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Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 31.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

Aug 12, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 12, 1886

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

The Teacher's Responsibility.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
IN an age like ours, in which iniquity abounds, and God's character and his law are alike regarded with indifference, and even contempt, special pains should be taken to teach the youth to study and to reverence and obey the divine will as revealed to man. Through the medium of the press, knowledge of every kind is placed within the reach of all; and yet how large a proportion in every community are depraved in morals, and superficial in mental attainments. This is because the words of God to men, which should receive our first attention, are neglected for the utterances of human wisdom. The fear of the Lord is fading from the minds of the youth because of their neglect of Bible study. If all, both old and young, would become Bible readers and students, we should see a different state of things.
In our schools and colleges, moral and religious influences should not be put in the background. The study of the sciences, taken alone, cannot give students the discipline they need. A broader foundation must be laid. The student must receive such discipline as will afford the fullest and noblest development of character. An education is needed that will demand from teachers and principal such thought and effort as mere instruction in the sciences does not require.
The young should every day be impressed with a sense of their obligation to God. His law is continually violated, even by the children of religious parents. As a general thing the youth have but very little moral strength, because their education in this direction has been neglected; and a knowledge of the character of God, and of our obligations to him should not be regarded as of minor importance.
Morality and religion should receive special attention in our educational institutions; for the religion of the Bible is the only safeguard of the young. This is the education that is so much needed at the present time.
If morality and religion are to live in a school, it must be through a knowledge of God's word. As an educating power, the Bible is without a rival. This sacred word is the will of God revealed to men, and its study will ennoble every thought, feeling, and aspiration. Here we learn what God requires of the creatures formed in his image. Here we learn how to improve the present life so as to secure the future, immortal life. Here we may hold communion with patriarchs and prophets, and listen to the voice of the Eternal as he speaks with men. Here we may behold the Majesty of the Heavens, as he humbles himself to become our substitute and surety, to cope single-handed with the powers of darkness, and to gain the victory in our behalf. A reverent contemplation of such themes as these, cannot fail to soften, purify, and ennoble the heart, and, at the same time, to inspire the mind with new strength and vigor. No other book can satisfy the questionings of the mind and the cravings of the heart.
A clear conception of what God is, and what he requires us to be, will give us humble views of self. He who studies the sacred word until he is imbued with its sacred spirit, will learn that human intellect is not omnipotent; that without the help that none but God can give, human strength and wisdom are but weakness and ignorance.
Connected with God, every teacher will exert an influence to lead his pupils to study God's word and to obey his law. He will direct their minds to the contemplation of eternal interests, opening before them vast fields of thought, grand and ennobling themes, which the most vigorous intellect may put forth all its powers to grasp, and yet feel that there is an infinity beyond. How important it is, then, that teachers be persons capable of exerting a right influence; that they be men and women of religious experience, daily receiving divine light to impart to their pupils.
The object of our institutions of learning is to educate and train young men and women for lives of usefulness. This can only be accomplished by ever keeping before them their high and holy calling, the exalted claims which God has upon them, and by properly cultivating the mind and talents to meet the high standard of God's word. We cannot over-estimate the importance of having a right class of educators. They should be men and women of irreproachable morals, who have stability of character, a clear conception of duty, and a depth of experience which will enable them to guide, counsel, and properly educate the youth under their care.
Everything connected with the work and influence of educators of youth is of importance. If they are lax in morals, if they are trifling in their deportment, if they are wanting in devotion, if they are not spiritual, the same want will be seen in the students under their care.
