Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 32. (8/19/1886)

Signs of the Times

Aug 19, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 19, 1886

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

Have You Chosen Christ?

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

Just before his death, Joshua called upon the children of Israel to decide whether or not they would be loyal to the God of Heaven. Said he, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." The decision made by Israel that day is one that all are called upon to make; for there are still rival powers in the world. Let us consider the characters of these powers that are claiming the homage of men.

Christ, the loved commander of the hosts of Heaven, left the world of glory and the honor that he had with the Father, and came to this earth to live as a man among men, that he might rescue man from the pit of destruction into which he had fallen. He might have appeared with all the display of royalty, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand of his ministering angels; but he did not do this. He humbled himself, not only to take our nature, but to take upon him the form of a servant, to become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came to do good, to help the needy and the distressed; to heal the sick; to speak peace to the suffering; to deliver those whom Satan was afflicting; to bring redemption to all who would accept the Heaven-sent blessing. Such is the character of Him who says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

There is another who claims to be the prince of this world; and very few have any idea of his activity and subtlety. He seeks the destruction of the children of men; the ruin of souls is his delight and his only employment. But his step is noiseless, his movements stealthy, and his batteries masked. He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing malignity, activity, and power. If he were to show himself openly in his true character, he would arouse the Christian's dormant energies, and send him to God in prayer.

Many have forgotten the past record of our old adversary; soon they will cease to regard him as an enemy at all, but will look upon him as a friend, one who is doing a good work. Under his specious, bewitching influence they will obey the worst impulses of the human heart, and yet believe that God is leading them. Could their eyes be opened to distinguish their captain, they would see that they are not serving God, but the enemy of all righteousness. They would see that the independence of which they boast is one of the heaviest fetters that Satan can rivet on unbalanced minds.

When Christ was in the world, Satan was constantly working to turn men's minds from him; and he succeeded to a great degree, because the natural heart chooses to do evil rather than good. There was an unceasing battle between Satan and his angels, and Christ and his angels. Our Saviour himself encountered this wily foe in the wilderness of temptation. During the forty days and nights of Christ's long fast, Satan, concealing his real character, sought by every means which he could devise, to overcome the Saviour of the world. He even disguised himself as an angel of light, a Heaven-sent friend, and offered to show him an easier way to gain his object than the path of trial and suffering upon which he had entered. But Jesus repulsed the enemy, and forced him to depart, a conquered foe.

And now Satan comes with his temptations to the children of men, who are often ignorant of his devices, and here he has better success. One of his most successful devices is to keep men in ignorance of his devices; for they will not be on their guard against an enemy of whose existence they are ignorant. It is not very long since I was asked, "Do you believe in a personal devil?" "I do," was the reply. "Well," rejoined the questioner, "I do not believe that there is any such being; our evil thoughts and impulses are all the devil we know anything about!" "But," I asked, "who suggests these thoughts? Whence do they originate, if not from Satan?"

Christian friends, do not be deceived by the fast-spreading delusion that Satan has no existence. Just as surely as we have a personal Saviour, we have also a personal adversary, cruel and cunning, who ever watches our steps, and plots to lead us astray. Wherever the opinion is entertained that he does not exist, there he is most busy. When we least suspect his presence, he is gaining advantage over us. I feel alarmed as I see so many yielding to his power while they know it not. Did they but see their danger, they would flee to Christ, the sinner's refuge. They would resist the wiles of the adversary. They would pray much for wisdom, grace, and strength, and would seek most earnestly to overcome every evil trait of character. They would walk in the path that Jesus trod, and shun that which Satan urges them to choose.

The tempter often whispers that the Christian life is one of exaction, of rigorous duties; that it is hard to be on the watch continually, and there is no need of being so particular. It was thus that he deceived and overthrew Eve in Eden, telling her that God's commands were arbitrary and unjust, given to prevent man from becoming free and exalted, like himself. His object is the same now that it was then. He desires to deceive and ruin us.

