AUTO-INTOXICATION, OR HOW A MAN MAY POISON HIMSELF
By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler
(Continued)
SOURCES OF POISON WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE BODY
Indigestion and Fermentation in the Alimentary Canal.—The battle for life does not always have to be waged against substances taken into the body from without. See Diagram 4, in last week's REVIEW. Frequent poisons that seriously threaten life are developed within the body. Sometimes the alimentary canal becomes a paradise for germs, which are an active cause of auto-intoxication. The carbohydrates (starch family) furnish the medium for those particular microbes that produce acid fermentation, which, although more uncomfortable and painful, is less harmful than protein decomposition. The proteins of the food are seized upon by germs that produce putrefaction and decomposition. In this case, there is not likely to be any acids or gas present, and so the only intimation the person has that he is being thus poisoned, may be a sense of lassitude, dull headache, etc.; and a continuation of this condition will certainly lay the foundation of a long train of physical evils.
One of the first great sources of moral poisoning and spiritual stumbling is moral dyspepsia, or the failure to digest spiritual food.
Undigested Spiritual Food.—Physical food undigested becomes an immediate source of poison to the body; and so divine truth unappropriated, unassimilated, by the soul, becomes at once a source of moral poisoning to the spiritual nature. That which, if received by the soul, would have nourished it and made it strong, if unassimilated becomes a source of present poisoning and future contamination. See branch 2 of Diagram 5, last week. Spiritual food must be masticated and digested. The work of mastication is done by the mind, while the work of digestion is done in the heart, by faith—the great spiritual digestive agent. “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Heb. 4: 2. The words of God are of no profit to those who fail to mix faith with their hearing. The Christian who undertakes to walk by sight is doomed to the ills and woes of spiritual indigestion. “The just shall live by faith.”
Looked at from another standpoint, this question of spiritual indigestion is one of “theory versus practice.” The man who has in his mind a theory of truth, but fails to give it a suitable expression in his life, is a man in whose spiritual life truth fails of proper digestion. Theory is but an ingenious apology for our failure to possess that which we profess. On the other hand, the practice of truth constitutes an unerring symptom of the healthy activities of mind and soul in their work of receiving, digesting, assimilating, and expending the nutrition and energy that divine truth has stored in it for the nourishment and activity of man's moral nature. However great the truth recognized by the intellectual man, and received by him intellectually, if unbelief reigns in his heart, that truth, with its divine energy and transforming power, can never become a part of his character. On the other hand, it will remain, with him, a source of moral condemnation, poisoning, and final destruction. Faith is absolutely essential to the reception and appropriation of things divine in human experience. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
Tissue Breakdown.—Another active tributary to this stream of poison is broken-down tissue, produced by the normal activities of the body. Every particle of heat that is formed, every movement of a muscle, and, in fact, every thought we think, occasions a certain amount of tissue waste, which, if not properly removed, would soon overwhelm bodily activity (see branch 3, in Diagram 4, last week), even as the ashes of the stove, if allowed to accumulate, invariably tend to smother the fire. One of the most important of these products is carbon dioxide, which is thrown off by the lungs. If respiration is interfered with for only a few moments, human life is greatly endangered by the accumulations of these poisons within the system. Urea, uric acid, and other organic poisons are eliminated by the kidneys in sufficient quantities to occasion death in about thirty hours if their elimination should entirely cease.
Backsliding, and Moral Disintegration, or Failure to Walk in the Light.—On the diagram (No. 5, in last week's issue) the third source of moral poisoning is shown to be failure to walk in the light. “If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Matt. 6: 23. If we fail to walk in it, the heavenly light we have received, with its divine power to illuminate the soul, to lead from darkness into light, becomes a veritable source of moral darkness. As the food within the body, undigested, is left to ferment and putrefy, dealing out poisons to the body; just so the light of life, unreceived, not lived up to, by the soul of man, becomes the very source of darkness and death within him. The Creator allows the creature to choose his own course, and form his own destiny. Heaven sheds light upon earth. If light is not wanted, and man loves darkness rather than light (John 3: 19), then the unwelcome light becomes to him darkness; and thus sinful man is allowed to have his choice at the expense of the enlightenment of his mind and the salvation of his soul. The consequence of neglecting and rejecting light is spiritual darkness and moral death.
