Earlier text: WORDS OF COUNSEL TO YOUNG MINISTERSA FEW THINGS I HAVE OBSERVED.
By D. H. KRESS
God does not place men in positions of trust because of their agreeableness, or because they are faultless; but because of their adaptation for the work that needs to be done, and their willingness to work. We must not look for perfection in the human agent, and allow the lack of it to become a stumbling-block in our way. Many have been shipwrecked on this rock. We are a nation of defectives. All have sinned, and come short somewhere. You may behold the mote in your brother’s eye, and not discern the beam in your own. Do not, therefore, cast a stone at another until you are sure you are without fault yourself; for with the same measure you mete, others will measure to you again. “Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” By the time you get rid of the beam, the mote will have vanished. When we see a poor cripple with one leg shorter than the other, trying against odds and difficulties to make his way in life, we do not feel like censuring him, or like finding fault with a defect for which he is not responsible. Instead, a feeling of pity arises in our breasts. We say that this man is not to blame, and do our utmost to help him. This is right: “Support the weak.” Many, yes, all, are born with mental defects, which are just as real and just as conspicuous, perhaps not to themselves, but to on-lookers. In every man the brain structure is defective at some point; every one has a weak spot,—a short mental leg, so to speak,—for which he is not responsible. Is not the man who is crippled mentally as much an object of compassion and pity, and in as great need of our sympathy and help, yes, more, than the one who has a crippled leg? Yet the world, and even professed Christians, sometimes pity the one, but severely condemn the other. One they assist and support, the other they ruthlessly thrust down and condemn. He is not given a chance because some weak point has been discovered in him. Christianity can not treat mankind in this way. “God’s ways are equal.” The question may be asked of those who were born with mental defects, “Who did sin, this man or his parents?” The answer comes, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God [compassion and help] should be made manifest in him.” Christ helped the man who was born blind, while others were criticising him, discussing which was the chief sinner—the man before them or his parents. Not long ago I noticed an unusually fine-appearing man sitting on a bench at a railway station, waiting for a train. When the train arrived, he arose. I then discovered that he was a cripple. Defects are not always conspicuous. As long as a man sits quietly and does nothing, men look at him, and say, What a good man! But when God places his Spirit in the man, and the dead bones begin to live and move, every defect is revealed. So men who are most active, to whom God has given the most important work, appear the most defective, and are held up to censure. “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart.” The one who is virtually dead, and does nothing, is called a good man, while the man who does the most good is called wicked. Inactivity in a child is evidence of disease or idiocy. “Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you.” What we need to-day is brother helpers. We should not close our eyes to defects in others. God often reveals to us the defects of others, especially of the leaders in different branches of our work, not to give us a topic for conversation, but that, like Aaron and Hur, we may hold up their hands by strengthening their weak points with our prayers. Charity covereth the multitude of sins. The time has come for God to make bare his arm in the sight of all the nations. The people, even the isles, are waiting for his law. He seeks co-operation. In unity there is strength. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Simplifying the Ten Commandments
THE school board of Edinburgh has decided to simplify the ten commandments, to be taught the children of the public schools. The effort to simplify the commandments has been repeated many times in the history of the world. There are always those who would revise the hard things out of the decalogue, and indeed out of the whole Bible. Yet duty is not an easy, but a difficult, thing. It is not simple, but complex. If a summation of the ten commandments be desired, the school board of Edinburgh, instead of attempting a condensation of their own, would do well to cite our Lord's synopsis of the law, as given in Matt. 22:37–40.— N. Y. Observer. DO WE KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS?