It is true that our Saviour represents his service as a yoke, and the Christian life as one of burden-bearing; yet contrasting these with the cruel power of Satan and the burdens imposed by sin, he exclaims, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If we try to meet the responsibilities of the Christian life and to perform its duties without Jesus as a helper, the yoke is galling, and the burden intolerably heavy. But it is not necessary that we should do this. We should study the life of Christ, cherish his spirit, and copy his example; then we shall be like him, and his peace will rule in our hearts. And the more we become like him, the more clearly shall we discern the temptations of Satan, and the more successfully resist his power.

Jesus invites us: "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." True happiness is to be found, not in self-indulgence and self-pleasing, but in learning of Christ, taking his yoke, and bearing his burden. Those who trust to their own wisdom and follow their own ways, go complaining at every step, because the burden which selfishness imposes upon them is so heavy and its yoke so galling. Selfishness cannot exist in a heart where Christ dwells; if cherished, it will crowd out everything else. It will lead persons to follow inclination rather than duty, to make self the subject of thought, and to gratify and indulge themselves, instead of seeking to be a blessing to others. Their wants, their pleasures, must come before everything else. In all this they exemplify the spirit of Satan. By their words and deeds they represent his character, instead of the character of Christ.

All this might be changed; for the grace of Christ is sufficient, if they would come to him. If they would lay off their self-imposed burden, renounce their allegiance to Satan, and take the burden which Jesus gives them, and let his yoke bind them to him in willing service, hope and joy would spring up in their hearts.

Jesus loves the purchase of his blood, and he longs to see them possess the peace which he alone can impart. He bids them learn of him meekness and lowliness of heart. This precious grace is rarely seen at the present day, even in those who profess to be Christians. Their own ways seem right in their eyes. In accepting the name of Christ, they do not accept his character, or submit to wear his yoke; therefore they know nothing of the joy and peace to be found in his service.

If we have become the disciples of Christ, we shall be learning of him—every day learning how to overcome some unlovely trait of character, every day copying his example, and coming a little nearer the pattern. If we are ever to inherit those mansions that he has gone to prepare for us, we must here be forming characters in accordance with our high destiny, —characters that will not mar the bliss of Heaven.

We now have the privilege of deciding whether we will be numbered with the servants of Christ or the servants of Satan; and every day we show by our conduct whose service we have chosen. If we are wise, we shall decide as did Joshua: "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

HOPE BEYOND.

By William Henry Burleigh

STILL will we trust, though earth seems dark and dreary, And the heart faint beneath his chastening rod; Though rough and steep our pathway, worn and weary, Still will we trust in God!

Our eyes see dimly till by faith anointed, And our blind choosing brings us grief and pain; Through Him alone who hath our way appointed We find our peace again.

Choose for us, God! nor let our weak preferring Cheat our poor souls of good thou hast designed. Choose for us, God! thy wisdom is unerring; And we are fools and blind.

So from our sky the Night shall furl her shadows, And Day pour gladness through his golden gates; Our rough path leads to flower-enamelled meadows, Where joy our coming waits.

Let us press on in patient self-denial, Accept the hardship, shrink not from the loss; Our guerdon lies beyond the power of trial, Our crown beyond the cross. —William Henry Burleigh.

Conversion in Both Testaments.

By C. P. Bollman

PRIMARILY conversion means "the act of turning or changing from one state or condition to another." Theologically it is defined as "a radical change of moral character; a change from the service of this world to the service of God; a change of the ruling disposition of the soul, and the appropriate effect in transforming the outward life." And in the Scriptures it is called a new birth. Said the Saviour to Nicodemus: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

But the learned Pharisee, though "a master of Israel," incredulously asked: "How can a man be born when he is old?" "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

But Nicodemus still marveled; and then the Saviour told him that it was the work of the Spirit. Said the Master: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." But he could not comprehend it; neither can any one who has not felt in his own heart the transforming and renewing influences of the Spirit of God.

The apostle Paul illustrates conversion by a death, burial, and resurrection; he says:—

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." Rom. 6: 2-7.

The change which is wrought in the individual by conversion is thus described by the apostle: "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." Eph. 4: 22-24, 30, 31.

