It was "for a short time" indeed "that the victories of Julian suspended the inroads of the barbarians." The Emperor Julian died of a wound June 27, A. D. 363. He was succeeded by Jovian, who reigned only till Feb. 17, A. D. 364, and ten days afterward Valentinian was chosen emperor, and "thirty days after his own elevation, he bestowed the title of Augustus on his brother Valens." "In the castle or palace of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn and final division of the empire [A. D. 365, spring]. Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich prefecture of the East, from the lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his immediate government the warlike prefectures of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, from the extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart; and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot of Mount Atlas.
"When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the scepter of the Roman Empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in arms, his military skill and experience, and his rigid attachment to the forms, as well as the spirit, of ancient discipline, were the principal motives of their judicious choice. The eagerness of the troops who pressed him to nominate his colleague was justified by the dangerous situation of public affairs; and Valentinian himself was conscious that the abilities of the most active mind were unequal to the defense of the distant frontiers of an invaded monarchy. As soon as the death of Julian had relieved the barbarians from the terror of his name, the most sanguine hopes of rapine and conquest excited the nations of the East, of the North, and of the South. . . .
"The ambassadors of the Alemanni had been offended [A. D. 365] by the harsh and haughty behavior of Ursacius, master of the offices; who, by an act of unseasonable parsimony, had diminished the value, as well as the quantity, of the presents to which they were entitled, either from custom or treaty, on the accession of a new emperor. They expressed, and they communicated to their countrymen, their strong sense of the national affront. The irascible minds of the chiefs were exasperated by the suspicion of contempt; and the martial youth crowded to their standard. Before Valentinian could pass the Alps, the villages of Gaul were in flames; before his general Dagalaiphus could encounter the Alemanni, they had secured the captives and the spoil in the forests of Germany. In the beginning of the ensuing year [A. D. 366, Jan.] the military force of the whole nation, in deep and solid columns, broke through the barrier of the Rhine, during the severity of a northern winter. Two Roman counts were defeated and mortally wounded; and the standard of the Heruli and Batavians fell into the hands of the conquerors, who displayed, with insulting shouts and menaces, the trophy of their victory.
"The standard was recovered; but the Batavians had not redeemed the shame of their disgrace and flight in the eyes of their severe judge. It was the opinion of Valentinian, that his soldiers must learn to fear their commander before they could cease to fear the enemy. The troops were solemnly assembled, and the trembling Batavians were enclosed within the circle of the Imperial army. Valentinian then ascended his tribunal; and, as if he disdained to punish cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy on the officers, whose misconduct and pusillanimity were found to be the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degraded from their rank, stripped of their arms, and condemned to be sold for slaves to the highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence, the troops fell prostrate on the ground, deprecated the indignation of their sovereign, and protested that, if he would indulge them in another trial, they would approve themselves not unworthy of the name of Romans, and of his soldiers. Valentinian, with affected reluctance, yielded to their entreaties; the Batavians resumed their arms; and, with their arms, the invincible resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the Alemanni.
"The principal command was declined by Dagalaiphus; and that experienced general, who had represented, perhaps with too much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking, had the mortification, before the end of the campaign, of seeing his rival Jovinus convert those difficulties into a decisive advantage over the scattered forces of the barbarians. At the head of a well-disciplined army of cavalry, infantry, and light troops, Jovinus advanced, with cautious and rapid steps, to Scarpona, in the territory of Metz, where he surprised a large division of the Alemanni, before they had time to run to their arms; and flushed his soldiers with the confidence of an easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or rather, army of the enemy, after the cruel and wanton devastation of the adjacent country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle.
