like the waves in that active, powerful, and resistless element. The wheels, like the living creatures, moved at the will of the spirit which actuated them, denoting that nothing acts at random, but that Providence is directed by the spirit of the Most High, and fulfils his righteous counsels. The living creatures moved with the wheels, showing that angels are employed as active agents in the events of a wise and gracious Providence. Above the heads of the living creatures was the terrible crystal, the vast expanse of heaven, denoting the amplitude and the unlimited extent of the Divine presence, filling and embracing all things, and to whom all things are clear and transparent, like crystal, without obscurity or mystery in the eye of the all-seeing God. Finally, there was the bow in the cloud, denoting the harmony of the divine perfections in the covenant of Redemption; the throne, an emblem of the divine majesty; and upon the throne, the likeness of a man, denoting the Messiah, the incarnate God promised and foretold as the Saviour of the world. 2 Corinthians v. 1-"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." I remain, yours, A SUBSCRIBer. Dudley Port, February, 1853. ANSWER.-The meaning of the apostle appears pretty evident, if we attend to the context that is, to the words which go before and follow after. The apostle is speaking of death, and the blessedness which awaits the righteous; and in illustrating these topics he employs some highly figurative terms. The body he calls a tabernacle, in allusion to the tabernacle used by the Israelites in the wilderness. The tabernacle was a frail building, formed of perishable materials-wood covered with skins; so is the human body frail and perishable. The tabernacle was made to be taken down; so is the body; it must soon die, and become dissolved. But the tabernacle was destined to be succeeded by a more permanent and glorious buildingthe temple built by Solomon; so the present perishable body is This sublime vision is one of the most glorious, and yet one of to be succeeded by a glorious the most interesting subjects of the sacred records, and, perhaps, at a future period, we may give our views of it in the form of a discourse or a treatise. and spiritual body in the resurrection. Yet the temple of Solomon, though more substantial and durable than the frail tabernacle, was destined to perish; and it did perish. Here QUERY 2. THE EARTHLY the figure falls short, and, in HOUSE AND THE HEAVENLY order to express more fully the properties of our heavenly house, the apostle has to add some terms which cannot be applied even to Solomon's temple; hence he tells us it is a house not made BUILDING. DEAR SIR,-Will you be so kind as to furnish in your valuable little work, the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR, an explanation of with hands, but eternal in the heavens. Though Solomon's temple was made with hands, ours is not; it is a building of God, and therefore imperishable and ever-during. God at any time, the only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him;" the last two passages seem to contradict the first, and an explanation of the above, will greatly oblige yours respectfully, ROBT. PAUL KIDD. March 14, 1853. ANSWER.-It must be remembered that literally God has no 'face," for he is a spirit. He has no more a face than he has hands and feet, except as they are possessed by the God-man, Jesus Christ. The word "face" therefore must be understood figuratively. It sometimes means his presence, as when God said to Moses, My presence (in Hebrew, my face) shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Exodus xxxiii. 14. But many readers have stumbled at the apostle's words in the next verse, for he speaks of our being "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." It is asked, "How can we be clothed upon with a house?" We reply: We have a similar form of speech when we speak of our being invested with a thing; for what is it to be invested with a thing, but to be wrapped round or clothed with it? Besides, we must look at the thing intended: the apostle is speaking of a house only in a figurative sense; but it is a body, a glorified body, in It somethe literal sense; and the body, times means also the ineffable you know, is the clothing or glory of God, the unclouded investment of the soul. the revelation of his perfections, as garment in which it is enfolded discovered to the saints and at present; and in the future angels in Heaven; as when it world the soul will not remain is said "Now we see through a naked or unclothed, but clothed glass darkly, but then face to upon at the resurrection with a face." glorified and ever-during and ever-active body; and thus mortality will be swallowed up of life. QUERY 3.-ON SEEING THE FACE OF GOD. DEAR SIR,-In searching the Scriptures I find some portions that I cannot understand in Gen. xxxii. 30, "And he called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved;" and in Exodus, xxxiii. 20, "And he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live" and then again in John i. 18, "No man hath seen "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 1 Cor. xiii. 12, Matt. v. 8. The word has also other meanings, into which we need not enter and thus we can easily see how it may be true, in one sense, that no man has yet seen God at any time, and that no man can see him and live, when the word means his ineffable glory, the full manifestation of his perfections, for that is only seen in heaven itself; it would be unsupportable to flesh and blood; it would destroy the frail tenement in which the soul resides. At the same time we ean easily see that it was equally true that Jacob saw God at Peniel, because the word meant no more than a dim manifestation of his presence. He saw him not in his unclouded glory, but in the form of man, who wrestled with him. Moses could not see all his unveiled glory, but only his back parts-that is, an obscure manifestation of the Deity, such as human nature could bear. our Lord had beheld his glory before the world was, yea, from word Bath haiyannah, more all eternity; and hence the only begotten Son who had always dwelt in the bosom of the Father, was competent to declare and Dr. Clarke. 3.