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Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 43.

Chart of the Week

Review and Herald

Oct 28, 1902

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1902

Chart of the Week

By Editor

WE still have a good supply of the Chart of the Week, which is a splendid display in chart form, showing the unchanged order of the days, and the true position of the Sabbath as proved by the combined testimony of 159 ancient and modern languages.
This chart is substantially mounted on rollers, and is printed on paper on cloth in the original languages. It is eighteen inches wide and seven feet long. It is an excellent arrangement to have in presenting the Sabbath question.
The regular, original price of the chart was $1.25, but we are sending it out to our readers for 45 cents, postpaid.
Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.

Publishers’ Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company.

The American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible

The sale of the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible still continues, and is increasing each week. A number of those who have received the book have written to us, expressing their high appreciation of it. One of our conference presidents says that he considers it the best revised translation of the Bible that has ever been published. Others speak in equally high terms concerning it. It is believed that this volume will bring the reader more closely into contact with the exact thought of the sacred writers than other translations. We give below a few of the changes noticed in the study of the Sabbath-school lessons recently, which seem to aid in a clearer understanding of the texts:—

Authorized Version

Dan. 1:8: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.”
Dan. 1:15: “And at the end of the ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.”
Dan. 2:30: “But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king.”
Dan. 7:9: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down,” etc.

American Revision

Dan. 1:8: “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank.”
Dan. 1:15: “And at the end of the ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king’s dainties.”
Dan. 2:30: “As for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king.”
Dan. 7:9: “I beheld till thrones were placed,” etc.
Many other texts might be cited in which the change of a word or two leads to a clearer understanding of the Scripture.
Bourgeois, 8vo; size, 8 x 5¼; with 12 maps and index.
No. 160. Cloth Boards, red edges, $1. No. 167. Egyptian Seal, limp, round corners, red under gold edges, $1.75. No. 173. Egyptian Seal, divinity circuit, leather lined to edge, round corners, red under gold edges, $2.75.
Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.

A Practical Reference Book

A Guide to Correct Language

BY THE WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR, G. H. BELL
THE name of the author of this book is sufficient to guarantee its practicability. Educators all over the country pronounce Professor Bell’s treatise on the English language superior to any other published. The following introduction to the book will give a good idea of its contents:—
“This Guide is intended for reference rather than for study. It should be carefully read, and might be studied with profit; but it need not be learned. It sets forth facts that everybody wants to know, and makes them so easy of access that the book becomes as convenient as a dictionary, and as indispensable. It is a treatise for business men, farmers, and mechanics, as well as for printers, teachers, and students; and will be especially useful to those who write for the press.”
“PART ONE.—The term Practical Grammar suggests the character of this part of the work. No attempt is made at parsing or complete analysis. About the parts of speech, and about phrases and clauses, there is just enough said to enable one to understand the rules of syntax and of punctuation. Those who lay no claim to scholarship can learn, by the use of these pages, to write with tolerable accuracy. There are thousands who could once parse well, but who have since that time nearly lost what grammar they learned at school. Such may not have time for thorough study, but they can easily pick up the chief essentials of grammar from the plain statements of this work.”
“PART TWO.—The study of Punctuation has been beset with difficulties. Some works on the subject are so brief as to be quite insufficient; while others are so complicated that the student is bewildered in mazes of rules, exceptions, and remarks.”
“By a new and entirely different plan, this work is made at once complete and simple. It would be hard to find in our language a good sentence that cannot be thoroughly punctuated by the rules herein given, and yet this completeness does not in the least interfere with the convenience of finding at once the information desired. For instance, the rules relating to the punctuation of a Series are grouped together, and by a glance at the diagram you may see just where to turn in order to find these rules and the examples that illustrate them. Just so it is with the Participial Construction, the Adjective Clauses, Co-ordinate Clauses, etc. You go as directly to the rule you want as you could to a word in the dictionary, and even more so.”
“PART THREE.—The Rules for the Use of Capitals are numerous, but are all needed, as may be seen from the examples given to illustrate them. There is such a want of uniformity in the use of capitals as to render the subject an extremely difficult one, but the rules here given are sustained by good usage, and will be sanctioned by the best of scholars.”
Substantially bound in cloth. Size, 6 x 9¼ inches. Price, $1, postpaid.
Order of your State Tract Society, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.

Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene

This book is in two parts, nicely bound in one volume of 268 pages, 6 x 9 inches. “Christian Temperance” was written by Mrs. E. G. White, and “Bible Hygiene” by Elder James White.
As early as 1860 Mrs. White began writing a series of articles on the subject of health, and these commanded such earnest consideration that thousands changed their entire way of living, and their constant demand led to the publication of these articles in book form.
“Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene” is therefore a compilation of the early writings of Mrs. White upon the subject of health and temperance. To them have been added several by Elder James White on Bible hygiene, with an account of the experiences of Elders J. N. Andrews and Joseph Bates. These early experiences are not only intensely interesting, but very practical.
The purpose of this volume was to gather into a condensed form writings which were scattered through various volumes, and some that had never before appeared in print, so that the writings of Mrs. White upon this subject might reach as large a number as possible of those for whom they were especially intended.
The price of this book is $1.35 in the plain, and $1.60 in the gilt, postpaid. Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.

Revised Scripture References in the German Language

By Editor

THE old German “Scripture References” tract has just been carefully revised, and two important subjects added, Conversion and Baptism.
The object of this tract is to assist the reader in the study of the Scriptures by topics. The subjects treated in this little work are as follows: The Scriptures; The Second Advent; The Resurrection; Signs That Show Christ’s Coming Near; Inheritance of the Saints; The Millennium; The Sanctuary; The Christian’s Lawgiver; The Sabbath; The First Day of the Week; Immortality; Spiritualism; Nature of Man; The Destiny of the Wicked; Soul in the Old Testament; Spirit in the Old Testament; Spirit in the New Testament; Hell; Perpetuity of the Spiritual Gifts; The Two Covenants; Conversion; and Baptism.
While it is not expected that an abridged work like this will contain all that the Scriptures teach upon these important topics, it has proved to be one of the most valuable tracts published for general circulation. It gives quite a full explanation, and cites Scripture texts in proof for all the subjects mentioned above. It is one of the best tracts to mail to friends or to send out in missionary work. Price, 2 cents.
Order of your State Tract Society, or of the Review and Herald Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Mich.

A Good Fight

By Editor

Editorial

A Good Fight

There is one fight in which a Christian can consistently engage. “Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal.” So wrote the apostle to the Gentiles after a long and varied experience in this kind of warfare. And a little later he wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” And this same successful fighter has left a record of his experience: “In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” This is the battle ground of a Christian hero. What a transformation has grace wrought in the heart of that Saul at whose feet the witnesses laid down their clothes when Stephen was stoned! Is this the same Saul who, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” went to Damascus to persecute believers? Surely the fight of the faith is far different from the fight of the flesh. It is much easier for the flesh to fight a fleshly fight for religion than to suffer for it, but the Lord instructed Ananias to show Saul “how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” It requires no real heroism to resist an injury either real or supposed, but it is a most convincing testimony to the triumph of the grace of God when one does well, suffers for it, and takes it patiently. “This is acceptable with God.” This is the way of victory. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.” “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.”

The Lord’s Work

It sometimes seems necessary to stop long enough in the rush of outward effort to inquire seriously. What is the Lord’s work? With many plans to carry out, with many enterprises to foster, with many difficulties to encounter, with too many evidences of the contest for position in the denominational machine, it may clear our vision a little if we consider the simplicity of the Lord’s work. The Master himself has made it plain. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” We have no work to do other than to believe on Christ ourselves for personal salvation, and to persuade as many others as possible to do the same. Any machinery of organization which contributes toward this result is desirable, but more than is actually required for this purpose is a hindrance. Any institutions which are an active agency in carrying to men the gospel of the kingdom, and leading them to exercise a personal faith in Christ, should be established just as fast as the Lord opens the way, and should be maintained, even at a sacrifice; but institutions which are multiplied simply that we may point to them with pride as giving character to the Lord’s work become a hindrance to the advancement of the real work of the Lord. Any plans or enterprises which are simply the easiest channels for the flow of the current of life from heart to heart, and which bring together in the most natural manner the need of the sinner and the supply in the hands of the servant of the Lord, may be readily accepted, and used without waste of strength in overcoming friction, but all others should be discarded as unnecessary burdens. Without increasing needless machinery of administration, without burdening ourselves with more institutions than are actually necessary for the one purpose, and without being entangled in worldly wise plans and enterprises, we must go quickly to the people with the simple message of warning and salvation from the wrath to come. It must be wholly a work of faith. The heart of every worker must be inspired by a personal faith in the message which he bears, and all his effort must be directed to the one end of implanting the same faith in the hearts of others. “If you would draw sinners out of the swift running current, your own feet must not stand on slippery places.” Is there not danger that we shall be “cumbered about much serving”? More apostolic power is the one thing needful in order that the real work of the Lord may be done, and done quickly.

