Earlier text: EXAMINATION OF T. M. PREBLE'S FIRST-DAY SABBATHHail heavenly love that first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man.
Hail matchless, free, eternal grace,
That gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God that rules the sky,
I fought with hands uplifted high,
Despised the offers of his grace
Too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapt in dark Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a hiding place. But lo! the eternal counsel ran,
Almighty love arrest the man,
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place. Eternal Justice, stood in view,
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew,
But Justice cried with frowning face
This mountain is no hiding place. But lo! a heavenly voice I heard,
And mercy to my soul appeared;
She led me on, a pleasing pace
To Jesus Christ my hiding place. Should storms of ten-fold thunder roll,
And shake the earth from pole to pole,
No thunderbolt should daunt my face;
For Jesus is my hiding place. Patient in Tribulation.
By M. M. Osgood
A MOTHER, who had for many years loved to work for Christ, was at length borne down with a heavy load of trials. She possessed great courage to labor, but had not learned to suffer. Her heart now rose in rebellion against God and his dispensations, and she would gladly have torn away the barriers that separated her from her loved plan of working. She mourned and prayed over this state of mind as being unchristian; but years passed on without any complete victory. At times she was near triumphing; but oftener she allowed her affliction to hide the smiles of the King she so much loved to serve and please. During three years of struggle, a daughter, whom she had fondly expected to consecrate to missionary life, became an invalid, and at length was taken so fearfully sick that for a time she was insane. Her wild shouts and mocking laugh were no more shocking, than were her pitiful entreaties for a friend, saddening. Neighbors, brothers and sisters wept; but the mother, weary and sad beyond what tears can express, gently did what hands could do, while her heart sank deeper and deeper in grief. Where now were all the pleasant hopes of the past? Had not her toilsome, self-denying, prayerful efforts yielded only bitter sorrow? One afternoon, as these murmuring thoughts were harrowing up her mind, her daughter called her to the bed-side. In the clear, sweet voice of olden times, she said, “Mother, I wish you to sit down in a chair, and sit there till you are willing to suffer all God’s righteous will.” In wonder the mother seated herself in the chair pointed out, but with a feeling also that the injunction was one she most needed to obey. She was lifting her heart to God, imploring his aid, when her daughter said, “Come to me, mother, I wish to see how you look.” Closely scanning the mother’s face, she replied, “No, you have not sat there long enough. I wish you to sit there till you are willing to suffer all God’s righteous will.” The mother obeyed the second time in tears. They were tears of contrition. All her rebellion became manifest to herself, and she now felt that her Heavenly Father had a right to reign and rule, and that he chastened in love. Her load of sadness gave place to a heart full of joy and gratitude to God, who sees not as man sees. Years afterward, the mother in referring to the above incident, said she now “rejoiced that it was her privilege to suffer, as well as to do God’s will.” Her face glowed as she spoke of the sweetness of casting all her care upon Him who careth for us. How many of us realize the blessedness of being made partakers of Christ’s sufferings? “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” The foregoing article was published in the REVIEW in May 1865; yet I thought it would bear republishing. To some it may bring a sweet lesson. Oh! how much harder it seems to us, to suffer and wait, than to engage in active toil. But when we become truly disciples of Jesus, we shall be willing to be as our Master. I remember that when the time came for him to enter upon his ministry of love, when every thing seemed ready and waiting for his work to begin, the Spirit led him into the wilderness, right away from all those whom he came to bless and save. There he must wait and suffer, be subjected to the fiercest assaults of Satan, while suffering for the necessaries of life. Apparently no one was being benefited by all this. The sheep were all wandering on the mountains, while the Shepherd must remain in the wilderness. Why was it? John’s disciples might wonder why, but to us it has been all explained. See “Sufferings of Christ,” p. 2. “In Christ was united the human and the divine.” - Taking human nature, fitted Christ to understand the nature of man’s trials, and his sorrows, and all the temptations wherewith he is beset. He was tempted in all points like as we, that he might know how to succor all who should be tempted.” See also Heb. 4:15, and 2:18.