There must be an entire change; the old man is to be put off, and the new man put on; and this new man "is created in righteousness and true holiness." Or, as we read elsewhere: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 5: 17, 18.

If anything more is required to show the nature of the change, it is supplied by Romans 8: 1-17. The apostle there shows that the natural heart is opposed to the law of God (verse 7), but conversion brings the heart into harmony with the will of God; and instead of doing the works of the flesh (Gal. 5: 19-21), the individual now brings forth the fruits of the Spirit, which are in harmony with the law. Compare Rom. 8: 10-14 with Gal. 5: 22, 23.

Thus we see that, as set forth by Christ and the apostles, conversion is a radical change which is wrought in each individual through the instrumentality of the Spirit of God. And with this agree the Old Testament scriptures. For instance, we read of David, that after he was brought to repentance of his sin (2 Sam., chaps. 11, 12), he prayed: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Ps. 51: 12, 13.

What the psalmist understood by conversion we learn from verses 1, 2, 9-11, of the same psalm. He prayed: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." "Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me."

"Ye must be born again," says the Saviour: "Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;" and "if any man be in Christ he is a new creature," says the apostle, while the psalmist prayed, "Create within me a new heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Who can doubt that these expressions all refer to conversion? Ezekiel, too, used similar language; he says: "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Eze. 18: 30, 31.

The case of Saul (1 Sam. 10) is another positive testimony that conversion is taught quite as plainly in the Old Testament as in the New, and fully justifies the Saviour's question to Nicodemus when he avowed his ignorance of this subject: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" There was that man, "a master of Israel," ignorant that the Scriptures, with which he had been familiar all his life, taught a change of heart! Said the prophet to Saul: "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." 1 Sam. 10: 6. And again we read: "And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day." Verse 9.

This can mean nothing less than that Saul was converted. Not one essential element is lacking. The prophet made known to him the will of God, then Saul signified his willingness to obey, and "God gave him another heart," or, as Samuel had said, he was "turned into another man;"—in short, to express it in New Testament language, he was "born again." And thus it is clearly shown that the doctrine of conversion is common to both Testaments, and that the agencies by which it is accomplished have ever been the same; namely, the word and Spirit of God.

The fact that Saul did not retain his integrity, but grieved away the Spirit of God, and finally died by his own hand, does not, as some have imagined, disprove the genuineness of his conversion; it only disproves the delusive doctrine of "once in grace always in grace," and gives force to the admonition of the apostle, who says:—

"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Eph. 6: 11-13.

Paul even feared that after having labored for others he himself might lose the prize; he said: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." To take any other course is to presume upon the mercy of God; it is to become an unfruitful branch, "whose end is to be burned;" for says the Saviour: "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15: 5, 6.

There is nothing so hazardous in the Christian life as is the condition of being at "ease." It is to the lukewarm that the Saviour says: "I will spew thee out of my mouth." Rev. 3: 16. Then let any who feel that they are being separated from Christ, heed the words of the prophet: "Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. . . And we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hos. 6: 1-3. But if we do not "follow on" the decree will go forth, "cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" Luke 13: 7.

C. P. BOLLMAN.

Leap Year.

By F. D. Starr

RECENTLY in conversation with a traveling evangelist, a rather novel objection was presented against the seventh-day Sabbath. Said the objector: "It is foolish to suppose that we can tell which is the seventh day, when every fourth year we add an extra day, making the month of February one day longer than it ordinarily is, thus so completely confusing the dates that no one can tell anything about the correct reckoning!"

Novel as the position is, it is just as tenable as some other similar positions. It is stated by some that we cannot tell anything about which is the true seventh day from creation, because that several hundred years ago the Pope of Rome changed the reckoning of time from old style to new style, leaving out ten days by calling the next day after October 4, 1582, October 15, instead of October 5. We ask in all candor, what had this to do with the reckoning of the days of the week? Just as much as adding on an extra day to the year once in four years, affects the reckoning of the days of the week. The objection in regard to leap year is ridiculous in the extreme. To give February twenty-nine days instead of twenty-eight, does not make Sunday, or any other day of the week, come any earlier or any later than it otherwise would. Whether the day were to be called February 29, or March 1, would have nothing to do with its position in the cycle. If it were Monday in one case it would be Monday in the other. Every person can certainly see that fact.