Upside Down

The unbelieving Jews who raised the uproar at Thessalonica because of their envy at the marked results of Paul’s preaching, “drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” The great apostle was sent to the Gentiles with a commission “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” This was the work which he was doing at Thessalonica. Some men who stood in a wrong attitude toward God were being turned about and brought into right relationship with God, and this was called turning the world upside down. The fact is that Satan is the one who has turned the world upside down. The greatest confusion has been introduced into this part of the universe of God. Darkness is put for light, and light for darkness. The minds of men have been darkened, and their hearts have been hardened, until they choose the way of death, and sin has become a science, and vice has been consecrated as a part of religion. Confusion has become worse confounded. To men whose natures have thus been twisted and distorted, and to a world where everything has been perverted and overturned, comes the message of the gospel to heal and to restore. And it is only in the light of the revelation of the truth which God has made that we can see things in their right relation, and rightly interpret the perplexing jumble of affairs in the world. The prophecies throw more light upon history than history has ever thrown upon the Bible. Inspiration has drawn a clear picture of this last generation, in which sin will show itself at its worst in the working of Satan “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” And the very message which will meet the situation and turn men to God again is made known to us in the Lord’s own words. When this message is presented in the demonstration of the Spirit, it will socompletely break up all the harmony between those who receive it and this perverted order of things that some unconverted formalists will doubtless repeat the charge that the world is being turned upside down. But let us only be sure that we are giving the message for the time, and then we can safely leave the results with God. He is still working all things “after the counsel of his own will.”

Well Rooted

It is essential to the growth of a plant that it should be well rooted. The same principle holds in Christian growth. There is hope that those who are “rooted and grounded in love” may be able to “know the love of Christ,” and to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” The foundation of our confidence that we shall be able to walk in him rests in the fact that we are “rooted and built up in him.” The results of not being well rooted are set forth in our Lord’s explanation of the parable of the sower: “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.” We have already entered upon times which will test the experience of each individual believer. These trials will strengthen the character of every one who is rooted in him, just as the stormy blast will render more stable the tree which has already sent its roots well into the soil. Our only safety is to know day by day that we are hidden in Christ, and to maintain a constant fellowship with the Father and with the Son. This is the only thing which will prevent us from being “moved away from the hope of the gospel.”

“By Him All Things Consist”