And then again, when his ministry on earth was nearly finished, all save the one crowning act which was to give efficacy to what he had already done and suffered, there comes a trial of his faith and submission that caused the angels to behold with sorrow and amazement. Oh! what anguish must have filled his soul, when it was so great as to force the blood out of the pores in great drops—drop following drop in succession, and falling to the ground. Jesus saw his life fast flowing out. (For the life is in the blood. Lev. 17:11.) The powers of darkness were around him, shutting out God and Heaven and hope. This it was that was taking away his life by force. It was the Father’s will that Jesus should lay down his life voluntarily, and he came on purpose to do that will. He was now ready to do it, and was straightened until it could be accomplished. Yet to the suffering Saviour it seemed that his Father had withdrawn his love from him, and was about to permit Satan to take his life forcibly away, and so completely thwart the plan of salvation, and make all his humiliation and toil and suffering of no avail. And now behold the meek Lamb. Does he murmur because his Father seems to be permitting this work? “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matt. 26:39. The Father hears those piteous pleadings, and sends one angel. Is he sent to drive away those powers of darkness, so that he can rejoice once more in his Father’s approving smile? Oh, no! Only sent to strengthen him a little, so that he may be able to endure the hiding of his Father’s face, without its causing life to immediately cease. Some hours after this, while enduring untold agony of body, he cries out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We may sometimes plead long for the piercing thorn to be removed, and be answered only by, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” God grants enduring, when he could not safely grant delivering, grace. Is it possible for us to have nobler or more cherished plans than was that in which the Prince of glory risked his all? Was it right for him to willingly relinquish all, if his Father desired it? If so, there is no question in regard to our duty in every conceivable case. For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:15. Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 13:13. Will we not cheerfully suffer now with Jesus, if by and by he only permits us to be with him, and behold his glory?” The Fall of Romanism in Europe.
THE anti-papal movement in Europe goes on steadily and irresistibly. It moves like a deep river, not with the noise of a “babbling brook.” It now appears that one of the articles of agreement between Austria and Prussia, at Salzburg, binds the two governments to co-operate in repressing the Ultramontanists, or, at least, their hostile treatment of the Anti-Infallibilists. This is all-important news. It is, indeed, a decisive omen. The Bavarian Government has recently made cabinet changes which show that its policy will be concurrent with that of Bismarck and Beust. But perhaps the most important news on the subject is that of the statement made last week in the Bavarian Parliament, by the cabinet. It declared that the doctrine of Infallibility is dangerous to the State, and that those who did not accept it should be protected and regarded as Roman Catholics. It also declared that the King and Council of State favored a complete separation of the religious and political branches of the government. With such political odds as these, the cause of the Vatican would seem to be finally lost in Europe. Both Catholic parties have held their great conventions—the Ultramontanists at Mayence, where the city Archbishop and other partisans behaved very clamorously, and committed themselves to such extreme ideas and measures as must severely react against them in the popular mind, and especially in Parliament, where the violent Archbishop is expected to be foolishly rampant. The Reformers, after several successful preliminary gatherings in Switzerland and elsewhere, have met in Munich, where Dollinger has become chief of the University. Eight thousand enthusiastic adherents crowded the hall. The celebrated canon-law scholar of Prague, Von Schulte, presided; Dollinger made an important speech. Delegations were there from Austria, Prussia, Switzerland, etc. Père Hyacinthe, Professor Ossinini, of St. Petersburg, the Spanish agent, Signor d’Aldro, and many other notabilities, were prominent. The famous prelate, Strossmayer, sent a letter of adhesion, which produced a sensation. We think there can now be no sober doubt of the colossal importance of this Catholic disaffection. It threatens to strike away the chief foundations of Popery among the Teutonic peoples. Meanwhile they are sliding away from beneath the system, among the Latin nations. In Italy, hierarchical Popery seems to be fairly played out. The Pope is powerless and self-imprisoned in the Eternal City, and the people there have just celebrated their recovered possession of the city with an enthusiasm which leaves no doubt that the change is thoroughly a popular one. In Spain, the son of Victor Emmanuel sits upon the throne. The Church party are with his Carlist opponents, and his policy must necessarily be, like his father’s, anti-papal. In France, the Church party has received a significant defeat in the liberal results of the late elections. Thus, men who, whether in Church or State, bind themselves to the dead past, must die with it. In attempting to restore the past, the Church, in the late Roman Council, committed suicide.—The Methodist. The Power of Understanding
“No MAN knows what powers he hath, till he hath tried them. And of the understanding, he may most truly say that its force is greater generally than he thinks till he is put to it.” Work, Learning, and Ministry
WE are to work and learn. Life should have its quiet pauses, in which to gather rest for work, but no idle hours. The poor are to be ministered unto, the wicked to be reclaimed, and the sorrowing to be comforted. The United States in the Light of Prophecy.