Now what would be the effect if we should make the month of February one day shorter, allowing it only twenty-seven days? It would not affect the week at all, as all can very readily see. If such changes do not affect the month of February, they certainly would not affect the month of October. Suppose the month of October, 1582, had been made one day shorter, having only thirty days allowed to it, would the week be affected by it? Certainly not. If it would not affect it to take off one day, then it would not to take off ten. If

the next day after October 21, had been called November 1, the week would not have been affected by this numbering, neither was it affected by calling the day after the 4th the 15th, any more than the week is now affected by the extra day in leap year. Yet a good many people who are apparently very conscientious, say that for this very reason they cannot keep the Sabbath. They say the argument is perfectly clear, that the seventh day is the correct Sabbath, and if they only knew which is the seventh day they would keep it, but on account of the change Pope Gregory XIII. introduced in 1582, they cannot be sure which is the true seventh day. If the Pope had not meddled with the matter, there would be no difficulty.

To all such conscientious persons who would keep God's holy Sabbath if this difficulty were removed, we have the happy announcement to make that there is a way of relief. The Greek Church paid no attention to the Pope's decree, and so throughout Russia the old style of reckoning is still observed. The matter there stands just as it did previous to 1582. All that is necessary to do, is to adopt the style of Russia where change of reckoning has never been introduced, and all confusion on this account, has consequently been avoided. If there is no other way to do, to enable one to keep the plain command of God, then by all means let him adopt the old style, and, when having done that, and finding out that the order of the days of the week is the very same that it is now, and here, doubtless the earnest seeker after the truth would be willing to admit that the change in the reckoning of the days of the month has not affected in the least the days of the week.

When asked whether he did not rebuke people for working on Sunday, our objector answered promptly in the affirmative, and his defense for so doing was that since the resurrection of our Lord, Christians have had a new reckoning, viz., Anno Domini, in connection with which the first day observance is firmly established. But as to how that leap year could affect the observance of the seventh day, and not the first, our friend did not pause to explain. Here was one upon whose head the hands of the bishop had been laid to set him apart to be an instructor of the people, but behold a sample of the "wine" (false doctrine) with which the minds of the people are being made "drunken," or confused.

F. D. STARR.

Obey God Always.

By J. N. Hallock, D. D.

How DIFFICULT it is for the natural heart to realize, or believe, that it is for its own good always to obey God in everything! We are strongly inclined to think that obedience to our own conceptions of what is right and proper is good for us—indeed, is really best for us. There are some things which God commands us to do that we readily assent to as being for our good. But there are other things which we hesitate to accept as being really essential to our good. We incline to pursue an eclectic course. We choose that which seems to promise us good, and those things which appear inconvenient and unnecessary, we discard.

Obedience to some of God's commands appears to involve too much trouble to be for our certain good. It may lead us to heavy cross-bearing and painful peril and deep disappointment and immense personal discomfort; and so we demur and debate the chances of possible good to ourselves. But our thoughts and ways are always wrong, and, therefore, productive of harm to us if they do not strictly conform to the thoughts and ways of God.

There is no safety outside of following the commands of God. Human expediency is not to usurp the place of the Divine counsel and command. Whatever God tells us to do, and we do in the spirit and manner which he requires, will result in our good always. It may not always seem so to us at first. Indeed, it may appear to be for our ill, instead of good; but God, who sees the end from the beginning, knows what is for our good, and commands nothing that is not for our good. The true Christian will try to remember this and obey.

—J. N. Hallock, D. D.

The Measure of Love.

By Robert Hare

OLD Deacon Jonathan was a man of practical piety, and religion was with him, a thing of every-day life. Much of his time was spent in visiting the sick and needy of his parish. It was on his way to pay one of these visits, that he came in contact with a man who boasted loudly of his religion, and its advantages. "I have had religion," he said, "for the last sixteen years, and it has only cost me twenty cents."

