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Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 31.

The Song of Salvation

Signs of the Times

Aug 11, 1909

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 11, 1909

The Song of Salvation

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, That the righteous nation which keepeth truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: For in the LORD JEHOVAH is a ROCK of ages.
For he hath brought down them that dwell on high, the lofty city: He layeth it low, He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down; Even the feet of the poor, And the steps of the needy.
The way of the just is uprightness; Thou that art upright dost direct the path of the just.”

2906.— The Acceptable Year of the Lord

[To Our Inquirers.—(1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2906.— The Acceptable Year of the Lord.

Will you please explain to us Luke 4:19?
O. B.
The passage in question is “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” It is a part of the message which Jesus tells us He was set to proclaim. We read in Mark 1:14 that at this time Jesus was “preaching the Gospel of God.” This was a part of His Gospel. He declared: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach good tidings [the Gospel] to the poor: He hath sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” The apostle Paul tells us when this acceptable time is. 2 Cor. 6:2: “At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, and in a day of salvation did I succor thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
And that was what Jesus was then preaching to that Jewish people. Their acceptable time pre-eminently above all others came when the very Son of God Himself was made flesh in order to save them. The thought is that it was time when God came especially near to them with an abundance of grace. So Jesus declares in another place: “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” John 10:10.
It will be noticed that our Lord gave His message from the prophecy of Isaiah 61. He did not complete all that Isaiah there spoke. Following “the acceptable year of the Lord” in Isaiah comes “the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus did not proclaim that in His day. That is left for His followers who include in the great Gospel message the second coming of our Lord.

2907.— Meat-eating and Romans 14.

Please harmonize Romans 14, especially the 14th verse, with “flesh-eating.”
A READER.
Romans 14 is not in any sense a dietetic treatise or rule as to the kind of food that we should eat. If we will but understand the reason of the giving of that passage of Scripture, we will have very much less trouble with the diet of neighbors and brethren. God did not give Romans 14 to tell us what we should eat or what we should drink, nor what our neighbors should eat, or what our neighbors should drink. The very key-word of the whole chapter is found in verses 12 and 13, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”
God has given very explicit directions to His children in the chapter previous. Any division of chapters is all man’s work. He has told us how temperately we ought to live in verses 12 and 13. In verse 14 He has told us that we should not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. We should not eat and drink simply because our appetites crave this or that. There is but one thing we should do, and that is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and glorify Him, but in our doing that we will meet some who are weak in the faith; we will be associated with brethren who can not do just as we do, therefore, “Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.”
These conditions were pre-eminently true in the apostle’s day among the Gentile and Jewish converts. Some of the Jews esteemed days. The Passover was kept by some for years, needlessly, of course, because Christ our Passover had been sacrificed, and yet men were not to be judged regarding this. That belonged to the Lord; and yet He would have us take home to our hearts also that we should not set an example which would lead weak brethren away. “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.” Our example should therefore be right before God. The one dietetic rule which God has given us above all others is 1 Cor. 10:31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 God has clearly shown a preference between different kinds of flesh foods. Some He has designated as clean; others as unclean, an abomination, unfit to eat. The same unfitness then would make them unfit now. And yet He knew in His great wisdom that there would be thousands of believers scattered here and there throughout the world who could not follow the dietetic rules which He gave to His own people, and He would not place a handicap upon them in that way; therefore, those special Jewish laws regarding diet were abolished and were not binding as laws upon Gentile believers; but the principles upon which those laws are based, the great facts of the nature of the animals, are just as true now as they were then. More than that: there are passages in the Bible which would indicate that God will bring His people back to the ideal diet, to that given to Adam in the very beginning, entirely free from flesh meats. When He called His people out of Egypt, He gave them the ideal diet in the manna, a non-flesh diet. He is setting His hand to “gather” His people “the second time” from all the various parts of the earth.
In this age animal food is becoming diseased more and more. The conditions under which animals are fatted, the increasing diseased conditions among them, the way in which the meats are killed, and kept and stored, all are tremendous arguments against a flesh diet. While on the other hand those who have adopted a non-flesh diet are better in health, clearer in brain, more sensitive in conscience and are helped and blessed generally. That standard of diet, of grains, and fruits and vegetables, we would advise our readers to adopt. We are sure they will find a blessing in it.