By Uriah Smith
CHAPTER IV.—CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST.
Having become satisfied where the power symbolized by the two-horned beast must be located, we now inquire respecting the time when we may look for its development. At what period in this world's history is the rise of this power located in the prophecy? On this point, as on the preceding, the foundation for the conclusions at which we must arrive, is already laid in the facts elicited in reference to the preceding or leopard beast. It was at the time when this beast went into captivity, or was killed (politically) with the sword, verse 10, or (which we suppose to be the same thing), had one of its heads wounded to death, verse 3, that John saw the two-horned beast coming up. If the leopard beast, as we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, and the going into captivity met its fulfillment in the temporary overthrow of the popedom by the French, in 1798, then we have the time definitely specified, when we are to look for the rising of this power. The expression, “coming up,” must signify that the power to which it applies was but newly organized, and was then just rising into prominence and influence. The power represented by this symbol, must, then, be some power which in 1798 stood in this position before the world. That the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, there can be no question; but some may want more evidence that the wounding of one of its heads, or its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the papacy in 1798. This can easily be given. A nation being represented by a wild beast, the government of that nation, that by which it is controlled, must as a very clear matter of course be considered as answering to the head of the beast. The seven heads of this beast would therefore denote seven different governments; but all the heads pertain to one beast, and hence all these seven different forms of government pertain to one empire. But only one form of government can exist in a nation at one time; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms of government to appear, not simultaneously, but successively. But these heads pertain alike to the dragon and the leopard beast; from which this one conclusion only can be drawn: that Rome, during its whole history embracing both its pagan and papal phases, would change its government six times, presenting to the world seven different forms in all. And the historian records just that number as pertaining to Rome. Rome was first ruled by Kings; second, by Consuls; third, by Decemvirs; fourth, by Dictators; fifth, by Triumvirs; sixth, by Emperors; and seventh, by Popes. John saw one of these heads wounded, as it were, to death. Which one? Can we tell? Let it be noticed first that it is one of the heads of the beast which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads of the dragon; that is, it is some form of government which existed in Rome after the change of symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We then inquire, How many of the different forms of Roman government belonged absolutely to the dragon, or existed in Rome while it maintained its dragonic or pagan form? Those same seven heads are again presented to John in Rev. 17; and the angel there explains that they are seven kings, or forms of government, verse 10; and he informs John that five are fallen, and one is; that is, five of these forms of government were already passed in John's day; and he was living under the sixth. Under what form did John live? The imperial; it being the cruel decree of the emperor Domitian which banished him to the isle of Patmos where this vision was given. Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators and Triumvirs, were all in the past in John's day. Emperors were then ruling the Roman world; and the empire was still pagan. Six of these heads, therefore, Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs and Emperors, belonged to the dragon; for they all existed while Rome was pagan: and it was no one of these which was wounded to death; for had it been, John would have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death. The wound was inflicted after the empire had so changed in respect to its religion that it became necessary to represent it by the leopard beast. But the beast had only seven heads, and if six of them pertained to the dragon, only one remained to have an existence after this change in the empire took place. After the Emperors, the sixth and last head that existed in Rome in its dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that existed after the empire had nominally become Christian. The “Exarch of Ravenna” existed so “short a space,” Rev. 17:10, that it has no place in the general enumeration of the heads of this power. From these considerations, it is evident that the head which received the mortal wound, was none other than the papal head. This conclusion cannot be shaken. We have now only to inquire when the papal head was wounded to death. It could not certainly be till after its full development; but after this, the prophecy marked out for it an uninterrupted rule of 1260 years from its establishment in 538, till the revolution of 1798. Then the papacy was, for the time being, overthrown. General Berthier, by order of the French Directory, moved against the dominions of the pope in January 1798. February 10, he effected an entrance into the self-styled eternal city, and, on the 15th of the same month, proclaimed the establishment of the Roman republic. The pope, after this deprivation of his authority, was conveyed to France as a prisoner, and died at Valence, Aug. 29, 1799. This would have been the end of the papacy, had this overthrow been made permanent. The wound would have proved fatal, had it not been healed. But, though the wound was healed, the scar, so to speak, has ever since remained. A new pope was elected in 1800, and the papacy was restored, but only