"Jovinus, who had viewed the ground with the eye of a general, made a silent approach through a deep and woody vale, till he could distinctly perceive the indolent security of the Germans. Some were bathing their huge limbs in the river; others were combing their long and flaxen hair; others again were swallowing large draughts of rich and delicious wine. On a sudden they heard the sound of the Roman trumpet; they saw the enemy in their camp. Astonishment produced disorder; disorder was followed by flight and dismay; and the confused multitude of the bravest warriors was pierced by the swords and javelins of the legionaries and auxiliaries. The fugitives escaped to the third, and most considerable, camp, in the Catalaunian plains, near Chalons in Champagne; the straggling detachments were hastily recalled to their standard; and the barbarian chiefs, alarmed and admonished by the fate of their companions, prepared to encounter, in a decisive battle, the victorious forces of the lieutenant of Valentinian. The bloody and obstinate conflict lasted a whole summer's day, with equal valor, and with alternate success. The Romans at length prevailed, with the loss of about twelve hundred men. Six thousand of the Alemanni were slain, four thousand were wounded; and the brave Jovinus, after chasing the flying remnant of their host as far as the banks of the Rhine, returned to Paris, to receive the applause of his sovereign, and the ensigns of his consulship for the ensuing year.
"The triumph of the Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king, whom they hung on a gibbet, without the knowledge of their indignant general. This disgraceful act of cruelty, which might be imputed to the fury of the troops, was followed by the deliberate murder of Withicab, the son of Vadomair, a German prince of a weak and sickly constitution, but of a daring and formidable spirit. The domestic assassin was instigated and protected by the Romans, and the violation of the laws of humanity and justice betrayed their secret apprehension of the weakness of the declining empire. The use of the dagger is seldom adopted in public councils, as long as they retain any confidence in the power of the sword."—Id. 25 : 6, 17, 18.
Valentinian died Nov. 17, A. D. 375, and was succeeded by his son Gratian. When in A. D. 378 the Visigoths in the Eastern Empire had revolted from the authority of Valens, that emperor sent into the West to have Gratian with his legions to join the forces of the East in suppressing the rebellious Goths. Gratian agreed to do so, and as soon as the movement was known to the Alemanni they again poured into Gaul to recover the possessions of which they had been deprived by Julian, and which had been held by Valentinian. But unfortunately for the Alemanni they were too hasty, for the legions of Gratian had not gone so far but that they were recalled; and, having been gathered together in such numbers to assist Valens against the formidable Goths, they were enabled to inflict a severe defeat upon the Alemanni.
"After this signal victory, which secured the peace of Gaul, and asserted the honor of the Roman arms, the emperor Gratian appeared to proceed without delay on his eastern expedition; but as he approached the confines of the Alemanni, he suddenly inclined to the left, surprised them by his unexpected passage of the Rhine, and boldly advanced into the heart of their country. The barbarians opposed to his progress the obstacles of nature and of courage; and still continued to retreat, from one hill to another, till they were satisfied, by repeated trials, of the power and perseverance of their enemies. Their submission was accepted as a proof, not indeed of their sincere repentance, but of their actual distress; and a select number of their brave and robust youth was exacted from the faithless nation, as the most substantial pledge of their future moderation. The subjects of the empire, who had so often experienced that the Alemanni could neither be subdued by arms, nor restrained by treaties, might not promise themselves any solid or lasting tranquillity; but they discovered, in the virtues of their young sovereign, the prospect of a long and auspicious reign."—Id. 26 : 20.
When in A. D. 406, the Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, swept into Gaul, while the Franks, in behalf of the empire, vigorously opposed their passage of the Rhine, the Alemanni remained strictly neutral (Gibbon 30 : 18, 19); as they did also, it seems, in the raid of Attila (A. D. 453), into Gaul. In all this time however the power of the Alemanni steadily grew until, at the time of the death of Valentinian III., A. D. 455, they held nearly all of Rhætia, and equally with the Franks held all the country from the Rhine to the Seine.
"The deaths of Ætius and Valentinian had relaxed the ties which held the barbarians of Gaul in peace and subordination. The seacoast was infested by the Saxons; the Alemanni and the Franks advanced from the Rhine to the Seine; and the ambition of the Goths seemed to meditate more extensive and permanent conquests."—Id. 36 : 5.
