this old earth, the more its leaves are turned over and pondered, the more it will sustain and illustrate the sacred Word." From INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 1 9 the pen of Professor Hitchcock we quote the fol- lowing testimony: "All along the outskirts of sci- ence infidelity has, from time to time, erected her imposing ramparts and opened fire upon Christi- anity from a thousand batteries. But the moment the rays of truth were concentrated upon these ramparts they melted away." Goethe is quoted as saying: "It is a belief in the Bible which has served me as the guide of my moral and literary The great Rousseau said: " I must confess that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with -hnient." Coleridge testified: "I know that ble is inspired because it finds me at greater depths of my being than any other book." Patrick Henry, pointing to the Bible, said: "Here is a book worth more than all other books which were ever printed. 11 The great Doddridge is quoted as having said: "Men are indebted to the Bible for Ige which they have ac- quired. And yet, strange to say, they have nevei gone very far h neath the surface of this Uook of God for all which they know." But how unlike this are all the books of human composition ! The well composed tragedi Euripides; the densely written histories of Thu- 1 1 with every syllable pregnant with thought; 20 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the works of Lysias with their well formed and concisely written sentences ; the great Phocion, with his special faculty of saying ("multum in parvo") much in few words; besides Homer, Plato, and others; and the productions of the master minds of modern times, such as Butler and others have all been mastered. Every nook and corner of them has been perused and mastered by other human minds. But could we take but one tele- scopic view of the as yet unexplored field of divine truth in the Bible, like the disciples on the mount of transfiguration, or Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus in the presence of the post-incarnate Christ, we should fall with our faces to the earth in utter amazement and awful reverence. But whence came this inexhaustible — this infinite mine of truth? If men had composed it surely human minds of equal strength could fathom the utmost depth of its truth. But the fact that this has not been done is " prima facie" evidence that it has been given by a superhuman mind — by inspiration of God. For truths of infinite magnitude can be given alone by the infinite mind. And so we read, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God ;" " Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holv Ghost." INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES J I But another impress of divinity in this Book of Books is found, II. In its Prophecies. Prophecy may be defined as " a miracle of knowl- edge." The prophecies of the Bible are many and very wonderful ; and are of such a character as to make it impossible to account for them on any other ground than that of inspiration. A miracle may be defined as "a supernatural act" — an act which can not be devised by human wisdom nor performed by human strength. And so these —these miracles of knowledge — can be accounted for only on the ground of supernatural No human mind has been able to pierce the veil and look into the distant future with such cer- tainty and accuracy as the prophets of antiquity 'one. Many of their prophecies have already been fulfilled with wonderful precision, while others are now in course of fulfillment. The men- of only a few of those which have already been fulfilled will answer our pur; the fate of Babylon was written in prophecy long before it actually became an event in hist •;. . The prophet Isaiah (xiii. i wrote a- definitely as the pen of the modern his- 22 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. torian concerning the destruction of this ancient city. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shep- herds make their fold there. But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." This prophecy was uttered about seven centuries before Christ. A little later (about 595 B. C.) we have the prophecy of Jeremiah (li- 3 6 > 37) concerning the same fate of this ancient city. "Therefore thus saith the Lord; behold I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant." In these prophecies we have stated the fact that this ancient city should become a place of utter INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 23 desolation. Daniel (v. 25-31; gives ns an account of the destruction of Babylon in connection with his interpretation of Belshazzar's dream. The ful- fillment of the former prophecies here recorded by Daniel took place about fifty-seven years after the prophecy of Jeremiah, and about one hundred and seventy-four years after that of Isaiah. Aside from Daniel's account of the fulfillment of these proph- ecies, profane history bears testimony to the fact that Babylon was laid in utter ruins, and became a dwelling-place for the wild beasts. Ridpath, one of the world's most authentic historians, gives us '.lowing graphic description of Babylon's capture: (Hist of the World, Vol. I., p. 296) 11 Meanwhile, the Babylonians, in contempt of an enemy whom they supposed to be foiled in his unusual preparations for the great The yonng prince, Belshazzar, gave himself sion, A thousand nobles : banquet at the palace. There was splendor within and darkness without It Wfl :n. While the revel was •u the wild abandonment of vie , tin- bai pening the the city. The river ii.i moan. The invaders 34 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. hurried along the banks to the wall of the city. There was no alarm. The river had left on either side a broad space of bare ground. The Persians passed in without opposition. The noise of the festival resounded afar. The river gates were seized by the invaders, who now sounded the tocsin and began the assault. It was a gigantic massacre. The drunken Babylonians fled in all directions. The prince Belshazzar and his nobles were slain at their banquet, and dawn found the victorious Per- sians in complete possession of the city. * * * " The beauty of the Chaldees' excellency faded like the shadow of a pageant from the great canvas of his- tory, and the glory of Babylon began to hide itself under the dust and ruin of the ages." These prophecies, with their fulfillment, are so remarkable that no one has attempted to account for them except on the ground of their inspiration. But Nineveh is another illustrious example of the same sort. Both Nahum (i. 8; ii. 8, 13) and Zephaniah (ii. 13, 14) prophesied concerning its destruction about seven hundred years before Christ. Profane history says that the Medes and Chaldeans took Nineveh and laid it in utter ruins 605 B. C, or 95 years after the prophecy was uttered. To this Weber (Outlines of Universal INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES 25 ry, p. 10) adds this testimony: 4 'A hundred and twenty years after the reign of Salmanasser, Nineveh was taken and destroyed by the Medes and Chaldeans, and the visitors divided the land among themselves. * * * Antiquities and works of art are still dug up from the ground where Nineveh once stood." Xo human mind, unin- spired, has ever been able to peer into the future, with any degree of certainty and precision for a day. Indeed the Bible has spoken plainly concerning it. " Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." ( PlOV. xxvii. 1 ). And yet these prophecies uttered, varying from a half to almost two centuries prior to their fulfillment, were as concise and accurate as any historian could possibly describe them after they had actually become events of history. But ■hall we account for all this except OU the ground of inspiration? Ah! The divine mind alone can look into the future and view it as if it □ the past Por to the divine mind tl. and the future are alike. Pot truly, " One day is with th< .. thousand years, and a thou- one day " tz Pet iii. 8). Hut let us next note Borne of the propl work < .; Chi ist for further 26 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. illustrations of this thought: In Genesis (iii. 15) we have the initiatory prophecy of the work of re- demption by Christ, and of His final triumph over the work and power of the devil. A fearful con- flict is here prophesied. The seed of the woman (Christ) shall bruise the serpent's head; and the serpent (Satan) shall bruise His (Christ's) heel. But in the conflict "The Lion of Judah " should have a glorious victory. That our Lord has ful- filled this prophecy in His work of redemption of the world from sin and the power of Satan unto God, and "in bringing life and immortality to light among men," needs no argument to prove. The daily experience in the common lot of men is the indubitable argument in this case. A little later in this book (Gen. xlix. 10) the time of Christ's coming is foretold: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from be- tween his feet, until Shiloh come." Judah did hold the scepter or royal authority till Shiloh came. But the evening of Judah's reign and the dawn of Shiloh' s advent were well-nigh simulta- neous events in history. But within a generation after Christ's crucifixion, according to His own prediction, Jerusalem was destroyed, the whole civii and ecclesiastical state subverted, and all dis- INSPIRATION OF THl- SCRIPTURJ 27 tinctiun among the poor harrassed remnant put to confusion; and its subjects scattered abroad over the face of the earth. And to this day they have been even more destitute of the scepter and a law- giver than during their Babylonian captivity. The Evangelical prophet (Isaiah xl. 3, 4) directed the thought of the people to the forerunner of Christ. "Tl:e voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make :.t in the desert a highway for our God." In the gospel by Matthew (iii. 1-3) we have the record of the fulfillment of this prophecy. "In those came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the f heaven is at hand. For this is He that v. of by the prophet I tying, 'The ■ :e crying in the wilderness,' ' etc. I ;ire the eyes of a seer to recognize the fulfillment of this prophecy in the preaching and work of John the Baptist as preparatory to our advent and work in the progress of the ex- the plan of redemption, bretells th • Christ's birth more than seven hundred years before it earn to M his triumphal entry into . Dearly live bund* d 28 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. years before the actual scene occurred; and in al- most the same breath (xi. 12) His betrayal for thirty pieces of silver. And even David's prophetic eyes were not closed upon the doleful scenes of Calvary. But looking far out into the distant future he de- scribed the scene of mockery and revelry as vividly as it was possible for an eye-witness to portray the actual scene.* These prophecies have all been fulfilled with wonderful accuracy, and their fulfillment attested to by both sacred and profane historians. They are simply such unmistakable and self-evident " miracles of knowledge" as all the world is forced to own, and as such prove beyond a question to all reasonable minds the inspiration of the Scriptures. But let us follow these thoughts with a brief consideration III. Of The Splendor Attending The Birth, Cruci- fixion and Resurrection of Christ. A miracle may be defined as U A supernatural act, t'hat is, an act which cannot be accounted for by natural causes, but requires a supernatural agency, without the sphere of nature." With this definition in mind let us view * Compare Psalm xxii. 7-1S with Matt, xxvii. 39-43. INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 29 i. The Scene <>/' our Saviour's Birth. We find ourselves at once in the midst of an innumerable multitude of people. Bethlehem, the City of David, is thronged to its utmost capacity. There is no longer any room in the inn for the ingather- ing multitudes. No room in any inn could be found for Joseph and Mary. With many others of their company they find shelter with the beasts of burden. The shades of night gather about them. The wearied multitude, shrouded in the darkness of night, is hushed in silence. But amid the sleep- ing throng is cradled anew-born babe in a manger. It is Christ, the Lord of prophecy. Not far out the hill country of Judea the humble shep- are watching their flock. " And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they [raid. And tin- Angel of the Lord said Onto them, Pear not, foi behold I bring you good tiding ' joy, which shall be to all people. For unto yon IS born this day in the City of David :our, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a Sign unto you; >'e shall find the b U ■thes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with tlu- Angel a multi- tude of the heavenly host praising ( i'xl, and Baying, 30 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace good-will toward men. And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us. And they came in haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger." Luke ii. 9-17. "On that night, indeed, it seemed as though the heavens must burst to disclose their radiant min- strelsies; and the stars and the feeding sheep, and the ' light amid the sound in the darkness and stillness,' and the rapture of faithful hearts, com- bine to furnish us with a picture painted in colors of heaven." Ah! But the scene is not yet com- plete. In yonder firmament there arises a star in all the brightness and splendor of heaven. The eyes of the Wise men of the East are fixed upon it. They behold in its twinkling the glory of the Lord. As if directed by the finger of God they come to Jerusalem, inquiring of Herod, the king, "where is He that should be born King of the Jews ? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him. * * And lo, the star, which they saw in the East, went before them till it came and INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPT! I: 31 stood over where the young child was." Matt ii. 1-9. Amid tlie indifference of a world unconscious of its deliverer, God led these Wise men from the the miraculous glory and splendor attending the birth of our Lord and to worship Him in His humble cradle. Ii was a most mar- Die indeed. But from this scene of match- less splendor let US turn, 2. To the Scon- of OUT Lord's Crucifixion. a sad but no less wonderful scene than rmer. It took place only six miles from the place of the former scene. It was in the city of lem. Not unlike in the former scene, the city was thronged t-> its utmost capacity. The multitude had gathered for the feast of tin . the midst of this great concourse the wicked Jews pressed their way v. ith one whose back ■ m tin- scourging I at their hands. They weie wend- ing their way towards a place without the city called On 1 I lie place three suspended • the head of the middle one waa 32 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the superscription, ' ' This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." A scene of mockery which challenged description followed. Jesus agonized and expired. But, lo, even the sun would do obeisance to its Maker in this doleful hour by veiling its bright light. What consternation must have filled the hearts of this great concourse of people as they were suddenly left in midnight darkness at noonday ! How the guilty conscience of Caiaphas, the High Priest, must have quailed as the veil of the temple was suddenly rent in twain from the top to the bottom ! What confu- sion must have prevailed in those crowded streets in this thick darkness for three long hours while the earth was quaking and trembling to its very centre; and the rocks are rent in pieces! Many great and good men have died and passed away, but never has the world witnessed such a display of miraculous splendor and power. No wonder the testimony came from among the by-standers, "'Truly this was the son of God." And David prophesied truly (Psalm cxviii. 23), "This is the Lord's doing: it is marvelous in our eyes." But Jesus is laid away in Joseph's new sepulchre only to renew the scene of wonder. The morning of the first day of the week is dawning. Hark! INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 33 The earth quakes. Behold, the Angel of God has descended and rolled back the great stone from the door of the sepulchre. And lo, He whom the)' crucified and laid away has come forth. Ah! See how the keepers tremble and are become as dead men in His presence! And the very resting- place of the sleeping saints has been disturbed. The graves are opened, and the sleeping saints been awaked, and are going into the city "bringing glad tidings of great joy" to main-. All! Wonder added to wonder has only added to the confusion and consternation of a confounded And it might truly have been said of these wonders as of a previous occasion, " it was never BO .-o 11 mi Israel." No, and it never has been so seen except at the hands of the God of Israel. ///// what //'//- " ry thing: These wonders have all been foretold by the prophets and fulfilled, and :<• authentic events of history. The.se mir- acles of knowledge can be accounted for only on the ground of their inspiration of God. For if the human mind cannot co m prehend them how much Dd write them. But besides this, ah and resurrection were at- 3 34 AROUND THE HOME TABI.E. tended by these scenes of miraculous splendor and power; He, of whom it was said in the midst of this marvelous scene, "truly this was the Son of God," has declared that this book is the inspired Word of God. Listen to the Lord of glory as He quotes Psalm cxviii. 22 (Matt. xxi. 42): "Jesus said unto them, did ye never read in the Scrip- tures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." And then making the application to His hearers for their unbelief of the Scriptures, adds (v. 43), "therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." But again (John x. 34-36): "Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If He called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blaspheinest; because I said, I am the Son of God ? " And so in every stage of our Lord's public min- istry, because of His persistent use of the Scrip- tures as the Word of God, the unbelieving made confession of His divinity. Of Him they said INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 35 (John vii. 46), "Never man -pake like this man." "And when the devil was cast out the dumb spake: And the multitude marvelled, saying, it was Deversoseetl in Israel." Matt. ix. 33. "Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earth quake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, truly this was the Son of God." Matt, xxvii. 54. Therefore, if He t<> whom divinity was thus ascribed quotes the Bible as the Word of Cod, will any one presume to gainsay His testimony? Ah, no! Bat the testimony of the great Pawcett has found a responsive chord in the hearts of the Christian world : " 1 1 € > -.«. pn . iou 1^ the Book divine, By inspiration given! lamp it- doctrine* shine, Ide <>iir souls t<> heaven. • been out drooping heart! In this dai k vale <>f tears; light ami joy it still ini] And quelll <>nr rising f< This lamp, throngfa all tin- tedious night ( )f life, shall guide on: Till W light 36 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. But let us follow this IV. With a Brief Historical Account of the Bible as Another Witness to its Inspiration. History may be regarded, under ordinary cir- cumstances, as a proper index to the thought and conviction of the popular mind. For men usually speak and act as they think and feel. Hence a few observations from history will answer our present purpose. We observe therefore, 1. That the divine authority of the Scriptures ?i'as never questioned prior to the time of the advent of Christ into the world. Wicked and ungodly persons, individually and collectively, dis- regarded, but never questioned the divine author- ity of God's Word. The most antique writings of which we have any knowledge treat the Bible as an inspired book. But if men had believed that the Bible was not an inspired book they would have said so, and treated it accordingly; and his- tory, true to its mission, would have recorded the facts in the case. But strange to say we have no such records. But we observe, 2. That profane history has never recognized any of the pretended revelations of the world as inspired books. They are simply recognizing INSPIRATION OF THK SCRIPTURES. 37 them as factors in the false systems of religion. As >uch they properly enter the records of history. But if it had not been the common conviction among historians that the Bible was an inspired book, they would have placed it alongside of these pretended revelations simply as factors in hi>tory. But with wonderful discrimination they have without any exception accorded to the Bible the place which it alone deserves as it 7he Hook of l's Word — branding all others as "pretended revelations.' ' Historical facts like these cm not be lightly regarded in forming our lusions on this subject. But we will conclude our thoughts on this sub- ject by noting briefly, V. The Spiritual Power of tin- />'//>/<■ in the World. Tin- influence which the Bible has wielded over the world in the past, over all nations and people of the earth wherever it is read and taught, eternity alone will reveaL Wherever the Bible has been placed in the hands of the heathen and taught to their people, tii' if reverently bowing to tli. Omnipotent God, have crumbled and fallen, and th< have been buried in the earth. B\ 38 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the power of divine truth their selfish habits of life have been transformed into lives of Christian dis- cipleship; their servile worship into a service of love; their disconsolate faces into those radiant with joy in the Holy Ghost; as the sun disperses the darkness of the night, causing all nature, with renewed life and vigor, to leap for joy at the morn- ing dawn, so divine truth disperses the darkness of heathenism and sin, and becomes the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Or, to use the figure of the Evangelical prophet (Isaiah lv. 10, 11), "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and inaketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not re- turn unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." This prophecy in its course of fulfillment is witnessing the transformation of the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ. And in bringing about this blissful change the Bible stands alone as the One Book inspired of God to this end. It is the One Book of Books which leads in the civilization INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 39 and evangelization of the world. What has the Tripitaka of Buddhists done in cither of these re- spectS tor the world? How much has the Koran of Mohammed contributed towards civilization or evangelization? What have either of these pre- tended revelations done for the amelioration of mankind? But the Bible is "exerting its benign influence over the civilized and the barbarous, the learned and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, blessing the king upon his throne and the peasant in his cottage; purifying the centers of civilization, and pursuing men with oservative and elevating power to the utmost of human society." ble stands alone in Its hold upon the human heart. When the finger of God wrote upon the wall of King Belshazzar's palace these words, u Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin," "The mtenance was changed, and bis thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were '. and his knees smote one against another.' 1 of Voltaire that he was daring enough at one tire apt to versify that affecting atial, the fifty-first, Psalm. Everything went w«-ll enough until he came to tin- tenth verse, 40 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the prayer, " Create in me a clean heart, O God! " But his pride and infernal hatred against God and His worshipers did not permit him, with the royal penitent, to entreat of God "a clean heart." How- ever he tried to versify it. But suddenly the ter- ror of hell siezed him; the pen refused to move be- neath the hand of the reprobate who had indited so many blasphemies and obscenities for the destruc- tion of innocence and the fear of God. He sought to flee, but he could not. He fell half-senseless on his couch, and was afterwards compelled to confess that he could not think of the appalling occurrence without renewing the terror in his soul. It was this same Word of God which our Lord was preaching when the officers came to apprehend Him, but returned saying, "Never man spake like this man." An infidel once said, "there is one thing that mars all the pleasure of my life." "In- deed !" replied his friend; " and what is that?" He answered seriously, "I am afraid the Bible is true. If I could know for certain that death is an eternal sleep, I should be happy; my joy would be complete ! But there is the thorn that stings me. This is the sword that pierces my soul, If the Bible is true I am lost forever. ' ' It was the same Bible from which Paul " rea- INSPIRATION OP THE SCRIPTURES. 41 soned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come" when Felix trembled. It was the power of this truth which caused devils "to believe and tremble" under the preaching of Christ. It is characteristic of the Bible to take hold of the human heart as no other book ever has done. And in this i.-, grounded its self- perpetuating power. In the providence of God the world has never been able to hide or extinguish it. ( )n the other hand, infidels have written books, but where are they? Where is Porphyry or Julian? Fragments there it we are indebted even for these to Christian criticism. Where is Hume, Voltaire, Boling- broke? It requires the world's reprieve to bring a copy out of their darkness. But where is tJic liible » Wherever there is light speaking the language of heaven in four hundred of the tongues rth and giving the Word of (rod by fifty mil- lion voices to live times as many millions ,,\ men; and having swept its path of storm through all time, it still walks triumphant, despite earth's malice ami hell's eternal wrath; ami like the lyptic angel, though it wraps its mantle of cloud around it, calmly looks out upon the world with il w< re the sun encircled with the rainbow. And when all the parchments of earth 42 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. with "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up," the Bible will still remain the same glorious Book of God. For, "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. xxiv. 35. " Firm as a rock thy truth must stand, When rolling years shall cease to move." CHAPTER II. THK IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. "It mu>t I Plato, thou reasonest well : whence tliis pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality ? " Addison. That the soul is immortal is questioned by only who art- lmvlu to unbelief and skep- ticism. For to the religious world the doctrine of the immortality of tin- soul is one of the cardinal doctrines of the Bible. The concern of the people of all ages has not been so much about their pres- their future existence. Kven Job raised the question, "if .1 man die .shall he live again?' 1 Hut the Scriptural grounds for this belief and con- cern have not been so thoroughly apprehended as the antJquit) of the doctrine would indicate. The aviction has rested rather upon a pre- sumption than upon any definite Scriptural con- :; of the subject But strange as it ma] ird u immortality n does not occur in the Old nd but five times in tin- 44 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. New. Its New Testament use is two-fold: First in the sense of a deathless, imperishable (adavaaia) existence, i Cor. xv. 53, 54 : 1 Tim. vi. 16. And second in the sense of incorruption (aBapcia). Rom. ii. 7; 2 Tim. i. 10. And yet notwithstanding the comparative ab- sence of the word in the Scriptures the doctrine of the immortality of the soul has not been conceived in modern thought, nor cradled in so-called " New Theology."'' But it is one of those doctrines of antiquity which has commanded the consideration of the people of every age and nation of the world. Somehow the people have always been concerned about the future. And this general concern has grown out of I. The Nature of the Soul. The Scriptures declare that God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul. Gen. ii. 7. They do not say that he became a living creature, or a living man, but a "tiring soul" God must therefore have imparted some- thing to man which He did not impart to any other portion of His creation. For we have no record anywhere that God imparted anything of His own to any part of the creation, excepting THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 45 man, but simply commanded and it was done. But we do read of man that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lite, and lie became a living son! — endowed with a different nature, and other qn difications than those of any part of creation. Hence the component parts of man — soul and body. The soul must therefore be divine in nature. For Live, i. Thai nothing of a material character can be attributed to Gad. But God said (Gen, i. 26): " Let us make man in our image, after our like- ness." But it is also written (John iv. 24), " God : '\v, to feel and to will." God, who is a spirit, created man in His own image <>r likeness, capable of knowing, feeling or willing. But that which has thus come from tin- hand of God must be imperishable — im- Therefore it is written of the mortality of the bod-., but of the immortality of the soul xii. 7): "The body shall return to the * Lather's Small Cat Gen. Synod Bd. ,p 49, q 147. 46 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." Out of the very nature of the soul therefore comes welling up the idea of immortality. 2. It is said that "they that worship Cod must worship Him in spirit." Common observation has taught us that it is unnatural for any other creature than man to worship. We do not find the dispo- sition to worship in any part of the animal crea- tion. They cannot even be taught to worship. On the other hand, we observe that it is just as natural for the human race — the only creatures with spiritual natures — to worship. Man has uni- versally been disposed to reverence and fear God. In every age and condition of the world he has always manifested a disposition to worship. He has never become so debased in sin that this dis- position has not asserted itself. It cannot be buried so deep beneath the rubbish of this sinful world, but that it comes welling up spontaneously amidst it all. Here an illustration from Beecher is to the point: "These troublesome vines," ex- claims a vintner, "why can they not grow up- right like bushes?" And one man comes to him and says, "it is all because you have tied them to oak stakes. If you will get cedar stakes you will have no difficulty." The cedar stakes are pro- THE IMMORTALITY OF Till-; SOUL. 47 vided, but still the vines creep and cling. Another man says, "Cedar stakes arc- not good; you must have hickory. " He gets the hickory, but the vines clasp also. Another man says, "it is not hickory but chestnut stakes you need;" and so he gets the chestnut stakes, but the vines still con- tinue to creep and cling. At length there comes a man who says, "Your course is wrong from be- ginning to end. If you will throw away all your stakes, and Stop your training, and leave the vines to nature, you will have none of these clambering, wild-roaming, embracing ways.' 1 So the vintner pulls up the -take-, and clears the piles of timber from tin- ground and leaves the vines unsupported. And now do they cease to grow upright, and throw out tendrils and clasping rings? No. It is their nature to cling to something; and if you will not give them hold to climb upward, they will not on that account < - h out, but will Spread all over tin- ground, clasping cold stones, and embrac- ing every worthless stick, and the very grass. Our religious nature, like the vine, must omething to cling to; and one man says, "The Braminical system i ! as the Chris- tian;" another ..-. . "The old Creek mythology is better than either; " another >.i\ B, " Catln ; 48 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. is preferable to the Protestant form of Christi- anity;" and then comes a man who declares that all systems are extraneous and hurtful, and that if we are left to grow up unprejudiced, with the light and laws of nature, such a thing as a religious system would never be known or needed. " First,' ' he says, "the nurse befools the child, and then the mother takes him, and then the priest and the church; and so he is educated in false views from the beginning." But the truth of the matter is this: Religious systems do not create the religious nature in man. The religious nature itself, crav- ing and longing for development, creates both the system and the priests who minister in them. The heart, with its thousand tendrils, reaches forth to God, and in its reaching clasps whatever it may. In short, this disposition to cleave to and worship God can be accounted for only on the ground of man's spiritual — immortal — nature. 3. We observe that only spiritual or divine natures can render spiritual or divine service. If the human soul were not divine in its nature — if man were not in possession of immortality — the Scripture injunction (John iv. 24), "they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit," would be an utter impossibility. But God never has ex- THE I.M.MoKTAI.ITV OK Till'. SOUL. 49 acted impossibilities of man. Therefore man must have the ability to worship a spiritual being to render .spiritual service. Ami hence the spiritual — immortal — nature of the soul. But we note, II. That Intuition is Another Evidence of ///<■ Immortality of the Soul. < me of the strange things of the human race for which infidelity does not pretend to account is the fact that man's hopes and aspirations can not be limited to his present existence. He invariably and almost unconsciously looks through the veil into a future existence. This is true of all ages, past and present, and of all classes of people; of the learned and the illiterate; of the Jews and the Gentiles — the heathen philosophers not excepted. Confucius plainly taught the immortality of the soul. Plato, speaking of the immortality of the soul, very confidently asked, u can the soul which is invisible, and which goes to .mother place, like itself excellent, pore and invisible, into the pres- »£ a good and wise ( iod --can this soul of ours, when separated from the body, be immediately dis- and then with equal con- fidence answers, " Nay y < very tout is immortal." Ami so Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, Pliny, Sei 4 5 light through tin Gospel, 54 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. According to Webster immortality means, " that which cannot die, which is imperishable, having an unlimited existence." From the passage in Genesis we are evidently taught that God breathed of His own divine essence into man. Therefore the soul must be divine, and that which is divine cannot be other than imperishable, immortal. Hence we read (Eccl. xii. 7:) "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." So likewise when Stephen was being stoned he cried (Acts vii. 59): " L,ord Jesus, receive my spirit." His body perished, but his immortal soul returned to God. We are also taught the immortality of the soul in the Scriptures from the continuation of life after man's death. Our Lord said (John xi. 25, 26): "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and be- lieveth in me shall never die.' 1 '' Again He declares (iii. 36): "He that believeth in the Son hath ever- lasting life." Paul (Rom. i. 18) quoting Habak- kuk (ii. 4) says: "The just shall live by faith." Indeed the Bible is full of this kind of promises. In Romans vi. 23 it is written: "The gift of God is eternal life." And what is "eternal life" but im- mortality? According to John iii. 16 Jesus said: THE IMMORTALITY 01 THE SOUL. 55 red the world that He gave His only _n Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And what do the statements, ''should not perish" and "have everlasting life" mean if not immortality! By inspiration the apostle Paul (1 Cor. xv. 53, 54) written: "For this corruptible must put on in- btion % and this mortal must put on immortal- ity. So when this corruption shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on im- mortality, then shall he brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." In this passage we have clearly stated the change that shall tafce place after death. And it is de- a change from corruption to incorrupt /,;,,, — from mortality to immortality. The Scriptures also teach the immortalit) of the : .a their descriptions of death, of the patri- archs we read: "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age." Gen. wdv, 8. Who questions tin- fad that this is a .simple description of the evident change which tak< s place in the ; tin- mortal to the immortal .state ? d: "And Isaae gave „j, ti.. nd died and was gathered unto his j it is written: " And 56 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." And of our Lord it is written (Matt, xxvii. 50): "When He had cried with a loud voice He yielded up the Ghost." Now it will be observed by our readers, 1. That iu each of these passages we have the same word— "Ghost"— separation of which from the body is used to express the state of death. 2. That the words "ghost" (Pneuina, spirit) and "soul" (Psuche) are used interchangeably, meaning and including that which God imparted to man at his creation. "And God "breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul." 3. That in each case the Bible speaks of yield- ing up— returning— to God that which He had breathed into man at his creation. Hence these passages are only the abstract statement of the truth uttered by the Wiseman (Eccl. xii. 7): "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." The in- evitable conclusion, therefore, must be that the immortality of the soul is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures. TIIK IMMORTALITY Ol- THE SOUL. 5/ But let us notice, I V. The Practi* al Results of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. The kingdom of God is one of foretastes and fruitions on the one hand, and of premonitions and warnings on the other. Every important doc- trine of the Bible therefore affords a basis for pres- ent comfort and edification for some, while to others it brings the convictions of guilt and con- demnation. And this is even more true of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul than of some other cardinal doctrines of the Bible. For to this fundamental doctrine of the Bible we must look as the basis, 1. For the doctrine of the future rewards ami punishments. For without a future life or con- scious existence — without immortality — there could he no capacity either to enjoy rewards or to suffer punishments. In short, without immortality, utter annihilation would he the Only alternative. With- out the doctrine of the immortality of the soul the inspiring assurance of David (Psalm xvii. 1 shall be Satisfied when I awake with thy likeness/' wotdd he worse than a wild speculation. ( >r that of St John 1 1 John lii. .; i: "It doth not yet appear 58 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is;" and his sublime description of heaven (Rev. xxi. 10-27) would be an absurd delusion. But for the doctrine of immortality, the Wiseman's declaration (Prov. xiv. 32): "The righteous hath hope in his death'' — and our Lord's promise (John xiv. 2). " In my Father's house are many mansions, * * and * * I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also" — would be base falsehoods. On the other hand, but for the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, the wicked would not fear and tremble at the approach of death, and we should never hear of death-bed repentance; or of sinners crying out: "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved," or with contrite hearts crying: " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." But for this doctrine we should not have heard the wicked Vol- taire, on the very verge of eternity, exclaim: "I look behind me and all is dark ; I look before me and all is dark; soon I shall make a leap into the dark." But for this doctrine we should not have heard of the rich man in "hades" calling to Abra- ham in Paradise to send Lazarus to him to cool his parching tongue (Luke xvi. 24). Nor the two pos- THE IMMORTALITY OF Till- SOUL. 59 sessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceed- ing fierce, and saying: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matt viii. 28, 2(j). Xo, but for the doctrine of the im- mortality of the soul we should have none of these premonitions of the future state of torment. But as a practical result of this great doctrine of God the people of God have a rich experience in this life, cheering and inspiring every part of their being into the more perfect activities of life, while the unsaved are bearing about with them the con- viction of judgment to come. The righteous do have hope in death. They do peer into the future with bright anticipation of the time when they shall realize the fruition of their faith and sacri- In view of this doctrine we can appreciate fully the Psalmist's cheering language (Psalm xxiii. . though I walk, through the valley of the shallow of death, I will fear no evil," and catch new inspiration from John's thrilling de- al Of thi the blessed ill that city md maker is God (Rev. xxl 10-27). And ai they approach the transition from the life in the body to that in glory join in the apostle's if triumph: ,,) death, where i 1 - thy sting? 60 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. O grave, where is thy victory ? * * But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." On the other hand, in view of this doctrine the wicked tremble at the very thought of death and the judgment Men flee from the wrath which is to come, and make their peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It moves men to forsake him who begets falsehood and hatred, and to em- brace Him who fills our very lives with truth and love. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul places a stigma upon sin and uncleanness, and blights the hopes and aspirations of the vile. It puts a premium upon righteousness and a libel upon unrighteousness. As such this fundamental doctrine of the Bible becomes the ruling monitor of the world. It becomes a real reward in glory; of restraint to the lawless in this life and of their just deserts in eternity. In this is served a divine purpose in this great doctrine, seldom, if ever, properly appreciated, if at all apprehended, by the common mind. And hence the doctrine of the immortality of the soul becomes the basis 2. Of our civil and religious liberty. The great fundamental principles of all law in this life are vested in this doctrine. Without these principles THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 6l in law even - thought of submission and of obedi- ence would vanish as the dew of the morning But the principles of this doctrine in the very law of our being beget our intuitive convictions of right and wrung. And by these men are moved to submission and obedience. And both the moral and civil law find in these principles the basis of their operation. As a practical result of the doc- trine of immortality men are intuitively moved to respect both the law of (rod and man, submit to and obey them. Hence under the preaching of the Gospel some are moved to a holy life, their very being becomes radiant with cheer, their lives Bweetened by the love and grace of ('.ml, and their future blight with the hope of His glory. Others by the same intuitive- impulses are restrained from sin and lav by the threat of condemnation and consequent woe and misery. Why? Cer- tainly not for what their is in this life, either of hope or of condemnation. For if in this life only ve hope all would unite in fulfilling the prophecy of I aiah (xxii. 13): "Let as eat ami drink; for to-morrow we shall die." But all are actuated by the fundamental principles of the doc- trine of immortality. It is the thought of the future whii h begi ts these profound convictions of 62 AROUND THE HOME TABT.E. right and wrong, and such a profound respect for both the moral and civil law. It is because both of these, together with our intuitive convictions, assert that, " It is not all of life to live, Nor all of death to die ! " that the principles of civil and religious liberty find a response in the human heart. Or, as another has put it, "because all the laws of this life are but the indices of the future administration of justice, men respect and obey them." The thought of immortality begets in the hearts of men every principle of true patriotism, and there- fore loyalty to their country's laws, and reverence for their fathers' God, both for the joy and the honor there is in such a life on earth and for the hope of the fruition of such a life to come. The thought of immortality is to the law of our body politic what the backbone is to the human body. The hope of infinite felicity as a future reward for the life of faith and obedience, gives stability of character to the good, while the thought of judg- ment to come forces restraint and submission on the part of the bad. To all comes the thought with greater or less frequency, so vividly ex- pressed by Charles Wesley, THF IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 63 " And most I be to judgment brought, And answer iu that day For every vain and idle thought, And every word 1 Yes, every secret of my he.trt Shall shortly be made known, And I receive my just desert all that I have done." Or the intuitive conviction, as by inspiration Rev. x.\. i2>, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, ac- cording to their works.* 1 The doctrine of immor- talit> res these truths their great power in both the civil and the moral law. 3. The doctrine of immortality becomes the Christian's mighty fortress. For so it is written xviii. lO), "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is This truth gives inspiration not alone to this life, but qu ■ irations for that which is It gXVCfl DUOyanCJ amid the trials and : this life, and brilliancy to the hope of the future. "Tlu- righteous hath hope in his 64 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. death," as a promise, has given strength to "many weak and sickly " in their struggles for victory over sin, and given new powers of faith to many doubting ones. The doctrine of immortality is the firm anchorage of every Christian's hope. It is the one star which shines brightest in his soul — the star which "shines more and more unto the per- fect day." "Immortality! As a doctrine it in- spires courage in every Christian's breast, and has made heroes of cowards, and cowards of heroes." Luther on his way to Worms, when dissuaded by his friends, said: "I will go to Worms, though there be as many devils there as there are tiles on the houses' roofs." But the great Voltaire quaked as he contemplated his doom. Paul sang his hymn of triumph at a martyr's block, while devils trem- bled in the presence of their Lord. Immortality ! The assurance of it is the motive power which is pushing the train of gospel truth into every land and clime, and giving efficacy to the teaching and preaching of it among all classes and conditions of men. The assurance of it is moving men to speak the language of heaven in every populated land and on the isles of the sea. The assurance of it is the dawn in the way of salvation to all people and has made possible the advanced religious state so beautifully described by our sainted Dr. Sprecher: " We live amid the blessed results of Christianity. The leaven, SO little when first inserted, is rapidly fermenting, and will soon leaven the entire mass of humanity. The mustard seed, so small, has sprung into a great tree, affording leaves for the healing of the nations, and extending its branches for a -heller to the weak and helpless, and afford- '.ing shade for the rest of those who 'labour and are heavy laden.' The kingdom first promised to the little flock has extended its bound- aries far and wide, exerting its benign influences over the civilized and the barbarous, the learned and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, the high and the low; blessing the king upon his throne and the peasant in his cottage; purifying the centers of civilization, and pursuing men with its conservative and elevating power to the utmost verge of human Many centuries have passed since this kingdom was promised by the Great King to the 'little flock. 1 Meantime earthly thrones have been and overturned, kingdoms have been estab- lished and destroyed, nations have risen and fallen, and Others now exist, in turn to be swallowed up by the billows.,!" time; but triumphant and high above the Storm and the waves has stood this 66 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. heavenly kingdom, ever growing in power and glory; and thus it will stand until 'great voices shall be heard from heaven,' proclaiming that 'the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.'" Aye! And the doctrine of the immortality of the soul has made it all possible. Immortality! The assurance of it is turning the eyes of the world upon Him who u hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." And notwithstanding the fact that the infidel host is scoffing at the Gos- pel of peace and reconciliation, the assurance of immortality is speeding the time when "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." And when the Christian world can join Paul most heartily in his testimony of triumjm, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: And not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) Thank God for this cardinal doctrine of the Bible — that of the immortality of the soul. CHAPTER III. JUSTIFICATION. In the consideration of this subject it will be for tlie reader to keep in mind the following •f Scripture : 14 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts xiii. 39. " !:• ing justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth t<> be a propitiation through faith in his . to declare his righteousness for the remission of BUS that are past, through the forbearance of Cod; to declare, I say, at this time his righteous- that he might be just, and tile jlistitier of llilll which believeth in Jesus." Rom. iii. 24-26. ■' Now. it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed t<> him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jt mis our Lord from the d(.\u\\ who and was raised 1 for our justification." Rom. iv. 33-25. 68 AROUND THE HOME TABLET. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Rum. v. i, 9. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid." Gal. ii. 16, 17. A clear and accurate acquaintance with the fun- damental principles of true religion is of paramount importance to every Christian. The chief doctrines in the plan of salvation cannot be too carefully studied or too well understood. In regard to the doctrine of justification much error now exists, partly because of the fact that the subject, as such, has not received proper attention on the part of the ministry, and of Christian teachers: and in part because of the present tendency of the popular mind. Of the former we need not speak. Con- cerning the latter we take the liberty to quote from JUSTIFICATION. 69 Rev. S. A. Ort, D. I). He says, * "A mark of high 111 on our part will be to recognize the pre- dominant facts of the age in which we exist. We are living in the closing years of the nineteenth century — a century of busiest activity, of un- equaled enterprise, of unparalleled progress, of won- derful achievements; a century which has phases of thought, scientific, philosophical and theolog- ical, and tendencies of movement peculiar to itself. ' Mm are pushing their investigations into every field of knowledge. * * * They are seek- ing m nature and in the powers of the human mind the .substantial good, the eternal portion of oul. With all this, a restless, dissatisfied spirit everywhere prevails < >n the one hand the not content with the teachings of skep- They do not find in the practice of these tion which they crave. Neither on the other hand do they get in the doctrinal proposi- tions or formal statements of divine truth, that rest il and deep assurance of union with God, winch are the special promise of the Gospel. In rg Theologi( il Semin iry, Springfield) Ohio Prom bUop the Genera] Synod r.f the i Luthei in Churcfa in Unit< JO AROUND THE HOME TABLE. its living the age is largely sensuous. The earth- born spirit excites its energy, governs its conduct and directs its activity. * * * Religion, with its eternal concerns, is deemed an idle fancy, or superstition, or senseless something, which, when dressed in sensuous garb, may serve to entertain and give a momentary pleasure. True, the age talks much in one way and another about moral principle and spiritual truth. It familiarly uses such words as sin, and righteousness, and gospel, and even salvation; but these are merely words of formal speech, repeated parrot-like, with no deep sense of the realities they express. I do not mean to say that our time is worse than any period of the human past. By no means. This would be an inconsiderate remark. But I do mean to say that in our day, on this Western Continent, mate- rialism, with all its sequences, wields a moulding power over the life of the people, over their thoughts, over their beliefs, and over the course of their movement. And in addition, I mean to say, that rationalism is beginning to show a domi- nating influence in many quarters, and is gradu- allv moving forward to a more extensive sway over the religious views and faith of the multitudes. "In consequence of these existing facts, two ten- JUSTIFICATION. 7 1 dencies are clearly discernable in the Evangelical Church. < )ne is the endeavor to substitute the form of the Christian life for the life itself, or the expression of Christian sentiment for the truth in that sentiment Emphasis is place! on the phe- nomenal, and hence a phase of religious phenome- nted as tin best attraction to an out- ■ >r/d to frequent the house of prayer^ and to to tlu Id it is exhibited as th<- most accept- Almighty Goa\ and of being fly Christian. This is form a I ism. * * * "The other tendency is to substitute human in- vention f<»r the power of Divine Truth. The the- ory is, that the preaching of the gospel must be adapted to the sensuous taste of the day, instead of directed to the conscience of the people. • for show, greedy for entertain- ment, fond of physical excitement, and intensely delighted by the extravagant The preaching, a d the church and make the r, is any thing that in word, or niani' Ui, under the semblance of gospel truth, will tion. This is commonly ■ lonalism. '•And now in the face of these tendencies, with 1 ruling tl the masses and J 2 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. rationalism beginning to reveal its presence in growing strength, what needs to be done ? In order to maintain the truth of the gospel in our time, to win the fight of a true Christianity and be indeed a glorious power for Christ, what on our part is necessary ? I answer : A clear, deep, prac- tical apprehension of the fundamental nature of the evangelical principle : ' The just shall live by faithS This is the vital principle of the gospel. It is not a mere doctrine, that which by reflection is worked out in thinking, and given definite limit and logical form, but it is a fact revealed in Chris- tian consciousness, and is primarily a reality known in experience." Hence the importance of this chapter. And while it is not our purpose to enter into a theolog- ical discussion of this important subject, we would present it in such biblical light as to bring the truth clearly before the reader, inspire a greater desire for a well-grounded religious life, and a simple but unswerving faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And one thing about which many people err, in practice at least, if not in theory, we would empha- size at the very outset, viz.: the impossibility of justification from any human source or standpoint. JUSTIFICATION. 73 For it is written (P& exxx. 31, "It" thou. Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, U Lord, who shall stand?" And again (cxliii. 2), " Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living l>e justified." Let us not be de- ceived, therefore. Justification must come through some other than a human source. And hence it may be well tor us first of all to consider briefly The Nature oj Justification. The term justification is a legal one, and means Ive from guilt It calls to mind a prisoner at the bar. He has broken the law of the land, and has been arraigned for trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death. He is a VOUUg man. His Gather stc]>s forward and offers to die in his stead. The court accepts the transfer, and the prisoner is law that had said he must die can- no- harm him now. For by means of the substi- tution he has been taken out of its -r.i^j>. This is, in a measure, an illustration of justification. By • sinful nature all men are prisoners at Cod's bar of justice, and under the sentence of eternal Por the law had said, " the soul th.it sin- neth it shall di< xviii. i, 2". Hut Christ, ; by infinite love. Condescends to take man's 74 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. place, and the court of heaven accepts the transfer. The sufferings and death of Christ are declared to be an equivalent for the death of the whole world. Hence, by means of this substitution, not one only, but all, who by faith accept the offers of Christ, are released from the penalties of the law so far as pertains to their sins past. They are therefore declared guiltless, and stand justified before the law, and before God, the executor of that law. But onr illustration comes short in this: The father may take the place of his son, endure his allotted punishment, but he could not thereby cleanse his son's heart from guilt. The son, having actually committed a crime, has stained his soul with guilt, as well as his name and character. The father might release him from the court, and the prison, and the scaffold, but as the son went out into the world again he would go as a guilt}' man still. Before he could be perfectly free or pure, the crimson stains of sin must be washed from his heart, as well as from his public name and record. This no earthly power could do. But when, by means of the other substitution, sinners are justi- fied and pardoned before God, by faith in Christ, they are not only released from the penalty of the law — not only declared guiltless, and go released JUSTIFICATION. 75 from eternal death — but are at the same time pure in heart They are cleared outwardly, and cleansed inwardly ; they are justified legally, and actually become holy. Jesus Christ, our sub- stitute, not only satisfies the law of God, but by toning blood and the work of grace, also changes the heart and life of all who accept of him. is a marked difference therefore between the illustration used, and the thought illustrated. Justification may therefore be defined as an act race, whereby he pardons the sin- ner, receives him into his favor, and accepts him hteous ah.ue for the sake of Jesus Christ. And as SUCh it includes at least three things : i. Pardon of sin. The law being now satisfied ir guilt, "we have peace with God through <>ur Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. [.) Therefore La. Iv. 7 "let the wicked forsake his and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and lie will have upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." punishment The law having to the guilt of sin, then can be DO I anishment 1 U n< e it is written (Rom. viii. i), "There is therefore now do con- y6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." And therefore we have 3. A title to eternal blessediiess. ' ' 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." John iii. 16. Or as Paul has it (Rom. v. 2), "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." The Ground of Justification. Here God's word is very clear. Paul, in pre- senting this subject to the people at Antioch, de- clared (Acts xiii. 38, 39), " Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him " (that is, by Jesus Christ) " all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." The reader will readily discover in this passage a negative and a positive statement : Through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness of sins and justification, but they could not be obtained through the law of Moses. 1. Because it demanded perfect obedience, which was a sheer impossibility for man. For it is writ- JUSTIFICATION. 77 ten (James ii. io), ,4 Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." Here perfect obedience in every point is demanded. This do man could render. 2. Becausi it acknowledges no repentance. For example, a criminal under the civil law is held for justice. Though he repent in sackcloth and ashes day and night, he cannot be released until the law een satisfied by the infliction of its penalty. Hence we read (Gal iii. io, n), "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the enrse; for it IS written. Cursed is every one that continneth not in all things which are written in the book of the law tO do them. But that HO man u justified by tht- lau in the sight o/God^ it is evident; for the just shall live by faith." And then we could not be justified In the law, threatenings <>/ punishment could i. Tin- law must be satisfied. In this respect the law of Moses was even more un- than that of the Mcdes and Persians. Neither was this an arbitrary matter, but was ne- tted by the veracity and moral character of the great Lawgiver. Therefore it is written (Gal. iii. II): u Bu1 that no man is justified l>v the law in ■:. It is evident." 1 1< HOC the I 78 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. sity of a Saviour in whom to ground our only hope for justification. And therefore Paul's declaration, "and by him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts xiii. 39. For where the law de- manded perfect obedience our Lord rendered it. For he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb. iv. 15. And where the threat- enings of the law could not be repealed without a perfect atonement, he rendered it. " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un- just, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit." 1 Pet. iii. 18. He therefore gave perfect satisfac- tion to all the demands of the law, and as such gave rise to three causes as the ground of justifica- tion, all centering in himself: 1. The efficient cause — the grace of God. Justi- fication on the part of God is an act of pure grace. "For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Eph. ii. 8-10. And again: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." Rom. iii. 24. The grace of God therefore is the efficient cause of our justi- fication. And then we have Jl'STIFICATI- ~ y 2. The meritorious cause— the blood of Christ. "Whom God bath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." Rom. iii. 25, Thus Paul, of whom it is said that he received his the- ology at the feet of Gamaliel, and his spiritual light ami strength at the feet of Jesus, would em- ize this important truth. The blood of beasts had been shed, but all without any intrinsic merit. It was only the .symbol of that which did have merit. lint now the time has come when we no longer have the symbol, but when with the be- John 1 John i. 71 we can truly say, "and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Heme from persona] experience conies the testimony — ■ ' On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience pi ;.■ the stain. - the heavenly Lamb, Takes at': A sarrifi. ■ .,i nobler nai And richer 1>1..<«1 than they." ed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So AROUND THE HOME TABLE. " There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immauuel's veins ; And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains." 3. The instrumental cause — faith. Of Abraham it is said (Gen. xv. 6): "And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." Again it is written (Rom. v. 1): "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And (iii. 28): "There- fore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." With the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as the efficient, and his blood as the meritorious cause, we have in each of these passages faith as the in- strumental cause. It is the instrument by which we embrace and appropriate Christ unto justifica- tion. "It is the eye through which we look to Jesus. It may be all bleared and dim-sighted, but it is an eye — an instrument of sight still. It is the foot on which we go to Jesus. It may be a lame foot, but even then an instrument of motion — it is a foot still. It is the tongue by which we taste of the water of life, and testify to the goodness and love of Christ, and to the riches of his grace. It may be all feverish and parched from a sin-sick JUSTIFICATION. 8 1 soul, but it is the instrument of taste and testi- mony — it is a tongue still." But notwithstanding these thoughts methinks I hear one of my readers persistently asking, But what is this faith? The author of the Epistle to the Hebrew lefines it thus : l< Now faith is the substance of things lioped for, the evidence of things not seen.* 1 And then adds (verse 6): " Hut without faith it is impossible to please him ; for he that conieth to God must believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him." We are impressed herewith the fact that there is nothing distinctively Christian— no intrinsic worth — in a mere intellectual recognition of the existeno We must not simply believe that the : :, but that " he is the re- : of them that diligently seek him." Hence tiie tWO Classes of faith — the historical and the justifying or saving faith. Tin- one has simply allowed reason and conscience t<> work naturally and normally, and he believes there is a God be- corrupt heart and desires have not been able to crush out and extinguish tin- mere mental llition. In this kind ot faith there ran be no merit. Neither cm there be any merit in a general belief in the historical existence of Jesus Christ. 6 82 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. No man whose mind is open to evidence of any kind can help believing that there lived in Pales- tine, over 1900 years ago, a most wonderful person and teacher whose recognized name was Jesus. To believe this is no more praiseworthy or meritorious than to believe in the historical existence of Caesar, Socrates, or Hannibal. Nay, devils, in the time of our Lord, did even more than this: "They be- lieved and trembled." And yet, many suppose that if they accept intellectually the mere facts of Christ's life and suffering and death, that they have exercised a justifying or saving faith. But not so. Aside from and in conjunction with the mental apprehension — the assent or nod of the mind in the exercise of justifying faith — there must be that spiritual operation of the heart which not only conceives of but also lays hold upon and appropriates the efficacious blood of Christ. Hence we read (Rom. x. 10): "With the heart man be- lieveth unto righteousness." It was this kind of faith Paul had in mind as he so triumphantly de- clared : " Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." But without prolonging this line of thought, an illustration may better serve our purpose. Yonder is a traveler at the bank of a wide and perilous JUSTIFICATION. 83 stream. He is seeking treasures on the other side, and feels that the stream must be crossed. The mist of darkness obscures the opposite shore from view. As lie stands he would fain gaze through the blackness of darkness, but he can scarcely see beyond the b"iind of feeling by touch. The sky is threatening, and the roar of great waters strfkes terror to his heart. But in his strain to peer far- ther out into the darkness his eyes catch a glimpse Of 8 man with a small boat, only large enough in fact for two, the traveler and the pilot. The trav- eler begins to question the pilot: "Canyon take the river safely?" "lean." " Do you warrant the passage?" " I do." " I low long have you been here?" "A long time" ( John i 1 ; Ps. xe. 2). "Have you carried many across?" "Yes, there is a great city with an innumerable multitude : the other shore, all of whom have i this way." "I- there no other way across this stream?" "No, sir (Acts iv. 12). Just yon- tnnant of an old bridge, whose foundation is of the Bto< k of Abraham, and its covering of mor- ality; and it promises well at the start, bnt it does the opposite shore. Nay, it vanishes the depths of the Current And although thousands upon thousands have tried it, not one 84 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. among them all has ever reached the other shore. Many of them pass by this way every day, and in- quire for the bridge ; and, notwithstanding my warning, they pass on; but the bridge being old and rotten and full of pitfalls, the lifeless corpses of these travelers come floating past this way every day." "But, what is your price for crossing?" "Nothing at all, sir. The government on the other side furnishes the passage free to all who de- sire it." (John iii. 16; Isa lv. 1-3). u But is not your boat small, sir?" "Yes, and purposely so. It was only made for a personal ride — one at a time in company with myself. The way across the stream is straight and narrow (Matt. vii. 14), and those who go with me must leave behind them all their goods and companions for the time being, and commit themselves, soul and body, with all their in- terests, for time and eternity, entirely unto me. They must submit to my bidding while crossing. In short, in this passage, they must commit every- thing to me." "Must I lose all my goods and com- panions forever?" "Ah! your goods you will not need, and your companions can follow, one by one, if they will. And, now, have you faith in what I say? If so, step in." The traveler hesitates, casts a look forward, then backward, and on either side, JUSTIFICATION. 85 and then slowly and meditatively repeats to him- self: " I'll go to Jesus, though 111 y rill Hath like a mountain -. I kuow his courts — I'll enter in, Whatever may oppose. •rate 111 lie before his throne, Aii'l there my guilt confess, I'll tell him I'm a wretch undone, Without his -ov'reign grace. " Perhaps lie will admit my plea, Perhaps will hear my prayer ; But if I perish, I will pray Ami perish only there. " T can hut perish if I go, I am TtSOlx ! 1 -.' I ttay away, I it / must forever die." And so, with fear and trembling he steps down into the boat, < ommits himself entirely to his pilot, and is lauded safely Oil the Other shore. Mow this pilot is Christ, the stream is the River of IJfe, the city is the New Jerusalem, and committing our- wholl) to tin- i l( ,.it > omprehends at [east two import. mt m justifying faith, viz. : the mental apprehensions of the way, and the confident 86 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. reliance on the ability of the pilot to do his part. And with one part more, viz.: That spiritual ope- ration of the heart which appropriates the saving merits of Christ to the sin-sick soul, and we would have in the above a complete illustration of justify- ing or saving faith. But justifying faith embraces the self-surrender, the confident reliance and the believing heart. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." " Lord, give us such a faith as this; And then, whate'er may come, We'll taste e'en here the hallowed bliss Of an eternal home." CHAPTER IV. THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT. There is something inspiring in the thought 1 rod has condescended to establish a covenant of love and mercy — a bond of union between him- self anur Lord and his Apostles, will at once le that baptism has taken the place of cir- cumcision, and is therefore the Dew-dispensation token ofG ovenant with his people. But in the formei dispensation God gave his lirectionas to the manner of apply- ing and administering the tok< n of the covenant Hut in tin dispensation n<> such specific direct n. And no doubt wisely s,>. In th of "//;'///" and "faiihj* and this would seem entirel) unn Not- 9 my beloved Son, in whom I am well pll The reader will notice in this record, that b John at first modestly declined to baptize rsisted in being baptized of him, on the ground that "thus it becometh ns to fulfill all rij^: • Then John Buffered it WSJ not baptized then : - 96 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. order to introduce a new ordinance — far from that — but in order to conform to the law. For to ful- fill all righteousness is to fulfill the law. This was his purpose in coming, as he himself declares (Matt. v. 17, 18): "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Hence, as stated, he came to fulfill all righteousness. According to Webster, righteousness means " conformity of life to divine law. 11 Hence Jesus came and was baptized in conformity to the divine law — not simply to fulfill all righteousness — not simply the law, but every jot and tittle — every part of the divine law. Let us therefore observe carefully every step necessary to fulfill the law — "all righteousness." Jesus came to assume the functions of a High Priest. By reference to the fourth chapter of Numbers it will be found that the law requires "that from thirty years and upwards until fifty years old," priests were to officiate in the taber- nacle. In the gospel by St. Luke (iii. 23) we read : lk And Jesus himself began to be about thirty THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT. 97 years of age," that is, at his baptism. Hence the fir-t point of the law respecting his priesthood is fulfilled. He was of lawful age. But having awaited a lawful age, the law also required conse- cration. The elements used in consecration were and oil. As already observed, the manner of applying the water under the law in the conse- cration service was by sprinkling. ,( Sprinkle purifying upon them" (Numb. viii. 6, 7 . A person divinely chosen was to apply the water by sprinkling it upon them. Now what more natural than that John, chosen of God to be the forerunner of Christ, in perfect harmony with the Jewish economy and in conformity to the law :, should "sprinkle clean water of purifica- tion' 1 Upon JeSUS as he stood or kneeled at or in the water's brink? This was the demand of the law. Chri>t had fulfilled the law ill every other point SO far as he had -one: why not in this? He came to fulfill the law in every jot and tittle, and must have fulfilled it in this. But this was not all- We n-,i<\ in E&xodus (xxix. 7): "Then shalt thou take the anointing oil and pour it upon md anoint him." So Jesus, our High . in fulfillment of the law, must also be anointed. Hen< John had baptized him, 7 98 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. as he left the water, "he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him;" or, as Peter has it, " how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Act- x. 38.) Thus far Jesus had fulfilled "all right- eousness " — "every jot and tittle of the law." The law said, " Sprinkle clean water upon them." Our Lord's baptism could not therefore have been im- mersion, as that would have been contrary to the law. But some one will say, " They went down into the water," and " they came up out of the water." Yes. But has any one ever read that they went under the water? Whoever read that in God' 1 s word? But let us now look at the baptism of the eunuch (Acts viii. 26-38), "And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusa- lem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went : and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treas- ure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT. 99 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the Prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said. How can I, ex- cept some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. * * * * Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he com- manded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and be baptized him." :n this narrative we learn that the eunuch man of authority. He was do doubt a de- vout Jew, who had come t<> Jerusalem t<> worship at one of the great annual leasts. At all events we find him now on llifl return to Ethiopia, and in h of the truth. Philip, according to divine direction, went to him, and on invitation 1 unucfa began t<> explain to him the . he had been reading. Jusl in the •n, the eunuch interrupts •ICO AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Philip by, "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized ? And Philip said, if thou be- lievest with all thy heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus is the Sou of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down into the water, and he baptized him." Let us observe now carefully — i. The subject matter of this prophecy. What was the eunuch reading about? He had just been reading the 52d and 53d chapters of Isaiah, the pre- dictions concerning the Messiah, where he found, " So shall he sprinkle many nations," etc. * * * * "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter," etc. * * * "Of whom," enquires the eunuch, "speak- eth the prophet this? of himself or another? And Philip began at the same Scripture and preached unto him Jesus." Let us observe also — 2. The place where the eunuch was baptized, "which 7i f as desert" No river or creek there. The water at which it was done is described by Eusebius, Jerome, Reland, and even Mr. Lamson (Baptist), from personal observation of the place, as a fountain boiling up at the foot of a hill and absorbed again by the sandy soil from which it springs. Not much chance there to immerse any one. Observe — THE TOKEN OS Till-. CdVKXANT. IOI 3. The religious training and custom of both parties concerned in this baptism. The eunuch . Jew and accustomed to the Jewish forms and modes of purifying. Philip was not raised or even accustomed to immersion, but, on the other hand, was well acquainted with all the Jewish modes of ecration. Now, in view of the fact that Philip explained the prophecy to the eunuch — no doubt showing to him the full signification of the "sprinkling of many nations," showing the moral cleansing which baptism always represents, and in connec- tion with it the suffering and death of Christ — and place being desert," at best but a number of small springs <>r pools, both parties bein^ thor- oughly accustomed t<> Jewish modes of consecra- fall these facts, what is the natural concli: to the way in which Philip applied iter to the eunuch ? is it reasonable to sup- pose that Philip would bury the eunuch in the contrary to the law, contrary to Jewish cus- tom, contrary and foreign t<> all religious forms with which either of them were acquainted, con- trary to the prophecy they bad just been studying? Is it reasonable to suppose that Philip would in- ■ sin h an innovation? Is it not more rea* 102 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. sonable, on the other hand, to suppose that both having gone down to the little springs, Philip sprinkled "the water of purifying" upon the eunuch's head, as he stood or kneeled at or in the water? Most certainly this conclusion is not only the most natural, but in harmony with all the cir- cumstances, as well as with "all law" and "all righteousness," which Jesus and his disciples came to fulfill. There is an impression abroad that this passage presents a positive case of immersion. But a candid and unbiased consideration of it presents it in a very different light. But in this, as in the case of Christ's baptism, we do not read that they went under the water. In fact, according to the united testimony of the best historians, they could not, even if they had felt inclined to have gone under the water. It was not deep enough. While it is said, "there was much water there," it was one of those desert or swampy places where the water came bubbling up out of the ground in num- berless little springs — "much water there" — and yet one writer says, "you could not have buried a man there in water in any one place by laying his body flat on the ground." There was a continuous bubbling up of water and sinking away again into the soil around. THE TOKEN uH THE COVENANT. IO3 Let us consider aext the case of Paul's baptism. he immersed? We find the record of his sm in Acts ix. 10-18: "And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And id, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise and _^o into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayetlr. ' * * And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said: Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earn- est, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sioht, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had . and he received sij^ht forthwith, and baptized. And when he had u ': meat he was strengthened." nias found Paul, as directed, in the house of And the whole scene is presented as bav- in his house. As Ananias entered the house he said: "Brother Saul, tlu- Lord hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy Bight, and ed with th( H y ( rhost And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and 104 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. he received sight forthwith and arose and was bap- tized, and when he had received meat he was strengthened." Observe here, Paul "arose" — "stood up, and was baptized." The Syriac trans- lator uses the word "amad" for baptized, which primarily signifies to stand, "because," says Schindler, "those who were baptized stood." According to the narrative Paul received sight, was baptized, and took meat — all in the house of Judas. There is no record of their leaving the house, much less of their going to a river or stream without the city. But, says one, "They may have had a pool for that purpose about or under the house." What a mania for pool-digging must have possessed the people of Paul's time, that they should even undermine their houses with pools! Narrow-minded bigotry can imagine some very vain things. How then must Paul have been bap- tized? Most certainly not by immersion. With him the "'token of the covenant" could not so easily, without some divine authority, change in its mode of administration. Besides this clear case of sprinkling, or pouring, we have also those of the jailer and his family (Acts xvi. 33), Lydia and her household (Acts xvi. 15), Cornelius and family (Acts x. 48) — all equally THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT. IO5 as clear and decisive as to the Scripture mode of applying the new dispensation token of the cove- nant as that of Paul. But we now call the reader's attention: 3. To the use of tin terms in the ordinance of baptism. We do not intend to quibble now about the "specific" and "secondary" meanings of 'bapto" and "baptizo." Too much of that has been done already. But we desire to call atten- tion to the use of these words as they occur in different passages of Scripture. The application of the Holy Ghost is spoken of as b.ipti>m. It is called the baptism of the Holy Ghost Now the same Greek word (baptizo) is used to express both the application of the Holy (.host and of water. Let us examine a few pas- sages of Scripture and see if this is not true. And, if true, what bearing will it have on this subject? In Matt. (iii. 11J we read: "I indeed baptize ("baptizo") you with water unto repentance, but he th.it cometh after mc is mightier than I, r hall baptize ('baptisti') you with the Holy (".host and with fire." In Arts (i. 5) it is written: John truly baptized (* ebaptisen *) with but ye shall be baptized ('baptisthesesthen') with tin- Holv Ghost not main days hence. Io6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. In each of these passages the same Greek word is used to express the baptism of water and of the Holy Ghost. Hence if " baptizo " means to im- merse, and nothing else, and if John immersed those whom he baptized, then those who were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire must also have been immersed into the Holy Ghost and into the fire. The same word is used in both cases; and if nothing but immersion is baptism, then the day of Pentecost must have been a day of immersion into the Holy Ghost and fire. Who would be so rude and irreverent as to speak of being plunged into the Holy Ghost and the fire from heaven ? Such an idea is simply preposterous. Moreover, in these passages two baptisms are spoken of: "I baptize you with water," is one; "he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," is the other. The question now arises, Was there any difference in the mode? But there could have been no difference, for the reason that the same Greek work is used in both cases. If there was no difference in the mode, which was the real baptism ? We would naturally and properly conclude the one which "He" — Christ — shall ad- minister. If this be true, then which baptism shall determine the mode? Most certainly the THE TOKEN OS nih COVENANT. 