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Signs of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 19.

CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS

Signs of the Times

Apr 20, 1876

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 20, 1876

CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
We are living in the last days. John exclaims: “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Jesus Christ is the only refuge in these perilous times. Satan is at work in secrecy and darkness. Cunningly he draws away the followers of Christ from the cross, and brings them into self-indulgence and wickedness.
Satan is opposed to everything that will strengthen the cause of Christ and weaken his own power. He is diligently laying plans to undermine the work of God. He never rests for a moment when he sees that the right is gaining the ascendancy. He has legions of evil angels that he sends to every point where light from Heaven is shining upon the people. Here he stations his pickets to seize every unguarded man, woman, or child, and pass them over to his service.
It is Satan's plan to weaken the faith of God's people in the testimonies. Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt as to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to perdition. When the testimonies, once believed, are doubted, and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this, but he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends in destruction.
Very many do not realize that God holds them accountable for every advantage gained by the foe which is admitted to the fort. The desolation and ruin following lies at the door of the unfaithful sentinels, who, by their neglect, become agents in the hands of the adversary to win souls to destruction. Men professing this faith should seek wisdom and guidance of God and not trust in their own judgment and knowledge. They should, like Solomon, earnestly pray for faith and light, and he will give them freely of his abundant supply. God would have his work done intelligently, not in a hap-hazard manner. He would have it done with faith and careful exactitude, that he may place the sign of his approval upon it. Those who love him and walk with fear and humility before him, he will bless, and guide, and connect them with Heaven. If the workers rely upon him he will give them wisdom and correct their infirmities, so that they will be able to do the work of the Lord with perfection.
Our good works alone will not save any of us, but we cannot be saved without good works. And after we have done all that we can do, in the name and strength of Jesus we are to say, “We are unprofitable servants.” We are not to think we have made great sacrifices and should receive great reward for our feeble services.
We must put on the armor and be prepared to successfully resist all the attacks of Satan. His malignity and cruel power is not sufficiently estimated. When he finds himself foiled upon one point, he assumes new ground and fresh tactics, and tries again, working wonders in order to deceive and destroy the children of men. The youth should be carefully warned against his power, and patiently and prayerfully directed how to endure the trials sure to come upon them in this life. They should be led to cling to the Word of God and give attention to counsel and advice.
The Saviour of the world offers to the erring the gift of eternal life. He watches for a response to his offers of love and forgiveness with a more tender compassion than that which moves the heart of an earthly parent to forgive a wayward, repenting, suffering son. He cries after the wanderer, Return unto me and I will return unto you. If the sinner still refuses to heed the voice of mercy which calls after him with tenderness.
But if he neglects the opportunity presented him and goes on in his evil course, the wrath of God will, in an unexpected moment, break forth upon him. Those who, being often reproved, harden their hearts, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It lays at the foundation of a proper education. Those who, having a favorable opportunity, have failed to learn this first great lesson, are not only disqualified for service in the cause of God, but are a positive injury to the community in which they live.
Living faith in the merits of a crucified Redeemer will carry men through the fiery furnace of affliction and trial. The form of the Fourth will be with them in the fierce heat of the furnace, which will not leave even the smell of fire upon their garments. Children should be encouraged to become Bible students and have firm religious principles that will stand the test of the perils sure to be experienced by all those who live upon earth during the last days, in the closing history of the world.
In this sinful world of ours, truth and falsehood are so mixed that one is not always clearly discerned from the other. But why has one who professes the truth so little strength? Because he understands not his own ignorance and his own weakness. If he knew this, if he was distrustful of himself, he would feel the importance of Divine help to preserve him from the wiles of the enemy.
We need to be active, working Christians, unselfish in heart and life, having an eye single to the glory of God. Oh! what wrecks of weakness we meet everywhere! Silent lips, and fruitless lives! This is the result of falling under temptation. Nothing mars the peace of the soul like sinful unbelief.
Christ asks for all. It will not do to withhold anything. He has purchased us with an infinite price, and he requires that all we have shall be yielded to him a willing offering. If we are fully consecrated to him in heart and life, faith will take the place of doubts, and confidence the place of distrust and unbelief.

The World when Christ Comes.