By J. G. Wilson
“Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14 : 12. “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Ps. 119 : 96. To anyone who will for a moment consider the nature and character of the divine requirements, it must be evident that there is more involved in the keeping of the commandments than a life of merely outward conformity. And the Scriptures abundantly confirm this fact. What does it mean to keep the commandments of God?—It means the living of just such a life as Jesus Christ lived here on earth. His was the only absolutely sinless life ever lived upon this earth. If we “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” we shall know what commandment-keeping really is; and the more we consider, the deeper will be the conviction that our lives are far from being a translation of the ten commandments into actual, living experience, so that they may be known and read by the whole world. We are in great danger of being deceived, in the same manner as was Israel of old, who followed after the law of righteousness, but did not attain to it. Rom. 9 : 31. The same course in these days can not possibly be less ruinous to us than it was to them. And when we consider that we have the fullness of the gospel light, how can we fail to see that such a course will prove much more ruinous now? That the commandments of God and the law of God are identical is proved by the Saviour’s own words in Matt. 5 : 17, 19; and no one is justified in placing the law in a different setting than is there given it. “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7 : 12. It is not made void by faith, but is established thereby. Rom. 3 : 31. It is perfect, and nothing but absolute perfection can ever meet its requirements. This perfection is the love of God in the heart. The law witnesses to God’s righteousness, and can not accept anything less. It condemns sin in all men, and therefore can not justify or give life. We shall never find the required perfection in our most earnest efforts to keep the law, nor in our most determined resolutions to conform thereto. Yet how many are struggling to bring an earthly life to the likeness of the Christ-life! Many toil and struggle, but enter not into rest. There is a consciousness of failure; yet they are not willing to acknowledge their inability to work righteousness, so they try again and again, but only to fail. This is not keeping the commandments. In Col. 3 : 14 we are told that charity (love) is the bond of perfectness. In 1 Tim. 1 : 5 we read that “the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart,” etc. In Rom. 13 : 8, 10, love is declared to be the “fulfilling of the law;” so also in Gal. 5 : 14. James speaks of the “royal law,” and says that it is fulfilled by love. James 2 : 8. And Christ himself said that love to God and love to man is the foundation of the divine law. Matt. 22 : 36–39. Now, all this being true, it must follow that, if we neglect to prove ourselves by these statements of truth, we shall find out, when it is forever too late, that our commandment-keeping is only a profession, and that some others who “followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith” (Rom. 9 : 30), which is God’s own righteousness, with which the law is satisfied. Rom. 3 : 21. Leaving Judgment With God
“WE are to leave with God the work of judging and condemning.” TOMATOES IN TIN CANS.
By R. S. Owen
R. S. OWEN.
(Biloxi, Miss.) It is generally known that acid fruit should not be allowed to stand in an open tin vessel, as the acid eats, or corrodes, the tin, and thus poisons the fruit; but it is thought by many that fruit sealed in tin cans is not thus affected unless it is left in the tin after the can is opened. I will relate an experience, which convinced me that tomatoes ought never to be put into tin cans, and this is doubtless true of all acid fruits. I had noticed the distinct change in the color of blackberry juice after standing in a tin vessel, the bright crimson being changed to a dark-purple. I noticed, too, that blackberries put up in tin cans have the same dark-purple color when the can is opened. Tomatoes, however, exhibit no change of color from the tin, and I had not thought of their being contaminated with the tin of the cans, till I noticed a changed appearance of the inside of a tomato can, as if the coating of the tin had been partly eaten off. I then procured some fresh blackberries and a ripe tomato from a fruit stand, and a tin can of the best-brand tomato from the grocer. In the presence of a company of interested friends, I bruised some blackberries on two plates. To one plate I then added a few drops of the juice of the fresh tomato, which united with the berry juice without causing any perceptible change of color in the juice of the berries. The tomato can was then opened, and a few drops of its contents I mixed with the juice on the other plate, when, lo, it began at once to change color, and after a short time it was all changed to a dark-purple, demonstrating that the tomatoes in the can contained a strong solution of tin. Not one of the company cared to make use of that can of tomatoes, and so it was thrown away. We have no further use for tomatoes put up in tin. I examined the United States Dispensatory at the drug store, and there learned that arsenic is used in the adulteration of tin. I asked the druggist, and a doctor