107 Teal baptism. That which is emblematical — indi- cating that which is done within — must certainly its mode from the real. Therefore, it" we de- termine the mode of baptism from the real — the Holy Ghost — baptism, we cannot adopt immersion as the Scriptural mode 0) baptism. For the mode of this — Holy Ghost — baptism IS indicated by the "sprinkling" and " pouring." The prophet Isaiah says dii. 151: "He shall sprinkle many is." And " This is that which was spoken by Joel the prophet (ii. 28), And it shall come to pass afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit upon all Therefore the scriptural mode of applying the New Testament token of the covenant must be that of sprinkling <>r pouring. Upon careful examination into the use of these terms in the ordinani e of baptism it will be found : That ''baptizo" is used in passages where it cannot mean immerse^ but must mean something else That "baptizo" is used interchangeably for Ghost baptism, and hence cannot mean immerse only. Thai l * baptizo" is used synonymously with terms which am not and do not mean immerse at all. IOS AROUND THE HOME TABLE. (4) That the mode of the real — the divine — baptism is indicated in the use of the terms "sprinkle " and "pour" In view of all these facts respecting the use of terms in the ordinance of baptism, we conclude, in the language of another: "It may be seriously questioned whether the Bible gives any counte- nance to immersion as a mode of baptism at all." 4. Let us consider some figurative passages of Scripture which are claimed to refer to the mode of baptism. Our immersion friends are very ready to resort to such passages as Rom. vi. 3-6: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection : knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." The first thing to be determined about this pass- age is the subject under consideration. What was THE TOKEN* OF THE COVENANT. 109 the subject of Paul's discourse? It was '"salvation by grace." In the previous chapter he discussed man's depravity, his reconciliation to God through Christ by faith, ami his ability to triumph over sin by grace. " Where sin abounded, grace did much mure abound" I v. 20). But for fear some might abuse the doctrine of grace by taking license from outinue in sin, he opens the sixth chapter by the inquiry: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that -race may abound? And then answers most positively, "God forbid! How- shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" What now is the subject of discourse? We repeat, " salvation by grace" — the reigu of U3 the heart. What then has this passage to do with the external ordinance of baptism? But for the figurative reference the reader would not have known that the apostle had the ordinance of baptism in mind at all. But in order t<> simplify ami s C -t the import of this passage clearly before the reader's mind, we will .submit a few inquiries, and endeavor t" get answers for them from the • ive, ( 1 ) Wh.it i- Baid in thi • to be cru< ified ? and what was the character of the death SDOkl What does tin- apostle s tl \ } Y. 6: M Knowing thi.s, IIO AROUND THE HOME TABLE. that our old man is crucified with him (Christ) that the body of sin might be destroyed" What is it that is dead? "Our old man, the body of sin." But for fear that some may yet doubt this answer, we will cite the reader to another declaration of Paul (Gal. v. 24), "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." What now is it that dies, that is crucified ? It can- not be the natural body, for Paul was yet alive in the body, and was writing to men having their live bodies. It was not the soul, for the soul was un- dergoing an experience that brought life, not death. What then was it? Plainly "our old man," "the body of sin," our depraved natures. This being true, the second part of our inquiry is easily answered. The death was spiritual in character. (2) What is the nature of the burial ? The an- swer to this is found in the nature of the death. It is customary to bury that which dies. It was not the literal, physical body that died. Therefore it could not be the physical body that was buried. Moreover, we are in the habit, in a general way, of grouping like with like in the natural as well as the religious life. For example, the body dies and we bury it in the earth, because " then shall the THE TOKEN OP THE COVENANT. HI dust return to the earth as it \va>." (Bed. xii. . . the passage above quoted the death spoken spiritual ; therefore the burial must be spirit- ual also. "We are buried with him (Christ) into death." But into what death? Christ's death? What !— buried m Christ's death ! Certainly ! Christ died for sin. The merits of Christ's death me the sepulchre for "our old man," "the bod) of sin." The "old" (natural) man has been crucified. Here we have a spiritual, but real death. In Christ's death we have a spiritual, but real sepulchre for the sins of the flesh. Therefore ve a natural correspondence in each of the successive steps — the death, the burial, and the ■ >f burial. What is tin- nature of the baptism spoken of in this In out conversion to God, there are three stepsor Derations. Pint, we cannot find accept- ance with God in our sins. "The body of sin " must tir-t be destroyed. Therefore the necessity of repentance and faith. Second, on the exercise of and faith — the crucifixion <>f " the old Ufl a sepulchre for our a the merits ><( hi- death. 1 1< n< e, ■: sins, T ne, the 112 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Holy Ghost performs his work of sanctification, which the Scriptures call the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is the nature of the baptism in this passage. " Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death." "Indeed," says one, "any other construction than this would do violence to the meaning of this passage, and rob it of its very life, and of all its beauty and consolation." In the language of the venerable Dr. J. A. Seiss (Baptist System Exam- ined, page 243, etc.), "In these words we have a sublime description of the wonderful efficacy of the gospel upon the inner being of believers, and of a condition of things resulting from their oneness with Christ, which amounts to an actual reproduc- tion of his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrec- tion in the experiences of their hearts. But, sub- lime and spiritual as these Scriptures are, the attempt has been made to harness them down as the mere dray-horses to drag out of the mire a hopeless sectarian cause. * * * According to our estimate of the type of Paul's mind and of the con- nection and import of these passages, they are the words of a man of God laboring to express some of the profoundest mysteries of the transforming power of the Saviours grace. The baptism of THB TOKEN OB Tin-: COVENANT. 113 which he speaks is neither the baptism of immer- sion, DOT affusion, nor of any other mode of per- forming an external rite, but in the inner and miraculous purification of man's whole moral na- ture by incorporation with Jesus Christ. The cru- cifixion, death, burial and resurrection to which he 5, so far from being mere images of immer- sion and emersion, are literal terms, denoting reali- ties, and pointing not to a figurative but an •actual death of every believer to his sins and his real res- urrection to newness of life. * * * Let us not be carried away, then, as too many have been, by the mere sound of a word. The burial of which the I a mere figurative, but a lit- eral and real burial, an actual extinction of the carnal mind, and an actual abstraction and con- cealment of it in the deep abyss of eternal sepul- ture. There is not one in all of these allusions that supports tlie Baptist theory ; no just laws of ■ill permit them to be thus tied down to the si ■• of mere mode. They prove that :. • ifii • i< .n, but they do not prove that it is immersion, or that immersion has any- ■ with it." A bl '<• in Col. ii. ' to which <>ur immersion ti iend 114 AROUND THE HOME TABLE- will suffice: "And ye are complete in him which is the Head of all principality and power. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumci- sion made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with him by baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. ' ' Here we are said to be complete in Christ, "in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumci- sion made without hands." Now, this cannot be the literal ordinance of circumcision. For, i. It is said to be a "circumcision made without hands. ' ' 2. It is said to be "the circumcision of Christ." What then is the meaning of this passage? Cir- cumcision is a mark of separation by which the child was set apart from the world. It is here used figuratively, denoting the cutting off and separating from sin; or, as Paul has it (Col. ii. n): " The putting off the body of the sins of the flesh." The body of sin being now cut off, bury it in Christ's death, and receive the baptism performed without hands, just as the circumcision and the whole spiritual opera- tion is done. Then, clothed with all the excel- THK TOKEN OP THB COVENANT. 1 15 lencies of Christ's righteousness and the power of race and love, we arc indeed "complete in him who is the Head of all principality and power" (ii. 1 5, Lei us now review tJw customs of the early Christian Church — the Church of the Apostles and Church Fathers — and see what was the prevalent mode of baptism then. It is a Tact worthy of note just here, that if the Apostles baptized by immersion, then their imme- diate successors, the so-called "Church Fathers," naturally follow on in the same way and practice the same mode. But every careful and candid reader of the history of the early Church, will l>e frank to admit that immersion, as a mode *. :->in, did not come into public favor and use until in the third century. < >n this point Dr. N. I.. Ri "I will state an important fact, which cannot be disproved, viz. no one can find nt of the practice of immersion before the third century; and then we find trine immer* tnpanied with various superstitions and T ufirm the truthfulness of this quotation, we cite a few they occur in hi •1, who suffer* d mart} rdom in \. 1 1 - the mode of b.iptism. St. Il6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Lawrence, his contemporary, baptized Rornanus, a soldier, with a pitcher of water. Tertnllian, born A. D. 150, speaks of the "aspersion of water" in baptism. Thus we might continue to multiply names to substantiate our position. Hence the conclusion of it is that if the Fathers practiced affusion and sprinkling, and if immersion did not come into use until in the third century, immersion must have been an innovation upon the common prac- tice. And if sprinkling and affusion or pouring was the prevalent custom of the early Church, it must have had its origin among the Apostles and the sanction of our Lord. Hence if this was the prevalent custom of the early Church, it should be now. With all charity towards our Baptist friends, therefore, and with due respect for their honest convictions, let us go on in the practice of our present mode of baptism, in the settled conviction that it is both valid and scriptural, and with the assurance that God will "sprinkle the clean water of purification " — divine grace — in our hearts; and that being baptized into Christ and his death, we shall rise triumphant in the forgiveness of sins and in newness of life, " meet for the kingdom of God." CHAPTER V. THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. (Please Bee Gen. xvii. 11-14 ; Acts ii. 39 ; iii. 25 ; xvi. 33.) With die establishment of God's covenant with Abraham came an established relation not alone between God and his adult people, but with the children as well. "For the promise is unto you and to your children^ and to all that are afar off." Acts ii. ; v ,. " Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." :i. 25. It wa> of the children onr Lord said (Mark \. 1 1 : "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." yes, the kingdom of heaven is composed of the children of the covenant, and of all snch as be- come like unto them. And yet it is a lamentable fact that the subject of infant membership in the kingdom of grace — their relation to the covenant — is very imperfectly comprehended by thepopu- iristian mind ; and the importance of the (1x7) Il8 AROUND THc HOME TABLE. subject is still less keenly realized by the majority of Christian parents. There is nothing in the home which can take the place of the little child. It commands the at- tention and affection of all in the family circle. This fact is indicative of its importance there. Nay more, this very fact is but the external mani- festation of the principle enunciated in the words of Christ, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Therefore also has the Apostle declared them to be "the children of the covenant." (Acts iii. 25.) The great body of the Christian Church believes and teaches that children, one or both of whose parents, or guardians, or sponsors, are believers in Christ, are proper subjects of baptism, and are the children of the covenant. And in taking this position they are not moved by the respect and the affection which their children command, but by the teachings and precepts of God's word and kingdom. Their convictions are based upon and their position is taken : 1. From the Nature of the Church and of God* 1 s Covenant with the Church. That there is such a thing as a kingdom of grace all Christian believers admit. It is a plan or economy of divine operations by which God THE CHILDREN OP THE COVENANT. IIQ een operating ever since the fonndatiou of tlic world, with the evident purpose of redeem- ing poor fallen humanity. This kingdom is the center ami fundamental principle oi all Provi- dence, of all history, and of all Scripture. It be- ^an with the gracious purposes ami promises of It will reach its consummation in the ulti- mate completion, glory, and rest of the saints in their heavenly state It is a grand and wonderful administration, which enters in and goes out from Christ in his character of Mediator between God and the apostate world. It also comprehends all Of the human race, of every age, and of every who ire recovered from the fall, and saved from the ruins of sin to the joys and honors of ultimate salvation. n : It is also admitted that this divine plan Visible, tangible, and outward existence in the world. This, with its signs, agencies, and administrations, we are pleased to call " The !niti ( hut ih. " Christian Church, strictly speaking, com- ad includes all such persons who have perly inducted into the same bj God's singly united with Christ. has such a kingdom, and has con- 120 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. nected it with certain outward ritual signs, all who are savingly reached by it, or are members of it, unless excluded by specific law, must be equally entitled to those ritual signs, and no man has any right to withhold them. With these premises we proceed. Let it be observed then : i. That God, in his covenant with the Church, has expressly included children. This proposition is generally admitted by all Bible students. For in Genesis xvii. 9-14, we have this record : "And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: Every man-child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circum- cised among you, and every man-child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money from any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circum- cised. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircum- THE CHILDREN' OF THE COVENANT. 121 Cised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." In this passage we have distinctly stated three tilings : i. That every male child should be cir- cumcised, whether their own children or those of Strangers — all children under their control must : unicised. 2. That circumcision should be a token of the covenant between God and the Church. For the positive declaration is (verse n): "It shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and yon" — not your children only, but "you" in- cluding old and young — the Church. Hence the reader will observe that this is the only initiatory or inductive rite into the Church recognized be- tween God and Abraham for cither or both old and young. stated that all who were not thus inducted by circumcision were denied recognition among Cod's people, or membership in his Church. Let d particularly God's own declaration i} : "And the uncircumcised man-child, h of his foreskin is not circumcised, Unit soul sliall [>,■ t ut off from /u\ /><■<>/>/<■/'' That soul is not includ ovenant, and therefore cannot ognized in his Church. urproposi- tiou, tint Cod, in his covenant with the Church, 122 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. has expressly included children, is so clearly set forth in his word that every candid reader is com- pelled to admit it. But methinks I hear some one saying that this was only an old-dispensation Church, and that, living under the new or Christian dispensation, we are no longer under the conditions of the Abra- hamic covenant. Hence, we advance from our former proposition and offer another : 2. That the Church is one, and God's covenant with the Church is one, under the different dispen- sations from Abraham to the end of the world. In Genesis xvii. 7, we have God's promise to Abraham stated thus : "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting cove- nant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee." Now, let us read and compare with this passage Galatians iii. 15-18, 29: "Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now, to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred PHE CHILDREN OP THP. COVENANT. I-'J and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise oi none effect. Fur if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but ("rod gave it to Abraham by promise. And it' ye be- Christ's, then are ye Abraham's I, .md heirs according to the promise.' 1 These pas bo clear thatweneed scarcely call the reader's attention to the .salient points in them. But he will, at first reading, see that in Genesis God promised Abraham that this covenant should be valid " fur his seed in their generations" — not one generation, but " their generations " — and then adds, " // shall be an everlasting cove- MM/." And then, that Paul, in (ialatians, refer- ring t<> the same promise, says, " Not to seeds as of but as <<: One, and to thy seed, which is Christ." And in order to remove all doubt as to re meant by " Abraham's seed," he closes the ion by asserting, "And if ye" — Christian believers — ' " be Christ's, then ale ye Abraham's .seed, ami heirs according to promise." Hence, ! but two dispensations, ami ivenant i- asserted in God's word to include both these in the promise, we the matter with our lioui further treatment of :t and pi tiui thought : 124 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. 3. That if children were once included by the covenant in the Church by express divine com- mand, they cannot now be excluded without a similar divine command. We have seen that the law of God, by the rite of circumcision, embraced children, and made them members of his kingdom as it then existed. This same law has continued on down through the Mosaic economy to the time of Christ and his Apostles, and was recognized as such by them. From the beginning, therefore, God has admitted children to his visible kingdom, and commanded them to receive the token or seal of their member- ship. Now, if some one will please show us when and where this law regulating the right of chil- dren to membership in God's kingdom has ever been revoked, we will surrender our claim without a word. Let any one who knows or has ever heard of such a revocation in God's word produce it if they can. If it has been revoked the record can be found and produced. But, strange to say, no one has ever pretended to know of any such revocation. If then God's law respecting infant membership in his kingdom, and the rite or seal of the same, has not been revoked, they now sus- tain the same relation to God — are under the same THE CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT. 125 divine command — as when the covenant was made, and are entitled to the same rite and token of their membership. If divine authority does not exclude them, then why should we? Prom the nature, therefore, of the Church, and of God's covenant with the Church, children, one or both of whose parents air in covenant relation with the Church, are the children of the covenant^ and hence proper subjects of baptism. lint we observe: II. That tin- teachings and actions of i. 'hrisi indi- cate that i. i the little ones as the children of the covenant. We do n<>t pretend to say that Christ baptized any children — he baptized no one. Hut we do pretend t<> say that he treated them as children ot the household of faith — as children of the cove- nant—and therefore as proper subjects of baptism. id in Mark x. 13-10, "And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and his d^eiples rebuked those that brought them. But when J v it he was much disp leased, them, SnlTer little children to conic unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the God. Verily I say unto yon, whoso- ball not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not inter therein. And he 126 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." By " the kingdom of God " we are to understand God's kingdom of grace; it may be either the Church on earth or the Church in heaven. If it be the Church on earth, then the case is settled. For, as God gave them a token of their member- ship, and has never revoked it, they are children of the covenant; and if this be true — if members of God's kingdom at all — then they have the same right to the seal of that membership now as when it was first given. But if the Church in heaven be meant, then the case is equally clear: For, if children are worthy of membership in the Church triumphant, they most certainly are worthy of membership in the Church militant, also. And if children of the covenant at all — if fit subjects for membership in either — they are also fit subjects for the seal or rite of membership, viz., baptism. Moreover, our readers will observe that in this passage three things are asserted: i. That children are receivers of God's kingdom. "Suffer little children to come unto me, and for- bid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." 2. That they so completely receive the kingdom of God as to become models for all receivers of it. THE CHILDREN OB THE COVENANT. 1-7 "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God Utile child, he shall not enter therein." 5. That adults must receive the kingdom of God just as little children do, or they cannot enter into it at all. " Whosoever shall not receive the king- dom of God as a little child, shall not enter therein.' - " Except ye become converted, and become flu little children, ye can not enter the But how do adults become such? "/•• nd be baptized and thou shalt Is the condition. But in astonishment some will ask, '"Can the little children believe V .1 answer let us read Matt, xviii. 6: "But ill offend one oj these little ones which 1 in >n,\ it were better for him that a mill- were hanged about his neck, and that he Irowned in the depth of the sea." Here our they believe. That settles it. Baptise them, and you have a full compliance with the injunction, " believe and be baptized," and haw a right t<. the promise, "thou shalt be saved." Hut l.t us follow this thought still a little far- ther and inquire, how do children receive the God? How did they become the chil- ' Can any one indeed h - rod under the I ! 128 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. without at the same time being a proper subject of baptism ? Nay, further, Can any one receive the kingdom of God at all, in any visible or tangi- ble way, without being baptized? Such a thing would be grossly inconsistent with the entire his- tory of God's dealings with his children. As the Church was constituted, under the old dispensa- tion, the reception of the kingdom of God with all its promises was invariably linked with the rite of circumcision, and no male infant could be said to receive the kingdom of God until circumcised. And the reception of the kingdom of God now is just as intimately linked with baptism as it was then with circumcision. " Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he can not enter into the kingdom of God." If children of the covenant at all, therefore, they must become such by baptism, as that is the only initiatory rite. Infant baptism is, therfore, most clearly taught by our Lord. Who then will gainsay infant baptism ? Who will presume to deny the rite or seal to the lambs of his flock — the models of God's kingdom — those whom Jesus himself took up in his arms and blessed ? But again : Our Lord's command to his disci- ples was, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of Till CHILDREN OP THE COVENANT. 129 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." We arc here taught whom we are to baptize — " all nations." But who are comprehended in "all nations?" Certainly all who are enumerated as belonging to and composing the nations. Let us refer to a familiar illustration: In 1^90 a census of our country was taken. Those who took the census I through every district, visited every family, and took down and counted the name of every man, woman and child that was born on or be- nd living at twelve o'clock on the first day of June, 1890. It mattered not if a child was but one hour, or less, old. if then living, it was counted as a part of our nation, as well as the man Of thi' eai8 and ten. When we arc asked, " Who compose our nation ? " we can but answer, All now living within the limits of our nation, from l: hoarj -headed father or : to the youngest babe." Hence, the com- mand, " u:. of all these "and baptize them." the original word | — ma- theteusate — means more than simply instruction! it means all that it takes to make a Christian. Matt. xiii. 52.' Ib.w arc they to be made " baptizing them." 9 130 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. The children are members of God's kingdom. They are disciples. Our Baptist friends admit this. If they are disciples then comes the com- mand, "baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." III. Baptism is the outward sign or token of our internal relation with God. That baptism is the only initiatory rite into the Christian Church is admitted by all evangelical Christians. It is the only sign or badge of mem- bership in the Church militant. We have heard our Lord's own declaration in regard to the chil- dren— "Of such is the kingdom of God." Jesus therefore owns children as a part of his kingdom. Their internal relation with God is therefore set- tled. They are his. They are the " lambs " of his "flock." Now, if this is their internal or spiritual relation with God, will any one presume to deny them the seal or badge of that relation? In the language of the venerable Dr. Seiss, " Infants are a part of Christ's mystical body. They are an inte- gral portion of that humanity for which his medi- ation avails. They are redeemed by his blood. They are among the purchase of his death. Until by unbelief and disobedience they reject him, they_ are his. Redemption is officiating for them. The THE CHILDREN OF THK COVENANT. 131 kingdom of God is of them, and others like them. If this be not true, there is 110 hope for them. Just as surely, then, as God has linked baptism to the effectual application of saving grace; to signify and seal it; and just as certainly as it is Christ's ap- point who are partakers of his healing and saving power, it is to be administered to infants; and the deepest and most vital constitu- tion of Christianity is touched and violated by ex- cluding them from it. Indeed, to us there seem- to be but this one alternative— that infants are entitled ; tism, or else they must perish— not that bap- axe them, but for the reason that anything which incapacitates them for baptism incapacitate them for salvation." That is to say, that if infants are not fit subjects f OJ :n, they certainly cannot be fur salvation. declares them members of his ■m. Then if thus related to God— if chil- • nant— why deny them the rite or •ion? '•■ "t our Lord's treatment of the nant, lit us proceed to notice : IV. Thai /.-.■ // tfle* also treated them as ckiU ' in the household baptism 132 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. We have the record of at least five household baptisms in the New Testament. We have the record of the jailer of Philippi and his house, in Acts xvi. 29-34, as follows: "Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in the house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." In verse 31 the jailer was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and all thy house," and, in verse 33, we read, "he was baptized, he and all his straightway.' ' Now what was " all his house " that was baptized ? Certainly every intelligent reader of Scripture will at once understand this expression to mean his family, including servants and children. But, as Scrip- ture is its own best interpreter, we will refer to Paul's first letter to Timothy (iii. 4), where we THF. CHILDREN OK THE COVENANT. I 33 read: "A bishop must be blameless, * * * * one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. " Here we have a simple and clear explanation of what is meant by " he and all his house." The conclu- - inevitable — children were included, if there any in the family. Besides this we have the records of the baptism of " Lydia and her house " \vi. 14, 15); of " Cornelius and his house" x. 48); and that of "Crispus with all his and many Corinthians " (Acts xviii. 8); and "the household of Stephanas" (1 Cor. i. 16). Now in all these cases of household baptism, cer- tainly no reasonable person will question the pres- ence ami baptism of at least some children. And if our Lofd'fl inspired apostles treated infants as children of the covenant, and baptized them, why should not we do likewise? But we turn now from the testimony of Cod's I to the testimony of history, and observe : V. That infant baptism has been the uniform the Christian Church /rem the time oj i and hu apostles to (he present time. Infant baptism Uj n<.t one of the modern innova- it can be traced backj neral prac- tice in the Church, through every period of history 134 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. from the present to the time of Christ and his apostles. But, inasmuch as the practice of infant baptism is not questioned from the fourth century on, we will commence there and trace it back. We will commence with the testimony of Pelagius. He was born about the middle of the fourth cen- tury. He says: "I have never heard of even any impious heretics who assert that infants ought not to be baptized. " Pelagius was a man of recog- nized scholarship and learning, and would not only have known the facts in the case, but as a Christian man could be relied on for the truth. We next give the testimony of St. Augustine, born A. D. 354. He says: "The whole Church practices infant baptism. It was not instituted by Councils, but was always in use. This the Church has always maintained." Origen was born A. D. 184, or about eighty-four years after the death of St. John. In his " Hom- ily ' ' on the fourth chapter of St. Luke, he says : "Infants are baptized for the remission of sins." In his commentary on Romans, he says: " For this cause it was that the Church received an order from the Apostles to give baptism to infants." This, also, is very positive testimony from a Chris- tian scholar. He is not only a witness to the cur- THh CHILDREN OF THh COVENANT. 135 rent practice ot' infant baptism at that time, but asserts that it was "so ordered by the apostles." If, therefore, the witness of these men is worth anything, it proves that infant baptism, as a prac- tice, had its origin Ul apostolic times, and must, >re, have been taught and practiced by them. Prom the fourth to the eleventh century it is gen- erally admitted, even by onr Baptist friends, tO have been the common practice of the Church. A. I). [120a sect rose up against infant baptism, but public sentiment was so strong and general in favor of infant baptism that this sect soon disap- '.. Then infant baptism was, without any lion, the common practice of the Church to 1522, when another sect arose in opposition to it. thstanding the opposition of this sect, the great body of the Christian Chnrch has prac- tieed infant baptism from that time to the present. If. therefore-, infant baptism has been the common the Christian Chnrch from the time of the a] present time, one of two thin-- must follow : 1. it must have been an innovation upon the OS of the apostles by their unmed I and successors; or, 2. It must have eome directly from them by I36 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. word and practice as a part of the divine commis- sion. For no inferential or optionary custom would have brought it into such general and con- tinued practice against all opposition. If the former, (viz., that infant baptism was ever introduced as an innovation upon any former prac- tice,) the record of that innovation cannot now be found anywhere, either in tradition, sacred or pro- fane history. And it would seem passingly strange that such an innovation had ever been made, and its record given to oblivion forever ! But with these considerations we feel that we can leave the subject with our readers, confidently believing that they will join us in the conviction that God would have us receive and treat our little ones as children of the covenant — to baptize them. But we cannot close without presenting to our readers a few thoughts on the benefits of baptism to children : 1. By baptism, in the place of circumcision, chil- dren are brought into covenant favor with God. Circumcision identified the child with the people of God. The uncircumcised child was ordered to be cut off. But by baptism they are brought into covenant favor with God, and hence become heirs THH CHILDREN OP THH COVENANT. 137 of the promise. Fur (Acts li. 3b, 39), " the promise is to you and your children.'' 2. Baptism is a means of regeneration. Paul in his letter to Titus (iii. 5) calls it "the washing of regeneration." Oui Lord said ( John iii. 5), "Ex- I man be born of water and of the Spirit, nnot enter the kingdom of God." Baptism is n«.t the tiling itself, however — "opus operatum M — as taught by some, but it is a mean- to that end. m, as the initiatory rite into the Church, ies a means of grace. Von receive baptism not only in compliance with the divine command, 50 to obtain its blessings for yourselves. But baptism will procure the same blessings for your little ones. The divine injunction is, " bring Dp the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Eph. vi. .\. But how can this be done it 1 ny them the tneai e? The means oi grace are the "nurture" to the child — they are the f- soul Here any Christians who withhold baptism from their children involve themselves not alone in a very j^rave inconsistency, but also in a sheer impossibility. As will e\- their children to grow up strong and robust ally, without eatinj row up in " the nurture and admonition of the Lord," without the I38 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. means of grace. God commanded Israel to thu* consecrate their children to the Lord. This com- mand has never been revoked. It is as binding therefore upon you, and you are as responsible for a proper compliance with it as was Israel of old. Let us not forget our covenant obligations to God and to our children. O how we prize our children! They are God's most precious gifts to us. How we labor and toil for their temporal welfare; but shall we withhold from them that which will fit them to become the joy of our hearts later in life?— to be- come an honor to themselves, to their parents, and above all an everlasting honor to God, who gave them to us? The Lord guide your minds into a proper conception of his word on this subject, and quicken your hearts by his spirit to do his bidding, is the prayer of your humble servant. Amen! CHAPTER VI. THE SACRAMENT OP THE ALTAR, OR THE LORD'S SUFFER. The Lord's Supper, like all the other important lis or ordinances of the New Testament, has cursor in the Old Testament. Our Lord came to fulfill all righteousness. Matt iii. 15 ; xv. 17, 18. Hence, no institution of the Old Tes- tament was overlooked in the institution of ordi- imentS in the New. The precur- Supper was that of the Passover. We find the record of its institution in the P>ook of US xii. 21-2*: "Then Moses called for all the rael, and raid unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill r. And ye shall take a hunch of hys- td hands, an entirely new appearance, and that which is new appears to be properly only the ripened germ of the old. Even when he does not immediately adduce the word of prophecy, it is vet the cleai mirroi in which he se< ted the If and the kingdom of God." Such lationa between not * T ! . • 142 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. only these dispensations but also between their institutions. From the records of the Passover and the Lord's Supper several marks of similarity will readily be observed. 1. Both institutions are of divine origin — God instituted them both. The necessary preparations in each case were made at the hands of men. On the one hand Moses made all the preparations, killed the lamb, sprinkled the blood, etc. but the angel of God passed over in the darkness of the night, completed and honored the institution as divine; on the other, the disciples "made ready," but, likewise, in the silent watches of the night Christ, the son of God, to whom was committed all power both in heaven and in earth, instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Whether he who instituted the Lord's Supper, also in his pre- incarnate state instituted the Passover or not, in the former as in the latter institution, everything points to and clusters about the Lamb of God. He who cannot see Jesus in it all, looks as through a glass darkly. The former, though considered purely symbolical, was none the less divine, only that the people of that age were unprepared to be- hold the divine in it. THK SACRAMENT OF THK AI.TAK. Id} 2. Both arc atoning institutions. The one is symbolically accepted as such; the other is really given as such. For in the one (Ex. xii. 231 we read: "And when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will vcr the dooi and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." In the other (Matt. xxvi. 28) we read: "For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins." In each case a reconcil- er atonement (at-one-ment) is effected in the ration of the institutions. Israel sprinkled the blood upon the lintels and side posts believ- ing that God would recognize and accept it ac- cording t.> promise. We take the cup and by faith drink it a- " the blood of the New Testament which u shed for tJi> remission oj tins;* 1 and we have I with ( I through our Lord Jesus Christ, not ■ ■■!»!." But we receiving and act- ios word by faith, God by the : the mean- accounts it nnto ib for righteOUS- : Oth institutions wcic similar. to be first of all a mem. rial to remind them and their children how God panned over their houses and 144 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. spared their first born. "And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service ? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped." Ex. xii. 26, 27. So Christ our "Passover" said (Luke xxii. 19), "Thisdo in remembrance of me." As the Passover reminded Israel of the great love and mercy of God in passing over their houses, sparing their first born and delivering them from the misery and suffering of Egyptian bondage, so Christ would continually remind us of God's in- finite love in the gift of his Son, of his suffering in our stead, and of his passing over our sins. As the blood of the lamb reminded Israel of the remission of their sins, and their consequent atonement, or, " at-one-ment" with God, so Christ our Passover says, "For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ' ' For Christ's sake God literally closes his eyes upon and passes over the hearts in the forgiveness of their sins of those who properly partake of the Lord's Supper, as he did over the houses of those in Egypt who properly sprinkled THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 145 the biood upon their lintels. Hence Paul writes (1 Cor xi. 24-26-: "This do in remembrance of me, for as often as ye cat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord S death till he come.'" 4. In each of these institutions preparation was sary for a proper celebration. The prepara- : >r the celebration of the Jewish Passover con- tinued one week previous. Otir Lord observed the same preparations, and then immediately merged the observance of the one into the institution of thex Hence the propriety and importance of the service bo generally observed and commonly known in the Lutheran, German Reformed, Pres- byterian and some other churches as the " pnpara- " — a time set apart for preparation for the worthy celebration of the sacrament of the altar. The importance of these services is realized in proportion as we appreciate the meeting of the in the celebration of his Supper. The high I Testament made the most careful prepai :liccs and offerings before ill- holy of holies — before entering into the immediate | rd. The people pent a w I in fasting and 'ion of only and purely ;i rial institution. How fitting therefore that 146 AROUND THE HOME TABLE- we should have at least one meeting for medita- tion and prayer before presuming to come into the presence of the Lord, to eat of his broken body and to drink of his shed blood. But with these marks of similarity there is one feature in the Lord's Supper in which it is the ful- fillment of all righteousness — in which Christ passed from the symbolical to the real — a feature which makes the celebratiou of the Lord's Supper very precious to the Lutheran household of faith, viz. : the doctrine of The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. And it is a matter of some importance that we understand the doctrine of the Lord's Supper as the Lutheran Church believes it to be set forth in the New Tes- tament. We quote here Luther's own statement of the real presence in the Lord's Supper (see Larger Cat., p. 164): "What then is the Sacra- ment of the Altar ? It is the true body and blood of Christ our Lord in and with bread and wine, commanded through the words of Christ, for us Christians to eat and drink. And as we have said concerning baptism, that it is not simple water, so we also say here, this Sacrament is bread and wine, but not mere bread and wine, as taken to the table on other occasions, but bread and wine compre- THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 147 bended in the word tid connected with it. I say, that makes and distinguishes this Sacrament, SO that it is not mere bread and . but is, and is ia//ed, the body and blood of Chn Tlie following is a statement of it from the , Art. 10. 