Thus in the year A. D. 455, the Alemanni held all the country above the Moselle, from the Seine to the Rhine, and nearly, if not quite, all of the province of Rhætia; and with such prestige as a nation that a victory which Majorian, master-general of the cavalry and infantry of the empire, had gained over nine hundred of them (cir A. D. 457) was considered sufficiently meritorious to be rewarded with the Imperial power and office.—Gibbon 36 : 9, note. J.
Everyday Duty as Martyrdom
By Phillips Brooks
You picture to yourself the beauty of bravery and steadfastness. You let your imagination wander in delight over the memory of martyrs who have died for truth. And, then, some little, wretched, disagreeable duty comes, which is your martyrdom, the lamp for your oil; and, if you will not do it, how your oil is spilt! how flat and thin and unilluminated your sentiment about the martyrs runs out over your self-indulgent life!—Phillips Brooks.
Rest in Duty
By Frederick William Robertson
The rest of Christ is not that of torpor, but harmony; it is not refusing the struggle, but conquering in it; not resting from duty, but finding rest in duty.—F. W. Robertson.
Triumphs of the Redeemer's Kingdom.
By J. D. Herr, D. D.
SENTIMENTALISM has frequently taken the place of Scriptural truth concerning the momentous questions relating to the restitution of all things of which the prophets have spoken. A zeal worthy in its activities, yet lacking scriptural knowledge, has loudly proclaimed the disenthralment of earth from Satanic power, simply through the reformatory efforts devised and executed by organized societies. They would have us believe that the world through these multiplied appliances of reform will be compelled to submit to the higher laws of morality and thus gradually assume the universal and glorious millennium reign. Beautiful as this theory is, it cannot be sustained by the Scriptures nor by the actual condition of things existing at the present time. When the fact is considered that, according to the most reliable statistics, the world is advancing much more rapidly in population than the church, in proportion to numbers, the prospect of the present conditions being changed by the reformatory measures now obtaining, is not flattering.
From the plain teaching of the Bible we are led to believe that a day of universal peace and blessedness will yet dawn upon this oppressed and groaning earth; that the future shall unveil a brighter and more glorious condition of things than human fancy can picture. How God shall usher in such wonders to the gaze of men can only be understood through careful and prayerful study of the prophetic scriptures. From such study we are led to believe that it is not by the progress of society or the march of human intellect; not by the advance of science, or the spread of modern opinions; not by the rise and growth of liberal institutions, nor the multiplying of reformatory organizations; not even by missions to the heathen and planting of Sabbath-schools and churches in destitute places,—that peace and righteousness are to universally prevail, and "truth grow out of the earth." These are all necessary in holding the ground for truth and righteousness, and every honest, earnest, and sanctified heart and hand should assist to promote these great interests. Every soul won for God through the channels of religious activity is a march onward toward the Redeemer's kingdom. Every mission station planted on heathen soil is an advance movement of truth and righteousness.
No hand should be idle, no purse should be closed, no tongue should be silent, when the fields around us and beyond us are white for the harvest. These are royal avenues through which the hosts of God can march forward in obedience to the divine mandate. But it is not by these means that Satan's kingdom is to be overthrown and the world delivered from his malicious oppression. It is not by these methods a state of universal blessedness and peace is to be introduced upon earth, but by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ on the clouds from heaven.
This is the one grand event placed before us in "the sure word of prophecy." Here we can rest our faith and plant our hope amid the sad disasters and spiritual depressions constantly surrounding the walls of Christendom. No seeming defeat of moral reform, no beating back of the armies of truth, no attempt to overthrow the bulwarks of Christianity, shakes our confidence or paralyzes our aggressive efforts. Beyond all these is seen the outshining of his power, and we can wait in joyous expectancy and humble patience for the appearing of the great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Here we find the objective point of all prophecy, the true hope which gives to the darkest clouds a joyous silver lining. Thus faith, predicated upon the word of God, stands in the watch-tower, and looks through the lattice of prophecy, for the coming of the royal Bridegroom. Scriptural truth is the only tower into which the Christian can flee and know that its foundations are sure.