If teachers bear the stamp of a pampered, petted life, if their parents have neglected the work of properly bringing them up, and educating them to meet the great moral standard of God's law, to bow in obedience to its claims, they will not be inclined to see the necessity of strict discipline in our schools, of yielding obedience to the ruler themselves, and thus giving a worthy example to their students. Those who have never been taught to yield to discipline, to be subordinate to authority, who have been left to their own head, their own master, will not be the ones to wisely discipline others, to preserve order in the school-room, and require obedience to the laws of the school. If this work is left to them, any amount of disorder and irregularity will be allowed to come in and demoralize the school.
Very much is at stake. Teachers should rule with all wisdom, observing invariably the laws of Christian politeness, courtesy, and kindness, at the same time possessing a firmness and dignity that will not be trampled upon. Educators should be men and women who value the souls of those placed under their charge; they are all to be treated as younger members of the Lord's family, as the purchase of the blood of Christ, his property. Teachers should not manifest preferences, nor have pets; but they should treat all with equity, without partiality. Life and immortality are brought to light in the gospel, and for every one who believes in Christ there is an immortal life in the future world. This fact gives dignity to every human being. All the instruction and every act of the teacher should be with the view of so educating the pupils under his charge as to not disappoint the expectations of Christ in these youth; for they are the purchase of his blood.
Teachers should ever bear in mind that in their lives, and characters, they should represent Christ's character, exemplifying his meekness, lowliness, and purity. They should always have one aim, one object in life,—the perfection of character according to the Divine Model, and the purpose to so teach, so educate, so labor, that they will, through the Mighty Helper, present every youth under their charge perfect in Christ Jesus. They may fail in some instances; for not all the youth will be subordinate. Some have so long chosen their own wills, that they will act without reference to God or man, they will not bring their lives within the line of law or duty. Self, undisciplined, rough, coarse and untamable, will seek for the mastery; and when the will is crossed they will lose self-control, and take the bit in their own mouth. Persuasion, counsel, prayers, entreaties are of no account with them. They are as unreasonable as the inebriate, and Satan controls their thoughts and their actions. The demon within them is enraged and they are as verily under his control as the person whose reason is dethroned by the intoxicating glass.
When these persons come to a better state of mind, they will consider how much they have lost. In the place of bruising Satan under their feet, they have opened the door of their lips and permitted him to control their tongues; they have opened the door of their minds and permitted him to take possession of them; they opened the door of their hearts and permitted him to occupy the highest seat in the soul temple. After these inglorious defeats, they will ever carry the wounds and scars with them.Even if Christ has mercy upon them, and pardons their sins, the scars remain; they were conquered instead of conquering. In such conflicts with the enemy they are taken captives by Satan at his will.
Many times parents are justly censurable for the failures of their children. They have neglected their duty, and the teacher should not be expected to do the parents' work. The parents have the first and most favorable opportunity to control and train their children, when the spirit is teachable, and the mind and heart easily impressed. But sometimes they neglect these golden opportunities, and permit their children to follow their own will until they become hardened in an evil course; and then they send these undisciplined children to school, to receive the training which should have been given them at home. If the teachers succeed in reforming these wayward youth, they receive but little credit; but if the youth choose the society of the evil-disposed, and go on from bad to worse, the teachers are censured, and the school is denounced.
In our conversation one with another, our influence is constantly at work. Every one is dependent upon others, and there are obligations resting upon all,—something every day to receive, something to impart. By the human associations around us we are bound to one another, as by cords, in one great web of mutual obligations. These attachments are firm and strong and genuine. We may ignore or abuse them, but we cannot possibly break one of them. We may be disloyal to every one of them, but they exist all the same, and our accountability and responsibility are the same. Every teacher should impress these principles upon all who are under his influence. If the teacher is a Christian, he will reveal these principles in his every-day life. As one connected with God, as a representative of Jesus Christ, he will not require of the student that which he does not exemplify in his own life,—purity, impartiality, nobility of soul. He may then, as Christ's servant, teach all under his charge what is really a Christian life.