who was with him, concerning the nature of tin. They both pronounced it a deadly poison, and said that it is very dangerous to eat fruit that contains tin. Put tomatoes in glass cans. The Committee on Public Health of Glasgow, Scotland, has issued the following instructions, with the hope that the citizens will read and give heed to them:— Consumption is an acquired, not a hereditary, disease. What a child may inherit is not the seed, but the “good ground,” in which the seed will grow readily. This is known as a hereditary predisposition to consumption. Special care ought to be taken to protect persons possessing it from any chance of catching the disease. Colds, sore throats, infectious diseases (especially measles, whooping cough, scarlet and enteric fevers), intemperance, overcrowding, darkness, dampness, stale air—in short, whatever lowers health produces a predisposition to consumption, although apart from any chance of catching the disease. Consumption of the lungs is only one of the many forms of disease caused by a minute living creature (germ or microbe), the bacillus of tubercle. Every case of consumption has received this bacillus either from man or beast (milk, flesh), and may pass it on to man or beast. Good health, local and general, is like a coat of mail against the attacks of the bacillus of tubercle. Every person having consumption suffers from a disease that may be communicated to other persons. This takes place through the spit, which contains bacilli. So long as the spit is moist, it can do no harm, unless under such circumstances as are dealt with in rules 6 and 7. The spit is seriously dangerous only when allowed to dry, become dust, and so infect the air we breathe. The surest way to form infectious dust is to spit in a handkerchief, and put it in the pocket or beneath the pillow, or to spit upon the floor. The same result follows if spit is smeared over the bedclothes, night dresses, etc., or, in case of men, over mustache or beard. Practically, then, a case of consumption may be made perfectly harmless by preventing the spit from becoming dust. 1. Indoors, the greatest care is necessary. Dust in closed places is the dust that infects. Use a spittoon containing a little water (not sand or sawdust), or spit into a rag or piece of paper, to be burned at once or thrown into the water-closet. 2. Out of doors, dust is not readily formed in our damp climate, and it is disinfected by sunshine and fresh air. It is, therefore, better to spit on the ground than into a handkerchief, or into anything that is to be put into one’s pocket, except a special spit bottle, such as may be had for a small sum. Failing this, spit over a street gulley or into the gutter, never on the pavement, and never in a tram car, bus, or railway carriage. Never swallow the spit; it may infect the bowels. 3. If a handkerchief or other article is soiled with tuberculous spit, keep it wet until it can be boiled or washed. 4. Empty the contents of the spittoon down the water-closet, and clean the spittoon with boiling water. A little carbolic acid will keep the flies away; these carry off infective matter. 5. In cleaning rooms occupied by consumptives, capture the dust with damp dusters and tea leaves or damp sawdust used in sweeping. Do not chase it about nor stir it up. Boil the dusters; burn the sawdust and tea leaves. 6. No spoon, cup, or other article that has been applied to the mouth of a consumptive ought to be used by a healthy person until it has been carefully washed. The remains of food left by a consumptive ought not to be used by the healthy. 7. No consumptive ought to kiss or be kissed, except on the cheek or brow. 8. No consumptive mother should give suck. 9. A consumptive person ought to have a bed by himself. 10. Sunlight and fresh air are never-failing disinfectants. Use them freely. N. B.—Consumption is not communicable by the breath or perspiration. If these precautions are attended to, there is no danger to the healthy in the ordinary intercourse of family or society. It is necessary that washing and disinfection should be effectively carried out after every death from consumption. The services of the sanitary department are at the disposal of the ratepayers for this purpose. Immediate notice of such an event ought to be sent to the medical officers of health. During the currency of cases of tuberculous disease in which there is a discharge the medical officers will give any assistance in the way of washing and disinfection that may seem expedient in the public interest. SUNSHINE LAND.
By Edith Thomas
They came in sight of a lovely shore,
Yellow as gold in the morning light;
The sun's own color at noon it wore,
And had faded not at the fall of night;
Clear weather or cloudy,—'t was all as one,—
The happy hills seemed bathed with the sun;
Its secret the sailors could not understand,
But they called the country Sunshine Land. What was the secret? A simple thing—
It will make you smile when once you know.
Touched by the tender finger of spring,
A million blossoms were all aglow;
So many, so many, so small and bright,
They covered the hills with a mantle of light;
And the wild bee hummed, and the glad breeze fanned,
Through the honeyed fields of Sunshine Land. If over the sea we two were bound,
What port, dear child, would we choose for ours?
We would sail and sail till at last we found
This fairy gold of a million flowers.