The places of refuge erected by human hands, or scientific and moral reforms, are at best but temporary, while they impart little or no assurance of safety; but the word of God points us to the glory that shall eventually be revealed, and to the earnest believer is both sure and steadfast, taking hold on that within the veil.—J. D. Herr, D. D.
Miracles.
By EPSILON
IN these “perilous times,” some Christians apologize for the miracles recorded in the Bible, and use such words as these: “All miracles may be wrought by fixed and immutable laws of which we know nothing.” But do they consider from whom the expression, “fixed and immutable laws,” is borrowed? Certainly not from prophets and apostles. Did the prophets and the apostles believe in fixed and immutable laws? Could they believe in such laws and also believe in God? When we consider, does not this alternative force itself upon the mind—either nature with nature's laws is all the God there is or ever was, or else nature with nature's laws came into existence through the miraculous power of a Creator? Is not the Creator master of what he created, and is he not superior to the laws of nature that he established?
Who that thinks would assert that God established “fixed and immutable laws” to govern himself? Would it not be gross idolatry in us to worship a god that needs a governor? What folly to suppose, for a moment, that the Almighty cannot at any time suspend the laws of nature! What else could we expect than that God would at times suspend the laws of nature, and thus prove to man that he is God, and that nature's laws are not “fixed and immutable.”
Nature with its laws is but God's machinery. Man can stop, start, make, and destroy man's machinery. God can stop, start, create, and destroy God's machinery. The atheist would have us believe that because puny man cannot deal with God's machinery as with man's machinery, therefore God himself cannot control his works. He that believes that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead after being pierced through the heart, necessarily believes in the Almighty—the Miracle-worker.
Fellow Christian, let the atheist talk about “fixed and immutable laws;” let the evolutionist talk of his wonderful dream of “hit and miss,” and uphold the false principle that the less created the greater. Let the geologist declare that he has upset Moses, when in reality he has only upset other geologists; but let us Christians walk by faith and not by deceitful sight. Let us look with an eye of faith beyond the very small circle of man's mixture of true and false knowledge. Let us trust the great Miracle-worker who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and who will through Jesus also raise us up, “at that day,” to enjoy an endless life. EPSILON.
Joy in Heaven over One Soul.
By Editor
It has come to us with a good deal of freshness of late, how dear souls are to God. We are in the habit of measuring the divine love for sinners by the sacrifice which came to its crest on the cross. No doubt that is the true measure of the divine love and the place rightly to estimate the value of a human soul in God's sight. Nevertheless when we read that there is joy in heaven over one soul that repenteth, we get a new apprehension of how dear souls must be to God. We have known some pastors (and have had the experience ourselves not seldom), after a meeting in which special care and effort had been made to bring men to decision, to turn away discouraged and cast down because only one soul came forward to confess Christ as Saviour and Lord. But if the repentance of that one soul was the occasion of joy in heaven, not among the angels, but "in the presence of" the angels—joy in the very heart of God made manifest even in the presence of angels—how ought we to rejoice over the conversion of souls, even over one soul.
We remember that Jesus got his disciples one by one; that he preached his most famous discourses to congregations of one; namely, to Nathaniel, to Nicodemus, and to the woman of Samaria. It was to one leper that he spake a saving word; to one sinful woman that he declared forgiveness and life. One by one he gathered them. It was for one soul, the Eunuch, that Philip was taken away from the great crowds in Samaria and sent down, by the way of the desert, to preach Jesus. Let us not underrate the value of one soul. Surely when we were converted we were but one. That was a great day to us; a great joy to our loved ones, who had been longing and watching and praying for us. It was a great joy to God, who had given his Son to die for us, as really and as wholly as if we had been the only soul which had sinned and fallen away from him. Saul of Tarsus was but one soul; and yet he was dear enough to God to warrant our Lord Jesus coming from heaven to the earth, in person, to win him to himself.