WE WAIT FOR THEE.

We wait for thee, all-glorious One! We look for thine appearing; We bear thy name, and on the throne We see thy presence cheering. Faith even now Uplifts its brow, And sees the Lord descending, And with him bliss unending.
We wait for thee through days forlorn, In patient self-denial; We know that thou our guilt hast borne Upon thy cross of trial. And well may we Submit with thee To bear the cross and love it, Until thy hand remove it.
We wait for thee; already thou Hast all our hearts' submission; And though the spirit sees thee now, We long for open vision; When ours shall be Sweet rest with thee, And pure, unfading pleasure, And life in endless measure.
-Selected.

The Return of the Lord Jesus.

By E. P. Goodwin

DO THE Scriptures teach this? And, if so, in what sense? Is he to come personally, visibly, in a human form and at a definite time, or is he to come spiritually, invisibly, at no particular time, but manifesting himself by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his disciples whenever they earnestly desire, and especially at death?
Let us notice first the language of Scripture. Take such passages as these: Luke 19:13, "Occupy till I come." 1 Cor. 1:7, "Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 11:26, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." Col. 3:4, "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 1 Thess. 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from Heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." No one, it is perfectly safe to say, reading these passages without preconceived opinions, would ever think of understanding them in any other way than as teaching the literal, personal return of the Lord. But these are representative texts on this subject.
On its face Scripture language gives as much reason for believing in the literal, personal second coming of Christ, as in his first coming. Let any one go through the prophecies setting forth how and where Jesus was to be born, what sort of a life he was to lead, and how he was to die and be raised from the dead and taken up into Heaven, and then read those relating to his second coming, and the facts connected therewith, and he will see that the same principle of interpretation which requires him to take the first set of prophecies as literally fulfilled, requires him to take the second likewise. It is simply impossible to argue, for example, with a Jew, that the prophecies respecting the birth, humiliation, and sufferings of Jesus Christ are absolutely literal, but that those respecting the return, and exaltation, and glory of this same Jesus,—which are given by the very same prophets, are equally minute and specific, and appear side by side with their witness as to the humiliation,—are not literal, but figurative. Take the familiar passage in Luke 1:31-33, for illustration: "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 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." No one questions that what is taught here is a literal birth, with a literal name for the child, and with a literal greatness to be his portion as the Son of the Highest. By what principle, then, can the second half of the prophecy be made figurative and no real throne of David be meant, no real reign, no real house of Jacob, no real, personal manifestation of the Son of God in his glory? There should be, obviously, most express Scripture warrant for any such interpretation.
But other scriptures are very express in setting forth this coming of Christ as literal, visible, personal. Take the three words most used in the Greek of the New Testament in connection with the second advent of Christ. One is the word apocalypsis. It occurs in eighteen passages and is translated "to lighten," "revelation," "manifestation," "appearing," "coming." 1 Cor. 1:7, "Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;" 2 Thess. 1:7, "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed with his mighty angels;" 1 Peter 1:7, "At the appearing of Jesus Christ." Whoever will examine carefully these and other passages in their connection, can hardly fail to be convinced that whatever else they mean, they teach and emphasize a visible disclosure of the Lord.
Another word is epiphaneia. Together with the verb from which it is derived, it is found in ten New Testament passages. These need not be cited. The word itself is sufficiently emphatic. It denotes an external, visible, resplendent appearance. Titus 2:13, is a good illustration: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." No New Testament word in the Greek more precisely and unambiguously denotes the visible, bodily appearing of the Lord.
But the word oftenest used is parousia. It occurs in twenty-four texts. In two of these it is translated "presence" and in the rest "coming." The revisers have left the translation unchanged, but have put in the margin wherever it is rendered coming, the word presence. Whatever the sense in some of the passages, in others it admits of no doubt that a literal, personal coming is what is meant. 1 Cor. 16:17, "I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus." 2 Cor. 7:6, "Nevertheless, God . . . comforted us by the coming of Titus." Phil. 1:26, "That your rejoicing may be more abundant . . . by my coming to you again." Of a piece with these are the passages respecting the coming of Christ: Matt. 24:3, "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" 1 Cor. 15:23, "But every man in his own order, Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 1 Thess. 2:19, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" Let any one try to read these and kindred texts, and dissolve out everything objective, visible, personal, and he will see what utter nonsense it makes of Scripture.