Yet, darling, we'd find, if at home we stayed,
Of many and small joys our pleasures are made,
More near than we think—very close at hand—
Lie the golden fields of Sunshine Land. — Edith Thomas, in New York Weekly. Toads as Insect Destroyers
The latest and most ingenious way of getting rid of roaches and water bugs, says Our Dumb Animals, is related by a citizen of Schenectady, whose kitchen was infested with them. A servant, hearing that toads were an antidote, caught three ordinary hop toads, and put them in the kitchen. Not a roach or water bug, it is stated, can now be found in the house. The toads have become domesticated, never wander about the house, and are so cleanly and inoffensive that there is no objection to their presence. Another use for toads is to employ them as insect destroyers in the garden. They are determined enemies of all kinds of snails and slugs, which, it is well known, can in a single night destroy a vast quantity of lettuce, carrots, asparagus, etc. Toads are also kept in vineyards, where they devour, during the night, millions of insects that escape the pursuit of nocturnal birds, and might commit incalculable havoc on the buds and young shoots of the vine. In Paris toads are an article of merchandise. They are kept in tubs, and are sold at the rate of two francs (forty cents) a dozen. Clover as a Fly Repellent
PEOPLE in the country who are annoyed by flies, says the New York Tribune, should remember that clusters of the fragrant clover, which grows abundantly by nearly every roadside, if hung in the room, and left to dry and shed its faint, fragrant perfume through the air, will drive away more flies than sticky saucers of molasses and other fly-traps and fly-papers can ever collect. A MISSIONARY MITTEN.
By Mrs. Geo. A. Irwin
At the close of a consecration service, a young man, a stranger to us, came to my husband and placed in his hand a mitten, saying, “Here are my idols; convert them into money for the Master's use.” My husband took the mitten with its somewhat weighty contents, and, placing it in his overcoat pocket, brought it home. Emptying the mitten, the young man's “idols” were disclosed. One of them was a handsomely mounted revolver, the other a small box, which we supposed contained cartridges. These articles, together with the mitten, we placed in a drawer till the way should open to dispose of them. Shortly after the mitten and its contents had been received, one of our young friends, a nurse from the sanitarium, called on us to talk over her future plans and field of labor. She intended to return soon to her home in the far South, to engage in the combined work of a medical missionary and school-teacher, in a rural settlement. This neighborhood, she said, was sadly in need of such labor as she meant to bestow upon it, and she was enthusiastic and hopeful in regard to the good that might be accomplished by consecrated effort in that particular locality. During her call, we told her about the mitten, and showed her the pistol. “If I had that down in Dixie,” she said, “it would not take long to sell it.” In a few weeks from that time she departed for her home, but not long afterward we received a letter from her, asking if we had the revolver yet, and if we would send it to her, as she thought she could sell it, or exchange it for work on her schoolhouse. So we went to the drawer and got the revolver, and the little box that accompanied it when it was given us, and then, for the first time, we opened the little case. We discovered, much to our surprise, that instead of containing cartridges, as we had all along supposed, it held a pair of gold cuff buttons, some shirt studs, two scarf pins, a gold-filled watch case, from which the works had been removed, and a chain. Our friends helped us to sell the jewelry, and a good sister gave another watch to send South with the revolver. Our Southern friend soon acknowledged the receipt of the pistol, watch, and money, expressing fervent gratitude to the donors, and to the Lord, for having sent her means at such an opportune time. She succeeded in selling the pistol for an exceedingly good price—much more than we had thought it would bring. The amount obtained for it, added to the sum received from the sale of the jewelry, was over twenty dollars, and this, added to other money that was given, enabled her to build a schoolhouse. I am sure that the giver of the “missionary mitten,” and the sister who gave her watch, would feel that they had received a rich reward for their self-denial in parting from their “idols” could they but see that schoolhouse on a little knoll down in Mississippi, all finished and paid for. Many have entered its doors, and heard the wonderful story of Jesus, as well as received a fitting up for the practical realities of life. And none can tell what will be the final result of this sacrifice of idols. I was wondering if there are not others in our ranks who would prefer the richness of God's approval and blessing rather than the brief and fleeting pleasure experienced in the possession of beautiful articles of personal adornment or house furnishing. I believe there are many idols stored away in safe places, which, if collected and judiciously disposed of, would create a large fund for the work of God. Already we have received a ten-dollar bill, and a package of elegant Chinese productions, which we will dispose of as directed. Did you ever think, sisters, that the Woman's Work is curtailed because it has no resources upon which to depend? The items of postage, printing, stationery, etc., amount to quite a sum, for which we should make some provision. Many calls come from sisters who would be glad to begin work with literature, but have not the money with which to get it, and we ought to have money with which to help them get started. The Circulating Library is quite an expense in the way of postage for mailing books, and there are many other