44 That t!ie body and blood of Christ are truly Dt under the form of bread ami wine, and are there communicated t<> those who eat and drink in the Lord's Supper. 1 ' Dr. Krauth (Conservative Ref., page 599) ampli- fies this article thus: " 1. That the true body and blood of Christ are the Sacramental objects. That the Sacramental objects are truly present in the Lord's Supper. 3 That this true presence is • the form bread and wine. j. That present under this form or species tiny are Communicated. 5. That thus communicated they i by all communicants.' 1 the tine body We mean that body in which \ vioui was actually incarnate, as opposed to bis mystical body, which is the Church. Eph. Laa, Some minds bav< nfused also tive of Hi* he ' ' natural bod) ," and " th< 148 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. fied body of Christ." While in fact Christ's true body, his natural body, and his glorified body are one and the same body in identity. The only mat- ter to be borne in mind is that the words true and natural refer to its essence, while the. word glori- fied refers to its condition. The glorification of his body neither made it cease to be true nor na- tural. That is, it was no more an unreal, ideal or imaginary body after its glorification than before. It was identically the same body but with a con- stant and plenary exercise of glorious properties. Hence the doctrine of the Lutheran Church that it was the true body which was given for us. For Christ as he instituted the Lord's Supper said; "This is my body which is given for you." "Therefore," says Dr. Krauth, "the sacramental object must be his true body. For neither his mystical body, nor the Holy Spirit dwelling in his body, nor a sign or symbol of his body, nor a memorial of his body, nor faith in his body, could have been given for us. Therefore the true body must have been given for us, and that only can be the sacramental object." By his true blood we mean that blood which was the actual life — the vitality and strength of his human body — that "precious blood" wherewith THh SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR 149 we are bought We believe that it was his true blood which was shed tor us lor the remission of This is my blood of the new testament which is shed for the remission of sins." In these words Christ did nut say, This is the efficacy of my blood, nor the Holy Spirit unit- ing us with his blood, uor yet that it was a sign or symbol of His blood, but simply and plainly, "This is my blood. " Hence from the plain and simple language of him who instituted the ment of the Altar we believe in the reedpres- of the true body and blood of Christ in the per. We il<. not believe, however, I. That this presence consists of any essential the elements of bread and wine into the body, : nl and divinity of onr Lord, as : the Romish doctrine of transubslantiation. • believe that there is any conversion 01 urination of the whole substance of tin- bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. lint lieve that the bread remains bread, and the wine remains wine, entirely Unchanged in their ; that i-, in cverv thing m what tiny really are. < >ui my trans- I50 AROUND THE HOMK TABLE. formed body, or "this is my transformed blood." But simply "this is my body," "this is my blood." Hence the bread in the Lord's Supper continues to be real bread, and the wine real wine; but both are the means by which the body and blood of Christ are conveyed to us. Hence Paul in 1 Cor. x 16, speaks of the visible elements in the holy sacrament as il bread and wine" "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" 2 We do not mean that the presence of the body and blood of Christ consists in any local or physical inclusion in the bread and wine, or a com- mingling of them into one mass, such as belong to natural bodies. We do not believe in any physical or local presence whatever. The bread does not coalesce with the body, and the wine with the blood, into one substance. There is no assump- tion of the elements into the humanity of Christ. Theologically this doctrine is called " impana- tion," or consubstantiation, a doctrine which the Lutheran church has always and stoutly rejected, though unjustly charged with holding it In the institution Christ did not say, Take, eat, in this bread is included my body, or in this cup is inclu- THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 1 51 ded 11 No he did nut say that. And al- though with the bread and wine the body and blood of Christ are communicated to us, we must not conceive ti. a that the body and blood of Christ are locally enclosed in the elements. 3. We do not mean that in the Lord's Slipper [take of his body and blood by a gross, car- nal or natural eating and drinking. Evidently onr Lord, when he said, "Take, eat, this is my body, * and, this is my blood," did not wish to be Understood in a natural, carnal sense, as if hisdis- gathered aronnd the table were really to attaek his living, natural body, or to drink his natural blood, then coursing through his veins. No, not that .} We do not believe that the presence of Christ in th- ists in a mere figurative Qtation; that IS, that the bread only repre- nifies his body, and that the wine only ignifies bis blood. We cannot ac- cept tl «n BCVeral considerations: This idea is opposed by the demands of all Testament which contem- I Lamb, who IS tO be ple- I in that nature in which he was slain, not after the shadowy mode of the old dispensation, 152 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. but after the true mode of the new — in the New- Testament Paschal It is through his human nature that Christ is our Paschal Lamb sacrificed; and therefore it must be through his human nature that Christ our Paschal Lamb is eaten. If it was not through his divinity, separate from his human- ity, that he was sacrificed upon the cross, it cannot be that through his divine nature, separate from his humanity, he is given to us at his table. (2) This idea is opposed by the demands of the type of the Old Testament sacrifices, which were not only to be offered to God, but to be partaken of by the priests and offerers. That body and blood which were offered to the Father, and by him ac- cepted, must also be partaken of by those for whom they were offered, and the partaking must be a true one, as the offering itself was true. But in order to be a true partaking there must be a true presence. (3) This idea is opposed by a proper translation of the original words of the institution. Our Lord did not say, This represents my body, but in the plainest and most simple language possible said "This is my body," and "This is my blood." Nor does the Greek copulative " eimi" by any proper translation mean to "represent," " sig- TH1-. SACRAMENT OP THE ALTAR. 153 nify " or " is a symbol of." We base this declara- tion, (i) on the fact that no translation, ancient or modern, with any pretension to character, has so rendered the word. No one of scholarship has ever dared to insert into the text of his translation "this Signifies," "represents," or "is a symbol of my body. But If "ami" means any or all of these, why have not some of onr scholars — onr graphers— given the public the benefit of their knowledge of this little word ? The fact is, it simply means what it has always been translated — simply "is," (2) That no impartial dictionary of ■reek language, whether general or New ■ns .my snch meaning to the orig- inal '• cimi." (3)That DO Standard dictionary of • 1 langua as snch a meaning to Dglish copulative " is " or "to be." lint it simply means what it says Hence the doctrine of the Lutheran Church, that the true body and blood of Christ are really present in the Lord's :. not in any Mich sense as above named, bnt //and incomprehensible way. while we cannot fully comprehend and ex- plain how this is, can we not, in the province t truth, and by it, without th< 154 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. cept our Lord's simple statement : " This is my body; " "This is my blood?" However, a simple illustration from God's word may aid in simplify- ing and impressing the idea somewhat. Accord- ing to the Gospel by St. John (xv. 1-5) our Lord gave us the parable of the vine and the branches, which we will use as a practical illustration in this case. The vine planted in the ground, and com- municating from it to the branches, represents Christ, the only begotten of the Father, sent forth from him. The branches in living connection or communion with the vine, represents all believers by faith engrafted into Christ Jesus, the Vine, and in living connection or communion with him. But now all things are in their proper relations and condition for the life in the ground to be absorbed through the tiny pores of the roots and conveyed through the vine to the branches. The operation begins, the life flows ; we see the buds, then the leaves, the blossoms, and the ripened fruit. Does any one question the real presence, in species and essence, of the vine in the branches? And can any one fully comprehend, and will he attempt a clear and simple explanation of just how it all comes about? And as the vine becomes the medium of communication, are its visible parts in THE SAG&AMBN1 OP THE ALTAR. 155 anywise changed into something else? In our conception of the process of communication of life from the ground to the branches, must we think of transubstantiation, or consubstantiation ? O, Folly ! folly !" would cry our natural phil- ters? And yet, that which is communicated is the body — it is the very essence which composes and constitutes that body — the bod}- of vine and branches Precisely so with Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. We can no more fully comprehend and explain how he is communicated to OS through the medium — the bread and the wine — than we can the process in the case of the vine and the branches. But does any one question the reality in the process in the vine because he ■ rally comprehend and explain it all? Why then raise the question about the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper? Why not take him at his word when he say- : " Take, eat, this is my * * "this is my blood?" If we cannot fbily comprehend, why not believe? Shall we be guilty <»f limiting our faith to the bound of our rbid ' ther important subject for the consideration to the c ommuntcants iu tin. imenl of the Ait. a. 156 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. These I fear are too often underestimated, and consequently very improperly appreciated by most communicants. True, these benefits vary with the faith exercised by the communicants in the recep- tion of the elements. Some eat and drink unto the fullness of the blessings in Christ Jesus; others to their condemnation* "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cnp of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. * * * For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damna- tion to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." 1 Cor. xi. 29, 30. Bnt to be sure in speaking of the "benefits " to participants in the Sacrament of the Altar we address ourselves to true believers — worthy communicants only. To them eternity alone can reveal the full measure of these benefits. Moreover, let us not forget that we are speaking of the benefits derived by a belief in the real pres- ence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. While we may not be able to comprehend fully the thoughts of this very difficult point, we hope at least to make clear a few thoughts which lie more nearly to the surface. We must bear in mind, however, that not only the visible, but also the invisible things are real. Hence we cannot look into this with the Till-. NT OF THE ALTAR. 1 57 carnal mind, but alone through a living faith en- lightened by God's Word and spirit. The import- ance of the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in th> Slipper, in order to obtain the bene- fits which the Lord would have us receive in tin's holy feast, will be, in a measure at least, compre- 1 from the following illustration : " Suppose present yon with a picture of age — one whom you esteem very highly. It would no doubt awaken in you the deepest gratitude of your heart. And as you I that picture certain lasting impressions would be made But now that this same person- ought into your presence, and in- 1 >f the man, you could the real man and converse with him, what a different impression it would make mind. How the same joy and grat- itude would be intensified." Just so in the \\\v^ the bread and drinking the wine at the Lord's table as a represents : of the body and blood of • will, indeed make a certain impi the mind, but with little, if any more bene- fit than that derived from the ordinary means of grace. Hut when we (Dine full) believing the 158 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. words of Christ: il This is my body "— ll this is my blood " — believing that as we come to his table we come into his real presence, and are there permit- ted to commune with him (1 Cor. x. 16), what a different impression it will make 1 How our grat- itude and joy will intensify ! How the benefits — the blessings— will multiply and enlarge ! And only he who truly believes in the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper can and does truly com- mune with Christ in the celebration of this Holy Sacrament We cannot commune with a symbol. But to receive the full measure of the blessings of this Holy Sacrament we must come believing that we truly commune with Christ our Lord. At the institution of this sacrament Christ said (Matt, xxvi 28), " For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Here " remission of sins ■," is the special blessing mentioned. This is indeed the most important, as it is the foundation of all other special blessings. For it is written (Heb. ix. 22), " Without the shedding of blood is no remis- sion." Not indeed in the sense that there can be no remission of sin without having first partici- pated at the Lord's table, but that God, having sealed his everlasting covenant to all true believ- THE sac rami: xr OP THE altar. 159 ers with Christ's blood, upon all who honor him in the celebration of the seal of that covenant he will • the special blessings of that seal. On a for- mer Matt. xx. 28), our Lord had said, Son of man came not to be minis- DntO, but to minister, and to give his life a H for many.'' This is indeed a significant ge "ii the particular thought before us. We too often think of the remission of sin only as such without connecting with it any inherent bless- I I .reck word "lit I run " here used com- prehends both the price paid for sin, and the condi- All true believers have experienced the bl ".his condition — joy and peace un- I faith and light Hence we need not tarry to develop this thought, but note soul nourishment as another important benefit in per. Luther, in speaking of the the sacrament, calls it "food for the soul ■.•■Inch noun Jit-> and strengthen* the new man," Another baa put it thus: " By baptism we are re- •. ed; by the Lord's Supper we I nourished nnto eternal life In bap- tism faith ii kindled by the Hole Spirit; in the use of the confirmed and sealed into Christ , by l6o AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the salutary use of the Lord's Supper we receive a spiritual increase in this relation. By baptism we are received into the divine covenant; by the use of the Eucharist we are preserved in it." Just how this soul nourishment is communicated to us we may not be able to explain to the satisfac- tion of all, nor is it necessary to spend any time in philosophizing upon the subject. But let a simple illustration from nature suffice: The vine through its tiny roots absorbs certain acids and gases, from the ground, which we call life, and when as- similated to its own nature, communicates them to the branches. As a consequence these branches send forth the little twigs, thence the foliage and the buds, and at length we see the cluster of lus- cious fruit. How was it done ? Who cares ? All that concerns us is that there was life, nourish- ment and fruit. So our soul nourishment comes through Christ the Vine — the body — unto all who truly believe and obey his word, "Take, eat, this is my body," * * ''drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament." ' ; Do this in re- membrance of me. " Ah, yes, " Here at thy table, Lord, we meet to feed on food divine: Thv body is the bread w<» pat. Thy precious blood the wine." THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 161 But we can note but one more of the many benefits which might be mentioned, afforded to the worthy participant of the Sacrament of the Altar. An assimilation of ours to the divine nature oj Christ. "Like begets like" is a universal law of nature. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistl Christ has emphasized the- im- portance of the new birth : "Verily, verily, I say unto thee except a man be bom again, he can ee the kingdom of Cod." (John iii. j.) And when Nicodemus failed to comprehend the thought, Jesus followed with an explanatory an- "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a :d the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom ofGod." In sh«.rt, he must the Spirit, and partake of the things of the Spirit before he can enter into his domain 01 my of his fruit. For, "that which i- born Of the fiesh IS flesh," and will bear the fruit of the I that which is born of the spirit is spirit" and will bring forth the finit of the spirit " F<>r !; th to his flesh, shall of but he that SOWeth to tin ring. ' 1 1 l62 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. But the law of assimilation is as universal in fact and as absolute in its results as the law of genera- tion. By pouring cold water into Hot, or vice versa, a medium temperature is secured. How ? By the process of assimilation. Food is taken into the stomach, after a time is converted into blood, and as this goes coursing from the heart to every member of the body, nutrition and strength is con- veyed. How is it done? By the process of assim- ilation. By this same process the desired effect of leaven is secured in the dough. Precisely so with the work of Christ in our hearts, with only this difference: That according to the natural law the body which receives the elements assimilates them to itself; while according to the law of the Spirit the body which receives the elements, the gifts of God — the body and blood of Christ — his grace and Spirit, by faith, is assimilated unto the nature of their giver. Whosoever therefore receives by faith the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar accedes to an assimilation of his own to the divine nature. Of the transforming or assimilating power of Christ we need not speak at length, therefore, as the principle is familiar to all. Suffice it to say, however, that the law of assimilation is nowhere THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR, 163 ; icuous than in the work of Christ Hence our L< er for his disciples, I John xvii: 22, "That they may be one, tzr/t as r.r are o>n\ J in tlnm, and thou in »/<\ that they may be made How was this prayer answered ? ss of assimilation — "their lives were hid with Christ in God." And as food is hid in the stomach, then assimilated to the body, so theirs, hid with Christ in God, were assimilated to the divine nature. Heme it is also written (Gal. I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and tin- in tin- flesh I live by faith in As Christ lived in Paul, SO he lives in every true believer; and as Paul realized the ass powerof Christ — transforming and changing his - own nature, his mind, will, energies and all, t«» that of Christ — so in the life of every child 1 I And as the Lord's Supper has been instituted as one of hut two sacraments, it has be- come one of the special means for the assimilation the divine nature. We eat and drink the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament of ith, and find our passions Bttbdi th is renewed and oui » nriched, oui repen- 1 64 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. tance is deepened and our faith enlarged, our be- setting sins are weakened and our hopes brightened. Thus eating and drinking in this holy feast when- ever an opportunity is offered, our natures will become more and more assimilated to that of the divine—we will become more and more "con- formed to the image of his Son " (Rom. viii : 29), and the mind which was in Christ Jesus will be- come more perfect in us, and the life which we now live in the flesh will be one of faith in the Son of God—our life will be "hid with Christ in God." For whom was the Lord's Supper instituted, and for whom is the Lord's table now spread, is a ques- tion which demands but a brief consideration. The little company to whom the body and blood of Christ was first administered was composed of the apostles, whom Christ had chosen to accom- pany him during his earthly ministry. They were poor and unlearned men, who loved Christ, but were weak alike in faith and knowledge. They knew but little of the full meaning of their Master's sayings and doings. They knew but little of the frailty of their own hearts. They thought they were ready to die with Jesus, and yet that very night they all forsook him and fled. All this our Lord knew perfectly well. And yet he did not THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. 1 65 deny them the pr;\ the Lord's Supper. The lesson is patent to all — The Lord's table is the Lord's people. The qualifications fur a worthy participation in the Lord's Supper are nut necessarily much knowledge, great strength of grace, and a rich experience in the divine life. indeed desirable qualifications. But a communicant may know but little, and be a- a child in .spiritual strength, but cannot on that ac- count be excluded from the Lord's table. The vital question for consideration is, Are you keenly sensible of your sin U really love Christ? have you publicly professed your faith in him? been baptized, and resolved to serve him ? If so, then, dear reader, you are entitled to the privileges of this holy sacrament, and no one can justly gain- s.iy yotU lights. We are indeed t«» guard the table carefully against unworthy communi- cants. Indeed, no :: OUght to pre- sume to come to the Lord's Supper. But on the other hand we are to take heed that we do not rejei I bom Christ has not rejected. as to your Condi. this lmly Sacrament we leave • ;is chapter. Are you prompt and pants whenever an opportunity is l66 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. offered, or do you turn away from it? If the lat- ter, how can your conduct be justified ? You can- not say that it is not a necessary ordinance. For to say this is to pour contempt upon Christ him- self, and declare our disobedience to his command, "Do this in remembrance of me." It will not do to say that you feel unworthy to come to the Lord's table. To say this is to declare that you are unfit to die, and unprepared to meet God. This is indeed a precarious condition for a pro- fessed child of God to occupy. Preparation for the one will prepare for the other. These are sol- emn considerations which every non-communi- cant should ponder well. Dear reader, are you an habitual communicant ? If so, in what frame of mind do you come? Do you draw near intelligently, humbly and in true faith ? Do you really feel your depravity and need of Christ ? Do you come really desiring- soul nour- ishment and thereby, with the use of the other stated means of grace, to fit you for a daily walk with God ? Happy indeed is that one who can, with a conscience void of offense toward God, give an affirmative answer to these questions. To all such God will surely give a place at the marriage supper in his kingdom. CHAPTER VII. THE CHRISTIAN BOMB AND ITS POSSIBILITIES. (Read Gen. xviii. iy ; Ruth i. 7-1S). " Home is the resort Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where Supporting and supported, polished friends And dear relations mingle into bliss." " Nor need we power or splendor — Wide hall or lordly dome ; The good, the true, the tender— These form the wealth of home." Tin-, very word " home" occupies a sacred place in every heart. It is held in reverence and sacred like by all. It was there God first cradled these bodies of flesh; it was there the a fond mother, and the affections of a kind father ware first lavished Upon US. Home is the one place in all this world where Christian ICh other. It is there where find the focus of mutual confidence; it is there when- we tear off the mask of selfish S< which the world compels us to wear in self- l68 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. defense, and find sweet relief by pouring out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts; it is the one spot above all others where expressions of tenderness gush forth and find a glad response without any sense of timidity or shame. Home ! — There is where we received the first and most important school of character; it was there we imbibed many of the great principles of conduct which have made us what we are, either for weal or woe, and which will cease to buoy us up only as we enter our eternal home, or, if for woe, will never cease to oppress and taunt us while the ceaseless ages of eternity continue to roll away. What a launching place home is ! There is an old saying, "manners make the man;" and another "mind makes the man;" but truer than all is, "home makes the man" For it is there the intellect is awakened and receives its first important discipline and direction; it is there that the heart is first touched by paternal love, and its higher sensibilities and purer emotions are in- spired and developed and the character of real manhood or womanhood brought forth. Samuel Smiles has not gone amiss in his statement : "From that source" (the home) "be it pure or THE CHRISTIAN HOME. 169 impure, issue principles and maxims that govern society. Law itself is but the reflex of home-. The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and become its public opinion; for na- tions are gathered out of nurseries, and they who hold the leading strings of children may even ex- reater power than those who wield the overnment It is in the order of nature that domestic life should be preparatory to social, and that the mind and character should be formed in the home. Then- the individuals who afterward form the society are dealt with in detail, and fashioned one by one Prom the family they enter ind advance from boyhood to citizenship. Thus the home may be regarded as the most influ- ential school of civilization." o what sacredness is rapt where such power reigns ! But in this we have simply considered the average home. Hut how the term "Christian" magnifies the sacredness of home. How exalted tin- Christian OVCI the average home. How the thought that the Christ of the home above ha- .1 in the hearts of the members of the home oil earth, and an altar theie, exalts OUr ideas of that Ah ' such a home is heaven begun on I70 AROUND THE HOME TABLE earth. It is of such a home and its possibilities we desire to speak in this chapter. In such a home it is presumed that 'its head or heads are willing " to spend and be spent" in the service of Christ their Lord and head. And hence several things are necessary to bring that home within its true sphere and possibilities : The Home Altar. The words " home " and " prayer " seem like twins — where the one is we almost intuitively look for the other. Indeed a prayerless home, if at all Christian, can not be otherwise than very defective to say the least. They who have daily prayer in their homes do well; but they who daily read their Bibles and pray over them do better; but best of all is the home where the family gather around the home altar to hear the word read and taught, and then all — young and old, children and servants — bow around that altar in prayer and devotion. What a scene for angels to witness ! What scene can be more lovely on earth; what more like the home above? what more pleasing to God than that of the Christian home kneeling with one ac- cord around the home altar, to hear and unite in the fervent prayer to their heavenly Father. ? How THI- CHRISTIAN BOMB. I7I .sublime the act of those parents wlio thus invoke the blessing of God upon their household ! Or j rand and commendable the scene of the de- voted mother (for too often our homes are headed by pious mothers, but impious fathers) gathering her little ones around her at the bedside and teaching them the privilege of prayer. O what precious seed lor those youthful hearts I What a safeguard against all the machinations of Satan ! And better still where father and mother — all — gather at a common altar of prayer. It is that which makes home the type of heaven, the dwell- L One has well said, "the home altar is heaven's threshhold." And happy are those children, who at that altar, have been con- secrated by a father's blessing, baptized by a mother's tear-, and raised to a throne of grace by their united prayer, as a free-will offering to God. The home that thus honor- Cod with an altar of devotion may surely claim the blessings of happi- p« :t'. . It has taken the fust bl( paradise on earth. The benefits of tin- home altar are j^reat in nuni- it in their fruits. But l< t us Ik- content with a brief resume* of them in ill. eminent Christian writer: "The influent 172 AROUND THE HOME TABLE family worship is great, silent, irresistible and permanent. Like the calm, deep stream, it moves on in silent, but overwhelming power. It strikes its root deep into the human heart, and spreads its branches wide over the whole being, like the lily that bears the tempest, and the Alpine flower that leans its cheeks upon the bosom of eternal snows —it is exerted amid the wildest storms of life, and breathes a softening spell in our bosoms, even when a heartless world is playing up the founda- tions of sympathy and love. " It affords home security and happiness, removes family friction, and causes all the complicated wheels of the home machinery to move on noise- lessly and smoothly. It promotes union and har- mony, expunges all selfishness, allays petulent feelings and turbulent passions, destroys peevish- ness of temper, and makes home intercourse holy and delightful. It causes the members to recipro- cate each other's affections, hushes the voice of recrimination, and exerts a softening and harmon- izing influence over each heart. The dew of Her- mou falls upon the home where prayer is wont to be made. Its members enjoy the good and the pleasantness of dwelling together in unity. It gives tone and intensity to their affections and THE CHRISTIAN SOME. IJ3 sympathies ; it throws a sunshine around their and interests ; it increases their happiness and takes away the poignancy of their grief and sorrow. It availeth much, therefore, both for time and for eternity. Its voice has sent many a poor J home to his father's house. Its answer •en been, 'This man was born there.' * * * * Human nature is there cheeked and moulded by the amiable spirit and lovely character of Jesus. The mind is expanded, the heart softened, senti- ments refined, SUbdued, hopes elevated, tile world Cast into the shade, and heaven realized as the first prize." This is not an ideal picture, but a graphic record of a grand reality. // »!, Education, Of the nature and importance of home educa- tion many Christian families have very inadequate ful enough about their public school advantages— they are careful enough about the " book culture " for their children. But of that which i^ of paramount importance — tin the mind and heart culture — alas for that ! ■in- the danger of this neglect in the b gave them a Btrict chai «ce t<> this home duty, And we can d<> no 174 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. better than to read and ponder it carefully. (Dent vi. $-7.) " Hear, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it ; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in Ihine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up." Here two things are very distinctly stated : 1. That parents are to comprehend and cherish these truths in their own hearts. As usual, we must first comprehend and experience that which we would impart unto others. Upon this princi- ple our Lord said unto his disciples, " Ye are the light of the world," and then immediately added, " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. v. 14, 16). Let pa- rents then first cherish the love of God in their THE CHRISTIAN HOME. 175 own heart- and comprehend the great truth- ol word, and they will be prepared for the next step 2. To teach them diligently to their children. In this we have home education in the st possible terms. And our heavenly Father foresaw the necessity of home education even lor Israel. The reason which God subse- quently gave for having given this injunction to brae! was, that they "might not forget the cove- nant of the Lord their God, and go a-whoring other gods." And how divinely thoughtful uch a safeguard about the children of Bu1 if important a- a safeguard for them, what of its importance in every Christian home in this time <>i" wordly wisdom and craft. By home education we do not mean the mental common or high school, or even that oi ate COUISe of study. These are all :il t<. success in life But noone of them • tke the place of the home H< re the educa- an entirely different nature The feel- re to be disciplined, the passions restrained, worthy motive- are to la- inspired, a profound rev- morality and religion and a 1 *i and. then brought hack. As well abandon your child to indulge appetites from habits, and itions that will plunge him into physical ruin, and then turn him over to the phy- sician ible healing and redemption, as •die chances Of laying the foundation stones r in the home, and trust to some chance revivalist to do by-and-by your work for you." key-note of the above is culture in the -culture of mind and heart. And in the iplishment of this education and authority But with this brief consideration of some of the print:; the Christian home let OS COn- l82 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. The Possibilities of the Christian Home. The term possibility comprehends far more per- haps than some may at first suspect. But we use the term for a purpose. The Christian life is rep- resented in God's word as a growth, inciting all our capacities and powers to vigorous action, and, by the careful use of all the means of grace, stimu- late new germs and aspirations, and awake dormant ones— and to elicit all the faculties and the strength of the whole man. Hence the divine command "strive to enter in at the straight gate ;" and Paul (Phil. iii. 14) "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;" and (Heb. xii. 1) "let us run with patience the race that is set before us ;" and (2 Tim. iv. 7.) "I have fought a good fight." The prayerful student of these passages will read far more in them than is usually practiced by many so-called Christian people. And one is fre- quently impelled to wonder whether of those who are so content to be moved leisurely along by the press of the throng, and some, who instead of running, are content to walk, and even sit and slumber by the way, are not in very great danger of dropping to the rear so far as to lose sight of the company, and of God's highway, and left to their THE CHRISTIAN HOME. 183 ease <>n the slopes before Sinai's height reached. Some of them, at least, will be found napping in Bunyan*s enchanted ground, and might do well to study the pilgrim's song lor such. •• Wh< • sleepy grow, let them come hither, And hear how these two pilgrims talk together: let them learn of them, in any wise, Thai to keep ope their drowsy slumbering eyes, . if it be managed well, Keeps thc-tn awake, and that in spite of hell." " Wherefore, kt us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober." 1 1 Thess. v. 6.) rder in the journey of life is not by Ik, but by the rustling march whose speed Is limited only by human possibilities. The ion is not therefore with how little may I be at, but uhiit is it possible for me /<> dot Which is the highest round in life's ladder within } This is the thought gleaned from be- d the line word. An wi 11 to note just lure also that faith is in rare the fruit of culture. We are told in : , that " it is the gift of God." T>u,\ hut he ^ives it through his word Culture the ami hearts of the lambs of his flock with the word, .uid the gl llized as one of I thus the WOrd becomes tile pnwi 1 Ivation. Whether or not all the children thus nurtui ultured will become l88 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. savingly acquainted with the Christ of those truths is another matter. But suffice it to say, that in any case where a saving faith is not begotten, a more symmetrical life will be developed, better habits will be formed and a more sturdy moral character will be the result. Whether or not all the children become Christians, it is possible to acquaint them with the great fundamental truths of salvation. 2. It is possible for the Christian home to bar her gates forever against Catholicism and infidel- ity. These are two potent factors in the conglom- erated mass of American citizenship. And the former is the prolific source of the latter. While it is true that there is a mighty current of emigra- tion from foreign lands, the very depths of which are so cloudy and turbid with the "isms" of the "Fatherland" as to seriously affect the spiritual light and life of our Christian land, and just as seriously affect the standard and dignity of Ameri- can citizenship. Yet, it is possible for the Chris- tian home and Church, under divine guidance, and provided with the gospel armor (Eph. vi. 10- 17) to send forth such a volume of the pure and wholesome waters of eternal life as to thoroughly filter and purify the whole stream, and issue into the great sea of life streams of "pure and unde- fined relieion." THB CHRISTIAN HOME. 189 The strength and future hope of Cathol- icism is in the instruction of her children. And what is an acknowledged fact in the Catholic must have equal weight in the Christian home and Church. It 4s an old and trite savin-, " knowl- wer." But if this is true of mere intel- ! culture, or, if a course of study in & :n, and in the traditions of Rome has given licism such strength, then what of a sancti- fied knowledge? What of the power for good in the true — tlie mind and heart culture — of the chil- dren in the Christian homes of our land? The inline:. h a course will he immeasurable, and it is | For it to lorn 1 such a wave of thought and faith as to sweep before it the :it Strength of the silly things of Rome, and oily of infidelity. Their turbid tides into our land; hut, like the tidal waves of the -real sea-, oulv to roll . purified by their action. And to their rin they will find a personal application in the lin< fellow: ■Ills ■ Ami lifts 1 I90 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. 3. It is possible for every Christian family by, their regular attendance upon all the services of the sanctuary, to direct the feet of their children in the same way, and cause them to form like habits. The influence of example is strangely powerful. As a Christian people we do not fully appreciate, nay, we can not fully understand how example has acquired and continues to wield such untold influence over the minds of the young. But the fact nevertheless remains. One has well said, "Men are by nature imitators, and all per- sons are more or less impressed by the speech, the manners, and the very habits of thinking of their companions." "Is example nothing?" asked Burke, and promptly answered, "It is every- thing." Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." Burke's grand motto, which he wrote for the tablet of the Mar- quis of Rockingham is worth repeating: "Remem- ber, resemble, persevere." Unconsciously, but inevitably we generate our thoughts, mould our habits and season our very lives from what we see and hear. Upon this principle some have leaped to the rash conclusion that " circumstances make the man." Rash and false as this conclusion is, the examples in daily life, the language heard, and THE CHRISTIAN H« 'ME, [QI the general influences which arc brought to hear on the mind — all of which combined form the cir- inces in liiV — arc potent factors in determin- ing man's sphere in life. And this is true in the Christian home as it can be no where else. There, e, the children with unshaken confi- dence regard the words ami acts of parents as and "Gospel." With them, "example is In view of this fact, God has so ly emphasized in his word the conduct of parents in the presence of the children. And a mistake made by too main- parents is that the Sab- bath-schoo] i- for the children only, and that the church services are for the adults only. Thus a reated between the church and Snnday- ■ '., and impressed with these notions too many ■v" from the Sab- bath-school. And I am not Mire but that some of the cl< this idea by discouraging the attend i bildren at the sanctuary services, and of not giving proper encouragement to the f.ithei ithers to attend the Suuday-school. But this i> not the divine plan. With God the company i d "f ".1A//, women and rd anew the w . awake to activity his dormant and talents, a: the chariot winds of blessing and joy to rolling . Amen ! 13 CHAPTER VIII. THE RELATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME TO THE CHURCH. There is a dangerous tendency in the popular mind at present which depreciates the exalted idea which God gives us of both the Church and the home. I speak of this tendency as dangerous be- cause of its source — it emanates directly from the wicked one. But the divine idea of the Church has been elucidated by the Apostle Paul. Speak- ing of believers — the constituency of the Church — he says (Rom. xii. 5): " So we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members in particu- lar." And again (1 Cor. xii. 12-27): "For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members * * * * are one body: so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. * * * * Now, ye are the body of Christ." And in Col. i. 18, "And he is the head of the body the Church." Ah! sacred, divine (!) concep- tion of the Church! What a thought for Chris- tians! The Church — the body of Christ with you (194) RELATIONS OP BOMB TO THB CHURCH. 