It is clearly set forth in the Scriptures, that the return of Christ to Judgment will find the world anything but holy, peaceful, Christian, and happy; and that the last days will be earth's worst days, crowded with all forms of abounding wickedness, apostasy, irreligion, disorder, and sensuality. Indeed, it is one of the uniform laws of Providence, that judgment never comes in a pure and peaceful age. It is only when the blasphemies of men run highest that the Almighty strikes. When the wickedness of the old world culminated, the flood came. When the iniquities of Sodom were at their height, the day of doom dawned. When the “iniquity of the Amorites was full,” the sword of Israel was upon them for their extermination. When the Jews, in their many crimes and apostasy, added the responsibility for the Messiah's blood, the ploughshare of destruction overturned their city, destroyed the last remnant of their state, and entailed eighteen centuries of woe upon their children. The greatness of judgment is also graduated by the extent and turpitude of the offenses which call it down. As all divine judgments, hitherto, have been samples and earnests of the great Judgment to come; and as, when it comes, it is to be the most universal and awful of all, we are forced to the conclusion that it will overtake the world in a condition of the most unbounded guilt and godlessness, transcending everything that has thus far marked the history of man.
To this, also, agree all the scriptural statements on the subject: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8.) “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” (Luke 17:26, 27.) We know what sort of days those of Noah were. We know that they were not centuries of righteousness and peace. The testimony of God certifies to us what was the state of things. The inspired record is, that “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.*” (Gen. 6:1–13.) Such is the awful portrait of those times, sketched by the Holy Ghost himself.
And the word of the divine Jesus, more than once recorded, is: “AS THE DAYS OF NOE WERE, SO SHALL ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE.” (Matt. 24:37–39.)
We know, too, from the same infallible source, what was the moral state of the cities of the plain at the time. They were overwhelmed. “The Lord said: the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grievous.” Not ten righteous men could be found in all their teeming populations. (Gen. 18:20–32; 19:1–17.)
But the word of Jesus is, “Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28–30.) Paul testifies to the same effect: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (2 Tim. 3:1–5.)
And if this correctly portrays what is to be the prevailing condition of the professing church, what shall be said of the vulgar multitudes who make no pretensions to piety or godliness?—Prophetic Times.

A Hope of Heaven.

A HOPE of heaven illumes my path Bedewed with silent tears, And bids us look to Christ by faith, And on him cast our cares.
A hope of heaven, it cheers the soul, Oppressed with grief and care, And bids us live by God's control, And never more despair.
A hope of heaven, it soothes the mind, When earthly joys are fled, And tells that we may comfort find In Christ our living head.
A hope of heaven and endless rest, It fills the soul with love; It calms the tumult of the breast, And bids us look above.
A hope of heaven, Oh, joyful thought! Oppressed no more with sin, The ransomed by the Saviour bought Shall there his praises sing.
A hope of heaven, to join the throng Redeemed by saving grace; To shout the never-ending song, And see God's smiling face.
A hope of heaven, to dwell with Him Who all our sorrows bore, And there his endless praises sing, Where we shall part no more.

Men with Hot Hearts

A CHINESE convert, in conversation with a missionary, remarked: “We want men with hot hearts to tell of the love of Christ.” If there is ever to be a wide-spread revival in our land and world, we must have such men.

Step by Step

THERE are some of our young fellows who want to put their feet on the top of the ladder at once. But, believe me, step by step is the only way to climb."—Spurgeon.

Noah’s Ark vs. Infidels.

INFIDELS urge against the truthfulness of the Bible that Noah’s ark was not large enough to contain all the animals that are said to have been in it, therefore they say that the Bible is not true. Bishop Horne gives a most satisfactory answer to this petty objection; and for the satisfaction of all, we give it in his own language:
“On accurate computation, the contrary has been proved; so that what was thought an objection becomes even an evidence for the truth of the Mosaic record. The dimensions of the ark were three hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in height; and it consisted of three stories of floors.
“Reckoning the cubit at eighteen inches, Dr. Hales shows it to have been of the burthen of 42,413 tons. A first-rate man-of-war is between 2200 and 2300 tons; and consequently the ark had the capacity or storage of eighteen such ships, the largest in present use, and might carry 20,000 men with provisions for six months besides the weight of 1800 cannons and all military stores. Can we doubt of its being sufficient to contain eight persons and about two hundred or two hundred and fifty pair of four-footed animals; a number to which, according to M. Buffon, all the various distinct species may be reduced, together with all the subsistence necessary for a twelve month? To these are to be added all the fowls of the air, and such reptiles and insects as cannot live under water.
“Other calculations have been made to show that the ark was of sufficient capacity for all are here designedly omitted.—Horne’s Introd., Vol. 1, p. 75.”