things by which we are reminded that we should have an income sufficient to meet the outlay. If the Woman's Work had developed into an organization, we could have had an annual membership fee, but we do not wish to make anything compulsory upon our sisters. Any gift that is sent for this branch of the work will be thankfully received, and every cent of it will be carefully used for the help of our sisters everywhere. Look about your home, and see if you have not some idol that should be put into the Lord's treasury. Perhaps it is not jewelry nor firearms. It may be a cow, a horse, a bicycle, or some portion of real estate. We trust that the sisters will feel it a privilege to contribute to this fund: and the brethren are by no means debarred. From the Spirit of Prophecy I quote the following: “Anything that can absorb means in meeting supposed wants in any direction, Satan will use with intensity of purpose to induce our people to invest their time and money. It is all a species of idolatry. Expel everything from the soul-temple which assumes the form of an idol. I saw that some hardly know as yet what self-denial or sacrifice is, or what it is to suffer for the truth's sake. But none will enter heaven without making a sacrifice. A spirit of self-denial and sacrifice should be cherished. Some have not sacrificed themselves, their own bodies, on the altar of God. They indulge in hasty, fitful temper, gratify their appetites, and attend to their own self-interest, regardless of the cause of God. Those who are willing to make any sacrifice for eternal life, will have it; and it will be worth suffering for, worth crucifying self for, and sacrificing every idol for. The far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory swallows up everything, and eclipses every earthly pleasure.” GARMENTS
By Mrs. S. N. Haskell
Who are spoken of in Isa. 3:16–23?—The daughters of Zion. What is their condition?—Haughty. How many of the articles mentioned in this list are fashionable at the present day?—There are none mentioned here but what are fashionable in some portion of the world at the present day. Was there not a constant temptation anciently to dress like the world?—There must have been, as these were daughters of Zion, whom the Lord is reproving for wearing these things. Did holy women of olden time follow these fashions? 1 Peter 3 : 16–23. Will holy women at the present time dress like the world? What enabled the holy women of olden time to escape this temptation?—They “trusted in God.” Verse 5. What will enable women at the present day to escape the same? What ornaments does the Lord expect the daughters of Zion to wear? Verse 4. What class of ornaments does he condemn? Did those who sometimes assembled in the early church, dress fashionably and wear ornaments like the world? James 2 : 2, 3. Were they the honored of the Lord? Whom has God chosen?—Those rich in faith and love. James 2 : 5. Did the Saviour give us to understand that we would ever find a true servant of God dressed gorgeously? Luke 7 : 25. What kind of a garment tempted Achan? Joshua 7 : 21. Did coveting the garment lead to other sins? Are men as well as women liable to be tempted by Babylonish garments? What effect did this have upon Israel? Verses 11, 12. Do the people of God ever turn their backs on their enemies to-day because Babylonish garments are “even among their own stuff”? What will be said by voices everywhere in the closing of the message? Rev. 18 : 4. Will it be possible for those who call the people from Babylon, to wear Babylonish garments themselves? When God’s people get fully out of Babylon, will there be any Babylonish garments “among their own stuff”? What did Israel anciently do with their worldly ornaments when they reconsecrated themselves to God? Gen. 35 : 2–4. Did they also change their garments? Verse 2. When they had removed all traces of these things from “among their own stuff,” how did God work for them? Gen. 35 : 5. Will God do the same for Israel to-day? What is it our privilege to wear? Isa. 61 : 10. What will we do when clothed with these garments? Will we ever covet the fashions of the world when we are confident we have these glorious garments? “I HAVE an unconverted husband and a son. Will the dear sisters help me pray for them and lead them to the truth?” “I ask an interest in your prayers for my son. For many years I have been praying that he might be converted, but my prayers do not seem to avail anything, and now I appeal to you to help me.” The readers of this department will be especially glad to know that the biography of our beloved Sister Henry is now in circulation. The book is largely composed of Mrs. Henry’s own recital, which has been compiled, edited, and completed by her daughter, and is known as “My Mother’s Life.” The thrilling and sad experiences of Mrs. Henry’s early life are a startling revelation, and are enough to give any woman courage, and prove that all Mrs. Henry has said and written is not theory, but is founded on personal experience. Mrs. Henry did not reveal the dark side of her life to her most intimate friends, but this personal history shows that she met and conquered the experiences of life in their sternest form; and this is the reason that no poor, sick, or afflicted soul failed to find a responsive chord in her heart. What she did, others can do. Realizing that all our sisters will especially want this book, because of their association with Sister Henry, and that many may not be able to purchase it, Mrs. Mary Henry Rossiter has suggested a plan to bring it within the reach of all, as is explained by the editor in the last-page notice of last week’s paper. We hope that this offer will be accepted by many, and so not only be a personal benefit, but aid in the advancement of the work that our beloved sister left in our hands. THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
Its Basis in the Seven Trumpets.