2908.— Nailed to the Cross.

Will you please explain Col. 2:14? Does it teach that the Lord’s Supper is not to be observed and that baptism is done away? That all these were nailed to the cross?
B.
The apostle is speaking of only those things which are against us which are nailed to the cross. In the eighth verse he tells us: “Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Those things that are of the world, those things that are of men, are not the things by which we are saved. They are the things that are to be put away. They are the things which have brought us into bondage. In Christ dwelleth all fulness; in Him is true circumcision, the cutting off of sin. In Him we are baptized (verse 12), and we show our faith in Him by baptism, and by that baptism show to the world that we have “put off the old man” with all his workings. By His power we are raised, or made to walk in “newness of life,” and we can rejoice in the fact that He has blotted out all those things which would bring us into bondage, and nailed them to His cross forever; and He has wrought all this in order that we may obey Him in perfect freedom of Spirit, keeping the things which He Himself has given instead of being bound about by the rules and ordinances of men. That would include not only the traditions of men, but it would include all those Jewish types and shadows and traditions which were done away when Christ came.

2909.— Prophetic Time.

Will you please explain Dan. 12:12: “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and five and thirty days.” When do these days begin, and when end?
K.
They evidently begin when the 1,290 days of the 11th verse begin. The 1,290 days began in 508 A.D. when true Christianity was utterly perverted and the apostasy placed man in the place of God, and the Papacy was established. The 1,290 days end in 1798, and the 1,335 days in 1843.

2910.— The Beast and His Image.

Please explain Rev. 13:16, 12, 13.
M. M. M.
It is impossible in the space of this department to give adequate explanation of what is involved in these verses. We refer our inquirer to “Daniel and the Revelation,” by Uriah Smith. If you will wait a few months longer, the subject will be more fully considered in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

OUR BIBLE BAND

Schedule for the Week Ending Aug. 21, 1909.
Morning Evening
Su. Aug. 15 Ps. 91, 92, 93 Rom. 15: 1-13
Mo. “ 16 “ 94, 95, 96 “ 15: 14-33
Tu. “ 17 “ 97, 98, 99 “ 16
We. “ 18 “ 100 to 102 1 Cor. 1
Th. “ 19 “ 103, 104 “ 2
Fr. “ 20 “ 105, 106 “ 3
Sa. “ 21 “ 107 to 109 “ 4

Suggestive Notes.

Our morning readings for the week begin with Psalm 91 and close with Psalm 109. This is a peculiarly rich section of the psalms, the 91st, the special promises of God to His people in the time of trouble; the 92nd, a peculiarly appropriate psalm for the Sabbath day, recounting God’s power and goodness. What a Gospel song is the 96th, and how full of assurances are they all! Psalm 102 is a plea for mercy which every true believer may adopt as his own. Psalm 103 is a song of praise and assurance for the One who forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases.
Psalm 104 is expressive of all Jehovah’s care for all His works. Psalm 105 recounts God’s wonderful works in behalf of Israel. Psalm 106 impartially shows us the rebellion of Israel, and yet God’s mercy to them in all their sinfulness. Psalm 107 shows how the Lord saves men from all kinds of troubles and appeals ever and again to the benefited ones: “O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” Psalm 109 is one of the so-called “imprecatory” psalms. Really it is the plea to divine justice that those who plot wickedness against the innocent should receive upon their own heads the fruit of their own sowing.
Our evening readings begin with Romans 15 and close with 1 Corinthians 4. The last part of Romans consists of exhortations to Christians, the closing chapter mentioning many individuals by name to whom the apostle wished to be remembered. The first epistle to the Corinthians was written in A.D. 57. It has been thought from some of the expressions in it that it was not the first epistle to the Corinthians, but a second one. It is the first one, however, which has come down to us. Some of the reasons for writing it stand out clearly in the epistle itself. It was written to meet the false philosophy that seemed to be creeping in among them, to correct the tendency to divide into factions, to point out the sins that were common in heathendom that were entering the church, and to emphasize the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first and second chapters draw strong contrast between the wisdom of the world and the power of the Gospel. The third and fourth chapters reprove the worship of men, and show that the only foundation upon which character and the church can be built is Jesus Christ.