By Uriah Smith

ANYTHING which exalts the Saviour is precious to all his followers. And we recall no scripture which in its descriptions of the work, power, and position of the Son of God more strikingly transcends all others than do a few verses in the first chapter of Colossians. In his antecedent conditions of glory, Christ antedates all created beings. This is set forth in the work “Looking Unto Jesus.” The reader will pardon the quotation of a few lines from that book:—
“In Rev. 3:14 Christ calls himself by a title which the translators have rendered ‘the beginning of the creation of God,’ and which some hold to mean that the work of creation was begun, not by, but with him, thus degrading him to the level of a created being; whereas the meaning of the word would suggest rather the idea of ‘headship,’ and present him, not as the beginning, but as the beginner, of the creation of God; and the demands of harmony with other scriptures hold us imperatively to this construction. No work of creation was accomplished till after Christ became an active agent upon the scene; for all this work was wrought through him. John says, ‘All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.’ John 1:1, 3. Paul to the Hebrews corroborates these words of John. He says that God hath appointed his Son ‘heir of all things,’ that he is ‘the express image of his person,’ the ‘brightness of his glory,’ and that by him ‘he made the worlds.’ Heb. 1:2, 3. But to the Colossians he bears a still more definite testimony. In chapter 1:15–17, he says of Christ, ‘Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist,’ ‘stand together,’ or ‘are firmly established.’”—Page 12. In glorious harmony with this, chimes in the doxology of the four living creatures, and the four and twenty elders, when they fall down before him that sitteth upon the throne, and cast their crowns before the throne, and pour forth, in their celestial voices, the ecstatic anthem: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:10, 11.
J. Vaughan, in his “Fifty Sermons,” 8th Series, page 261, says on Col. 1:18: “Living as we do far down the stream of time, when long ago the name of Christ has associated itself to all that is most classical in literature, the most refined in art, the most exquisite in poetry, the most generous in chivalry, and the most advanced in civilization, when the cross, no more the word of shame, or the brand of ignominy, has become the banner of progress, the crest of honor, it is difficult for us to throw ourselves enough into the spirit of the age of St. Paul to estimate the grandeur of thought and the strangeness with which his words must have burst upon the world; that Christ, the Nazarene, Christ, the crucified, should in all things have the pre-eminence. And yet the whole expansion of the world’s history is but the fulfillment of that vision of Saint Paul, which his spiritual eye saw when he contemplated Christ and the resurrection, when he said that in all things he should have the pre-eminence.”
On the influence of Christ and his religion on the expansion and elevation of the mind in a literary sense, Timothy Dwight says: “I feel sure that no one who has been an accurate observer of life has failed to notice the elevating and purifying influence of true religion, whenever it is received. Has it never occurred to you in life, to know some mind of a rude, coarse texture, brought under the power of the simple faith of the Lord Jesus? You have perhaps watched the wonderful transformation. That intellect, once the dullest, has gone up, if not to the very first class, yet certainly far beyond itself, and above the ordinary rank. And that heart has taken a delicacy such as the best secular education rarely succeeds in giving. Christ is in him; and Christ rising, raises the man, to show that wherever Christ is, even in the poorest, lowest, darkest, and most miserable sinner’s heart, he will have the pre-eminence.”
“Many persons are looking a great deal into their own hearts, as if they would find peace by looking down there. The way to find peace is to examine Christ, to magnify Christ, to take grand views of Christ; to find your evidences in Christ. An uplifted Christ is the sinner’s rest.”
“The Creation of Angels.—What sublime views does this subject, the creation of angels, furnish us of the greatness of Christ. By him, says the apostle, were all these illustrious beings created, together with all their attributes, importance, and dignity. The character of every workman is seen, of course, in the nature of his work. If this be insignificant and worthless, it exhibits nothing but the insignificance and worthlessness of the maker. If curious and excellent, if sublime and wonderful, it unfolds wonderfully his greatness, wisdom, and glory. Of what intelligence, purity, loveliness, power, and elevation of mind are the angels possessed! What, then, must be the perfection of him who planned and formed them, who with a word brought them into being; who preserves, informs, directs, controls, and blesses them forever! How amazing, then, must be the perfection of his character! How great, how wise, how good!”
As all things were created by him, and are upheld by the word of his power, Jesus is the clew of the universe, its center and explanation. All things are to be seen in the light of the cross. And all things reflect light on the cross. Let us join the choir above, and exclaim that “for thy pleasure” all these worlds, intelligences, dominions, principalities, and powers, and even mortal men, who without thy sustaining power are worthless and helpless, “were created.” It is clear, then, that in the end Christ must triumph gloriously. The work of creation and redemption is all moving on prosperously. The buds of his promises are dilating to the flower. Let us “comfort one another with these words.” U. S.

The Believer United to Christ

“The believer is by his faith united to Christ even as the branch is to the vine. The influences and efficiencies of religion, the vine all reveal themselves in the branches.”