“No Society for Anybody.”

So said a man who had professed religion many years, but had lived far from Christ. Talking with a friend one day, he remarked: “I feel that I am no society for anybody. If I meet a warm-hearted Christian, and he begins to speak of the love of Christ, and how he enjoys religion, I can’t talk with him; I have no such experience. On the other hand, I do not dare go over to the world, and I do not really wish to do so. I am neither a fervent Christian nor a worldling; I am no society for anybody.”
Are there not many such—many who can say,
“Sweet was the time when first I felt The Saviour’s pardoning blood,”
but who feel none of that sweetness now? who once out of gushing hearts could speak of the love of Christ, but their tongues are silent now? They have quit the world, and dare not go back to it, and know it could not make them happy if they should; but having “left their first love,” they do not enjoy the fellowship of the saints, and are afraid or ashamed to speak of their experience. They are unhappy, self-condemned.
Are you one of this number? Why remain so? Your pathway will only grow darker and your heart sadder. You ought to be company for somebody; yea, for all who love Christ. Repent and do again the first works. Return unto God, and he will return unto you, and love, joy and peace will pervade your breast, and your mouth will speak the praises of Jesus.

Selfishness

SELFISHNESS predominates with many who should know that a life of self-sacrificing love is a life of peace and liberty. Those who seek happiness by gratifying themselves and looking out mainly for their own interests, are on the wrong track to secure happiness even upon earth. Whoever is unfaithful in the least of his duties, is unfaithful in much. If he neglects to faithfully perform the small tasks devolving upon him, he proves himself incapable of bearing weightier responsibilities, and indicates that he is not whole-hearted in the work, and does not have an eye single to the glory of God.

The Two Thrones,

By James White

REPRESENTING THE KINGDOMS OF GRACE AND OF GLORY.

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE FIRST ADVENT.

The Pharisees supposed the kingdom of Israel would then be established with outward show. “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20, 21. But was the kingdom within the unbelieving Pharisees? The marginal reading—“among you”—helps the case. What was then among them? Christ had just cleansed ten lepers who showed themselves to the priests, and one of them returned to give glory to God. In their midst were the wonderful manifestations of divine power and grace in the miracles of Christ; hence, he said to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is among you.” The work of divine grace was manifested among them.
Deception has been the work of Satan ever since he successfully deceived Eve. He led the Jews to expect in the Messiah a ruling monarch, instead of a meek and lowly teacher, and finally the sacrifice for sinners.

THE SECOND ADVENT.

At the time of the second advent, and the establishment of the eternal kingdom, the people will doubtless be under as great deception relative to the nature of the coming and kingdom of Christ, as the Jews were relative to his mission at his first advent. Then he came as the humble teacher of the people, closing his mission with giving himself a sacrifice for sinners. The Jews rejected Jesus because he did not meet their vain expectations. Satan led them to look for the coming of Messiah with outward show and grandeur, when he was to come in humility. And now that he is soon to appear the second time in his tangible kingdom forever, Satan has the delusion prepared for the people, that Christ’s coming is spiritual, at death, at conversion, or in the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Jesus anticipates the heresies of our time, and says: “The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here! or, see there! go not after them nor follow them. For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.” Luke 17:22–24.
In close connection with the establishment of the future immortal kingdom will be the second coming of Christ with power and great glory. This prophetic event does not have its fulfillment in a plurality of ways each differing from all the rest, as in the popular applications of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, to conversion and to death. These mystical applications are expressed by the words of our Lord, “See here, or, see there,” while the one grand event of the second advent is illustrated by the lightning that flashes across the entire heavens. Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, in his own glory, and in the glory of the Father, attended by all the holy angels, will descend. The earth will tremble, and the heavens will blaze with glory. The voice of the Son of God will call the righteous dead from their graves, and the living righteous will be changed. These will be gathered from all parts of the earth, up to meet their descending Lord. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24:31. The saints of all ages and from all countries and nations, will be in that vast gathering. “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 8:11. These will be the immortal subjects of the eternal kingdom. But if this kingdom is already set up in any one church, or in all the Christian churches of our time, where are these patriarchs? Search as closely as you please among the followers of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, or Alex. Campbell, and you positively cannot find Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But when the righteous dead shall all be raised and gathered home to their everlasting rest, the prophets and saints of all ages will meet in the grand assemblage of the redeemed, and together sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their midst.