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8: 12. Jesus spoke of the light of life. Both in a physical and in a spiritual sense, light is life, while darkness is death. While the sun shines, the plant manufactures starch; but during the night even the plant itself begins to prey upon the starch it has made during the day. In the light we live, grow, and develop. In darkness, we retrograde, decay, and backslide. Paul said: “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” God designed that the Christian53should live, and act, as in the noontide blaze of divine light and power from the throne above.
Abnormal Production of Normal Secretions.—Even the very fluids that are secreted by the body for the purpose of transforming the food elements so that they can be properly utilized, as well as those secretions which otherwise assist the body in a variety of ways, sometimes become either so exaggerated in quantity or so perverted in quality that they actually become sources of poison. See branch 4, in Diagram 4, last week. This is well illustrated by the poisonous saliva produced in some of the lower animals when diseased or irritated. The excessive secretion of gastric juice, as in hyperpepsia; the absorption of an excessive quantity of bile, as in jaundice, are examples familiar to all. The pouring out of large quantities of mucus, whether in catarrhal conditions of the nasal cavity or of the stomach, furnishes still another illustration; while the excessive formation of other more obscure secretions, which are manufactured by the thyroid glands, produces some of the most serious conditions of the human body.
Fanaticism, or Perversions of Spiritual Life.—The fourth source of trouble to the soul, as we have noticed, is fanaticism, or perversion of the normal spiritual life. See branch 4, in Diagram 5, last week. When the liver secretes too much bile, although a normal and useful secretion of the body, the patient is said to be suffering from jaundice. The secretion of too much gastric juice in the stomach gives rise to a condition termed hyperpepsia. These fluids of the body are all normal and useful fluids, but when secreted in excessive and abnormal quantities, become a source of mischief and trouble. And so in the spiritual experience. The many fruitful fields of emotion, thought, and exercise of the soul are all useful and helpful, but when perverted, or when the mind is allowed to run at length upon some particular phase of spiritual experience, or some single Bible truth, the result is very often the development of that state of mind and soul so generally known as “fanaticism.”
Fanaticism is simply the abnormal production on the part of the soul of what would, under other circumstances, be a normal, helpful, and perhaps useful exercise. The person who has a tendency to extremes is affected with fanaticism in one of its milder forms. These things are sources of great hindrance, and are a detriment to spiritual progress and moral development. Just as the saliva, so useful in normal quantities, becomes poisonous to the body when secreted in abnormal quantities, so the useful exercises of prayer, Bible study, testifying, etc., which are essential and helpful to the development of the soul, if allowed to become abnormal, become deterrents to the soul's progress.
Fanaticism frequently has its origin in some physical cause, mental weakness, or hereditary peculiarity. The confirmed dyspeptic is liable to be a little erratic in his religious experience at some point. Many a one has lost his mind for fear of the unpardonable sin or the burning hell. This mental condition was largely produced by the ever-present burning of a sour stomach, from which no relief was found day or night. Soul and body are closely united, and what influences the one reacts upon the other. In a large majority of cases it will be found that the religious fanatic has a physical basis for his trouble. Still other instances are no doubt the result of mental weakness, the mind having become undermined by physical disease, excessive worry, or disappointment. Others have hereditary tendencies, which lend their influence readily to fanaticism; and fanaticism on one point exerts a deteriorating influence upon all the motives, plans, and actions of the soul.