But there are those who think the Scripture teaching of the Lord's coming refers to his coming for believers at death. Those who hold this view cite our Lord's words to his disciples in John 14:2, 3: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." No doubt our Lord meant his disciples to understand that he would return again; but clearly he did not mean that this would take place at death. The Scripture doctrine as to death makes it our greatest foe, but Jesus Christ is our greatest friend. Surely he who rides upon the pale horse, after whom death and hades follow, who has power to kill with the sword, and with hunger and death, and who is finally cast into the lake of fire—surely, he is not the same as He who rides upon the white horse, wearing many crowns, called Faithful and True, and followed by the armies of Heaven!
But the Scriptures nowhere speak of the Lord's coming to believers when they die. True, Stephen saw the face of Jesus when the mob gnashed upon him in their hate, and forthwith stoned him to death. But his own words are, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." And a little later he said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Jesus Christ was revealed to him as in the heavens, and not as coming for him upon the earth. . . . Our Lord himself sets the question at rest in his reply to Peter concerning John. "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." And John adds significantly, "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die; but, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" Which, surely, if words can make anything plain, makes this so, that our Lord never intended to have his coming identified with death; not even that of his most beloved disciple.
But do not the Scriptures mean that the descent of the Holy Spirit, and his indwelling in the hearts of true believers, constitute this return, or coming of Christ? This is the favorite idea with many. But the Scriptures never confound the indwelling of the Spirit with the coming of the Lord. The Spirit is another Comforter; his office is to glorify Christ by taking the things of Christ and showing them to his disciples. He is the representative of Christ, taking his place in the world, and doing his work. It is true that through him Jesus Christ is spiritually with and in his believers, in their life, has his image formed within them. But all this, not as personally present with them in the same sense in which he is personally at the right hand of God, but in the same spiritual sense in which God the Father is so present in their hearts. Jesus Christ is potentially there, there by his Spirit to teach, guide, comfort, help, purify, empower for service. This is what the Spirit was sent into the world for by Jesus Christ, who ever since his ascension has been literally, personally visible in Heaven at the right hand of God, and not on the earth. The very coming of the Spirit was conditioned upon his own departure: "For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." John 16:7. And the testimony about himself which our Lord immediately adds, shows that his own coming was not to be confounded with that of the Spirit. "And when he is come he will reprove the world of righteousness. . . . because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more."
That is to say, the Spirit should become the comforter of believers by making them know the things of Christ, by revealing in them the life that flows from him, so that they may have spiritual oneness with him as he with the Father. But his proper, personal, visible self was not to be on the earth disclosed to his disciples, but to abide in Heaven, at the right hand of God until the time of his literal return. Hence the prayer which follows this promise of the Spirit, after asking for this very thing,—viz, that all who should believe on him "may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee"—goes on to say, "I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am," i.e., Jesus wills that they be carried through their trials and conflicts, and ultimately come up into the glory which the Father and himself have in common in Heaven.
If there were any doubt as to the correctness of this putting of the matter, the testimony of the Spirit himself sets it at rest. When he has come and has taken charge of the church as its supreme sovereign in the absence of Christ, he immediately testifies that the Lord Jesus is in Heaven at the right hand of God, and is to remain there until the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, when God shall send him to set up his throne and fill the world with his glory, Acts 3:20, 21. And from the day of Pentecost through all the days of the Spirit's management of the church, no witness is more explicit and emphatic, nor more frequently given, than the witness which makes the doctrine of the literal, personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus the great hope which inspired apostles, evangelists, teachers, and the whole church. They exhorted one another to be patient, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; to comfort one another with the anticipation that soon the Lord would come for them, and they should be caught up to meet him in the air; to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; to be diligent, watchful, zealous, that when the Chief Shepherd should appear they might receive a crown of glory.
Such passages might be multiplied indefinitely. If now the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, or his manifestations in the hearts of believers, were meant to be regarded as the coming of Christ, such testimony as this would be impossible. The Spirit who knows the deep things of God, and who came expressly to reveal the things of Christ, would never have inspired such utterances. They are only possible upon the supposition that the spiritual presence of Christ in the heart is one thing, and his personal presence in the day of his great appearing another. And so the sum of Scripture teaching on this subject is simply the unfolding of the witness of the angels to the disciples at the time of the Lord's ascension. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven." "Even so, come, Lord Jesus"—E. P. Goodwin, D. D., in the Advance.