THE KINGDOM COMPLETE.

In a kingdom there are, necessarily, a king, subjects, territory, and government. The Sacred Scriptures speak of these component parts of the eternal kingdom of glory in plainest terms. Christ will be King, the immortal just will be the subjects, the whole earth restored from the curse will be the territory, and the holy city, Rev. 21:10–25, will be the metropolis and seat of government.
When Pilate inquired of Jesus, “Art thou a king?” he answered, “To this end was I born.” John 18:37. The import of this reply of the Son of God is more clearly seen by the light of these prophetic words: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” Isa. 9:6, 7.
The prophet takes in at a glance, as briefly expressed, the birth of Christ, his wonderful teachings, the might of his miracles, and his future reign as the “Prince of Peace,” which will have “no end.” The Jews applied the entire prophecy to their limited ideas of the coming of the Messiah. And most Christians of our time extend it but little beyond the work of grace in the present age. But the burden of the prophecy is certainly the future kingdom. It evidently touches the stream of time at the birth and life of Christ, and passes along down to the establishment of the immortal kingdom, and out to the eternal sea of Christ’s glorious reign.
The cheering declaration of the angel to anxious Mary is nearly a repetition of the words of the prophet, in announcing Christ as the King in the endless reign of future glory. After stating that his name should be called Jesus, he adds: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:32, 33.
Christ now reigns in the kingdom of divine grace in behalf of sinful men. But at the close of human probation he will deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when the reign of grace and mercy for a lost world will end. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” 1 Cor. 15:24, 25. He will then receive from the Father the eternal kingdom of glory. Says Daniel: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Chap. 7:13, 14. And the prophet speaks of the immortal and eternal subjects of this kingdom in these words: “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Verse 18.
But it is not until all the wicked of the earth shall be destroyed from off it that the immortal kingdom of glory will fill the whole renewed earth, which will be the eternal inheritance of the saints. Then will be fulfilled the words of David: “For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Ps. 37:10, 11. And it is to this same glory and reward that Christ points in his sermon on the mount, when he says: “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5.
The prophet Daniel is assured by the angel that “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.” Chap. 7:27. And the great God in response to the earnest prayer of Moses who was leading the children of Israel to the land of Canaan, the type of the kingdom of glory, says: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Num. 14:21. Isaiah takes up the promise of the future reward and glory in these words: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Chap. 11:9. And another prophet repeats the promise in still stronger language: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2:14.

FITNESS FOR THE FUTURE KINGDOM.

But in order to enter the future kingdom of glory we must first be in the kingdom of grace, sharing all its blessings and privileges. The faithful John bears testimony which has direct bearing on this subject. He looked forward to the new heaven, and the new earth, and the holy city in the glorious restitution where there will be neither pain, sickness, sorrow, nor death, as the eternal kingdom of the redeemed. And yet he declared himself, while in the present state of tribulation, as being in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. “I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 1:9. The beloved John was in the kingdom of grace. And Paul, in delineating true Christian experience in his epistle to the Colossians, speaks of deliverance from the power of darkness, a redemption through Christ’s blood, and a translation into his kingdom which can apply only to the present probationary state. He sets forth the emancipation from the bondage of spiritual darkness into the light and liberty of the sons of God, and the attainments which believers may reach in fullness of spiritual understanding and of strength in order to a moral fitness to be partaker of the eternal inheritance, in words that should stir the soul and burn their way to every Christian heart.
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:9–14. The words delivered, translated, and redemption, may usually express transition to the immortal state; but in the foregoing quotation they express the power and work of grace in connection with the forgiveness of sins.
The moral fitness for the next life must be attained in this life. The last change to immortality is not a moral change. It is simply an exchange of the corruptible body for one that will be incorruptible. This is expressed by the apostle thus: “For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
The exchange of the sinner’s vile nature to the glorious character of the Son of God must take place during the period of probation, while Christ pleads his blood before the Father on the sinner’s account. If this change does not take place while Christ is our mediator, the change of the vile body will not take place at his second advent. Now the sinner may, in obedience to the law of the Father, and by faith in the blood of the Son, attain to the moral fitness for the inheritance of the saints in light.
Our robes of character must be made pure before Christ lays off his garments of mediation, and puts on his kingly robes. Now we may wash and be clean; but when Christ’s mediation for sinners shall cease, it will then be said, “The time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:10–12. And Peter exhorts: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” 2 Pet. 3:14. This washing of the soul from the stains of sin demands diligence. Paul says that “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Eph. 5:25–27.
And John sees the washed and glorified multitude, who had pressed their way to Christ and Heaven through the moral darkness of this world, and had come out of great tribulation into the kingdom of glory. “After this, I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9, 10. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Verses 13, 14.
JAMES WHITE.