195 and me, aye, and all the redeemed members of it — and God's only Son the head! Christ, the Son of God its brain and soul — it> living head — and we Aye, verily, "your lives are hid with Christ in God." What a family the Chnreh I :-! No wonder that our Lord would assure And the gates of hell shall not prevail against Church." Ah, no! •• In e v e ry condition — in sickness, in health, In j« ivertj 's vale, or abounding in wealth, At borne and abroad, on the land, "ii the ■ demand, bo thy succor shall be. not, I am with thee; o, be not dismayed; 1 > I am thy God, ami will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, keep thee, and cause the*.- 1«> Btand, / phci j.'e-ous, omnipotent hand. '• The soul that on JeSUS hath UanM fur repose, 1 not desert A though all hell should endeavor t<> shake, /'// ti ' ./Xv." with this thought, Timothy Dwight, than a century ago (A D. 1 800) gave utterance • md old hymn: ■• 1 love thy kingdom, Lord The Chnreh <>ur With I 9 6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. " I love thy Church, O God; Her walls before thee stand, Dear as the apple of thine eye, And graven on thy hand. " Beyond my highest joy I prize her heavenly ways, Her sweet communion, solemn vows, Her hymns of love aud praise. «' Jesus, thou Friend divine, Our Saviour and our king, Thy hand from every snare and foe Shall great deliverance bring. " Sure as thy truth shall last, To Zion shall be given The brightest glories earth can yield, And brighter bliss of heaven." Such are the sources of inspiration and aspira- tion which move the society of people known as "the Christian Church." It was of such John (Rev. xxi. 3) "heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." O blessed, exalted, divine idea of the Church! How can we depreciate and secularize it! But rather with reverential awe let us remember as we enter His sanctuary that "The RELATIONS OF HOME TO THE CHURCH. IOJ Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him." Hab. ii. 20. Let us not forget then that the Church, like the home is a divine institution* And that their mis- like is the amelioration and salvation of the world. Hence her divine Head gave commission to hi- therefore and make dis- |] nations.' 1 The true, the divine, idea therefore of the church is a society of individuals among and in whom God dwells, and whose head ami body is Christ — in short, it is a concentration of sanctified ingenuity and strength for the purpose king nun more like Christ, earth more like converting "the kingdoms of this into the kingdom of our Lord and his Chri ther matters so in this, the divine tie Chinch is higher and more com- prehensive than the human. "For my thoughts ::r thoughts, neither are your ways my [sa lv. S, o). And with : the Christian Church before us let us three things: 1. That a an institution the Church is divine. Our ].■ I i:rch." In tl: epistli itten : " Ye I98 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacri- fice, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The institution with its operations is divine, and its true constituency desire to think, and speak, and act, only with the divine mind (Phil. ii. 5), and in accord with the divine will. 2. That in its constitution the Church is com- posed of all believers and their baptized children. " For the promise is unto you and your children." (Acts ii. 39.) Christ is "the head," "the chief corner-stone in Zion," "the body;" but we are "the members in particular." Christ is the "vine," and the whole family of God are "the branches." 3. That all our conceptions of God and his ways must emanate from God by his operation through and by the appointed means of grace in the Church. By the reading and preaching of the word new thoughts are conceived and old ones are quickened and purified; and by the operations of the Holy Ghost the appointed means of grace are refreshed and sanctified. And hence what the material home is to the natural man in his social and intellectual culture, the Church is to the spiritual man in his higher developments. RELATIONS 01 BOMB TO THE CHURCH. 199 But we have ROW before our minds two institu- tions — both sacred to memory, important factors in life's career and alike of divine origin. What relations du they sustain to each other? This is a vital question, and one which should claim the reader's prayerful attention. But in view of the peculiar province and prerogatives vested in the Christian home by our heavenly Father; and, in of the conspicuous and important place given the Christian Church in the plan of redemption by the Great Hu.u\ of the Church, the relation is vital, and there can be but one answer to the question: the Christian home, by divine arrangement, is designed to be the stepping-stone to the Church. God has plainly designed the home «ne the nursery in which the " lambs of his to be led with the "sincere milk, of the Th( parochial School, the catechetical and the Sunday-school, all occupy important church-work. But uo i them, nor all of them combined, can become any adequate substitute for the home. Cod has wisely given that, like the Church, a place peculiarly its own. It is sometimes Baid that "the Sunday- I i- the 1 the Church." This may Ix: true only in a very limited sense; that is, only 200 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. in so far as it reaches a class of children in whose homes there is spiritual destitution — where, it may be, there is no Bible, or where, at most, the Christ of the Bible has not been embraced by faith. The original design of the Sunday-school was to reach "the ragamuffins of the street." Robert Raikes once said, "Every home which has Christ in it has a Sunday-school in it also." (Would God this were so now!) He therefore instituted the public Sunday-school to reach those children who had none at home. But he had no thought of attempting a substitute for the duties and privi- leges of the Christian home. But it has been sug- gested that the reason why so many parents and children of professedly Christian homes are not in the public Sunday-school is that they are engaged in the private or home Sunday-school. Supremely selfish as this might seem, how I wish that this were even so! But alas! it is not so. But I re- peat, the primitive design of the Sunday-school was to reach the children of the streets with the word of God — to feed the spiritually destitute with the bread of life. But who would speak of the Christian home as a place of spiritual destitution! And why change from the original design of the RELATIONS OF HOME TO THE CHURCH. 201 Sunday-school? Nay, why not now as then have the trained children (?) of the Christian homes he- come the messengers to go out into the highways and !. . r into the Sunday-school the poor and the wayward to hear the word of life? Surely this plan. Why not execute it now? Hut instead of this the lamentable fact stares us in the face that too much time must be -pent with the children of so-called Christian homes to collect and hold them in the Sunday-school. And thus the time and effort originally contemplated for the rag- amuffins is largely consumed with a class which, by proper training in the home, ought to have become the cheerful and efficient assistants in this work. But who is at fault in this matter? Where shall we lay the Maine? Surely these are grave ques- Witfa many of those who do come, it has me a habit that ere the sound of the "amen " in the closing prayer of the Sunday-school has time -one. The}- seldom are in the pew with their parents to hear the word Qtly are found in the ple*a meetings. They grow up I with th< I and follies of the And by and by t' and wonder, win are not ourchildren in the church? 202 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. And again we inquire into the cause. Let them again turn to the word and there read God's charge to Israel (Deut. vi. 6-12), if they would learn the cause of all this. The careful and prayerful reader and observer will find the cause for these lament- able effects in the home, just as in the case of EH and David. But instead of all this it was possi- ble for those parents to have reared within their own homes, the first and surest stepping stones into the sanctuary, and to the very altar in the house of God. For in a properly governed home — in the Christian home—it is natural for the children to revere and love that which is revered and loved by the parents. This is almost an intuitive law. Hence in such homes the chil- dren almost intuitively learn to love the word of God as it falls from the lips of the kind father and the caressing mother. And then what more natural than to revere and love the faith- ful pastor, his wise counsels and timely instruc- tions, and with all to hear the public preaching of the word. On the other hand the unlearned and uncouth are as invariably "afraid and shy of that preacher. " But we intuitively carry with us the in- structions and impressions of our Christian home. It is natural to long to pass from the scenes, in- RELATIONS OF BOMB TO THE CHURCH. spired hopes aiul real coin forts of the home altar to the, scenes of hope and pathos, and a realization of the unspeakable gifts of God at his altar in the sanctuary. It was upon this principle that the angel testified of Abraham, ll For I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him and they shall keep the -cay of //if Lord." Prom the home Abraham's children with one accord went forth in the way of the Lord to "/>■ it" — Why? Because they had learned to revere and h>ve that way in the home. That man Ued the way to the hearts of those children, so that God by the word and his grace might keep them unto everlasting life. Oh for Abrahams, and we shall see more sons and daugbl ecrated to the Lord from their empty pews in the sanctuary on the . and in all the land we .shall hear the ::ion chorus : " My native < otmtry, thee — I.ainl of tlu- DOble, fr< •• Thy iianit I live. I love thy ro, V.s ami rills, Thy wood • -Hi'! t. mpled hill; Uh fixture :■ 204 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. It is to be noted further that the Church is, in a measure, only "the advance step of the Christian home. " Or, as one has said of the Christian home: "It is the Church in miniature." By another the Church has been fitly styled: "Our spiritual home." We would not in any way depreciate the function of the Church, but if possible impress upon the reader's mind that God has evidently designed the one to be preparatory — a stepping stone — to the other. While it is the province of the home to provide food and raiment for the body, and culture for the mind and heart, it is the province of the Church to dispense that which will give strength and lustre to the whole man. It is the province of the home to combine the temporal and the A, B, C of the spiritual, but that of the Church to deal wholly with the spiritual — from the alpha to the omega. Hence we dare not mistake — the home can not be exalted to a substitute for the Church, nor even to an equality with the Church. God has given to each a distinctive sphere, and yet the relation is intimate, unique and inseparable — the one the foot-stool, the other the altar; to the one God has committed the prepara- tion; to the other "the holy of holies" of his kingdom on earth, including the dispensation of RELATIONS OF HOME TO THE CHURCH. 205 his means of grace from baptism even to the broken body and shed blood of her crucified, risen and ascended Head. Each therefore, by divine arrangement, has committed to it separate and special functions, the former preparatory to the latter. O what a thought for the Christian world! The Bible with its Christ in the earthly home; the mind enlightened and the heart quickened through the word and saved through Christ in the Church, out spiritual home. But the perfect law of liberty, with its glorified Christ in heaven, our everlasting home above. For there we shall be like him and see him as he is. what a passage !— from the altar in the home to the altar in the Church, and from the altar in the Church to the throne in ! Christ in the home, Christ in the Church, • in heaven! how this thought should with zeal to grasp the highest pos- sibilities of the Christian home. I low they labor and toil fol comfortable homes, and for tin- trca.s- rth f.r their children. But < >! wh their spiritual home, the Church? And what of talk <>f the pleasures and me, and, inspired with the thought, the d ernes, " there ia do place 206 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Some years ago, a congregation of some twenty thousand people gathered in the "old Castle Gar- den," New York, to hear the famous Jenny Lind sing as no songstress had ever sung the sublime compositions of Beethoven, Handel and others. At length the Swedish Nightingale thought of her home, paused a moment as if to fold her wings for a higher flight, then she began with deep emo- tion to pour forth "Home, Sweet Home." The audience could not stand it: an uproar of applause stopped the music : tears gushed from those thou- sands of eyes like rain. Beethoven and Handel were forgotten. A moment later the song came again, with a voice trembling with deep emotion, but full and clear as if it had been the voice of an angel from heaven, " Home, Home, Sweet, Sweet Home, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." And that vast audience sat bound in fetters. And what was it that bound those twenty thousand souls? Ah! it was a secret (shall I say magic?) power in the word "home." ButO! If there are such ecstatic charms about the earthly home; ay more, in the Church, our spiritual home ! O what of that home above ! No RELATIONS OP BOMB TO THE CHURCH, wonder that the great Bickexsteth, as if convulsed with the thought, broke out in " Zion is our home, Jerusalem, the city of our God. O happy home! O happy children there! O blissful mausions of our Father's house! Bden for delight! te the harvests reaped once sown in tears; ' y ministry enhan ] the banquet of the wine of heaven Riches of K'ory incorruptible, Crowns, amaranthine crowns of victory, The voice of harpers, harping on their harps, Dthem of the holy cherubim, I river of the spirits joy, The britial palace of the Prince of / The Holiest of Holies— God is )u re." O that home above] We would, but we can not be that place — the home of our Father, o that family — ill washed white in the blood of the Lamb! The august vision makes us tremble as we and the sublimesl reach of human thought only point— feebly point— to the deep founds- of that home; to its God-built stories, walled adamant, paved with gold and adorned with : rapt in the bound) Sulgent glory of < *od; its occu- 2o8 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. pants archangels, angels, cherubim and seraphim, with all the redeemed, and God the Father, the Sou and the Holy Ghost in their midst. O the thought of that home! No sorrow, no weeping, no tears, no separation, no death ! But home, sweet home! Beau- tiful home! Glorious home! Everlasting home! Home with each other; home with angels! Home with God! Blessed be God for that home! May our Heavenly Father give us deeper, higher and holier aspirations for the true home on earth, that we may lead the young from thence to the Church, their spiritual home, and thence from the foretaste to the full fruition in the home above. Amen! CHAPTER IX. IS THERE salvation OUTSIDE OB THE CHURCH? Li.r us take for our text in this chapter the ■'.hat familiar language of our Lord, Mark xvi. 16, "He that believetfa and is baptized shall ved, but he that believeth not shall be damn There is a somewhat popular tendency just now umulation of names on the Church her than a real travailing for souls. There rt of popular aspiration to lai i the Church; and amid the zeal to real- i ibject of the Church and her ministry, in a measure at least, p and. The real object of the Church rth in our Lord's terse expression of . : " Por the Son of man is come to ///k of life— as memb the im hurch. But, on the other hand, ■•:nt all those who are connected with the 212 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. external or visible organization of God's kingdom as members of the visible Church. But we would impress upon the reader's mind again the fact that these are not two, but one Church. The one is within the other, as the holy of holies — the She- kinah — was within the temple. And the members of the invisible Church ordinarily are all mem- bers of the visible Church. It is highly import- ant therefore that we note this distinction, and that we do not transfer the promises given to the one to the other. Our text includes the member- ship of the visible Church, but is not limited to it. Onr Lord here plainly presents the way of access to the visible Church, but does not limit himself to it. And it will be observed also that the require- ments for accession to the visible Church are all that is necessary for membership in the invisible Church, and for salvation, if its requirements are fully complied with, and its offered means prop- erly appropriated. For its requirements are i. Repentance. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you * * * for the remission of sins " (Acts ii. 38). Repent- ance is God's first requirement from the sinner — it is the first step toward God and his kingdom. But this is not enough. He who would stop here SALVATION OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH. 213 would fail to realize the promises of eternal life. Hence John (l Epis. i. 9) said: ll If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Re- pentance and confession are handmaidens, there- fore, in the gospel, and both are prerequisites to S to the Church. The first requisites for ac- □ to the Church, therefore, are also the first steps toward God and his kingdom. But God's word requires 2. Faith. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." And the Apostle to the Hebrews declares, " But without faith it is impossi- ble to please God. For he that cometh to God most believe that he is, and that he is the re- warder of them that diligently seek him." Here faith is set forth as a plain and evident require- ment of the gospel — it is a condition both of ac- ■ the Church and salvation. A confession of faith is necessary in each ease. 3. Baptism is another requisite. Our Lord plainly declares "He that believeth and is bap- ihall be saved" Hence baptism is a pre- requisite alike : ion to the Church and Ivation. Hence the w to the '.1 must be the way of >alvatioii. And QUI 214 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Lord's declaration comprehends all the essentials for both. But let us not forget the fact that a mere nominal compliance with these requirements is no insurance of membership in the invisible Church, nor of salvation. For in Matt. vii. 21, we read: "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." Hence membership in the visible Church does not necessarily insure salvation. The visible Church does offer the means of salvation, but "per se " is not a guarantee to it. But the invisible Church, and that only, contains the true membership of God's kingdom. Without membership in Gocfs invisible Church there is therefore no salvation. Let us then definitely understand what we mean by the Church. In the common acceptation of the term we mean the visible organization of God's believing people, to whom the word is preached and the sacraments are administered. With this definition in view the subject of this chapter is presented. And in the light of the deductions just made, it would naturally and logically follow that as the Church does not necessarily insure sal- vation, so neither on the other hand does it follow that there is absolutely no salvation outside of the Church. SALVATION OUTSIDE OF THK CHURCH. 215 But let us here introduce another inquiry: // 'hat are the absolute- essentials to salvation t Generally speaking, the external ordinance of :n and the means of grace are regarded as tial tu salvation. But no one of the orthodox churches teaches that either of these is absolutely ration ; that is, that without them salvation is absolutely impossible. But there are some means which are absolutely essential to sal- The distinction therefore between those means which are essentia] and those which are Lvation is as marked as be- tween the visible and the invisible Church. The point then of special importance just here is what are those means which are absolutely essential to salvation, in contradistinction to those which are ential in the ordinary sense. It will . Imitted by all, that our - comprehends all that is required ': in both the visible and the invisible Church, and must t;. omprehend all that is lvation. For we haw 1. / faith — " He that believeth and I mall be saved." In this onr Lord did il h as made in tin -not merely an induction into 2l6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. a nominal Christian life — but vastly more : He would have his subjects reach beyond, and by the operations and exercise of a living faith appropri- ate the atoning blood of Christ. The promise of salvation is to those only who exercise such faith. It is not a difficult matter to distinguish between such a faith and a mere nominal or historical faith. The latter accepts the facts in the case as such — as mere historical truths — but little if anything more. But the former cleaves unto the divine — it accepts and appropriates the intrinsic worth or merit in his saving power. Therefore the apostle to the He- brews (xi. 6) said: "For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him." That is, we are not simply to accept in a passive way the fact that there is a God, but to accept and apply the saving efficacy of Christ as our personal Saviour. This is the meaning of our Saviour's words: "Be- lieve and be baptized and thou shalt be saved." Without the exercise of such faith salvation is ab- solutely impossible. And then we have 2. The True Baptism. " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." This is compre- hended in the ordinance of baptism, but is not SALVATION OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH. 217 limited to it. The external application of water in the ordinance of baptism does not of itself work :n the exercise of the " true faith M in the ordinance of baptism, the true baptism — that of the Holy Ghost— is secured. Thus the believer realizes within what is signified without. The former is the means, the latter the end. ( >nr In the text, looked through the water to the true, the Holy Ghost baptism. And without this :n there is absolutely no salvation. Christ's language on this subject is unmistakable. (John rily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kii God." This is the posi- tive 1 i L's Redeemer. Hence the the Holy Ghost must be absolutely I.:'.- v. : Paul in his letter emphasizes the same truth: " Not ghteOUSneSS which we have done, but a to his mercy he saved us by the ••on and the renewing of the I all, we are .saved by the \Hon and, the ; I »f the we have the ordinance of the j the reality of the invisi- ble. We have the oral 2l8 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. ing the real operations of the heart; and the ex- ternal application of water signifying and procuring for us the operations of the Holy Ghost within. As therefore the invisible Church is comprehended within the visible, so the absolute essentials to salvation are signified by and comprehended in the external ordinances. True faith and true baptism are therefore absolutely essential to salvation. Hence we return to the original inquiry, "Is there salvation outside of the Church f " This is a grave question, and can be answered best by answering both affirmatively and nega- tively with some modifications. i. Affirmatively. There is salvation outside of the visible Church. For we have just observed that the ordinances of the visible Church are es- sential, but not absolutely essential to salvation. Hence there must be a possibility of salvation out- side of the visible Church. This conclusion is confirmed by the promise to the thief on the cross. To him Christ said: " This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Being on the cross he could not then and there be inducted into the visible Church by its external ordinance; but, having publicly confessed Christ, he complied with the SALVATION OUTSIDE OP THE CHURCH. 2ig external conditi ilvation so fax as it was ble for him to do. He believed and publicly confessed his faith; but as he could nut then be baptized with water, God blessed him with the true — the Holy Ghost — baptism, and he was saved the visible Church. In the language of another, " It is the contempt for the sacrament, and not the want of it, that condemns. Though binds us to the means, he does not bind his own mercy by them.* 1 But a few observations may give us a clearer ption of our conclusion. Let the reader : vc i. That fit subjects for the kingdom of God will intuitively yearn for the gates of Zion, and hence .a entrance inl I visible Church. If truly eon, erned about the salvation of their souls, men will ^o where the means of salvation are set forth and offered to all. If born of God, men will uong the people of ( iOcL That any indifference on this subject is prinm facie evidence of unfitness for heaven. indifferent about their church rela- tion ami ii cannot be : tied aDOUt their souls, and hence their unfitness for the kingdom <>f<*«<>d. 220 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. 3. To reject the means of grace offered to the world through the Church is to reject the salva- tion offered by Christ, the Head of the Church. And hence salvation outside of the Church is a bare possibility and to those only with whom church membership at the time of their conver- sion, or prior to death, is a practical impossibility, as in the case of the thief on the cross. But one says: "I believe and have been bap- tized; can I not live as well outside of the Church as in it? To this there can be but one answer— it is emphatically, No ! As well attempt to maintain physical strength without the necessary food regu- larly administered, as to attempt living a real Christian life without all of the means of grace regularly appropriated. But to the original question we answer 2. Negatively — that there is no salvation outside of the invisible Church. For as we have just ob- served, the essentials for membership in the invisi- ble Church are essential to salvation. Without the true faith and the true baptism no one can be saved. "Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God; " and " Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he can not enter into the king- dom of God." " Ye must be bom again." John iii. SALVATION OUTSIDE OP THE CHURCH. 221 ;. And the Psalmist (xxiv. $-$) propounded and answered this grave question thus: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? lie that hath clean hands and a pure heart. * * * * He shall receive the bl 'in the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." He that truly believes and has been truly baptized shall he saved — all others will he l<>-t. And now, with these conclusions in mind, let it irefully noted, I. That though there be a possibility of salvation le of the visible Church, that it is a bare pos- sibility y and nothing more. Death-bed repentances are usually very uns ry at the best, and a . of such cases give very clear ince with God. One has well True repentance is never too late, but late . true." In all the Bible with its multitu mises and examples we have but on in a dying hour had the prom- th God— of salvation outside of Church, viz., the thief on the And even he in a me within her folds. He c< : : his faith in Christ, and ■ought t'ne men y and pardon of his I^ord. He did 222 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. all that could have been done under the circum- stances. And it may be God gave us this one example to teach us the bare possibility of sal- vation outside of the visible Church. Another has said of this case, " There is one, man need not de- spair ; there is only one, man dare not presume.'''' But be assured, dear reader, that God gave us the Church militant with all its means of grace to pre- pare us for the Church triumphant; and that those who neglect the proffered grace of the one can not hope to enjoy the "perfect love" of the other. Let it be observed, 2. That there will be no probation after death. Our state at death will determine our state in eternity. The doctrine of a purgatory as a state of probation after death is without any scriptural foundation and is ridiculously absurd. Our Lord's promises of salvation are all limited to the oppor- tunities of this world. " He that believeth and is baptized" — not shall believe and be baptized in pur- gatory — "shall be saved " was the promise of our Lord, not to those in purgatory but to those on the earth. Dearly beloved, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the SALVATION OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH, 823 shall of the flesh reap corruption ; hut he that BOweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting/' "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. xii. 1. CHAPTER X. THE SABBATH. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor tin- son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; where- fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hal- lowed it. 1 ' Ex. xx. 8-1 1. When God had completed the six days' work of creation we are told (Gen. ii. 2.) "and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." And when God gave the people this commandment by Moses, he gave as the reason why it should be kept, that the Lord labored six days and rested the seventh. (Ex. xx. 8-1 1.) "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth * * * and rested the seventh day. Where- (224) THE SABBATH. 225 fore the Lord blest the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Oh, hallowed rest that must have been! The term Sabbath is from the Hebrew Sabbat**, to rest. The New Testament name lor the day of rest is "The Lord's Day." But in the pre- sentation of our thoughts in this chapter we shall speak of it as the Christian Sabbath, as in contra- distinction to the Jewish Sabbath. For as God, when he had finished the work of creation, "rested from all the work which he had made," nr Lord, when he had finished the work of redemption, rested. Hence the Lord's Lay — the Christian Sabbath — is to be a day of "rest." But some people have Very Strange ideas about the term rest Solomon long since expressed their of rest in his description of the sluggard "Yet a little sleep, a little slum- in- of the hands to >'.ccp." But i of the term rest Rest not mean inactivity or idleness. Wire this true, then heaven would be the idler's ideal home. Btlt On the other hand, we ale told that 110 idler shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But the true, 1 liberation — building hange of conditions b is demonstrated in 226 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. every-day life. We labor until wearied and ex- hausted, then lie down to sleep. But at no time are certain functions of the body more busy than when we sleep. Rest is not idleness, therefore, neither is idleness rest. Apply this principle to the divine idea of the Sabbath, and we have the true idea of the Sabbath as a rest day. But God rested from all his labors— kept it as a day of hal- lowed, triumphant joy over a week's work. It was a blissful change from the busy scenes of crea- tion—from the exercise of his omnipotent power, in its execution, to viewing and gleaning of real glory from his work. So the Christian, turning from six days of the busy scenes of life to enjoy the Sabbath, views and gleans the glory of God from it. This is true rest. And in this we have the divine idea of the Sabbath. Hence God said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." But there are those who seem perplexed as to when and why the change from the seventh to the first day took place. If God originally appointed the seventh day as the Sabbath, and commanded his people to recognize and keep it as such, why, when, and by what authority the change? From the time God instituted the Sabbath to the time of the crucifixion of Christ, there was no interrup- THE SABBATH. 227 tion in the keeping of the original day. But the - made by Christ himself. We are told it he came to fulfill the law. But in fulfilling the law he completed the works of one a by inaugurating a new and more ue. Hence the fulfilling of the law meant .1 complete change in all the leading tares of the economy and government of his visi- ble kingdom. Instead of circumcision, as the initiatory rite into his kingdom, we have baptism ; instead of the passover, we have the Lord's Sup- the blood - sacrifice fa- sin, we have the precious blood of Christ ; instead of the seventh day, or Jewish Sabbath, we now the Christian Sabbath. Tlie- change, tl. I the resurrection of Christ and by his authority. Foi we observe 1. That to the time of his crucifixion Christ ind rigidly observed the seventh day as bbath. But after his crucifixion — the work then he would rise- and rest all his laboi and keep it as the Chi : this time to hia ascension he idly as the ;>t the seventh. In John 1 228 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Christian Sabbath spent by our Lord with his disciples between his resurrection and ascension. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them ; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you." Without any record, or even any intimation that they kept any other, we do have the record of their keeping the first day— and that against fierce opposition ; such was their fear of the Jews that they had the doors closed.* But notwithstanding the opposi- tion, the change was a permanent one. From the scene of Christ's ascension the disciples returned to Jerusalem to await the day of Pentecost, as in- structed in Luke xxiv. 49. "And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." (Read also Acts i, 9, 14)- *See also Luke xxiv. 36-51. THE SABBATH. 229 ntly the day of Pen me — it was the first day of the week, the new, the Christian Sab- bath. On that day the disciples began their work with power, and three thousand souls were happily converted to Christ. Oh, blessed Christian Sab- bath that must have been! But mindful of the fact that he came not to I to fulfil the law; that it was a part of his mission not only to abrogate all that was rmal, ceremonial and slavish, but more illy to bring forth the life and spirit of that law — mindful of these, let us hear his declaration to the rigid Sabbatarians of his day (Mark ii. 27- bath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of man is ibbath." If now he came to fulfil the whole law; and if Lord of the Sabbath; and if he arose on the first day, appeared to his than five times on that day, and kept : bbatll with them as he before kept the Jewish Sabbath, it would naturally that Chi red thus to complete his work on the earth by cli the J> of tin >rd*s day — the Chris- ith. lint it will be observed 23O AROUND THE HOME TABLE. 2. That his disciples who were Jews, and who before the resurrection of Christ had uniformly kept the seventh day as the Sabbath, after his resurrection just as uniformly kept the first day as the Sabbath. In the Gospel by John (xx. 19) we read that they assembled under great difficulty — "for fear of the Jews" — but they assembled, nevertheless, to keep and celebrate the Christian Sabbath. In the Acts of the Apostles (xx. 7) we read: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them and continued his speech until midnight." Here two things are brought to onr notice: First, that they came together to break bread, that is, to celebrate the Lord's Supper. As the Jews celebrated the Passover on the Jewish Sabbath, so now the disciples would celebrate the dying love of their crucified Lord on the Lord's day — on the Christian Sabbath. Second, that Paul preached unto them. That is, as the Jews had formerly met in the temple and in the syna- gogues on the Jewish Sabbath to hear the law read and expounded, so now the disciples met to hear the Gospel of the "Lord of the Sabbath" preached unto them on the Lord's own day — on the Chris- tian Sabbath. In 1 Cor. xvi. 2 Paul writes: THK SABBATH. 25 1 " Upon the first day of the week let every one lay by him in I rod hath prospered him, that there ' hen I come. 11 And John in his vision <>n Patmos writes (Rev. i. 10): "I in the spirit on the Lord's day." Prom these trident that the disciples, in accord with the example and precept of their Lord and r, and the significance of his resurrection, carefully and rigidly observed the first day of the week as their Sabbath. 3. V. e that according to the uniform the early church fathers, the first instead of the seventh day was kept as the Sabbath. The ribed tu Barnabas, which was in exist- ence in the early part of the second century, " celebrating with joy the day on which :." Justin Martyr, A. I >. 1 >n the day called Sunday is an : all who live in the cities, OT in rural nd the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets arc read." [renaeus, as, in A. I >. 17S; Clement, of Ale\- rertullian and < trigen a little lin, A. I>. 253 — all by the Christian Chinch. Alexandria, A. 1 1 • i , -..;. s: " We 232 AROUND THE HOME TABLE- keep the Lord's day as a day of joy because of him who rose thereon." In short, a review of the cus- tom of the early Church shows conclusively that though many converts from Judaism observed for a time the Mosaic Sabbath, the Gentile converts were never taught or required to do so. (See Acts xv. 19-29.) But the whole Christian Church ob- served the first day of the week— met on it for worship, and on it abstained from all secular busi- ness, so far as they could in the midst of heathen- ism. It gradually took the place of the Jewish Sabbath, aud became the holy-day of the new dispensation. Wherever the people became con- verted to Christianity they substituted the first for the seventh day— the Christian for the Jewish Sabbath. In A. D. 321 the Roman emperor Constantine issued his famous edict legalizing the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest. In A. D 325 the Coun- cil of Nice recognized the observance of the first day, or Christian Sabbath, as an established insti- tution of the Church. Richard Baxter says ; "That the first Christian emperor, finding all Christians unanimous in the possession and keep- ing of the day," (that is, the Christian Sabbath) " should make a law for the due observance of it, THE SABBATH. 233 and that the first Christian Council should estab- lish uniformity in the very gesture of worship on that day." Prom Mich testimony as this we must conclude that the Christian Sabbath was generally observed by all Christians. And so SOOU as the Christian became the prevailing religion, the Christian Sabbath was established by law. And it would certainly seem lible that in less than four centuries the vance of the fir>t day of the week as the Christ th would become SO universal as to me the lawful substitute for the Jewish Sab- bath, instituted of God and kept by his people since Moses talked with Cod in the holy mount, if it (the Chri bbath) had nol been instituted by Christ and his a] a substitute for the And he wh< of the Sabbath, who oa the first day, and met and blessed his dis- ::d on that day poured out his n them, has been meeting and blessing on that day lor nineteen centuries. In an} one think of return- nth da\ —to tlu- J« wish- as our Sab- As well think of changing in, from the b experiences in the sanctuary u> tin formal ■• remo- 234 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. nies of the temple, or from faith in the Lamb of Calvary to offering the firstlings of our flocks and herds as sacrifices for sin. It is well, however, that we do not become con- fused with the term "Sunday" so commonly applied to the first day of the week. The term Sunday is of heathen origin, but the day to which it is applied is not. The first day of the week is as distinctively the Sabbath to us as was the seventh to the Jews. The Jews under their dispensation had their Sabbath. We under the Chistian dis- pensation have the Christian Sabbath. Let us rejoice, therefore, in the Lord's day as a day of hallowed memories, and strive to secure a more o-eneral and thorough sanctity of it. But having now settled in our minds the day to be kept as the Christian Sabbath, let us give some attention TO THE KEEPING OF IT. The commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. THE SABBATH. l-'ov in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the Beventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab- bath day and hallowed it." In this commandment several things are clearly presented to us: i. That tin- Sabbath is to be a compht, day. It is set apart as the Lord's day. And no unnecessary work whatever is to be done on that day, G in this commandment "in it (the halt not do any work." It means just what it says, and is no less comprehensive than positive It means vim, dear reader, and all under your control, ami it in- cludes all unnecessary work. Hut one will ask, what is unneo >rk? As the Bible is its own best interpreter, let us turn to it for an answer iniry. In the Gospel by St. Matthew (xii. ; have the point illustrated. " And I there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him. Baying, Is it law- ful to heal on the Sabbath days? And 1; them, What man shall there beamonj th.it ll beep, and if it shall fall into a pit Ofl •■ ill he not lay hold on it. and lift it oul ' How then is a man better than a 236 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. sheep ? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on die Sabbath days." The reader will do well to read also Luke xiii. n-17, and John ix. 13-16. In these passages our Lord gives us a general prin- ciple from which we understand that relief ren- dered in sickness, or suffering, or danger of the loss of life, with man or beast, are always valid excep- tions in this commandment. On the other hand, God's word is very explicit as to the unnecesary work. Aside from the positive command "in it thou shalt not do any work," we observe further : 1. That no trading whatever is to be done on the Sabbath. We have an illustration of God's sore displeasure with Israel for this in the time of Nehemiah, xiii. 15-18. "There dwelt men of Tyre also therein which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and pro- fane the Sabbath day ? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." This should forever settle the question of Sabbath shopping with all who have any regard for God or THE SABBATH. 