Contaminated Air.—One great source of poison to the body is impure air. See branch 5, Diagram 5, last week. Of all persons in the world, the Christian should be thoroughly awake to the importance of proper ventilation. There is no other requirement of the body half as imperative as the demand for air. A person may live for weeks entirely deprived of food, and for days without even a drop of water; but life ceases in a few minutes when air is absolutely excluded from the human system. If a person eliminates enough poison through the lungs every few minutes to destroy his life, unless relieved of it, is it not equally dangerous for one in a poorly ventilated room to inhale a large percentage of this same poison-laden air? The day of God alone will reveal how many victims consumption has claimed simply because it found an easy foothold in lungs that were already crippled by constantly breathing contaminated air. The average person throws off enough poison at each breath to contaminate half a barrel of air, to such a degree that it ought not to be breathed again. A proper system of ventilation should provide an inlet and outlet for three thousand cubic feet of air each hour for each person in the room. The prevailing spirit of the age is a demand for labor-saving devices. Why should we not be as anxious to introduce life-saving devices, and do all in our power to add to our comforts on this sin-cursed earth, by promoting and cultivating health?
Worldly Atmosphere.—A worldly atmosphere, or association with unconsecrated men and women, is one of the surest means of producing leanness of soul and darkness of mind. See branch 5, Diagram 5, last week. The Christian who would grow in grace, and maintain a high degree of spiritual resistance, must constantly seek the company of those who fear God and reverence His name. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1 Cor. 15: 33. The demands of fashion and society, and the general spirit of worldliness, which is gaining ground in the hearts of many professed Christians, constitute an atmosphere that is blighting and making shipwreck of the Christian experience of a large number who have been beguiled into yielding to these temptations to engage in pleasure, amusement, and other digressions that invariably accompany the exposure of one's self to the influence of a worldly atmosphere.
Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.
Love That Never Fails
“IT is the love of self that destroys our peace. While self is all alive, we stand ready continually to guard it from mortification and insult; but when we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God, we shall not take neglects or slights to heart. We shall be deaf to reproach, and blind to scorn and insult. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth.”
DEAD PEOPLE
“All that God is doing in this world in any way, He is doing by dead people.” God uses me in proportion as I am dead,—dead to self, dead to pleasure, dead to the world, dead to human praise or blame, dead to personal interest, dead to everything but God,—so dead that there are only two beings in the universe alive, God and myself; and of those one is dead, yet alive. It is no longer I that live, but God that liveth in me. So that self is dead beyond hope of resurrection, and Christ liveth through all the powers of my triple being, and absolutely controls those powers for His own purposes.
Blessed deadness! Glorious living! Happy freedom! “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” I do not care for the world; its pleasures have no power to entice me; its riches I count but dross; its applause is a hollow mockery; its society, its ease, its praise, I have not the faintest desire to enjoy; its persecutions have no power to swerve me from my purpose.
“The world is crucified unto me.” It has no use for me. It had no use for my Master; it despised Him; it killed Him. It despises me; it will kill me. Hence there is no love lost between us. Dead! dead to everything but God, to be used by Him as He may wish!
Let no man think this death of self is easily secured. It is the most difficult part of a satisfactory religious experience. Self dies hard. Crucifixion means rough handling, humiliation hard to endure; it means agony and solitude, the assaults of devils and men; it means the piercing spike and the darkening heavens; but, thank God, it also means resurrection, triumph, and God’s glory.
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”—Selected.
THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS
By K. C. RUSSELL
K. C. RUSSELL
It is natural to hold the various doctrines of the Bible simply as a system of belief, because they form a part of our creed. All know that a church might accept Christ as a part of their belief, and yet not possess Him at all as their personal Saviour. Also during recent years the truth has been much emphasized that simply to believe in keeping the law of God as one of the tenets of our faith, is not sufficient; the commandments must become our very lives.
It occurs to me that the Spirit of Prophecy is largely regarded as “a gift that we have in the Church,” and that we rest satisfied because that gift is among us, or because we believe in it as one of our doctrines. But is there not a sense in which the Lord teaches that we must “have the testimony of Jesus,” that we have not yet experienced?
