International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 18, 1885
General Articles.
By Mrs. E. G. White
Persecution of the Early Church.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE early Christians were indeed a peculiar people. Their blameless deportment and unswerving faith were a continual reproof that disturbed the sinner's peace. Though few in numbers, without wealth, position, or honorary titles, they were a terror to evil-doers wherever their character and doctrines were known. Therefore they were hated by the wicked, even as Abel was hated by the ungodly Cain.
The history of the early church testifies to the fulfillment of the Saviour's assurance that his followers must tread the same path of humiliation, reproach, and suffering which their Master trod. The enmity that burst forth against the world's Redeemer, would be manifested against all who should believe on his name. The powers of earth and hell would array themselves against Christ in the person of his followers. Paganism foresaw that should the gospel triumph, her temples and altars would be swept away; therefore she summoned her forces to destroy Christianity. The fires of persecution were kindled. Christians were stripped of their possessions, and driven from their homes. They "endured a great fight of afflictions." They "had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment." Great numbers sealed their testimony with their blood. Noble and slave, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, were alike slain without mercy.
Wherever they sought refuge, the followers of Christ were hunted like beasts of prey. They were forced to seek concealment in desolate and solitary places. "Destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." The subterranean excavations connected with the city of Rome afforded shelter for thousands. Long galleries had been tunneled through earth and rock to procure material for the vast structures of the capital, and the dark and intricate network of passages extended for miles beyond the walls. In these underground retreats, many of the followers of Christ, when suspected and proscribed, found a home; and here also they buried their dead. When the Lifegiver shall awaken those who have fought the good fight, many a martyr for Christ's sake will come forth from those gloomy caverns.
Under the fiercest persecution, these witnesses for Jesus kept their faith unsullied. Though deprived of every comfort, shut away from the light of the sun, making their home in the dark but friendly bosom of the earth, they uttered no complaint. With words of faith, patience, and hope, they encouraged one another to endure privation and distress. The loss of every earthly blessing could not force them to renounce their belief in Christ. Trials and persecutions were but steps bringing them nearer their rest and their reward.
They called to mind the words of their Master, that when persecuted for Christ's sake they were to be exceeding glad; for great would be their reward in Heaven; for so had the prophets been persecuted before them. Like God's servants of old, they were "tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." They rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the truth, and songs of triumph ascended in the midst of crackling flames. Looking upward, by faith they saw Christ and angels leaning over the battlements of Heaven, gazing upon them with the deepest interest, and regarding their steadfastness with approval. A voice came down to them from the throne of God, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
In vain were Satan's efforts to destroy the church of Christ by violence. Thousands were imprisoned and slain; but others sprung up to fill their places. And those who were martyred for their faith were secured to Christ, and accounted of him as conquerors. They had fought the good fight, and they were to receive the crown of glory when Christ should come. The great controversy in which they yielded up their lives did not cease when the faithful standard-bearers fell at their post. God's workmen were slain, but his work went steadily forward. The gospel continued to spread, and the number of its adherents to increase. It penetrated into regions that were inaccessible, even to the eagles of Rome. Said a Christian, expostulating with the heathen rulers who were urging forward the persecution: "You may torment, afflict, and vex us. Your wickedness puts our weakness to the test, but your cruelty is of no avail. It is but a stronger invitation to bring others to our persuasion. The more we are mowed down, the more we spring up again. The blood of the Christians is seed."
By defeat they conquered. The sufferings which they endured brought Christians nearer to one another and to their Redeemer. Their living example and dying testimony were a constant witness for the truth; and, where least expected, the subjects of Satan were leaving his service, and enlisting under the banner of Christ.
The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor. Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God, and to believe in his death and resurrection; but they had no conviction of sin, and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part, they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.
Now was the church in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire, and sword were blessings in comparison with this. Some of the Christians stood firm, declaring that they could make no compromise. Others reasoned that if they should yield or modify some features of their faith, and unite with those who had accepted a part of Christianity, it might be the means of their full conversion. That was a time of deep anguish to the faithful followers of Christ. Under a cloak of pretended Christianity, Satan was insinuating himself into the church, to corrupt their faith, and turn their minds from the word of truth.
At last the larger portion of the Christian company lowered their standard, and a union was formed between Christianity and paganism. Although the worshipers of idols professed to be converted, and united with the church, they still clung to their idolatry, only changing the objects of their worship to images of Jesus, and even of Mary and the saints. The foul leaven of idolatry, thus introduced into the church, continued its baleful work. Unsound doctrines, superstitious rites, and idolatrous ceremonies were incorporated into her faith and worship.