237 his wold. No victuals or wares — absolutely noth- ing was to be sold or bought on the Sabbath ; id pronounced it "profaning the Sabbath." O that the "Lord of the Sabbath" may have mercy upon those who, in this advanced age of Christian civilization, persistently "pro- ' bath by opening their places of business and those who patronize them ! For both are alike guilty of Sabbath desecration. The visi- tation of the barber shop, the meat market, the grocer, or any other place of business, is a flagrant : the principle and spirit of the Lord's nd can not do otherwise than incur the sore Upon us as a church and But the word of God further specifies: 2. Thai of food are to be made on ibbath, such as gathering of fruit or baking. from the boo'. •. i. 22-26) : is that on the sixth e and fall of the great empires of the world have kept pace with their observance or desecration of the ho'. bath. If from no higher motive therefore than that of civil prosperity, what an incentive for a careful and rigid observance of the Lord's dav! Surely we can not afford to allow the greed for Uy treasures t<> swallow up the hope of :ity under the fool's verdict (1 Cor. " I. I DS eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." But these illustrations from I >rd are fulfillment of ( I at the mouth of his prophets (Jer. xvii. Ji-27 ; Xcch. vii. 14). And shall we not h.r. for God's word I and verified in history? <> that our hearts may be inspired with the true Spirit of which will have regard for the Cod of I for his day ! Then shall we hear our a in One universal i gladness, O day of joy ■ad light, O balm of 1 are and Md •lii! and Bright ; 246 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. On thee, the high and lowly, Bending before the throne, Sing, holy, holy, holy, To the Great Three in One." 3. The conversion of souls and the general pros- perity of the Church will depend on the use we make of the Lord's day. God has set apart this d ay _" hallowed and blessed it"— as his. It was set apart for the specific purpose of man's moral and spiritual amelioration. As man's physical nature needs proper exercise for development, so his spiritual. God has set apart and hallowed his day for this purpose. Hence the great achieve- ments that have been witnessed on that day. On that day the first apostolic sermon yielded the fruit of three thousand converts— 3000 souls were made happy in a Saviour's love, and many more made strong in his grace. Paul preached his greatest sermons on the Lord's day, and on that day reaped his greatest harvest of souls. How diligently our Lord wended his way to the syna- gogue or the temple on each Sabbath of his min- istry ! How carefully his disciples subsequently followed his example. Why all this ? The fruit of their work is the answer ! Their examples speak to us, " Go thou and do likewise." Surely THK SABBATH. 247 those were days of spiritual prosperity in the . gainsaying and stiff-necked people. The same use of the Lord's day will bring like result even in this age of aggressive worldiness and sin. " Awake, ye saints, awake ! And hail this sacreil day ; In loftiest songs of pi Your humblest homage pay ; Come bleaa the day that God has bleat, The type of heaven's eternal rest.'' Ble- Jit, that in the proper use of the Sabbath we have a type of that which is to come. At the institution of the first Sabbath the Lord At the institution of the second the Lord of the Sabbath taught us how to keep ami that we might find that rest which God him- DJoyed on the first Hut only in the proper : that day will these joys he realized Would, therefore, that the Christian world, inspire. 1 by this thought, might lead in what should be the universal sou- : " Thi: !. w<- love ; Hut there is nol . c- ; Thv servants tn that rest If] With ardent hope and str-UK 248 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. " There languor shall no more oppress ; The heart shall feel no more distress ; No groan shall mingle with the songs That dwell upon immortal tongues. " When shall that glorious day begin, Beyond the reach of death or sin ? Whose sun shall never more decline But with unfading lustre shine." CHAPTER XI. TRUB MANHOOD. (Or a chapter for Young Men.) Tin-: apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corin- thians ixvi. 13) has given DS the watchword for this chapter, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." This was a bit of and timely counsel to the Corinthian people. with danger as they were on every hand, Paul, like the general of an army, would inspire id strength in words like these. He not only foresaw the danger, but with the courage of a Christian b ht to render the aid accessary rt it The advice and counsel here given contains the principle and the means by which every young man may avert like dangers in this with the zest and avidity of a Chri-ti.in her.,. The charge is founded upon three fundamentally essential to .success in any attitude or vocation in life. First, watchful about in life is sure to laml ,;: Hy in some unseen pitfall. Of the 250 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Christian life this is doubly true. Second, "faith" The man without faith (if there is such a being) is like a vessel at sea without a helm, left to the mercy of the storm and wave. But with his faith founded on the " Rock of Ages," he stands safely anchored amid the furious storms and lashing waves. Life's storms may spend their fury, and its turbulent waters their violence upon him, but un- harmed he plays about on its bosom as the vessel upon the tempestuous sea. And third, manliness. " Quit you like men " simply means to bring into activity all the functions and principles of true Christian manhood. These three factors fitly joined together, and the fortification is securely built. But that there is need of such a fortifica- tion — that there are dangers, dangers many, dan- gers great (dangers great because unseen), dangers at home and dangers abroad, dangers on land and dangers on sea, dangers in business and dangers in society, dangers in literature and dangers in illit- eracy — all alluring the minds of our young men, and opening to them the gates to vice and crime — is a fact which does not require the inspiration of Paul to reveal. But look where you will and you can see the way fraught with danger. A para- graph from Rev. M. Rhodes, D. D., is to the point TRUK MANHOOD. 25T just here. ■ Speaking of the multitude of young men who have nut realized these dangers in time to avert them, he says: "One is scarce more alarmed at the number in the toils of ruin than at the tardiness with which the imperiled learn the ; each day furnishes. Hundreds refuse to learn at all : giving all advantage to the many of destruction, they open their eyes where they had better be closed, and close them where they should always be open. A- you have >een the ivy twine around the shattered timbers of :ted dwelling, so our young men grow up amid the ruins of other lives, but sadly indifferent such unspeakable disasters, and as Memingly blind to the sad results that hang all about them, just as the fragments of men lie strewn upon a battlefield. Here is one who be- ■ :st : the secret place of his plunder is found out, and he blows his brains out. Ib-re is another, led on by unholy love of place and power, thrust down to the blackened in- famy of a poor deui pine away in guilty r curse theday he was bom. Here is bimself up to sensuality, until, lower th.m the bc.ist>, his heart and brain are 252 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. as foul as a nest of reptiles. Here is another who from tippling has come to be a drunkard, and hav- ing already reeled out of all respectable service and society, he reels on until crime and death overtake him, and to parents or wife and children he com- mits the painful legacy of a blasted life and mem- ory. Of these how great is the army in all our cities ! and daily they die, and daily they are rein- forced. The ways and consequences of evil have been clearly shown, and it would seem that the young men would but need to open their eyes to learn wisdom, and to escape the perils that beset them on every hand. The appeal to reason alone, one would think sufficient to guard the steps and shield the character of men from the evils that de- stroy ; but withal the ranks fill up as fast as they diminish." In view of this status of things, Paul's charge to the Corinthian people sounds like a battle charge. Ah ! It is one. It discerns the enemy over yonder fort, and the many dangers lying before it. It views the great field on which life comes to its grandest victories or suffers its most sorrowful de- feats. This great apostle, standing upon the high- est battlements of eternity, and as God's watchman viewiucr the scene with its eternal issues, and TRUE MANHOOD. 253 1 by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has sounded the warning voice down along the ages, tch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." This charge in itself is inspi- ring, and calculated to beget among his hearers a righteous enthusiasm, a desire to be somebody, omething worthy of commendation. In short, the injunction appeals to our better nature and holier aspirations. ry young man has aspirations— some high, others not 50 high. But all have aspirations. inherent factors by generation. True, I develop into perspicuity in every one, neither do all the blossoms of trees develop into fruit. Nevertheless the blossom containing the : was there. And so with our aspirations. a is not simply a desire t«- be somebody, ins by which we become somebody, m," said tile late Heedler, " means ten- dril twining, or anything else by which one climbs Upward, holding 00 by the way to whatever will •' it while a higher reach is being nude. i hold by twining around, some by little roots, some by tendrils, some by hook . •ome byl hors. Bui all of staying 254 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. where they take hold, but only as a stay from which they may climb higher. And so it is with man's aspirations. We grasp things above us by every part of our nature, one after another, not for the sake of remaining there, but that we may reach yet higher." And hence our first counsel is, Be true to your aspirations. Be true to the in- tuitive desires of your better nature. Your aspira- tions unconsciously rise to a high standard of man- hood. We look with admiration upon any one actuated by these principles of true manhood. He commands universal respect. Friends cluster about him in multitudes. And sometimes, I fear, we almost feel unduly proud that God has created us with such strong capabilities, and with such grand possibilities before us. This is true to the extent that even the most vile almost envy the lot of those who are true to their intuitive desire and aspirations. All aspire to true manhood, and are never fully satisfied without it. And while it is not possible for all to rise to positions of public trust and honor, it is possible for all to rise to the honor and dignity of a true gentleman. True manhood is within the reach of all. Your aspira- tions rise to that altitude. Be true to them. But this counsel from Paul involves two general TRl'K MANHOOD. ideas, viz.; character wcA action. Both are essen- tial to true manhood. " Character," one has well " is the goal of man's intuitive desires — of his i rations — and gives tone to his action. : on the other hand gives strength to char- acter." And the reader will readily see that while it is possible t<> have action without character, Is have that) that on the other hand character without action is absolutely impossible and un- known. The important question therefore is, how shall we so guide and control our actions as to re- alize the end of "ur aspirations in the attainment of the principles and character of true manhood? from the Bible God has given us an excel- ode of law, written in every man's heart — I mean conscience. It is so excellent that Cod has said in His word (Rom. ii. [4) that "they which no law are a law UUtO themselves." Hence vet is not in perfect accord with that law — repulsive to OUT Letter natures, to our intuitu — whatever conscience con- inly not conducive to our standard of trip And, . . whatever is in I with cor God 1 law in our heart- - is jn • lucive i" true manhood. noting a few things of a negative char- 256 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. acter — things which are repulsive to our intuitive ideas of true manhood — will perhaps direct our minds to proper conceptions of the positive quali- ties of true manhood. And let it be noted 1. That indolence is intuitively regarded as a stigma upon mankind. Ever since God said to our first parents " in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," industry — the opposite of indolence — has been the world's motive power. It is the busy men who keep the world moving. It is the bus}- men who sustain society, and who project the progress in our business circles. It is the busy men who are leading the world in the progress of civil and religious liberty. But the lazy man is always full of trouble. He is never content with himself or with his lot in life. And he never suc- ceeds. He has fault to find with every one but himself, and is the most miserable man on earth. Besides being a burden to himself, he is a real pest to society. The multitude of tramps that are a curse to our land, and a blotch upon the fair name of our country, is but the fruitage of indolence. The very idea of indolence is repulsive to the prin- ciples of true manhood, and a sure introduction to worse things. It is the gateway downward. Dr. Timothy Dwight, in giving his observations on TRUE MANHOOD. 2^7 this point says: " Among all those who, within my knowledge, have appeared to recover sincerely penitent and reformed, I recollect only a single lazy man, and this man became industrious from the moment of his apparent, and I doubt not, real Conversion." This is but one of a multitude of from men of large pastoral experience, and observation on the same point. The late Dr. \\'i>e describes the idle young man thus; •• His place in society is aptly illustrated by certain books in a Boston library, which are let- tered :n. ire-. lie friendly to all, and ever reach' to be a benefactor to the vilest. But enter the society and make bosom companions of those only whose lives are pure and good, Solomon did not speak at n when he said ( Prow xiii. 20), "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the com- panion of f.ois shall be destroyed.* 1 Put to insure your safety and to realize the light of your purest ambitions you need to reject the society of the iun tlie agreeable infidel and the accom- plished profligate; lay it down as a fixed ink- that rilliancy of connection, no allurement of rank or fashion, that no affected agreeablen< aid, no wit or Battery, shall tempt you to ite with those "I" their kind. Make this an ute rule and you will have a Job's hedge built tity is another matter that is extremely lenient "i principle of refine* 26o AROUND THE HOME TABLE. ment. This is one of those foul habits of life which will bring shame upon any countenance. And it is one of the direct fruits of evil associa- tions. There are some sins for which there is no excuse whatever. They are not a source of pleas- ure, are no special luxury or source of comfort in any sense; but they come by sheer force of habit. Profanity is one of that kind. And it is one of those fearful sins which God will punish in the fullness of his wrath. He has not said in vain, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guilt- less that taketh his name in vain." Nay, he means it all, and yet, notwithstanding the fact that our very natures revolt from it, and that con- science condemns it, nay, that God has placed his curse upon it — notwithstanding all this, what a common sin profanity is! The time has now come when it really seems fashionable with a certain class of young men to swear. But let us not forget that it is not always manly to be in fashion. Bet- ter far be true to yourselves and to him who holds in the balance your eternal interests, than bend to the silly rules of fashion. Contrary to every law of refinement, a fatal blotch upon character, a heinous sin before God, profanity is one of those TRUE MANH< K>D. 201 disreputable things to be treated with utter con- tempt by all respectable people. It will defile any man's heart, spoil bis character, and demoralize all his noblest aspirations. Young men, let not this fearful sin beguile you; "quit you like men, be stroi Rut we note just one more of those negative repulsive features in life so dangerous and fatal to the interests of young nun : 4. Intemperance. To the intelligent and re- fined nothing is more revolting than drunkenness. Kven the drunkards regard themselves with shame in their hours of sobriety. It is said of a promi- nent lawyer in the east, that when a young man, b'cted to the use of Strong drink. While -late of drunkenness and dissipation he was tumbling and wallowing in tin- gutter, and while impanions engaged in .1 seem- of and shame about him, an artist by means sketch took the young man's picture, including tin- whole scene. Before bis ery to sobriety he fell into one of those terrible lelirium tremens.' 1 While in this lition the artist again did ample justice At length the w: with all its surroundings was photograph 262 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. his recovery to sobriety and a right mind, the artist called upon the young man, saying, "Mr. — , I have some pictures here I wish to show you." "Ah, indeed," replied the sobered man, "I shall look at them with pleasure." He viewed the pic- tures with more than ordinary care and scrutiny. In the one he saw the subject wallowing in the gutter amid a scene of revelry and shame, his hair disheveled, his garments all torn, and rolled in mud and filth. In the other he saw the subject now tossing in bewilderment and agony, then madly rushing hither and thither about the room ; now bruising and mangling his fists against the wall, supposing himself in a combat with one of his fellows ; then in a fit of fright trying to climb the very walls to escape "the old fellow" hard upon his heels. As the young man thus viewed the subject of this heart-rending scene, his eyes per- sistently said, "Thou art the man." At length, overcome with conviction, and in deep agony of soul, he cried, " I have been the fool, and rum the mocker, but God helping me I will bid adieu to the use of rum." The man's sight of himself was enough. And so it is alike revolting to all. But alas ! how few take warning from the scenes about them. The sin of intemperance is the climax of TRUE MANHOOD. 263 those just mentioned. It is the natural bent of mind to go from bad tu worse. It is the pro- gramme of too many of onr yonng men to begin their ill-fated COUIse with indolence; thence fall into bad associations, and there contract the evil of profanity and intemperance; thence launch into * it may be from the gallows ternity. < > what a terrible sin that of intem- perance is! The weak and the strong alike fall victim* irful rage Some young men have the idea that it is a mark of manliness and dignity to smoke and chew and drink. But be assured, my yonng friends, that there is nothing either dignified or admirable in either. They are among those ing and disreputable factors in life to be shunned at all hazards. And the only safe basis of treatment in either case is, " Touch not, taste not, handle not." Hut another matter in onr text claiming onr at- tention is Dt ' n. This charge of Paul bristles with snap and de- ll means a stirring, busy life. Haul had with drones. And < rod has no m in his kingdom. And even the them. Hence this charge, " Quil 264 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. you like men, be strong," has a business as well as a religious ring about it. And as a matter of fact we find that only the busy, stirring life is blest with true success. This has been a principle by which man has determined his success or failure, his weal or woe, ever since God said to our first parent, "by the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Industry has therefore become a funda- mental principle to success in life, not by any arbi- trary law of man, but in consequence of his diso- bedience it became a part of the divine economy. But the thought we desire more particularly to impress upon the reader's mind is that of decisive action. There is nothing more dangerous or disas- trous to success in life than an undecided and negative sort of disposition. He who never knows when and what he wants or ought to do, will never turn the world upside down. It is decided and positive action that makes the mark. The same principle is also true of our decision of right and wrong. To parley with sin is half way yielding to it. On the other hand, prompt and decided obedience to your honest convictions is more than half the conquest. "Order," it is said, "was heaven's first law." But decisive action was the basis of that law, and should be one of the first TRUE MANHOOD. 265 principles in the great law of life. The parleying of our fir>t parents with the devil led them to dis- obedience ; and that disobedience has engulfed the human race in sin and ruin. Wry often a posi- tive " yes M or " no " saves a deal of trouble and sorrow, and sometimes the most signal failures It is indeed no small accomplishment to be able to sitively " yes* 1 or "no" at the proper time. I >■ it reader, let me impress upon your attention the importance of decisive action on your part in all matters involving moral principles. In all such the only safe way is a prompt and decided • your intuitive convictions of right and wrong. Decided action is one of your best safe- gua: Hut the apostle in his charge "quit yon like men " at least imp". •I'l-.k EQUIPMENTS for the attainment of this end. Pot every depart- ment of life certain equipments are necessary. And this is especially true in the attainment of the end had in view by the apostle — a state where ind faculty, and po? being It to be brought into such < is to bring the true man. For character is not an attribute. 266 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. but an acquirement. Hence as the elements of character are fundamental principles in the devel- opment of true manhood, the equipments for the one must also enter the other. We can mention only a few of these essentials or equipments in the attainment of true manhood. i. Intelligence. — Illiteracy in this day of literary advantages in ordinary cases is a stigma upon humanity. God created man as an intelligent creature, and gave him endowments peculiar to himself. Aside from the advantages of our com- mon schools, academies and colleges, literature like rivers of water is flowing over our land. But the important question is not how much shall we read ? but what shall we read? This is the all- important matter. The term intelligence has be- come much perverted. The present idea of intelli- gence seems to be to know something about every- thing in print. But this is a false and pernicious idea of the term, Real intelligence does not con- sist so much in knowing something about every- thing, as in knowing much about some things. Mind culture does not consist so much in the quantity of literature perused as in the quality, the way it is read, and the amount of useful knowl- edge really acquired. Adam and Eve were wiser TRUB MANHOOD. but decidedly worse off after they had acquired a know I ood and evil than before. So the reading of inferior literature is not mental culture; neither does it contribute to any one's store of useful kn> \ neither is the fact of having read it a mark of increased intelligence. But on the contrary, the reading of inferior and trashy lit- erature demoralizes instead of culturing the mind, iation of the pure and r type of literature, and unfits the whole man fur real lit n. Hence the importance of the Utmost care in the selection of reading matter. Without this a high standard of intelligence is next \>> impossible. (The world affords such an unlimited stores of the most chaste, scholarly and helpful literature that one can ill afford to waste any of his time in the perusal of inferior reading I k first of all to get the Literature possible ; then t<> read slowly, '. xtfully and systematically. A famous lecturer id: "The bane of America is reading V." Another in the same strain the lines" Suffice that the best literature well read will nd develop the intellectual and nothing else can '■ 268 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. has set his seal upon the value of books, and set us the example in giving us the first and best book. And then said, " Search the Scriptures." Our hogs, horses and cattle are valued by their amount of flesh and their general appearance, but man is graded according to his intellectual and moral worth. This is developed by good books as by nothing else. With good books we are with the wise and good, and thereby growing better. Their very thought becomes ours, and their wholesome influence permeates our whole nature, operates upon every faculty, and stimulates our aspirations to better things. 2. Another element in the development of true manhood is the careful culture of natural endow- ments. God has a place for every young man. And every young man has a place for himself. By cul- tivating natural talent natural preferences will assert themselves. And thus he will naturally fall into his proper place. It is not the mechanical but the natural skill which renders proficiency in ser- vice. This culture should be begun and carefully watched by the parents, taken up as a personal matter by the youth, and most carefully guarded and pushed by the young man. TRli. MANHOOD. The idea, cherished by some parents, and by many young men, that when school work is done, and manhood is fully reached, it will be time enough to think about a life vocation or business, is dan- - and pernicious. When men breed horses, as the COltS Come on, and near the time lor .service, the owner studiously asks what is this and that ood for? — a draft horse, a roadster, or what? don and physical adaptability are care- fully considered, and he is trained accordingly. Hut what of the boy t dive less attention to his sition, natural preferences and physical adap- tability than to the prancing and rollicking colt? Shame on the idea ! This is injustice to the son and wicked in the sight of God. The divine in- junction "train Uj> a child in the way he should much. Parents, carefully watch and study your pons ; boys, carefully study yourselves ; tefully cultivate and follow the bent itural talent. This rule scrupulously studied and heeded, and we will have mOTC in all the varied departments ol fluctuating from one to another .'., less men unemployed, and far less tramps and v :n our land. In order, 10 be able to comply with the apostle'l 270 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. injunction, " Quit you like men, be strong," it is of paramont importance to look well to the culture of natural talents. 3. The renewing of your natures by the Holy Ghost and the work of grace, is the crowning work in the formation and development of true man- hood. Human nature, once a little lower than the angels, has fallen into a sad state of depravity. Paul clearly but painfully realized this fact among the Corinthian people ; and in his charge " Quit you like men " looked beyond the natural to the renewed man. For it requires the culture of all man's endowments — natural and spiritual — to form a symmetrical whole, and to enable him to reach out to the full length of his possibilities. Rev. M. Valentine, D. D., LL.D., in his baccalaureate ad- dress for 1877, well said : "It is vain to dream of doing life's work in only the wreck of your powers — the mental ray obscured and confused, the loves of the heart in fetters to evil, the will in rebellion against duty, and the nerves of strength cut more than half in two. The war vessel is not prepared for honorable achievements, going forth to the perilous encounters of the high seas, with timbers rotten and riddled, with guns spiked, masts blown TRUE MAX HOOD. 27 r and helm broken. The deep, disabling hurt of your nature must be healed, the enthralled en back to freedom, quickened into real life, renewed into orderly and victorious power. The recovery provided for human nature, restoring it into the divine image, returns manhood to man } and man to hinisi If. As a requisite ntoTi essential than all other requisite* for your true character^ men } yon must be true Christ- the one thing needful, without which your life, whatever may be the achieve- ments in which it may spend its energies, will fail its true work, and in the issue it will prove ' Ukc ihipfl that tailed t">>r sunny li Hm never came t'» ihore Ug man, the possibilities Of true y Christian wan//.;'/, in all its glory, are before you. They are unmeasured: Pot "there is always room at the •ir motto ever be, " < Inward ! up- Like the vine that holds and reaches, and holds and r< .idles, until in triumph it has wound from the ground to the utmost branch «»:' the majestic tnr, BO hold on with one hand to \our present position while : up with the other. M 272 AROUND THE HOME TABLE stepping stone for another. Be encouraged to leave the base things of earth, and step by step, and reach over reach, to rise higher and higher in the glory of your manhood, until at last, when the top of the Delectable Mountains of life shall have been reached, in songs ot triumph you may gather there the crowns of victory, and step across on the shining shore of eternity to enjoy them forever and ever in thefiullglory of your true— your sancti- fied and glorified — manhood. CHAPTER XII. TKi-i- womanhood: or a talk fob voung WOMEN. " < >h, woman ' in our hour of ease ad hard to ; Ami variable ;is the shade By the light-quivering aspen made ; When pain sad anguish wring the i>row A^ninistering angel thou ! The work of creation was about complete when id, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a help-meet for him." Gen. ii. 18. While the divine purpose in tin woman is not very explicitly genera] way several things at least are implied: First, that God created her for a com- panion li.r man— " it is not good that Ik- .should be And -partner in the busy this lift — " I will make- an help-meet for Mm." Paul, ; on this bu1 or. xL • tli- man was not of the woman, hut the woman <-:' the man ; neither was tin- 274 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. man created for the woman, but the woman for the many Hence, whatever else may have entered into the divine purpose in her creation, this one thing is clear — she was created for The Amelioration of Man. " 'Tis hers to soothe the ills below And bid life's fairer views appear." Some people have very strange notions indeed about the true province of woman — her duties, privileges, rights, influence and possibilities. Some have cherished the idea — perhaps derived from the term "help-meet" — that she was created for purely household and other manual service — in short, to be a slave to man. This idea is of heathen origin. Household duties, it is true, are included in her sphere of usefulness, but in the providence of God this has proven only the humbler part in her sphere of life's duties. Christian civilization has given woman a more honorable place in the home, in society and in the Church, than that of a household slave. It has placed her where God purposed she should be — truly a help-meet for man. Notwithstanding the fact that Robert In- gersoll has declared the Bible the woman's tyrant, no book or set of books has ever done so much for TRUE WOMANHOOD. 275 tlit- amelioration of woman, and to cause her proper relation to man to be recognized and hon- ored, as the Bible. F< r confirmation of this ment we need only look into India, Japan, Africa, or into any other heathen land, and compare the condition of woman in these lands with her condi- tion in our own land — the land of Bibles and of true civil and religious liberty. A single observation will prove to the satisfaction of any person of intel- ligence and candor that the assertion of this mod- ern blasphemer is a preposterous absurdity. In onr own land, as in no other, woman enjoys hei proper liberty, has the privilege to enjoy her in her proper sphere with be- coming dignity and honor, in proportion as she i the means of qualification. In •.her land, is woman assuming the attitude of a true "help-meet" for man, and that in propo rti on as she embraces the opportunities, and uses the means, which the Bible has placed at immand But it is said that according t<> the :' nature water can never rise above its level. • 'a the membei - of human society. It i^ well, therefore, that we • : ue womanhood. 276 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Woman is susceptible of many and wonderful de- velopments. With her acute mental conceptions, and her keen moral sensibilities, she has placed within her reach possibilities peculiar to herself. In the minds of some people the ideal woman is expressed in what they are pleased to call " Re- finement^ And what strange ideas they have of "refinement!" In their minds a beautiful form, dressed in silk or other costly attire, with a pretty face under a canopy of frizzes of their own or other hair, and folded about them a pair of lily- white hands unused only to the touch of musical instruments, constitute refinement. Admit it that some of these features add greatly to the attrac- tions of women, but they have nothing whatever to do with true refinement. In this, other and more fundamental principles are involved. In our minds true refinement embraces at least three elements of character, viz.: intelligence, industry, and the grace of God. There has been a time that it was thought " Where ignorance is bliss 'Tis folly to be wise." but the progress of time has effected a resurrec- tion of thought on this subject. We are living in TKTli \V< >MANH< »OD. a literary age — in a time when genuine intelli- gence is appreciated, and when not'. ^nally blights womanly dignity and true refinement as ace. The term intelligence is comprehensive, and in- dud< - : i. A proper knowledge of household duties. As : the house, woman can only he the situation by having a general and 11 its duties. "And with one has said, "woman becomes the queen of the home; without it she becomes its servant." But intelligence embraces more than this, 2. I: in tudes literary culture. By this we do not mean 'ion alone ; nor a general knowledge of the different classes and grades of ture; nor yet a familiarity witli that cli common, trashy literature so abundant in our land, which steals away your time, wastes your aid make- ha\ ar mental I '.at by literary culture we mean that training and development of mind to lit ■ least any of the ordinary vocations of r with the constant use and I culture for mind and heart as well. Tl 278 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. prepare the mind by proper development, and the inculcation of certain fundamental principles, not alone to fill certain vocations in life, but also to properly read and glean from the best literature of our land. It is this which properly develops the mind, inspires original thought, and invig- orates man's whole being. Without this "Your mind shall sink, a blighted flower, Dead to the sunbeam and the shower — A broken gem, whose inborn light Is scattered ne'er to reunite." In this age of education and literature, every advantage is offered to woman to rise to the honor and dignity of true womanhood, and, in her proper sphere, to be co-equal with man ; and to be, in the true sense, a help-meet for him. But there is a dangerous tendency confronting us just now. It is of heathen origin. It is the tendency toward caste distinctions. Among the heathen, woman usually occupies one of two extremes — either that of abject servitude, or that of indolent aristocracy — either one of which thwarts the very purpose of her creation. The very principles of refinement are lost, and every element of her nature dwarfed in either of these extremes ; and there is a strong tendency in our TRUB WOMANHOOD. land toward these extremes. On the one hand, we have a class of women unduly taxed with than nominal wages. On the other hand, there is a class who while away their time olence, indolence and luxury. And each of tlie>e extremes contribute largely to the fallen :i of onr land. They are a fruitful source of sin, and ruinous to public health and morals. And for this tendency the only remedy is intelligence — genuine literary culture. 3. Industry. It is not only important to know how to do a thin-, but to profit by the exercise in said to our first parents, u By the of thy face shalt thou eai bread." In this ■ is found a fundamental principle of life — a pie which affects both the health and morals nkind — and without which we cm not live out the full measure of out usefulness in life. There in inherent qualities in the human constitution which are dependent upon activity for development I do not believe that God made in- a part <»f the curse in consequence of the fall ; but that sin simply intensified the labor, in that thorns and thistles will now t. inl- and must b»- ro,,tcd out < rod hii us the example of industry in t!; 11— He 280 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. labored six days and rested the seventh. Our Lord said, "I must be about my Father's busi- ness," and "I must do the will of him that sent me." And are we better than He in whose image we were created ? All are familiar with the saying " Cleanliness is next to godliness." And so it is. But of industry we may just as properly say, " it is a part of godli- ness." For it is one of the first external marks or evidences of a Christian life. The heathen, as a rule, are a lazy people. But as they wake up to see and enjoy the light of Christ, their lethargy be- gins to succumb to activity, and, as they grow in the divine life, they become habitually more in- dustrious. And this is but the external manifesta- tion of the divine principle within. Some centuries ago, a man residing in Egypt became a convert to the Christian faith. The spirit of the times favored asceticism ; and he, being of a contemplative mind, conceived the un- natural idea, that if he could retire from society, and spend his time in contemplation, he should attain to the perfection of human happiness on earth. Filled with this thought, he bade adieu to the abodes of men, wandered far into the desert, selected a cave, near which flowed a spring, for his TRUE WOMANH< •■ >D. 28] home, the scanty crops of roots and herbs which sprang up spontaneously in the adjacent glens and valleys, began his life of medi- aud prayer. He had not spent many m in his hermitage before his heart grew miserable I endurance. The loiii^ and weary hours of tlie day, ami the dreary, interminable nights, op- ed and crushed his listless soul. In the ex- his wretchedness he fell upon his face and cried, " Father, call home thy child ! Let me r am weary of life!" Thus stricken with grief, he fell asleep ; and in his vision an angel re him ami said: "Cut down the palm tree that gTOWS by your spring, and of its fibres ruct a rope." The vision passed away, and the hermit awoke with a resolution to fulfill his m. But he had no ax, and therefore jour- neyed far to secure one. On his return he felled the tree, and diligently labored till its fibres lay at ruled into a coil of rope. Again the angel him in a vision and said : I are now no longer weary of life, but yon are happy. Know, then, that in. m was LOOT, and that this, with prayer, consti- tute hi- principal duties. Both are essential to happitl ' to the world with this 282 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. rope girded about thy loins, as a memorial of what God has done for thee. This incident needs no comment. It simply illustrates a divine principle, so essential to human happiness, and without the exercise of which no woman can become a true help-meet for man. Combine intelligence and industry, and we have the two more essential human elements in char- acter. But there is another element of character essential to both your happiness and efficiency in your particular sphere in life, which rises above intelligence and industry as the divine does above the human. Hence I mention 4. The Grace of God, as the crowning element in the development of true womanhood. Of man it has been said (Ps. viii. 5 ; Heb. ii. 7, 9), "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." Of woman one has said, "She is an angel of mercy," and God has said (Prov. xix. 14), " A prudent wife is from the Lord." Marvellous as is the change effected in any human life by a genuine work of the grace of God, in the woman whose mind and body have received proper culture it is doubly conspicuous. However brilliant her mind may be, and gentle and refined her habits of TRUE WOMANHOOD. race of God will add to the keenness of its conceptions and brilliancy of its reflection n her temper and habits, and give strength and beauts- to her character. An illustration may the point here. It is said of Michael Angelo that as he was walking one day through an obscure in Florence, he saw a crude block of marble neglected in a yard, half buried in the debris. Indifferent to company and apparel, he set to work to clear away the rubbish, and to rescue the from its filthy surroundings. His com- I on with a->toni>hment and asked him what he wanted with that worthless piece of rock. "Oh," said he, "there is an angel in that and I must get it out." The marble was taken to his Studio, and after hard and patient he brought forth the angel. And in that act in the niche of fame that reflects • upon his name to day. Voc: in your immature state you are IS that crude block of marble amid the rub- bish. The culture of your mind and bodies is to your attitude in life what th< t*s chisel was to th.it marbl And tin < ;.