We do not wonder the old deacon was rather puzzled over a religion that could call forth so little sacrifice. Looking at the man, he replied, "I will not say you have not religion, but I will say it is only a twenty-cent religion."

The old deacon was right, and the profession that could call forth no greater sacrifice, may be justly termed a twenty-cent religion.

We find in connection with human history that love has always been measured by actions, and for that friend we really love, nothing will be too great a sacrifice. We might apply this rule and say that the man who professed to love God for sixteen years at the great sacrifice of twenty-cents, only possessed a twenty-cent love. It is an easy thing to make ourselves believe that we have the cause of God at heart, and that we are anxious to see it prosper in the earth. We may even go so far as to believe that we love him sincerely, and yet be like the fig tree that bore nothing but leaves.

How then shall we test our love to God?—Just in the same way that we measure love to our fellow-man,—by our actions. The Master said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and the same voice declared, "The Father which has sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." John 12:49. So when we refuse to keep God's commandments, we mark off before him the measure of our own love. To be a saving love, it must be a perfect love; and that will show itself in perfect obedience. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." 1 John 5:3.

If we would learn the measure of God's love let us go to Gethsemane and see the Man of sorrows, as he bows with the burden of a world's transgression. Let us go to Calvary, and see him die, while the heavens are robed in blackness, and the earth trembles in sympathy with her dying Lord; and then read in those lines of pain that mar his kingly brow,— "This I have borne for thee, What hast thou done for me!"

The churches of to-day are cursed with a twenty-cent religion,—"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." We should ever bear in mind, that a religion which will not distinguish us from a sinful world, will never save us in a perishing world.

When the heart is in full sympathy with God and his truth, the question will not be, How little can I do and be religious? but from a heart overflowing with tenderness the strains will rise,— "Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a tribute far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my life, my soul, my all."

R. HARE.

Conscience and Higher Power

By Bowes

WHAT is the instinct of awe and sense of obligation found in every breast, but the testimony to some higher and superior power? As the echo implies some preceding sound, surely the whispers of conscience imply the inner voice of the Great Spirit.—Bowes.

"Thy Speech Bewrayeth Thee."

By W. N. Glenn

NOTWITHSTANDING Peter's denial, his speech disclosed the fact that he was a Galilean. On a more ancient occasion, forty-two thousand Ephraimites were slain by the Gileadites because they could not pronounce the word "shibboleth." When they had escaped from battle and come to the Jordan, the Gileadites, who held the passages, tested them on this word, and when they said "sibboleth" they were taken and put to death. Thus the speech will tell the story of one's identity when every appearance may prove deceptive.

So we may often meet in close relationship those whose "citizenship is in Heaven," and those who are "children of this world." They may be in the same church—apparently of the same nationality. Again, they may be strangers to us and to each other, yet so very similar in outward appearance that with the eye we cannot tell the Gileadite from the Ephraimite, the Galilean from the denizen of Jerusalem. But the speech is generally an unerring indicator. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

The conversation will naturally tend to that which is uppermost in the heart. If the mind be set upon the affairs of the world,—upon the accumulations, the amusements, the fashions, the gossip, the carnal attractions of the eye and ear,—and only upon the kingdom of God and his righteousness when involuntarily attracted by others, the speech will betray the real allegiance. When "foolish talking" and "jesting" (Eph. 5:4) are the characteristic communications of one who has named the name of Christ, his speech "bewrayeth" him. When the Christian's only words for Jesus are those uttered under urgent circumstances at the prayer-meeting, his speech even then "bewrayeth" him. When the professed follower of Christ becomes a "despiser of those that are good" because, forsooth, "no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous," that disciple's speech betrays him. When the backslidden heart begins to measure the faith of Christ and his work by the frailties of imperfect humanity, his speech betokens his unfortunate condition. When the tongue is dumb in the presence of duty to utter praise and thanksgiving, or to defend the cause of the Master, or to encourage the convicted sinner, there is a speech born of faithless silence that casts a doubt over the loyalty of the enlisted soldier.