But there is no union between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness, and there can be no union between their followers. When Christians consented to unite with those who were but half converted from paganism, they entered upon a path that led farther and farther from the truth. Satan exulted that he had succeeded in deceiving so large a number of the followers of Christ. He then brought his power to bear more fully upon them, and inspired them to persecute those who remained true to God. None could so well understand how to oppose the true Christian faith as could those who had once been its defenders: and these apostate Christians, uniting with their half-pagan companions, directed their warfare against the most essential features of the doctrine of Christ.
It required a desperate struggle for those who would be faithful to stand firm against the deceptions and abominations which were disguised in sacerdotal garments and introduced into the church. The Bible was not accepted as the standard of faith. The doctrine of religious freedom was termed heresy, and its upholders were hated and proscribed.
After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve all union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from falsehood and idolatry. They saw that370separation was an absolute necessity if they would obey the word of God. They dared not tolerate errors fatal to their own souls, and set an example which would imperil the faith of their children and children's children. To secure peace and unity they were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but if unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, they were ready to welcome difference, and even war.
The mysterious providence which permits the righteous to suffer persecution at the hand of the wicked, has been a cause of great perplexity to many who are weak in faith. Some are even ready to cast away their confidence in God because he suffers the basest of men to prosper, while the best and purest are afflicted and tormented by their cruel power. How, it is asked, can One who is just and merciful, and who is also infinite in power, tolerate such injustice and oppression? This is a question with which we have nothing to do. God has given us sufficient evidence of his love, and we are not to doubt his goodness because we cannot understand the workings of his providence.
There is another and more important question that should engage the attention of the churches of to-day. The apostle Paul declares that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber?—The only reason is, that the church has conformed to the world's standard, and therefore awakens no opposition. The religion current in our day is not of the pure and holy character which marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and his apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled.
THEY sung a hymn—the solemn strain
That floated on the hallowed air
Soothed heavy hearts that beat in pain,
And smoothed the ruffled brow of care.
They sung a hymn—who led the song?
Whose voice, least tremulous of all,
Rose clear, and sweet, and calm, and strong,
Like some far-distant bugle call?
May we not, Master, think 'twas thine
Who broke the bread and breathed the prayer;
Who poured the consecrated wine
And deigned the sacred feast to share?
They sung a hymn. Oh, that some pen
Had traced each gently falling word!
For ne'er before had ears of men
A melody so tender heard.
They sung a hymn—not here below
What hymn they sung will mortals know;
But, whispers soft the heavenly dove,
Its theme was Christ's redeeming love.
—Mrs. Annie L. Angier, in Observer.
Ends of Divine Worship.
Worship as an elementary part of the services of the sanctuary needs no new vindication.
Worship is, first of all, elementary, since by nothing else can the human creature come into a normal and thence a fit relation to the divine Creator. His word teaches that "whoso offereth praise," that is, worshiping homage, "glorifies" God. Such praise as this brings and places man in his truest attitude toward the Being who made him, and who in voice and aspiration and reverence has fashioned him for the service of devout song. Hence it is that the earliest annals of mankind, whether made known in the Bible or elsewhere, fail not to make due note of the vocalization of music. The birds of the air sing as if in some note of articulate praise, and man sings under an inborn impulsion, all in a suggestive sense,—
“Hymning the praise of their great Creator.”
Who will question that he who "formed the eye," and who formed the ear and the voice as well, who gave this inbred susceptibility for uplifting praise, designed in all that man the creature should adore and worship God the Creator.
It is, accordingly, that we find in the earlier Hebrew history, as in the case notably of Miriam, and Deborah, the prominence placed upon sacred song; as later on we find the same thing more minutely and elaborately formulated in the imposing musical ritual established by the psalmist-king in Jerusalem. The timbrel of Miriam, under this growth of the service of song, was supplemented by the harp, by an instrument of ten strings, by high-sounding cymbals, by the organ, that added to thousands of chorus voices, the challenge could be made loudly vocal and emphatic which calls on everything that hath breath to praise the Lord.
And the progressive growth of the Hebrew ritual in respect to divine worship, we note, has marked and marvelous extension under the Christian dispensation, so as to become, like its other institutes and appointments, all-comprehending and pervasive. So at the memorial supper, at which our Lord was the first administrator, it is tenderly recorded as its fitting close, "they sung a hymn and went out." So among other teachings addressed to the Christians of Ephesus, it is enjoined, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The history of Christianity from its primitive age down to the present has not failed to record the prominence which the worship of God, especially in his sanctuary, asserts for itself. Within the current century, in an especial manner, has public religious worship, so called, along with a wonderful musical renaissance, witnessed a remarkable development. Whether all such development in the churches, especially in metropolitan and city churches, has been along the truest lines, admits of more than question.