-The bird, him to mankind. And the saints of God when in the heavenly world, and when stripped of a frail mortal body, shall see him face to face. Be it our wisdom then so to live on earth that we shall eternally enjoy this blessedness in Heaven. ANSWER 1.-The brevity of our articles prevents our enter. ing largely into any subject, and therefore we are compelled sometimes to give facts and conclusions, without the details and the rational process by which we arrive at them. 2.-One correspondent says, he has examined Lev. xi. and Deut. xiv., but does not find it menBut tioned there. In our translation it is rendered the owl, but the probably means the Ostrich, and indeed is so rendered by Boothroyd, Calmet, the Pictorial Bible, though a native of Africa, is frequently found in the deserts of the adjoining region of Arabia, the very country through which the Israelites journeyed. 4.Though the Ostrich does sit upon her eggs like other birds, she frequently leaves them during the day, the warm sand QUERY 4.-ON THE OSTRICH. preserving their heat; bu Two correspondents have she returns to them at night. asked us for information respect- The eggs thus deposited in ing the Ostrich, and the mode sand are very liable to be of harmonizing with Scripture crushed in her absence by the one or two statements respecting foot of the traveller, or the it in the September number of beasts that may roam in the the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR. desert. CATECHISM OF SCIENCE. If "J. C." will refer to our last | of every one of our readers be number, he will perceive that directed to it; and let us have we want only about 3,000 more their answers without delay. subscribers to reach the longexpected 20,000 copies. Surely by another determined effort this can be accomplished. Let us TRY ALTOGETHER. We have only one question for consideration during the pre The answers of "J. R. W. "E. Kinder," "John Smith," "Juvenis," and "Preceptor," shall be noticed in our next. ANSWER TO QUESTION 28. sent month. Let the attention the tap of a barrel unless the vent peg be taken out; because, gas having escaped from the when the peg is in, the external bread, and passed off into the air pressing up through the tap air; and I believe it becomes against the water prevents it mouldy because the seeds of from running out. When the the vegetable or fungus called peg is taken out, the pressure of mould, floating in the atmothe air through the tap is coun- sphere, fix themselves in the terbalanced by its pressure on decayed bread, and there gerthe top of the water, so that it minate or grow. then flows out freely. If you deem this answer to be satisfac-rect, tory, its insertion will oblige Yours truly, ELIZA. ANSWER TO QUESTION 29. DEAR MR. EDITOR,-I was often perplexed to understand why india-rubber, more than any other substance, would erase black-lead pencil marks from paper, until I somewhere met with the following answer, which at once satisfied me, as I have no doubt it will also do most of your readers. "India-rubber contains a very large quantity of the gas called carbon. Black lead is composed almost entirely of the two elements, carbon and Eiron. Hence the india-rubber has so great an attraction for the black lead, that it takes up I all the loose traces that have been left on the paper by the pencil point." Yours respectfully, ANRREW MARVEL. ANSWER TO QUESTION 30. MY DEAR SIR,-In your last number but one of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR, you ask what makes bread become stale and mouldy after it has been kept for a length of time. I believe it grows stale, or dry and tasteless, because of the moisture and the carbonic acid The insertion of this, if cor- PETER BROWN. QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED. 34th.-Ought we to raise the circulation of this Magazine to 20,000 copies for the coming year? If so, what are the reasons, and what is the best plan for accomplishing it? The following will show that some of our friends are resolved for the circulation of the small to make another vigorous effort This is only as it ought to be. Magazine for the coming year. We promise that neither effort nor expense shall be wanting on our part to gain the prize volume our young friends promised us determined effort; nothing less the last year Let us have a I will satisfy our earnest-hearted correspondents. Our cry to every minister, local preacher, leader, teacher, and scholar, is, HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! "P.S." says, "I am glad you are going to make another determined effort to raise the circulation to twenty thousand. I hope we shall win this time." "T. R.-I am confident that if the teachers and scholars in our school would only exert themselves with all their might, we might dispose of a great many more small magazines than we do. Do press the teachers to take the matter up." "PREMO" says, "Do you think, Sir, that all the ministers did their duty last year? I know that some of them took the matter up warmly; but I know that some of them took very little interest in the matter at all. I could name one who never mentioned the subject at all in any of the schools. I hope it will not be so again. If our ministers will only lead the way, I am sure that we love them so much that we will follow them anywhere." "T. G." says, "What a triumph it will be if, in our small community, we can circulate twenty thousand JUVENILES next year. Do push the matter. I will do all I can to help you." "H. H." says, "It is a very difficult thing to rouse the whole Connexion to take an interest in this matter. I am therefore glad you have begun early. I am glad to see that the brethren of the Wesleyan Association have commended the hearty manner in which we support our magazines. I hope that we "ALPHA" says, "I hope you shall show to the world next will propose some simple plan. year that we can do greater Let us have a proper under- things than these. Sound your standing and a complete orga-editorial bugle still louder, and nization through the whole Con-call all hands to action." nexion, preachers and people, teachers and scholars, all at it. I shall feel humbled if we fail again." [We shall be glad to hear from more of our friends, on this subject during the month.] |