The tendency in our day is to seek after great things and large, immediate, and aggregated results. We are impatient of what has been called "hand-picking" for souls. It is true that the first great ingatherings were by the hundreds; but after that, we judge, the work of saving men went on more after the fashion of winning them one by one.—Independent.
Piety Ennobling.
CONSECRATION to God is a most essential element of true greatness. This piety is expansive and aspiring. Under its powerful influence the mind stretches far away from its unregenerate limits, and with celestial vigor pursues its onward and upward course, ever increasing in its sanctified capacities and tendencies.
All experience and observation show that true piety is eminently adapted to enlarge the heart, and produce the best development of the whole human being, for the greatest improvement of which it is especially adapted. To be destitute of piety is to be very far removed from all that can properly be called greatness.—Watchman.
The Bible.
By H. N. Lane
NO FRAGMENT of an army ever survived so many battles as the Bible; no citadel ever withstood so many sieges; no rock was ever battered by so many hurricanes and so swept by storms; and yet it stands. It has seen the rise and downfall of Daniel's four empires. Assyria bequeaths a few mutilated figures to the riches of our national museum. Media and Persia, like Babylon which they conquered, have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Greece faintly survives its historical fame; and iron Rome of the Cæsars has long since ceased to boast. And yet the book that foretells all this still survives. While nations, kings, philosophers, systems, institutions have died away, the Bible engages now men's deepest thoughts, is examined by the keenest intellects, stands revered before the highest tribunals, is more read and sifted and debated, more devoutly loved and more vehemently assailed, more defended, more denied, more industriously translated and freely given to the world, more honored and more abused, than any other book the world ever saw. It survives all changes, itself unchanged; it moves all minds, yet it is moved by none; it sees all things decay, itself incorruptible; it sees myriads of other books engulfed in the stream of time, yet is borne along till time shall be no longer.—H. N. Lane.
THERE is probably no portion of Scripture which is more commonly supposed to give "aid and comfort" to the enemies of the law of God, than the third chapter of Galatians. It is true that there are in this chapter, as in other parts of Paul's writings, some things "hard to be understood," but only the unlearned and unstable will wrest them to their own destruction. The student of the Bible may rest assured that the law of God stands fast forever and ever (Ps. 111:8), and cannot be overthrown. And he may also remember another thing: those texts which are the most depended upon by antinomians in their opposition to the law, will be found, after careful study, to be strong bulwarks in its support. No weapon formed against God's law can prosper. "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever." Ps. 119:152.
There is not a point in the third chapter of Galatians that has not been explained in our study of other texts; therefore in our brief study of this chapter we shall only emphasize facts already established. The reader will recall our remarks in a previous article on the particular errors into which the Galatian brethren had fallen, and the object of the epistle to them. It will not be necessary to give more than an outline of the statements there made. Men had come from Judea saying to the young converts, "Except ye be circumcised, . . . ye cannot be saved." This was teaching them that their salvation depended on their own works, and was directly contrary to Paul's teaching, that works outside of Christ amount to nothing. Paul taught that sinners can obtain justification only by the grace of God, through faith in the blood of Christ; these Jews taught that circumcision was the true means of justification. It can readily be seen that the latter teaching was directly subversive of the former, and that the acceptance of it was equivalent to the rejection of Christ.
In harmony with the above idea are the opening words of the third chapter: "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" Christ and him crucified had been set forth among them, and Christ is "the truth." Through faith in him they had begun the Christian life, and now they were in danger of turning from him and endeavoring to be "made perfect" by their own works. For such a proceeding they justly merited the epithet "foolish."