Modest Apparel.

"WHAT is to be understood by modest apparel, as mentioned in 1 Tim. 2: 10?"
Modest apparel is such that from its singularity, or conspicuousness of style, color, etc., will not require a strain upon the natural modesty of the wearer to assume it, especially at the first wearing, or among plain and modest people.
Modest apparel is such as does not lead a stranger, judging from our attire, to suppose that we are wealthier than we really are; for it is not modest to try to pass for what we are not, either in station or in attainment.
Modest apparel is such as is not calculated to suggest licentious thoughts in the beholder, or to beget doubts as to the chastity of the wearer. It is a fact that modern fashions violate these conditions; and it is a fact that it is almost impossible on the part of lewd women to keep sufficiently extreme in fashion to be any help to them in advertising their nefarious vocation. And all apparel that from its character is at all calculated to obliterate the line of distinction between chastity and unchastity is not modest apparel. "The loyal ought not to wear the uniform of the disloyal." Christians ought to be as peculiar for their modest dress as worldlings are for ornamenting their persons. Divine taste asserts that modest apparel adorns "the meek and quiet in spirit."—Free Methodist.

Conduct and Conscience

Keep your conduct abreast of your conscience, and very soon your conscience will be illuminated by the radiance of God.

Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

The Last General Conflagration.

By Spurgeon

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which 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.” 2 Pet. 3:10.
IN this epistle of Peter there is one truth very plainly taught, namely, that this present world is to be melted with fervent heat. We learn also that this conflagration will take place in connection with the Judgment, for “the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The former destruction of the world by water was in consequence of sin, and was a declaration of God’s wrath against it; it did not happen as an accident, or occur without design. Man sinned, was warned, and sinned again, until God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. The amalgamation of the people of God with the world was the crowning offense of all, for “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose;” thus the church and the world blended, till the Lord’s Spirit was grieved, and would no longer strive with man. Floods of sin called for floods of destruction. So will it be with the last fire; it will not happen as an inevitable result of physical causes, but because God intends to purge this material world from all traces of sin. It has been defiled and or ever he makes the promised new heaven and new earth, he will cleanse it as by fire. Under the Levitical dispensation the cleansing of vessels which had been defiled was effected by passing them through fire, as a type of the intense energy needed to remove sin, and the Lord’s abhorrence of it; even thus shall this earth dissolve with fervent heat.
We gather also from our text that this fire will burn up all the works existing upon the earth—everything which man has constructed shall perish. We have heard architects speak of building for eternity! Ah! They have built but for an hour, and their noblest fabrics will disappear like children’s castles of sand upon the sea beach. Down will go the vast cathedrals and the towering palaces, in one common crash; whole cities will flame upon earth’s funeral pyre, while forests and melting mountains blend their smoke. The pride of power, the pomp of wealth, the beauty of art, the cunning of skill—all, all, must go; the sea of flame will overwhelm and devour everything without exception. The massive masonry, and rock-like foundations of our vast engineering works, shall run like wax in the tremendous heat. So fierce will be the flames that everything capable of being burned will be utterly consumed, and the elements, or the solid portions of the earth, shall be liquefied by the intense heat; rocks, metals, everything shall dissolve, and the atmosphere itself shall burn with fury when its oxygen shall unite with the hydrogen and other gases liberated by the intense heat. Chemists tell us that the great noise which Peter speaks of would certainly accompany such a combustion.
The whole world shall become one molten mass again, and this terrestrial firmament shall cease to be. “The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment.” God has impressed nature with his zeal to-day, but he will melt it down, and then will pour out the molten matter and stamp upon it a yet more lovely image than it has ever borne before.
We believe from various texts of Scripture, that this world will be refitted and renovated, and in that sense we expect new heavens and a new earth. Says the apostle Peter: “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Pet. 3:13.
Luther used to say that the world is now in its working clothes, and that by and by it will be arrayed in its garments of joy. One likes to think that the trail of the old serpent will not always remain on the globe, and it is a cheering thought that where sin has abounded God’s glory shall yet more abound. It has groaned and travailed with mankind, being made subject to vanity for our sake: surely it is to have its joyful redemption, and keep its Sabbaths after the fire has burned out every trace of sin and sorrow.—Spurgeon.

Infidelity's Acknowledgement.