There is an idea extant that those who accept Christ have the testimony of Jesus. To every lover of present truth it must be evident that the sense in which this idea is construed is a perversion of the word of God. Yet I believe that all who constitute the remnant Church must “have the testimony of Jesus”—the Spirit of Prophecy.
In Rev. 12:17 the Lord says: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
I do not understand by this scripture that every person in the Church will be blessed with the gift of prophecy; neither do I believe that it means only that the Church will have this gift manifested in it. But I do believe that the Lord plainly teaches that every one will “have the testimony of Jesus”—the Spirit of Prophecy—in the sense that he will receive its divine principles, and practice them in his daily life.
Dear reader, do you have the testimony of Jesus in this respect; that is, have you cheerfully heeded its teachings when it has come to you in counsel and reproof? If so, you have the testimony of Jesus; but if you have not thus received it, you do not meet the qualification of those who compose the remnant Church; and you are of the remnant only in name.
When God’s people “have the testimony of Jesus” by practically conforming to its teaching, instead of simply acknowledging its existence as a gift in the Church, it will be found that then the dragon will be wroth indeed.
It is frequently asked whether all the gifts are in the remnant Church in their fullness. We answer, No. The reason is not difficult to determine. Would earthly friends continue to lavish gifts upon those who would slight and disregard them? Thus it is with God. He will not continue to bestow upon His people the precious gifts of the Spirit, until they have ceased to treat indifferently those that have already been given.
In conclusion, I ask again, Have you received the testimony of Jesus?
The Value of Spiritual Blessings
“ANY spiritual blessing is worth more than the most costly temporal good. A devout thought, a pious desire, a holy purpose, is better than a great estate or an earthly kingdom. In eternity it will amount to more to have given a cup of cold water with right motives to a humble servant of God, than to have been flattered by a whole generation.”
GOD’S LAW
By H. W. Reed
H. W. REED
The psalmist says: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
Great peace can never be obtained by hating the law of God, and employing all our powers in disobeying it.
Christ himself taught the perpetuity of His Father’s law, in the eternal and unchangeable words: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
A jot is the smallest letter in the Hebrew language; and a tittle is a little point or corner to distinguish one letter from another; so not one of the smallest details of this law can be changed till heaven and earth pass away. This is final and decisive, because it is divine. These are the words of One of whom men now say, “He changed the law.” But nothing can be further from the truth than the latter statement; for it contradicts the words of Christ.
May God help us never, in thought, word, or deed, to teach this antinomian doctrine; but by every means possible may we teach the immutability of God’s law.
Granite rocks shall melt and crumble
In the great and final day,
And the heavens above shall vanish,
And the earth shall pass away:
But the law of ten commandments
Shall for evermore endure;
Written by the hand eternal,
They shall ever stand secure.
EXPERIENCE
By Annie Knight
(Concluded)
Early one morning in December, 1898, I bade good-by to my many friends at the sanitarium, and started out for my field of labor in southern Mississippi, where I arrived in the midst of the Christmas festival. I felt that I had not come any too soon; for instead of improving, the state of affairs had grown worse during my absence.
I immediately began work. A friend moved a tenant out of an old log cabin, and let me use it in my school. This building was better than none, although full of cracks, and with a poor stick-and-dirt chimney, which would catch fire every time we built sufficient fire to feel the warmth. We managed to get along until summer, when we were glad to have all the air we could get. But I did not forget how we suffered through the winter, and all summer I sought the Lord for help to build a comfortable house, which could be used all the time to glorify Him; and—bless His name, His love never fails—before the summer was over, I had the assurance that I should have even this need supplied.
Through the kindness of a dear friend the needs of my work were presented to the Lord’s people in different places in the North, and I solicited aid here; and by, or near the end of, November, 1899, I had finished, except painting, a small frame schoolhouse, well lighted and heated, on a forty-acre lot all my own, to be an industrial school for God and humanity. The Lord put it into the hearts of some to send beautiful, though not expensive, pictures for the walls; and then I took my little flock into our new house, and oh, how delightful it was! With real meaning we could sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” The children appreciate these blessings, and are doing well in all their studies. The school to-day is better than ever before; and although times are hard, all are full of courage, and are taking hold of the work with a zeal that surprises me, although I am praying for it all the time.