Abraham is next taken as the model for Christians. "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Verse 6. Nothing else but his faith could be counted to him for righteousness, that is, for his past life; for any work that he could do could not take away a single sin. Abraham did works, as it is written, "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Gen. 26:5); but these works were done only through his faith. Works are necessary, but they are of no avail outside of Christ. Paul says:—
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:8-10.
The patriarch was justified by faith, and then by works his faith was made perfect, or shown to be genuine. James 2:22. Having shown that even Abraham was not justified before God by his own works, Paul shows that the promise is to none but the children of Abraham; and since the children of Abraham are those only who have the same faith that he had, only those that are of faith can receive the promise. These are his words:—
"Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:7-9.
Following this statement, the apostle emphasizes the fact that we can be justified only by faith, and not by works. He says:—
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Verse 10.
This verse is the cause of much stumbling, and is often wrested from its true meaning, but its explanation is simple, and is contained within the verse itself. It is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." These words are quoted from Deut. 27:26, and Jer. 11:2-4, in both of which places they have unmistakable reference to the ten commandments. The law contains the whole duty of man, and the transgression of it brings death, and therefore the man who fails to obey it comes under the curse of God. But there is no man who has kept the law perfectly. Consequently if any are saved they must have recourse to something outside of the law; for the law cannot justify the sinner. Or, to use the words of Paul, "As many as are of the works of the law [that is, as many as depend upon the law], are under the curse." They are "under the law;" condemned to death.
"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith; but, the man that doeth them shall live in them." Verses 11, 12.
This is a repetition of the thought already presented, showing that no man can be just except through faith. It is parallel to Rom. 10:4, 5.
W.
The Doctors Disagree.
By Editor
THE Baptist Flag has been publishing some articles by one Dr. Dobbs, who claims that the ten commandments are not moral, and are not to be obeyed by Christians. This has called out an emphatic protest from Rev. W. A. Jarrel, author of "Old Testament Ethics Vindicated," who writes to the editor of the Flag as follows:—
"Permit me to enter my emphatic protest against the position of Dr. C. E. W. Dobbs, that the ten commandments are not the moral law, and that the Sabbath of to-day, is not the same Sabbath which was ordained in Eden, but now put upon the first day.
"Dr. Dobbs' position, while intended to meet Seventh Dayists, only plays into their hands. Besides, it positively contradicts the Baptist position, and is Campbellism. Campbellites argue as he does, while Baptists say of the Sabbath: it "is a positive, moral and perpetual commandment, binding on all men, . . . to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection was changed into the first day of the week," etc.—London Conference of 1689, chapter 22. The Scriptures are fearfully tortured into the support of Brothers Dobbs' and Smith's position. Had it not been to refute Seventh Dayists, no one would ever have dreamed of sawing off the limb we are all sitting on.
"Whenever I cannot refute heresy without destroying the Ten Commandments, I will, as the less of two evils, become the heretic. I have had much to do with debating with Seventh Dayists, and well know they are successfully met only by the old Baptist position, in the above quoted connexion. I have not now time to give my reason. But if, when I get some work off my hands, the Flag will give me room for a series of articles, I will do so."
Good! We hope Mr. Jarrel will cling to his determination never to attempt to refute heresy by destroying the ten commandments, and to accept any "heresy" that cannot be overthrown except by destroying them. We heartily thank him for his noble stand for the commandments of God, and for rebuking his brethren in the church who would treat them with contempt. But we are anxious to know how he reconciles this acceptance of the ten commandments with his observance of Sunday. We know him to be a gentleman and a scholar, one who does not believe in "torturing" Scripture into the support of any theory, and who is too wise to saw off the limb on which he sits. He is, moreover, a direct and forcible writer, and therefore whenever his work will allow him to write an article showing how first-day observance can be reconciled with the belief that the fourth commandment is a "moral and perpetual commandment, binding on all men," we will gladly give it a place in the SIGNS. We hope to hear from him soon. Meanwhile let it be noted that scarcely any two leading first-day writers are agreed as to the authority for Sunday-keeping.