“That Your Joy Might Be Full”

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White
“These things have I spoken unto you,” the Saviour said to His disciples, “that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
The grand design of God in giving Christ to the world was to inspire fallen man with hope, and to enable him to remedy the defects occasioned by self-indulgence and sin. Where sin abounded, the Lord designed that grace should much more abound. He would redeem from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. God would not have His people remain in a hopeless condition, the subjects of unbelief. He would have them cast themselves upon the Saviour’s strength, accepting with joy the assurance, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”
The life in which the fear of the Lord is cherished will not be a life of sadness and gloom. It is the absence of Christ that makes the countenance sad, and the life a pilgrimage of sighs. Those who are filled with self-esteem and self-love do not feel the need of a living, personal union with Christ. The heart that has not fallen on the Rock is proud of its wholeness. Men want a dignified religion. They desire to walk in a path wide enough to take in their own attributes. Their self-love, their love of popularity, and love of praise, exclude the Saviour from their hearts; and without Him there is sadness and gloom. But Christ dwelling in the soul is a well-spring of joy. For all who receive Him, the keynote of the word of God is “rejoicing.”

Why Not Be Joyful?

Why should not our joy be full—full, lacking nothing? We have the assurance that Jesus is our Saviour, and that we may freely partake of the rich provision He has made for us. We may believe on Him, knowing that He will give us grace and power to do just as He bids us. He has given us every assurance that He will fulfil all that He has promised. It is our privilege to seek constantly the joy of His presence. He desires us to be cheerful and to be filled with praise to His name. He wants us to carry light in our countenances and joy in our hearts. We have a hope that is far above any pleasure the world can give; why should we not then be joyful?
We are to have Christ’s joy, and His greatest joy was to see men obeying the truth. Can we desire more than this? “Greater works than these shall ye do,” the Saviour said, “because I go unto My Father.” He who truly believes this promise can never be half hearted in the service of Christ. May the God of heaven tear away the veil that dims our perception and hinders us from discerning His requirements and from following Christ. O that by living faith we would grasp the hand of infinite Power, receiving strength to work His works. This it is our privilege to do. If we will take Christ at His word, He will be honored and glorified, and we shall be partakers of His joy.
Happy, indeed, are the people who have laid hold of the divine nature, and escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Mission of Christ

The prophet Isaiah speaks of the mission of the Saviour in these words: “The Spirit that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, . . . to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” “That He might be glorified.” O that this might be the purpose of our lives! Then we should have regard to the expression of our countenance, to our words, and to the tone of our voice.
The Christian life does not call for undue hardship and suffering, and the Lord is not pleased to have His people like a band of mourners. We are not asked to sit in sackcloth and ashes; but we are bidden to recognize God as our helper, and to cooperate with Him in doing His will, so that He may bless us, and enable us to live Christ-like lives. He wants us to enjoy the liberty of the sons of God. Then we shall be filled with the praise of God, and our lives will be a blessing to others.

The Purpose of Trials

God brings us into trials in order that we may be drawn nearer to Him. The psalmist says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” David was a representative man. His history is of interest to every soul who is striving for eternal victories. In his life two powers struggled for the mastery. Unbelief marshaled its forces, and tried to eclipse the light shining upon him from the throne of God. Day by day the battle went on in his heart, Satan disputing every step of advance made by the forces of righteousness. David understood what it meant to fight against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. At times it seemed that the enemy must gain the victory. But in the end, faith conquered, and David rejoiced in the saving power of Jehovah.
The struggle that David endured, every follower of Christ must go through. Satan has come down with great power, knowing that his time is short. The controversy is being waged in full view of the heavenly universe, and angels stand ready to lift up for God’s hard-pressed soldiers a standard against the enemy, and to put into their lips songs of victory and rejoicing.