As a result of the work done, I have seen many unclean habits put away; faces that were covered with dirt and tobacco juice, washed clean; heads that were seldom combed, well brushed; eyes that never sparkled save with mischief, filled with a new luster; and a new song put into many mouths. Many have been and are being fed with the bread of life both in word and song.
This is only a beginning of what needs to be done. The way is not so easy now as it was years ago, but I praise the Lord for the Woman’s Gospel Work. O sisters, let us not be weary in this work. All this is only a drop of the showers of blessings the Lord is ever willing and anxious to bestow upon us. I am sure my part never would have begun had not another woman done the part that God gave her to do. Courage, my sisters, courage! The goal will soon be reached.
Of course the way is rough, and every day I meet with trials and difficulties; but, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Be not weary: we shall reap if we faint not.
Many of you, I know, are praying for me and my work. I thank you for it, and ask you to continue to remember me at the throne of grace, that I may lift the Saviour up before this people in such a way that they may be led to accept Him, and share with us in the new earth.
ANNIE KNIGHT.
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE
A SISTER who is isolated from others of like faith, and seldom has the privilege of attending church, living in a neighborhood of Lutherans, who are quite prejudiced against her, writes of the work she is doing, as follows:—
Last fall I started a reading circle among my neighbors, which meets every Wednesday afternoon in different homes, using the Signs of the Times and “Steps to Christ” to read from at first. There are only three or four who attend, but we enjoy meeting together, and I hope that good may be accomplished. I often take one of our papers, and run over to my nearest neighbor’s home to read to her. As she has four small children, she gets but little time to read, and enjoys having me read to her. My husband and my son and daughter are not in the truth. My heart is burdened for them, and for my neighbors and friends.
The REVIEW comes to me each week, and I always hasten to see what the Woman’s page has for me. I feel sorry for the dear sisters in their trials and perplexities, and a silent prayer arises from my heart, that the Lord will guide and comfort them. Dear sisters, do not try to force things along. Should they not work out just as we had in mind, let us rest assured that all is right. I also have trials. I am the only praying one in a large family. Sometimes Satan comes to me and says, “You are of no use here. You may as well give up trying to do anything for this family.” Then I say, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” and immediately I am strengthened. You who are troubled in this way, call to mind Micah 7:8 and Isa. 59:19, last part. Although able to get about but little, I have tried to be pleasant in my home, and have been on the watch to do little deeds of kindness. There are no sisters of like faith near me. The Woman’s page brings me in touch with many sisters every week, and my heart aches for the dear ones for whom requests for prayer are made. May the Lord comfort them, and give them the desire of their hearts. Let us make sure to get ready, for our Lord will soon come.
Through the circulation of my copy of the REVIEW AND HERALD a dear woman was led to accept the truth. Her husband was a saloon keeper, but he sold his business, and they are now living on a farm not far from me. Of late she has been plunged into almost uncontrollable grief. It seems as if the evil effects of the twelve years of saloon life have been crowded into one short month. They have a son, who is a handsome young man, a graduate, and an accomplished workman. Soon after leaving the saloon business and going onto the farm, they found that he had formed the habit of drinking. Deprived of the privilege of the saloon, he bought liquor by the bottle, and drank to an alarming excess. With tears his parents begged him to do better, but he became very angry with them, and left home. The father came after me to stay with his wife, fearing she would go crazy. I never shall forget the scene that awaited me. The dear woman paced her handsomely furnished rooms in agony, longing to die. We knelt and prayed to Him who hears the ravens when they cry, and sees the sparrow as it falls to the ground. I stayed with her three days, and she became more calm. The son joined the United States Regulars for three years, was accepted, and mustered into service. He then came to himself, and realizing what he had done, wrote a pitiful letter to his parents, asking their forgiveness, saying that he intended to be a better son, and would trust in “mother’s God.”