Studies in the Gospel Message

THE subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for November 8 is, The Kingdom of Antichrist.
We have seen clearly that the real purpose of the vision of the seventh chapter of Daniel is to reveal the location of the territory, the time of the rise, the duration of the supremacy, and the nature of the work of the power symbolized by the little horn. It is plain enough that the papacy is the great fact of history which answers to the prophecy concerning the little horn. It fully meets all the specifications of the prophecy, and this is true of no other power which has ever appeared in history. It arose at the time indicated by the prophecy, it secured its territory as declared by the prophecy, it reigned over the kings of the earth for just the length of time specified by the prophecy, and it has done just the work foretold by the prophecy. To say that the prophecy concerning the little horn is not fulfilled in the papacy is equivalent to the assertion that there can be no certainty in our application of the fulfillment of prophecy. The right application of this prophecy is established beyond a reasonable doubt.
It is equally clear that Paul’s prophecy of “the falling away” and the revelation of “the man of sin,” as recorded in 2 Thess. 2: 1–12, finds its fulfillment in the papacy. In Daniel’s prophecy we see the papacy as a kingdom, with a limited territory, for it was a “little horn,” and the pope as a king among kings. In Paul’s prophecy we see the papacy as an ecclesiastical power, and the pope as a priest in the temple of God. It requires both prophecies, supplemented by the further delineation given in The Revelation, to set forth fully the papacy as a politico-ecclesiastical power.
It is time now to take a closer view of the twofold character of the papacy, and to note the foundation principle upon which the whole structure rests. The ground is briefly but comprehensively covered in the following paragraph from the writings of Rev. J. A. Wylie:—
What, then, is the papacy? Is it a purely spiritual society, or a purely secular society?—It is neither. The papacy is a mixed society: the secular element enters quite as largely into its constitution as does the spiritual. It is a compound of both elements in equal proportions; and, being so, must necessarily possess secular as well as spiritual jurisdiction, and be necessitated to adopt civil as well as ecclesiastical action. But how does it appear that the Church of Rome combines in one essence the secular and spiritual elements? for the point lies here. It appears from the fundamental axiom on which she rests. There are but a few links in the chain of her infernal logic; but these few links are of adamant; and they so bind up together, in one composite body, the two principles, the spiritual and the temporal, and, by consequence, the two jurisdictions, that the moment Rome attempts to cut in twain what her logic joins in one, she ceases to be popedom Her syllogism is indestructible if the minor proposition be but granted; and the minor proposition, be it remembered, is her fundamental axiom: CHRIST IS THE VICAR OF GOD, AND, AS SUCH, POSSESSES HIS POWER; BUT THE POPE IS THE VICAR OF CHRIST; THEREFORE THE POPE IS GOD’S VICAR, AND POSSESSES HIS POWER. To Christ, as the vicar of God, all power, spiritual and temporal, has been delegated. All spiritual power has been delegated to him as head of the church; and all temporal power has been delegated to him for the good of the church. This power has been delegated a second time from Christ to the pope. To the pope all spiritual power has been delegated, as head of the church, and God’s vicegerent on earth; and all temporal power also, for the good of the church. Such is the theory of the popedom. This conclusively establishes that the papacy is of a mixed character. We but perplex ourselves when we think or speak of it simply as religion. It contains the religious element, no doubt; but it is not a religion; it is a scheme of domination of a mixed character, partly spiritual and partly temporal; and its jurisdiction must be of the same mixed kind with its constitution. To talk of the popedom wielding a purely spiritual authority only, is to assert what her fundamental principles repudiate. These principles compel her to claim the temporal also. The two authorities grow out of the same fundamental axiom, and are so woven together in the system, and so indissolubly knit the one to the other, that the papacy must part with both or none. The popedom, then, stands alone. In genius, in constitution, and in prerogative, it is diverse from all other societies. The Church of Rome is a temporal monarchy as really as she is an ecclesiastic body; and in token of her hybrid character, her head, the pope, displays the emblems of both jurisdictions,—the keys in one hand, the sword in the other.