Our Assurance

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”
**“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: when I remember Thee upon mybed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches. Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.”**

Our Peace

When we believe in Christ as our personal Saviour, the peace of Christ is ours. The reconciliation provided for us in the atonement of Christ, is the foundation of our peace. Gloomy feelings are no evidence that the promises of God are of no effect. You look at your feelings, and because your outlook is not all brightness, you begin to draw more closely the garment of heaviness about your soul. You look within yourself, and think that God is forsaking you. You are to look to Christ. “In Me,” Christ says, “ye shall have peace.” Entering into communion with the Saviour, we enter the region of peace.
Let us pledge ourselves before God and the angels of heaven that we will not dishonor God by speaking words of discouragement or unbelief. If we talk faith, we shall have faith, we shall be confirmed in faith. Close the door to distrust, and open the door wide to faith. Invite into the soul-temple the heavenly guests. Entertain the precious thought that Jesus loves us, each one. In this way the clouds of despondency and gloom will be rolled back from the soul, and we shall be enabled to make melody in our hearts to God.

The Sabbath Through the Ages

By Charles L. Taylor

III. The Sabbath at the Exodus

By Charles L. Taylor
The days of the patriarchs were ended. The “four hundred years” of affliction measured off to Abraham’s seed (Gen. 15: 13) were fast drawing to a close, and the hour was about to strike when Jehovah would fulfil His promise to Abraham’s children, and bring them “forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron,” by a mighty hand to “separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be His inheritance.” 1 Kings 8: 51, 53.
The great purpose of God in choosing Israel for His inheritance, in delivering them from Egypt, and in separating them from all the nations of earth, was that He might make them the depositaries of His truth, and through them give His truth to the world. By faith they were to be experimentally acquainted with Him, and in their loyalty to His law in general and to the Sabbath in particular be a converting power to all mankind. Deut. 4: 5, 6; Exodus 16.
This being true, it was very natural, indeed, that the Sabbath became the first and greatest issue in the deliverance from Egypt. Let us briefly note the history.
Unto Moses, the shepherd of Midian, who was feeding his flocks at the base of Horeb, there came the message from out the burning bush: “I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. . . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Ex. 3: 7, 8-10.

The Name and the Memorial

In answer to Moses’ inquiry what his message to Israel should be, Jehovah said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations.” Ex. 3: 14, 15.
Two great truths were to be exalted before the people in bondage,—God’s “name” and God’s “memorial.” That wonderful name—I AM—revealed Him to His people as the self-existent God, the Omnipotent, the Creator, the One able to deliver; and that equally wonderful “memorial”—the Sabbath—brought into the minds and hearts of His children, would forever keep them in experimental touch with Himself, and thus preserve them from apostasy.
Moses and Aaron began their work. They “gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed, and . . . bowed their heads and worshiped.” Ex. 4: 29-31. The first step—the preaching of God’s message to Israel—was now taken; the next brought them to the king.
They appeared before Pharaoh and made known their mission. Tidings, however, had already come to the court, for the simple reason that Israel had already begun to act out their faith in the message they had received. They had begun the observance of the rest day. So the king, in his wrath, said unto Moses and Aaron, “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [that is, absolve or release] the people from their works? . . . Behold, . . . ye make them rest [literally, to keep Sabbath] from their burdens.” Ex. 5: 4, 5.
The great focus-point of Moses’ appeal, in preparing the people to leave Egypt, was God’s truth of the Sabbath, and to that truth they responded. It was a truth then, even as now, that struck at the very heart of Egyptian religion and the causes of Israel’s bondage. And it was for that very reason that Pharaoh so quickly accepted the challenge and set himself in opposition to the God of the Hebrews.