Sisters, seek out the homes where the curse of liquor is resting, comfort the wives and mothers, and manifest a true Christian interest in those who are ensnared, making them feel that you understand the longing of their true nature, and their weakness, and reveal the One who is mighty to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.
Live Truly
THOU must be true thyself,
If thou the truth wouldst teach;
Thy soul must o'erflow, if thou
Another soul wouldst reach.
It needs the overflow of heart
To give the lips full speech.
Think truly, and thy thoughts
Shall the world's famine feed.
Speak truly, and each word of thine
Shall be a faithful seed.
Live truly, and thy life shall be
A great and noble creed,
—Horatius Bonar.
A Living Sacrifice
“I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom. 12:1.
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
“I ASK an interest in your prayers for my dear father, who is getting well along in years, and has heard the truth and believes it, but does not obey. I have been praying for him, but God has not yet answered my prayers.”
A dear aged sister in California requests prayer for her son, who had grown careless, but a short time ago manifested sufficient interest to go to our church again. Let us pray that this may prove the beginning of better times.
“I earnestly ask you to pray for my husband and children, that they may turn to the Lord and be converted. My son and daughter are afflicted with lung trouble, and I fear that they may be taken from this world without being reconciled to the Lord.”
“Having for several years been afflicted with poor health, and failing to get permanent relief from the different sources to which I have applied, I earnestly request that my case be made a subject of prayer by the people of God. I know there is power in prayer, and believe that I can be freed from this bondage of disease.”
“Will you please allow me to ask your prayers for my four children,—three boys and a married daughter, who are none of them in the truth. All but the youngest have left home. I fear he is in bad company. None of my boys will listen to the truth. I am a widow, and my heart is burdened for the salvation of my dear children. I desire that we shall all be ready for the coming of the Lord.”
A sister requests prayer for a man and his wife in whom she is deeply interested. They have been active in Christian work, and are now investigating the truth. The woman is in poor health, and would be glad to go to our institution for treatment if the way opens. Pray that this sister may have wisdom in working for them, and that they may become fully established in the Third Angel’s Message.
“I request prayer for a young Catholic man who called at my house some time ago, as an agent. We had a good talk concerning the truth. He was strong in his belief, and thought of becoming a monk, so he could live nearer to the Lord. He seemed interested, and was inclined to listen to what I said to him. Pray that the Spirit of the Lord may follow him, and deliver him from the darkness of Catholicism.”
A sister who lives twenty miles from others of like faith writes: “I ask prayer for my husband, who seemingly has no interest in his soul’s salvation. Pray also for my mother-in-law, who lives with us. She is much opposed to the truth, and will not hear me say anything about it. At present my youngest brother is with me. He is in the truth. Pray that we may keep every Sabbath holy unto the Lord, and plant the truth at home, and all around us.”
As the moon simply reflects the light received from the sun, so every ceremony of the Jewish economy reflected the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This light shone from every sacrifice, from the first lamb offered by Adam at the gate of Eden, until the Lamb of God, the Sun of Righteousness himself, hung upon the cross of Calvary.
The woman, the Church of Christ, standing upon the moon, clothed with the sun, and having upon her head a crown of twelve stars, is an object lesson of the Church in the past, with its twelve patriarchs, and also of the future, when, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, in all the fullness of the gospel of Christ it will stand “without fault before the throne of God.” And even more than this: the mind is carried forward to the city of God. Upon its twelve gates are the “names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel,” and in its twelve foundations, “the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Rev. 21: 12, 14.
Pagan Rome is also an object lesson of every pagan nation, past and future. In it the diabolic character of Satan was more fully exemplified than in any other pagan nation, in the rejection and crucifixion of Him who was God manifest in the flesh, who for thirty-three years walked among men, sending forth the golden rays of light, which “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Satan, through Herod the Great, a Roman governor, began his crusade against Christ at His birth (Matt. 2: 16-18); and at His death Herod Antipas and Pilate made friends in inflicting the most shameful death possible, even the death of the cross, in order to put out His name forever. God raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Col. 1: 20.