Profanity.

WHY is this custom, or habit, increasing to such an alarming extent in the midst of what is supposed to be a community of superior civilization and intelligence? Why should the merchant, at the head of a vast establishment, himself the paragon of honor and integrity, offend the sense of high-minded clerks and employees with a vocabulary of oaths and imprecations that would shame the leading spirit of Dante’s hades? Why should venerable and aged men, some of whom are the pillars of our banking houses, our public charities, and leaders in many great and glorious enterprises, be addicted to this pernicious vice? The influence and the sequences, as reflected upon the young and rising generation among all classes, is crushing and debasing. Zion’s Herald.

Purgatory and Masses.

By John Norton Loughborough

As stated in a previous article, it was Pope Gregory I., A. D. 590, who first discovered the doctrine of purgatory, which has been such a source of revenue to papist priests. It seems to me that the apostles, if on earth, would say as Peter did of old to Solomon, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money;” Acts 8:20, and that they would cry aloud in the ears of these pardon venders the words of the Lord by Isaiah, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isa. 55:1. No wonder that Luther said of purgatory and its kindred doctrines that they “were invented by antichrist for the purpose of making the pope’s pot boil.”
Closely connected with their doctrine of purgatory is that of the mass. The papist calls it, “The holy sacrifice of the mass.” Weninger says:
“Ques. Which is the sacrifice of the new law by which all former sacrifices were fulfilled and replaced?”
“Ans. The oblation which Jesus Christ made of himself to his eternal Father on the cross.
“Q. How is this sacrifice constantly repeated and offered throughout the world?”
“A. By the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament.
“Q. How is this sacrifice called?”
“A. The holy sacrifice of the mass.
“Q. What is the holy sacrifice of the mass?”
“A. It is the perpetual and unbloody sacrifice of the new law, in which Jesus Christ offers himself, under the forms and appearances of bread and wine, to his Heavenly Father.
“Q. Is the holy sacrifice of the mass the same as the sacrifice of the cross?”
“A. It is; because the same Jesus, who offered himself for us on the cross, offers himself in the mass.
“Q. What is the difference between the two?”
“A. The sacrifice of the cross was bloody, while the sacrifice of the mass is unbloody.”
In Hughes’ Catechism, we read:—
“Q. What is the mass?”
“A. The mass is the unbloody sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ.
“Q. Why do you say that Christ is immolated in the mass? Does Christ die again?”
“A. Christ dies no more, but as the sacred species are consecrated separately, they represent on the altar that state of division which constitutes death; we offer, in the mass, the death on Calvary to the most holy Trinity, as an act of entire obedience and holiest worship.”
We will quote the words of Gavazzi on this continual sacrifice, “According to the Council of Trent, the mass is the continuation of the sacrifice on Calvary. Continuation! there was no need of any. Was this sacrifice of Christ incomplete, insufficient? Did it lack any condition needful to its mighty end? No! Why then this sacrifice of the altar? By Christ’s death was destroyed our fault; what need of more? It is an insult to Christ to pretend a continuation of this sacrifice, made once and forever.”
“Saint Paul says, without the sprinkling of blood there is no remission. The Council of Trent declares the mass to be an expiatory sacrifice; the profession of the church of Rome is that the mass is unbloody, without the shedding of blood. But, according to St. Paul, there is no remission without effusion of blood; therefore the mass is no sacrifice.”
Of the use of the mass, Weninger says that children should “continue to assist them (their parents) after their death, by the sacrifice of the mass offered up for them, and by other good works.”
Papists claim that “every mass delivereth one soul out of purgatory.” On this Tyndale says if it is true that every mass delivers one soul from purgatory, surely purgatory ought to be scoured ere this, with so many masses as Rome says.
Of the assistance obtained by masses Gavazzi says, “How are masses for the relief of suffering souls procured—by what means, and in what proportion? By money, and in proportion to the amount of money. In proportion to the alms, the mass, it is said, has more efficacy; not that the mass can increase or decrease in its intrinsic merit, but because God regards the money given, and in proportion grants more suffrage to the souls in torment.”