Not a few of the more mature and thoughtful among us have been led increasingly, for years gone by, to raise the query whether, right here, there has not crept into too many Christian congregations a spirit of rampant, worldly conformity; whether the true and gracious ends of divine worship of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" are not in some cases, at least, so far obscured as to become lost sight of; whether there has not come to be the spectacular in voice and artistic execution, in what should be the most tender, the most uplifting, and the most helpful of the services of public worship, rather than performances suited to other places and to other occasions than the worship of the Most High in his "holy temple."
It recently fell to our lot to be present in a prominent church sanctuary in a New England city not far distant from Boston. While all the exercises (excepting the music), including a truly grand sermon, were impressive, nearly, if not quite, one-third of this morning service was a performance—doubtless deemed artistic—yet in quite an "unknown tongue," with hardly a sentence or word so articulated as to be understood.
All that was gained from almost half an hour so given up to such a vocal exercise might have been gotten at any concert or operatic or other like occasion—anywhere else, too, than "in the courts of the Lord's house." We heard of the shrewd comment, not long ago, of a prominent gentleman contributing largely and liberally toward public worship in general, "We have to endure such music as this, and then pay for it besides!"
The case above referred to is not by any means anomalous. Who has not gone to the house of God, too often to find in the initial service of song—the opening hymn, and one that especially should quicken and uplift the mind and the heart of the worshiper—not one thing that was helpful to the ends of true praise, but the very contrary instead?
Yet for such a performance, misnamed worship, there is liberal outlay of money made—even as in some churches, more or less missionary in their support, the outlay reaches, it is said, half, or much more than half, the no more than adequate salary given to the pastor! We beg to submit the inquiry whether the decay rather than the increase of spirituality in sundry churches may not be traced to the secular inroad here described? It would seem plain enough that such spirituality, truly exemplified, can never have taken away from it a true and a helpful worship.—The Watchman.
Give Thanks Unto the Lord
"O GIVE thanks unto the Lord, for he is good." Ps. 107: 1.
Spiritual Religion.
By Howard Crosby, D. D.
MAN has an unspiritual nature and tendency. We often hear of man's religious instincts, and such a one is said to be naturally religious, but the religion in all such cases is not a spiritual one. It is a mere sentimentality, the expression of ennui or weariness with earth's deceitful joys, a mere negation, or else it is a devotion to form and manner, to routine and ceremony. In neither case is there a particle of godliness in the religion. Man is by nature sinful and hates God. A religion to suit him must be a religion that degrades God to his own level and makes his worship a fraud; and that is a religion virtually without God. The Jews, with a perfect religion given them by God, with priests and prophets to remind them of a spiritual service, and with a written word from God demanding the homage of heart and life, perverted all this more and more until nothing but a form of religion remained, with all the spirit gone. It was the regular process of the human heart to hate, oppose, and crush out, all that is truly divine, and that because of sin, because the divine testifies against sin and brings it ever before the soul. Hence, when the gospel came to the Jews, instead of being prepared for it as they ought to have been, and would have been if they had rightly used Moses and the prophets, they rejected it with scorn and violence, persecuting its apostles after crucifying the Messiah himself. Paul, who for a time took part in this scorn and violence, but who through a deep experience was brought into the humble and energetic service of the Messiah he had himself persecuted, put the whole truth in a succinct sentence when he said, "The carnal mind is enmity against God."
This natural enmity to God and spiritual things will show itself in acts of opposition. It will develop as all feeling develops, into action, and it will attempt to justify itself by action corresponding to the feeling. In refined times and places, it will not take the rough form of bodily persecution. It may accommodate itself to all the requirements of polite society. But both the enmity and its activity are as potent in these circumstances as in those of the ruder peoples. A literature that makes light of spiritual religion, a philosophy that attacks it, a manner of life that wounds or corrupts it, are some of the forms of this enmity which prevail now among us in this nineteenth century, and in the countries most civilized and where Christianity is most thoroughly disseminated. The mob rushing on Paul could not do as much harm to the cause of truth as these polished assailants of spiritual religion, who wear a mask of friendship and courtesy in their onsets. They carry away many of our inexperienced youth, and give the fatal bias to their lives. The world's fashion is on the side of enmity to God, and into this fashion the mass of youth pours. On every side in this false society are the assaults upon truth made. In the name of art and literature everything is offered to excite the sensual passions, and in the name of business success everything is offered to promote the narrowest selfishness of the human heart. To remain outside of this maelstrom is to be peculiar and puritanic. He who has the courage to remain outside must incur ridicule, contempt, slander, and social ostracism. Blessed, indeed, of the Lord is he who cheerfully and happily thus takes up his cross to follow his Master! Blessed is he who by his singular life bears testimony against a godless world and the nominal Christianity that fraternizes with it!—Howard Crosby, D. D.