The dragon had seven heads and ten horns. Although merged in the papal Beast, he is the dragon still. The change from pagan to papal form was simply a change in Satan’s tactics to wipe out the people of God from the earth. The light, or power, of the Jewish nation was vested in its kings, Sanhedrin, and priests. Pagan Rome removed these kings, one “third part.” This also becomes an object lesson of Satan’s being cast out of heaven with one third of the angels. See Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. I, page 22.
When the papacy arose, the Church entered the wilderness, in 538 A. D., and continued for “a thousand two hundred and threescore days,” twelve hundred and sixty years. See also Rev. 11: 2; 13: 5; Dan. 7: 25; 12: 7. For hundreds of years the Church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. The establishment of papal power marks the beginning of the Dark Ages. Those were days of peril for the Church of Christ. The faithful standard bearers were few indeed.
It was six thousand years ago that Satan, with his angels, was cast out of the city of God unto this earth. “Satan’s rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and terrible results of sin. The working out of Satan’s rule, its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority.”—Great Controversy, page 499. In those governments where the greatest light was seen and rejected was the most fully manifested the spirit of his satanic majesty, and it became an object lesson of himself and his character.
“The dragon is said to be Satan; he it was that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian era, was the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus, while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome.”—Great Controversy, page 438. “At the death of Jesus the soldiers had beheld the earth wrapped in profound darkness at midday; but at the resurrection they saw the brightness of the angels illuminate the night, and heard the inhabitants of heaven singing with great joy and triumph: ‘Thou hast vanquished Satan and the powers of darkness! Thou hast swallowed up death in victory!’ ‘And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.’ The casting down of Satan as an accuser of the brethren in heaven was accomplished by the great work of Christ in giving up His life.”—Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. III, page 194. “Satan saw his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.”—Desire of Ages, trade edition, page 914. In the law of Moses the blood of animals was never permitted to be eaten by man, for with it the atonement was made. Lev. 17: 10-14; 7: 22-27; Acts 15: 29. In Christ’s blood alone there is strength and salvation. “The apostle John in vision heard a loud voice in heaven exclaiming, ‘Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.’ Fearful are the scenes which call forth this exclamation from the heavenly voice. The wrath of Satan increases as his time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction will reach its culmination in the time of trouble.” With Satan it is a war of spite, for he well knows that the death of Christ settled forever the fact that the kingdom would be Christ’s. The flood of persecution would have destroyed the Church in the time of the great persecution had not the governments of earth protected it. “One of the noblest testimonies ever uttered for the Reformation, was the protest offered by the Christian princes of Germany at the Diet of Spires, in 1529. The courage, faith, and firmness of those men of God gained for succeeding ages liberty of thought and of conscience. Their protest gave to the reformed Church the name of Protestant; its principles are the very essence of Protestantism. . . . The Diet of Spires, in 1526, had given each state full liberty in matters of religion until the meeting of a general council; but no sooner had the dangers passed which secured this concession, than the emperor summoned a second Diet to convene at Spires, in 1529, for the purpose of crushing heresy.”—Great Controversy, pages 197, 198. But God gave them courage to defend the principles of liberty, and thus the earth helped the woman.
Toward the remnant, Satan is exceeding wrath, because they keep God’s commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. Rev. 19: 10. The gift of prophecy is given for the Church. 1 Cor. 14: 22. It is those for whom the Spirit of Prophecy brings blessings, who reject the prophecy; and they are the ones who persecute the prophets. Luke 13: 33. So the most dangerous snares Satan has prepared for the Church will come through its own members who do not love God supremely or their neighbor as themselves. See Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, page 477. The remnant is the last portion of the Church, as the remnant of cloth is the last portion of the web.