By W. N. GLENN

Infidelity demands that the Christian shall be upright, honest, reliable, above reproach in every respect; and promptly brands as a hypocrite any professed Christian who fails to manifest these traits in his daily life. In all of the infidel's railings against the faults of inconsistent Christianity he never calls one a Christian by way of reproach, but condemns him as one who pretends to be a Christian.
But, strange as it may seem, no one ever compliments another as being a true infidel. Why is it that infidelity is never attributed to any one as a meed of praise, even by infidels? Because it does not imply even a profession of virtue. However much one infidel may desire to laud the character of another, he never speaks of him as a "thorough infidel," an "undoubted infidel," or in any way expresses the thought that infidelity adds aught to his character. Anybody can be an infidel, and no one will doubt his infidelity. He need not be loud in his profession, either. No one ever suspects that a man is not an infidel who claims to be such; yet there are many reasonably suspected of being infidels who claim to be Christians. The basest criminal on earth may profess to be an infidel, and no one will doubt his profession; the veriest apostle of infidelity will not accuse him of hypocrisy. There is no moral character required in the make up of a genuine infidel. He merely denies Christianity and his recognition is assured.
What, then, is the conclusion? Infidelity being the judge, Christianity is the true standard of human character. It can only be recognized where there is unfeigned moral rectitude as a voucher. Infidelity needs no voucher, no detector, for there is no counterfeit. Be it ever so profligate, it is infidelity still. This is its own verdict. But infidelity ought to be a little more charitable in censuring hypocritical Christian professors. In condemning such it simply condemns its own; for one who claims to be a Christian and is not, is in reality an infidel. As infidelity's principal aim is the destruction of Christianity, it ought to laud and sustain such hypocrites, as they work far more injury to the Christian cause than the ablest avowed infidel can possibly do. There are many infidels who, for mercenary purposes, would fain be deemed Christians; but no Christian ever desires to be reckoned an infidel.
W. N. GLENN.

The Light of the World

I AM the light of the world. John 8:12.

The Saxons Enter Britain.