The Clergy and Great Reforms
If the clergy wait till the popular mind is so agitated by a great reform that it will hear no conservative admonition, it is then too late for them to be a power of control. A preacher then seems to speak because he must speak.—Sel.
Wise unto Sin.
By Prof. John A. Broadus
THERE is a great deal of wisdom in this world. It is wonderful that mankind, considering how foolish they are, should be so wise; and oh! it is wonderful that mankind, considering how wise they are, should be so foolish. There is a great deal of wisdom in the world, wisdom that commands the admiration of all who are fitted to appreciate it. Men are so wise about their business affairs! Just look at the great business schemes and the grand business combinations! How easily men discern the new openings for business which new inventions and discoveries offer them! How clearly we ordinary people see, after a while, what some extraordinary man saw years before, and seized upon it, and made himself one of the great business men of the time by his wisdom!
There is a great deal of wisdom in the world; and this makes it all the sadder to think how few, comparatively, seem to be wise unto salvation. Nay, these wonderful human endowments and energies of ours seem even to be directed toward wisdom unto sin. Men take their splendid powers and prostitute them in the service of wickedness. The longing to know evil is so intense in human nature! What is the early story in the dim light of the first history of mankind? . . . And ever since—why, it is just wonderful to watch your own children and see how early they show a keen relish for knowing about wrong things; how they will get off with some bad schoolmate, and get themselves told things that it would be so much better for them never to hear of. They do so want to know the bad things! The growing boys are so curious about places that are characteristically places of evil.
Wise unto sin! There are a great many things it is better never to know. There are things about which ignorance is bliss; yea, and ignorance is wisdom. There are things of which those who know least are the wisest people, and those who know most are the most foolish people. It is a matter to be thankful for, and in a good sense proud of, if a man can say that, as to the popular forms of outbreaking vice, he never knew anything about them; that he never entered a place of debauchery; that he does not know the names of the instruments of gaming; that he does not know the taste of intoxicating liquors. Happy the man who can humbly declare to a friend such blessed ignorance, such wise ignorance as that.
—Prof. John A. Broadus.
Spirit of Negation.
By Arthur T. Pierson, D. D.
THE gospel encounters everywhere a cold, repellent, indifferent spirit of doubt, if not of denial. Mephistopheles called himself "the spirit of negation." Satan's master-device is to becloud the minds of men with the mists of vagueness and uncertainty. If he can hide the stars, and even the sun, behind a veil of mystery or even of mist, until in the despair of skepticism men cry out with Pilate, "What is truth?" he has gained a triumphant advantage. When the hope of finding the road out of the depths and darkness of a forest dies away, the traveler has reached practically the end of all effort. He resigns himself to death by starvation or by wild beasts. It is so in spiritual things. Men persuade themselves that there is no fixed moral standard, no absolute truth, right or wrong; that duty is another name for expediency, and honesty for policy; that if there be a God, he is unknown and unknowable; that if there be a soul, it is not distinguishable from matter; and if there be a future life, it is impossible to foresee any of its conditions. And so intelligent and thinking men resign themselves to a stoical apathy, and, folding about them the drapery of a careless indifference, often live, and sometimes die, with less impression made upon them by the blessed gospel of Jesus than is made by the sun upon a polar iceberg. They meet all argument with the sneer of ridicule or the smile of derision, as though all argument were sophistry; and they confront all testimony of experience with the condescension of a lofty pity, as though disciples were under some harmless delusion, or half crazy with their own misguided enthusiasm.
But the commonest obstacle to the converting power of the gospel is the hard heart, the perverse, rebellious will. It is still "the evil heart of unbelief" that departs from the living God. "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life," is as true now as ever. Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. There is abundance of light, but no disposition to receive it. The sinner fights against the truth and shuts his eyes to conviction of duty; and to the shut eye it is as though there were no sun shining; as Job said, long since, "They are of those who rebel against the light," and "the morning is to them even as the shadow of death." Selfishness and sensuality, avarice, appetite and ambition, evil habits and evil associates, the love of sin and the love of the world,—these leave men to be, at the best, only "almost persuaded." Under the mighty movings of the Spirit in times of revival, or under the softening influence of sorrow and suffering, or under the terrors of great judgments that compel men to consider, souls are drawn or driven as by some great wave of God's power toward Heaven, but, as by some returning wave of wickedness and worldliness, they are borne back to the depths of their old sins. Christ said to the scribe, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God," but we have no reason to hope that he ever entered within. Thousands have come to the very vestibule of salvation, and stood upon the threshold of life eternal, only to turn away from the open door; and so many who are to-day "almost persuaded" will be wholly lost.