The day has come when again the call, "Who is on the Lord's side?" is going to the world, and those who would stand in the company of his courtiers, must learn perfectly the language of his court. The time for the enemy's fiercest attacks upon the "little flock" is at hand, and no lisping, stammering accents will admit the fleeing ones to the place of refuge. And none will be able to sing the song of redemption but those who have learned it during the trying hours of probation.

"The Lord is coming! let this be The herald note of jubilee, And when we meet and when we part, The salutation from the heart." W. N. GLENN.

Faith and Obedience.

A MAN who imagines that he is a Christian because he says Lord, Lord, although he does not the things that he requires, is deceiving himself; so, also, is the man who imagines that he is a Christian because he is honest in his dealings and free from any outbreaking sins. A man to be a Christian must be divinely renewed; he must be changed in his moral nature; he must be brought out of darkness into light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and then he must walk before God blameless in the keeping of his commandments. This is necessary to a man's salvation.—Sel.

The Saxons Enter Britain.

“HENGIST, who boldly aspired to the conquest of Britain, exhorted his countrymen to embrace the glorious opportunity; he painted in lively colors the fertility of the soil, the wealth of the cities, the pusillanimous temper of the natives, and the convenient situation of a spacious solitary island, accessible on all sides to the Saxon fleets. The successive colonies which issued, in the period of a century [A. D. 455-582] from the mouths of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Rhine, were principally composed of three valiant tribes or nations of Germany: the Jutes, the old Saxons, and the Angles. The Jutes, who fought under the peculiar banner of Hengist, assumed the merit of leading their countrymen in the paths of glory, and of erecting, in Kent, the first independent kingdom. The fame of the enterprise was attributed to the primitive Saxons; and the common laws and language of the conquerors are described by the national appellation of a people, which, at the end of four hundred years, produced the first monarchs of South Britain. The Angles were distinguished by their numbers and their success; and they claimed the honor of fixing a perpetual name on the country, of which they occupied the most ample portion.

“The barbarians, who followed the hopes of rapine either on the land or sea, were insensibly blended with this triple confederacy; the Frisians, who had been tempted by their vicinity to the British shores, might balance, during a short space, the strength and reputation of the native Saxons; the Danes, the Prussians, and the Rugians are faintly described; and some adventurous Huns, who had wandered as far as the Baltic, might embark on board the German vessels for the conquest of a new world. But this arduous achievement was not prepared or executed by the union of national powers. Each intrepid chieftain, according to the measure of his fame and fortunes, assembled his followers; equipped a fleet of three, or perhaps of sixty, vessels; chose the place of the attack; and conducted his subsequent operations according to the events of the war, and the dictates of his private interest. In the invasion of Britain many heroes vanquished and fell; but only seven victorious leaders assumed, or at least maintained, the title of kings. Seven independent thrones, the Saxon Heptarchy, were founded by the conquerors, and seven families, one of which has been continued, by female succession, to our present sovereign [George III.], derived their equal and sacred lineage from Woden, the god of war. It has been pretended that this republic of kings was moderated by a general council and a supreme magistrate. But such an artificial scheme of policy is repugnant to the rude and turbulent spirit of the Saxons; their laws are silent; and their imperfect annals afford only a dark and bloody prospect of intestine discord.”

“While the continents of Europe and Africa yielded, without resistance, to the barbarians, the British island, alone and unaided, maintained a long, a vigorous, though an unsuccessful, struggle against the formidable pirates, who almost at the same instant assaulted the Northern, the Eastern, and the Southern coasts. The cities which had been fortified with skill, were defended with resolution; the advantages of ground, hills, forests, and morasses, were diligently improved by the inhabitants; the conquest of each district was purchased with blood; and the defeats of the Saxons are strongly attested by the discreet silence of their annalist. Hengist might hope to achieve the conquest of Britain; but his ambition, in an active reign of thirty-five years, was confined to the possession of Kent; and the numerous colony which he had planted in the North, was extirpated by the sword of the Britons.