“WHILST Italy was ravaged by the Goths, and a succession of feeble tyrants oppressed the provinces beyond the Alps, the British island separated itself [A. D. 409] from the body of the Roman empire. The regular forces, which guarded that remote province, had been gradually withdrawn; and Britain was abandoned without defense to the Saxon pirates, and the savages of Ireland and Caledonia. The Britons, reduced to this extremity, no longer relied on the tardy and doubtful aid of a declining monarchy. They assembled in arms, repelled the invaders, and rejoiced in the important discovery of their own strength. . . . Britain was irrecoverably lost. But as the emperors wisely acquiesced in the independence of a remote province, the separation was not embittered by the reproach of tyranny or rebellion; and the claims of allegiance and protection were succeeded by the mutual and voluntary offices of national friendship. This revolution dissolved the artificial fabric of civil and military government, and the independent country, during a period of forty years [A. D. 409-449] till the descent of the Saxons, was ruled by the authority of the clergy, the nobles, and the municipal towns.”—Gibbon, Dec. and Fall, chap. 31, par. 41, 42.
“Here, then, in the year 409, was our England an independent State. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle—the curious but meager record of early events, which is supposed to have existed in the time of Alfred, and even to have been partly compiled by that great king—there is the following entry which singularly agrees with the chronology of Greek and Latin historians:—
“A. 409.—This year the Goths took the city of Rome by storm, and after this the Romans never ruled in Britain, and this was about eleven hundred and ten years after it was built. Altogether they ruled in Britain four hundred and seventy years since Caius Julius first sought the land.”—Knight’s History of England, chap. 4, last paragraph.
“It was to defend Italy against the Goths that Rome in the opening of the fifth century withdrew her legions from Britain, and from that moment the province was left to struggle unaided against the Picts. Nor were these its only enemies. While marauders from Ireland, whose inhabitants then bore the name of Scots, harried the West, the boats of Saxon pirates, as we have seen, were swarming off its eastern and southern coasts. For forty years Britain held bravely out against these assailants; but civil strife broke its powers of resistance, and its rulers fell back at last on the fatal policy by which the empire invited its doom while striving to avert it,—the policy of matching barbarian against barbarian. By the usual promises of land and pay a band of warriors was drawn for this purpose from Jutland in 449, with two ealdormen, Hengist and Horsa, at their head. If by English history we mean the history of Englishmen in the land which from that time they made their own, it is with this landing of Hengist's war-band that English history begins. They landed on the shores of the Isle of Thanet at a spot known since as Ebbsfleet. No spot can be so sacred to Englishmen as the spot which first felt the tread of English feet.”—Green’s England, chap. 1, par. 17.
“Hengist and Horsa, who, according to the Anglo-Saxon historians, landed in the year 449 on the shore which is called Ypwinesfleet, were personages of more than common sort. ‘They were the sons of Wihtglis; Wihtglis son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden.’ So says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and adds, ‘From this Woden sprung all our royal families.’ These descendants, in the third generation, from the great Saxon divinity, came over in three boats. They came by invitation of Wyrtgeone—Vortigern—king of the Britons.
The king gave them land in the southeast of the country, on condition that they should fight against the Picts; and they did fight, and had the victory wheresoever they came. And then they sent for the Angles, and told them of the worthlessness of the people and the excellences of the land. This is the Saxon narrative.”—Knight’s England, chap. 5, par. 6.
“The work for which the mercenaries had been hired was quickly done, and the Picts are said to have been scattered to the winds in a battle fought on the eastern coast of Britain. But danger from the Pict was hardly over when danger came from the Jutes themselves. Their fellow-pirates must have flocked from the Channel to their settlement in Thanet; the inlet between Thanet and the mainland was crossed, and the Englishmen won their first victory over the Britons in forcing their passage of the Medway at the village of Aylesford. A second defeat at the passage of the Cray drove the British forces in terror upon London; but the ground was soon won back again, and it was not till 465 that a series of petty conflicts which had gone on along the shores of Thanet made way for a decisive struggle at Wippedsfleet. Here, however, the overthrow was so terrible that from this moment all hope of saving Northern Kent seems to have been abandoned, and it was only on its southern shore that the Britons held their ground. Ten years later, in 475, the long contest was over, and with the fall of Lymne, whose broken walls look, from the slope to which they cling, over the great flat of Romney Marsh, the work of the first English conqueror was done.”—Green’s England, chap. 1, par. 18.
Other such events followed fast, of which we will now have Gibbon to tell the story, and close the narrative of the Saxon conquest of Britain:—
“While the kingdoms of the Franks and Visigoths were established in Gaul and Spain, the Saxons achieved the conquest of Britain, the third great diocese of the Præfecture of the West.”
“About forty years after the dissolution of the Roman Government, Vortigern appears to have obtained the supreme, though precarious, command of the princes and cities of Britain. That unfortunate monarch has been almost unanimously condemned for the weak and mischievous policy of inviting a formidable stranger to repel the vexatious inroads of a domestic foe. . . . Vortigern could only balance the various perils, which assaulted on every side his throne and his people; and his policy may deserve either praise or excuse, if he preferred the alliance of those barbarians, whose naval power rendered them the most dangerous enemies, and the most serviceable allies. Hengist and Horsa, as they ranged along the eastern coast with three ships, were engaged, by the promise of an ample stipend, to embrace the defense of Britain; and their intrepid valor soon delivered the country from the Caledonian invaders.
“The Isle of Thanet, a secure and fertile district, was allotted for the residence of these German auxiliaries, and they were supplied, according to the treaty, with a plentiful allowance of clothing and provisions. This favorable reception encouraged five thousand warriors to embark with their families in seventeen vessels, and the infant power of Hengist was fortified by this strong and seasonable reinforcement. The crafty barbarian suggested to Vortigern the obvious advantage of fixing, in the neighborhood of the Picts, a colony of faithful allies; a third fleet of forty ships, under the command of his son and nephew, sailed from Germany, ravaged the Orkneys, and disembarked a new army on the coast of Northumberland, or Lothian, at the opposite extremity of the devoted land. It was easy to foresee, but it was impossible to prevent, the impending evils. The two nations were soon divided and exasperated by mutual jealousies. The Saxons magnified all that they had done and suffered in the cause of an ungrateful people; while the Britons regretted the liberal rewards which could not satisfy the avarice of those haughty mercenaries. The causes of fear and hatred were inflamed into an irreconcilable quarrel. The Saxons flew to arms; and if they perpetrated a treacherous massacre during the security of a feast, they destroyed the reciprocal confidence which sustains the intercourse of peace and war.”—Gibbon, Dec. and Fall, chap. 38, par. 32, 33.
(To be continued.)
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