>d is to what the polishing pr< ■ to the >f that angel It took the artist's chisel 284 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. to bring out the form of the angel. It takes the culture of mind and body to bring out the natural talents of woman. It took the polishing process to bring out the perfections of expression and beauty in that angel. So it takes the grace and Spirit of God to bring forth the perfections of refined womanhood. Thus combining intelligence, industry, and the grace of God, we have a grand, symmetrical system of culture — culture for mind, culture for the body, and culture for the heart. And that woman who, with God's own illumination in her mind, her heart filled with His infinite love, and her life seasoned with His grace, and who is best able to see hang- ing on the retreating cloud the bow with which God has spanned the life and destiny of her sex, and standing under its emerald arch is thrilled with gratitude, and moved to highest endeavor, is best qualified to instruct, inspire, ennoble and lead those of her kind. At this juncture a word to the parents will not come amiss. Do not be afraid of injuring the minds of your daughters in obtaining a liberal education, nor their bodies by exercise in the ordinary household duties, nor yet be afraid of humility in commending your daughters to Christ. TRUE WOMANHO >D. This is not consistent with the popular idea of ind dancing parties, it is true. But give your daughters careful literary, physical and spiritual culture and the balance will j^o by unenvied. Further, should your daughter fall in an un- guarded hour, do not cast her away, as too many patents have done. But with a mother's hand of lift her up, and offer her a father's hand of protection. »t CTUel customs of our land is that of I parents offering kindness and protection to almost any kind of a son, even though he be a reprobate. But a daughter falls, and she becomes a cast-away. Xot that we would care le^s foT the sons, but more for tin- daughters. The .sous who are Inst, able t<> care for themselves are helped and protected, even at tlu- hazard of home ; but the well nigh helpless daughters D the ma u un- friendly world. And thus we furnish daily re- cruits for the disreputable institutions «>i" our land. i's most important lessons v. this j>oint. John viii : } i i. :>-U from the ways th.it are purr — •i held bet i be might « ham < • Hut lh<- I'll. frown ; 2c6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. They brought her to court in the presence of Christ, And asked Him that death He command, But He only knelt down, and with fingers so pure Wrote silently there in the sand. " The throng was so eager they asked him again, They felt that their work must be done, And Christ, looking up from his tablet of dust, Said, ' He that is pure cast the stone.' Not one in that throng was there left to condemn, They fled, for their souls were impure ; He finished his writing, and rising he said ; ' Go, woman, and sin no more.' " To-day in our midst has some woman gone down, The Pharisees frown on her still, The world will but scorn should she try to reform, She is crushed by the burrs of the mill. How many to-day who believe on Him Are true to their word and their trust ? How many would turn when asked to condemn And silently write in the dust? " When the sin of a woman is written to-day, They trace it in marble and stone— The sin of a man is but written in dust— Ah ! isn't our labor well done ? Why do not they who profess to obey The precepts He left on this shore, When asked to condemn who hath fallen in sin, Say, 'Woman, go, sin thou no more ' ?" Let us then have culture of mind, culture of TkTK WOMANH< >OD. 287 and culture of licart for our daughters, with proper protection, and we shall in a measure at :i to realize what jewels God has hid away in them. Hut from this let us briefly turn our attention to Tlu Influence and Possibilities of Woman, In the experience of the human race the in- fluence and possibilities of woman have never been fully and accurately measured. Ami we need not feel astonished at this fact. God lias given to women peculiar elements of power, which in His providence will be silently but surely wielded wherever the human conditions will ad- mit — I say silently, because these as a rule are the more potent \->h;l-<., and because of this are a peculiar element of her power. Thunder has <4re.1t facility for DOise — it rumbles and roars till tlu- eartli trembles to its very centre, but when its nimbi is most terrific it is, as a rule, the But the unseen and unheard oper- and influences of woman's power are sure and effectual. Love and purity, faith and godli- ness, arc quiet forces, but resistless as tin- i the planets. And she begins to wield tin-si- just where they prove ['. ; — 288 AROUND THE HOME .TABLE. In the Home. The home is the centre — the focal point — from which these forces radiate. One has said, " The woman of Christian culture is to the home what the heart is to the human body, sending life, beauty, ambition and power with each pulsation into every member." While this is a strong state- ment, it nevertheless contains a vital truth. In the home the woman has her throne. Here she holds in her hands and enshrines in her heart the moral destiny of her race. God has peculiarly fitted woman by nature, and in His wisdom or- dained her the keeper of the home. And here by your hearth-stone and mine, is embosomed, as God's own sacred trust, the glory of the state and nation, the hope of the Church, and the destiny of the world. Dr. Holland, speaking of woman's power in the home, says: "Of this realm woman is the queen. It takes its cue and its hue from her. If she is in the best sense womanly — if she is true and tender, loving and heroic, patient and self- devoted — she unconsciously organizes and puts into operation a set of influences that do more to mould the destiny of the nations than any man or set of men, uncrowned by power or eloquence, can pos- sibly effect. The men of the nation are what their TkUK WOMANHOOD. 289 mothers make them, as a rule. And the voice which these men speak in the expression of their power is the voice of tlie women who bore and bred them. " * As a nation we rise or fall as the character of our homes, presided over by women, * falls. And the best gauge of our best pros- perity is to be found in the measure by which these homes find multiplication in the land." John Qnincy Adams once said, "All I am my mother made me." Let the women of this land raise the standard of their homes to the full measure of their ability, aided by the -race and wisdom of God- let them place their standard where God would have it and where they alone can place it— and not only the prosperity, but the salvation of our nation llnigh secured. I what has been said of the influence and pos- sibilities of woman in the home is also true of them /// Society* ng friends, the reins of society are largely :: hands to guide whither you will. It is in your provifl p them firmly, and in your iven j-ow it onward to the heights of moral purity and prosperity, w holding them hurl it into the abyss of ruin forever. 290 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. It is in your province largely to mould the habits of the young men of our land, and to fix the standard of their moral purity. Nay, it is in a measure in your province to fix their future destiny. It needs but the united voice and action of the young women of our land to circumscribe and subdue the power of tobacco and rum over the young men of our land. But you can not do this by circulating in their presence with a cud of gum in your mouth, or by setting a bottle of wine or rum before them when they call. But by coming before them in all the purity of person and character possible, and with the dignity of cultured womanhood, you at once command their respect and admiration. And as it will be for you to determine what shall be the character of those whose company you ac- cept, and as they must and will have your society, they will almost unconsciously labor to rise to the standard of moral and social purity which you have fixed, and respect you for having placed it so high. It thus lies within your power to become a potent factor in the formation of good society. Nay, more ! You are thus destined to become potent factors in the affairs of TRUE WOMANHOOD. 29I Our Government, Talk about " Woman's Rig/its/" Woman has all the rights now that she can use effectually. To give her more political right would weaken her moral sway in our land. Where has history re- corded a reform movement in our land which has not been directly or indirectly inaugurated by :: ? Who but woman brought to public gaze, in all its hideousness, the sin of slavery? Who but woman has given tone and an effectual impe- tus to the temperance movement of our land ? Ah ! in the language of the great Otway, "Woman has laid the foundations of empires, and more than once has hurled them to ruin. The empire that could boast a Babylon was founded by a woman — Scmiramis, tin- •■ the founder of Nineveh, overthrow of the Trojan commonwealth was ■ no cause so much as t. ( the beauty ami per- : Helen." " What mighty ills hftVC n<>t been done by Women } Who w.ist betra y ed the cepitol ? A women ' Who I atony the world ] a women • Wh .1 long ten • And: Id Troy in eehee? Women I" ■ -.our influi 292 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. for weal or woe. Such are your possibilities. To what extent you will realize them will remain for you to determine. And I trust that you realize and appreciate, to some degree at least, the mo- mentous issues for human destiny God has vested in your lives. And woe to those of your kind, who with such advantages for development, and with such opportunities for the amelioration of their race, waste their time and strength in a mis- taken mission, or fritter away their splendid gifts in momentary pleasure, or the silly follies of show and fashion. But glorious will be the crown which God will give the faithful of your kind. Ah, how a thought like this should awaken your aspirations and inspire you to duty ! You need the mental, physical and moral culture to fit you to become efficient bread-winners, but for a higher and better reason, to fit you to enjoy the possibil- ities which God has placed within your reach. But to enjoy a crown sparkling full of the stars of glory, you need constantly to look to the hills whence cometh all strength. As you begin to as- cend the Delectable Mountains, you need to lift your eyes above and beyond the standard of human attainments to the highlands of glory, and there gather food for the mind, food for the soul, TRri-. WOMANHOOD. 293 power with God and man in your daily service, and inspiration for your lives. Christ alone can truly mould your lives, inspire your hearts, and lead you into the sublime sphere of true woman- hood. But with him enshrined in your hearts and :r lives, the world is at your command. Oh, the Ulimitableness of which you are capable ! In the beings you are, and in the wide and varied a to which you have been appointed, what a throne God has set for yon ! What a sceptre he What a crown of glory lie has lifted to your brow ! O ! that He who has I woman by his incarnation may inspire you with the full measure of your in- fluence and possibilities ! CHAPTER XIII. MARRIAGE. " The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth, Life's paradise, great princes, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Kternity of pleasures." —John Ford's Broken Heart. The world had been formed and set in order. The six days work of creation was almost done, and God would put the climax on this stupendous project by leaving the impress of his own image in the last object in the catalogue of his creation. "So God created man in his own image/' "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." But he said, " It is not good that man should be alone ; I will make an help-meet for him. * * * And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof ; and of the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. * * * Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and (294) MAkki.v 295 they shall be one flesh/' Thus God instituted the marriage relation. In this narrative we have the first marriage cere- mony — very simple, but as significant as it is sim- oificant, 1. In that God has constituted man a social being, and "hence it was Dot good that man should be alone." Man was, therefore, a social as B a moral being. Deep down in the human heart is a want — a Longing — which can be satisfied it the hands of its Creator. And whatever course men may pursue in this life, that want still It can not be hid so deep under the rub- ■: sin that its signal can not still be heard. Whatever men may .say iiinkr the impulse of a sinful heart and a skeptical mind, that want exists .1 insists on recognition. [1 God — breathed into man at his creation — andean only by communion with (iod. Pre- cisely >o in man nature. God constituted him a social being. And as the son] can be satis- only b> communion with a mding spiritual being, bo the social nature can be satisfied only ;• :ig social being. God 1 : this want, and would satisfy it in the creation of Ututioii it was 296 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. not good that man should be alone. When God said, "I will make an helpmeet for him," he pro- posed to supply man with an absolute essential to human society and happiness. To rob man of society is to rob him of the greatest prize of earth. The glory of heaven will consist not alone in what we are, but as much in those with whom we are — the society of the unnumbered host of the redeemed, of angels and archangels, of cherubim and sera- phim, in the presence of the Triune God upon his throne. So Pope has written : " Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master, a servant, or a friend, Bids each on other for assistance call Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally The common interest, or endear the tie. To these we owe true friendship, love sincere, Each home-felt joy that life inherits here." Likewise Milton has written; "Marriage is human society," and might have added "the fountain for the continued flow of human happi- ness. ' ' The object of marriage is twofold, viz., first the highest degree of human happiness consummated in human society. "It is not good for man to be MARRIACK. 297 alone." And second, "to replenish the earth" — to continue to multiply the members of society. In each of these the wisdom and love of God is clearly demonstrated. And when the first of these objects is sought and developed through the proper channels with pure motives the second is fully 1. One has well said, human society within muds of the divine purpose is man's greatest temporal blessing; but perverted and distorted by human passions is man'- greatest curse." Hut another significant fact in this first mar- 2. That the relation established in this institu- tion is divine. Marriage is not a sacrament, as taught in the Romish church. lint by the mirac- • ttions of Cod a union was there insti- which i> as intimate and as intrinsically divine in the union of human hearts in marriage 1 which unites our hearts to Christ for time and eternity. Hence God said, "And they shall :..- flesh." In view of this Paul has written (Eph. . "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Por the hus- il tin- head of tin- wife, even as Christ is the if the Church. ■ ' Th- 'he- Church jr. t unto Christ, BO let the wives br to their 298 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, * * * so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. For we are mem- bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." This is a figure in which the relation of husband and wife is likened to that between Christ and his Church. And the apostle does not try to explain it, but calls it "A great mystery:' We are so accus- tomed to associate marriage with the common busi- ness affairs of life that the popular tendency is to ignore the d i vine in its relation. And this tendency has no doubt been encouraged by the attitude of the State or civil law toward the marriage relation. This tendency has been encouraged not so much because of defects in the civil laws, as because of the popular abuse of the liberties granted in both the moral and civil laws. Under the present relations of Church and State, it is evidently clear that neither Church nor State can assume exclusive au- MARRIAGE. 299 thority of marriage. For the Church has only ad- visory power, and can, at best, wield that effectu- ally only over its own adherents. And hence, it would seem necessary lor the State to interpose the Strong arm oi authority to compel obedience, or to inflict punishment. On the other hand, the State cannot take exclusive control of marriage, in that in its institution preeminence was given to the di- vine. While it is true in a measure that marriage ivil contract, it is true in a higher sense that the true marriage bears the .seal of the divine. And while it is true that the Church needs the help of the Stale, it is true in a higher and more impor- tant sense that the State needs the help of the Church to guard and maintain the sanctity of this divine institution. The abuse, therefore, of the present relations of Church and State in regard to tution has brought about the pres- ent tendency to depreciate the Bible doctrine of mmonly to ignore the divine in the institution. lint this tendency is such a fruit- vii and sin that it beho servant of Christ to proclaim plainly God's word and:: [arding it Any depreciation of the Bible doctrine of this institution ifl the avenue to moral decay and domestic corruption. 300 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. A proper recognition, therefore, of the divine in the institution, and of the sanctity of the relations in marriage are essential to the purity of the home. All the great blessings of the home depend on a high regard for the sacredness of the marriage bond. The purity of the family life is essential also to the public welfare. Moral decay in the family is the invariable prelude to public corrup- tion. The common verdict of history is that "a nation stands or falls with the sanctity of its do- mestic ties." To ignore the divine in this institu- tion and its relations is to dishonor God, and mock at his purposes in the institution of marriage ; and is the commission of a sin which a Christian land like ours can ill afford to countenance or have per- petrated in our midst. Let us therefore honor God by revering and perpetuating marriage as a divine institution, and by regarding its relations as sacredly inviolate as those between Christ and his Church, and God will honor and bless his people in their marriage, and our homes will become the foretaste of heavenly happiness and bliss. 3. A significant inquiry may be raised, as to the proper person to perform the marriage ceremony. If the marriage relation is divine in origin and character, it becomes a matter of vital importance MARRIAGE. 30I as to what should be the character of the | Solemnizing these relations. Who shall perform icred — this divine — function? This inquiry to our attention a matter of vital importance. And I tempting an answer to this inquiry several thingswill need to be carefully noted: First as a matter of observation from history, that the rid have prospered in propor- tion only as the}- have been theocratic in their government The great and powerful nations of the earth have reached the pinnacle of their glory and power with the Cod of Israel at their head, and, as in the glory of their strength they and forsook him, they in turn fell, and (except on ' ivion as though they had never had an existence. Tin- (. ind Jacob — the I reel — and the author of the marriage relation, made no undue claim in his declaration, " I am the Lord Thou shah have no other gods before but out of the fullness of his infinite love upon which to stand ail. tlie marriage i-< the institution of the hoi the nation emanates from the hollK 302 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. ious and civil liberty ; and as both these are secured in the keeping of God's law, the highest degree of civil and religious liberty can only be obtained by honoring God in a proper recognition of him in his own institutions. Thirdly, that while God in his economy has always accorded certain rights to the State as such, He has never accorded the right to the king or any other civil officer to act in the capacity of a priest; and has carefully drawn the line of distinction between the functions of the civil and ecclesiastical offices; and in one instance (2 Chron. xxvi. 16- 21) punished with leprosy for life one who pre- sumed to officiate in the priest's stead: In view of these facts we submit the question, who are proper persons to perform the solemn service of marriage? Baptism is recognized by all as a divine ordinance, but no one ever thinks of calling a civil officer to perform that sacred rite. With one accord the sac- rament of the altar is recognized as a divine insti- tution, but would you, dear reader, presume to eat and drink the emblems of the Lord's broken body and shed blood from unclean hands ? For whom do you ordinarily send to baptize your children or sick? or to administer the Lord's Supper to your sick or dving? — a man of the world, or a man of MARRIAGE. 303 God! Ah! there can be but one answer. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure- heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." Ps. xxiv. 3. .:. •Render therefore unto Csesai the things which are Caesar's, and onto God the things that rod's." Matt. xxii. 21. With the present number of marriages performed by civil officers, the majority of whom never pray for th( and consequently are unfit to pray for others, is it any wonder that God is blighting the virtue and sanctity of our homes in the multi- plication of applications for divorces"-' While we thus dishonor G<><1 in the sealing <>f these sacred ve hope for homes blest with "peace, happiness and pro s perity?" Ah! if we would have :reles shall go forth nun and WOmen Who Shall be an honor to their parents, an honor to their country, and an honor to their conn:: I it is high time for the people of tnmit the sacred function of a marriage ceremony to the ministrv of the whom God has called to minister in holy things. Hut with tli i is an institution, the sanctity of its relations, etc, we 304 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. hasten to notice some of the more essential pre- requisites to The Proper Keeping of the Marriage Vow and the Enjoyment of its Relations. To enumerate fully all these prerequisites would be beyond the limits of our present space. But we will note a few of them : 1. A proper conception of the institution, of its relations, and of the vow. To enjoy the blessings of any divine institution it is preeminently necessary to have proper concep- tions of that institution. Marriage as a divine in- stitution affords many and great blessings to those who are prepared to receive them. By this we would not leave the inference that the ungodly can in no sense enjoy the marriage relation. They can and do enjoy it in a certain measure, just as the world in a measure enjoys the blessings of Christi- anity. But the fullness of Christ's blessings are realized by those only who have passed from death unto life. But whether Christian or not, a proper conception of the institution will greatly multiply the blessings of marriage to all who enter into its relations. We have spoken of marriage as a divine institution. We need yet to speak only of the nature of the marriage relation. MARRIAGE. 305 The idea has become somewhat prevalent that marriage is only a sort of corporate or civil con- tract, to be entered into or dissolved at will by due process of civil law. And this idea is forcing upon us a state of things in our day that is really ap- palling. Divorces are granted almost as freely as the licenses to marry. The holiest affections and the most sacred ties are dealt with as the most trivial things. Hearts are broken, homes are despoiled of their happiness, children are robbed of the blessings of a father's care and a mother's love and their future hopes buried in shame and disgrace; fearful scandals that stink of the pit are brooded, developed, and exposed to pub- lic gaze ; mutual confidence of the betrothed has begun to wane, until marriage is being pronounced a lottery. The result is a land cursed by the hor- rible alliances and unnatural relations brought about by divorces and re-marriages and divorces again, in endless confusion. And all this is the re- sult largely of a misconception of the nature of the marriage relation — a terrible sin which we as a boasted Christian land can ill afford to have pend- ing over us. But the true idea of marriage (which is the only real remedy for this growing evil) is in a proper conception of the marriage relation. We 20 306 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. must remember, and as a Church we need to teach, that marriage is not simply a corporate union of such a nature that the contracting parties, after the solemn union has been effected, continue to main- tain their distinctive personalities as before their marriage. This is the distinctively human con- ception of it. But the true conception of marriage is that the union is of such a nature — there is such a mutual assimilation of the two natures, purposes, etc., if properly entered into — that the two parties become as one person; as God has said, " they two shall become one flesh." Hence the figure of mar- riage as the union of Christ and his Church. They are not simply nominally, but essentially one. So our Lord prayed (John xvii. 21): " That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and / in thee, that they also may be one in ns." As the true Christian in his conversion lost his relation to the world, became dead to it, and his life became "hid with Christ in God," so the contracting parties, when truly united in marriage, become so assimi- lated unto each other that their distinctive person- alities are in a measure lost in each other. From this conception of the relations established in mar- riage, the divine conception of an MARRIAGE. 307 In dis sol 'u bit i 'n ion becomes quite clear. The thought of divorce is of human origin. It is true God permitted it, but with the solemn caution ,k what therefore God hath ether let nut man put asunder." Like the anointing of the first king, the bill of divorce- ment was given under protest. But the divine 6C of the institution was an indissoluble union — a union whose bond could be broken for but one cause other than death. The marriage vow therefore is one of no ordinary character. It is one of the most solemn and binding ever entered into by mankind. The covenant entered into in a public profession of faith in Christ is no more sacred, nor the obligation any more binding, than that of the marriage vow. In taking this vow both promise I and witnesses that they will keep : aid inviolate so long as they hail live. What m< red? What more binding? It i-^ one of those vows, by which by means of the divine operations "they twain be- And thus a union is formed which I imond M and in " I In view of these .solemn obligations our Lord said "Wherefore they are do more twain, 308 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder. * * * Whoso shall put away his wife except it be for fornica- tion, and shall marry another, committeth adul- tery. And whoso rnarrieth her that is put away doth commit adultery." Matt. xix. 6, 9. There can be no divorce, and consequently no re-marriage with the sanction of Christ and his Church, except for the cause of adultery. This is God's decree, and by this as Christians we must stand. It is true the State has here encroached upon the divine law, and thus Church and State are brought in con- flict with each other. But whatever men in their depravity and blindness may legislate, can not supersede God's word. On the contrary, all legis- lation not in accord with God's word must be re- garded as null and void. And any person who has been divorced for any other cause than that pre- scribed in God's word, and shall remarry, even under the sanction of the civil law is, in the eyes of God, guilty of adultery. We cannot, therefore, be too considerate and prayerful in entering these sacred relations ; it " should not be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but discreetly, reverently, and in the fear of God." From this thought we pass to notice MARRIAGE. 309 Some of the Essential Prerequisites to tin* F; \nd Enjoyment oj the Marriage A' lotion. We cannot mention all or even many of these. A few of the more salient ones must suffice. We mention 1. Proper Pi > t *m to Marry. all the human race are proper subjects for marriage. Some are physically incompetent, oth- ers are unworthy. ( >f the former we dare not ; the latter we dare not pass without a word. either sex addicted to any gross immor- ality can not take the place of a true companion, and help make horn.- happy. Permit me th< myself first to the young ladies and then to the young men. ansel t<> you, young woman, I de- . never permit a drunkard or a gambler to win your affections. It is bad enough to have oung nun, as the best that can be said of them, "they are civil young men." M.uiv a young woman has completely wrecked a pure and giving her li< art and hand in mar- to an u::-' ang man. Sometimes we ! by young women, " I will break him of th< married" Hut 310 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. almost without an exception they come out with a broken heart in the attempt. To give consent to marriage with any young man who drinks or gambles, or who is guilty of lewdness, means ruin — ruin forever. I beg here to quote a single instance from Dr. Gunn, whose writings on "intemper- ance" and "the dangers to young men" are familiar to most of our readers. "I knew a youth — a noble, generous youth — from whose heart flowed a living fount of pure and holy feeling, which spread around and fertilized the soil of friendship, while warm and generous friends crowded about and enclosed him in a circle of pure and God-like happiness. The eye of woman brightened at his approach, and wealth and honor smiled to woo him to their circle. His days sped onward, and as a summer's brook sparkles all joyous on its gladsome way, so sped he on, blithesome amid the light of woman's love and manhood's eulogy. Not a cloud to shadow his future, but the occasional taste of his father's cup. He wooed and won a maid of peerless charms ; a being fair, delicate and pure, bestowed the harvest of her heart's young love upon him. The car of time rolled on, and clouds arose to dim the horizon of his worldly happiness. The serpent of inebriation MARRIAGE. 3II crept into the Eden of his heart ; the pure and holy feelings which the God of nature had implanted in ■ ul became polluted by the influence of the lied social cup. The warm and generous aspirations of his soul became frozen and callous within him. The tears of the wretched, the agony of the afflicted wife, found no response in his bosom. The pure and holy fount of universal love within his heart, that once gushed forth at the of misery, and prompted the hand to ad- minister to the requirements of the wretched, sent forth no more its pure and benevolent offerings ; its water had become intermingled with the poisoned ingredients of spirits, and the rank weeds of intemperance had sprung up and choked the fount whence the stream flowed. The dark spirit of poverty had flapped its wings over his habita- tion, and the burning hand of disease had seared the brightness of his eye, and palsied the elasticity of his frame. The friends who basked in the sun- shine of hi v fled when the wintry winds ty blew harshly around his dwelling. And the end of that family was one of Buffering and il • haunted by the thought— father in a drunkard's grave and a drunkard's hell." Thi not the creation of a vivid itnagi- 312 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. nation, but is repeating itself in the observation of our readers with each cycle of years. What a signal of warning such scenes should be to all our young readers. God has created you for nobler purposes than to thus commit yourselves to disaster and ruin. He gave you to man to make home an earthly paradise. But to give a pure and noble heart—a heart actuated by the teuderest and purest impulses of genuine womanhood — to men of un- clean and dangerous habits, is thwarting the very purpose for which God created you. And in so doing you not only frustrate your own hopes of happiness, but sin in the sight of God. Be careful therefore to commit yourselves for life to those only who are at least clean and reputable in their habits of life. Young men, a word of counsel to you : Have you, from a deep sense of appreciation of woman, regarded all the women of the land blameless as ministering angels : then be at once undeceived. They are not always what they seem. It has been said of woman "she is either a ministering angel, or a perfect devil." Harsh and rude as this may sound, with an air of extravagance in its expression, there is a deal of truth in this saying. It is all very well to admire their beautiful forms, their MARRI.V.K. 313 ad sparkling eyes, but this is not ';. This is as the bird charmed by the ser- pent's insidious gaze. Bat the heart that is throb- bing with the tender affections and the noble im- pulses of genuine womanhood will manifest itself in a gentle and noble life. Some of the qualifica- to a useful and true companionship will be found in the qualifications for true womanhood given in chapter twelve But aside from an impure all things beware of a rattling tongue, for their feet are swift to mischief. The "wise man' 1 vivid description of such in his enumeration of the seven things which are an abomination to God — Prov. vi. [6-19. And the te James (iii. 4-6), under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, wn the ships which, though they be so great, and are driven of they turned about with a very small helm, whithei the governor listeth. agUC is a little member, and boOSt- eth great things. Behold how great B matter a little fire kindleth I And the tongue is a fire, a iniquity. So is the tongue amon members, that il defileth the whole body, and set- a file th( ' nature; and it is set on : lull. 1 when ' - enthroned. 314 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Are you seeking the affections of one to whom you can look for a true helpmeet as a life com- panion? then beware also of the so-called "parlor ladies." It is a laudable accomplishment to move with ease and grace amid a circle of friends in the parlor. But it is a mark of illiteracy and incom- petency in any who cannot move with equal ease and grace in the kitchen and dining-room. A word more to the Christian young men and women to whom this message may come. Chris- tians ought always by all means seek companions from among the fold of Christ. God positively prohibited his ancient people from intermarrying with the idolatrous and wicked. Paul earnestly exhorted the people of Corinth (2 Cor. vi. 14), " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with un- righteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?" And as the light and happiness of the home depends so largely upon the grace and spirit of God, inasmuch as there can be no real peace and happiness without these, how essential that kindred hearts united for life to become one flesh be washed with the same blood and sanctified by the same spirit, in order to enjoy that peace which passeth all understanding in their home MARRIA' 315 lighted with that light which "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 2. Pet niempkUing marriage with each other should have a thorough kn ■ each other's dispositions ond habits of life. This is a matter of grave importance. The great mass of mankind is a common mass of individuality. There are as many dispositions as there are human And every disposition has a correspond- ing disposition with which it will blend into one life more ftllly and freely than with any other. can be discovered only by the most intimate personal acquaintance. Every living thing which God created he created in pairs oropposites. The i tions, temperaments, etc., of husband and : ale should be opj The power of attraction in the magnet consists in its opposite in human lives. Hence the need of a more careful stud other than is usually given, in order that there may be mutual congeniality and tion. Hence the impropriety of hasty mar- : apparent also. Even Shakespeare A. hasty marriage seldom proveth well." Hut the climax in these prerequisites to the md enjoyment of the marriage relation is 316 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. 3. In the proper motives for marriage. The motives which prompt people to marry are many and of great diversity. Some people marry for the sake of marriage. Many of our young people have very erroneous ideas regarding this matter. The following, from "A Clever Old Maid to Single Women," is to the point for young men as well. " They feel almost disgraced if they have arrived at a mature age, and are not yet able to write Mrs. before their names. Their whole ambition is to get a husband by hook or crook, but to get him somehow they must. Con- sequently they take the first man who offers him- self, whether he really suits them or not. Now, girls, do not marry in haste. Get the best educa- tion possible, help about domestic affairs, and enter upon some trade or profession for which you have a taste, and master it. Skilled labor is al- ways well paid. Dont spend your time repining, because you cannot see the coming man. If you never see him, you can live useful and happy lives without him. * * * Do your duty in life, and you will count for one in the world, whether mar- ried or single." Some marry for beauty. Beautiful forms, rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, are real charms with MAKRIA 317 which God has blessed many of our race. But they do not in themselves possess the secret of a happy mania has suggested, "Beauty is only skin deep, but Ugliness penetrates to the bone." While there is some truth in this, tlie standard of real b in the old adage, "Pretty is who And with this as the popular stand- of beauty, this motive might be allowable. Still others marry for homes and wealth. But the only true — the only scriptural motive that should actuate any one to marry, is Mutual I This is the climax in the catalogue of pre- requisites to a happy marriage. A man ami D may enter life's busy scenes, as husband and wife, beautiful, intelligent, moving in the hlghet cin iety, and with a palace furn- ished with all the modern conveniences and corn- like the rich man of old, they may be clothed in fine linen and fare sumptuously every ind yet unless their hearts have become one •ir union cannot be a real — a happy one. Prom th( »ed walls, scls c il furniture, and glit! chandelier will collie tile doleful lamentation, 318 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. " Happiness is not found in this home." But here is another couple, whose hearts respond to each other in mutual love. They begin life with but little of this world's goods. Perhaps there is a carpetless floor and the simplest furniture, but everything is bright and cheerful within — they are truly happy. Mr. Moody gives us the following illustration of genuine love: "One day when I was in Brooklyn I saw a young man going along the street without any arms. A friend of mine pointed him out to me, and told me his story. When the war broke out, he felt it his duty to enlist and go to the front. He was engaged to be married, and while in the army letters passed frequently between him and his intended wife. After the battle of the Wil- derness the young lady looked anxiously for the accustomed letter. For a little while no letter was received. At last one came written in a strange hand. She opened it with trembling fingers, and read these words: " We have fought a terrible bat- tle. I have been wounded so awfully that I shall never be able to support yon. A friend writes this for me. I love you more tenderly than ever, but I release you from your promise. I will not ask you to join your life with the maimed life of MARRIAGE. 319 mine.' That letter was never answered. The next train that left the young lady was on it. She went to the hospital. She found out the number of his cot, and went down the aisle, between the long rows of the wounded men. At last she saw the number, and, hurrying to his side, she threw her arms around his neck and said: 'I'll not desert you. I'll take care of you.' He did not her love. They were married, and there is no happier couple anywhere than this one." Their love for each other was genuine and mutual, and hence their happy home. With such love the divine purpose, as well as the human idea of marriage, may be realized. To this end Paul (Bph. v. 25-28) exhorted, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also hath loved the Church and given himself for it. So ought men ■ their wives as their own bodies. He that b his wife loveth himself." Paul, though himself unmarried, as an inspired .servant oi is with the thought that as love is Biy real bond of union, BO it IS the only real It is written, " ( tod is I lint who is happier than he who is tilled with the \nd upon tin- presumption of mu- tual I s.iid, "they twain shall be one 320 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. flesh." Love is the divine law of union, and the divine must become the human law of union in order to be effectual. Without mutual love it may be a formal, but not a real marriage. Pope, as by inspiration, wrote : " Oh, happy state when souls each other draw ; When love is liberty, and nature law ; All then is full, possessing and possess'd, No craving void left aching in the breast ; Even thought meets thought, ere from the lips it part, And each warm wish springs mutual from the heart." William Penn left his young friends this coun- sel : " Never marry but for love ; but see that thou love what is lovely." Do not mistake, however, admiration and pas- sion for love. We may admire those whom we cannot love. In an unguarded moment our evil passions may arise to the pitch where they may be mistaken for real love. But marriage is far too serious a matter to be thus trifled with. It in- volves our happiness for time and, it may be, for eternity. In view of this we can well afford to be considerate and careful ; and as the years of happi- ness and connubial bliss of this life speed on, our aspirations will leap beyond the shoals of time, MARRIAGE. 321 where we will gather at the great marriage-feast of the- Lamb and His bride, wedded with God's infi- nite love, to enjoy perfect connubial happiness aud bliss forever. 21 CHAPTER XIV. THE FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. *' Divines and dying men may talk of hell, But in my heart her several torments dwell." — Shaks. " In utter darkness far Remote, I beings saw forlorn in woe, Burning continually, yet unconsumed. And there were groans that ended not, and sighs That always sighed, and tears that ever wept And ever fell, but not in mercy's sight. And still I heard these wretched beings curse Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse The earth, the resurrection morn, and seek, And ever vainly seek, for utter death ******* The place thou saw'st was hell ; the groans thou heard'st The wailings of the damned, of those who would not be re- deem'd." — Pollock" s Course of Time. By the future punishment of the wicked we mean those who die in their impenitence and their consequent reward. This is one of those Bible doctrines about which far too little is said in these latter days. True, it is by no means a desirable subject of discourse or conversation. But with the (322) FUTURE PUNISHMENT OS THE WICKED. 