The Vileness of Sun-Worship

Sun-worship, with all its accompanying bigotry, superstition, and licentious rites, was the religion of Pharaoh and his people. Under the names of Ra, Osiris, Horus, Harmachis, Aten, and several others, the sun commanded the entire life of its votaries.
But, strictly speaking, what was sun-worship? What was the real principle lying back of its multitudinous forms? Speaking of this matter, one noted writer says:
“In none of these [pagan] forms however, not even in the naked shining sun, was it the literal object that was worshiped, but certain functions or powers of which these were but the representations. It was observed that the sun in cooperation with the earth and the atmosphere that gave rain, caused all manner of verdure to spring forth and bear its proper fruit. It was held, therefore, that THE SUN WAS THE SUPREME FORMATIVE POWER, THE MIGHTY AUTHOR OF FRUITFULNESS, and that its greatest and most glorious powers were displayed in reproduction. Sun-worship was therefore nothing more nor less than the worship of the principle of reproduction in man and nature.”—“Empires of the Bible,” chap. 5, par. 10.
Surely no one will have difficulty in seeing that such a system of worship entirely supplanted the truth of God. In whole and in part it stood in direct antithesis to God as the creator and upholder of all things, and by the wild orgies of the day specially devoted to the sun—the first day of the week, the Sun-day—it set aside the Sabbath, which pointed out and kept in remembrance the power of Jehovah in creation. God therefore taught His people “to shun as the terrible plague that it was, every suggestion of the evil influence of the worship of the sun.” Than sun-worship, nothing was more abominable in the sight of Heaven. See Eze. 8: 5-16; Leviticus 18.

Necessity of the Exodus

No wonder, truly, that God commanded Pharaoh not once, nor twice, but seven times, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Under the law and the lash of a sun-worshiping tyrant, they simply could not obey God. Especially were they prevented from observing the day of His rest, the Sabbath. It was necessary therefore that, at the beginning of deliverance, the Sabbath truth be given this special emphasis. The great fact is, God brought His people from that land of darkness and degradation for the one special purpose that His Sabbath memorial might not be obliterated, but once more be exalted before the whole world.
Dear reader, the Sabbath of the Exodus and the reasons for its being uplifted still remain. In this time, when Jehovah is setting His hand “the second time to recover the remnant of His people . . . there shall be an highway . . . like as it was to Israel that He came up out of the land of Egypt.” Isa. 11: 11, 16. God, the Creator, is still showing Himself as the great I AM, and through His servants He calls upon Israel to honor His “memorial.” Do we hear His message with believing, obedient hearts?
“To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”

The Church

By C. S. Longacre

VI. The False Church in Prophecy

By C. S. Longacre
THERE is nothing more evident in the sacred Scriptures than that a false church was to arise. This false church was to reach such enormous proportions in numerical adherents that the true church would be called the “little flock” as contrasted with “Babylon the Great”—a power so great that it was prophesied that “all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life.” Rev. 13:8.
When writing to the true church, the Lord calls the false church “that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess.” Rev. 2:20. That there was to be a schism and apostasy in the true church is apparent from the following scripture: “That day shall not come [Christ’s second coming], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. “The man of sin,” that is, the man of lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness, was to sit in the temple, or church, of God, calling himself God, at the same time opposing God and His worship by directing it to his own exalted person and mandates.
And again, Paul, in addressing the elders of Ephesus, said: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your ownselves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29, 30. The expressions, “not sparing the flock,” and “to draw away disciples after them,” show unmistakably the forming of an antagonistic church, one that would lead disciples or learners away from the church of Christ.

The Testimony of Christ

The word of Christ Himself shows clearly that this false church was even to work miracles, prophecy, and do wonderful works, and at the same time work lawlessness. He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7:22, 23. The Greek word for “iniquity” in this verse is anomian, which means literally “opposition to the law.” This is the reason that the head of that false system of religion is called “that man of sin,” or the man of lawlessness.
This false system of religion is the Papacy. While claiming to be the “spouse of Christ” and the true form of Christianity, she is not, but is, in fact, the very opposite. The Papacy and true Christianity are antagonistic systems. The Papacy has been a persecuting power, and consequently unchristian, while Christianity was compelled to flee from before the face of the Papacy, and to hide in the recesses of the Alps and the Piedmont Mountains and other secluded places of the earth, lest it be entirely obliterated.