Sing Praises.
SINGING the praise of God is an important part of religious worship. We are not only required to pray, but also to "sing unto the Lord," and "make a joyful noise unto the Rock of our salvation." This is a duty to be performed not only in private, but also in public. We are to "praise God in the sanctuary," to "exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders." This is a duty which every one should endeavor to perform to the best of his ability. It is a duty which we must not transfer to another.
We can no more praise God by proxy than we can pray by proxy. If we cannot make much melody with our voices, we may make melody in our hearts unto the Lord. But as there are persons appointed to lead in the worship of God in other parts of the service, so it is entirely proper that there should be suitable persons appointed to lead the congregation in the service of song, that the people may sing not only with the spirit, but with the understanding also. But because there are suitable persons to lead in prayer, we are not to infer that the people are not to pray; and because there are suitable persons to lead in the praise of God, we are not to suppose that the congregation are not to sing.
While the preacher prays, all the people should unite with him in his petitions; while he leads them in discourse, every worshiper should follow him in thought; and while the choir leads in songs of Zion, the whole congregation should unite with them in singing the praise of God. The preacher should not do all the praying and thinking, neither should the choir do all the singing. Both are important in their place, as leaders of the people in the worship of the sanctuary, but while they lead, the people with heart and voice should follow. "Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee."—Sel.
THE GIFT OF GOD.
By T. Edgar Jones
EACH night is followed by its day,
Each storm by fairer weather,
While all the works of nature sing
Their psalms of joy together.
Then learn, O heart, their songs of hope!
Cease, soul, thy thankless sorrow;
For though the clouds be dark to-day,
The sun shall shine to-morrow;
Learn well, from bird and tree and rill,
The sins of dark resentment;
And know the greatest gift of God
Is faith and sweet contentment.
—T. Edgar Jones, in Boston Traveller.
To Save Sinners.
"CHRIST JESUS came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." And that is a faithful saying which is worthy of all acceptation—is it? Well, it certainly seems to hit you and me, to begin with. If the Lord Jesus had come into this world to visit angels, we should have no gain from his mission. If he had come here to receive to himself those who were pure and worthy, he would not have looked us up. If he had come to save those who were doing as well as they knew how, although they were not altogether sinless, you and I would still have been counted out from his purposes. But, as he came to save sinners, we are evidently included in his searching. And if even the very chiefest of all sinners is taken into his plans of love, neither you nor I can feel excluded. It may seem that not all of us can be chiefest of sinners; but each one of us is more of a sinner than anybody else—so far as he knows: for each one of us has a consciousness of his own sinfulness beyond all his knowledge of any one else's sinfulness. Yes, this is a faithful saying, and as comforting as it is faithful. There is no limit to its application. It takes us all in—all and each. Jesus Christ came to save me; for he came to save sinners. And whatever doubt I may have as to other qualifications, I am sure that I have this fitness for his reach; and as the chief of sinners is included, I am not shut out from hope.—Sel.
Christian Boldness.
Personal fear or dislike to produce a commotion will cause many to permit an evil which, taken at the start, might be readily overcome. Worldliness in many forms enters, and godly people are silent until, used to the incongruity, they become actual abettors of the evil. We must remember that there is always in operation a tendency to bring down the church to a low, earthly level, and that every Christian must be a positive upholder of spirituality to counteract this tendency. This will require boldness, for such counteraction implies collision, and that often with those who ought to be friends. It often may array a house against itself, one's own blood assailing one's godly efforts with ridicule or severer opposition. We must be prepared for that. In the world we must have tribulation. We cannot keep the church in a spiritual sphere without this struggle with the carnalizing elements about us. And this struggle will never be in vain. God is in it. He will give the victory. He will make the opposition praise him. Our bruises will be the church's profit and progress. We can afford to bear them with such gain. This boldness is not to be confounded with rudeness and presumption, which are the characteristics of "cranks" and hypocrites. It is a boldness which is persistent, and yet modest; outspoken, but not self-seeking; firm, but regardful of all the proprieties of life; meeting assault not by vituperation, but by calm resolution and faithful testimony to the truth.—Half Hours with the Lessons.