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” Rev. 8:7. The time covered by this prophecy is from 395 to 419 A. D., and relates to the invasions of the Visigoths, especially under Alaric, and the great horde of barbarians under Radagaisus, in which wide regions, “which were covered with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms, . . . were suddenly changed into a desert, distinguished from the solitude of nature only by smoking ruins,” causing “a secluded old man of Verona pathetically” to lament “the fate of his contemporary trees, which must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country [note the words of the prophecy—‘the third part of the trees was burnt up.’]” “The public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman Empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the north, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.” “The last word, Africa, is the signal for the sounding of the second trumpet. The scene changes from the shores of the Baltic to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or from the frozen regions of the north to the borders of burning Africa. And, instead of a storm of hail being cast upon the earth, a burning mountain was cast into the sea.” “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.” Rev. 8:8, 9. The period covered by this trumpet is from 428 to 476. “The history illustrative of the sounding of this trumpet evidently relates to the invasion and conquest of Africa, and afterward of Italy, by the terrible Genseric.” “The word Vandalism has become commonplace among historians. In speaking of the decline of Rome, it is recorded that ‘Vandalism desolated her classic fields.’ The hero of Vandal aggression and destruction was Genseric. “His conquests were, for the most part, NAVAL, and his triumphs were ‘as it were a great mountain burning with fire, . . . cast into the sea.’ What figure would better, or so well, illustrate the collision of navies, and the general havoc of war on maritime coasts?” “In the spring of each year they [the Vandal pirates] equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage, and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His designs were concealed with impenetrable secrecy till the moment that he hoisted sail. When he was asked by his pilot what course he should steer, ‘Leave the determination to the winds,’ replied the barbarian, with pious arrogance; ‘they will transport us to the guilty coast whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice.’” Thus the terrible Genseric became “the tyrant of the sea;” and “before he died, in the fullness of years and of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the Empire of the West.” “And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” Rev. 8:10, 11. The period covered by this trumpet was brief, as “a-burning star,” 441–453. Of this Albert Barnes, in his Notes, says: “That there would be some chieftain, or warrior, who might be compared to a blazing meteor whose course would be singularly brilliant; who would appear suddenly, LIKE a blazing star, and then disappear like a star whose light was quenched in the waters: that the desolating course of that meteor would be mainly on those portions of the world that abounded with springs of water and running streams; that an effect would be produced as if those streams and fountains were made bitter; that is, that many persons would perish, and that wild desolations would be caused in the vicinity of those rivers and streams, as if a baleful star should fall into the waters, and death should spread over lands adjacent to them and watered by them.” This trumpet describes the work of the terrible Attila, with his Huns and allies. “While the Vandals under Genseric [the ‘great burning mountain’] for forty years were destroying the Roman power by sea, there were other clans of barbarians confederating in order to strike a decisive blow against the same power by land. All Europe and a part of Asia had been aroused to the great struggle for the mastery. Many tribes are rallying to the standard of Attila, and the Romans are preparing to repel their terrible foe. Attila anticipates that his best trophies are beyond the Alps. At the sound of his war-cry, all Europe musters to arms. Since Xerxes led his immense army against the Greeks, no greater body of warriors had ever assembled to act a part in the fulfillment of prophecy. The engagement that succeeded [the battle of Chalons] is recorded as one of the four decisive battles of history.” “The nations from the Volga to the Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Chalons. The number of the slain amounted to one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another account, three hundred thousand persons; and these incredible exaggerations suppose a real or effective loss sufficient to justify the historian’s remark that whole generations may be swept away by the madness of kings, in the space of a single hour.” “The course of the fiery meteor was changed, not stayed; and, touching Italy for the first time, the great star, after having burned as it were a lamp, fell upon the ‘third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.’ Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation of Attila, were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. He passed the Alps, invaded Italy, besieged Aquileia with an innumerable host of barbarians. The succeeding generation could scarcely discover the ruins of Aquileia. After this dreadful chastisement, Attila pursued his march; and, as he passed, the cities of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua were reduced into heaps of stones and ashes. “Attila advanced not farther into Italy than the plains of Lombardy and the banks of the Po. He reduced the cities, situated on that river and its tributary streams, to heaps of stones and ashes. But there his ravages ceased. The great star which burned as it were a lamp, no sooner fell upon the fountains and rivers of waters, and turned cities into ashes, than it was extinguished. Unlike the great mountain burning with fire, the great star that fell from heaven, after suddenly scorching a part of Italy, rapidly disappeared. One paragraph in the ‘History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ describes ‘the invasion of Italy by Attila, A. D. 452.’ Another is entitled, under the same date, ‘Attila gives peace to the Romans.’ The next paragraph describes the ‘death of Attila, A. D. 453,’ and the very next records, without any interval, the destruction of his empire.” “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise,” Verse 12. This trumpet illustrates the closing up of the Roman government. Sun, moon, and stars are evidently symbols that denote the rulers in the government—its emperors, consuls, and senators. The sun sends forth light of itself—the decree of the emperor is law. The moon shines with a borrowed light—the authority of the consul was dependent in some measure on the will of another. The stars shine when the night comes—the wants of the people demanded attention, and then the senate acted. “The sun was smitten.” Odoacer caused the title of emperor to cease. But one-third part only is affected—the jurisdiction of Rome then extended over only the middle division of the empire, as ceded by Constantine to his three sons. One-third part of the moon was smitten; the effect of this political calamity had the same extent as the former. When the consulship was taken away, Rome had ceded all her territory beyond the Alps. “The power and the glory of Rome, as bearing rule over any nation, became extinct. The name alone remained to the queen of nations. Every token of royalty disappeared from the imperial city. She who had ruled over the nations sat in the dust, like a second Babylon, and there was no throne where the Cæsars had reigned. The last act of obedience to a Roman prince, which that once august assembly performed, was the acceptance of the resignation of the last emperor of the West, and the abolition of the imperial succession in Italy.” “Neither, at last, was the whole sun smitten, but the ‘third part.’ The throne of the Cæsars had for ages been the sun of the world, while other kings were designated as stars. But the imperial power had first been transferred to Constantinople by Constantine; and it was afterward divided between the East and the West. And the Eastern Empire was not yet doomed to destruction. Even the Western Empire was afterwards revived, and a more modern dynasty arose to claim and maintain the title of emperor of the Romans. But, for the first time, after sudden, and violent, and distinctly marked and connected convulsions, the imperial power in Rome, where for so long a period it had reigned triumphant, was cut off forever; and the third part of the sun was smitten.” “But though the third part of the sun was smitten, and the Roman imperial power was at an end in the city of the Cæsars, yet the moon and the stars still shone, or glimmered, for a little longer in the Western hemisphere.” “But in their prophetic order, the consulship and the senate of Rome met their fate, though they fell not by the hands of Vandals or of Goths. The next revolution in Italy was its subjection to Belisarius, the general of Justinian, emperor of the East. He did not spare what barbarians had hallowed. ‘The Roman Consulship Extinguished by Justinian, A. D. 541,’ is the title of the last paragraph of the fortieth chapter of Gibbon’s ‘History of the Decline and Fall of Rome.’ ‘The succession of consuls finally ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian, whose despotic temper might be gratified by the silent extinction of a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom.’ The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. “In the political firmament of the ancient world, while under the reign of imperial Rome, the emperorship, the consulate, and the senate, shone like the sun, the moon, and the stars. The history of their decline and fall is brought down till the two former were ‘extinguished,’ in reference to Rome and Italy, which so long had ranked as the first of cities and of countries, and finally, as the fourth trumpet closes, we see the extinction of that illustrious assembly, the Roman senate. The city that had ruled the world, as if in mockery of human greatness, was conquered by the eunuch Narses, the successor of Belisarius. He defeated the Goths (A. D. 552), achieved ‘the conquest of Rome,’ and the fate of the senate was sealed. “The calamities of imperial Rome, in its downfall, were told to the very last of them, till Rome was without an emperor, a consul, or a senate.”