to a partial possession of its former privileges. Let the reader look carefully at this event. It furnishes a complete fulfillment of the prophecy; and it is the only event in all Roman history which does this; for, though the first six heads were each, in turn, exterminated, or gave place to a succeeding head, of no one of them could it be said that it received a fatal wound, and was afterward healed. And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French military must be the wounding of the head mentioned in Rev. 13:3, so, likewise, must it be the going into captivity, and the killing with the sword, mentioned in verse 10; for it is an event of the right nature to fulfill the prophecy, and one which occurred at the right time; namely, at the end of the time times and a half, the forty-two months, or the 1260 years; and no other event can be found answering to the record in these respects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in the application of this prophecy; for God, by his providence, has marked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as if he had proclaimed with an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of my prophetic word! Thus clearly is the exact time indicated in the prophecy when we are to look for the rise of the two-horned beast; for John, as soon as he beholds the captivity of the first or leopard beast, says, “And I beheld another beast coming up.” And his use of the present participle, “coming up,” clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, and shows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously with the going into captivity of the previous beast. If he had said, “And I had seen another beast coming up,” it would prove that when he saw it, it was coming up, but that the time when he beheld it was indefinitely in the past. If he had said, “And I beheld another beast which had come up,” it would prove that although his attention was called to it at the time when the first beast went into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in the past. But when he says, “I beheld another beast coming up,” it proves that when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he saw another power right then in the process of rapid development among the nations of the earth. So, then, about the year 1798, the star of that power which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must be seen rising to the zenith of its glory. In view of these considerations, it is useless to speak of this power as having arisen ages in the past. To attempt such an application is to show one's self utterly reckless in regard to the plainest statements of inspiration. Again, the work of the two-horned beast is plainly located, by verse 12, this side the captivity of the first beast. It is there stated, in direct terms, that the two-horned beast causes “the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” But worship could not be rendered to a beast whose deadly wound was healed, till after that healing was accomplished. This brings the worship unmistakably within the present century. Says Eld. J. Litch (Restitution, p. 131), “The two-horned beast is represented as a power existing and performing his part after the death and revival of the first beast.” Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 14, says of the two-horned beast: “He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast.” We find three additional declarations in the book of Revelation which prove, in a general sense, that the two-horned beast performs his work with that generation of men who are to behold the closing up of all earthly scenes, and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and these will complete the argument on this point. The first is the message of the third angel brought to view in the 14th of Revelation. It is not our purpose to enter into an exposition of the three messages of this chapter. We call the attention of the reader to only one fact which must be apparent to all; and that is, that the third of these messages is the last warning of danger, and the last offer of mercy, before the close of human probation; for the event which immediately follows is the appearance of one like the Son of Man on a white cloud, coming to reap the harvest of the earth, verse 14, which can represent nothing else but the second advent of the Lord from Heaven. Whatever views, therefore, a person may take of the first and second messages, and at whatever time he may apply them, it is very certain that the third and last one covers the closing hours of time, and reaches down to the second coming of Christ. And what is the burden of this message? It is a denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God against those who worship the beast and his image. But this worship of the beast and his image is the very work which the two-horned beast endeavors to enforce upon the people. The third message, then, is a warning against the work of the two-horned beast. And as there would be no propriety in supposing this warning to be given after that work was performed; as it could appropriately be given only when the two-horned beast was about to enforce, and while he was endeavoring to enforce, that worship; and as the second coming of Christ immediately succeeds the proclamation of this message; it follows that the duties enjoined by this message, and the decrees enforced by the two-horned beast, constitute the last test to be brought to bear upon the world; and hence the two-horned beast performs his work among the last generation of men. The existence and work of this power cannot, therefore, be put in ages in the past, and be made to pertain to a generation who all go into their graves centuries before the coming of Christ takes place. The second passage which shows that the work of the two-horned beast is performed just before the close of time, is found in Rev. 15:2, which we have shown to refer to the same company spoken of in chapter 14:1–5. Here