All the claims of the papacy follow logically from the one fundamental claim, that the pope is the vicar of Christ, the vicegerent of the Son of God. If this proposition be granted, it will be impossible to refuse consent to the whole of the elaborate system. If this proposition is successfully refuted, then the whole system falls to the ground. Here therefore is the one spot where the death blow may be inflicted. And this tremendous claim, with all its most tremendous consequences, is founded upon a manifest perversion of a statement of Jesus, which, when rightly understood, will completely overthrow the foundation proposition of the papacy. Here is the statement: To Peter who had just confessed to the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus, the Son of man and the Son of God, Jesus said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” It happens that in the original the words “Peter” and “rock” closely resemble each other, and the Church of Rome, by that method of theological jugglery to which it is no stranger, has interpreted this passage as though it read, “Thou art Peter, and upon thee will I build my church.” Thus the teaching of Jesus that he would build his church in the earth upon that mysterious union of divinity and humanity which he had wrought out in himself has been distorted into a declaration that lost humanity itself would be the foundation. The apostle Peter himself never assumed that he had been appointed by his Master as his visible representative, his vicegerent, but designated himself simply as “an elder,” and he exhorted the other elders not to be “lords over God’s heritage,” but to be “ensamples to the flock.” All this fiction about a divinely established vicegerency is the invention of a much later period than apostolic times, and this quoting Scripture to prove it evidently originated in the mind of him who quoted Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness as being a sufficient excuse for doing his bidding.
But it ought not to escape our attention that this very claim that the pope is the vicar of the Son of God, the vicegerent of Christ, is the testimony of the papacy to the fact that the pope is antichrist. It is certainly a remarkable thing that the very title claimed by the pope as expressing his divine right to the position of head of the universal church, with unlimited authority, both spiritual and temporal, is in reality the name applied by the apostle John to the one who would deny the very foundation truth upon which Jesus declared that he would build his church. He who denies that union of divinity with humanity which is revealed in Jesus, is said to be “the antichrist.” See 1 John 4: 1–3 and 2 John 7, R. V. Now this word “antichrist” is formed by placing the prefix “anti” before the word “Christ.” This prefix is taken from the Greek language. But we have another prefix taken from the Latin language which corresponds to the primary meaning of “anti,” and that is “vice.” From this comes our word “vicar.” Thus when the pope, using the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, claims that he is the vicar of Christ, he in this very claim declares that he is the vice-Christ, or the antichrist. And this use of the prefix “anti” as meaning “in the place of” is not limited to this one word “antichrist.” In Acts 13: 7, R. V., Sergius Paulus is said to be “the proconsul,” the man who acts in the place of the consul, and the prefix “anti” is used here before the word meaning “consul.” In Matt. 2: 22 it is said that “Archelaus was reigning . . . in the room of his father Herod,” and the word here translated “in the room of” is “anti.” Furthermore the papacy exactly fulfills the specification of the antichrist of the Scripture inasmuch as it emphatically denies that union of divinity with humanity which brings an indwelling Christ into the heart of every true believer. It is true that “anti” may also mean “against,” and it is quite possible that both meanings should be attached to thisprefix in the word “antichrist,” but it is evident that the method by which the pope is “against” Christ is, not by avowed opposition, but as a professed friend, by putting himself “in the place of” Christ.
We must now notice one thing more in Paul’s prophecy concerning “the man of sin.” It is declared of him that he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.” The word here rendered “opposeth” is in other places in the New Testament (Luke 13: 17; 21: 15; Phil. 1: 28, etc.) translated “adversary.” And in the Greek translation of Zech. 3: 1 this same word is used to represent the Hebrew word rendered “to resist,” the marginal reading of which is “to be his adversary.” But the Hebrew word rendered “to resist” is the verbal form of the word rendered “Satan” in the preceding line. Satan, the adversary, was standing at his right hand to be his adversary, or to act the part of Satan. From this use of the word we may conclude that in Paul’s prophecy it is affirmed of “the man of sin” that he “acts the part of Satan by exalting himself above all that is called God.” And this is in perfect harmony with the purpose of Satan, who said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” It thus appears that the whole system of the papacy is simply the outworking upon the earth of the plan of Satan to take the place which belongs to the Son of God, and that the pope is in truth the vicar of Satan instead of the vicar of Christ. Here we have Satan’s answer to the incarnation of Christ. These conclusions are certainly worthy of the most serious consideration.
We conclude, then, that the kingdom of the so-called vicar of Christ is in reality the kingdom of Satan, and that the so-called only true church is in reality “the synagogue of Satan.” Who will rally to preach the genuine gospel of the kingdom of God, and to proclaim the saving truth of the union of divinity and humanity as the foundation upon which the true church of Christ is built?
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