I suppose my readers are aware that all the words of the service of the mass are in Latin. Why is this? Hear Weninger:—
“Q. Why is mass said in Latin?”
“A. 1. In order to express more clearly at this, the most sacred action of our religion, the unity of the church throughout the world, and its connection with its head. 2. In order to raise the dignity of the sacrifice, by the use of a language which is not subject to change.”
Challoner, after giving reasons for saying mass in Latin, similar to Weninger’s, says, “It is unnecessary to understand what we are saying, if our hearts are only sincere.”
Brock, in his reply to Damen, the Jesuit, speaks of the Latin mass as follows: “Originally the service of the church in many parts of Western Europe was in Latin—but why? Because it was generally understood. When the Romans became masters of Western Europe they imposed their language on their subjects. Hence the common tongue of Western Europe was Latin. But to retain the use of Latin now in any portion of the service of the church, when to the mass of the people it is an unknown tongue, is to defeat the object for which it was originally introduced. It was introduced because the people understood it. Why then retain it now that the people do not understand it? To do so is plainly contrary to Holy Scripture, which pointedly condemns prayers in the church in an unknown tongue. It is plainly contrary also to the custom of the primitive church. One passage from Origen is so decisive that it may suffice. ‘The Greeks,’ he says, ‘used Greek in their prayers, the Romans, Latin, and so every one in his own language prays to God, and gives thanks as he is able, and the God of all languages hears them that pray in all dialects, even as if all spake with but one voice.’”
In closing this article I will quote from Kirwan on the subject of mass: “What does it mean? I could not tell, though for years a regular attendant upon it. Why does the priest dress so? What book does he read from, when carried now to his right, and now to his left? What mean those candles burning at noonday? Why do I say my prayers in Latin, which I understand not? Should I not know what I am saying when addressing my Maker? Why bow down and strike my breast when the little bell rings? What does it all mean? The darkness of Egypt rested upon these questions. I thus reasoned with myself: God is a spiritual and intelligent being, and he requires an intelligent worship. What worship I render him in the mass, I know not.
“And you know, sir, that with all devotion and honesty a Catholic may wait on your masses until his locks are as white as your surplice, and then pass into eternity without one single spiritual idea upon the subject of religion; resolving it all into external observances.
“The whole ceremony of your masses is yet more unmeaning to me. Often as I have witnessed it, I never gleaned one intelligent idea from it—nor does one out of one million of your people. . . . ‘In the mass,’ says Dr. England, ‘Christ is the victim; he is produced by the consecration, which, by the power of God, and the institution of the Redeemer, and the act of the priest, place the body and blood of Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine, upon the altar; then the priest makes an oblation of this victim to the Eternal Father on behalf of the people, and the victim undergoes a destructive change, showing forth the death of the Redeemer, and making commemoration thereof, by the exhibition of the apparent separation of the body from the blood; the former being under the appearance of bread, and the latter under the appearance of wine, and by the consumption of both by the priest.’”
“This is, on the whole, the clearest account of the mass that I have ever seen from the pen of a priest; and yet what mind can understand it? Sir, do you understand it? Christ produced from some bread and wine by a priest—this produced Christ is laid upon the altar by a priest—an oblation of this produced Christ undergoes a destructive change in the act of oblation—this oblation of the produced Christ is offered for the people—and then this produced, offered Christ, and after he has undergone a destructive change, is eaten by the priest! Sir, all this is as unmeaning to me as the leaves which the fabled sibyl scattered on the winds. And this unmeaning mass, a greater mass of absurdity than ever heathen ingenuity or depravity invented, is the chief source of edification to the nine-tenths of the papal world! If it were merely unmeaning, without being blasphemous and wicked, I could extend to it some toleration.
“And the absurdity of the whole thing is increased to intensity by the fact that the pantomime is performed in Latin! Pray, sir, how many of your worshipers at St. Patrick’s understand English, not to say Latin.”
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Continue reading: Milner on the Sabbath