is a company who have gotten the victory over the beast and his image and the mark and the number of his name; in other words, they have been in direct conflict with the two-horned beast, which endeavors to enforce the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark. And these are “redeemed from among men” (14:4), or were translated from among the living at the second coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. This again shows conclusively that it is the last generation which witnesses the work of this power. The third passage is Rev. 19:20, which speaks of the two-horned beast under the title of the false prophet, and mentions a point not given in Rev. 17, namely, the doom he is to meet. In the battle of the great day, which takes place in connection with the second coming of Christ, verses 11–19, the false prophet, or two-horned beast, is cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; and the word “alive” signifies that this power will be at that time a living power performing its part in all its strength and vigor. This power is not to pass off the stage of action, and be succeeded by another; but is to be a ruling power till destroyed by the King of kings and Lord of lords, when he comes to dash the nations in pieces with a rod of iron. The sum of the argument, then, on this matter of chronology, is this: That the two-horned beast does not come into the field of this vision previous to the year 1798; that it performs its work while the last generation of men is living on the earth; and that it comes up to the battle of the great day, a living power, in the full vigor of its strength. As it was shown in the argument on the location of the two-horned beast, that we were limited in our application to this western continent, so we are limited still further by its chronology; for it must not only be some power which arises this side of the Atlantic, but one which is seen coming up here at a particular time. Taking our stand then at the year 1798, the time indicated in the prophecy, we invite the careful attention of the reader to this question: What independent power in either North or South America, was at that time “coming up,” in a manner to answer to the conditions of the prophecy? All that part of North America lying to the north of us was under the dominion of Russia and Great Britain. Mexico, to the south-west, was a Spanish colony. Passing to South America, Brazil belonged to Portugal, and most of the other South American States were under Spanish control. In short, there was not then a single civilized, independent government in the New World, except our own United States. No other nation, therefore, can be the one represented in the prophecy; but this one so far answers to it most accurately. It has always taken the lead of all European settlements in this hemisphere. It was “coming up” at the exact time indicated in the prophecy. Like a lofty monument in a field all its own, stand the United States on this continent, grand, unique, unexplainable. So far as God's providence works among the nations for the accomplishment of his purposes, it is visible in the development of this country as an agent to fulfill his word. On these two vital points of location and chronology the arguments which show that our country is the one represented by the symbol of the two-horned beast, are absolutely conclusive. U. S. “Not Wise.”
By R. F. Cottrell
Who are not wise? Those who have the custom of “measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves.” If we would have uniformity in a great number of garments, we must cut them all by the same pattern. If, after cutting one, we lay the pattern aside and cut the second by the first, and the third by the second, and so on, we shall find, after a while, that we have a great diversity of garments and a great divergency from the original pattern. To form the character of Christians alike, all must be formed after the model of Christ, and not by measuring and comparing with one another. If all are like Christ, there will be unity; if not, there will be diversity. The revealed word of God is the rule. By it we should measure ourselves. To reform men's habits is difficult. When the work is begun, even, it is difficult to bring them up to a given standard. We find it so in the health reform. Why? Because instead of following the letter of the instructions given, we look about to see how others follow them. I think very highly of such and such a one. If I do as they do, I think I shall do well enough. This is one reason why reform does not progress. Another is, that we fall a little back of the standard that we have proposed for ourselves, to accommodate and encourage our friends that are a little in the rear, so as not to part company with them. They visit us, and we set a table a little less hygienic than we are accustomed to, on their account. They observe everything, and go away and report that we live so and so, and they think that will do. They do not think they need to get ahead of Eld. so and so, and Dea. so and so, and so. We have seen this in our own experience. Some years ago, having brethren and sisters to visit us who we thought would hardly like to be forced to conform to our ordinary diet, we went out of the way to set a little flesh-meat before them. The consequence was that they went away and reported that Bro. Cottrell's folks ate meat right along. Of course they did not see the need of getting in advance of us in the health reform. And so it happens that reform begun, is often found going backward. And I have come to the decided conclusion that it is best for me to take the rule as it is, and live up to the light given. But I would not compel any one to do as I do; only I would advise all not to measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves, but to take the written testimony,165given by the Spirit of God, and make that their rule and conform to it fully. Such a course I believe will be wise. R. F. COTTRELL.