“The monarchy of the West Saxons was laboriously founded by the persevering efforts of three martial generations. The life of Cerdic, one of the bravest of the children of Woden, was consumed in the conquest of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; and the loss which he sustained in the battle of Mount Badon, reduced him to a state of inglorious repose. Kenric, his valiant son, advanced into Wiltshire; besieged Salisbury, at that time seated on a commanding eminence; and vanquished an army which advanced to the relief of the city. In the subsequent battle of Marlborough, his British enemies displayed their military science. Their troops were formed in three lines; each line consisted of three distinct bodies, and the cavalry, the archers, and the pikemen, were distributed according to the principles of Roman tactics. The Saxons charged in one weighty column, boldly encountered with their short swords the long lances of the Britons, and maintained an equal conflict till the approach of night. Two decisive victories, the death of three British kings, and the reduction of Cirencester, Bath, and Gloucester, established the fame and power of Ceauin, the grandson of Cerdic, who carried his victorious arms to the banks of the Severn.

“After a war of a hundred years, the independent Britons still occupied the whole extent of the Western coast, from the wall of Antoninus to the extreme promontory of Cornwall; and the principal cities of the inland country still opposed the arms of the barbarians. Resistance became more languid, as the number and boldness of the assailants continually increased. Winning their way by slow and painful efforts, the Saxons, the Angles, and their various confederates, advanced from the North, from the East, and from the South, till their victorious banners were united in the center of the island. Beyond the Severn the Britons still asserted their national freedom, which survived the heptarchy, and even the monarchy, of the Saxons. The bravest warriors who preferred exile to slavery, found a secure refuge in the mountains of Wales; the reluctant submission of Cornwall was delayed for some ages; and a band of fugitives acquired a settlement in Gaul, by their own valor, or the liberality of the Merovingian kings.

“Resistance, if it cannot avert, must increase the miseries of conquest; and conquest has never appeared more dreadful and destructive than in the hands of the Saxons; who hated the valor of their enemies, disdained the faith of treaties, and violated, without remorse, the most sacred objects of the Christian worship. The fields of battle might be traced, almost in every district, by monuments of bones; the fragments of falling towers were stained with blood; the last of the Britons, without distinction of age or sex, was massacred, in the ruins of Anderida; and the repetition of such calamities was frequent and familiar under the Saxon heptarchy. The arts and religion, the laws and language, which the Romans had so carefully planted in Britain, were extirpated by their barbarous successors. After the destruction of the principal churches, the bishops, who had declined the crown of martyrdom, retired with the holy relics into Wales and Armorica; the remains of their flocks were left destitute of any spiritual food; the practice, and even the remembrance, of Christianity were abolished; and the British clergy might obtain some comfort from the damnation of the idolatrous strangers.

“The kings of France maintained the privileges of their Roman subjects; but the ferocious Saxons trampled on the laws of Rome, and of the emperors. The proceedings of civil and criminal jurisdiction, the titles of honor, the forms of office, the ranks of society, and even the domestic rights of marriage, testament, and inheritance, were finally suppressed; and the indiscriminate crowd of noble and plebeian slaves was governed by the traditionary customs, which had been coarsely framed for the shepherds and pirates of Germany. The language of science, of business, and of conversation, which had been introduced by the Romans, was lost in the general desolation. A sufficient number of Latin or Celtic words might be assumed by the Germans to express their new wants and ideas; but those illiterate Pagans preserved and established the use of their national dialect. Almost every name, conspicuous either in the Church or State, reveals its Teutonic origin; and the geography of England was universally inscribed with foreign characters and appellations. The example of a revolution, so rapid and so complete, may not easily be found.”—Dec. and Fall, chap. 38, par. 34, 36, 37, 39.

From that time the history of the Angles and Saxons—the Anglo-Saxons—has been but the history of England—Angle-land—and, being so far separated from the other nations that shared in the breaking up of the Roman Empire, we shall not have occasion to mention them again.

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