323 burden ofsouls upon our hearts, we can nut ignore or even treat lightly so important a Bible doctrine; but, moved by the love of God, we must warn the impending danger. And for the benefit of any who may feel loath to believe this doctrine, We will COnsidei the subject, ■■>: the Pr i nciph 0) Fundamental Law, In the «.: I farmed everything upon the rtain law and order, and by that law everything exists and acts. And no less so in the creation ot' man, with only an additional feature : That feature was obedience as opposed to disobedi- ence — of right I to wrong. This feature has become the fundamental principle of all law regulating the relations of human society and of man I In addition to this principle God in. in the faculty of volition — that of n^ between right and wrong, .mil of regulat- ing 1:: lingly. In Bhort, he created man a fret moral Ogent^OxA in order that man might have the privilege of exercising this faculty I a tree in the midst of the garden, with mmand "Thoushalt not eat of it ; for in the day that {'.. \ thereof thou shalt surely die.' 1 The reader will notice here that it IS not the titutes d: 324 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. ence and sin, but the experience of it. Hence, no sooner had our first parents eaten of the for- bidden fruit, than they hid themselves. Why? Because they had now experienced the conse- quence of the violation of the fundamental law of their being. The improper exercise of their voli- tion had resulted in a violated law. A violated law brought an experience of condemnation. Therefore, we have this principle of fundamental law asserting itself as one of the intuitive princi- ples of human existence. We naturally and in- variably experience a sense of condemnation for wrong, and a sense of satisfaction for good done ; and just as invariably expect punishment for sin and approbation for good. It is an intuitive prin- ciple universally asserting itself. This same prin- ciple is the basis of all civil and ecclesiastical law. Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from the presence of God, not because God had con- demned them— for they hid before they heard the voice of God — but because they had condemned themselves on the principle of this law. They re- alized their condemnation and the justice of it be- fore God called them to an account. They had experienced a sense of guilt and expected all they received. With the experience of the guilt and FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF Till- WICKED. effects of sin came also the expectation of punish- ment. With this fundamental principle in «. . ". law, therefore, every sinner intuitivi punishment for his sins; and this is tl civil law as well. The criminals oi* to-day realize :ilt of their crime in the act of committing it. Their only hope of escape from punishment is in leteCtion by the executors of the law. Hence, their prompt flight from expected punish- ment, even when no man pursueth; and so every : of law intuitively expects the just punishment for his crime. This principle is SO and prevails so absolutely universal, that, though many attempts have been made, no man to explain away the solemn truth- own declaration, " The soul that sinn, t/t, it shall m this thought we turn to consider this sub- Si m i'w from Analog undamental law of which I our conception of ri^ht : evil. But for that principle of law, like the brute creation, man :: of right and WTOUj ight But in order to further reveal in 3^6 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. us God's image and to confirm and strengthen our conception of this principle as the voice of God speaking in and through our consciences, the Bible teaches most explicitly the same principle, empha- sizing, echoing and re-echoing the thought in al- most every chapter, approving of the good on the one hand and threatening the evil on the other. Moreover, the Bible, looking from cause to effect, presents the end or consummation of all good as a condition of rest, happiness and eternal felicity. Hence upon the principle of this law we have a foretaste in this life of the different conditions and states in the life to come. For obedience to God — for every act of kindness, or of sacrifice for His sake — there comes a sense of satisfaction and joy. A good cause has produced a good effect. The effect of the good cause is the foretaste of that which is to come. Upon this principle therefore the Bible looks from a good cause and its effects in our pres- ent existence into the future for corresponding effects in a condition and place called heaven. Hence we read in Heb. iv. 9, " There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God." And in Rev. xiv. 13, "Blessed"— happy— "are the dead which die in the Lord." And then Paul's parting eulogium, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, "I have fought a good FUTURE PUNISHMENT "1- Till- WICKED. 327 fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for vn rhich the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day. " These are only a : the many cheering promises of God to the righteous. And all who have any regard for God or a religious state believe these cheering promist - and aspire to a realization of them in the latter Hut the same principle involved here in the con- dition and state of the righteous is involved also in the state of the wicked. The cause being evil, the effects must correspond. Thorns produce thorns and thistles yield thistles, but we do not look for m either. So the Bible discovers to us the fact that the sense of condemnation expe ri e n c ed here foi sins committed is but a foretaste of the final effect in a future state of condemnation. The — the sin— is the cause, the sense of con- demnation is the effect And the sense of con- demnation cannot be better described than by the Bible terms "misery," "shame," "torment," etc. t.ite more .shameful and miserable than that of th( " The way of the trans- I is hard." PrOV. xiii. 15. Sin is the cause, imc Mid toiuM u: the effect I fence 328 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. God's word looking from cause to effect speaks of the future state of the wicked — of the finally im- penitent — as one of shame and torment. For this cause the rich man prayed Abraham to send Laz- arus back to his friends. "For," said he, "I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also couie into this place of torment." In Rev. xiv. ii we read, "and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night." In Dan. xii. 2, God's word speaks of "everlasting shame and contempt" of the "bottomless pit" (Rev. xx. 3), of "eternal damnation" (Luke iii. 29; John v. 25), of "hell," etc., (Ps. ix. 17 ; Ezek. xxxi. 16 ; Matt. v. 22 ; xviii. 9, etc.). It is God's word speaking in the same positive terms of both the conditions of blessedness and condemnation. It looks from cause to effect in each case. It thus confirms our intuitive antici- pations in each case. All who believe the Bible therefore in the one case can not do otherwise than believe it in the other. Again, the Bible also speaks of a Judge and a Judgment Day. The psalmist declares (1. 6) : " And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is Judge." "And (Ps. ix. 8) he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall FUTURE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. minister judgment to the people in righteous Felix trembled when Paul "reasoned hteousness, temperance and judgment to '.ets xxiv. 2^). For more passages on this ]K)int the reader nu. I k. vii. 3 ; Matt. v. 21, etc : Rom. i. 32 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5. In civil law the judge sits as the executor of IW. He pronounces the penalty prescribed by the law. Since therefore the law ofGod is the -fall law, and since both the Judge and the of Judgment have been appointed ami the nalties fixed, we naturally expect the penalty. For why have a law, a Judge, and a Judgment Day, if it is not the divine purpose to execute the law. Anything short of this would be an injustice to those for benefit the law was given, and to him who to redeem as from the curse of the law, as well as make < uthor of the law, a liar. Of tli- • ha- been written (Rom. iii. 3,41: what if some did not believe? Shall their the fait!; I without effect J I be tnc\ but > very man a mitten: "That thou mightest be • , and mightesl when thou art judged," Ihaiee the inspired 330 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. writer (Gen. xviii. 25) pertinently asked : " Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" Let it be further noted that God has made pro- vision for every want or expectation of his crea- tures. For example, man intuitively looks for an object of worship. From the depth of his heart comes welling up that desire for worship — not alone in Christian, but in all lands. The disposi- tion to worship is as universal as the human race. A people without some object of worship has never been known. The heathen, the pagan, the Christian — all have their objects of worship. God created in man this disposition. He created us religious, worshipful beings. To meet this want, and deeming it proper that the creature should worship the creator, God has said, " I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me." But the disposition to worship anticipates as the consummation of worship, a future state of rest and peace and glory, like unto the state of the Creator. Hence, the anticipations of a future, eternal, spiritual, blissful home. To meet these expectations our Lord said, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also." John xiv. 3. " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 331 And we need not multiply these promises of God to assure the- reader of the ample provisions which God has made for this want, as the fact is involved in <>nr earnest longings for its realization. But the intuitive sense of wrong, condemnation and consequent expectation of punishment for sin, on to worship. The heathen, in tim tress, or any sore calamity, :noNt anything in order to appease the supposed wrath of their gods. Why? Because simultaneously with the sense of sin, and conse- quent condemnation, comes also the intuitive judgment and consequent punish- ment Under such a conviction, the famous infidel Voltaire uttered his dying sentence : "I look behind me, and all i^ dark ; I look before me, and all is dark ; soon I shall make a leap into the dark zing therefore, all these wants and ex- it] for them, the only a be that God has provided for and will justly mete out to every transgressor of Dg to their intuitive expect anises to provide for the all we not . his threat to provide the expected punish- 332 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. ment in the other? Analogy presses its claims alike in each case. Thirdly, let us consider the direct teachings of God's word on this subject — What does it say ? The Bible is replete with God's promises to His people. They are as the sands of the sea shore. But God is not partial — He is no respecter of per- sons. His warnings and threats to the wicked are as numerous as His promises to the faithful. He would not give any occasion for any "in the last great day" to rise up and say "Lord, why hadst thou not revealed unto us the terror of the law and the fierceness of thy wrath?" Beginning therefore with Job xxi. 29, 30, let us read a few passages from God's word regarding the future prospects for the wicked. "Have ye not asked them that go by the way ? and do ye not know their tokens, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruc- tion? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." And from Psalm xcii. 7, "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the work- ers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever." And (ix. 17) "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." And then turning to the evangelical prophet (Isa, iii. 10, 11) we read: "Say ye to . HE VI [CKBD. the righteous that it shall be well with him, fur they shall eat of the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him ; tor the reward of his hand shall be given him." From Dan. x;;. 2: "And many of them that sleep in : the earth shall awake, some to everlast- ing li: ame and everlasting tempt.'" And yet one more passage from the Old tnent Mai. iv. i): "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble ; and the day that cometh shall burn them ith tin- Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." a these unmistakably clear passages do com- ment and we turn to the New Testament :rther instruct* .list friends seem to comfort them- with the thought that the Old Testament :ven under a dispensation of law, when the moved the people with the of the but that the N ment was given in a would awakened in their hearts by the atoning Christ But the vanity of this hope will be seen aftei a few quotations, 334 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Listen to the words of our Lord (Matt. viii. n, 12), "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven : But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness ; there shall be weep- ing and gnashing of teeth." Again (xiii. 36-42) we read : "Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house ; and his disciples came unto him saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the son of man ; the field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. As there- fore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of the kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.' 1 '' Our Lord was asked for an interpretation of his parable of the tares, and in response to the disciples' request gave them this KUTL'RK PUNISHMENT OV THE WICKED. 335 IgC, which is BO unmistakably clear that there can be no hope for mercy to the impenitent. But this is nut all: Hear him again (Matt XXV. 41, "Then shall he say also to them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment." :. it is written (2 Pet. ii. 4-9J : " For ii I not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and I not the old world, bnt saved Xoah, the eighth person * * * bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. ***** The Lord know- eth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." That is to say, that if God did the angels that sinned, but cast them to hell ; and if he did DOt spare the old world, only the just person, and reserved t unto judgment, then there can be no hope lor the finally impenitent. In Revelation XI n, it is written of this sam- The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath ofGod, which is injured OUt without mixture into the enp of his nation, and he shall be tormented with lire 336 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. and brimstone, * * * * and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever." And thus we might indefinitely multiply pas- sages from God's word on this subject. But with one more citation we leave the matter for the reader's prayerful consideration. Let us read Matt, xii. 31, 32 : "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speak- eth a word against the Son of man, it shall be for- given him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." In this passage we are simply taught that there is a sin which for its heinousness has transcended the bounds of penitence, and hence is without the reach of love and mercy, and therefore can not, for any consideration, at any time, be forgiven. And if it can not be forgiven, the result is in- evitable, and the future punishment of the wicked is established once and for all. And in view of this we do not wonder at our Lord's pertinent question (Matt, xxiii. 33): "Ye serpents, ye gener- ation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Dear reader, if you are not abiding in FUTURE PUNISHMENT OE THE WICKED. the love and grace of God, huw can you hope to pe ? kfy — The Duration of the Future Punish- ment of the 11 'icki aiah ('xxxiii. 14) I, "Who anion- OS Bhall dwell with etH urmngst" In Matt, xviii. 8, it is written : ''Then shall he Bay also to them on the left hand, rt from me, \ (.- enrsed, into everlasting fire red for the devil and hisangels." (See also Matt. xxv. 41, In each of these [with many more which might be mentioned) the same Greek word aionion is osed, with the same translation, And in some of th< the same adjective occurs in the >am< u everlasting life," rlasting lire" — with the same translation in And if wr believe it means everlasting in the <'iK-, we can not do otherwise than so trans- late it in the other, [f we believe God's promises 340 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. to the faithful, we can not consistently deny his threats to the wicked. To the one he promises everlasting life ; the other he threatens with ever- lasting punishment. Therefore both must be alike true or false. The one belief inspires the penitent and faithful to deeper consecration, to greater purity of life, and quickens their zeal in the re- ligious work, while it dooms only the impenitent to their eternal fate. The other belief dooms both, at some indefinite future time, to utter annihilation. Hence the only tenable, safe and scriptural ground of belief is that in each case the word means 1 ' everlasting. ' ' But some will say, "We admit that the wicked should and will be punished. But inasmuch as both the time of sinners and their sins are finite — limited — it would be unjust to inflict unlimited — infinite punishment." In reply to this objection we would note briefly : i. That in the creation God imbued man with immortality, "he breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul." God breathed into man of his own essence, and hence man's im- mortality. But that which is immortal can have no extinction or end of being. Therefore man's destiny must correspond with his immortality. FUTURE PUNISHMENT OB THE WICKED. 341 2. That God created man an intelligent, free moral agent, with both the privilege and the ability to choose for himself between good and evil ; and with the instruction that in the one case it : be life, in the other death. According to the principle of fundamental law already enunci- the choosing presumes the consequence. Hence man having chosen the evil, and intuitively anticipated the consequences, God would virtually have thwarted man's free moral agency if he had made any change in the plan. For in so doing he would have denied man the right of hi- own choice, would therefore have made himself a liar. That man having chosen the evil, and by fallen from favor with Cod and from his I has made ample provision, in an in- finite atonement, for m overy, and has D man the privilege of choosing — having him life and death. The priviK an intelligent choice is now offered to all ; the ha- been made for all the sins, of all rod the benefits of this atone- the punishment provision must be com- mensurate with the K-stitu*- 1 in the Christ Man being im- 342 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. mortal, a free moral agent capable and privileged to choose for himself the grace and infinite glory of God, the only injustice in the future eternal pun- ishment of the wicked is on the part of the doomed, and not on the part of God. All the injustice done, sinners do to their own souls. But the jus- tice of God demands that the future punishment of the wicked be eternal, everlasting. In the lan- guage of another, "I do not accept the doctrine of eternal punishment because I delight in it. I would cast in doubts, if I could, till I had filled hell up to its very brim ; I would destroy all faith in it. But that would do me no good ; the thing would still remain — I could not destroy it. Nor does it help me to take the word ' everlasting ' and put it into a rack like an inquisitor until I make it shriek out some other meaning. I can not alter the stern fact. It will stand while eternity lasts." But "eternity!" who can measure its dura- tion ! Suppose, after one of our most violent snow storms, which covers the earth deep for thousands of miles, one single flake were melted in a thous- and years ; or, if a single beam of the sun's rays stood for a year, and as many years were added as there have been rays flooding the earth since the sun began to shine ; or if a single drop of the FUTURE PUNISHMENT OP Till- WICKED. 343 OOeao were exhaled in a million years, till the last drop were taken up ; — though we can not conceive of such apparently almost interminable periods, vet though we could, eternity would stretch as far ad them as though they had not yet begun. " Ah ! must I dwell in infinite 'lespair, atoms in the air p When [hete expire, as many yet in store I that crowd the ebbing ahore? Wh< gone, as 111. my to ensue on hills or dales that grew f When these [MM "'er, as many left behind : forest shaken 1 > y the wind ? When these run out, is many on the march rilliant lamps that gild JOB azure arch ; When many, many more As moments in the mfllionfl pad before ; When all these dreadful enl in pain, And multiplied by myriads again, Till numbers drown the thought ! COUld I Mp] then my wretche Thi Hut ah, I shivii Ink BpOO the dreadful WOrd ■ /■ >r;;t '" The burning v,\\\f where I blaspheming lie, I* t:: 1 ' " But we could not close this ( baptei without a moment's attention to 344 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. The Nature of the Future Punishment of the Wicked. I do not believe, as some have taught, in the literal outpouring of "fire and brimstone" upon the wicked as a necessary constituent of hell. For the Bible does not present the future state, either of the righteous or the wicked, as essentially material, but of spiritual tilings. Material figures are used in some passages of God's word to convey to the mind some conceptions of the fearful tor- tures of the wicked, in eternity writhing with agony in the flames of God's eternal wrath. And this idea does not detract, but rather adds to the severity of the punishment. The joys of heaven magnify as we are changed from glory to glory, into the image of him who sits upon the throne. So the woes of hell will also magnify as the wicked fall deeper and deeper into the power and image of the demon that beguiled them there. Could we conceive of the wicked suffering un- der a continuous and most bitter remorse of con- science, with all their guilt in all its heinousness looming up before them ; conceive of them as seeing nothing but their sins, as thinking of noth- ing but their sins, as feeling nothing but the quilt of their sins, augmented by the taunts of FUTURE PUNISHMENT OV Till- WICKED. 345 heavenly felicity, once so near and so freely of- fered, is now lost forever ; conceive of their banishment from all good, of banishment from all the salutary influences of good society ; banished from friends and home and parents; conceive of in the- society of blasphemers, drunk- murderers and such like, all in a monium of raging demons, with their very trembling with their k-arfnl groans and terrific bowlings; conceive of them "cast into outer darkness' 1 — "into the blackness of dark- " "into the bottomless pit," with the in- finite and eternal wrath of God constantly pouring into t: . and written over it all — " Doomed ■ r" — and we have but a meagre conception Of hell. But 01 that thought '" There are mam sufferings tolerable only because they are ed tO be Of Short duration. In this world health fails, the hop ry vanishes, and we count the weary hours till we may find a happy e in death. But O I there is no death in hell. ., which is a monster on earth, would be an .ith COUld ;^«> there, all the damned WOUld fill down and worship him. tongue would sin};, and ev< ry heart would ; 346 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. each cavern would echo with a shout of triumph, till all was hushed, and silence brood where terror reigned. But no ! the terrible reality is this : "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." Mark ix. 44. " And the smoke of their torment ascend- eth up for ever and ever." Rev. xiv. 11. O the destiny of the unsaved ! who can comprehend it ! My dear reader " knowing therefore the terror of the Lord," if you have not already arranged to escape it, will you not arrange to escape it by em- bracing Christ and his love, and by the riches of His grace come into the enjoyment of the riches of His glory? For to the wicked "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," but to the righteous it is joy and pleasure forever more. May a thoughtful and prayerful consideration of this subject lead you to peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, is the prayer of your humble servant. Amen. CHAPTER XV. EBAVBN. " Tiii.ki: is g heaven : This Bhred of lift can DOt Deal] the web Nature hath wrought to govern divine spirits ; Then is a heaven, ere'i misery. The divine pow er, ever blest and good, '.■I for an Ql-natnred jest, To sport himself in pains of those he made." Whatever skeptics may say of a hereafter, how- ever stubbornly they may deny it, the very mention of heaven awakens our aspirations and quickens our emotions. Moody once met an old friend, and took him by the hand and began to inquire about his family, the tears came trickling down his cheeks as he said : "I haven't any now." "What," •;r wife dead ?*' H Yes sir," said the man with trembling lips, " Ami all your children too?*' " Ves, all gone," he added almost convulsed with grief; "and I am left hen- desolate and alone. But — but —I am going to see them over there." Ah ! that hope I " I .mi ^«.in^ to see them 348 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. over there, ' ' how cheering ! The only balm for that wounded and broken heart. " Tell me, my secret soul, O, tell me, hope and faith, Is there no resting place From sorrow, sin and death ? Is there no happy spot Where mortals may be blest Where grief may find a balm And weariness a rest? Faith, hope and love — best boons to mortals given — Waved their bright wings, and whispered : Yes, in heaven ! " A bright-eyed little girl, who had heard her teacher talk about heaven, on her return home with a look mingled with joy and deep concern, asked, u Papa, where is heaven?" " Up there," was the prompt response. Where heaven is, God has not definitely told us. But the Bible teaches that it is above us. Though God is everywhere present, his special dwelling place, we are told, is in heaven. For (Ps. ciii. 19) " The Lord hath pre- pared His throne in the heavens." And the Bible speaks of heaven as above us. In the song of Moses, (Deut. xxxiii. 40) we read, " For I lift up my hand unto heaven, and say, I live forever." After God had made his everlasting covenant with Abra- BBAVBN. 349 ham and left off talking with him, we read < ,,:.. xvii. 22.) "And God WCMi up from Abraham." And Jacob went out from Bccrshcba toward Haran, and as night came on, made him a pillow of stone "and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it readied to heaven, and behold the ending and descending on it. And behold the Lord si /.'," &C, xxviii. 12, 13. And Job (iii. 4), lamenting the day of his birth, exclaimed, " Let QotGod regard it/ram speaking of himself (John i: whence he came, &&, declared, " He that cometh al I. * * * He that cometh &om ; -/.v." And of his departure out of this world we read (Acts i. 10) ; "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he men stood by him in white apparel, Which G llilee, why .stand ve This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall SO COme in like- have .seen him go into heaven." Up there "—it is above lis. Bttt jUSt wl ith ns as he did with Abraham in regard to the promised land, -He will show it tons when we get there. Ami in older to 350 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. get there, it is of paramount importance that we have Abraham's faith and obedience, to follow promptly and cheerfully wherever God may lead us. Heaven a Place. A great many persons imagine that anything said about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They talk about heaven like the air. With their peculiar ideas of spiritual being, and of the abode of spirits, men have almost lost sight of the fact that heaven is a place. But Paul (Heb. xi. 16), speaking of the Christian's longing for heaven, says, "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God : For he hath prepared for them a city." Here the Apostle carries our minds away from this worldly, sinful, sorrowful country, to a better one ; from the cities of time, built at the hands of men, " to a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. xi. 10. Language like this bespeaks locality. John, when an exile on the isle of Patmos, was carried away of the Spirit into a great and high mountain, where God gave him a view of that great city. For his description of it see Rev. xxi. 10-27. ^ * s the most specific as well as the most graphic descrip- HEAVEN. 351 tion of heaven which God has anywhere given us. And every candid reader will at once conceive that it is in every particular as much the description of a real place as that of Jerusalem, Babylon or Nine- veh, or any other of the great cities of the Bible. Moreover, it is also spoken of as God's "dwelling place "(i Kings viii. 30); as " a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Jesus said (John xiv. 2), "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a. place for you." Surely this means something. It clearly and evidently indi- cates locality. For he immediately adds, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." Thank God for such a promise. But a matter of far more vital importance for consideration is The Occupants. Who will they be? John Newton once said : "When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see many peo- ple there whom I did not expect to see ; the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did 352 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. expect to see ; and the third, and perhaps the greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there." We are scarcely saved ! " Sing, ye bright angelic choir , Praise the Lamb enthroned above ; Whilst astonished, I admire God's free grace and boundless love. That blest moment I received him Filled my soul with joy and peace ; Love I much ? I've much forgiven ; I'm a miracle of grace." But the Bible clearly defines who shall and who shall not enter heaven. The point of difference in the ideas of men and divine revelation is in the standard of measurement and of judgment. We are told (i Sam. xvi. 17), " For the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." But of two things we may feel positively certain : First, that the society of heaven will be a select one. None but those clad in the wedding gar- ment will be there. All will be clad alike there. There are a great many kinds of aristocracy in this world, but the aristocracy of heaven will be one of universal love and holiness. The humblest sinner on earth, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, will be an aristocrat in heaven. And, second, HBAVBN. 353 that Cod will make no mistake in the selection or admission of the occupants to heaven. All who arc fonnd worthy will be admitted there. Who then Will be found worthy? This is the all-important question. And to this we answer : i. That all who die in their infancy will be ad- mitted there. In answer to the disciples' inquiry, "Who shall be the in the kingdom of heaven ?" JeMi- called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, " Verily I onto yon, except ye be converted, and be- come a> little children, ye .shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the >t in the kingdom of heaven." Here our little child the standard of worthi- into heaven. According to Mark x. 1.1, it is written, "Suffer little children to •;nt<» me, and forbid them not, for of suck is tin- kingdom ot heaven." ¥< uch is the kin^<: Dear reader, have yon been dear little on< } & 1 1 rasoled and comforted with the fact that they have only joined ompau) of angels where, it faithful unto the end, y< mitt< d to join them by and b\ . MI who have become new creatures in Christ 23 354 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. Jesus and remain steadfast in their faith even unto death will be admitted there. In the language of our Lord (John i. 12, 13), "But as many as re- ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name ; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Again, (John iii. 3, 5, 7), "Jesus answered and said unto him, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. And because Nicodemus could not understand this, by way of explanation, "Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he can not enter into the kingdom of God." Marvel not that I said unto thee, " Ye must be born again.' 1 ' 1 And to assure the people of Galatia that neither the covenant relation of their fathers, nor anything in the ceremonial law, would avail anything, Paul declared (Gal. vi, 15), "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." Neither Christian parentage, nor a nominal pro- fession of faith, nor any other good thing short of a new creature in Christ Jesus, will secure an en- trance into the mansions above. And hence, when HKAVKN. 355 John was permitted to take the wonderful view of en, one of the elders inquired of him, "Who arc these which arc arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?" John answered him, "Sir, thou knowest." And the elder said, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, ami have Washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Rev. vii. 13. \.\. 01 these passagi S ipture, and the main- more which might be given, it will become quite clear to our readers who will be the occupants of heaven. And with this test yon will not wonder at our Lord's language 'Mat;, xxxi i.p, " For many are called, but few are chosen." The important don i-, //".--• u it with met //<>:,■ is // with A matter of no little importance also to the occu- of heaven will be lt\ Duration* aid 1 Ps. I ii. 87), " Hut thou art the shall have no end." Ami of Son it is written illeb. xiii. S) that He is "the , and to-day and forevt baa promised (John xiv. 3), " And fox \ on, I will come 356 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." With Christ forever ! Ah, yes, He is "the same yesterday, to-day and for every " Thy years shall have no end." But ordinarily the mind, or even the keenest imagina- tion, does not comprehend the thought in the words "forever," "no end," etc. Suppose we try to aid our conceptions of these terms in the use of some figures. Suppose, for a moment, that the Bible used the words a trillion of years, to represent the life to come, instead of eternity or forever. A trillion according to American notation is a million multiplied by a million, the number expressed by a unit with twelve ciphers annexed. Suppose now that that was to be the measure instead of "years that have no end." How long do you think it would take to count a trillion ? Suppose you would count as fast as your pulse beats, day and night, without any rest to eat or sleep. Your pulse beats seventy times a minute, there are sixty minutes in an hour ; at that rate you would count 4,200 per hour, in twenty-four hours, or one day, you would count 100,800, in 365 days, or one year, you would have counted 36,792,000. Take this result and multiply it by 30,000, and you get your first tril- lion of years, or this number, 1,103,760,000,000. HEAVEN. It" then it takes thirty thousand years to even count out- trillion, what must it be to live through a tril- [f Adam had commenced 6,000 'lint and continued till HOW, he would have been bnt one-fifth through — he would Deed to live five times as long to finish his count. if the duration of heaven ran on through the ented by this trillion of years, what a that would be for the redeemed in _ But the- glorious reality will be, Xi thy years shall When a trillion of years will have ternity " in heaven will have scarce begun. Our Happiness in Heaven. Happiness 1- universally desired and sought by in. m. There is no one object so universally sought as this. But alas ! how many mistake the proper II true happiness. The only source of true happiness in this life is iii a lite with Christ, and the only perfect happiness will he in heaven. lid, " 1 shall be satisfied when ike in thy liken I rod designed that we should l>e a happy people, and 1 vi t since t : : for our happiness in this life, and rfect happiness in that which is to come. Qui perf::r associations in heaven will aid in per- fecting our happiness. In this Hie we gather in the choicest assemblies and we count ourselves happy. Some are rich, and some are poor ; some are clad in silk, and glitter with ornaments oi and diamonds, and some are in the more ordinary attire ; some are intelligent, while others are illit- erate ; some are appreciative and inspiring in their manners ami address, while Others are inappiccia- tive and repelling in tlu-ir very appearance ; some- are kind and gentle, Others are unkind and gruff. Hut in heaven it will not be mi. We will all \\e the choice from all the lands of earth. On the PatmO . John " beheld, and lo, a great mill- 362 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. titude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood be- fore the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, Salvation to our God which sit- teth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Rev. vii. 10. O, what a gathering that will be ! With God and the Lamb upon the throne, the innumer- able multitude of the redeemed, led by angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim in their "new song" — there will be joy indeed. 5. There will be joy in the recognition of friends and loved ones. " When we hear the music ringing In the bright celestial dome — When sweet angels' voices singing, Gladly bid us welcome home To the land of ancient story, Where the spirit knows no care, In that land of life and glory — Shall we know each other there ? " Yes, indeed ; it did not require an introduction of the disciples to Abraham, and Moses, and Elias, on the mount of transfiguration. Oh no ! The joy of that meeting was as indescribable as that in the meeting of old and tried friends. Lazarus did not HF.AVKX. need an introduction to Abraham, into whose arried. Heavenly recognition, we are glad to Bay, is put upon a different basis from that in this life. Here our want of confidence in each other obscures our knowledge, and remem- brance and appreciation of each other. Bnt there OUT 'faith in God and our transfiguration to His glorious image will have perfected both our con- fidence in and our knowledge of each other, and shall know even as also we air known." Heaven is presented tons under different figures. 5 them is that of xi n great supper " "the Much of the enjoyment therefore must come from our knowledge of each other a- guests. Imagine yourself at a feast where, though you may have known many who surround the table, you are, by some obliviousness of mind, at of them all. The Incertitude in which you an robs you of much of your joy — fox \ on are alone. But BUppOM that the mist rolls , and that you recognize in the eounteiiauees before you the old familiar faces of loved friends, ;\ of which you Oth< I did have been de] I heaven. Sitting down with ham. | facob, with 364 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. the kingdom of heaven, we will intuitively recog- nize as our companions those who were the excel- lent of the earth — "our friends tried and true" — and be reunited with those who divided our cares and doubled our joys in this world of mingled sor- rows and delights. In view of the fact that we are social beings in our very constitution, God has, in his goodness made provision for the perfection of this, as well as the other faculties and powers of our being, in heaven ; and we shall know and enjoy each other there. Families will gather there, with loved ones separated by the roll of many long years, to renew their friendship in the perfect love of God — unite in perfect love forever. " Where the bond is never severed, Partings, claspings, sobs and moans, Midnight waking, twilight weeping, Heavy noontide, all are done. Where the child has found its mother Where the mother finds her child ; Where dear families are gathered That were scattered on the wild. * * * * Where we find the joy of loving As we never loved before, Loving on unchilled, unhindered, Loving once, and never more." II I. AY F.N. 365 But the climax of uiir joys will be reached 6. In the infinite riches and splendor of heaven. The enjoyment of both riches and splendor depends upon certain preparations for that special pi:: In this world the- cup of pleasure and satisfaction may be brimming and yet never full, because it is never without a leakage. Wealth may have ac- cumulated around us as about Solomon, and yet with tl aeons cry of Solomon's words, "all is vanity.' 1 Hut in the resurrection this imperfec- tion — this consequent of death — will be wholly wed up in victory. The disciples on the mount of transfiguration were in the p re se nce of a glory which they COUld not then behold, but fell on their faces, Haul, on his way t<> Damascus, onfronted with the glory of God and stricken blind with it. When afterwards he was caught up into the third heaven he " heard Unspeakable , which it was not possible for man to utter. " John on Patmos saw what was too sublime to re- veal to man. Why all this? Because, "having our understanding darkened,' 1 u we now look rkly." Bui in the mornii the resurrection, .1- we awake in Christ's likeness, our eves with every powei of soul will open t<> the and full ^\i>r\ <.i ( ',..(1. 366 AROUND THE HOME TABLE. We talk of riches when we have a title to some land, with palaces and barns, herds of cattle, bins full of grain, and gold in our coffers. We eat and drink, and view and enjoy them in a measure for a few short years, and then die. But see, there is a home whose realms are boundless in circumference and eternal in its roll of years. It is decked all over with mansions of divine architecture, finish and furniture — with conveniences contrived by the divine mind — in the midst of the holy city, with its majestic walls of jasper, whose foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones, with twelve gates of pearl and the streets of pure gold, and in the midst of it the temple and throne of God. From beneath it flows a river with waters clear as crystal, and by its side was the tree of life. " And there was no night there. Oh no, there is no need of night for sleep there. Blissful, eternal day ! And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Nay, and all its inhabitants do "shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," — all do shine with the effulgent glory of God. And these, with the fullness of Christ and his glory in us, will be riches and splendor and happiness HBAVBN. 367 enough iur me ! With real wonder, and joy un- speakable, we can truly sing: Who .ire these in bright array, This innumerable throng. Round the altar nJgfat and .lay, Tuning their triumphant song ? Worthy is the Lamb, once slain. Ug, honor, glory, ; t.> obtain dominion ev'ry hour. " These through fiery trials tron immortal fruits they feed ■ Th.in the Lamb amidst the throne Shall tb living fountains lead. and gladness banish sighs ; An