Advance History of the Two

As already stated, the history of the true church and the false were written in advance in the book of Revelation by the Lord Himself. In the history of the seven churches of the book of Revelation, seven distinct phases or epochs through which the true church was to pass from the first advent of Christ unto the second, are brought to view parallel with a picture of the false church that would exist at the same time. Thus the false church is presented under different expressions and figures characteristic of her work and teachings.
The first church, that of Ephesus,—the first phase of the church,—has this plainly said to her, “Thou art fallen.” In these words we see fulfilled the inspired words of Paul who prophesied of the “falling away.”
The second church, covering the period from the death of the apostles, about A.D. 100, to the professed conversion of Constantine, receives warning against those who call themselves God’s true people “and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.”
The third church, embracing the time from Constantine to the establishment of the Papacy, when its power supplanted that of the emperors of Rome, is reproved for having its headquarters “even where Satan’s seat is,” and it was not to deny the Lord “even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr.” “Antipas” means: anti, against, and pas, papas, or pope,—against the pope. Those who opposed the establishment of the Papacy in Rome, became “faithful martyrs of Jesus,” and were denominated by the Lord as “Antipas” in contradistinction to those who were antichrist.
To the fourth church, whose point of beginning is coincident with the establishment of the Papacy, God gives His faithful warnings, and calls the apostate church the “woman Jezebel, that calleth herself a prophetess.” The true church was not to suffer her to teach in its midst and thus seduce or lead away God’s people.

A Number of Parallels

The woman Jezebel very aptly represents the Papacy. Let us notice a number of parallel characteristics:
1. She called herself a prophetess, but was not one. A prophet is the mouth-piece of God. Exactly this the Papacy claims to be.
2. Jezebel sought to establish a heathen religion. The Papacy introduced heathen worship, and christened it in the name of Christ and venerated saints.
3. Jezebel persecuted the true servants of God. It is said that the Papacy put to death fifty million souls, whom it called “heretics.”
4. Jezebel forced King Ahab to sell himself to the persecution beyond his own wishes in the matter. The Papacy forced the kings of the earth to persecute heretics beyond their own wishes, or face papal excommunication and interdict.
5. The charge against Jezebel was fornication and idolatry. In setting aside the marriage institution for the clergy, the Papacy filled all Europe with her fornication. And by legal worship of images idolatry became an essential part of the Catholic religion, and this further is spiritual adultery.
6. As the prophets met their fate near Megiddo at the River Kishon through the judgment of God, so will the great apostate church “and the kings of the earth and their armies,” when gathered together to make war against the Lord and His army, meet a similar fate on the same spot, at Armageddon.

Nothing More

Simon of Cyrene bore The cross of Jesus; nothing more. His name is never heard again, Nor honored by historic pen; Nor on the pedestal of fame His image courts the loud acclaim. Simon of Cyrene bore The cross of Jesus; nothing more.
And yet when all our work is done, And golden beams the western sun Upon a life of wealth and fame,— A thousand echoes ring the name, Perhaps our hearts will humbly pray: “Good Master, let the record say, Upon the page divine, ‘He bore The cross of Jesus;’ nothing more.”
— Sunday School Times.

Experiences with Spiritualism

By H. E. Sawyer

When the Fox girls first began their manifestations through rappings and table movings, my brother James was teaching school nearby, and he visited these girls to learn further about the performances. When he came home, being ignorant that it was the working of Spiritualism or anything out of order, he also went through the same performances of table-raising and moving about the room. The table was first placed on pieces of broken glass, and we all sat around it, with our hands placed upon it.
As near as I can remember, only one member of the family seemed to be under the influence, and she could cause the table to rise, move around, or do anything else with it.
Shortly after, a man came to father's, and he mesmerized this same person. She was blindfolded and would go to another room and get some hidden article. She seemed to be possessed with unusual strength so that no one, except the one who did the mesmerizing, could open the door while she was on the other side.
H. E. SAWYER.
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